Another fucking breakfast bot in Hickory. Cool. Yeah, great. We got like nine of those things, and I've never eaten any of them. Who pays for breakfast? Unless you're going to Wafflauce. Yeah, we should not talk about breakfast places in Hickory. No, it really makes us mad. It's wasting money on CDs with only one or two good songs. Yeah. Tell them about punk. [rock music] What's up, posters? We're going to punch a lot of pod. I'm your co-host, Justin Hensley. I'm your other co-host, Dylan Hensley. And this is the show where we choose one year at random, and select one punk, hardcore emo, or punk adjacent ear. Wait, what? Let's start that over again. And this is the show we choose one year at random and select one punk, hardcore emo, or punk adjacent album from that year to discuss. This week we're talking about the year 1996. And if you head over to patreon.com/punklotopod for $1 you get access to all of our weekly bonus audio, where last week we did a chart dive on the year 1996. For this chart dive, we did an overall, because we previously covered the punk charts before, and we actually did a modern rock charts for '96 as well. So we realized we hadn't done an overall, so we did all the other stuff that is non-punk. And Dylan, what's the consensus that we came to on '96? It's not great. And frankly, the punk stuff is the best stuff. Yeah, there was a couple. I mean, battle and hip hop. I feel like we kind of said this. Those are genres that kind of always have their good stuff every year. I guess I couldn't judge how deep those, like with punk we can sometimes we'll be like, yeah, there's always good stuff, but it doesn't go very deep. So it's very possible that '96 is not great for those genres either in terms of depth. I don't know. It just looked like '96 is kind of trying everything and not really being all that successful at anything. Yeah, we talked about it a bit and '96 seems like it doesn't know what its identity is. And it's starting to put in really weird stuff, like Tibetan throat singing, you know, as one example. There was like an X-Files compilation, not a soundtrack. It had like bands on it. It was weird. I don't know. It's a strange, strange year. And yeah, I think the punk stuff is probably the most consistently good of the genres that year. So head over to Patreon. You can also sign up at the $10 tier for a one-time $10 donation. You get to choose the album we devote an entire episode to. So we've got a couple of those in the chamber. I need to speak with them to see when they would like those to go up. So be on the lookout for that. And we are fast approaching our 300th episode. We've got our gimmick in mind. We know what we're doing. That's right. It's a gimmick for 300. We wouldn't just do a regular one. What's the what's the point of an anniversary? So keep on the lookout for that. And yeah, let's get into it. So the year is 1996 that we are talking about today and as usual, we like to go to rateyourmusic.com/punklotopod. Oh, wait. God damn it. I cannot talk today. As usual, we go to rateyourmusic.com and go to the chart section put in the year and then sort of by popularity. You're going to leave this part in. You're probably going to add it out a lot of those mistakes, but nearing 300 and Justin has made like two or three huge mistakes in describing the premise of the show and listing the websites that we use as a resource. So this is a great operation, which you should definitely consider giving your money to this. I'm going to wrap this into a patreon plug. It's even better if you subscribe. I don't know what's going on with me today. I feel like it took me forever to get started on the Patreon episode too. I don't know. We didn't even start that much earlier than we normally do, like maybe like 20 minutes earlier, but somehow that was true. I was like, we need to start early today. I'm on a time crunch and then I'm like, I'm online. It's like 10 o'clock. This is basically when we start normally. Yeah, I don't know. I'm a mess today. I don't know. World class operation here at Punk LottoPod. And like, I did the order backwards too. Like, I did the whole thing backwards. Like, we don't even start with charts anymore. We start with, what else, you know, what were you considering from 1996 for us to talk about? So what do you want to do first? Should we start there? Let's start there. I mean, let's start there. All right, 96. I gave you the year 96. It was your turn to choose. What else were you considering for us to talk about? So some years, I think, I think when we've kind of settled into like picking four, yeah, that's usually like, that's kind of what I look for. I look, I try to find four records that I can pitch you. Some years, it's like, damn, I could just keep going and I'd be like, seven, eight records. I'm like, ah, man, there's so much I could choose from. I was like, I really don't know which direction to go. I had three that I sent you for for 96. It's how how not that deep or interesting 96 is. And then it's not that there's not great stuff. There is great stuff. And we'll hit some of my stuff on the chart section. But like, there was just so little that I really wanted to do for the show. And part of it was, I wasn't set on a direction to go. Like, I didn't have a clear, I want to let talk about something new to me, or I want to talk about something like an old favorite. You know, I didn't have like a really clear, weird vibe either. One of, and probably the most, I guess we'll start with the most unusual and unlikely choice for me to have considered, but I did screenshot this and send it to you. Sublime's title record 96. You sent it to me with the comment that, is it too close to SCOGGUS to do the supply record? And my first thought was, you picked a supply record? Like that's so out of left field for you. Yeah, that was, that was the weirdest consideration. And it was just like, well, I was part, so part of it was looking at the charts and I'm like, hmm, well, there's stuff we've covered. You know, there's, I feel like there's records by bands that we've talked about. You know, it's like, there's like a, you know, like a bad religion record, or like, there's a failure record. It's like, we just talked about failure. It's like, we've done it at the drive-in record, you know, it just, I, I at least wanted to maybe try to cover something that was something we haven't talked about on the show. So it didn't have a lot to choose from. So I think, I mean, and the sublime one jumped out on me. I just kind of like laughed as soon as I saw it. I was like, no, but really. But I was like, maybe, maybe we should, maybe we should do a sublime record. I don't know which one is the one to do. I think maybe that is the one to do. So it's funny, you were like, is it too close to SCOGGUS? We were recording this August first. Yeah. So like, it would have been perfectly in line with SCOGGUS. We just hadn't like, planned to do it yet because I hadn't actually looked at a calendar to realize, oh shit, episodes are going to start coming out in August. So we should probably actually get our, our theme for the month over. Fortunately, like, it's a long August. I think it's like an extra, extra week in it or something like that. But so we'll do a SCOGGUS this month, we'll, there's a, it's a four Thursday month. Yeah. It's not a, it's not an extra week month. That's like October. It's not an extra paycheck month. God, I would love an extra paycheck right now. I was hoping it was because I was my paycheck. One of my paychecks in July was horrible because of the vacation. Yeah. I was like, oh, look, I saw, I saw the check go in. Ooh. I'm going to figure out how to make this month work, this week work. But I, I ruled it out because I kind of figured I wouldn't like it that much. That was probably like the main reason. And also I was like, I don't want to do a prequel SCOGGUS. I don't want to do a four week SCOGGUS. You know, we have our, our system of like, yeah, two tone, third way, you know, we, we have that in place. And I was like, you know, where would sublime really fall in there? We maybe will pick a sublime record. Yeah. I mean, I think this year, I think we, the rotation we did last year, I don't remember how we did it was like, one of us picked the two tone record, the other one picked the third wave record. And then did we consensus the fourth though? I don't remember exactly how we did that one. But I think we're going to flip flop, who chooses what? And if I remember correctly, you chose the 90s record last year, I want to say. So it'll be my turn to hit pick. So maybe I'll be like, sublime. No, I won't pick sublime. I don't, I don't want to listen to sublime. I don't like them. I also barely consider them SCOGG. I know they're right. Kind of. I consider them more reggae than I do SCOGG. But yeah, I, I did listen to some of it. That's because I had so few picks, I just, I tried to listen to all of them, or at least try to sample all of them. I did put this record on. It was like the first song, I was like, I'm so glad I didn't pick this. I'm just like, it's like four minutes long, it's boring. He mentions this fucking dog. I mean, it's every sublime song is, I smoke weed, I have a dog. I didn't realize that was a common theme through all of his music. He talks about that dog a lot. What I got is the second song. I'm like, all right, fine, whatever. Forgettable. I mean, not forgettable. I'm one of the more memorable sublime songs. But like, whatever, it's like a one of the songs that I don't love, but I don't mind if I hear it on the radio in the wrong way, which is like, do you remember what this is pretty recently? Everyone on TikTok, like trying to analyze the lyrics of wrong way. Like, what's it about? What is he saying? Because it's a song about having sex with a teenager. Yeah. I mean, a teenage sex worker. And I'm like, why are you guys listening to this record? I was like, why are you guys trying to like, moralize the lyrics of sublime songs? Like, have you maybe not considered that they're just not good people? Like, they're just long beach, uh, stoner guys who probably have done some shady things. But also like, to me, that song also feels like a very fictional story anyway. Like, it doesn't seem like I don't think this story happened. I don't think it's even a real based on anything that really happened. I mean, it's almost like, it was the kind, it's also that kind of like moral panic thing that like zoomers do with stuff where they don't understand that like, characters can have like, bad morals. It's like, have you guys, you're the kind of people that don't understand the movie taxi driver, right? They're the kind of, they're the generation that doesn't want sex in movies anymore either. Which century is on this record too? That's probably the one to do if there's a sublime marker to do. I don't like it. Not for me. I'm glad I didn't pick it and I did not finish the record. I did consider it was, and I was pretty close on this one, uh, petitioning the empty sky by converge as we had like, just said the week before on Patreon, we haven't done a converge record on the show. I'm like, that would be one to do. I mean, there's at least two converge records I feel like that are important. It's like this and Jane Doe, I think are the ones to talk about. And I love petitioning the empty sky. I think it's a killer fucking record. I really listened to it and I'm just like, damn, like beginning in the end, this is so gnarly, so many killer, memorable riffs. Jake sounds fucked up like it's, it's fun and cool and weird, really just such a cool direction to take hardcore in. And you realize, you know, with Tod, you know, it sounds really groundbreaking. And you realize with time, it's like, oh, they're doing, you know, they're doing Worschach, they're doing Stark, whether they're doing today is the day. Like, I've picked up on like their influences and their influences are way more obvious now, but I think that they still manage to take and like slayer and, you know, like, I mean, I feel like they managed to take those influences. And even though like, at this point, it's still pretty clear where those influences are coming from. Once you know them, they still take them and they elevate them into something else. And they, I think they made a record that is more than the sum of its parts. And then, of course, converge turns into, you know, totally their own thing. And this is that step towards that, but it's a great record. I love it. I get why it's not people's favorite. And I mean, when you consider, you know, what comes after it, like, what they ultimately become known for. It's not my favorite. So I think it would have actually produced a pretty interesting conversation. I think it's good, but it's just, it's not, there's like a line. And the line to me is Jane Doe and beyond is what I really like out of converge. And everything before that, I just like, I'm kind of whatever on, like, I don't love it. Some stuff pretty bad, but for the most part, it's just, yeah, I'm, I have a really hard time connecting with any of the pre Jane Doe material. And in all reality, I'm not even the biggest Jane Doe fan. I definitely like records that came out after Jane Doe way more than Jane Doe itself. But there's very clearly, like, a direction that shifted after once you hit Jane Doe. And then, yeah, my only other consideration is the record that we're talking about. So we can look at what else came out in '96. Yeah. So as usual, if you look at radio music, the number one records are always things we go, what, why? But yeah, yeah. Pinkerton by Weezer. Yeah, cool. Yeah. One of the most overrated records of all time. Sure. And then it was a hot take. I know people are like, "Pickerdens are best rigoured." And I just don't like it. It's not. I don't think it's very good. Some stuff, we kind of hit a lot of this kind of stuff when we were talking about the charts. So I kind of want to look at some stuff that we did not mention. Texas is the reason, do you know who you are? Absolutely. Amazing. Emo record, one of the most important emo records of this time period, still to this day, considered like a classic record. I don't know how much influence is still being taken from that in the emo today. Seems like they're pretty much all just taking from concealer now. It's shocking how American football, Captain Jazz, is still the most influential emo band of all time because all of the modern ones are still doing it. Two revivals later, and they're all still doing concealer worship. I don't get it. But yeah, I, if there was one band, yeah, if there was one band that I think should be the template for a new wave of emo is Texas is the reason. Oh, yeah. If someone said, "Hey Dylan, you want to start an emo project?" I would say, "Are we doing Texas is the reason?" If not, I'm not in. Throw in a little sense field, you got me. I fucking love this record. It's so good. It's so catchy. The like bitterest little pissy boy lyrics. It's just like so good. Other standards to me, the team dress record, Captain My Captains, a really good album. I quite enjoy team dress, really fun, like queer core, queer core, kind of, yeah, Riot Girl as well. Just an excellent band. They wrote, they made two albums and two, they're two great albums, and they're back and touring again, which is wild. You know, there's Bad Religion, The Grey Race, which is not high up there on the power rankings of Bad Religion, according to most fans. It's still considered good, because I think they're one of those bands that has no truly bad records, except for maybe into the unknown, because even their weakest later albums, it's still just doing the thing that Bad Religion does. So there are better ones, but I don't know, even their worst records are still like, hey, still sounds like Bad Religion, right? You know, Grey Race is the first one without Brett. So there's definitely a decline in quality, because it's just kind of on everybody else. Jimmy World Static prevails the first, no, it's not the first one. There's one prior to this. This is like the first major record, the major label record that they did, and still like not the one. You know, it's like, it's getting there, clarity is where it really kind of all clicks together, finally, but it's a solid record too. I have listened to this one before, and I was like, this is actually a really good record. Really fun. The other singer sings a lot more on it than James does. Another great emo classic, Christy Front Drive, their stuff titled album. This one is a little bit more in the like, minimally twinkly style of emo, but I still really like this album. It's not one that I find boring or anything like that. And it's one of the members of this band that just had gone on to do so many other projects. I think they have like a new, some of them have like a new band already that's like putting out something this year, very prolific group people, despite like never really bringing this band back. It's kind of like they left it in the past and like left it alone, which is always, I always find interesting when a band does that 96 is a good year for emo. We've got boys life record. We've got, let's see, building by sense field. Yeah, my favorite sense of an album. We've got a promise ring record, 30 degrees everywhere. What else? I want to say, is there a knapsack record? Maybe not. There's a Bray, there's Age of Octene by Braid, right? Game on 96 as well. There's a Jeremy Enig, I never knew how to pronounce that guy's name, the Jeremy, Jeremy Enig, Enig, Sydney real estate lead singer solo record. Yeah, doing his art, our pop chamber. Yeah, a little more chambery baroquey, but it's definitely like of interest to emos though. Yeah, I'd say it's also a good year. It's a big year for Scott as well. We're right here before the bus tones hit the mainstream radio, but we also have albums from less than Jake and the suicide machines and real big fish, you know, like a lot of the big names, a third wave Scott that like continue being big names in third wave Scott to this day. Like, there's, you know, real big fish unless the jakers still like a band today. Yeah, cranking them out. That third wave has probably a higher percentage of like bands that stuck around for a long time. Scott in general, I think actually, if you think about it as a really good track record when it comes to like just staying together through thick and thin. I find it interesting that you said 96 is a good year for Scott and then list the not good Scott records. Good. Maybe is the wrong word big is the better word. I guess that's what that's worth mentioning there, but because it's a big year up beats and beat downs by fire on frenzy is 96. Green album by Skanken pickle is 96. Chumps on parade by Emu 330 is 96. Those would be the ones I would say are good. There's the Aquabats. Yeah, I'm turning on that band now. Sad Trumbol. Yeah, but it, you know, it's return. It's got played out Martian girl, idiot box. It's the first one. It's not fury. Right. Fury is definitely the better of the first two records. But yeah, I guess we could mention the albums that we've previously covered on the show. So we go back to episode. Well, episode 250. We did the punk compilation, the tell them about punk. Yeah, that was 96. Yeah, that was 1996. We did an episode 222. We did static prevails, which my brain completely forgot that we covered that album. We did that with the darling fire. How did I forget we did that record? That is wild. I don't know because you were listing things that we that I was like, we definitely talked about this before, but whatever new episode can't guarantee that people have listened to us talk about it before. Right. Episode 190. Shava is ride the fader. We did that with extra arms. Ryan Allen there. Episode 156. We did social distortions with white light, white heat, white trash with John from time shares. Episode 143. We did the crown hate ruins until the eagle grins. That was, I believe your selection for that year. We did bikini kills reject all American with the band Susie true. And we did refused songs to fan the flames, discontent with Fay, Susan Plant there. And the Aquabats is episode 23. We did return to the Aquabats with darkest hours, the missing throw. Oh yeah. One thing I noticed, I was like, okay, you and I have only chosen. This is only the second time we've chose the album that we're talking about for 96. The others were all guests. One was the comp and then one was our old random method. So like weirdly, we've we've not selected that much from this year ourselves. And yet you still were like, and there's not much I want to talk about. And it's not to say that there's not stuff. It was just in the in the moment. I was like, I don't know what I want to pick. I'm just not feeling the stuff. I probably in the future would probably just do like that. Texas is the reason record. It seems like the most obvious choice or the sense field record or yeah. Well, the record you did select for us to talk about is everything sucks by the descendants. (music) God of the morning, the mix of chalky, everything sucks today. When it's so loud, it hits me out of the heart of me, everything sucks today. God of all the rocks that are laughing, all you know is the day is gonna go my way. Holes go down, the limes is running. I don't think anything's gonna be okay. (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) And the descendants are from Manhattan Beach, California, formed in 1977. This album was released September 24th, 1996 on Epitaph Records. This is the band's fifth full-length album. And the person on this record is Carl Alvarez on bass, Bill Stevenson on drums, Stefan Egerton on guitar, and Milo Ockerman on vocals. And the album was produced by Bill Stevenson and Stefan Egerton. Egerton or Egerton? Is it a hard G or a soft G? Is it a gift for a gift situation? I don't know. I always thought it was Egerton. Yeah, I think so. I think it is. But I fluctuate between which one I say. Some men's zingers, men's zingers, men's zingers, situation all over again. And this record does feature a few guests on it as well. We have Tony Lombardo, a previous bass player that descendants, playing on the song "Doghouse" as well as writing credits for the song "Unic Boy". We have Frank Navetta, who is a guitarist of the descendants, plays guitar on "Doghouse" and the song "Unic Boy". So they both have songs they just came back for. And then we have Chad Price, the singer of all at this time, doing backing vocals on this record. So it's a family affair here with this record. It's all descendants all the time, even producers on this record. Let's bring back these old guys to do the two worst songs on the record. Yeah, some don't think those are hot takes, but those are definitely my least favorite songs on the album. So what made you choose this one to talk about? You did. Yeah, I mean, there's a thing that we do. We send each other our options every week, and then we kind of like talk through it to see like, all right, where are we going to land with this? And I didn't want to do that sublime record. So I was like deflecting to the other records here. And I was like, you know, maybe we should give our listeners something to make up for the "He is Legend" record we did last week, that they don't know what we're nor even talking about or what that band even is. I feel like it's fun. It's so funny how much we like that "He is Legend" record, and we're like so apologetic about it. And I don't even think I don't even think it's like that dubious. I just the reputation of that band. So unclear. Yeah. Well, honestly, though, like most of the feedback that we got for that episode was like, who is this? Yeah, which is fair. I think that's a fair response, because they weren't even like that big for the time. But yeah, it is funny. We're always like, sorry, everybody. Sorry about that. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry to make you listen to this. I don't know why I like it. I don't know. It's like we're giving you the wild card draw for and Uno. Sorry about this. That's the only card I could play. Had to. As to why I was considering it. Sure. It's a big record. I mean, it's a big deal of a record. It's the... It was to come back, so to speak. It has an iconic album cover. It's that run of the band that I think that this record is probably more responsible for them being a household name than their original run. I think them coming back at the right time has made them required listening for pop-on kids. So I knew it. I'd heard the record. I know there are 2004 record two. I don't think I listened to hypercafiums, but I did listen to the ninth in walnut. So I have heard a substantial amount of the descent in discography. It's a band that felt like a known quantity to me. Certainly, it's a very recognizable name. I think it's something that's like, if we're looking at this from like a numbers perspective of like, let's pick a record that people are going to want to hear us talk about. I think this is pretty far up there. It's a name that's going to grab people. And I thought it would be an interesting record to listen to in terms of, I guess, legacy. I mean, descendants being a legacy band at this point, that I feel like I don't have to be, I wouldn't even feel like I really needed to be that invested in them or that familiar with their discography to be able to talk about them, because they're just such a big important band. So I figured there's a lot to talk about. And I'm due for, I don't know, I guess probably do for a reevaluation of late period descendants. So I was also kind of a consideration too. I was like, you know, I kind of have my opinion of those records, but it's an opinion that I formed 10 years ago, probably more than that. You know, it's an opinion that was formed in college. Yeah, I don't know. Just figured it was a good conversation. And it's a band we haven't done. We've never done a descendants record. Yeah, we've done an all record. Yeah, we've done an all record and we've talked about the descendants. And I think we talked about them in general on that episode, just kind of giving our like feelings on the ban at the time, but and we've talked about the maybe and some like chart dives and stuff like that. But not devoted entire episode to the descendants directly. I was trying to think of like what my history with this band is. And it kind of goes back to college when I was like really getting into all of the like classic hardcore and punk records, like the 70s and 80s. So really getting into all those bands and learning as much as I could about them at the time. And descendants were a band that I enjoyed the stuff that I had downloaded. And then I eventually like got around to downloading the first two records. And then those kind of like became the only ones by the band that I listened to like just the first two albums. Really the yeah, I didn't really get into the other stuff until way later. Like I feel like I didn't even listen to all and until the album all until I don't know is before we started this show. But like it wasn't that much before then. And I'd heard cool to be you. And everything sucks. Yeah, those records just never like clicked and became like my records though from this band. Like it was I strictly just listened to the first two for a long time. And I have they're an interesting band in the sense that like they have not a perfect discography. And even those first two records like they're not perfect records. I actually have lots of problems with both those records and songs on them. They're a band whose like lyrics have like a lot of lyrics and a lot of different songs have aged very poorly even on this record. There's some rough lyrics that's just like, man, this band just cannot they cannot get through without like something that makes you get a little bit, you know, I don't know, I don't know what it is that maybe it's like the type of lyrics that they are writing. They're very much like a lot of times there are these like love sick lyrics or like breakup lyrics or you know, unrequited love type lyric stuff. So that can get you into some like sticky, you know, lyrical content at the time. I don't think it was considered especially out there though. Like I don't think they were people were like, uh, that's not cool dude in like 1986, you know, it's just with the passage of time and people being like, eh, that's that's not cool, right? Like, you know, reflectively looking back on that stuff. So there's always that little bit going on with them. And so like I've always had a hard time being like, do I love the descendants? I certainly love a lot of the descendants discography and their music, but they don't have like a perfect record for me. So I don't know, what are your thoughts on the descendants? My history, it kind of goes alongside yours to a point. We never early on, we didn't get into like it. When I was a teenager, we didn't get deep into the descendants. We downloaded random stuff. We heard some of the stuff that would have heard, maybe. I guess I remember American. Yeah, that was on a warp to our comp. Yeah, I was on a warp to our comp. So I had just generally, and just this like kind of a broad exposure to descendants across their discography up to that point as a teenager that just, I don't remember the first time I listened to a full descendants record. I have, I still have it somewhere. It's probably in my sentimental box of shirts that I don't wear anymore. Our storage unit, but I have a descendants shirt. I want to say it's the everything sucks album cover shirt, which I think I got on clearance at Hot Topic in college, and it was like kind of too small then. And I think I fell out of wearing it regularly pretty quickly, and I don't know why. Because the white shirt? Because the white shirt. Well, still have white shirts. I keep buying white shirts. I don't know why. I know that they don't hold up. But it's funny, because I remember I had that shirt at the little private Christian college that I went to. And there was a girl on the women's soccer team who wore a descendants shirt all the time. I would see her wearing a descendants shirt regularly. It was just something she wore in her normal rotation. I have no idea what her name is. I probably spoke to her once in four years. I'm pretty sure she was the same class as me. Maybe a year above. And this was a place where none of my friends listened to the music that I listened to. Yeah, like you would have thought that I'd be like, Hey, cool shirt. Right. You like other punk bands? But that was just how clicky the athletes were. Oh, right. Yeah. It was like, there's no approaching an athlete, because they only hung out with the other the people on their team. It was just like, I'm sure she saw me wearing a descendant shirt. She's like, I'm not talking to him. It's just funny to be like ships in the night. We could have easily both worn a descendant shirt at the same time and just walked right past each other. And you wouldn't have said anything to each other. If that happened, if that happened, it would have just been like, cool shirt. Yeah. But I think it came to a point where going to punk shows, going to the fest, I feel like I saw descendant shirts more often than I heard the descendants. There was a period there, especially around Fest where like every band had a descendants rip. That was a really popular rip for like a good two, three years. It was when you've already done a black flag rip. And you need to refresh your merch. Let's do a descendants rip. For Fest. Yeah. Black Flag was the other one. Yeah. So my, my biggest exposure to descendants honestly came after college. And I probably listened to the first three records while I was working at the bank, scanning car loans. And I got to enjoy. I was just like, I don't, I don't think I like the descendants as much as I thought I did. So I just kind of fell off, just lost, kind of lost interest. But I mean, we've done our descent. We've told the descendants, Milo, Milo's here watching all just see Milo come sing one new descendants song with them. I've seen the descendants at Fest, at least half a set, half a set because they took four fucking ever to start. Yeah, I don't know what was wrong with it. There was like some technical difficulties going on there that because it was like gray and cold and rainy that it was like one of the only like cold fests we ever had. I think it was a cold rainy bill had to get his symbols just right. And yeah. And we only watched half the set because because we wanted to go see a now canceled band. But we weren't the only ones. It was like a flood of people started walking that direction because everybody, because they were hype. They were hype. It was hype. It was the first fest for them. Yeah. It was beach slang. We all, we all left descendants to go see beach slang, which now you're like, Jesus Christ, really? But we didn't know at the time. We hadn't even seen them yet. And then we saw them. We're like, oh, should we should be? Yeah, but there was there was a legitimate concern we couldn't. We weren't going to be able to get in. Yeah, it was in a smaller club. And it was like, they were hype that year. And they had like a seven inch to that was like, fest exclusive pressing. And like, so everybody was trying to get that. Yeah. So it was it was like a, we got to get in there to see it. So like that was why we left because otherwise we probably would have stayed the whole time. I don't there's not a lot of other bands. I think we would have left to go see instead. But just like the waiting around part was terrible. And then they do a lot of the all stuff, like the philosophical all stuff, whereas just like, God, I hate this. The worst part of the band. Oh, okay. I'm the one. I've been here for you all the more. I'm the one who stole the you've been crying on. Guys, guys, been his last. No one knows the truth. We're just good friends and you come to me for a simple thing. You tell me that I'm not so tired. Still, you call me late at night. Every time it takes the fight. After all you said, and all is done. I'm the one. I've been here for you all the more. I'm the one who stole the you've been crying on. Keep the total dick. Oh, yeah. I feel like just drifted further and further out in terms of my orbit around descendants as a band. But I mean, I guess I say that in doing the show and being assigned an all record to talk about and that I liked a lot and listening to newer stuff as it was coming out, like even after having the kind of just like disinterest period, there was something about them that has kept them somewhat relevant to me specifically. I'm not sure what it is because I feel like I have more negative things to say about the descendants. But they feel like more nitpicky things than like overall feelings because I think overall I have a very positive feeling towards this band. Really good band, classic period, very influential for punk in the 90s, pop punk in the 90s. Really amazing songs on like every single record. Like even if like I don't love the whole thing. There's something good on. I don't know about enjoy it. There might be there might be nothing on it. No, I think there's even a song on enjoy where I'm like, I do like this song. I don't like anything else. But yeah, just something good and everything they've done. And it's like a very, they're important in general, that and the combination of like all and the extended, you know, family tree of descendants. Like they have they reach into so many different pockets of different bands. So yeah, they're definitely, yeah, I can nitpick them because I've heard enough of it to be able to like point out the things I don't like, but still enjoy them overall. Yeah, I feel like I have, like you said, nitpicking is the way to describe it because I feel like I have these very pointed specific criticisms of descendants and like negative experiences with the descendants. And they feel in being so specific, it feels like I hate them. It feels like I say I'm or it feels like I'm saying that I hate them or like, oh, I don't like the descendants. And like I said, like hitting enjoy as I was going through this choreography and being like, I don't do I not like the descendants? Like, no, I just don't like that album. That's yeah. And I let that album color the band in a way that it shouldn't. But it's hard for me to find as many positive parallels to the negative criticisms. But it's almost like if you put the things that I like and dislike about the descendants or the good and bad experiences of listening to the descendants on a scale, the bad is like lots of little things. Like it's broken up into all these little pieces. And it looks like a lot if you like think of it as like a quantity. But if you look at the actual mass of what's on the scale, the good is just like, it's just a big chunk. Like, there's just this is the descendants essence that is really good. And it outweighs all the little nitpicky little fiddly things that I don't like. So let's talk about all the shit on this record. It's scary on the tradition of only saying bad things about a band we like ostensibly. Well, let's do a quick little rundown of the descendants history. I'll try and make it as brief as possible because there's actually a lot to it. The band initially formed as an acoustic two piece by Frank Neveda and David Nolte. They brought in Bill Stevenson to play as their drummer and they originally like a garagey like surf rock band when they bring Milo into the band as a vocalist. That's when they go, okay, let's get into punk because punk was blowing up at the time. So they they shifted and became a punk band and became a pretty big part of the California hardcore scene. They released their debut album 1982. Milo goes to college prior to that. There's the fat EP, which is on their very first thing they put out, which put them on the map. And they really stood apart from a lot of their peers by mixing melodicism with like hardcore punk. Definitely one of the popular punk hardcore bands of the Southern California scene at the time. Due to Milo actually going to college, Bill Stevenson also had joined the band Black Flag at the time. They wind up only playing kind of sporadically and essentially going on hiatus and they don't record another album again until 1985. I don't want to grow up. They follow that with Enjoy in 1986. And then after that, we have the introduction of Stefan Egerton and Carl Alvarez to the band. They were replacing Ray Cooper and Doug Carrion, Doug Carrion, famously the vocalist of Dagnasty after Dave Smiley leaves. And they themselves were actually replacing Tony Lombardo and Frank Nevada, who had also left the band. So this lineup of the band recorded their album all in 1987. And then Milo would leave again to go focus on. I think this is when he like was more starting his career. I think he'd already finished college at this point. But so the rest of the band is like, well, we're just going to stay together and still make music. And they started playing under the name All. And they released like eight albums between Descenta's records, which is a lot. And had three vocalists in that time period as well, including Dave Smiley. And so in 1995, Milo has expressed a desire to return to recording and performing. And so the band decided, all right, well, we want to keep all as it is. They had just done breaking things and pummel with Chad Price on vocals. And so they're like, OK, we'll keep all its own thing. We're not going to kick Chad out. We're going to keep him in the band. So we'll just be the Descendants now. And at the same time, all had released pummel on Interscope Records in 1995. And the band was really unhappy with that situation. They did not like the experience on the major. And so they signed with Epitaph Records with the Descendants. So they both band signed with Epitaph at the same time. At the time, there was a rumor that Epitaph would only sign all if the Descendants signed too. But they've all said, no, that's not true. Label said that's not true. The band said that's not true. They signed with Epitaph because they liked that Epitaph would just let them do a record whenever they wanted. Because all was very prolific. And so they would just go put out a record. And they had just been on a major who could like, no, you need to give us a record by this point. And the Descendants coming back was like just an added bonus. And so yeah, this is the first Descendants album since 1987. And yeah, it's a collaborative writing process. Everyone kind of writes their own thing. Every member of the band writes multiple songs on here. I actually count them up. It's like, Stefan does three songs, Carl writes six, Bill writes five, Myla writes four. And then you also have Tony and Frank doing songs on here too. So it's just like a very whoever has songs, bring them to the band types that type deal. And yeah, I think it's really interesting that this band's like most iconic lineup is the like Stefan, Carl, Bill and Milo. And that lineup doesn't start until their fourth LP, which is very wild. But all is the record that starts that version of the band. And I guess the big thing is, is this the definitive Descendants record? No, I do think that Milo goes to college is the definitive Descendants record. I think it's the one that the majority of people have heard. If you have only heard one Descendants record, it's most likely Milo goes to college. I mean, if you just look at your music, Milo goes to college has 10,000 over 10,000 ratings. And everything sucks has like 2,000. Nothing else by them comes close to the number of ratings as Milo goes to college. I think there's a lot of factors there, but I think it's safe to say that that's the one. That's the definitive Descendants record. If there's a second most definitive, it's everything sucks. Yeah, it is next in line. I mean, it's just got that artwork that helps. It's got the Milo. Is the little guy called Milo? It is Milo, right? It is just a drawing of Milo, right? I think so. Yeah, I would say no, I would say Milo goes to college is the definitive record, but everything sucks is very close. Because like I said, them coming back to being Descendants at the time that they did, it was the perfect timing to do it. Like it's a post-green day world for them to come back and be like, oh, well, we're like, you know, we're the originators of pop punk. Like, I mean, they're weird, but well, yeah, you would call that punk, but just calling that punk. Like, I think the Descendants playing what they did during the time period that they did has more impact on pop punk becoming its own distinct genre of subgenre of punk. [Music] What will it be like when I get old? Will I still hop on my bike and ride around town? Will I still want to be someone, not just around? I don't want to be like other adults, because they've already died. [Music] So what do you think of the album? Do you remember last time you heard it? I don't know. I want to say I would have listened to it in college. I don't know if I revisited it at any point. See if it shows up in my last FM anywhere. 76 Gravels in 2010. Five in 2012, two, one, one, then nothing from 2015 until now. So I listened to it a ton in college, and then like one year in college when I got the shirt. Well, I got to listen to this record, I got the shirt. Listening to it now, I think it's fine. I think it's a good record. I think it has some really good songs, some even great songs. I think that it has a couple of pretty bad songs, and then it has songs like, I mean, it has the problem that the descendants always has, where like they're absolute, some of their best songs musically, melodically, are borderline incel. Lyrics. It has, I'm the one, and I'm just like, "Ah, man, where do you, it's such a good song?" How do you talk about it because the lyrics are bad? You know, I realize it's a lot of Bill's songs that are like that too, because that's a Bill song, and he has like a lot of songs like that over the years. It's just like the hero. I'm the one's a Carl song. Is it a Carl song? Carl wrote the lyrics down to the one. Oh, okay, okay. That's not what I expect. What am I thinking of? Is there another song I hear that's a Bill song that I'm like, but I think there is. Does Bill has some songs on breaking things, I think, that are kind of rough? Because his was like, "All right, yeah, he does." Yeah, there's a rough sour grapes, I think. Is it Bill's song? Yeah. Anyway, yeah, I mean, it is weird. I mean, I guess that goes with the theme of the band, I guess. You know, like the loser, the nerd, the unlucky and love type personality. It's kind of the thing that like made them popular, but also it's like also they're, you know, the thing that you're like, "God." I try not to even think about lyrics when I listen to the sentence, honestly. I just, they're either like, "Oh, that sucks lyrically." Or it's just like, "It's about farting." Okay. It's like one of the bands that I'm like, "God, I hate the lyrical content of so many other songs, but I still like the song itself." It's like, that's annoying. That's an annoying thing. Because I do think I'm the one, it's like one of the best songs I ever wrote, like, you know, musically, melodically. Like, it's just like a top-tier song. Yeah. So as often as the themes of like that loser yearning for the attention of girls comes up, have you encountered a strong criticism of this sentence? Like, I feel like people point out those lyrics, but more often than not, the people that I hear pointing out those kind of, "You should just love me. I'm the one who cares for you. Why do girls like guys who treat them like shit?" Like, kind of song lyrics. I feel like the people who I have encountered who point those out are people who listen to the descendants, are people who like the band, they're like, "Ah, but this, yeah." Yeah. "I'm the one." Yeah. They're like, "Ah, but don't-- don't sing that." But I don't feel like there's like a-- I don't know. I don't feel like there's someone who wrote like an essay of like the descendants are, you know, patriarchal shitheads. Fuck them. Like, maybe somebody did at some point. I don't know. But I don't feel like that's a strong opinion. I feel like most people are like, "They've got some bad lyrics." And maybe it's because they have songs about farts and shit that people are just like, "I don't know. Don't take them too seriously." I mean, that could be the case. It's just like, yeah. I mean, I haven't-- I didn't investigating the lyrics on the 2016 record, so I don't know, like, how much they evolved as individuals. I imagine they probably did quite a bit, considering like they're in their 50s now. So I really hope they're still not writing songs like that, you know? But yeah, it is. It's people who listen to the descendants who point out those things. They're like, "That's a little icky." But I don't know. They kind of-- I guess there's a lot of that. Like, it was the time-- I feel like a lot of that. That kind of lyrics were like accepted well into the 2000s. To a past a point where it shouldn't have been accepted lyrically, so. I mean, granted, if we put this on a scale, I think whining about being in the friend zone is far less egregious than all of the Killier girlfriend lyrics in an emo and metal core that would follow. So it's the cultural echo, I guess, of like, we've gotten to the point where that mentality has turned into an online subculture. Where the term inzel comes from, it's just that group of people hanging out on Reddit or whatever, and just being like, "Women OS X." For me, listening to this record, it was a record that I had listened to before. I don't remember exactly what period in my life I would have been listening to this album and getting into it, but revisiting it, one of the biggest takeaways I had was, I think this might be their most consistent album from front to back. I think, because even Miley goes to college and I don't want to grow up, there's a-- I think I don't want to grow up might be the most uneven album, too. Like, it's like an A, it's like a My War, like A and B side thing for me, personally, with that record. But I think that B side is just so good that it like carries the A side. I think this one is from front to back, probably the strongest batch of songs. There's weak stuff in here, of course, but I think not nearly to the degree that some of the early records do, because I listened to a lot of descendants this week. I listened to-- I did my sandwich, I listened to all. I like that record, except for all the all philosophy stuff. I hate that and it's such a big part of that record, and it's so distracting, and I hate what the-- in my van or whatever that song is. I think that's one of the worst songs the band ever wrote. Just like, I hate-- all was very inconsistent for me. I was just like, ah, there's like a handful of really good songs. The Tin Commandments of all, or whatever it is. Yeah, the all-- oh, yeah. Oh, I hated that. I hate that so much. That's the stuff I like the least about all. And then I listened to Kudvi U, which is the 2004 record. And I think that one's just kind of OK. I guess it's kind of consistent, but there's not that many high points on that record. That record feels very middle of the road for me. I didn't love that record. I did also just out of-- because I was like, man, it's like 10 years between each of these records. So it's kind of weird. And I was like, well, what did all do in that time? So I listened to Pummel, which came out in '95. And really, that's who you should be-- if you're doing the sandwich thing, you should listen to Pummel, everything sucks, and then Mass Nerdder. Like, that would be the actual sandwich to do. Because it's the same band, but just a different singer. Right. It's the same writers. Like, they're all still writing the same songs. So it's just Milo's not there. And Milo's sometimes there. And that actually opens it up a little more. I didn't listen to Mass Nerd, or I did listen to Pummel. That actually, sonically, the consistency is very much there. Like, oh, yeah. OK, here's where they are. You know, it makes a little more sense. That record has some shitty lyrics on it too. God. Every version of this band has shitty lyrics in it. But all of the stuff I listen to by them, I think this might be the most strong front to back record. This record starts off with a really good run of songs. Oh, yeah. Really great run. Like, for seven songs. It's just like lyrics aside, no problems. Yeah. Because everything's catchy. There's variety. You got coffee mugs, 30 seconds long. But it's so memorable. I love that song. Everything sucks. I'm the one. I mean, those two songs are just super catchy and a lot of melodic. Coffee mugs, super memorable. Rodding out. It has like that cool chuggy riff. And like, sycamese is really strong. Cots really strong. And when I get old, it is great. I love that song. Well, I still hate the cops. Like, yeah, yeah. For, you know, for all of the, like, icky lyrics, they also still have, like, really good pointed criticisms of, like, of how capitalism grinds people down. Yeah. And that there is some, like, some rebellion and just being immature and refusing to, you know, participate in what society expects you to do. You know, for the sake of being contributing to society. And, like, it's a, it's a really strong run of songs. It doesn't really drop in tempo. It's just like, bam, bam, bam, memorable, catchy, cool riffs fast. I think the back half drops in quality a lot. Maybe even, uh, yeah, I feel like Dog House. That's where you hit it. We're like, eh, OK, but that one felt like an old song. Like, it felt like it was a hardcore song era. Which makes sense because it's, you know, the two guys from that period, you know, playing on the song. I do love me. She loves me as good. I think she loves me as good. It's a fun song. I think it's like as good as, like, something like caught, you know? I don't really like hateful notebook. I don't either. And it brings up that ick of like, what are you saying? Like, what are you singing about? I'm like, who is this woman that he's referring to? What is her hateful notebook? Inside, she writes the side of herself that she won't let me see. Such a hateful little girl. Her little book is her whole world. I'm like, are you talking about a woman writing in a diary? And I can't help but wonder what chapter I fit under. I'm a Stone Age male, and that's a fact. There's so much more to me than that. Yeah, it's a little like, you just assumed, who wrote that one? Is that, uh, it is lyrics by Carl and Bill. OK, Carl, what are we doing? What are we doing, bud? Carl, you all right? Yeah, I like we. I think we is a good turn. I think it's actually, we might be one of the stronger on the back half songs. I hate you, Nick boy. It's like, oh, cool. Well, so it's a song that it's one of the first songs Milo ever wrote. Because apparently like back then, he said like Tony is either Tony or Frank, like told him like, you need to start writing some songs, which means everybody else was writing the songs except for Milo. And they're like, write something Milo. And then he's like, this is the first thing you wrote was a unique boy. And they didn't record it then. So I don't know why they thought they needed to record it in 1996. I don't know if it was just because they brought in Tony and and Frank to play. Yeah, it was probably just like, eh, roll time's sake. Let's do that first song I wrote. It's terrible. They probably even think it's terrible. They might, yeah, yeah. It's 20 seconds long. Yeah, but it's just long enough to be like, why is this here? It sucks. But I think the final three tracks, this place I won't let me and thank you, they're all pretty sought. Actually, I think thank you is actually a really good song and a really good album, Closer despite the fact there's a hidden track there. I guess the problem with the back half is like, I think even the good songs on the backside are nowhere near as good as the songs on the front side of the album or the front half. Yeah, I will let me thank you our good songs. Thank you is a strong ender other than the empty space and the instrumental. Yeah, at the end of it. I guess the backside of the record, it just gets more hit or miss and like the peaks aren't as high. Yeah, I just think the front half is just so strong that it carries. A lot of the back half, the weaker elements of the back half. And I don't even as much as I hate unit boy. I don't think it's even close to the worst song that they have on all their other records. Like there are so many, it's so short that I'm not even like that mad at it, really. Because it's like, man, you have so many worst songs on every other record. That are a lot longer too. So yeah, to me, like, that's why I think it's the strongest overall front to back. Because they're not a perfect band. And my memory too, like, I didn't re-listen to it, but hyper-caffeums resonate. Like, I remember not even liking that album at all when it came out. And I think I read like an interview or something where they were interviewing Bill and it was like, yeah, it's a really dark album for me. I was like, ah, that's not what people listen to the descendants for. It's for the darkness, you know? Like I get it, you're writing about what, you know, matters to you. But it's just like, I don't know, it was like the big comeback record to me. I was just like, this is what we waited for. But then it didn't wall nut. Was it ninth and wall nut or whatever that's called? And I liked that a lot, actually. I remember listening to it and thinking it was decent. It's like made up of like a bunch of different recording sessions from like the 80s to the 2000s. So it's like literally from every period of the band. But I do like that one a lot. I just think that the highs on this record are just so high. Like they're really strong. They really, to me, it really works and makes the album a much more consistent listen from front to back. And I know for a fact, there are people out there that like, this is their favorite descendants record. Like, I feel like I can talk, said that with multiple people I've talked to about, you know? I can see that. Yeah, I, there's, I don't know, this is definitely not a no skips record for me. I don't think they have any. But yeah, that's true. Maybe, maybe I need to look at the, at the track listing of my logos to college. It's been a while since I've listened to that record. So yeah, I would have to listen to that one to see. I guess I feel like with, with that record, with the, with it being the first record and them, it being so early in their career and honestly them just being kind of, I mean, really young. I can live with the icky ear lyrics there a little more comfortably because they do feel just more like teen nerd kind of endless like by 1996. It's like, one of you is a doctor. I feel like you should be smarter than this. And, and, you know, I'm looking, I'm looking at this through the lens of today. And, you know, I, but I also, I don't know, I go back and forth. If it was harder to understand what they were singing while they were singing, they'd be a lot easier to listen to it. I guess is, is ultimately where I land. And then also it's like, like the irks, just like carbon copied. Yeah. The descendants, it's just like, like, note for note word for word. And it's like, and I listen to the irks a lot too. And a lot of that stuff has an H well. Yeah. It's just like, oh, wow, we really fully just copy pasted this band onto another band. Why are nerds like this? Yeah. I mean, women are attracted to nerds. Like, I, that smart guy with the unkemptare, like the sexy professor type. That's a thing. Like, you got to, you just got to find the right ones. Yeah. Well, it's, it's a case of, you know, there's like that stereotypical joke about like, yeah, you nerds, you don't even get laid. I was like, no, nerds have freaky sex. Like, yeah, nerds fuck in ways that the rest of us are like, I am not down for that. No, that's, that's like always a funny whenever that's always like, Oh, you virgin in your mom's basement. I was like, not a virgin. Yeah, I just, it's just the nerd rock guys are always like, I was thinking about this. The thing about this, because I was listening to Lincoln by the amount of giants recently. And I was thinking like, I wish nerd rock was more like this. Just play in an accordion and singing about, I don't even know, like rock, paper, scissors or whatever. Whatever they might be giant songs are about a shoe horn with tea. But at the same time, like, Lincoln has Anna in and it's like, Oh, damn it. That's a song about a guy being loved with a woman he's never met. Who's also Asian? Damn it. Sounds like a Weezer song. Yeah, yeah, it is an art is a lyrical archetype. And I don't know how much of it is just like bands just kind of playing into that archetype or like, well, we write songs about being losers and can't get girls. And I mean, I guess a lot of it's more internalized than that. But yeah, it's the revenge of the nerds. Yeah, that's Elvis Costello, it means. Yeah, the neurotic. So maybe the problem is nerd musicians, not so much just the nerds themselves. Yeah, they spend all their time practicing music. The record gets mixed reviews. Actually, they're not great reviews during the time period. Like all music gave it like a three out of five. Entertainment Weekly gave it a C. Robert Criscale gave it a neither, which is like the only time I've ever seen him like not give a letter grade to a record. I've seen him give like all the other grades, but I think a neither means like it's not good. It's not bad. It's just there. Rolling Stone bio in 2001, 2004 said that this album was unforgivable. Just like a lot of really negative reviews at the time. And I don't know why that's the case because to me, it's not that different from anything else they'd ever done. He wasn't drastically different. If anything, it has a really good production value. And I think the songwriting is tighter across the board. So I don't know exactly what it is that people are hoping for. I don't know. I guess we have the hindsight of like this version of the band, which is essentially all, you know, it's Stefan and Carl and Bill. Whereas I guess in '04, if you weren't 96, if you were not listening to all, you don't have that like love for this lineup because they only had one record. I don't know what people really wanted. I guess people wanted the first year records again, which I don't, you weren't going to get. I don't think they made videos for I'm the one. And when I get old, they were released to singles. This album hit number 132 on the billboard 200 and number four on the heat seeker chart. So it was the first time the band had ever charted. And then they followed the album with tours with the swinging others, the bouncing soles, the suicide machines, shades of fart, gutter mouth, less than Jake, handsome, electric Frankenstein. Social distortion, Pennywise, H2O, not all the same tour, obviously, but, you know, various tours throughout the next couple of years. And then we go on another very large break until 2004, where they released Code of the U and then Hypercafium Spasinate in 2016 and the 9th and Walnut in 2021. And they're kind of, they're a festival band now. It feels like at this point. I mean, they did some touring, I think around the records, but they're fully in Legacy Act. I think at this stage, I don't know. I don't know if I would say they're fully in Legacy Act. I mean, that's what they should be. Like, maybe I wouldn't be surprised if two years from now they had another album come out. So do you think they've broken the long gaps between albums? I mean, as of this point, we're eight years away from Hypercafium Spasinate. Yeah, which that came out 12 years after Cool to Be You. Yeah, that was their longest gap. Yeah, 9th and Walnut, I mean, it's pre-existing material. Yeah, that one's more of a, hey, we finally finished it type record than a, yeah. To me, it's not a true, I mean, it is in the sense that all those songs are brand new. I know I never heard them before, but yeah, it's not the same. It's not the same as like a full studio album from them. So we're, I mean, if they wait another two years, I mean, another 10 years between records, I don't know. We'll see, Milo had that heart attack. So I don't know what's going to change for them when it comes to that stuff. What was the last all record, 2000? That's weird. Yeah, like all was like, this is our, this is our band between descendants. And then like, they just kind of also stopped too. I mean, I guess age and families and all that kind of stuff gets in the way. But yeah, that seems like a really long time for another all record. I mean, what's Bill doing, engineering, producing? Was Bill, was Bill an off? Who's the drummer of off? Oh, yeah, he probably did play drums for off. Is it him? I mean, it may not be him. I think he was in flag for sure. Oh, no, no. Off was, it was Mario Rubikaba and then Justin Brown. I think it wasn't flag though. Yeah, I don't know what Bill does. Bill did the engineering for half album, no effects from this year. Right, that's right. Because Bill and Stefan have the blasting room, right? Yeah, so he's produced. Well, Stefan lives in, Stefan lives in Tulsa now? I think so. I think that's why there's all the, there's where Chad lives, I think. And I think that's where like the other guys like, there's like a descendants wing in Oklahoma too. Stefan does some mastering off and on, it looks like and has done some. The blaster room is Bill and Jason Livermore. That's right. Yeah, Bill, yeah. So Bill and Stefan have done production work in the intervening time. I mean, I feel like that's the kind of thing you do whenever you're like, well, I guess my band's done. I guess I'll be a producer. Take it out. How to record everything, which the blasting room sound is really good. It's a very clean sound. They recorded this at the blasting room. It's very like clean and tight sound. You know, Milo is still a biochemist. You know, so that kind of gets in the way. Yeah, what is his work done? What are his accomplishments accomplishments as a biochemist? I have no idea. I don't even know what like his field is in. Plant molecular biologist at DuPont is what he has done. That was in 2014. Milo Ockerman DuPont IMDB or LinkedIn, not IMDB. There was apparently in 2016, he quit researching to do music full-time. Has descendants been a full-time band since 2016? I feel like that's not the case. I feel like they took really long gaps, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, yeah, I don't know. I think it's, like I said, I think it's their most consistent album from Quebec. And I can see why it's many people's favorite album as well. Yeah, I think it's a good record. I just find it's flaws. I mean, there's three big skips on here. Yeah. I think that's probably the par for descendants records. Like there's going to be three songs that just suck, at least. Yeah, it's a weird tradition that they kind of upheld throughout their career. Yeah, I skipped that one. That's a skip. It's like the Mitchell and Webb sketch. It's like, do we have to make any skips? Like, you know, or misses? That's what it was. Yeah, we have to have a miss. Let's get a show. You got to have this. So the sentence album, you got to have skips. Which is probably where I've, why I've had a negative trending attitude towards the descendants over the last decade. Of it just being hard for me to feel that excited about a band that I want to skip so many songs on their records. Despite how good the other songs are. Like, so many incredible songs by the descendants. It's just, it's such a wide swing of quality that is unusual for a band. It is, it is a wide, yeah, it is the wide span of high and low within the same records on every single record. One whole record. God, enjoy is so bad. Can't believe they thought that was fine to do that record. Though I listened to, what record did I listen to? Is there like a fart joke on who would be you? Yeah, blast off. Blast off has a fart joke in the middle of the fucking record. Like, you guys didn't grow up. I mean, I get it. Farts are funny. Farts are funny in your everyday life. Not, I don't think they're funny in art. I don't know. Farts, it's funny. Farts are funny. Farts are hilarious, actually. But anyone can make a fart joke. That's true. And it'd be really funny. Well, what would you rate this album? I'd give it like a three and a half. I'm going to solid four. I think it's a good 4.0. Yeah, I always say I don't want to grow up to my favorite album by them. But there's a bunch of stuff on that record. I just don't like it. I just love the B side so much of that record. If we're being a hundred percent honest, breaking things might be the best front to back record in the whole discography. But right. Yeah, if we're counting all and descendants, breaking things is their best record. Yeah. But if it's just descendants, if Milo is a quintessential element of the band. And I think he is. He has a really good, unique voice. And we didn't really talk about any of like what. Everything about this band is unique. You have Bill, one of the best hardcore drummers of the 80s. And you have Carl with the, it's like that kind of bass I don't love, but I like how he plays it kind of thing. Like I hate that kind of like more, more, more, more. You know that real soft bass tone, but he plays it so well. And it's definitely like unique, one of a kind guitar playing. Like everything about this band is like super unique in every part of it. And if other bands do it, I'm like, I don't know if I like that, but yeah. Well, all right, everyone. Thank you all so much for listening. Please rate, review, and subscribe. Give us a like on YouTube and give us some star ratings on Apple and Spotify. Smash that like button. How do you do these? What do they call call to actions on YouTube? I need to learn how to do some of these, but we're on all social media at Punk Lotto Pod, punklottopod@gmail.com and our voicemail line, 200-268-Punk. And that will do it for us this week. Thank you all so much. And we will talk to you next time. To order punk, call the number on your screen. Rush delivery is available. Remember, this special offer is not sold in stores.
This week we are talking about the 1996 comeback album from the Descendents, Everything Sucks.
