Years active 1978–present | Name Bill Stevenson Albums For The Record | |
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Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, producer, engineer Instruments Drums, percussion, vocals, guitar Role Musical Artist · billstevensonmusic.ca Similar People Earth Opera, Peter Rowan, David Grisman | ||
Birth name John William Stevenson | ||
John William "Bill" Stevenson (born September 10, 1963) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer, main songwriter, and the only constant for the California punk rock group Descendents since its inception. In late December 1981 he played a few concerts with 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. After this he focused his attention on Descendents and played with them until Milo Aukerman left in 1987. After Milo had left, Bill and the others from Descendents, Karl Alvarez and Stephen Egerton, got singer Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty and formed All. All went on to have two more singers, Scott Reynolds (1989–1993) and Chad Price (1993–present). Aukerman came back to do the 1996 album Everything Sucks, the 2004 album Cool to Be You and the newest, 2016's Hypercaffium Spazzinate. 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 and attended Mira Costa High School, with fellow members of the Descendents.
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Stevenson, along with Jason Livermore are the founders of the recording studio "The Blasting Room" in Fort Collins, Colorado. Currently, Stevenson is involved in Russ Rankin's side project Only Crime with former members of GWAR and Converge.
In 2005, he became a member of instrumental group The Mag Seven, and produced the group's album.
One of Stevenson's most recent works is producing Rise Against's seventh studio album, The Black Market, which was released July 15, 2014, As I Lay Dying's Awakened as well as the recent NOFX album Self Entitled. In August 2007, he revealed plans to produce and play drums on an album by The Lemonheads.
Early life
Bill Stevenson (birth name; John William Stevenson) was born on September 10, 1963. Stevenson grew up mostly with his father, Steve. Stevenson's mother was an alcoholic. He describes his father as a cold man but there for him. His father worked two jobs for 22 hours out of the day and came home to give Stevenson food and put him to bed. At around 14 or 15 Stevenson started working for Keith Morris's father as a fisherman. Stevenson attended Mira Costa High School with his Descendents bandmates.
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 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 All in 1988 after Aukerman left once again. The Descendents would again form again from 1996-1997 and then in 2002 before going on hiatus. From 2003-2007 Stevenson play in smaller bands until All played shows again in 2008. In 2010 the Descendents reformed again. They are currently together.
Personal
Stevenson in recent year has had some health issues. Starting around 2008 he grew a brain tumor unknowingly. The tumor would remain for another two years before being removed. The tumor caused Stevenson to lose motivation and become lazy. He gained a large amount of weight, had a blood clot, diabetes, and sleep apnea. In 2010 he had successful surgery to remove the tumor which helped him lose weight and gain his health back. In 2016 Stevenson revealed he had open heart surgery.
Selected discography
See also Albums produced by Bill Stevenson