It was just kind of like a carving out of what I wanted the band to be in 20 years. There were aspects of "Prison Bound" I really liked, but I just felt that the songwriting had evolved a little bit. Every record is a reinvention of the band, but this really was. Well yeah, that's kind of why we self-titled it. So it was a very conscious decision on your part to stray away from a standard punk sound then? I guess it just goes to show that if you don't take risks in life, you don't really experience positive outcomes. That's kinda what I've been talking about every night onstage, giving people a little bit of insight on this record. 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. But I had experienced witnessing that first wave of punk and I remember the individualism and I remember the daring to be different.
"Story of My Life," for example - not a stereotypically punk song. I sometimes think that Social Distortion is just The Carter Family with Les Pauls and Fenders. I really like this." At the time, I was listening to The Carter Family and stuff. I distinctly remember writing these songs going, "Ehhhhhh … I don't know, man. What did the album mean and represent to you back when you were writing and recording it? I don't revisit my music that often, but doing this in the middle of writing, I think, is going to be very helpful. So there's something about the simplicity of these songs that people like. 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. I was just talking about it this morning with some of the band guys. 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. I mean, 25 years ago, I'm pretty sure we were just still in a van.
I've realized that a year is really hard to gauge. 3, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Mike Ness talked with The Tribune:ĭoes it feel like it's been 25 years since "Social Distortion" came out? Ahead of Social Distortion's sold-out show in Salt Lake City on Sept.