Social Distortion

White Light, White Heat, White Trash (Sony)
An interview with guitarist and founding member Dennis Danell
by Sheril Stanford
photos by Krista Handfield

So, Dennis, where are you right now?
Cincinnati, Ohio. We’ve been touring a lot, since about July, when we went to Europe. We’re finishing up this leg around Valentine’s Day, then we’ve got about ten days off, then we do some more dates in Europe, then Canada until May. Then who knows?

I heard you guys went over really big in Japan.
Yeah, Japan is pretty wild. You see these women walking around in their kimonos with their totally traditional Japanese ideals, and right next to them are these skate punks in all their skatewear. Western culture’s totally invading Japan.

Did you go into any of those kabuki places?
Only a few. Most of the clubs we were in we were playing in. We got to ride the bullet train, and we ate a lot of sushi, your typical stuff. It was our first time in Japan.

Here’s the question that’s been eating away at my soul – why did you guys cover the Rolling Stones “Under My Thumb” twice – what is it about that song?
We did it on one of our first 7 inches. We really liked the song, and one day we were warming up in the studio and we played the song and accidentally put it down on tape. We were really pleased with the way it turned out. We decided to put it on as a hidden track and see if anyone noticed, just to show people that the version we did on the new record is even stronger, a little faster, a little harder. With some bands, as the years go by, they get lackadaisical, or softer, maybe a little less tense. But that wasn’t the case in our situation.

You’ve been around since the late 70s – how do you do this night after night? Do you play tricks with yourself?
Actually, we really don’t have to because we’re still enjoying it so much. I mean, think of the alternative. Not doing it is really not an option. We just feel that we’re not done yet. We still have a lot more music in us. It’s still just as exciting as the first time we ever did it.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in a band?
I’d probably be living down in Mexico, surfing, with no phone or TV.

Is that what you do when you’re not on the road or recording with Social D?
Sometimes, if I can get away, but for the most part, I’ve been doing a lot of other studio work, producing other bands, doing other things that revolve around music.

Wanna talk about that?
I worked with some underground bands in the Orange County area, although some of them are broken up now. I did this one band from San Francisco called Five Feet to the Window – they’re a PJ Harvey-sounding band. I’ve got this other band called Bedlam, a real hard, heavy, almost satanic metal band. I’ve worked with a rockabilly band called Hellbound Hayride. I did this band called Knockout, which is on Dr. Dream Records. I don’t really stick with any one type of music.

It sounds like most of the genres you’ve mentioned are areas Social D has touched on over time.
Oh, yeah, sure. It’s our influences, you know? It’s almost like we’re influenced by every record we’ve ever heard in our lives in one way or another, whether it be the Carpenters or the Rolling Stones.

The Carpenters??!
Don’t worry. I’m not saying we’re gonna release something like that. But you know, they make some sort of impression on us one way or another, like it or dislike it.

Have you heard the new Pat Boone album? The metal one?
No, I haven’t heard it, I’ve heard of it. But you know, the whole Pat Boone thing, in the mid-’50s when rock and roll was just beginning, we identify with a lot of that because it has the same frustration and alienation as the initial first wave of the punk scene. Little Richard would do a song and it would be considered the devil’s music, and white America wouldn’t let their kids listen to it, but then if Pat Boone did it, all of a sudden it’s acceptable. It’s unfortunate, but that’s just the way things were.

Do you think we’re at the stage right now where bands are just trying to find something that will shock people? I guess I’m thinking about the Marilyn Manson explosion.
I think so. But it’s really hard right now – my personal view is that nothing is shocking anymore. Ten years ago, Marilyn Manson would’ve been banned, and no one would’ve listened to it or played it. But guys in rock have been dressing up in drag since David Bowie, so it’s nothing really new. It’s just more palatable now, because now everyone’s tattooed and pierced and instantly cool. They’re selling Dr. Martens at the local mall – a few years ago, you’d order ’em from England or go to the punker store to get them. We’ve never been concerned about what’s popular or trendy or what anybody else is doing. We’ve always wanted to have a sense of credibility. We try to keep things straight forward and honest. We don’t have to disguise our music with a bunch of theatrics or hide behind images.

Mike Ness has said in a lot of interviews that he’s really influenced by whatever he’s listening to at the time. What’s your NEXT album gonna sound like?
Who knows?! We always try to keep an open mind and do something different, be creative, not do things the same. Basically, with all our writing, mine certainly, it’s usually a reactionary or reflective process we go through. I’m really proud of Mike and the things he came up with on this last record. He’d come to me with ideas for these songs and ask for my opinion or my help, and I’d just go, “Mike, that’s fuckin’ great. You don’t need my help.” I didn’t need to give him lip service, say things that didn’t need to be said just to have my ego boosted. I’d say, “Mike, this writing’s really strong, let’s use it.” I’d just step back and let him take control.

I notice that he got the credit for all the writing on this last record.
That’s just the way it worked out this time. I write and John writes, or we all collaborate, and we did help out Mike a lot on this record on the musical side, but they were his songs. We’re the last ones to say, “We need credit for this or that.” You have to earn that. We didn’t have a problem saying, “Yep, these are Mike’s songs.” We’ve been working on our songwriting and hopefully we make a solid contribution.

Had you guys already hooked up with Chuck Biscuits when you started writing? Did he inspire you to head back in the punky direction?
Not necessarily. He didn’t actually play on the record – he didn’t join until after the record was done. He’s identified as a member of the band on the disc, but it doesn’t actually give him credit for playing. It’s a little deceiving, but that’s exactly how it is. We didn’t want to confuse people. The drummer that we did use almost joined the band, but he had some other obligations and things didn’t work out. We didn’t want to put his name on the record and then have Chuck in the band, so we just listed the band members as they’re lined up now. Chuck is the last person to take credit for something he didn’t do.

Where’d the name Social Distortion come from?
Gosh, who knows? It’s just something we made up and thought was cool. It kinda goes along with a lot of our songwriting – it’s got a lot of connotations. We like people to form their own opinions and come away with their own ideas about what a song means. Hopefully, if they’ve been through similar situations or felt the same emotions they can relate to it. We don’t write fictitious stories or songs that spell everything out. We’ve always considered ourselves more of a social band, for the people, rather than a political band. Being from California, a lot of punk bands were heavily influenced by politics and the working class, but we were never really like that. We felt, you know, that you should vote, but it didn’t matter that much because everything would stay the same anyway. Now, we’ve got President Clinton, a Democrat trying to act like a Republican, so who knows…

What do you think gives Social D such a distinctive sound? Especially the guitar?
I credit that to the fact that we grew up in Fullerton, which is where Fender guitars come from. So we’d always been around that, and we always wanted a heavy, vintage kind of tube sound, but as intense as possible. And we try to keep it as simple as we possibly can, and not let other things mask what we’re trying to do.

That really comes across on this most recent disc.
Yeah, we’re really happy about that. It makes us feel good that we have a distinct sound. When we cover other bands’ songs, like “Ring of Fire” or “Under My Thumb,” we try to put our own interpretation on it. So many bands do cover songs and try to sound exactly like the original. Even Marilyn Manson’s “Sweet Dreams,” didn’t differ too much from the original as far as tempo. We always try to make our version different.

Tell me something about the band or somebody in it that would make people say, Wow! That’s weird!
Well, John Maurer is a licensed cosmetologist. Other than that, we’re pretty much like you’d think. We ride motorcycles and have old cars. We sit around the tour bus and gamble and play poker. I’m a surfer and a big indie car race fan and I ride mountain bikes. Mike Ness collects ’50s atomic stuff. And all those religious figures on the album cover are Mike’s. He collects a lot of religious figures – he’s heavy into religious symbolism. He’s not really religious, he’s more into the spirituality of things.

This album has some religious overtones.
Yeah, it does have sin and redemption as an underlying theme weaving through it, but it’s more spiritual than religious.

It sounds like you guys have had more than your share of sins to be redeemed from!
Right!

Are you as much a bad boy as Mike Ness is?
We’re definitely no saints, but where I’m at in my life, things that were important to me say when I was 21 aren’t that relevant to me anymore. Things I thought would never be important, are.

Like?
Well, my wife just had a baby 12 weeks ago, and I’m ecstatic. Everyone always says that when you have a kid it will change you, and it does. Suddenly I have somebody else to think about. It really feels good. At first I was nervous and skeptical – I thought, oh my god, I’m gonna have a kid – a child, excuse me – and I thought, I won’t have any more free time, but now I totally enjoy all the time I get to spend with the baby. I get home and there’ll be something to do and I’ll think, forget that, I’m just gonna stay home with the baby!

Boy or girl and name?
It’s a boy. His name is James Duke. I’m just living life on life’s terms. I guess you can call me an old fart now.