Transcript
Conor Fowler: Welcome to an exciting episode of Apocalypse Duds. i am your co-host Connor Flower.
matt: And I am Matt Smith.
Conor Fowler: And today we have in the studio someone very dear to me, indeed, ah Mr.
Bill Stevenson: Thank you.
Conor Fowler: Bill Stevenson, a.k.a. Bill Waverly, doting father and husband, artist, tattooer, punk, Baltimorean, friend of the skateboarder, ink maker, man about town, and much more.
Conor Fowler: We're going to get into punk rock and tattooing and skateboarding, and i guess we'll see what else today.
matt: Yeah. Well, welcome bill. How's your day going so far?
Bill Stevenson: Thanks, Matt. It's good. I've taking care of business for bit, settling down, preparing to talk to you guys. Have a good time.
matt: Nice. Hell yeah. Yeah, i think I think this is going to be super fun. um ah So just ah just to get into it, Connor mentioned Baltimorean, so I'm assuming that's where you are now, but ah where are you from and how'd you end up in Baltimore?
Bill Stevenson: I'm on 28th Street right now and I grew up about three quarters of a mile away.
matt: Oh, that's fucking awesome.
Conor Fowler: Hell yeah.
Bill Stevenson: 30th and Frisbee. um
Conor Fowler: On Frisbee Street, right?
Bill Stevenson: ah On 30th Street, two doors up from from um Frisbee east of Greenmount.
Conor Fowler: Right.
matt: Nice. Baltimore, like, I've been there a few times. I played shows there, like, years ago and went up to hang out with Connor, I guess, two years ago now. And, like, it's such a fucking cool city.
Conor Fowler: Truly.
Bill Stevenson: I would agree. I like being here. you know I think it's been an underdog town for a long time. i think that um But I think there's a certain bit of resilience and and a lot of creativity with a lot of the people who live here, and that's part of why i like being here.
matt: Totally. Totally. Yeah. Being from Atlanta, like I see a lot of similarities um and I, you know, I would pretty much describe Atlanta and in a lot or at least my version of Atlanta in a lot of the same ways.
Conor Fowler: Hmm. Matt. Well, Matt will be back. Um, so I guess we can go. this is a pretty broad question. I mean, I know that you would identify as a punk in some ways. Yes.
Conor Fowler: But I'm wondering what role has music played in your life? I know it's enormous.
Bill Stevenson: Well, I generally don't i generally don't walk around thinking I'm a punk, but um I've been punk rock and in turn hardcore in other music forms like reggae, ska and whatnot if have have played a significant part in in kind of my values and kind of who I am.
Bill Stevenson: over the years, particularly in ah in a DIY way. di iy way um
Conor Fowler: he yeah
Bill Stevenson: I started, i encountered, i mean, I encountered punk rock when the Sex Pistols first record came out, but I really didn't, didn't really start finding out about it until I was a sophomore in high school when In a roundabout way, I started working for the WJHU community radio station at Johns Hopkins University.
Conor Fowler: I see.
Bill Stevenson: And so all it took was being a volunteer to put me in the record library. And then i'll I continued to work and fill in for the news.
Bill Stevenson: whenever I could, any, like anything to just be kind of part of this thing that was beyond punk rock, but that was certainly what I was thinking about because they had a great record library there and it introduced me to a lot of bands in a very short period of time.
Bill Stevenson: And like like, um, I was a sophomore and in, in 80,
matt: Like, what era are we talking here
Bill Stevenson: eighty And by maybe the end of sophomore year, I had a radio show there on Tuesday nights. Now it was, it was a 25 minute walk from my house to the Johns Hopkins campus.
Bill Stevenson: So it, that was convenient, but, um, I mean, that's where I discovered, um, the misfits, the New York dolls.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: I mean, ah aside from, aside from like seeing, um like the New York Dolls or the Ramones or Iggy Pop and, um, and like Cream Magazine or something like that, where there were like mentions, I, I was surrounded by these records and I would spend, I'd spend hours in the record library filing everybody's records as an excuse to sit there and listen to these records.
Conor Fowler: yeah
Bill Stevenson: And then I, um, eventually I just, I ended up with my own little show and
Conor Fowler: he
Bill Stevenson: And it lasted for, it lasted into my junior year.
Conor Fowler: Really?
Bill Stevenson: By the time my junior year came around, I was, i had kind of like parlayed that experience into, into going to see bands under age and like the Marble Bar, for example, and No Fish Today.
Conor Fowler: That's
Bill Stevenson: Sometimes like No Fish Today was kind of like a country hippie bar, a little kind of, but
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: There was a local band called the Charm City Reactors. that They were like kind of Baltimore's jam band in that time and place. But we could always count on count on them to play maybe a little like a little ska or some reggae in their sets. So it i would I would go out of my way to go check them out. Plus they were all they were all really nice people.
Bill Stevenson: But I got to see, being at the Marble Bar at the age of 16 and –
Bill Stevenson: and
Bill Stevenson: interviewing bands that came through and, and also just experiencing those bands and and playing them on my radio show, playing interviews on my radio show was a lot of fun.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: And the owners, Roger and Leslie Anderson at the time, they were okay with, they, they knew I didn't drink and they were kind of like, everybody was older than me anyway.
Bill Stevenson: So everybody kind of like didn't,
Conor Fowler: p
Bill Stevenson: keep an eye on me per se, but they, they looked out for me. And, um, with, even when it came down to like getting a ride, getting a ride downtown or getting a ride back home to Waverly.
Conor Fowler: yeah
Bill Stevenson: And, um, and so I had, ah had access to all these bands in, in that, like in that wave of bands being on tour, you know, and, and, um, and, and even, even seeing a bunch of other like bands from overseas, you know, like, um,
Bill Stevenson: like some bands I'm going to see just because they came like the psychedelic furs and bow house, I really wanted of to see nine, nine, nine, you know, and and then I, and I wanted to see, uh, Steve cook and Paul Jones playing in the professionals, you know, so when they toured, but also there were other places that you know, that wasn't the only place I saw bands.
Conor Fowler: Sure, sure.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: I traveled to DC and as time went on, I traveled to by 82, you I'm, I would travel, you know, to Philly, New York, DC on the regular basis and and and see bands. But I mean, music and, and um you know, that, like being alive in that time and place for me was, was ah I've always been grateful for that chance happening because it really did kind of like shape my world a lot and kind of show me that the world was also bigger than my neighborhood.
matt: Right, right. I mean, that's also...
Conor Fowler: Wow. What a good answer to what a like, cause it's huge.
matt: i yeah seriously. that That's also...
Conor Fowler: It's a huge period of time basically. And it's a huge ah influence and to boot, sorry, Matt, but like you started out as a journalist,
Conor Fowler: right?
Bill Stevenson: Who?
Conor Fowler: You, if you have a radio show and you're interviewing bands, you're a journalist.
Bill Stevenson: Me?
Bill Stevenson: Oh, sure, sure. Oh, i see, not I've never for one second even considered that.
Conor Fowler: Well, you were an English major in school, right?
Bill Stevenson: i
Bill Stevenson: Yeah, but I was having a good time. And that time and place, you know, I was like, hey, I'm interviewing Steve Bader's of the Dead Boys, and you know.
matt: Oh my god, yeah.
Bill Stevenson: just And in that room, you know.
Conor Fowler: Wow, dude, that's crazy. See, I didn't even know this about you at all.
Bill Stevenson: or Or like I'm interviewing Johnny Thunders who, who you know, people like to be smartasses about it and and wonder if he was even going to make it to the show, you know. But not only did he give a very lucid interview, he – like he later – literally that night and even six months later when he came back, he he like he remembered me and I was stoked, you know, because because I was 16, 17,
Conor Fowler: wow
Bill Stevenson: We're seeing the Misfits for the first time, you know, when when when those guys came through town, it was in like October of 81, and miss Walk Among Us, I didn't even know Walk Among Us had come out, I just knew they had a couple of singles.
Bill Stevenson: And I came to this conclusion ah few years ago, and it really like, it caught me, it was a revelation for me, and it really caught me by surprise, but it's the truth. I started the...
Bill Stevenson: I have a particular business model where for my, like, and in it, and it kind definitely comes from the, the punk rock DIY thing, but there's a, real there's there's a more,
Bill Stevenson: ah there's there's another example in there that I literally got the, the premise or a big part of the premise for like, like giving people more than what they buy.
Bill Stevenson: like
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Here's ShopRags tote bags with your ink orders. like
Conor Fowler: Hell yeah.
Bill Stevenson: yeah give
Conor Fowler: I used one of your bags a today. I used that yellow bag with you and the van and the tattoo gun. Yeah. Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: I'm going to give people ah bunch of stickers when they come get tattooed. I'm going to put my stickers up and to advertise, right? Because you put a sticker up in one place, it it works until it's not there anymore.
matt: Thank you.
matt: right
Bill Stevenson: It's the cheapest, most guerrilla punk rock advertising you'll ever find. But it really came down to this, and I'm belaboring, kind of belaboring the point on purpose, but it really was Glenn Danzig.
Bill Stevenson: when i'm When I saw the Misfits for the first time, and Glenn Danzig gave me one of every seven inch he had, and ah and some posters, and some buttons, it took me a long time, but like, that was the root of like,
Bill Stevenson: like, oh, that's how it's done, you know? And I never was really fully conscious of that until just a few years later when it when it kind of hit me because that that that's spirit's been with me for so long, you know?
Conor Fowler: Man.
Bill Stevenson: It's like so ingrained in me that I finally, like, at least it was a flashback. It wasn't PTSD, you know? i was kind of stoked.
Conor Fowler: Right.
matt: Yeah, that that also might be the best dancing story I've ever heard in my life.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: ah
Bill Stevenson: Well, I mean, he was, he, you know, he definitely, Glenn Danzig,
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: ah is, you know, he, like, I've always, you know, I had i had an interaction with him um not 11 months later that was where he was kind of upset because the Misfits were supposed to play Baltimore and it didn't happen because the the guy who ran the hall thought we were making a bunch of money and he wanted more money for this October 30th show.
Conor Fowler: As they do.
matt: Oh, Jesus. Yeah, yeah.
Bill Stevenson: But that's another story.
Conor Fowler: And...
Bill Stevenson: but But um but but he was you know, he was he was. It's weird. He was like he was kind of pissed before I got there, but he wasn't really pissed when I got there. And we and we actually we actually like um went out and tried to hit the hit a local party that that where people kind of freaked out at the Misfits showing up.
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: So that didn't happen. But
matt: Oh, shit. ah
Bill Stevenson: I always found him. you know in that time and place, to be approachable. and um he With the Fiend Club, you know he he screen printed the envelopes in his basement. and he and you know when the When the Evil Eye 7-inch came out, he sent all those out with little with posters and flyers and and stickers and whatnot. and eat in One of my favorite...
Bill Stevenson: aside from that revelation for me personally one of my favorite experiences with the misfits was seeing them in the next year there's a really well-known uh dc poster that's the misfits necros void government issue and it's like and it's like um october 22nd 23rd right and and there are two versions there's like a black version and an orange version 11 11 by 17 they're like
matt: Holy shit.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, wow.
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: they're like if If I had to pick one flyer, that you know it would be either version of that to to to like optimize how it's done.
Bill Stevenson: But when the Mists played that, when when the Mists played, after they were done playing, they pulled out, Glenn pulled out a couple of silk screens and some squeegees, and you can put the Crimson Ghost on your leather jacket or your boots.
Conor Fowler: well put We'll post that for sure.
matt: Oh, fuck.
Bill Stevenson: And
matt: That's so sick.
Bill Stevenson: Steve McLaughlin, You sitting at the edge of the stage myself included just like just laying them out there like I had a ah whole arm full of a crimson ghost on my jacket and I had and I had I had them on the left and right sides my boots as well, but that's always been one of my favorite my my favorite misfits stories.
Conor Fowler: wow
matt: That's fucking awesome. ah Also, i have to ask.
matt: The Faith-Void split. which side Which side do you land on on that one?
Conor Fowler: Dun, dun, dun.
Bill Stevenson: i think that's a great question. I think in the words of, first of all, i say that in the words of Motor Booty Magazine, the the void side is ah phenomenal fucking masterpiece. And if you don't agree, you're an idiot.
matt: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Conor Fowler: yeah
Bill Stevenson: and And the faith side makes an excellent ashtray.
matt: Okay, interesting. All right, yeah. yeah I mean, I'm i'm definitely team team void also.
Bill Stevenson: That's a, that's a, that's a That's a review I read. that's That's a review I read.
matt: That's so fucking funny.
Bill Stevenson: my It's not my opinion, but but that review has always stayed with me because I've never really agreed with it.
matt: Okay.
Bill Stevenson: I just think i just think that they like felt the need to be contentious and argumentative in that time.
matt: Yeah, totally. I mean, like, you also had Maximum Rock and Roll doing that shit from day one. So it's kind of the, yeah, the way that the punk media would be.
Bill Stevenson: Oh, yeah. Well,
matt: 100%.
Bill Stevenson: And, and I got to see the faith a lot and I got to see void a lot. And, um, and I like both of them for, I mean, I'm, I thought that was such a good idea you to, to, um, make that happen.
matt: oh hundred percent
Bill Stevenson: Like, cause why not?
Conor Fowler: To do a split, you mean?
Bill Stevenson: Like, yeah.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: Who, had who had ever done that before? And, and, you know, i think that, that, um, Ian and Jeff from Discord, you know, they had the ability to just do what the hell he wanted to do, and and I think it was great.
matt: Yeah, yeah.
Bill Stevenson: And, you know...
matt: I mean, bringing up Piscord and, like, Jeff Nelson, Ian McKay, Fugazi, all of those, that little microcosm of a scene, like...
matt: you know, going back to your earlier point about things like the DIY punk kind of influencing how you are in the rest of your life and have been. Like, I think that's very, very much like on the nose for hardcore in particular, but punk rock as a whole.
matt: like Just watching watching how they conducted themselves and like no one can ever live up to how Fugazi has been themselves over the years. You know, $5 shows.
Conor Fowler: it
matt: Not having merch, etc. There's a ah podcast that I love and this dude Jeremy Baum from Touche Amore was on it and he was like... Wouldn't you kind of feel like a cop if you rolled up as a band and you have like t-shirts and shit playing, opening for Fugazi and it's like, oh, these dudes are are not trying to merchandise shit.
matt: Just records.
Bill Stevenson: I mean, I know – I'm aware of Ian's take on merch and and
Bill Stevenson: and i don't I don't agree. good
matt: Yeah, yeah. I don't either.
Bill Stevenson: yeah
matt: i mean, especially...
Bill Stevenson: I'm kidding. I'm i'm totally kidding. I have the utmost respect for Ian. I think he's had the wherewithal and intestinal fortitude to look around and see like if –
Conor Fowler: Hmph.
Bill Stevenson: if this music is going to get released. We're going to release it, you know?
matt: Right, right.
Bill Stevenson: And, and it's, it's his party. And, you know, and I think that he's, I think that there are definitely people who, um, I think that when you, when you do your own thing and you do it unapologetically and you do it, um, you do it with your own moral compass, um, there, there's always going to be, you're always going to find naysayers, you know what i mean?
Bill Stevenson: But there,
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: Those are just, those are just folks who, who are just uncomfortable with themselves. You know, that's always been the case. So, um, so you can't really, you can't really lose any sleep over that.
matt: Totally.
Bill Stevenson: And I think like, you know, for years and years, uh, this, you know, he's, he's put up with that kind of thing. One time in the tattoo shop, um, a tattoo shop I worked in years ago, I was sitting behind the I'm sitting behind the counter and how like and in the back end, like kind of out of sight if someone walked in, but I heard one of my colleagues talking to his customer and the customer says, the customer says something about like Ian McKay, Fugazi, whatever, whatever, you know, Hey, i like them.
Bill Stevenson: They're pretty cool. Whatever. It doesn't matter what they were saying, but, but my colleague says, Oh yeah, I heard he was a real asshole.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Conor Fowler: yeah
Bill Stevenson: And, and,
Bill Stevenson: and it was not uncommon for that person to say kind of knee jerk things like that. Like I heard and whatnot. and And so I'm just sitting there kind of like letting that float around in my brain for a minute while I'm like working on my drawing or whatever. And I hear the door open and I hear voices and I hear, i hear Ian's voice.
matt: Oh.
Bill Stevenson: so
matt: o
Bill Stevenson: I'm not. I'm not hearing things. I know I'm not hearing things. I'm like, that's a nice voice. out And I say, I say, give me a second. I'll be right there. Cause I was still behind the counter and behind the wall.
Bill Stevenson: And I stick my head out and he and he says, Hey Bill. And I go, Hey, and what's happening? I thought that was you. And his brother, Alec was with him and a few other people. And they said, Hey, we're just in town for the day. And we were just rolling down the street. We figured we'd check this place out.
Bill Stevenson: And I'm like, well, look around, you know, you know, of course, let me know if you have any questions. You know, how are things? You doing all right? little back and forth. And they, you know, they were in for like 10 minutes and they they cut out. We said our goodbyes and they cut out.
Bill Stevenson: And then I just turned to dude and I won't say dude's name, but I said, hey, dude, talk some shit about somebody else and see if they pop up.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: Oh, that's fucking fantastic. was this Was this in Baltimore?
Bill Stevenson: It was. It was about 17 years ago down in Fells Point. um
matt: Oh, that's so sick.
Conor Fowler: Small world.
matt: So sick.
Conor Fowler: Well, so just to talk about Baltimore for a second, like my family, they are Washingtonians and they talk about a Baltimore that was sort of a playground.
Conor Fowler: Like people would go to Baltimore from DC, like to get fucked up, like fells point. Uh, most especially, I think. So it seems like, uh, there is some truth to that.
Bill Stevenson: Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, deep even today, like like how much of the population really lives in D.C.
Bill Stevenson: and isn't transient due to the government work or whatnot, you know, are or even education.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Bill Stevenson: um Yeah, I mean, Baltimore's always had like this nightlife and particularly around Fells Point and in, you know, Federal Hill and the harbor for a long time.
Conor Fowler: sure
Bill Stevenson: i think it's waned and around the harbor now, but i but there seem to be some plans afoot to rejuvenate that.
Conor Fowler: yeah which uh we'll see what happens i guess
Bill Stevenson: yeah
Bill Stevenson: Yeah. Well, I'm an optimist.
Conor Fowler: do you sorry yeah no me me too i mean i think it could be amazing because the harbor is like it could be beautiful
Bill Stevenson: I'm optimistic. umm super um
Bill Stevenson: Yeah. And there's still you know there're still plenty of the plenty of attractions down that way. and um I guess like one of you know when Harbor Place was alive and and and busy, it just it did always seem weird that people would travel from like Pennsylvania and Iowa whatever and go to the Gap in Baltimore.
Conor Fowler: e
Bill Stevenson: you know Instead of
Conor Fowler: Well, there's an urban outfitters, man. I mean, that's big time.
Bill Stevenson: instead of Right. But just to go to go shop in the same place you have back home was always weird to me.
Conor Fowler: Yeah. Yeah. It is a little odd, but it's like, I don't know. That's tourism for you. um
Bill Stevenson: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: I guess we've sort of covered this a little bit like creative energy. Your, ah joie de vivre your like whatever where does it come from have you do you face creative blocks of a sort
Bill Stevenson: Hmm. Well, I think generally speaking, my, um, my enthusiasm and my work ethic come from poverty, but, um, as a kid, I mean, that's, I mean, that's really it.
Conor Fowler: hell yeah you want to talk about that I mean because I think that's a great topic I mean yeah
Bill Stevenson: There's like so much, I mean, my story, you know, my story isn't, you know, I'm not alone here. I know it, but, um, I have, I've had a lot of conversations with people over the years about this kind of thing, but, you know, um,
Bill Stevenson: But that really was like, in a nutshell, my my dad left when I was 12 and left my mom to drive herself crazy trying to give myself and my younger sister the most normal childhood she could with what little she had.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Bill Stevenson: That's it. And to a point where it she had a nervous breakdown at some point. But it's, um so I've kind of, I mean, I've been working since,
Conor Fowler: sure
Bill Stevenson: I've been able to, you know, starting with all the the usual kid jobs of like, you know, newspaper route and shoveling snow and cutting grass and whatnot.
Bill Stevenson: But, um and I still like to this day, i stay, I'm pretty busy, but to this day, somebody says like, hey man, I need somebody to paint my, like for a split second, my brain goes, can I do this?
Conor Fowler: Yeah, you are.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: Do I have time? I can't do this.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, because
Bill Stevenson: And then feel lucky that I can refer someone. You know what I mean?
matt: Right, right.
Conor Fowler: because you are a big you are a big networker, right?
Bill Stevenson: I need a plumber.
Conor Fowler: Like you're a big connector of people, which I think is important.
Bill Stevenson: ah i love I like to connect.
Conor Fowler: And that goes back to the scene.
Bill Stevenson: push Right. Sure. but um But I do, you know, ah year and a half ago, ah was sitting right here and I thought,
Bill Stevenson: I had this, I had like this kind of a change. Somebody from the studio left and it was, it was you know, it was kind of a surprise and it was not something I i would have guessed or a decision I would have made.
Bill Stevenson: But um I was kind of like coming to terms with that.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: and But I was just kind of like sitting here one day and I thought, man, i haven't had, I haven't had any ideas in like a year. And maybe it's long.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: And no good ideas, no bad ideas, no ideas, right?
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: One thing, i mean, one thing ah stick to is it's not a good idea just because I thought of it. But in this case, I just haven't And and i'm and i find I'm lucky that I get – when I have an idea for a project or like something like something bigger – something bigger than a very small thing, whatever that is, right?
Bill Stevenson: I ah generally talk to people around me and go, what do you think about this? And like kind of like can you talk me out of it? Should you talk me out of it or this?
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: whatever, like, because I think I've seen a lot of, I think a lot of projects and businesses have, have, um, have been started based on people getting high off the smell of their own farts.
matt: Yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: And, and with no, like some, sometimes not even ah like a perfunctory Google search to just see if somebody else is calling it that, it which is in, in this day and age, just insane.
matt: Right, right.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: But also, you know, it's starting businesses, a risk is that's a risky proposition. Anyway, you, you slice it, you know, But – and now more than ever, your approach to how you address the people that you want to buy your product and how you deal with the people who you want to buy your product is is sensitive as it should be.
Bill Stevenson: but But also it's – but yeah, you I mean I think you just have to be you just have to be like open and cognizant of what you're doing and just pay attention to the needs of people and what they're looking for.
Conor Fowler: right
Bill Stevenson: But so while I'm sitting here going, man, I haven't had an idea in like a year, and at least a year, at some point in that same couple of days, I, I, it, it kind of hit me and was like, Hey, how come I'm not making my own stickers?
matt: yeah
Bill Stevenson: Cause I really like stickers. You know, I like stickers a lot.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: And so within a week I had a sticker machine.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: So then I felt like that was a good idea, you know but you know? And I think if I was going to have an idea that ended the drought, that would be a good one to have.
Bill Stevenson: But I also didn't pull the trigger until I talked to some of my friends.
matt: Right, right.
Bill Stevenson: So I don't know. I mean, that's an that's an example of it. But I don't know.
Conor Fowler: Which even the name is good, right? Sticker void. I feel like that's like perfect. It's edgy. It's like funny. It's a literal kind of.
Bill Stevenson: Well, thanks.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Void is also what I used to write on walls. So there you go.
matt: Oh, nice, nice. You did you a graffiti also.
Bill Stevenson: Of course I did graffiti.
matt: Of course you did, yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Not that I did not do graffiti.
matt: Yeah. I know.
Bill Stevenson: Right?
matt: Dude, i like I wanted to have a graffiti phase, and I'm like i'm a musician, that type of artist. Drawing, painting, spraying shit on the wall.
Bill Stevenson: right
matt: Not my forte. and i'm like i'm I'm envious of, and I have a bunch of friends that do craft, but envious of anybody that went down that.
Conor Fowler: I don't know what word I would pick. My roommate does. My roommate is like sort of in the scene. So it's interesting to hear the dispatches from that.
matt: Wait, but Bill, we gotta ask, do you ever do you ever go out and just paint a little bit too?
Bill Stevenson: No.
matt: Oh, damn. How long has it been?
Bill Stevenson: I mean, that doesn't mean I haven't, but I mean, if I'm out with somebody who I know
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: and there've been times in the in the last number of years where if we're out somewhere, somebody I know who is still very active in it might say, hey, like you know you want to put one up?
matt: Yeah, yeah.
Bill Stevenson: and so And so I have just tags.
matt: Nice. Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: I'm not talking about going out and and like painting painting painting full walls or i mean pieces and stuff like that.
matt: Yeah, yeah. i I know the tattoo world is pretty small, so I don't know if if you know Keat from here.
Conor Fowler: No, of course.
Bill Stevenson: I do know Keith from Atlanta.
matt: But yeah, yeah. Like, great dude. I've gotten tattooed by him.
Conor Fowler: I knew it.
matt: And yeah, he, like, ah help.
Bill Stevenson: and he And he still keeps his hand in it.
matt: What's that?
Bill Stevenson: And he still keeps his hand in in graffiti.
matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. he I helped do a market at a like big big kind of like neighborhood festival thing ah last year, and he did this like wild mural.
matt: And I was like, oh shit, he's still painting, that's sick.
Bill Stevenson: Right? Um, I, I, you know, for me, graffiti was a really long time ago and, and, and, uh, and it, it was fun, but I also, I didn't have the wherewithal to just kind of keep at it.
Bill Stevenson: Even, you know, the way, the way some of the, you know, I know folks who are, have their own businesses who still, they take time to get out. They take time to get out and get up as they would say.
matt: Right, right.
matt: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: But, i Um, I, I've never, uh, it kind of all, it goes, kind of goes back to, you know, my mom, when I was a teenager saying, um, don't get arrested.
Bill Stevenson: I can't afford a lawyer, but and back then, like there, you know, in the burgeoning graffiti thing, like graffiti started in Baltimore and I'm sure somebody wants to argue with me, but i don't care.
matt: Right. Yeah, totally.
Conor Fowler: Right.
matt: Totally.
Bill Stevenson: Um, graffiti started when revolt came down from new york city to go to mica mica you just used to be called the marion institute but um and so revolt was down here and he's just like painting up big fun burners on walls and then tagging as well and he like i saw it and i started to ape it and then all around the same time like other and like other people.
Bill Stevenson: Some I knew, some I didn't like a muck and Anna gray and Dillinger and and and Z Koi and
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: yeah
Bill Stevenson: there's all the part where somebody might not agree with me is there was also somebody named Bo B E A U who would write these just to, just a ah little tag name tag with, um, with a metal pipe marker.
Bill Stevenson: And it was like this, it had a metal tip with a, with a steel ball and you might find it like on the edge of a phone booth or you might find it on the back seat of the bus you're riding in front, you know, in front of you.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: I love that.
Bill Stevenson: But, but,
Conor Fowler: I love that. It's like little, it's like little poetry.
Bill Stevenson: Bo around too. Like the whole point is that Bo was around too. And some but some people may very well make an argument that Bo predated Rivel. I wouldn't know.
Bill Stevenson: I don't care about the semantics of that, you know.
matt: Yeah, yeah.
Conor Fowler: It is fascinating. However, I mean, it's like there are morgue and some other writers writing right now, just like doing like those thriller, like small work on whatever I just love. It's like a little surprise. Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: right
matt: Yeah, so how long have you been tattooing?
Bill Stevenson: Right. 28 years.
matt: Okay. Hell yeah. And do you own the job that you work for? that you work at, I guess?
Bill Stevenson: Yeah. I mean, my, my, my licensed tattoo shop is part of my studio. That's on this houses, other things that I do.
matt: Oh, that's fucking sick.
Conor Fowler: which we can get into it in a bit.
Bill Stevenson: So I,
Bill Stevenson: I run Sticker Void out of here. i do the i run the business aspect of Waverly Color Company out of here, and also run Waverly Tattoo Co. out of here.
matt: Okay.
Conor Fowler: Which here is, do you have a name for it? I mean, the clubhouse, the whatever.
matt: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: oh It's been Studio Remington since since I got it.
Conor Fowler: yeah right. Hell yeah.
matt: Yeah. yeah Connor was telling me about this compound and it sounds wonderful.
Conor Fowler: Well, yeah, it's right there with the bad brains, uh, paint, you know, it's like, there's like a skateboard shit in there.
Bill Stevenson: yeah but
matt: Oh,
Bill Stevenson: ah do Yeah, I have a mini ramp, um screen printing, and um what my my tools are here. don't know.
Conor Fowler: you got all your stuff there. Well, so question one, what would little bill think?
Bill Stevenson: i don't know I never thought about that.
Conor Fowler: You think, I don't know, I mean, impressed, proud, surprised.
Bill Stevenson: I don't know. I've never considered that for a moment because I've always been here. You what I mean?
Conor Fowler: Yeah, no, dude, you know that.
Bill Stevenson: don't have any concepts in here.
Conor Fowler: I think that's so funny. Well, because you have said stuff like you grew up not far from where you are now and you have this space of yours that is like your little castle, but it's kind of a big castle.
Bill Stevenson: relatively. Yeah. yeah
Conor Fowler: And it's not monarchical. You know what I mean? It's like an open door policy sort of. So it's like really like a community entity in a way.
Bill Stevenson: Well, I mean, I, do, yeah I feel like it is my living room. So I've had to like, create some sort of control over the ebb and flow of people.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: If I'm tattooing somebody and the doorbell rings and somebody just wants to come hang out, I can't necessarily, you know, it's my client's time, you know, I can't really inflict them upon my client, you know, or if I'm doing this, what happens if the doorbell rings, you know, I'm not expecting anybody.
Conor Fowler: Right. Of course.
matt: Right, right.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Conor Fowler: Right. Of course.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: Uh,
Conor Fowler: Well, ah for the record, when that has happened on the show before and we just let it happen and maybe edit it out because.
Bill Stevenson: Frank, frankly, I was hoping i was hoping Daniel if if anybody was going to ring the bell, I was hoping it would be Daniel and then I just move over a little bit and give me some space right here.
Conor Fowler: That would be a yeah would be extremely funny.
matt: but
Conor Fowler: I haven't seen him in some years. um
matt: Do you still skateboard, though?
Bill Stevenson: I do. I skated this morning.
matt: Oh, fuck yeah. do Do you skate the ramp, like, every day, or you just kind of doing whatever?
Bill Stevenson: Oh, I really don't. Maybe I should get rid of the damn thing.
Bill Stevenson: But i do i mean i do I do get on it. but um you know i
matt: Yeah. what it Wait, what do you usually skate, then?
Bill Stevenson: hope
matt: Just kind of whatever?
Bill Stevenson: Well, i do I do skate on the ramp, but I skate i go to Lansdowne and the Hamden Park. Oh,
Conor Fowler: Cause you have been a big, let's say bundler, right. For these skate parks. I think you have been like a you have been a legitimizing force. You have been like a fundraiser.
Bill Stevenson: yeah. Oh, well, I mean, I'll do anything I can for skate park of Baltimore, but I I'm not, there's no reason to have, um, I'm not, you know, another white guy on the board doesn't, isn't, isn't really necessary.
matt: Hell yeah.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
matt: Right, right.
Bill Stevenson: ah i think, I think, um, think, and that's, that's the least of, that's the smallest part of that equation, but I like to be able to say what I think. And if I were on,
Bill Stevenson: if I happen to be on the board of that group, then I wouldn't be able to say exactly what I think about when, when the city or even like a state Senator screws over, a neighborhood for a shovel ready money, ready skate park over on the West side.
Bill Stevenson: You know what i mean
Conor Fowler: Right.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: But, but I am on the, I am on the board of the Baltimore County skateboard council in last October, we opened, um,
Conor Fowler: right
Bill Stevenson: our first skate park with the assistance of Baltimore County in Hazelwood. So, um, but the Baltimore County has been really, um, I'm just like a regular board member. I don't really have any, I don't really have any, uh, I just bring what I can do to the table. don't, I'm not the secretary or the, or the treasurer or the president.
Bill Stevenson: I just like try to show up and do what I can. That's all.
Conor Fowler: Right. You're on the skateboard.
Bill Stevenson: I like that. Yeah, I am on the skateboard.
matt: Yeah. Yeah. Like this whole conversation has, has really like, I don't know, been such a, such a like evolution, I guess, but you keeping your like foundational shit with hardcore and punk and it's fucking sick.
matt: Like, um, yeah, it's rad to be talking about this.
Bill Stevenson: Well, thanks.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, this is the, this is like the thrust of the ah interview that we are trying to drive towards is like, how have you managed to be DIY and like, keep your integrity all along?
Bill Stevenson: i mean
Bill Stevenson: Well, I never, said like you know, I never set out to be self-employed, you know, but, um, as time went on, you know, I've left three businesses and, and, um, I've never had any regrets about leaving any of them.
Conor Fowler: Mm hmm.
Bill Stevenson: The first one I i left the tattoo shop. I started with my partner when he wanted to buy me out while it came as a surprise.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: I did not regret it at all. In fact, it opened up my life for other things and and better things. um I started a tattoo needle company with two friends and i left after a year because I didn't like ethically, it was not going the way we were fronting it.
Bill Stevenson: and and and i And I didn't, so I knew, but I also knew that they had to tell me, they i knew that they had to tell me that I've I wasn't going to be with it anymore. So I just waited it out and it took him 72 hours.
Conor Fowler: Wow.
Bill Stevenson: I didn't say, anything I woke up and told my wife one morning, I'm like, Hey, I'm going to leave this.
matt: Oh, God.
Bill Stevenson: And she's like, totally cool. Yeah. Okay. I understand. And she actually said, she actually said something else, but I'm not going to repeat that.
matt: yeah
Bill Stevenson: But, um, But the gist of it was you do you, babe. And, um, and then I, and then I also started a brewery, which was like one, probably the worst relationship I've ever had in my whole life.
Bill Stevenson: And, and I finally, i finally got out of that and I discovered what the Dunning Kruger effect was.
matt: oh god
Conor Fowler: wow
Bill Stevenson: And so, um, I don't have any qualms about leaving things or moving on from things that are not for me, you know, and I grateful
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: I'm grateful that I've had the experiences I've had and, and, you know, a significant number of, I've learned, I've learned so much from watching people and being like, well, that's how you don't do it.
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: That when I do make a big mistake myself, like say the brewery, then I'm like, well, you you know, that's, I was just due, I was just due for that lesson.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: It's like, you know, and I still, you know, And I went, yeah, i i left a I left a situation that I really didn't like, that I really didn't think was ah reasonable in any way, shape, or form.
Conor Fowler: Can't make an omelet kind of
Bill Stevenson: And um i went back to doing the thing that allowed me to be part of that business. And that was a really good decision for me to just go back and worry about making tattoos and selling tattoo ink and artist paints to the nice people, you know?
Conor Fowler: Yeah, that's what I said in the lead up to this. I was like, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, he sells art supplies, which I think there's like almost nothing more noble than that.
Bill Stevenson: hit
Bill Stevenson: I don't know about ah self so
Conor Fowler: ah I don't know. i mean, we could go back and forth about it. But the point is, it's like, that's like doing the opposite of, of harm, right? That's like only helping.
Bill Stevenson: <unk> I don't know. i don't think they're giving out any prizes for that. yeah
Conor Fowler: No, they're not. And that's the problem.
Bill Stevenson: That's a problem.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, it is really a problem.
Bill Stevenson: but okay um'm I'm okay with that. Thank you. I appreciate it. But I don't know. i mean, we could just sum this. We could be done with this interview in three minutes if I just tell you that like skateboarding and punk rock and graffiti and tattooing it pretty much kind of made me the person I am, you know.
matt: Fuck yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Thank you.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, but that's, but see what I want to know.
Bill Stevenson: Good night.
Conor Fowler: One, do you remember the first tattoo you ever gave?
Bill Stevenson: Yeah. Yeah, it was in May 1997. my friend.
Bill Stevenson: my friend ah Bill Monahan was going to get the bug, which is like, which is this little, a little critter right there.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: And a whole, a whole bunch of us had gotten this, this tattoo over, over the previous couple of years and Bill Monahan wanted to get one. And that was going to be my first one. And so I was in the shop in Ellicott city where I was learning at the time, excuse me.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: And, um, and so I pretty much, you know, shaved his arm from like here. up to here and got the stencil on him. you know
Bill Stevenson: Okay, here we go. And I look and there are like six people standing around me and I didn't really even, I'm like, where did these people come from? And then I pretty much, I was like, I just paused, took a deep breath, grabbed his wrist I was like, all right, here goes.
Bill Stevenson: That was the first tattoo ever made.
Conor Fowler: Wow.
matt: That's awesome.
Bill Stevenson: He still has it.
Conor Fowler: That's like adrenaline, I guess, right? He still has it. but
Bill Stevenson: It was pretty wild, you know, and it it definitely like, you know, tattooing. I mean, I had already, I had tattooed myself beforehand because I was, you know, I was led to believe and taught that you, you, you put a tattoo on yourself so that you know, you know what it feels like.
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: And, um, you know, you know what you're subjecting people to, you know, but, um, um, can you,
matt: Jesus.
Conor Fowler: our tour.
Bill Stevenson: And then for the next you know for the next bit of time, I just kept kind of putting like so like small tattoos on people, kind of like getting terrified if the stencil wiped away.
Bill Stevenson: Even like you know like everything you're doing, every it's like all these things come together to create this end product.
Conor Fowler: hmm.
Bill Stevenson: you know and it's It's like electricity and wire and springs and metal and ink and lube and all this stuff in a stencil. And it's like this crazy alchemy.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: But, um, but everything counts, you know, like your needle, your needle shouldn't be hooked.
Conor Fowler: yeah
Bill Stevenson: Your, your, you know, your, your pigments should be shaken. Your, your stencil should be on there so that it can tolerate the, working over it in and having lube on it and maybe a little bit of blood and whatnot and ink.
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: so So it was definitely like a process of making a point to,
Conor Fowler: No pun intended.
Bill Stevenson: yeah, nice.
Conor Fowler: Terrible. Mm hmm.
Bill Stevenson: is It's a good one. I never heard, no one ever said that before. I'm not kidding. um
Bill Stevenson: just like having a um ah ah pattern of the way you do things, the repetition, and like, literally like the kung fu of it, you know, so that Every like a small tattoo to a medium tattoo the small tattoo to a large tattoo whatever you're you're following through in the very same manner.
Bill Stevenson: Piazza, M.D. evaluate how that second one looks compared to the first and you remember what was good about it, and you remember where you can improve and that's basically the foundation of figuring out how it works.
Conor Fowler: Excellent.
matt: So to kind of start to end things, I
matt: i have a preface to a question, which is, are you a collector? do you Do you have like collections of things, records, et cetera, from like your your time?
Bill Stevenson: um I don't really have my records. I had a lot of good ones and I sold them to go to college.
matt: Ah, yes. that That old tale.
Bill Stevenson: And I'm okay with I've never regretted it. But I'm also – I also don't romanticize it in a way that makes me feel like I need to relive it and recollect them.
matt: I gotcha. I gotcha.
Conor Fowler: Right. Right.
matt: do Do you have like any any type of like little collections, though, from from like your various subcultures and in early life?
Conor Fowler: right
Bill Stevenson: I definitely have a little bit of everything over the years that ah that I've still held on to. Like I have one of those i have one of those Misfits, Necro's Void flyers. i have some photos of the you know i have I have some photos of the Misfits and other bands. ah have I um
Bill Stevenson: i have a fair amount of that stuff, but I don't like obsessively collect any of it and I never have.
matt: Gotcha, gotcha.
Bill Stevenson: I've given a lot of stuff away over the years in general, and I would say, like, really the only thing – I mean, ah have an art collection that I've built up over the years, mainly –
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Bill Stevenson: fortunately from are you, cop?
Conor Fowler: You have a sign collection. I interject. You have a sign collection, right? Like of street signs.
matt: ha
Conor Fowler: a You do though. Right. I mean, it's like people collect that. That's like something it's like 69th street or whatever. for twentieth street.
Bill Stevenson: but Well, ah do I do have a collection of signs, but and i and I like, you know, a lot um ah really like knowing where a lot of them came from, but um and some of them, I really like, what do you call I really like, I like i like industrial signs.
Bill Stevenson: like i have a Like I have a magnet that sits on the screen print dryer that says this conveyor belt was Fred's idea.
matt: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Bill Stevenson: it's just a little It's just like the same kind of thing you would make your name tag for your desk out of where you you route you route out the surface and and the air shines through.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: and And I just think, like and I know for a fact that it was in the Hershey Chocolate Factory. But I just... I don't need to know, but there have been times where I was like, was this such a good idea that they made a sign that said it was Fred's idea?
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: Or think were they just like looking for some accountability like fucking Fred?
Conor Fowler: yeah
Bill Stevenson: Fred had to have the sign, you know.
Conor Fowler: Fred, son of a bitch. Right.
Bill Stevenson: i But I look at right now.
Conor Fowler: Well, so this this sign, right, this one, this is not your signal, which I have a few of.
Bill Stevenson: Uh-huh.
Bill Stevenson: It is your thing.
Conor Fowler: i think it's a totally genius sign. handout, whatever, ah because people don't know it is a sign in Baltimore.
Bill Stevenson: things.
Conor Fowler: Like it just is a weird sign, but you can interpret it in many ways.
Bill Stevenson: Right. Right. It's a sign. It's a concept. Right.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: that's And that's what I've always loved about it because at that particular place where Linkwood and University and 39th Street, Sam Martin Drive all meet, Linkwood comes up out of nowhere behind the Hopkins house and that's that's where the first light is that says this is your signal.
Conor Fowler: eighteen Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Because they're so close together, people were running the first one.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: And I found out that um that the person who created that sign worked for the city. And his daughter reached out to me and said, hey, my dad made that sign. So I went ahead and I made – because I made – don't know if you can see it back there.
Bill Stevenson: I made a little, oh, there's ah this is your signal back there, right?
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: I just made a little ah little fake sign on some wood with paint and screen printing, but I made some of those, so I made sure that he got one of those and some shop rags and a tote bag and a handful of stickers.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: I also just, well, I just, I mean, that's the spirit of the thing, you know what I mean?
Conor Fowler: Yeah, which is tight.
Bill Stevenson: And so...
Conor Fowler: Well, it's like punk rock Santa Claus. It's like ah when with the with the C remixing culture is not like specific to punk scene.
matt: Thank you.
Conor Fowler: Right. But you do like with the Waverly thing with the, this is your signal thing where there was a Vans rip. That was pretty cool. I don't have that anymore.
Conor Fowler: Uh, where's that come from?
Bill Stevenson: I
Conor Fowler: I mean, where's that repurposing energy?
Bill Stevenson: can tell you where it goes. You get a cease and desist, my friend.
Conor Fowler: That's what I'm saying. Yeah. And that's like awesome. And that's like anti-corporation.
Bill Stevenson: yeah i i I got a cease and desist. They were on my – so I got a letter from an attorney in Boston, and they said – So they showed me screenshots of my of my website where I had embroidered hats and also and also T-shirts. And they said, we want to know how many you made and how many you sold or whatever.
Bill Stevenson: And
Conor Fowler: Hmm. Jeez.
Bill Stevenson: So I reached out to a friend of mine who has a bike shop who's ripped everything over the years, and he told me that he had gotten a cease and desist from Harley Davidson's representatives. And all they wanted to know was that you were contrite and that you wouldn't do it again, and it wouldn't hurt it wouldn't hurt to say you were a big fan, that's why you did it in the first place.
Bill Stevenson: And i I said, just so they can have a letter in their file, you know, and prove their worth.
Conor Fowler: I see.
Bill Stevenson: And so I said, hey, sorry about that. I um i don't know. I made – think I said like I made 96 shirts and I gave away 72 and I made 36 hats and I gave away 28.
Bill Stevenson: And when in fact it was my biggest, bestest rip ever.
Conor Fowler: Beep.
Bill Stevenson: and
matt: Do we need to censor that?
Bill Stevenson: But I've been a fan of bands forever. I have a ah tiny little tattooing company, and I mainly do – I kind of like make a rip now and again you know you know out of like an homage.
Bill Stevenson: And I didn't tell them about the 15,000 stickers I had gotten printed on. or like how many, how many tote bags I printed or even how many shop rags I printed. Cause that logo, that logo all red on like a light background looks super, super tough.
Conor Fowler: The van's in the skin, right?
Bill Stevenson: And yeah, Waverly in the skin.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: So, so I pack up, I I'm headed to this American nomad skate skateboards.
Conor Fowler: Hell yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Um, annual September barbecue. And, uh, there's, there's, um, um, a tattoo colleague also owns this skate company along with the pro skater, Bill Danforth from the, he used to be on the Alva team.
Bill Stevenson: Um, and he's still, I mean, he, you know, he still, he still puts out some neat stuff, but, um, so my son's coming with me on the way up to Connecticut.
Bill Stevenson: i in a dress stop I see but I got an email that says, okay, everything's cool. By the way, that's a really good rep. And I'm like, of course it's a rip.
matt: Thank
Bill Stevenson: Yeah, it's a good rip. And know why bother otherwise? and And so so we get we get to Connecticut, and I've got like a couple of bins of like rags, bags, t-shirts.
Conor Fowler: Right. Mm hmm.
Bill Stevenson: I'm just going to give them out to all the homies because it's skate-oriented and because everybody likes a little something. and um And we pull up in the pool it's my friend Jay Kelly's backyard.
Conor Fowler: a
Bill Stevenson: We pull up to the house in the yard, and Bill Danforth's walking down the driveway, and and he sees us and walks over. And, like, my favorite part – I've told this story before, but my favorite part of it is the part where he sees us, and he walks right over to Zan he goes, hey, Zan, what's going on? and I got a T-shirt for you.
Bill Stevenson: You know, and he's probably, like, 10 then, so he's pretty stoked. And Bill hands him this T-shirt that says Danforth. Oh, fuck. God damn it.
Bill Stevenson: I can't remember. America's...
Bill Stevenson: Damn it. I just can't remember it. It was it was definitely definitely had a a curse word on it. Oh!
Conor Fowler: Yeah. Perfect.
Bill Stevenson: um like Something like Danforth, America's Most Trusted Asshole.
matt: ha
Bill Stevenson: And...
Conor Fowler: Perfect.
Bill Stevenson: So Zan gets a shirt. I got a shirt for you too. And Zan goes, we have a shirt for you. And, and I handed one of those and he goes, this is awesome. I was hanging out with Van Doren two weeks ago on the West coast. I'm going to wear it all weekend and and post it on Instagram. And I'm like, no you don't want to do that.
Conor Fowler: Right.
matt: but
Bill Stevenson: the film And then, and then he, he did wear it all weekend, except when we all wore our shirts for the group photo. But, and it, he he literally wore the shirt, every photo he was in with people where he was wearing the shirt, but that was the end of that.
Bill Stevenson: Um, I, I do, uh, I don't know, man. I just try to have a sense of humor about this stuff and I try to, and I, um, I like a good rip and I like, I like the, um, I like, you know, things about Baltimore and that's certainly where this is your signal comes in. And, um,
Bill Stevenson: also like I also think that I'm 61 years old. I'm just trying to have a good time with this. I'm really lucky. ah you know I get to do what I do and you know without sounding like a guy who just got drafted to the Orioles.
Bill Stevenson: We've got a good organization. We're going to play them one at a time. It's a great bunch of guys.
Conor Fowler: right right
Bill Stevenson: Really great bunch of guys. But um ae I also... Like what kind of person makes a sticker that says I'm a friend of Bill Waverly.
Bill Stevenson: You know what I mean?
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: A kook.
Conor Fowler: well it's funny it's fucking funny and people don't get the joke
Bill Stevenson: And if I say that, but if I, but if I say I'm a kook, I just beat you to the punch. That's all. but And I don't care.
matt: Ha ha ha ha ha.
Conor Fowler: Oh, yeah.
Bill Stevenson: I don't know.
Conor Fowler: Beautiful.
Bill Stevenson: I'm really I'm I do. Of course, I mean, I don't I mean, I certainly don't care if anybody but I'm having a good time and I'm really grateful for for the people I encounter.
Bill Stevenson: And even I'll say to this is your signal. Once I sent that package the guy who looked for the city, then and I delivered it to his daughter's house and I knew My money was on him being the person who made the sign on 41st Street that says
Bill Stevenson: good things coming. Good things ahead.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, really right, right, right.
Bill Stevenson: Sorry, sorry. Good things ahead. I wish I, you know.
Conor Fowler: Which is funny because like that is kind of you in the past, right?
Bill Stevenson: I
Bill Stevenson: i don't know.
Conor Fowler: it's a It's a relative of yours. It's something like that. Because it is like, called it's like culture jamming, you know?
Bill Stevenson: Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but but I mean, I try to, you know, sometimes I don't want to. um
Bill Stevenson: Like I painted the you know, I painted the windows of the place the first week I got this place right in a painted them the way I painted them, and they're still the same way for a couple of reasons.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: wanted something strong and bold that told people to leave this building alone. And wanted I like it. I liked it for.
Bill Stevenson: like in memory of ah my friend Hannibal, Ross Hannibal, who had passed away some years ago. And also also because I really i really like the like the bold significance of like the Bad Brains Band in DC, in which is still one of my favorite records.
Bill Stevenson: and And it worked. And the only weird thing is that like, You know, on the neighbor page years ago, people were like, what's in that building? And somebody says, oh, I think it used to be a Jamaican restaurant.
Bill Stevenson: Oh, yeah, that makes sense.
matt: What's
Conor Fowler: but That's old man Stevenson's house.
Bill Stevenson: So that's, you know, that's OK. And sometimes when I walk when over the years, some people have been like, this restaurant? And I'm like, I wish I want some jerk chicken.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: But but I don't know.
Conor Fowler: Right. Hell yeah.
Bill Stevenson: It's um I. um You know, i got my neighbors are cool. I miss some of my neighbors.
Conor Fowler: Right. Very much.
Bill Stevenson: but yeah
Conor Fowler: i was I was Bill's neighbor long ago.
Bill Stevenson: Yeah. I mean, what are these? Man, these, don't even know what these folks over there are doing now.
Conor Fowler: No.
matt: Man, it sounds like a hell of a compound.
Conor Fowler: It's a bad scene.
matt: It's great.
Bill Stevenson: ah Yeah. I mean, I'm having a good time here. It's my wife knows where I am.
matt: Help.
Bill Stevenson: And it's good. I do, you know, I'm trying to think, while I don't have many other the collections that I had, you know, as a Ute, I still, I don't know, I still have some kind of touch points here and there.
Conor Fowler: and she's not that worried.
Bill Stevenson: And and and I and while and i do ah do like to have neat signs. and i also like
matt: yeah
Bill Stevenson: And I also like to have homemade signs that my friends made, you know, and sometimes
matt: Totally.
Conor Fowler: Hmm.
Bill Stevenson: Just the same as I like to collect. You know, I'm lucky to have a lot of art from friends and colleagues and even people and certainly from people I admire but I don't know.
matt: Hell yeah. Well, one final question because I would kick myself for not asking this.
Bill Stevenson: I'm a Pisces. I'm
Conor Fowler: Me too. you
matt: I, I'm not, I'm not an astrology girly.
Conor Fowler: That's so funny.
matt: Sorry y'all.
Bill Stevenson: a Pisces.
matt: Uh, I gotta ask, if you can, top five hardcore slash punk records.
Bill Stevenson: that's a good question Well, I think that they – I think sometimes they really just – they come from like a place where you're like, fuck.
Bill Stevenson: First of all. And so I think Walk Among Us is one of my favorite for – and several reasons and i love that the unfortunately i will have to describe some of them like um i think that the way the way that record is is put together and played with the with the sing-alongs and the background vocals and all that and the pace of it is really amazing and then so surprised when in person it was they played it sped up and that
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: And I was like, wait a minute. This is this isn't the 20 eyes. I want 20 eyes in my head.
Conor Fowler: she
Bill Stevenson: But also, that like those guys are moving they those guys are just moving forward because they were already ready to record Earth AD, which was definitely a thrash record.
Bill Stevenson: But Misfits Walk Among Us for a number of reasons, also um some of them sentimental. and
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: Black Flag Damaged. I think the Millions of Dead Cops record in June of 82 was just fucking blistering. And it was it was one of the most maniacal things I've ever heard.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: Like the way it was put together, it was like for those, also those guys existed in the same time and place as the Dead Kennedys. And and came at it a little more brutally where I think that the Doug Kennedys musically, they, they had a lot of, um, there was like, there was a lot of space and grace and some of that fast stuff they were playing.
Bill Stevenson: And, but I think between, i think that Jello and and Dave Dicker were comparable, interesting front end. And also I think that the Doug Kennedys, um, fresh fruit for rotting vegetables again, like for me, all,
Bill Stevenson: All these records, like there were records before that, of course. But like I like the Dan. Damn it.
Bill Stevenson: The Dan. Oh, the self-titled is amazing.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Bill Stevenson: But I really think that like stuff took a hold in my brain in like in 81, 82 when some of these these records came out. And then the Code of Honor, Sick Pleasure Split.
Bill Stevenson: where it that was just like singing about crusty punk shit. And Code of Honor was the same group of musicians. I almost said magicians.
Bill Stevenson: The same group of musicians playing with a a more socially conscious singer.
Conor Fowler: Hmm.
Bill Stevenson: and i And at the end of the day, I like the Code of Honor side better. but But then like beyond that, there like I don't know, that might have been five right there.
Bill Stevenson: But but so many so many good bands later, like like every town had like a couple of hardcore bands. like like like Detroit area, Detroit, Ann Arbor area had like Laughing Hyenas and Negative Approach, which turned into, highly recommend, I think they're just such only dogs
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: I highly recommend listening to Laughing Hyenas.
matt: Oh, God. Yeah. Yeah. That band is so underrated.
Bill Stevenson: or Yeah, where I just read the book about them. And it really, it didn't it didn't kill ah single thing for me.
Bill Stevenson: In fact, it gave me way more insight into who they were and they were trying to do.
matt: Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: and
matt: Honestly, i like John Brandon's new band, Easy Action, too.
Bill Stevenson: and I think that you can you find elements of both in easy action.
matt: Yep. Totally.
Bill Stevenson: I've been listening to all that stuff for the last month.
matt: Yeah, i'm I'm bummed that I kind of forgot about ah Easy Action opening for Dinosaur Jr.
Bill Stevenson: All the time.
matt: in July, I think. And I was like, shit!
Bill Stevenson: Right.
matt: Ugh.
Bill Stevenson: But I think it's like, you know, it's also in this time of like all the old all these older bands getting back together as best they can, you know, and kind of reliving the hits of our youth
matt: Yeah, totally.
Bill Stevenson: is interesting and weird. and um'm um'm And sometimes it is strange for like a band to decide that they're OK with being in the same room with each other once again just so they can go on tour and play all the 80s stuff.
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: but so
Conor Fowler: I make money.
Bill Stevenson: but sometimes it's also like, man, a lot of time has elapsed. Why don't just throw a couple once't you throw a couple new ones in there you know so you're not so you're not singing about being an angsty, pimply-faced...
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: Well, maybe you don't want that though. And I feel like when people start doing that, it gets bad. It's like the hip hop problem. It's like, uh, just, uh, self aggrandizement.
Bill Stevenson: Right. Well, so I'm not... I'm not, it's also, I'm not, my take about like playing, it'd be cool to, it would be cool to hear some music, but I'm not going to slag people who are like coming out and, and, and touring on that. But we'll say that like,
Bill Stevenson: you John Brennan has like three musical projects that were all good. And once in one still current one still, well, I guess two are still current, but, um,
Bill Stevenson: i don't know it's weird somewhat i ran into somebody the other day and i was talking about um i was talking about the laughing hyenas book and no man no negative approach i'm like sure sure dude you know just but there's more you know but um i'm not i i try not to be cynical about that stuff because i don't want to like like
matt: right
Bill Stevenson: You know, i mean, hell, maybe some of these bands getting back together are realizing more success than they did than they ever did in their prime, you know?
matt: Yeah, I kind of think that that's probably the case in a lot of, you know, and I've seen, like, I've been in hardcore and punk for long enough.
Bill Stevenson: Yeah.
matt: I've seen plenty of bands that reunited and like, Sometimes it's very good. Sometimes it's very bad. But, you know, like when I watch bands like that and they look like they're having a good time on stage, I'm like, okay, fuck it.
Bill Stevenson: Right.
matt: Like, go for it.
Bill Stevenson: Right. But, and to totally throw a wrench in this conversation, I mean, dude, soul coughing reunited, you know?
matt: Right. Right. Yeah.
Bill Stevenson: um
matt: Oh, good.
Bill Stevenson: i think that ah i really, and not my take is, I was very, very surprised that happened none of my business, how why, but I'm
matt: Yeah, I saw something earlier today, maybe it's old news, that ah apparently Sepultura is going to do one final show with the Cavalera Brothers. So, yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Oh, well, there you go
Conor Fowler: Hmm.
matt: yeah i don't I don't know what's happening in the world, but we can we can use this kind of shit, you know?
Bill Stevenson: why but go. Right. But, yeah, there's a um i hope there's a a new soul coughing record and not just a live record that's an example of the reunion, you know?
matt: Yeah, that'd be sick.
Bill Stevenson: Because, you know, Mr. M. Doty has certainly been prolific in and the times since they were together as a band.
matt: Right.
Bill Stevenson: with a pile of releases, which is a amazing.
matt: yeah If Oasis can do some reunion shows and it actually work, I think anything is possible at this point.
Bill Stevenson: and
Bill Stevenson: Oh, who cares?
Conor Fowler: Right.
Bill Stevenson: Oh, push
Conor Fowler: Well, I mean, I saw Rage Against the Machine. Like, it is possible.
Bill Stevenson: I'm kidding. I'm totally kidding.
Conor Fowler: since
Bill Stevenson: i just i've always I've always liked Soul Coffee, and I've always been a fan of M. Doty, and you probably always will be.
matt: Yeah, they're they're definitely one of those bands that like, if you know, you know. and not something that should be as widely like praise as they should be
Bill Stevenson: Yeah.
matt: anyway.
Bill Stevenson: They should play you play with easy action.
matt: All right, Bill, dude, this has been super fucking fun. Um, and yeah, it's a, it's a pleasure to talk to someone that was around the shit that, you know, both Connor and I have worshiped over the years, but, uh,
Bill Stevenson: Thank you.
Conor Fowler: All right.
matt: Yeah, I mean, just, you know, like hearing someone that was at the precipice of DC punk and hardcore, like, get out here.
Bill Stevenson: Oh, wow.
matt: That's wild.
Bill Stevenson: I mean, well, thanks. it was It was, you know, I'm grateful that that was my that was my time, you know.
matt: Yeah, totally.
Bill Stevenson: I just, you know, I try to avoid the, one time something happened, that's nothing.
matt: right right it's not it's not your entire personality but it inflects everything you do so it's cool
Conor Fowler: right
Bill Stevenson: But, you know, my son is, my my son is, I'll keep it short, but my son is,
Bill Stevenson: He's into hardcore music, you know, and that's, and, and he's been exposed to everything that, that I know. And, and he, he's kind of gravitated to that.
Bill Stevenson: And, and, and that's cool, you know, cause he knows this, but, and he also has like,
matt: that's
Bill Stevenson: you know, he's 17 and i get to see like his, his sense of humor and approach to life unfold.
matt: Totally.
Bill Stevenson: and but also and see his empathy and in like his uh his friendliness and his you know i like to i get to see that unfold too can
matt: Yeah, well.
Conor Fowler: And that's the, can that's the whole of it, right? Empathy is the whole of everything. So wonderful.
Bill Stevenson: i tell you one more thing you can cut it off i don't care but but you know
Conor Fowler: Sure.
matt: Of course.
Bill Stevenson: driving Driving around for years, like when when he was like still in a car seat and and the music was playing and it's and so it's a mix. you know it's a lot of It's always on shuffle.
Bill Stevenson: for the most It used to be always on shuffle. But every single time Black Sabbath would come on, I would say, Zan, yeah, Dad? Black Sabbath.
matt: Oh,
Bill Stevenson: And he says, okay, Dad. and for like three years and one day, We're driving around and he comes on and I say it, Black Sabbath. And he goes, dad?
Bill Stevenson: go, yes, Ann. I hate Black Sabbath.
matt: oh no
Conor Fowler: ah
Bill Stevenson: And I go, no, you don't.
Conor Fowler: Damn.
Bill Stevenson: I really do that.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, right.
Bill Stevenson: No, no, you're mistaken.
Conor Fowler: You can't.
Bill Stevenson: And you'll figure it out one day. You will. And then it really has been, and I couldn't pinpoint it, but it's been like kind of a gradual thing where like, he comes over the studio and helps me and he puts it on or, or he, you know, he would put it on, but kind of like the clincher is not just the black Sabbath for his sense of humor. And I know I'm doing something right.
matt: Fuck yeah.
Bill Stevenson: Like I'm, I'm look, I see my phone, Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of 76 and I don't recognize that news force. And I Google it.
Bill Stevenson: Doesn't say anything about him dying. And a couple minutes later, I look again, and it does say that he has passed. And he's he's sitting, eating his lunch.
Bill Stevenson: And I say, Zan, Ozzy Osbourne passed away this morning.
Bill Stevenson: And he just says, wow, that sounds like we're going to take the rest of the day off.
Bill Stevenson: And I'm like, I think my work is done here.
Conor Fowler: Hell yeah.
matt: Fucking phenomenal. Phenomenal.
Bill Stevenson: All right.
matt: Well, all right, Bill, Bill, thank you for being on, dude.
Bill Stevenson: thank you
matt: ah
Bill Stevenson: Thank you.
matt: Yo, shout out your shop, your compound, whatever you would like to so people can give you a follow.
Bill Stevenson: I'm at Waverly Tattoo so <unk> Co. And and Bill underscore. No.
Bill Stevenson: What is it? Bill underscore Stevenson?
matt: Something like that.
Bill Stevenson: I don't know.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, I believe believe that's right.
Bill Stevenson: I think on Instagram.
matt: Yeah, definitely both accounts worth following. but
Bill Stevenson: Not, not, not a well-known drummer, nor a good drummer. Thank you.
matt: yeah Well, everyone, thank you for listening. um Yeah, we're Apocalypse Studs at Apocalypse Studs on Instagram. Apocalypse Studs at gmail.com.
matt: I am Matt Smith at Rebels Rogues.
Conor Fowler: And I'm Connor Flower at Connor Flower.
matt: And we will see you next week.
Bill Stevenson: I can't believe I didn't get to talk about fashion.
Conor Fowler: ah See, that's the that's the whole show right there. ah Ladies, gents, these and thems. ah So thank you. We'll see you next week.
