"She's My Ex" is a song by the American punk rock band All, released as a single from their 1989 album '' Allroy's Revenge''. Written by drummer Bill Stevenson, the song describes an ex-girlfriend with whom he had a tumultuous romance. The B-side track "Crazy?", written by bassist

Karl Alvarez Karl Matthew Alvarez (born March 10, 1964) is an American bassist and songwriter for both the Descendents and All, the band that resulted after the Descendents disbanded again in 1987. Alvarez joined the Descendents after the '' Enjoy!'' album fr ...

, is from the ''Allroy's Revenge'' recording sessions but was not included on the album.

Background

Several of Stevenson's songs on ''Allroy's Revenge'' describe a tumultuous romance, including "Scary Sad", "She's My Ex", and "Net". The songs were written about an ex-girlfriend of Stevenson's who had problems with drugs and was placed on

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences ( alternatives to incarceration), suc ...

. "She's My Ex" describes how he "can't expect she'll change her ways, can't accept the things she done / She's just my ex / Nothing more, nothing less / She'll always be my ex".

Recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

Richard Andrews remarked that "It seems like on every album, Bill would have the song that he knew was gonna bring people to the band and bring people to the record, and 'She's My Ex' was one of them." "She's My Ex" was recorded with the rest of ''Allroy's Revenge'' in December 1988 at Third Wave Recording in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific Oc ...

, with Stevenson as

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. It was singer Scott Reynolds' first recording session with All, and recording "She's My Ex" taught him how meticulous Stevenson could be during the recording process. "That was where Scott got his first taste of how absolutely particular Bill was", remembered guitarist Stephen Egerton. Reynolds later recalled:

I've never been in a band where phrasing was so fucking important as this band. Karl would do some of that too. Not as bad as Bill. Oh god, Bill, he'd just stop the tape, and it's terrible because you're going "She'll always be..." and then all of a sudden the tape stops, and you're like "What?" and he's like "You’re flat", and he goes back. So we got all done with this thing after days on one song, and he goes "That’s awesome. We're done", and I'm like "Phew!" and he goes "Okay, let's
double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...
it."

"Crazy?", written by Alvarez, was also recorded during the ''Allroy's Revenge'' sessions but was left off of the album. Several performers sang backing vocals on the track, including

Milo Aukerman Milo Jay Aukerman (; born January 1, 1963) is an American vocalist, songwriter, and former research molecular biologist. Aukerman is most widely known for being the lead singer of the punk rock band the Descendents, a group widely considered to b ...

of All's precursor band the

Descendents The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a ...

. "She's My Ex" was released through

Cruz Records Cruz Records was an offshoot record label of SST Records, owned by the Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. The label was founded in 1987. Its roster consisted mainly of pop punk and grunge bands, along with Ginn's solo records. The label has rem ...

in 1989 as a 10-inch and

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debu ...

, and

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

. Ilisa Katz provided the cover photograph, while Alvarez and Reynolds drew the illustrations for the back cover. Live recordings of "She's My Ex" were later released on All's live albums '' Trailblazer'' (1990) and ''

Live Plus One ''Live Plus One'' is a live album by the American punk rock bands All and the Descendents, released in 2001 through Epitaph Records. A double album, it includes one disc by All recorded in 2001 on their '' Problematic'' tour, and a second disc ...

'' (2001), the latter sung by Reynolds' successor

Chad Price Chad Price is the lead singer for the melodic punk band ALL and alt-country band Drag the River. He is currently the lead singer for A Vulture Wake. He joined ALL in 1993 as the band's third singer, after Dave Smalley and Scott Reynolds. He h ...

. The studio versions of "She's My Ex" and "Crazy?" were later

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed by Stevenson, Egerton, and Jason Livermore for All's best-of compilation album '' All'' (1999).

Track listing

Personnel

;Band *

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

, cover illustrations * Stephen Egerton –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, assistant

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Scott Reynolds – lead

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

* Bill Stevenson –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, producer, additional engineer ;Additional performers *

– backing vocals on "Crazy?" *Bub – backing vocals on "Crazy?" *Chris – backing vocals on "Crazy?" *Jovi – backing vocals on "Crazy?" *Sarina Matteucci – backing vocals on "Crazy?" *Ward – backing vocals on "Crazy?" ;Production *Richard Andrews – engineer *James B. Mansfield – additional engineer *Ilisa Katz – front cover photograph

References

{{Authority control All (band) songs 1989 singles 1989 songs Songs written by Bill Stevenson (musician)