John William Stevenson (born September 10, 1963) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer, main songwriter, and the only constant member of the California punk rock group Descendents since its inception. In late December 1981, he played a few concerts with the

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

band Black Flag because their drummer ROBO was detained in England after a tour there. He went on to record with Black Flag on several of their albums until 1985, including the highly influential ''

My War ''My War'' is the second studio album by American band Black Flag. It was the first of three full-length albums released by the band in 1984. It polarized fans due to the LP's B-side, on which the band slowed down to a heavy, Black Sabbath-e ...

''. After this he focused his attention on Descendents and played with the band until lead singer Milo Aukerman left in 1987. After Milo's departure, Bill and the other members of Descendents, Karl Alvarez and Stephen Egerton, recruited singer Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty, moved to

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 169,810 at the 2020 census, an increase of 17.94% since 2010. Fort Collin ...

, and formed

All All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

. All went on to have two more singers, Scott Reynolds (1989–1993) and Chad Price (1993–present). Aukerman came back for the 1996 album '' Everything Sucks'', the 2004 album '' Cool to Be You'', 2016's '' Hypercaffium Spazzinate'' and the newest album '' 9th and Walnut''. All and Descendents continue to tour between Stevenson's and Aukerman's respective careers as a recording engineer and a biochemist. Stevenson was born in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...

and attended Mira Costa High School, with fellow members of the Descendents. Stevenson, along with record producer Jason Livermore are the founders of the recording studio The Blasting Room in Fort Collins,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

. Currently, Stevenson is involved in

Russ Rankin Russ Rankin (born May 25, 1968) is an American musician, best known as the singer for the punk rock bands Good Riddance and Only Crime. Career Rankin is the lead vocalist for melodic hardcore band Only Crime, Creep Division, and punk ro ...

's side project Only Crime with former members of

GWAR Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...

and Converge. In 2005, he became a member of instrumental group The Mag Seven, and produced the group's album. He also played with The Lemonheads from 2005–2007, appearing on their 2006 self titled album, which he also helped produce.Stevenson talks about next Lemonheads album
''Punknews.org'', August 21, 2007. One of Stevenson's most recent works is producing

Rise Against Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rooted in hardc ...

's seventh studio album, '' The Black Market'', which was released July 15, 2014, As I Lay Dying's '' Awakened'' as well as the 2012

NOFX NOFX () is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Vocalist/bassist Fat Mike, guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on ever ...

album '' Self Entitled''.

Early life

Bill Stevenson (birth name; John William Stevenson) was born on September 10, 1963. Stevenson grew up mostly with his father, Steve Stevenson. He describes his father as a cold man but present for him. Steve Stevenson worked two jobs and was 22 hours outside of his home and came to give Bill food and put him to bed. Around the age of fourteen or fifteen, Stevenson started working for Keith Morris' father as a fisherman. He attended Mira Costa High School where he met his friends and future bandmates of Descendents.

Career

Stevenson is an original member of the Descendents forming in 1978. The Descendents put out a single called "

Ride the Wild / It's a Hectic World "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World" is the 1980 debut single by the American punk rock band the Descendents. It was the band's first release and displayed a new wave and surf sound. It was recorded at a time when the band lacked a lead sin ...

" in 1979. In 1982 they put out their first album '' Milo Goes to College''. After the album, singer Milo Aukerman went to college, the band played rarely, so Stevenson joined Black Flag. He left Black Flag in 1985 to reform the Descendents. The Descendents became

in 1988 after Aukerman left once again. The Descendents would form again from 1996 to 1997 and then in 2002, before going on hiatus. From 2003 to 2007, Stevenson played in smaller bands until All played shows again in 2008. In 2010, the Descendents reformed again.

Membership timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1977 till:01/01/2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1977 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1977 Colors = id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:guitar value:green legend:Occasional_live_guitar BarData = bar:Descendents text:"Descendents" bar:Black text:"Black Flag" bar:All text:"All" bar:Only text:"Only Crime" bar:Lemonheads text:"The Lemonheads" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Descendents from:01/01/1977 till:01/01/1983 color:drums bar:Descendents from:01/05/1985 till:01/07/1987 color:drums bar:Descendents from:01/05/1995 till:01/10/1997 color:drums bar:Descendents from:01/01/2002 till:01/08/2004 color:drums bar:Descendents from:01/01/2010 till:end color:drums bar:All from:01/07/1987 till:end color:drums bar:All from:01/07/1987 till:end color:guitar width:3 bar:Only from:01/01/2003 till:end color:drums bar:Lemonheads from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2008 color:drums bar:Black from:01/01/1983 till:01/05/1985 color:drums

Personal life

Bill Stevenson has never tried recreational drugs in his life other than alcohol, which he did not drink until later in life. In recent years, Stevenson has had some health issues. He grew a brain tumor unknowingly around 2008, which remained for another two years before being removed. The tumor caused Stevenson to lose motivation and eventually made him gain weight, had a blood clot, diabetes and sleep apnea. In 2010, he had a successful surgery to remove it which helped him to gain his health back. In 2016, Stevenson revealed he had open heart surgery.

Selected discography

''See also Albums produced by Bill Stevenson'' * Descendents - '' Hypercaffium Spazzinate'' - (2016) Drums, producer, engineer *

The Last The Last may refer to: *The Last (band) The Last is an American, Los Angeles-based, early pop/punk band, formed in 1976 by Joe Nolte with high school bandmates Vitus Matare and Dave Harbison. By 1978 the band included three brothers: Joe (guitar ...

– ''Danger'' (2013) Drums * Only Crime – ''

Virulence Virulence is a pathogen's or microorganism's ability to cause damage to a host. In most, especially in animal systems, virulence refers to the degree of damage caused by a microbe to its host. The pathogenicity of an organism—its ability to ...

'' (2007) Drums, Producer and Engineer * The Lemonheads – '' The Lemonheads'' (2006) drums, producer * Descendents – '' Cool to Be You'' (2004) Drums, producer, Backing Vocals * Descendents – '' 'Merican'' (2004) Drums, producer, Backing Vocals * Only Crime – '' To The Nines'' (2004) Drums, Produced, engineered, mixing, and mastering *

/Descendents – '' Live Plus One'' CD Split(2001) Drums, producer * All – '' Problematic'' (2000) Drums, producer * All – ''

ALL All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

'' (1999) Drums, producer * All – ''

Mass Nerder ''Mass Nerder'' is the seventh album by the punk rock band All. It was released on Epitaph Records in 1998. Background and recording In mid 1996, All began working on their next, then untitled, studio album. At the same time, Milo Aukerman wa ...

'' (1998) Drums, producer * Descendents – '' Everything Sucks'' (1996) Drums, producer * All – '' Pummel'' (1995) Drums, producer * All – '' Breaking Things'' (1993) Drums, producer * All – ''

Percolater ''Percolater'' is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band All, released May 12, 1992 through Cruz Records. It was the band's first album recorded after their relocation from Los Angeles to Brookfield, Missouri, and their first stu ...

'' (1992) Drums, producer * Descendents – '' Somery'' (1991) Drums, producer, Artwork * All – '' Allroy Saves'' (1990) Drums, producer, Backing Vocals * All – ''

Trailblazer A trailblazer is a person who is paving the way in their particular field for future generations. Trailblazer may refer to: Sports * Derby Trailblazers, a British semi-professional basketball team * North Carolina Trailblazers, a US women's rec ...

'' (1990) Drums, producer * Black Flag – '' I Can See You'' (1989) Drums * All – '' Allroy's Revenge'' (1989) Drums, producer * All – '' Allroy for Prez'' (1988) Drums, producer * All – '' Allroy Sez'' (1988) Drums, producer * Descendents – '' Hallraker'' (1988) Drums, producer * Black Flag – '' Wasted...Again'' (1987) Drums * Descendents – '' Liveage'' (1988) Drums, producer * Descendents – ''

'' (1987) Drums, producer * Descendents – '' Enjoy!'' (1986) Drums, engineer, Backing Vocals * Descendents – '' I Don't Want to Grow Up'' (1985) Drums, engineer, Backing Vocals * Minuteflag – ''MinuteFlag'' (1985) Drums * Black Flag – '' In My Head'' (1985) Drums, producer * Black Flag – '' The Process of Weeding Out'' (1985) Drums, producer * Black Flag – ''

Loose Nut ''Loose Nut'' is the fifth full-length album by American band Black Flag, released in 1985 on SST Records. Track listing Personnel *Henry Rollins – lead vocals *Greg Ginn – guitars *Kira Roessler – bass, backing vocals * Bill Stevens ...

'' (1985) Drums, producer, Backing Vocals * Black Flag – ''

Live '84 ''Live '84'' is an album released by Black Flag (band), Black Flag in 1984 on SST Records. It is a live recording of a show played in 1984 and features mostly tracks from ''My War'' and ''Slip It In''. A video was shot simultaneously and was bri ...

'' (1984) Drums, Mixing * Black Flag – ''

Slip It In ''Slip It In'' is the fourth studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag, released in 1984 on SST Records. ''Slip It In'' is an extension of the sound Black Flag utilized on its second album ''My War'': heavy, cathartic, intense ...

'' (1984) Drums, producer * Black Flag – '' Family Man'' (1984) Drums, engineer * Black Flag – ''

'' (1984) Drums, producer * Black Flag – '' TV Party'' (1982) Drums * Descendents – '' Milo Goes to College'' (1982) Drums, Backing Vocals * Descendents – '' Fat'' (1981) Drums, Backing Vocals * Descendents – '' Ride the Wild/It's a Hectic World single'' (1979) Drums, producer * Higley -
Higley
' (2017) Drums on almost all tracks, producer of almost the complete album

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Bill 1963 births American male film actors Record producers from California American rock drummers Living people Descendents members Black Flag (band) members Hardcore punk musicians All (band) members Musicians from Torrance, California American punk rock drummers American male drummers Only Crime members American audio engineers Punk rock record producers 20th-century American drummers