Filmage: The Story of Descendents\All

Descendents are the

best story ever.

They come from a different time in punk.

They come from a different world.

You have this idea that started in

seventy-something, and to see it still going?

That's totally cool!

A lot of what people listen to

obviously owes itself to the

fact that those guys made

records all those years ago.

I remember hearing the Descendents

for the first time and thinking,

Whoa, these guys

listen to the Beatles.

There was a sense of

melody and songwriting.

What instantly drew me into

the Descendents was how

much melody they had. How

catchy their songs were.

They were like the punk rock Beach

Boys. Their harmonies were great.

And this, like, shameless love

song aesthetic, you know?

None of the other bands

had the balls to do that.

Everyone was screaming

about Reagan or whatever.

I think the Descendents are possibly

one of the most underrated bands

that too often don't get the credit

for essentially creating pop punk.

They're a part of the

foundation, the fabric.

This sincere connection of pop

and angst at the same time

without it ever being this

thuggish tough-guy thing.

You have this singer who looks

like a f***ing geek singing about

getting screwed over by a chick

with the gnarliest band behind him.

It was great.

And they worked

very few days off.

They're always, always

pushing themselves.

Almost militant work ethic.

It would be insanely sweaty

in the room. It was gross.

They're the most

precise band I think.

They were real players,

and prided themselves

on playing their instruments

very, very well.

With a fury, man. It's right

here in my heart to see these

guys again. This is Milo of the

Descendents and, I'm sorry

I'm Bill.

Bill is the brainchild

behind the Descendents.

It is trippy that they

were a drummer-run band.

Our whole goal was like,

"Yeah, it's cool, there's this

thing called 'punk rock.' Now

let's take it somewhere."

When I said, "I wanna go be a

nerd scientist geek," then they

said, "Hey, see you later." And

all of a sudden they formed ALL.

Since this band's

inception in 1978...

You're not gonna get one person...

You've probably never

heard of them...

...on this planet...

"They're formerly called the Descendents.

They're now simply called ALL."

...to say they like ALL

better than the Descendents...

"Folks, give a nice

warm welcome to ALL!"

...no f***ing way.

People literally didn't know who they

were. They're like, "Who's ALL?"

And I was like, "Well, it's Descendents.

Same band, different singer."

So there's a different

singer, big deal, whatever.

There's no other band like them.

Doesn't matter which one they are.

The caliber of songwriting

and subject matter that is

so close and relatable to has

not wavered for 30 years.

I don't think there were any other

bands that could do what they did.

It's good to see that

those guys are getting

credit for what they, in

a lot of ways, created.

"But the show is far

from being over..."

It's just their time for

people to understand

that the Descendents

had a big place.

MALE VO:
"Welcome the

Decendents!" [CROWD CHEERS]

MILO:
"It's been a long

time for us, so... wow."

VO:
[RADIO WEATHER REPORT]

BILL STEVENSON:
So going back

to before we had the bands.

Before Descendents, before

ALL, before Black Flag.

So, there was fishing.

Of all things to have brought

would-be future punkers together.

KEITH MORRIS:
My

history with Bill goes

all the way back to the Hermosa

Tackle Box, which was a business

that my father owned on Pier

Avenue down in Hermosa Beach.

My recollection is him working for

my dad when he was about 14 or 15

and asking me,

"Keith, what music should

I be listening to?"

Billy just struck me as that goofy

kid that maybe needed some guidance,

maybe he needed somebody to point

him in the right direction.

I guess I was giving

him a list of things

to do to lead to

freakdom or whatever.

Little did we know that Billy was going to grow

up to be the drummer of not only the Descendents

and ALL,

but Black Flag in between.

See, we grew up where all of the

music around us was Top 40.

The Dooby Brothers

or the worst of Fleetwood Mac.

Most of it was pretty

bland, pretty boring,

and there was no bright spot.

With the exception of The Last.

JOE NOLTE:
Basically,

I, like a lot

of others, was

really dissatisfied

by the state of rock music.

I was like 20,

had been brought up on

the Woodstock myth,

and I couldn't wait to

get out there and

start going to all

the great shows

only to find that,

as the early '70s

developed, all the

really good people died.

So I discovered there were these

bands with silly names

like the Ramones.

That was my big cue.

I threw a bunch of soundproofing

in the garage, and

at that time we came up with

the band name The Last.

KEITH:
Through the Nolte

brothers, we happened to

meet characters

like Frank Navetta.

Total kook, total freak.

DAVE NOLTE:
Frank came to

my school, America Martyrs, in sixth grade,

and I was friends with

him straight away.

We both had interest in music. We both

started playing guitar at the same time.

JOE:
They were

just typical kids.

The next thing I know they're

deciding to start a band.

"Yeah, we're gonna call

ourselves the Descendents."

DAVE:
Frank came up with the

Descendents. He had the funny spelling.

Thought he was clever.

JOE:
Mid '77, we're hanging

out and this big kid

on this bicycle that's three

or four sizes too small...

My brother David goes, "Oh my god.

I know that guy."

DAVE:
I had met Bill before.

He was in my Spanish class,

so I already kinda

knew what he was like.

And I thought if he could

play any instrument

he'd be great to be in a band with,

because he had just the right attitude.

BILL:
Really I think I was a

bother to Dave. I would come

over every day and be like,

"Hey, you wanna hang out?"

You know, the friend that

just keeps coming over?

And you're like, "Oh it's cool."

And then Joe really, I think,

thought I was bother.

DAVE:
At that time, The Last

was making their first album,

and I gave him tapes like rough

mixes.

And that, he really

got into that.

He was really influenced

by our drummer, Jack.

BILL:
Once I heard The Last

"She Don't Know Why I'm Here"

I was a totally

groupie of The Last.

I thought they were the greatest

band in the whole world.

JOE:
What happened was

Bill was intrigued

by what David and

Frank were doing.

DAVE:
Frank made a demo

of his songs, and Bill

took a tape and overdubbed

backing vocals on it.

JOE:
David and Frank got the

tape back and said, "Oh my god."

"He may smell of fish,"

"and he may seem kinda weird,"

"but this is the guy.

He's better than we are."

DAVE:
That was truly the beginning

of the band right there.

BILL:
Frank got me

into punk rock proper:

Ramones, Dickies, Sex Pistols.

KEITH:
Those guys

were like twins.

The double-whammy-ultra-mega

duo, Navetta/Stevenson.

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