The Descendents

Descendents
The Descendents in 2014. Left to right: Egerton, Aukerman, Stevenson, and Alvarez.
Background information
Origin	Manhattan Beach, California, United States
Genres	Punk rock hardcore punk melodic hardcore pop punk
Years active	1977–83 1985–87 1995–97 2002–04 2010–present
Labels	Orca New Alliance SST Epitaph Fat Wreck Chords
Associated acts	All Black Flag Only Crime The Last
Website	descendentsonline.com
Members	Bill Stevenson Milo Aukerman Karl Alvarez Stephen Egerton
Past members	Tony Lombardo Frank Navetta Ray Cooper Doug Carrion David Nolte

The Descendents are a punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1980, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a punk rock band, becoming a major player in the hardcore punk scene developing in Los Angeles at the time. They have released seven studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums, and three EPs. Since 1986, the band's lineup has consisted of singer Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez, and drummer Bill Stevenson.

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. By the end of the year they had failed to attract any more band members, so Nolte instead joined The Last with his brothers. In late 1978 Navetta was joined by drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Tony Lombardo, revitalizing the Descendents project. Nolte sang with the group at several of their early performances, but by the Spring of 1979 The Last were becoming more active and he left the Descendents. The singerless "power trio" lineup of Navetta, Lombardo, and Stevenson recorded the band's debut single at Media Art studios and released it on their own label, Orca Records, named after Stevenson's fishing boat. Navetta sang "It's a Hectic World" while Lombardo sang "Ride the Wild". Nolte produced and mixed the session, and his brother Joe turned the lead guitar level up, resulting in the guitar being very loud in the mix.