5 Sho(r)ts: Das Zufalls-Interview #3 – Bill Stevenson (Descendents/All)

Bill: In the beginning we took a lot from Black Flag and The Last. The Last i think we were taking big cues on how to write songs and I think with Black Flag, we were learning from them how to be persistent with the work part of it, how much rehearsal and how to get things done. How to make flyers, where to put up flyers, how to get shows when no one would give you a show…these sorts of things. Now you call that D.I.Y., i think. It´s kind of a thing now, but it used to be normal then.

Bill: As a kid I loved Lucille Ball in „I Love Lucie“ and a little older I liked… You don´t mean movies? I liked „Peaky Blinders“ a lot and I liked „Wentworth“ a lot. This is really a hard question. I fell like people intend to judge you by what TV Shows you watch. I really like the Show called „Community“ a lot. I guess often times I watch shows that are very live-hearted and kind of light comedy. It kinda takes my mind of things. I tend to think very seriously all the time and sometimes watching some of that makes me not to think so serious all the time.

Tobi: What about „Scrubs“?

Bill: Yeah, „Scrubs“ is a perfect example. Yeah, that´s great! But „Peaky Blinders“ doesn´t fit in that category. It´s really heavy but sometimes it is that heavy that it is funny. But Scrubs is a perfect example, yeah.

Bill: I´m not part of any organization. I have my band. So I´m not part of any club. But I don´t believe in discrimination in any form. I don´t believe in racism, I don´t believe in antisemitism, I don´t believe in misogyny and chauvinism. I don´t believe in any of that stuff. We should alle treat each other the way that we would like to be treated. That I should treat you the same way that I would like you to treat me. And it´s funny, both Charles Darwin and Jesus Christ they both believed this.  You know, Jesus Christ would say Do onto others as you have them do onto you, cause this is the way god wants it. But I don´t believe in god. Darwing would say: Don´t be an asshole or some´s gonna fucking kill you while you´re sleeping. So it´s really the same way either way. I just think if everyone could be kind to each other everywhere, no matter what color they are, what gender or weather they´re tall, short, skinny, fat, old, young, if everyone could be kind to one another, these terms wouldn´t even exist. I try to be a good person. That´s what I do.

Bill: Frank Nevada named the band. He named it Descendents and that used to kinda be a joke that what he ment by was: The Descendents of The Last. The Last was kind of our big brother band. They went to the same highschool, they lived in our neighborhood. We looked up to them. But I don´t actually think that´s what he meant, but the title fit a little bit and I don´t know how or why he came up with that name, but I think it´s a really cool name. We´ve been happy with it forever, for 43 years… We´re a funny band. We didn´t celebrate or 10th anniversary, we didn´t celebrate our 20th, our 25th, our 30th or our 40th. We kinda justkeep going forward and we don´t look back. Now, that I am looking back, cause the question makes me think about the band. We started in´78. So that´s a long time.

Bill: Oh boy, impossible. (smiles) I hate this single favorite question. I just love so much. Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Chrissie Hynde, Kate and Cindy from The B52´s, Johnnie Mitchell, Regina Spektor, Sinead O´Connor, Janis Joplin, man, I mean… Who I´ve been listening a lot lately. I´ve been listening a lot to Regina Spektor and to Johnnie Mitchell.

There´s gotta be much much better. I feel like I´m missing a lot. I guess if I just could only pick one, it might be Billie Holiday. I like that song Don´t Explain. 

I feel bad, just naming one person. I can´t even say ba: What´s your favorite color? Because the thing is that there are all the colors and that´s how I feel about music too. I love all the music.

thinking… smiling… thinking…

Penelope from The Avengers (Punkband) or what about Exene from X. Oh boy, Debbie Harry, so many good ones. I´m probably missing the best one. I love that song Troy by Sinead O´Connor. That song, man, it´s heavy business. It´s so great.

Well, what about Melissa Etheridege. Oh no, Alison Krauss, that´s my answer. Alison Krauss. She´s the female singer that i´ve listened to the most. Like not a singer in a punk band but a female singer that kinda stands alone as a vocalist and not as much part of a rock band. She sings like an angel.

After that, Bill and I talked about some other singers, but that is none of your business 🙂

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