Words and photos covered for New Noise Magazine. Original posting can be seen here complete photo gallery below.

What better way to wind down the summer months than seeing the almighty Descendents as their summer tour comes to an end at the new Archer Music Hall venue in Allentown, PA. This was a quick month-long tour that brought them from the Midwest to the East with the East Coast dates having the openers Teen Mortgage and Liquid Mike. For a band like Descendents, they could’ve easily brought along friends to open the tour, but instead they are bringing the next generation of punk music, and it is exciting to hear.

Since 2020, Liquid Mike has been releasing and promoting everything they do DIY, and with their sixth album, Hell Is An Airport, coming out September 12^th it’s no wonder this band has had great opportunities. The last time I saw Liquid Mike, they were opening for The Wonder Years / The Menzingers tour a year ago, and I thought that was great exposure. However, this tour must be a dream for them. With a mixture of short punchy pop-rock songs mixed with slight mid-west emo sound, Liquid Mike has those ear worms that get stuck in your head for weeks. As I mentioned last time I saw them, if you don’t know who Liquid Mike is, you will soon, because not only are their peers praising them, but so are bands like Descendents too.

Following Liquid Mike was Teen Mortgage, this two-piece band brought more of the harder elements of punk mixed with elements of the groovy metal riffs. Just like Liquid Mike this band has also been doing everything DIY until their latest album, Devil Ultrasonic Dream, which came out this year on Roadrunner Records. Even without a bassist, guitarist and lead singer James Guile uses different petals to capture that effect which makes them have a unique sound but would make any punk fan love them. Teen Mortgage has also been on some noteworthy tour like the Weezer / Smashing Pumpkins tour and with this new album out I’d expect to see more of them in the future.

Even as this tour ends, Descendents have much more to celebrate after this tour. In September they will release the start of their back catalog on vinyl starting with Milo Goes To College in conjunction Org Music. Most Descendents back catalog was on New Alliance / SST Records, but in recent years Descendents have obtained their music fully and now finally giving these albums the proper remaster treatment on physical format. Digital has already been transferred because you might have noticed these albums sound better through download or streaming. On top of that, it has also been mentioned that a new album is in the works, but nothing has been confirmed as to release date, but Descendents are still hard at work with no slowing down it seems.

As the band got on stage, Milo talked about being back in the Allentown area for the first time since 1985, exactly 40 years ago to the day. This was the first time the band played the Lehigh Valley, and he hint at how crazy the area was at that time. If you look back at the scene from the 80’s to 90’s in the Lehigh Valley, there were some unfavorable groups of people that terrorized shows and bands like Descendents remember that. Maybe it might be why it took 40 years for them to come back, but a lot has changed. With no backdrop or crazy lights, Descendents broke into “Everything Sux” and the crowd went wild. From old to young, every age was crowd surfing and in the pit moshing, and seeing two to three generations of families at the show is amazing to see.

In over an hour the Descendents played over 30 songs with little to no breaks in between and it’s astonishing to see how they play with ease. How Bill Stevenson remembers all those little drum fills and nuances is beyond me, when it comes to drummers, he should be more recognized as one of the best drummers in rock music. Seeing Descendents live you will get to hear songs you have heard a million times, but hearing songs like “Silly Girl”, “Suburban Home”, “Clean Sheets”, and “Thank You”, they just sound fresh live. You can’t deny that Descendents live sound is better than any major production touring band, they prove that you don’t need all this production to sound good. Maybe it comes with age, but Descendents are a top band to see and hear live, I just hope they don’t wait another 40 years to come back to the Lehigh Valley.