Q&A with Social Distortion’s Mike Ness

Ahead of Social Distortion's sold-out show in Salt Lake City on Sept. 3, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Mike Ness talked with The Tribune:

Does it feel like it's been 25 years since "Social Distortion" came out?

I've realized that a year is really hard to gauge. So 25 really is. I mean, 25 years ago, I'm pretty sure we were just still in a van. I know we got a bus soon after this record — or maybe it was when this came out, we were able to get our first bus. It's crazy. I was just talking about it this morning with some of the band guys. I'm in the middle of writing right now, and you want to evolve and try new stuff too, but these songs, 25 years later people are still singing along to these. So there's something about the simplicity of these songs that people like. So it's interesting me. I don't revisit my music that often, but doing this in the middle of writing, I think, is going to be very helpful.

What did the album mean and represent to you back when you were writing and recording it?

I distinctly remember writing these songs going, "Ehhhhhh … I don't know, man. I really like this." At the time, I was listening to The Carter Family and stuff. I sometimes think that Social Distortion is just The Carter Family with Les Pauls and Fenders. Just simple three-chord things. "Story of My Life," for example — not a stereotypically punk song. But I had experienced witnessing that first wave of punk and I remember the individualism and I remember the daring to be different. In that aspect, I felt I was staying true to my roots, even though I was writing the songs going, "I don't know if people are gonna like this, but I sure do." I just had to take the risk. That's kinda what I've been talking about every night onstage, giving people a little bit of insight on this record. I guess it just goes to show that if you don't take risks in life, you don't really experience positive outcomes.

So it was a very conscious decision on your part to stray away from a standard punk sound then?

Well yeah, that's kind of why we self-titled it. Every record is a reinvention of the band, but this really was. There were aspects of "Prison Bound" I really liked, but I just felt that the songwriting had evolved a little bit. It was just kind of like a carving out of what I wanted the band to be in 20 years. I don't know how, but I had this kind of a vision of where I wanted to be in 20 years. A lot of it was I didn't want to be an old guy in a band singing and doing the same things I did when I was 18. I wanted the freedom to venture into different genres, because I loved all different kinds of music. I didn't want to get painted into a corner — I hate labels. We were a punk band, and I had taken — I feel — everything valuable from that punk movement, and I've held onto everything that was valuable to me from that. But I also got rid of a lot of s---. And a lot of it was … it did start to stereotype itself. It became just as narrow-minded as the people who were trying to kick our ass for being punk-rockers.

"Social Distortion" feels like a very personal album. What were some of the themes you were looking to convey in the songwriting process?

At this period of my life, I was five years clean off drugs and alcohol, so I was doing a lot of reflection. When I was writing "Ball and Chain" — and what's interesting about "Ball and Chain" is that if you ask anyone who listens to it, I think it means something different to everybody, 'cause it doesn't really say any one thing. For me, it's kind of a spiritual song. It was basically, "I've seen God," I guess if you will — God of my understanding; I'm not a religious guy; I do consider myself a spiritual man — to help me through this, help remove these things that are not only getting in the way of living a good life, but staying alive. I guess the universal thing about that is everyone has some sort of ball and chain, whether it's getting into bad relationships, or not [being] good with money, or addictions, or whatever, or a horrible childhood that affects your relationships now, or whatever. So it was really just kind of asking for … it really was a kind of prayer, or asking for help. But what I like about it is it's not preachy. I don't know how I did it — if I knew how I did some of these things, I'd have a bunch more! Same with "Story of My Life." It was just all I was doing was, I'm like you, I'm a journalist — I just report what I see. All I was doing was just walking through my life and putting it on paper. They have a certain authenticity to them because they're so honest, I think. Just simple. The other thing is songs like "It Coulda Been Me" — I had friends that weren't as lucky as me to pull out of that life. I had friends that were dying or going to prison. And I didn't want that life. At this point, I'd only been clean five years, and it was still very important to keep it in the forefront of your mind, where you come from and where you could be. The main thing was bringing that Americana into the punk, really just establishing the country, rockabilly, blues influences and blending it with the attitude and angst and energy from punk.

It seems like your cover of "Ring of Fire" was a perfect integration of those elements.

Yes — even though I remember getting flak for doing it. Like I said, [punk] had stereotyped itself. So it seemed like there was this punk-rock police. I'm writing about it in my book. It was like, "Oh! You're gonna grow your hair out long — that's not very punk!" Or, "Oh, you're gonna do a Johnny Cash song? That's not very punk!" And, "The lyrics on 'Ball and Chain' aren't very punk!" Well, maybe you should listen to the lyrics, 'cause it's about as hardcore as you can get. I mean, it's about life. But yeah, I've always picked cover songs that I grew up loving so much that it's like, "Man, I just wanna sing that!" I love it so much. We took a risk and it paid off. That record went gold, and that gave me a lot of confidence to keep writing the same kind of stuff.

What went into the decision to revisit the album now?

We don't take a whole lot of time sometimes to acknowledge our milestones. We typically don't go and play a whole record in its entirety or anything like that. But I just felt that this one was worth acknowledging. It was such a pivotal point of our career. … I just felt like, yes, we're in the middle of writing right now, but this is important. This was important to us, and it seems like it's important to the fans, too. Because every single show on this tour is sold out so far. So it must be important to them, too. And that feels good. We're celebrating this together.

As you look back at the songs, how do you feel about them now? Anything in particular — good or bad — that really stands out to you?

I'm my worst critic, you know? So there's a couple songs that I just refused to play for a while. I wouldn't play "[She's a] Knockout" — I hadn't played that in 20 years. I just thought the lyrics were dumb. And then I started playing it and was like, "Wow, this is just a really fun song to play live." It's just so high-energy. And so, OK, it's not a sophisticated work of literacy, but it's a cool song. I've been having a lot of fun with this set. It's high-energy from the beginning to the end. I'm just really digging it.

What do you think the enduring legacy of Social Distortion is — both the album and the band?

You know, I've been looking at the crowd every night, seeing guys my age who were there from the beginning still coming, and I'm seeing 9- and 10-year-olds in the front row, I'm seeing teenagers, I'm seeing 20-year-olds. It's just fascinating to me that somehow we were able to write music that would pass down through generations. I see parents bringing their kids to shows, I see kids bringing their parents to shows. I don't know that the best marketing geniuses in the world could figure out how to do that. I don't know how! I certainly don't take it for granted. It is a phenomenon to me, and a very lucky one at that.

Does it mean anything to you that there are newer bands, like Volbeat for instance, that are kind of mimicking your punk/rock/rockabilly/country/blues fusion? That they're finding success with this style of music that you kind of pioneered?

It's flattering, of course. I want to have an impact on musicians as well as fans. So yeah, it's cool.

You've referenced writing new material a few times, so when can fans expect a new album, and what'll it sound like?

I'm gonna shoot for 2016. I can't guarantee it — here we are not ending this tour until the end of this year. I have a lot of ideas, but as far as the direction goes, it's not clear to me yet. It could go in any direction. I wanna make sure that it's authentic. Every record we do, I try to go in with the mindset of outdoing the last one. And the last one, personally, is one of my favorites. But I want the record to be different. So I don't know. I want continuity, but I don't know. Like I said, revisiting these songs has been very interesting, because they've stood the test of time, and there's something about them — the simplicity and the honesty — that I need to pay attention to.

What can fans who show up to your set in Salt Lake City expect to see?

At this point, four weeks into the tour, we're tight. It's high-energy. We spend the whole day preparing for the show — whether it's how much rest you get, what you're putting in your body — to make a high-energy show. The live shows … I think we make great records, but for me, I think our strong point has always been our live performances. So fans can expect Social Distortion in peak form.

ewalden@sltrib.com

Twitter: @esotericwalden