ALL! On A Major Label? Part One

It's definitely been said in this blog before that The Descendents/ALL are my favorite band and have been since I heard their song “80's Girl” aired on Towson State's radio station when I was about 15 years old. What may have not been stated is that I had been listening to both bands for about a year or so before even realizing they were essentially the same band. This may sound ridiculous but keep in mind it was 1988 the internet was not readily available and serious fanzines were hard to come by in the suburb of Columbia, MD. 

Plus even though the formats of their albums were kind of similar, the bands were on different record labels. The Descendents releases were on SST Records while ALL's were on Cruz Records. Matching up of band members, on every case card only listed by the first name, was a pretty difficult task since The Descendents had so many different members. Even though ALL's band members had remained constant, at this point ALL was up to their second singer. 

Full disclosure: The same thing happened to me with The Misfits and Samhain. Probably even longer since it would still be a couple years until I really got into The Misfits. 

  

  

Around 1990 when Allroy's Revenge was released I eventually figured it out and The Descendents and ALL became my favorite BAND. A couple years later ALL would secretly move on to their third singer Chad Price for 1993's Breaking Things album. In 1994 ALL was set to release their sixth album, second with Chad, named  Pummel. I was anxiously anticipating its release. 

Around this time the local “alternative” radio station WHFS had a show called “Now Hear

This”, focused on upcoming new releases. The show also had local bands perform in its closing section “Dave's Garage”. Offhand Washington DC's Frodus is the only “Dave's Garage" band I can remember. On the night I am passively listening to a Sunday night episode of “Now Hear This” when I heard Dave say, “Next we have a song from the new album by the punk band ALL”. 

Did I hear that right? Although the show did have some lesser-known bands in the past, most were still "modern rock” sounding bands on major labels or larger indies. Not melodic punk like ALL on small independent labels like Cruz Records. 

After the commercial Dave came back on announced the song. It was called “Stalker” and I was instantly floored. It was so loud. The song had Stephen Egerton's signature guitar but it sounded so much eviler. Karl Alvarez's bass sounded like it was plodding along much more distorted than anything I had heard him play before. Drummer Bill Stevenson sounded like he was beating his drums even harder than he usually does. But the most shocking aspect of the song was singer Chad's voice. He still sounded like himself but his voice sounded more growly and angry as he sang “I hear footsteps down the hall, I've been waiting right behind your door, No one will hear. Don't you worry my dear”? When he sings “It's your eyes, your smile, It's your hair, your face It's your life” he has reached almost demonic death metal style vocals, while guitarist Stephen Egerton plays Slayer-Esque riffs to close out the song. 

       When the song was over DJ Dave announced that the song was off their forthcoming album Pummel, still three months away from being released. But this time it would not be on Cruz. This one was coming out on Interscope. A major label. 

    

  Before you think I am going to go on a "corporate rock still sucks" rant about punk or underground bands signing to major labels I've never felt there was anything wrong with it, It was always my belief if you worked hard, paid your dues, etc, which The Descendents/ALL definitely had done, good for you. Plus like I said in my Dear You entry, the independent labels were pretty hard to find in the suburbs, often resulting in not being able to obtain a copy for a while after its release. With Pummel coming out on a major I knew it would be able to be picked up the day it drops. 

  

No, I never get upset or anything when band signs with a major label with only one catch: They don't change their sound. After hearing Stalker premiered on that February night I feared that may have been the case with ALL. It would still be a couple months until Pummel would be released and I could find out