Descendents On Celebrating 30 Years Of ‘Everything Sucks’

So Cal punk royalty, Descendents are in the country for the Run Down Under tour, celebrating thirty years of Everything Sucks. Originally released in 1996, Everything Sucks, remains a pivotal release in not only the band’s catalogue but in the genre they helped define. The album captured the urgency and directness that has underpinned Descendents’ influence since their beginning way back in 1978! While the tour marks the anniversary of Everything Sucks and will focus heavily on the killer tracks from it, fans can of course expect a career-spanning set, including live staples that have cemented Descendents as one of punk rock’s most consistent and respected acts. Milo Aukerman talks to Hi Fi Way about the tour.

Great to be talking to you again, another Australian tour, you’ve got to be stoked about coming back for another tour?
Yeah, it’s been several years, or at least a few, and we always love coming back. This time we’re hitting a few extra places. We always tend to play Adelaide, but now we’re heading to spots like Hobart as well, so that’s pretty exciting.

This tour’s about celebrating thirty years of Everything Sucks, when you reflect on that sort of milestone, what does that mean to you now?
It really takes me back to that period, which was one of those times where we were rejuvenating the band, dusting off the cobwebs and getting back into it. I’d been doing science for many years before that, and then we made the Everything Sucks record and decided, well, let’s just go on tour. We ended up spending most of ’96 and part of ’97 touring really hard. To me, it was one of the band’s rebirths. We’ve had a few over the years, but that was definitely one of them. And every time we go through a rebirth like that, it’s because the record itself is something I’m genuinely excited about. Everything Sucks was absolutely one of those records where I thought, ‘This is great — I want to tour this and support it for sure.’

Did you ever expect it to be such a pivotal album, be so impactful and mean so much to so many people?
No, I knew we’d made a good record, and with four people writing songs everyone brought in great material. But I personally had no inkling of how it was going to do. Being on Epitaph definitely helped, at that point they were a monster label, especially after the Offspring record, so there was a big push behind it. That probably influenced things too. And people hadn’t seen us in a while; we’d been gone for several years, so there was a lot of hype and anticipation about what it was going to be like. I’m just glad we didn’t disappoint anybody. We put out a really good record.

Do you get nostalgic with these sorts of milestones and anniversaries, or is it very much keep moving forward, celebrate it, but not get too bogged down?
Certain milestones like Everything Sucks are really special because we’ve been playing half of those songs all along anyway. We dip pretty heavily into the Everything Sucks pool, and that alone tells you how meaningful it is to us. Now that we’re playing the whole record, it’s going to push us even further into that nostalgic headspace and really put us back in that era. Some of the songs we’ll be playing are ones we’ve never performed live, like Eunuch Boy. I don’t think we ever played that one, so… maybe for good reason, who knows.

Do you remember much about making the album, the trials and tribulations of putting out another record and all those sorts of experiences?
Yeah, because it was my first time recording at the Blasting Room, which is Bill’s studio. He and Stefan were really heavily involved in the recording process there. I have great memories of Bill showing me around, I was really impressed with what they’d built. With their other band they’d gotten some decent money to put into the studio, so seeing it for the first time was like, ‘This is great.’ Everything was self‑contained. They didn’t have to book studio time anywhere else; they could do everything in‑house, and that was a huge advantage. It meant we could do some vocal takes, then I could rest my voice and come back the next day without worrying about a three‑hour studio booking and whatever we got being what we were stuck with. Having their own studio meant we could take our time and get the best performances possible. It was a whole new way for me to record, and it was really fun, just a great experience overall.

With the thirtieth anniversary, was there any temptation to go and remaster it or play around with it anymore, or are you more of a believer that it captured that particular moment in time and just to leave it as it is?
I don’t know, I didn’t hear anything on my end. Since I’m not as involved with the production side, I’m not sure if that idea ever got floated to Bill, because he would’ve had the biggest say in that. What I do know is that Andy Wallace mixed the record, and Bill and Stefan were absolutely head‑over‑heels about that mix. So I don’t think there was ever any need to remix it; it worked then, and I think it still works now. Whether it needed to be remastered, I couldn’t really say, but it definitely seems to have stood the test of time..

Do you feel like that particular album set the bar high for anything else that followed for Descendents after that?
Yeah, I think what we were trying to do, and really where we all were musically at the time was to make it as aggressive as possible. We were even hearkening back to Milo Goes to College, really digging deep for that more aggressive tone and I think we did a good job bringing that to the forefront, that really harsh, in‑your‑face energy. It definitely set a high bar for everything that came after it. The next record we did was Cool to Be You, and that one was maybe a little more… I don’t know, a bit more sterile‑sounding, maybe? Not quite as in‑your‑face as Everything Sucks. Everything Sucks just comes out swinging, that great guitar work from Stefan right off the bat sets the tone that it’s going to be a pretty much face‑melting kind of experience.

What are the songs from the album that really do it for you, or are the ones that are more significant for yourself?
Well, when I heard all the songs Carl had written, I was blown away, he brought in such great material. I’m the One was a standout from him. I brought in We, and that one has a lot of personal meaning for me because it’s about my wife. I really wanted We to make the record for that reason, it’s about her. She’s actually right over there in the background.

So you’re looking to play the album sort of start to end?
You know what, I’m not sure. We’re just starting to practice, and Bill will probably call the shots on that. I kind of feel like, yeah, do it start to finish, why not? You spend a lot of time sequencing a record because of the flow and if you want to capture that live, it makes sense. People also have that sequence in their heads, that’s how the record goes, that’s how it flows, so playing it in the same order would feel natural. It would also be a bit of a testament to the work that went into setting that sequence in the first place. So yeah, I think it makes sense.

With such an extensive back catalogue, where do you even start contemplating a set list for Australia?
Yeah, this’ll be different, obviously, because we don’t normally play whole albums. I imagine we could play the whole record and then start adding in the greatest‑hits‑type songs behind it, but yeah, some things will get squeezed out. We can’t play an entire album and then also play our regular set. No one wants that, we’re not the kind of band that goes, ‘Okay, we’re going to be on stage for two hours.’ That’s not something we feel the public really needs from us. They want us for about an hour and a half max, I’d say. So the plan is: play the record, then play the best‑of after that.

Is there any pressure on the band to do new music, or is there anything kind of in the background that’s bubbling away?
Well, there’s no pressure from any label, because we just make music and then go, ‘Hey, is anyone interested in this?’ We don’t currently have a label per se, so any pressure is really just self‑imposed and there is a certain amount of that, but you’d be surprised how long it takes for that self‑imposed pressure to actually turn into recording. We’re in this slow grind, or slow process, really, of getting everyone writing. We’ve actually written and recorded about twenty five songs, but we still need input from all four members, which is part of what makes us who we are as a band. Everyone has to contribute. That’s where things are at right now. I can say that yes, there will be a record coming out… but I have no idea when it’s going to be.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch the Descendents on the following dates, tickets from SBM Presents…