It’s always an exciting time when I hear the words “New Descendents record”. As a completest of Descendents (as well as their counterpart ALL), I can’t get enough of the band. But there is just something even more exciting about their latest release, 9th and Walnut.
“Why is that?” you might ask. Well most importantly, it was not recorded by the current lineup (which has been the band since 1987). Instead, it marks only the second full length record put out by the Milo Goes to College lineup. As someone with a near obsessive interest in the band, I was absolutely floored when hearing about this record’s impending release. I had no knowledge of the existence of any of these sessions. Basically it goes like this. The original power trio lineup of Bill Stevenson(drums), Tony Lombardo(bass/vocals), and Frank Navetta(guitar/vocals) got together for a weekend in 2001, and recorded all of these songs they’d written before Milo joined the band as vocalist in 1981. So these are all songs that were over 20 years at that point, most of which had never been heard by anyone, being recorded by old friends.
Fast forward to 2020: Milo goes into the studio over quarantine, and records vocals for these songs. So it’s a “new Descendents album” of songs that are 40 years old, and recorded over the last 20. The Milo/Bill/Tony/Frank era of the band was so shortlived, that we really only had the Fat EP and the Milo Goes to College LP. And now after 40 years we’ve been given this surprise gift of another record. And I have to say the result is nothing short of sheer awesomeness. It has those goofy fun songs that everyone enjoys from early Descendents. It has the heartfelt ones that made us fall in love with the band. It even features a Dave Clarke Five cover.
I won’t go into a track by track breakdown of these songs. For this blurb I was more interested in the how/why aspect of this record. I will say that if you’re a fan of the band, and especially the Milo Goes to College record, 9th and Walnut is required listening.
Matt and I will be discussing Milo Goes to College on the next episode of the Nerdthusiast Music Podcast, and I’m sure I will be talking about this record as well. My standout from 9th and Walnut would be Nightage. Stream it, and I’m sure you’ll want to listen to the whole album instantly.
By: John Brenner
Nerdthusiast Music Host and Content Writer
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