Bill Stevenson, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
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 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. 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, and formed 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 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. 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. He also played with The Lemonheads from 2005–2007, appearing on their 2006 self titled album, which he also helped produce.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 2012 NOFX album Self Entitled.