Stephen Egerton

Stephen Egerton: The Seven Degrees of Stephen EgertonThe Seven Degrees of Stephen Egerton (2010)
Paper and Plastick

Reviewer Rating: 4.5

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Contributed by: allbutoneallbutone
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Published on May 28th 2010Stephen Egerton is a man of many talents. In addition to being the guitarist for legendary bands ALL and the Descendents, he is a skilled producer, and judging from this album, a multi-talented musician. Egerton recorded all the music (drums, bass, guitar) for this album, and asked some of his fr.

Stephen Egerton is a man of many talents. In addition to being the guitarist for legendary bands ALL and the Descendents, he is a skilled producer, and judging from this album, a multi-talented musician.

Egerton recorded all the music (drums, bass, guitar) for this album, and asked some of his friends and favorite vocalists to write and sing the vocals on each song. With contributions from Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio), Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Chris Demakes (Less than Jake), and Joey Cape (Lagwagon) as well as current/former bandmates Chad Price, Scott Reynolds and Milo Aukerman (among others), this album speaks to Egerton's longevity in the punk rock world.

With ALL seemingly in a state of perpetual hiatus, this is probably the closest thing we will get to a new album from them. Hell, "Funny Face," featuring Chad Price, and "Sunny Disposition," featuring Scott Reynolds, would not be out of place on Problematic or Allroy's Revenge, and serve as two of the highlights of the album. Another highlight is "She's Got Everything," featuring Milo from the Descendents. This track was penned entirely by Egerton and could easily fit into the Descendents catalog with a Karl Alvarez-like bassline and Egerton imitating Bill Stevenson's surf punk drumming style. Contributions by John Moreland, Frank Daly (Big Drill Car), Mike Herrera (MxPx) and Mark Vecchiarelli (Shades Apart) are other strong tracks on the album that never seem to let up. Egerton even does his best Less Than Jake impression with "Print on Paper." With lyrics penned by Vinnie, backup vocals from Roger and lead vocals by Chris (all from LTJ), this track could almost be a Less Than Jake B-side.

It is hard not to draw comparisons between Stephen Egerton's debut solo album and his previous work in ALL and the Descendents. He has, after all, been playing in those two bands for nearly 20 years at this point. The changing lineup of singers is never really jarring, and transitions pretty smoothly from one track to another. Almost all of the songs are solid pop-punk gems, with the only song I find myself skipping being "When They Roam" featuring Joey Cape.

The Seven Degrees of Stephen Egerton is a very solid debut solo outing from Egerton that can certainly hold its own among Egerton's massively influential back catalog of music.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

SkolarX (August 14, 2010)

Personally I feel that the John Speck track trumps everything else but i don't think there is a single bad song on this collection. just amazing all around

kako_nd (June 1, 2010)

OMFG!
Someone might have this kind of concept album before, but, seriously, an ace guitar player / songwriter like Stephen Egerton plus dudes like Jesse Cole, Jon Snodgrass, Chad, Milo, Abe fucking Brennan!!!
Couldn't go any close to wrong!

EVERYTHING ROCKS!

theproblemwithfire (May 31, 2010)

Really good stuff. Fun record too-I can see this getting a lot of play this summer, especially.

Surprisingly, I thought the Chad/Milo tracks were a little underwhelming, but that could be because I hold them up to such a high standard. That's not to say they're bad tracks at all, they just don't stand out like some of the others, in my opinion. The Scott track seriously sounds like it could be an old ALL song, and that is definitely a good thing.

My favorites off this are actually by vocalists whose bands aren't really my thing or I'm just not that familiar with. Favorites include: Flip, South for the Winter (initially didn't care for this one-also not the biggest fan of the multiple vocal tracks on this but really enjoy the melody), Never Again, On the Avenue, Falling Out (makes me miss Big Drill Car), and Willie Wicked.

I think for the most part, these songs work because of Egerton's guitar playing/writing and the great vocal hooks/melodies. There really isn't anything on this I'd skip.

NewKid (May 31, 2010)

It's not often a review compares a song to a Less Than Jake b-side and it's a good thing. Looking to pick this up soon.

Scruffy (May 31, 2010)

Mikexdude, thank you for being one of the only people on here to recognize that, just because something was done to vocals in a song, it does not mean they were always autotuned. The number of times it is actual an odd layering of multiple vocal tracks, but people call it autotune, drives me insane.

I find that my favorite songs on this album are a lot of the ones by vocalists I haven't listened to before. The tracks by John Speck, John Moreland and Jesse Cole are all phenomenal. The Milo track is better than half of the last two Descendents albums, and it's really nice to hear Mark from Shades Apart sing such a good song, after so long.

mikexdude (May 31, 2010)

Stephen Egerton is flawless on this. His riffs absolutely rule and remind me why he's one of my all time favorite guitar players. Unfortunately, not all the vocalists seem to be on the top of their game; Dan Andriano and Milo simply do the most justice to the songs. Those two songs are absolutely stellar. The remainder of vocal cast struggels to accomodate to Egerton's unique chord choices and rhythmns, and a lot of them just barely scrape by. I'll echo r3venge therapy, something about some of the vocal (doubling? autotune? both?) sound really strange (ex: when Mike Herrera sings "older," all of Tim Mc's song).

Overall, The Descendents being my all time favorite band and Stephen Egerton being one of my muical heroes, I was not disappointed. He delivers...everyone else? Maybe not.

MN_DrNick (May 29, 2010)

Excellent album.

R3vengeTherapy (May 29, 2010)

This was a great idea for an album, and the songs are usually really good, but it's too long and I feel like it's waaaaaaay overproduced.

abcdefuck (May 28, 2010)

Fantastic record. Zero filler(not common with a 16 song record). I'd love to see another solo record with different singers again(just keep a Chad/Scott/Milo song on it. Maybe Dave Smalley too?). Great idea.

cpp_ (May 28, 2010)

Yeah I was surprised how dissapointing the Joey Cape track was, and as well as Joey Capes new track on his solo album Montreal what a piece of shit, I am a huge fan of Joey cape but he does write an equal amount of crap as he does good music.

FaithIsForFools (May 28, 2010)

Some pretty good shit on here... even by some of the "vocalists" I normally don't care for.

DrGunn (May 28, 2010)

i need to pick this shit up. love stephen's guitar playing, and i'll take any chance to hear him and scott together again.

Skibz777 (May 28, 2010)

I thought the tracks with Chad and Scott were really underwhelming, but maybe I just had high expectations. Everything else is solid, especially the ones with Snodgrass and Frank Daly. I want a new Big Drill Car album. :(

no_face (May 28, 2010)

This record is so goddamn great. Perfect way to tide over hardcore Descendents/All fans.

shrapnel (May 28, 2010)

good album
the song Snodgrass is on is the best

notfeelingcreative (May 28, 2010)

It's like Mike Watt's "ball hog or tugboat"...only better.

MikeMoak (May 28, 2010)

I love this record. I have to say the 3 best songs are with Milo, Scot, and Chad... makes sense! This record is pure ear candy.