DESCENDENTS

Formed in L.A.’s South Bay in 1978, Descendents began as a power trio featuring bassist Tony Lombardo, drummer Bill Stevenson, and guitarist Frank Navetta (d. 2008). The band recruited vocalist Milo Aukerman in 1980 and began establishing themselves as major players in the Southern California Punk movement. Over the years, the band has sustained a potent chemistry and shared vision, further cementing them as punk legends.

In 2002, the original four-piece lineup — Frank Navetta, Tony Lombardo, Bill Stevenson, and Milo Aukerman — got back into the studio to finally record their first-ever songs. The songs were written by the band from 1977 through 1980, before recording the Fat EP (1981) and the Milo Goes to College LP (1982). Put simply, this is the Descendents’ earliest material, representing a “lost” pre-MGTC album. Most of these songs have not been heard—until now.

Every element of Descendents’ genre-creating sound is here: Stevenson’s hyper-caffeinated surf-beats, Lombardo’s intrepid bass, Navetta’s crunching attack, Aukerman’s impassioned, infinitely relatable singing—and all those great melodies and harmonies. There are classic punk rave-ups (“Sailor’s Choice,” “I’m Shaky”), antisocial bursts (“You Make Me Sick”), and the kinds of poppier gems the band would, very soon, put on the map (“Mohicans,” “Nightage”).

“9th & Walnut is where our first practice room was, in Frank’s sister’s garage,” Stevenson recalls. “His brother and sister lived there, and “The Pagan Babies”, Frank’s band with his brothers, played there too. Some of these songs were written when Frank was only 14 years old.” When the band reconvened to record them, it was just like the earliest days: “We just fell right into our old mode. It was so natural.”

Also included are freshly recorded versions of the MGTC outtake “Like the Way I Know,” Descendents’ debut tracks “Ride the Wild” and ”It’s a Hectic World” (heard here for the first time with vocals by Milo), and the Dave Clark Five’s “Glad All Over”—given the full Descendents treatment.