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Biography
In 1977, friends Frank Navetta and David Nolte began writing songs on acoustic guitars with the intention of forming a band. They initially called themselves The Itch, until Navetta came up with the name Descendents. However by the end of the year they had failed to attract any more band members, so Nolte instead joined The Last with his brothers. It would seem the Descendents had experienced a false start, yet in late 1978 Navetta was joined by drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Tony Lombardo who revitalised the project. They changed the style and lengths of their recordings over the early year from short under a minute hardcore style songs to average 2-3 minute punk rock songs.
Their first full length album was released in 1982 entitled 'Milo Goes To College' and although it made no chart significance at the time, it is now considered one of the most significant albums of the early 1980s southern California hardcore punk movement. It built on the reputation of the predecessor 'Fat' EP which cementing their status as one of the new influencers of the South California punk scene. They continued to release material up until 1987 and despite their fan base seeming to be ever-increasing, they consistently failed to impact the US charts. The band went on hiatus until the release of 1996 LP 'Everything Sucks' which was the first time they appeared within the top 200 on the US Billboard charts.
The band is more known for its legacy to punk than its commercial successes. The Descendents have been cited as hugely influential to a large amount of modern day pop punk and skate punk bands such as Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Propagandhi, The All-American Rejects, Green Day, The Bouncing Souls, NOFX, The Offspring, and The Ataris and they have made countless lists by publications including Spin, The Rolling Stone and Kerrang!
Live reviews
The Descendents’ music is short, but sweet. Each song is like a small package crammed with tons of energy and force, and to see the Descendents perform these short, choppy, in your face punk songs live is nothing less than exhilarating.
The Descendents were a monumental band for the California punk scene, helping create the hardcore punk movement. The band has extreme discipline when performing live, always playing in synch, and creating a fast pace, driving rhythm. Although their music heavily relies on the power chords played in fast rhythms, they also incorporate really catchy riffs with strong melodic draws. The Descendants always play in a very hyped up manner. They are like a ticking time bomb ready to explode. They jump right into songs with strong bursts of energy, and have been known to pump out fast driven hardcore songs in the ten-second time frame.
Lead singer, Milo Aukerman, takes the stage with great force, bouncing around stage like a ball of energy and yelling his hardcore tunes into his audience’s face. Milo is an interesting frontman for a punk band. He never acts macho or tries to put on a fake persona. Instead he embraces his nerdy and self-deprecating behavior and creates a sincerity to the music he produces. His lyrics are also always fun, dealing with such topics as caffeine addiction, toilet humor, and everyday problems. The band is rightfully considered a punk legend and have had a great influence on other punk bands like Blink 182, The Offspring, and Green Day. The audience at their performances are fully engrossed in the music, acting wild, and starting up mosh pits to the hardcore tunes that incite them to act this way.
The band’s setlist are always enjoyable because they can fit in so many songs due to the brevity of most of their songs. They will play songs from most of their albums with the majority coming from crowd favorites such as, Milo Goes to College and Everything Sucks.
wjmcc
The Descendents are a pretty recognisable name for anybody with an interest in the genre of punk rock. The Californian quartet may have gone through various lineup changes and numerous hiatuses yet they appear to now be performing with the solidarity and consistency that first drew people to their music in the first place.
They have been cited as influence by so many modern contemporaries you begin to lose count yet their legacy within the punk world is clearly felt in the venue this evening as an audience of varied ages all gather to hear the classic material. The band does not disappoint with their performance, the instrumentals are completely slick and well timed, the stage presence is grand and the tracks have been developed to easily fill the venues. The audience sings along intently for 'I Wanna Be a Bear' and 'I Don't Want to Grow Up'. One awesome thing about the often short duration of the tracks is the snappy pace of the gig and the ability to fit in all the hits along with highlights from the long discography. 'I'm A Loser' is an angsty highlight and wraps the evening up nicely.
sean-ward
descendents were AMAZING !!!!! I last saw them in 99 new years eve and they were awesome thus time they were older ,greyer,and more experienced and they kicked major ass less than jake was good if ska Is your thing not my flavor of music but they were entertaining with crowd participation bringing random fans on stage for random stuff and talking shit to fans for being on there phones lol opening band was pretty good actually Def worth it to get there early I liked them way better than LTJ overall the descendents was a real treat because obviously there winding down there illustrious career and it's worth seeing them because of there punk icon status alone true living legends
Vincentvega417
The Descendents were awesome at Kentish Town Forum. They smashed through 36 songs in 83 minutes. Played all the favourites: Suburban Home, Myage, Bikeage, I'm The One, Coffee Mug, and so many more. Truly inspiring to see people in their fifties still playing at that velocity with hardly any breaks between songs. On a side note, it was my first time at the Forum, and I found it to be a highly pleasant and atmospheric venue.
gregory-hyde
This show was incredible!!! The Descendents are one of my favorite bands and this was my first time seeing them, in no way did they disappoint. They played a mixed of popular songs like Im not a loser and not as popular ones like clean sheets. Their set was about two hours and well worth the trip from Boston. I couldn't of asked for a better night.
Leeshy
My son said it was a great show in Honolulu & worth every penny. This group has been around for quite a while & according to my son (whose own punk group False Crack covers some of the Descendents' songs) they were as good as ever. FYI, The Republik is a nice venue for this type of concert (punk).
Boiddd
The Descendents put on a phenomenal show- great setlist and a double encore. Dez Cadena came on stage to help with "Van" and even performed the Black Flag song "Jealous Again" with Bill Stevenson on guitar, Stephen Egerton on drums, and Karl Alvarez in bass.
phart314
High energy show, the band played nonstop, about 25 songs, good mix of old and new material. The energy in the crowd was great. This was a show I looked forward to for a long time. So glad I finally got to see this band that has meant so much to me!
daveygandthekeyboard
Sold out show with Stephen picking up the slack on a few big notes when Milo's voice started giving out in parts. Equipped with a waterbag under his shirt on his back. Milo gave his ALL and the Descendents delivered a solid performance.
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