Descendents тобының "Merican" EP-сі

Merican is an EP by the American punk rock band Descendents, released February 10, 2004. It was the band's first release for Fat Wreck Chords and served as a pre release to their sixth studio album Cool to Be You, released the following month. The EP includes two songs from the album: "Nothing with You" and Merican", and three B sides from the album's sessions: "Here with Me", "I Quit", and the hidden track "Alive". Merican marked the first release of new studio material from the Descendents since 1996's Everything Sucks and was their third release ever to chart, peaking at number 29 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart and at number 38 on Top Heatseekers.

In 1987, Descendents singer Milo Aukerman had left the band to pursue a career in biochemistry. The remaining members—bassist Karl Alvarez, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and drummer Bill Stevenson—changed the band's name to All and released eight albums on Cruz Records and Interscope Records between 1988 and 1995 with singers Dave Smalley, Scott Reynolds, and Chad Price. Aukerman contributed occasional songwriting and backing vocals, and in 1995 decided to return to music. The members decided to operate as two bands, working with Aukerman as the Descendents and with Price as All. Both bands signed to Epitaph Records and the Descendents released Everything Sucks in 1996. Following the album's supporting tours Aukerman had returned to his science career, though he recorded backing vocals for All's 1998 album Mass Nerder. All also released Problematic in 2000 and Live Plus One in 2001, a double live album that included a Descendents disc recorded in 1996. The recording sessions for the Descendents' sixth studio album Cool to Be You took place with Aukerman in February 2002 at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado, with additional recording done in April at Planet of Sound in Wilmington, Delaware, and were produced by Stevenson. The band recorded the music for the songs live in the studio with minimal overdubbing, and Aukerman's vocals were recorded over the instrumental tracks. However, these recordings were not released for another two years. Stevenson explained that the gap of eight years between Descendents albums was due to the band members having children, and his father's death.

The songs on Merican address topics including love and relationships, sociopolitical commentary, and frustrations with life in a touring band. Aukerman remarked that "there's no part of the Merican EP that is a retread of anything we've done in the past. Some of the songs are major departures for us, like 'Here with Me,' and the hidden track 'Alive.' Even the title song is actually a stretch for us; if you look back on all the songs we have done, there are very few that have any 'political' content in them." "I Quit" was written by Aukerman about the frustrations of being in a band and on the road, with lyrics such as "Sick all the time, I miss my wife / I quit / Got better things to do with my life / I quit". John Luerssen of Allmusic gave it three and a half stars out of five, remarking that "Nothing with You" "revisit[s] the timeless lovelorn attack of cherished songs from their past like 'Wendy,' 'Clean Sheets,' and 'Silly Girl, while Merican" "harks back to vintage Bad Religion" and "I Quit" is "a nervous, edgy 'Catalina' like throwback". He was less complimentary about the other two songs, calling "Here with Me" merely a "palatable midtempo number" and "Alive" "worth skipping, as it drags in a way that no Descendents number has a right to."

Here With Me was originally written in 1989 by Milo and first played with his short lived band Milestone.