Social Distortion’s Mike Ness announces band’s return with ‘Born to Kill’

Mike Ness sat on the tiny stage of the Silverlake Lounge on Tuesday, Feb. 24 and thought for a minute about a question he’d just been asked by Brett Gurewitz, head of Epitaph Records.

When “Born to Kill,” the first new Social Distortion album in 15 years, is released in May, what do you think listeners will be feeling as they spend time with its 11 new tracks?

“I want them to feel all the emotions that I felt writing,” replied Ness, singer and guitarist in the long-running Orange County punk band. “You know, there’s anger, there’s rebellion, and there’s attitude.”

Swagger? Gurewitz suggested?

“I wasn’t going to say it, but yeah,” Ness replied as the crowd of invited friends, family and press broke out in laughter.

The event was a listening party for “Born to Kill,” the long-awaited eighth album from Social Distortion, followed by a Q-and-A with Gurewitz, who, in addition to running Epitaph, is Bad Religion’s guitarist. The evening also included a short set of stripped-down, mostly acoustic songs.

The Silverlake Lounge provided a perfect setting for the night. A classic dive, it’s the kind of place you’d expect to meet the sort of blue-collar folks, frustrated loners and defiant outsiders about whom Ness has long written songs.

But like any industry event, there was a themed cocktail menu with drinks named after Social Distortion albums and songs. Some were fancy, some were not. The Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, named after the band’s 2011 album of the same name, was a shot of tequila and a can of Modelo beer, and if that doesn’t say Social Distortion, what on earth does?

“Born to Kill” blasted over the bar’s speakers first, sounding every bit like you’d expect Ness and the band to sound. Fans are going to like its mix of classic vibes on the 10 originals and one very wicked cover song.

Here are four things we learned from Ness’s chat with Gurewitz.

Idol worship: Asked about lyrical references to Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and David Bowie in the title track, Ness said they were influences both on this record and his life in rock and roll.

“I remember listening to those records – Lou’s ‘Transformer’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal,’ every Bowie record,” he said. “That was the music I was listening to before I got into punk, [the Dead Boys’] ‘Sonic Reducer’ or the Ramones.

Why has it been so long since the last album? “The thing of it is, we’re such a big touring act,” Ness said of one reason for the long gap. [Social Distortion’s “Born to Kill” tour reaches the Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 1-2.] “The good news is that there’s a demand for us in all these other countries and cities and states, and we’ve got to go play for them.

“It’s very difficult to do both, make records and tour. You kind of have to shut the touring machine down and then get into writing mode. I had plenty of songs because I was writing immediately after ‘Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.’

“But also, because of all the touring, I was kind of an absentee father and husband for so many years, I missed out on a lot of things. It’s been important to me to try and find that balance.”

In good voice: Ness was in the middle of making the new album with Social Distortion when in June 2023, he was diagnosed tonsil cancer. As the album play-through demonstrated, and Gurewitz also noted, Ness’s voice sounds better than ever.

“You know, they cut me all up, and they tore [stuff] out,” he said. “My tongue is crooked now, and it’s shorter, and I can’t swallow sometimes when I eat. But my tone changed, and it got a little purer. Or maybe I’m just singing like there’s no tomorrow.

“I mean, I remember in the middle of all the treatments I was finding myself bargaining with God,” Ness said. “‘Hey, just let me finish this record.’

He added that he believes what’s coming will be “my most prolific years writing. I really just want to keep making records and not make people wait eight, 10, 15 years.”

Get ready with Mike: A few fans got the chance to ask questions, too, including one who wanted to ask about Ness’s eyebrows. No, really.

“I was going to make a joke that I had them professionally done today, but the reality of it is in the morning I trim my beard, and sometimes you’ve got to hit the eyebrows,” Ness said. “My wife distracted me, I was late. I was like, ‘Turn it on,’ and went [makes a beard-buzzing sound], and I realized I didn’t have the adapter on it.

“So these are drawn in,” he said, prompting another round of laughter from the crowd. “I was almost like, ‘Do I just cut them all? Shave them like David Bowie-style?”