Old Interview with Dennis Danell

[sickboyking79]

Interview

Dennis Danell of Social Distortion



Home base: Orange County, California - Touring Line up: Mike Ness, guitar/vocals; Dennis Danell, guitar; John Maurer, bass; Chuck Biscuits, drums (Deen Castronovo played drums on the album). Album: "White Light White Heat White Trash" - Label: 550/Epic Producer: Michael Beinhorn - First Single/video: "I Was Wrong" - Web site: http://www.socialdistortion.com or http://www.msopr.com.

Q&A with Dennis Danell

Sheila Rene': It says, "Dennis Danell, born June 24, 1961, Tacoma, Washington."

Dennis Danell: Actually, I was born in Seattle, Washington.

SR: That's the reason I bring it up, since Rolling Stones' new encyclopedia of rock says Tacoma. I'm checking their facts for the record.

DD: For the record I was born in Seattle General Hospital.

SR: Formed in Fullerton, California in 1979. Then you had some time off after the "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" album which came out in 1992. I'd say that's where you ended up trying to get the rights to your songs back...between heaven and hell.

DD: Right, right. It was over some licensing agreements we had with some independent distributors. The agreements were already outdated and they felt they could still hang on to the releases and so we had to go through litigation. We also had some problems with some of our multi-track tapes because they were at the studio where the material was recorded, the Casbah. Chas Rameriz, our producer at the time, was killed in an accident. We had to deal with probate. His estate felt that the tapes were owned by the studio but in actuality we owned them and we were just storing them there. Where else would you store them except in the studio where you could work on them. It was unfortunate to have attorneys get involved but in the long run we got the whole back catalog and bought the studio.

SR: Now you can use the Casbah to help all your friends record.

DD: I've been doing that. I've brought in some local bands from the Orange County scene and helped them record their demos. I've been trying to give something back to the local community as we were helped out when we were just beginning.

SR: You're all living in Orange County now?

DD: Yes, except for Biscuits, who lives in Seattle.

SR: Are you guys proud of your place in punk history?

DD: Of course, we're very, very proud, but on the other hand we look back and sometimes wish we could have done things a little differently. Not much, but if anything, we wish in the early days we would've taken it a little more seriously. Not just a vehicle to live the rock and roll lifestyle, but that's all about growing up. We had to go through those experiences to get to where we are today...and to appreciate where we are in today's music. We feel at times that if we would've had the kind of success after the "Prison Bound" album that we're having today, or even after "Mommy's Little Monster," in all reality, we would not be here now because the excess would have just killed us. We wouldn't have known how to handle it.

SR: Ness has been clean for 12 years now. How did you escape the drug scene?

DD: I guess by seeing a first hand example of what it does to you.

SR: I'm sure it's a lot easier to deal with Ness now.

DD: Oh, sure. Yeah, on the other hand, you have different areas to deal with. It's a lot easier to not have to worry about finding some sleazy dope man so he could feel normal. When a heroin addict gets that far along in his addiction, he has to go get his shot to feel normal. It's wonderful not having to deal with Mike on that level. We've never wanted to tell anyone how to live their lives or what to do because we didn't want anyone to do that to us. When we were teenagers, we thought we were invincible.

SR: Did you replace Randall Carr with Biscuits or was there another drummer in the middle.

DD: Yes, Chuck is the current drummer and we're happier with him than we've been in a long time. We feel that our rhythm section is the most solid it's been since the beginning.

SR: Who played drums on this album since Biscuits wasn't on board yet?

DD: We used this fellow called Deen Castronovo. He almost joined the band. He was real close but he had some obligations with Ozzy Osbourne. Beinhorn worked with him on the last Ozzy album. Beinhorn told us about Deen and brought him to save the day. We jammed with him and said 'Dude, don't you want to join our band?' This was before we hooked up with Chuck and were in drum limbo. I talked to Deen about three weeks ago and he was going to see us in San Francisco. He's a friend of T.K.'s at Guitar Castle and they hang out a lot. I buy guitars from this guy. Something happened and they didn't make it to the show.

SR: Ness says Biscuits makes the old songs sound new.

DD: He does. He gave us almost a rebirth and a reincarnation. We have this saying going around with us that you're only as good as your drummer. And now we feel we're right where we want to be. We've known Chuck ever since the early '80s Los Angeles scene in other bands such as the Circle Jerks and Black Flag. We always talked about how good he was and that we should get him in our band.

SR: Sometimes wishes come true.

DD: Yeah, finally it just ended up that his obligations with Danzig were over. He had a falling out with them and no longer a part of that camp. I was dreading the fact that we were going to have to audition 200 drummers. We were getting all these calls, people sending me letters and tapes. I'm just sitting there just not at all looking forward to the process. As soon as we found out Chuck was available we gave him a call and he came down one weekend. We jammed in the studio and that was all it took. All the torment I was putting myself through about auditioning drummers was unnecessary. It all worked out great.

SR: I know that you guys have grown up, but there's still a lot of rebellion in those bones.

DD: Oh, yeah. It's focused in different areas now. One of the problems we have now is that we're really dissatisfied with most of the music that's becoming popular. Not that we like to slag on any other band, but we just feel that there's just a lot of mediocre stuff out there. Things have changed because the issues in our lives are not the same as they were ten years ago. We're no longer singing about rebelling about school or the police or mom and dad because we're parents now.

SR: On that "Prison Bound" album you helped write one of the best outlaw songs ever written called "Like An Outlaw (For You)."

DD: I've been working on my writing skills and it's not that I haven't been writing at all, but in the last few years Mike's writing has just come out so strong. It has overshadowed mine a little bit, but that hasn't been discouraging. It just makes me want to write better songs and to keep working at it.

SR: I went into your web site and printed out the lyrics to every song. It helps me more readily understand the album. Ness' writing has never been better.

DD: People ask me why none of my songs made it onto the album, but truth is I couldn't take credit for any of that because they were Mike's songs. He'd come to me and he'd have a riff or chord progression and what can you add to it. I'd help him arrange it a little bit and maybe add a little of melody but the chord changes and lyrical content were all his. He was almost willing to give me credit, but I told him that it was all him and I couldn't take any credit there.

SR: Doesn't it drive you a little crazy that all the things you were rebelling against in your early years are status quo today...tattoos, piercings, etc.

DD: Right. Now everyone is tattooed up and pierced back. We were doing those things for anti-social reasons. I think the reason why I try to convince myself why that's happenings is that most of the people who grew up in the '80s are now professionals. They are the program directors, the graphic artists at these magazines and they're the television producers out there in the work force. The ideas they grew up with are coming to the forefront. That's all I can come up with as an explanation of why it's acceptable now.

SR: I noticed that John is keeping up your website with his tour journal and all.

DD: He has been sending in some stuff. We've been trying to get more and more involved in that at the label and at our management company. For me, personally, I just loath sitting in front of a computer. I have to do it sometimes, but I don't enjoy it.. There are people out there who can sit in front of the computer for 20 hours a day and just love it. I can't do it. I'm finally putting a lot more effort into it and we're working harder on our pages. It is a great tool and there's so much information on it that we can't avoid it.

SR: The lyrics were a great find for me. I can't read them on the CD even with a magnifying glass.

DD: Right. That is my feelings exactly. The lyrics are the most important part of the song.

SR: Give me your thoughts on the difference between your last two producers Dave Jerden and Michael Beinhorn.

DD: They definitely do things differently. Beinhorn has the reputation that when he's working with bands they start to dislike him because he's really meticulous for everything. He doesn't let anything mediocre slide. You think you're sitting there doing the same thing over and over, beating your head against the wall, but he has a specific reason for everything. He sat us down and pushed us harder than we've ever been pushed. He instilled into us the importance of this record and how we had better take full advantage of this opportunity. There are thousands of bands out there who'd love to be in our shoes, and not to take that for granted. At first, when we started submitting material to him, he'd come back with statements such as 'I can use one chorus from that song and the verse from this song, but other than that I don't like any of this. You'd better keep writing.' Your ego gets involved at first but then after the initial shock we sat down and decided that maybe he was right. It just made us work harder and harder. Another thing is that just as the record was being released if we were going to start getting negative reviews, which never happened, we knew we worked as hard as we possibly could on this and no one could take that away from us.

SR: You guys did this album 90 percent analog and boy, do you hear it.

DD: That was another thing that attracted us to Beinhorn. We could really relate to the way he wanted to record it with all analog with old tube mics. We used two inch tape machines with eight track head stacks so we were in actuality recording two inch eight track. It seems that every project he does doesn't sound like anything else he's done. Not to take anything away from Dave Jerden or a producer like Todd Rundgrun, but it seems that everything they produce sounds like their sound.

SR: I saw you at the Liberty Lunch show here in Austin. Did you know that there were six out-of-uniform policemen with their wives in the audience? That's over the two that are always there.

DD: That's something truly amazing that we've noticed not just in Austin. It's a lot of cities where the law enforcement are relating to our band. They're coming to the shows and enjoying themselves. When we played the Palladium in L.A. there was a whole precinct of vice cops there. They're having us take pictures with them. It's really mind boggling. We used to run from them. There's this one guy in L.A. who's a deputy now and he goes to all our shows. It's really given me a different perspective on law enforcement. There is corruption and bad eggs but for the most part it seems that most of them are really, genuinely there for myself and the people. They really take a lot of heat and sometimes get some bad raps.

SR: How was the Orange County Punk Festival? Did you meet Jerry Lee Lewis?

DD: Oh, yes, we met Jerry Lee. We've actually done a show with him a few years ago. That guy is a cantankerous old buzzard. He's set in his ways and it's not like I just got to shake his hand. I didn't have an in- depth conversation with him, but just his mannerisms and the way he acts. That guy is something else. I love him for it and I love his music and it's good to see that he's still around. (Hang on the maid is coming in). Sorry about that. Housekeeping has a hard time with the rock and roll lifestyle. They want to get in to clean early. I can never figure it out. We're in New York till after Thanksgiving. They always have a problem when I tell them that I don't need service every day. I can make my own bed. I can use the same towel more than once. I always have the do not disturb sign on the door but about this time they want to clean. For the most part we're getting in here in the wee hours of the morning after a show and a little meet and greet.

SR: You guys are one of the bands who still does that meet and greet thing. Generally, a band passes out passes and then don't honor them after keeping folks in a holding pattern for a hour or so.

DD: We've always tried to be really accessible to our fans. To be there for them and journalists, reporters and people in radio. We like to interact with them and get their feedback. I can't understand why some artists just want to shut themselves out from all that. They act like it's such a inconvenience. We do not share that same situation. We need to work with these people to make sure the right representation gets out.

SR: What was our interpretation of the W.A.R.P. tour?

DD: The tour in Japan was fun at times and at other times it had its moments. The 20-hour flight to Japan was not enjoyable. You get over there and you hit the culture shock, language barriers, currency exchange problems which takes a few days to get used to. For the most part, the Japanese people were wonderful. The fans at the shows were really enthused and excited. Some of the shows were like having a thousand eyeballs looking at you in a look of disbelief because they're just standing there. They're a very polite culture and then on the other hand, the show we did in Tokyo with about 5,000 people had a big mosh pit, skate ramps and all kind of stuff there.

SR: I heard Dion showed up in Ft. Lauderdale. Did you meet him?

DD: Yes, we did. He's was a lot easier to talk to than someone like Jerry Lee. He was rockin' out and wanted to hang out. We hung with him and shot the shit with him. He invited us over to his home and told us he'd make us dinner anytime we were in town. That's another element that has been unbelievable to us is the amount of people I've been able to come in contact with like my childhood heroes. It goes along the line with hanging out with Neil Young.

SR: That had to have been a great tour with Neil and then you got to hang out with The Ramones too.

DD: Oh, yeah, it never seems to end. Now, it seems that they're just as big a fan of us as we are of them. Another example was when we did some shows with Iggy Pop. He's just awesome. We did a show with him in Germany at an art festival this summer.

SR: You made the festival rounds in Europe. Was it fun?

DD: We really concentrated on our European market. We've been there twice now. We did an extensive tour of Germany with a band that only plays there. They sell out 10,000 arenas consistently. They're almost comical but they're a huge rock band that covers stuff like "Sheena Was A Punk Rocker." Everyone in the hall sings along in German and it's phenomenal, but outside Germany they can't do shit. They were really nice to us and they're big fans. We exposed our music to a lot of people this time around. We're still getting lots of good feedback from those shows.

SR: That probably doesn't touch the amount of people who watched the web cast from Hollywood.

DD: I didn't get to see that. All I saw was the guys filming it on stage. Last night we did a satellite, national, syndicated interview from the Radio & Television Museum in New York. Communication today is so amazing and you can reach so many people at one time. I just recently got hooked up to a fax machine.

SR: What's your favorite guitar these days? DD: My favorite is my '58 Les Paul Special.

SR: Happy Holidays, Dennis. It's been great talking to you. You're a great interview. Thanks for your time.

DD: It's been fun talking to you. Thanks and have some great holidays.

-Sheila Rene'

[foxiness]

That was nice. Thanks for posting it here.

Sure brings back memories.

May Dennis Play Amoung Angels.