http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...-band-evolves/
A punk band evolves
t's an unsettled time for Mike Ness and his band, Social Distortion, but not in a bad way. If anything, they have too much opportunity ahead of them.
It took Ness more than nine years to schedule his second solo tour, which stops tonight and Saturday at the Gothic Theatre. Social D, once synonymous with screwing up and a loser mentality, has become one of the longest-lasting and most influential punk bands of all time. Ness' songwriting has evolved into short masterpieces.
Ness spoke about the sprawling road that lies ahead.
You've been working on a new Social Distortion album and playing new material live. What's up?
"Well, it's kinda up in the air right now. ... There was talk about doing an acoustic album and maybe putting a couple of new songs on it. I don't know if you've seen Neil Young play. He's great with his band, but when he comes out with just his acoustic guitar he's more powerful than a 13-piece band. That's one of the things we'd definitely like to do. ... We also want to do a documentary on the band. It's the 30th year of the band."
Why are you touring solo after a nine-year layoff?
"To let people know it's still something I want to pursue. I ping-pong back and forth between this and Social D. We worked very hard in the past five years with Social D. It was time to take a short break."
Last time we talked, Social D was about to headline Red Rocks. Was that a milestone for you?
"It was our first headlining show there so it was monumental for us - headlining Red Rocks. It just let us know how significant we are in that area. Denver has always just been a very important market. That's from doing a dozen or more good live shows and getting people talking. It's still our best marketing tool, word of mouth."
I imagine it's one of the few markets where you're still played on at least four major FM stations.
"Yeah. It's such a strange time right now. If this was going to happen, at least there's the computer that can help. People find you and discover you or whatever."
Why the documentary now? Are you considering a box set?
"The last thing I want to do is just do a bunch of repackaging. I hate it when people do that, when you're buying the same thing in a different package or a box. Doing a documentary on the band history - first of all it hasn't been done yet. ... A lot has happened in 30 years. You've got people writing stuff and doing articles on you all the time. Getting the band's perspective is important."
What now? You couldn't have seen yourself in this position 30 years ago.
"I don't see an end in the near future, that's for sure. For me it's finding a balance between touring life and home life. I've been gone a lot in the past five years. My kids are growing up. They need a dad there right now. It's tough, man. It's a struggle. I've set a standard with Social D and I'm trying to accomplish that with this as well - trying to give people a great live show and send them home happy."
Mark Brown is the popular music critic. [email protected] or 303-954-2674
<font size="2" face="verdana, arial">The also played Reach for the Sky Saturday night in Denver......Originally posted by lpcp11:
Cool. Thanks for posting. But did I read the comment under the interview about Mike and the band playing Down Here With the Rest of Us? If that is correct, is that, other than Ball and Chain, the only other Social D song played on the tour so far.
<font color="#FFFF00"><font size="1">[ May 26, 2008 12:32 PM: Message edited by: lpcp11 ]</font></font>
Reach for the Sky? Interesting. In Chicago the only Social D song was Ball in Chain. I know that compared to other parts of the country and the world, we are spoiled on the west coast with all the Social D shows of late, but I really enjoyed the lack of Social D material. Not that I expected anything else, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the change in tempo and material. When they did play Ball in Chain, Mike said something like this song was written by some guy from Southern California, kinda like yes he is proud of his Social D material but the focus of the solo show is the other material and covers of songs he enjoys playing. They did play You Win Again which was played a lot at recent SxDx shows, but others that have made it in the SxDx set list like Six More Miles and Send Her Back were not.
Cool. Thanks for posting. But did I read the comment under the interview about Mike and the band playing Down Here With the Rest of Us? If that is correct, is that, other than Ball and Chain, the only other Social D song played on the tour so far.
<font color="#FFFF00" size="1">[ May 26, 2008 12:32 PM: Message edited by: lpcp11 ]</font>
They also played Ring and Story in NJ
i really hope some live recordings of these shows pop up eventually
I really think that this documentary of Social Distortion will really be special for their 30 year anniversary. Hopefullt it won't be that long before it comes out!
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