New generation discovers punk veterans Social D
By ALAN SCULLEY
Special to Get Out

The latest Social Distortion CD, “Sex, Love and Rock ’n’ Roll,” comes eight years after the band’s previous studio album.

That 1996 release, “White Light, White Heat, White Trash,” arriving after the grunge scene had pushed alternative rock into the music mainstream, was portrayed as the best chance for this veteran punk band to enjoy a commercial breakthrough.

It didn’t happen, but a funny thing appears to have occurred with Social Distortion since then. Despite the fact that the group had been inactive until 2003 (frontman Mike Ness released a pair of solo CDs during the hiatus), Social Distortion appears to have been discovered by a whole new audience.

“I have witnessed, to me, a phenomenon. The band is bigger than it has ever been,” Ness says. “We’re seeing a whole generation of kids, virtually from word-of-mouth. We haven’t been with a major label for at least five years, longer than that, and just playing live shows here and there, and all of a sudden we’re selling out 19 nights at the House of Blues. It’s a phenomenon.”

That 19-show stand, documented on the recently released DVD, “Live in Orange County,” happened in 2003 in Social Distortion’s home turf of Southern California, and it represented the official reintroduction of a band that many suspected had played their last note years ago.

First came the decision by Ness after “White Light, White Heat, White Trash” to turn his attention to recording solo.

The event, though, that really caused fans to question if there would be a future for Social Distortion came in 2000.

On Feb. 29 of that year, guitarist Dennis Danell, who along with Ness co-founded the band in 1979, collapsed and died in the driveway of his home, the victim of an aneurysm. Danell was just 38.

Ness could have easily retired Social Distortion, but he said he felt he owed it to Danell to keep Social Distortion going.

“(The band) was his dream, and I really believe in my heart he would have wanted me to keep it going,” Ness says. “It’s kind of a tribute to him.”

Edgefest
With: Social Distortion, Interpol, Rise Against, Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Authority Zero and more
When: 11 a.m. Saturday
Where: Peoria Sports Complex, 16101 N. 83rd Ave.
Cost: $33
Info: