Booking Social Distortion

Social Distortion Biography

The punk rock band Social Distortion was established in the late 1970’s in California and has survived through the decades to last well into the new millennium. The original members (Mike Ness, Rikk Agnew, Frank Agnew, and Casey Royer) initially met while the men were still in high school. By 1982, Social Distortion had started performing alongside such notable acts as Youth Brigade, and by 1983, the band had released its debut album, Mommy’s Little Monster.

Social Distortion was slow to rise, but rise it did, despite a number of changes to the lineup and a hiatus that lasted into the mid 1980’s. Prison Bound, Social Distortion’s sophomore effort, was released in 1988 and although the album never reached into the charts, it helped the band establish an underground following.  It also brought the band to Epic, which signed the band in time for the release of Social Distortion, a third album and the one which would prove to be the group’s major breakthrough. Featuring the songs “Story of My Life” and “Ball and Chain,” the album has lasted into the new millennium, with consistent sales each year even though it’s been decades since it’s first release.

Since that time, Social Distortion has continued to perform and record, releasing the albums Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell (1992), White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996), Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll (2004), and Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes (2011.) The albums have spawned the top 40 alternative hits “Bad Luck,” “Cold Feelings,” “When She Begins,” “I Was Wrong,” “When the Angels Sing,” “Reach for the Sky,” “Far Behind,” and “Machine Gun Blues.”

With the current lineup of Ness, Jonny Wickersham, Brent Harding, and David Hidalgo, Jr., Social Distortion has recently re-entered the studio in preparation for their next album release. The album is scheduled to arrive sometime in 2013 or 2014.