Sharks from England announced their first American show and first time watching Social D. The members couldn't have been older than 24 years old, if that, and they came revved up and ready to rock. Their music sounds very indicative of the British punk rock scene, reminiscent of bands like Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers. The charismatic singer had a voice that sounds like he could be the son of Joe Strummer, and I am not yet convinced there isn't some connection. They were tight, aggressive and very listenable; they had a great sound. However, their songs lacked the memorability for me to walk to the merch table and buy a demo. I don't expect I will hear from them again, but I hope I do, and I hope they return with some killer tracks that get you singing along.
Chuck Ragan, a backwater punk trio with an acoustic guitar/harmonica, fiddle and string bass. You might want to grant them country or Cajun music, while stylistically they do resemble those genres, but they are all punk in the attitude. They prove you can be aggressive without effects. Tough, gritty cowpunk is possibly their most accurate pigeon hole. Ragan has a voice that can make Springsteen weep and a bear back down. They played second and took a 45 minute set. While they were unquestionably good and entertaining, they over stayed their welcome by about 15 minutes. Any Social D fan can jive with their sound and what they are doing, but we didn't pay $40 a ticket to see this band take up precious headliner time. They didn't leave anyone wanting more.
50% of the crowd wearing Social D T-Shirts chanting "SOCIAL D!" left a tough expectation to walk onto as the mass of crowd began pushing and swaying before the band strutted their way on stage. The band took the stage with Mike Ness coming out last wearing a Chicago Prohibition era bank robbers trench coat and fedora, looking like a true bad-ass, taking the crowds excitement level up to an almost inconceivable level. Breaking the tension with hard driving punk rock sound of Road Zombies, the testosterone that runs through the veins of all the men (and women) began their moshing and crowd surfing immediately. Don't be confused, this crowd isn't like a Slayer crowd where there is an unhealthy amount of machismo with thousands all simultaneously trying to prove which one is the true alpha dog in this pack. These are sincere fans who know the words to every song and foolishly sing along as if that song was written to supply their own lives' soundtrack. The band had a massive crowd singing along with every song. Hit or not, they were all hits to the fans, songs like, Sick Boys, Bakersfield, Ball and Chain, Bad Luck, Down on the World Again, etc. And to keep the show interesting and to break-up the monotony of crunching power chords and predictable songs, they played altered arrangements of some of their classics like Prison Bound, Reach For the Sky, and Cold Feelings. Approaching the end when they played Story of My Life, Ness addresses to the crowd, saying when he wrote it he thought it was the story of HIS life, but later he realized through the fans that it was the story of ALL of our lives. Which is why all the fans choose to identify with all the songs, because maybe the fans feel it could have been for them.
It's interesting that Social Distortion's career with hits on the radio seems to have peaked in the early to mid 90's; however, if you go to a show, they seem to be at their peak when you are watching them. They get bigger audiences every time you see them. They no longer have to tag themselves with another name to fill up a large theatre/music hall and sell tickets for $40 plus. And with the advent of social media, the fans know when the record comes out much faster and don't have to stay glued to a radio (which will probably not support your favorite bands anymore, anyway). You can speculate that Social D's songs at the peak of the MTV days were a bit ahead of their time or were too mature for the teenage audiences to appreciate, and now the audiences have grown up and began to see the light. It's no longer particularly cool for skater-punks to wear the Social D Skelly shirt or logo on the board. The fans are clearly not the Raider fans of Rock n' Roll who wear the shirts to show their street cred like a Dead Kennedy fan--these fans can't help but love the songs.
Buddy Guy once said, "Blues is easy to play, but is hard to feel." If you can believe the same could be said about Punk Rock, than Social Distortion would epitomize that statement. Mike Ness has walked the walk, which is why his music is so authentic. He wears his influence of Johnny Cash on his sleeve (and did so long before it was cool to be a young person who loves Johnny Cash), which is fitting because he has become the Johnny Cash of punk rock, and he actually gets cooler with age. There is a certain timeless-ness about his music that grants them the longevity. Social D is not like watching old rockers like Brian Setzer sing teenage hits like, "Sexy and Seventeen" or Alice Cooper sing "Schools out for Summer", and heaven knows what Blink 182 will look like in 20 years. Social D's songs just seem to mean more as people get older.
Although the band has seen more drummers than Spinal Tap, the acquisition of Brent Harding (from Deke Dickerson and the Ecco-Fonics) and Johnny "2 Bags" Wickersham (Cadillac Tramps) and Dan McGough on keys, legitimizes the band, giving the band an elite sound. What they play isn't particularly awe inspiring in musicianship, but it's the intensity, the exactness of delivery, and the sound that grants them deserved respect. They don't stare at their shoes and play--they still jump and walk onto the edge of the stage and rock as hard as Social D ever did.
The tour of course is in support of the New record "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes," which is a very optimistic, almost capstone, like piece to sum up the career of Social D. Probably isn't most of the fans' favorite record, but still likeable. Luckily the band didn't force you to listen to every song on the album; they played the songs the fans wanted to hear first and foremost.
If you have not seen Social Distortion live, don't miss the chance when they come to your town. It's an experience like Rock n' Roll was meant to be. But prepare yourself by picking up a few CD's, it's not hard to listen to for new listeners and not difficult to learn the words. And it's definitely not hard to become a fan, especially after a Social D show.
