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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: vansmack on March 19, 2004, 12:47:00 pm
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Hey everyone! The guys have finished Phase Two of recording, and they're
currently in the middle of Phase Three. That's right, they're almost done with
the new record! Go to the "News" section of www.socialdistortion.com (http://www.socialdistortion.com) to check
out new photos from behind the studio doors.
<img src="http://www.socialdistortion.com/images/studio_images/ness_a.jpg" alt=" - " />
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Channeling Social D
Before there was Mike Ness, there was Tom Corvin ?? yeah, the Channel
9 guy.
BY ANDREW MILLER
Andrew.Miller@p...
Kansas City TV reporter Tom Corvin used to play with a different kind
of Social
Distortion.
Social Distortion, one of the most prolific and influential groups in
American underground-rock history, established the pop-punk template
that
more polished outfits such as Green Day and Offspring would eventually
convert into multiplatinum success. It later settled into a grizzled
country-punk hybrid, best exemplified by its 1990 hit cover of Johnny
Cash's
"Ring of Fire." The group celebrates its 25th birthday this year,
with a new
studio album and a tour on the way.
But even its most hardcore fans seldom remember that before Mike Ness,
another frontman briefly handled singing duties for the band.
And even fewer seem aware that today, Social D's original vocalist,
Tom
Corvin, is a mild-mannered TV reporter for the local ABC affiliate,
KMBC
Channel 9.
Corvin is one of the station's "live on the scene" correspondents,
covering
breaking news several nights a week. At 6-foot-7, the well-groomed
guy in
the impeccable suit who introduces his sound bites in a commanding
tone
brings to mind imposing ex-jock sportscasters, not death rockers.
Corvin has mentioned his punk past to a few broadcast buddies over the
years, but he's done so less and less as the group has become more
popular.
"Primarily because I don't think people believed me," he tells the
Pitch.
Some of his Channel 9 coworkers found out about a month ago -- Corvin
says
he's not sure how -- and a brief buzz resulted.
"For a couple of days, people were like, 'Dang, you were in a punk
band,'"
Corvin says. "Some of them actually know who Social Distortion is. It
does
give me a false sense of temporary pride, but I quickly remember that
I had
very little if anything to do with Mike's success."
Corvin's brief association with the band began with a strange
audition in a
baby-blue Ford Pinto station wagon parked in front of a Fullerton,
California, record store.
In the driver's seat was Casey Royer, who popped a Cheap Trick
cassette into
the Pinto's player and asked Corvin to sing along. He
tackled "Surrender,"
hitting the high notes with a versatile voice he'd developed in church
choir. Royer said nothing after the song ended. He just started the
car and
drove to his parents' house. An hour later, the band's other members -
- a
bassist known only as Mark and a sixteen-year-old guitarist named Mike
Ness -- gathered in Royer's bedroom. He had the job.
Luckily, he had plenty of time on his hands. A bench-riding scrub on
the Cal
State Fullerton basketball team that made a surprise run in the 1978
NCAA
tournament, Corvin was cut to make room for the incoming hot-shot
recruits
who suddenly became interested in the squad. He had agreed to try out
for
the band after Royer, a cafeteria worker at the athlete-heavy
apartment
complex where Corvin lived, asked him.
This embryonic incarnation of Social Distortion played covers,
mimicking Van
Halen, David Bowie and the Cars. But after a few months, Social
Distortion
composed its first original songs, with Ness crafting the guitar
riffs and
Royer penning most of the lyrics. Social Distortion practiced in an
industrial-park storage facility with a pull-down metal door. It
shared the
space with a group called the Strand, which was already playing club
concerts and recording its material. In an effort to impress both the
Strand
and his Social Distortion bandmates, Corvin took his first stab at
solo
songwriting, bringing a tune called "Sid Is Dead" to practice soon
after the
death of the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious. Corvin says he can't remember
any of
the lyrics, but he recalls the song's reception.
"Frederick, the singer of the Strand, took the paper from me and read
it out
loud," Corvin says. "I remember the polite silence afterward and how
someone
set a beer can on my crumpled lyric sheet before our practice ended."
Though he had become a popular sports columnist for Fullerton's
student
paper on his way to obtaining an undergraduate degree in journalism,
the
ex-athlete's writing didn't impress his punk peers. From then on, he
was
content to contribute a few scattered lines to Royer's creations.
Many of
the tunes from that lineup didn't last beyond the band's early gigs;
the
crowds for those house parties sometimes numbered in the single
digits and
topped out at an all-time high of 300. However, Corvin's Social
Distortion
did produce one instantly catchy number, on which he helped write the
lyrics.
This amoeba's got a mind of its own/But don't turn your back, you
stupid
science world, Corvin howled on "Amoeba," which became a regional
radio hit
for the Adolescents, Royer's next band. After Corvin left the group
in the
fall of 1979, Social Distortion kept the musical foundation but
changed the
lyrics. Released as "1945," the Ness-revised version replaced
Ahhh-meee-bahhh with Atom bomb/T.N.T./New disease/Poor city.
In the October 1980 issue of Flipside, Ness explained the switch. "Our
singer [Tommy Corbin, as the 'zine incorrectly identifies him] and
drummer
would write the songs, but the songs didn't mean anything. They wrote
a song
about an amoeba, a little fuckin' stupid little cell."
Although Ness later disparaged Corvin's contributions, the two seldom
sparred as bandmates, mostly because Ness had not yet become the type
of
punk purist who would bristle at Corvin's swim-trunks-and-flip-flops
wardrobe.
"With the exception of the occasional dog collar, the punk look wasn't
uniformed yet in Southern California, not even for Mike," Corvin
says. "He
wore a leather jacket and dyed streaks in his hair once, but there
wasn't
really a look yet, so there was no shit-giving. We just wore what we
felt
like wearing."
After leaving the band, Corvin's carefree clothing choices ended
abruptly
when he decided to go to graduate school -- at Bob Jones University.
The
hard-line fundamentalist Baptist institution in Greenville, South
Carolina,
required him to wear slacks and a tie every day, providing a jarring
contrast to Fullerton's chaotic concerts and binge drinking with
bandmates.
"I was looking for discipline, and I thought it would be like a
military
school without the military aspect," Corvin says. "But it was a lot
more
strict than I imagined."
During his first semester, Corvin found himself on "spiritual
probation"
after his roommate reported him for having a bad attitude. He saw his
off-campus privileges revoked, and with them went his only chance to
listen
to rock -- on his car's cassette player driving to his part-time job
at The
Greenville News.
"All music had to be approved," he says. "If it had a beat to it and
it
wasn't overtly spiritual, you'd better ask."
Corvin considered returning to California to rejoin Social
Distortion, but
he decided against it. "How do you tell your dad you chose a punk
band over
grad school?" he asks.
Besides, while Corvin tiptoed through the rest of his two years at Bob
Jones, the California punk community changed substantially. Even as
the
movement thrived creatively, it struggled to absorb abrasive elements
such
as Suicidal Tendencies' thug following and a growing skinhead
presence. Gigs
often ended early because of bloody fights, not the mere noise
violations
that cut concerts short in Corvin's day.
"It had become so violent, and I really wasn't into that," Corvin
says.
Corvin returned to California during one break at Bob Jones and looked
forward to a reunion with the group, but Social Distortion was
temporarily
on hiatus at the time. Royer had left to form the Adolescents, taking
"Amoeba" with him. Ness and his friend Dennis Danell formed the short-
lived
outfit Orange County Dustbins. (Corvin says Royer mocked the
Dustbins.)
By 1982, Social Distortion had re-formed, with Ness firmly in control
of a
lineup that included Danell, bassist Brent Liles and drummer Derek
O'Brien.
The group released its first album, Mommy's Little Monster, and set
off on
its first coast-to-coast tour with Youth Brigade and Minor Threat,
the dark
details (bus breakdowns, shady promoters) of which appear in the
documentary
Another State of Mind.
Ness described that tour as "upsetting but adventuresome" in a letter
he
sent Corvin in November 1983. The address floats inside a speech
bubble from
the mouth of a doodled punk with x's for eyes.
"I hope you liked the album," Ness writes in neat cursive. "Quite a
surprise, I'm sure." He signs the letter "socially distorted yours,
Michael
Mess," crossing out "Mess" and replacing it with his proper surname.
Ness' attempts to stay in touch with Corvin made him think there was
still a
chance he could be welcomed back into the band, but his own
developing news
career made that move unlikely. After an inauspicious start as an
anchor at
a UHF outlet in Ohio, where he saw the station replace its
sportscaster with
a Pentecostal preacher who belted out the scores, he moved on to a
successful stint in Colorado Springs.
In 1985, Ness went to prison for drug possession. "When he came back,
he
sounded like Johnny Cash," Corvin says, noting the group's
increasingly
country-tinged compositions and the more introspective nature of the
singer's lyrics. "It was like two different bands."
In 1988, Corvin went to see Social Distortion play in Tampa, Florida.
When
he went backstage after the show, the first question Ness asked him
was,
"So, you still going to college?" Corvin, having been out of school
for
seven years, says he just laughed and said, "No, that was a long time
ago."
"It was like seeing a relative for the first time in a long time,"
Corvin
says now. "He wasn't that sixteen-year-old anymore. He was a man, and
I was
impressed. I told him I was proud of him. We made small talk, but the
time
lapse was pretty obvious. Our lives were so far apart."
As Social Distortion continued to climb, signing with a major label
and
making MTV's heavy rotation with elaborate videos, such as "When the
Angels
Sing," Corvin felt twinges of regret. Yet for a bracing reality
check, he
considered Royer, well into his late thirties at the time and still
touring
in a cramped van.
"At what point do you stop? I went ahead and answered that right off
the
bat," Corvin says.
Corvin moved to Kansas City to raise a family, and he and his wife,
Lorrie,
now have two sons, including one he helped deliver in the family's
midtown
house less than two weeks ago. It's a comfortable life. But when he
sees
local punks with Social Distortion patches on their leather jackets --
he
has spotted several since moving to town last year -- he considers
approaching them and telling them about the old days. He imagines the
dim
recognition ("Hey, aren't you that dude from Channel 9?") giving way
to awe.
"If those kids only knew," he says, flashing a toothy, broadcast-
ready grin.
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Is Mike Ness really THAT bald?
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About damn time...there are about 5 songs from the new record they've been playing for a few years now, including "Don't Take Me For Granted" which is just great. I cannot wait to hear this record. And the new Descendents record comes out next week!!! A tour with the two bands would be KILLER.
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Originally posted by imrotten:
Luckily, he had plenty of time on his hands. A bench-riding scrub on the Cal State Fullerton basketball team that made a surprise run in the 1978 NCAA tournament, Corvin was cut to make room for the incoming hot-shot recruits
who suddenly became interested in the squad. He had agreed to try out for the band after Royer, a cafeteria worker at the athlete-heavy apartment
complex where Corvin lived, asked him.
Ahhh, the Glory Year.....
My favorite part of that story was that he went to graduate school at Bob Jones. What Punk goes to Bob Jones Uni?
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We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel...the record is being mixed and hopefully that means a release date by autumn. One of the very best concerts I've ever seen was Social D in November of 2001 at the Club. That one goes down as one of the absolute best concerts I've ever witnessed. I hope they come back and do a couple nights.
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i got word tonight from a member of their touring crew that the album is complete. plans at this point are for a tour at the end of summer/early fall. if all goes as planned, i will be attending several shows.
i was also told that there will be a warmup run around california first, so vansmack will get the chance to see them first.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
]
Ahhh, the Glory Year.....
My favorite part of that story was that he went to graduate school at Bob Jones. What Punk goes to Bob Jones Uni? [/QB][/QUOTE]
At least he went to college...
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Hallelujah...Social D is one of the most underrated American bands IMO. I've never seen them do a bad show, but then of course I've only seen Ness since he got clean. :)
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Originally posted by bunnyman:
One of the very best concerts I've ever seen was Social D in November of 2001 at the Club. That one goes down as one of the absolute best concerts I've ever witnessed. I hope they come back and do a couple nights.
First time I ever posted on this board was to find out about that show.
That was the first time I saw them outside of the west coast, and it had been a couple of years since I had seen them. I had this psychotic girlfriend (she was hot though, southern girl, Louisiana I think) at the time who hated punk music, but insisted on going. Anyway, she hated it, demanded that we leave when Sick Boy came on, at which point I laughed, jumped into the pit and she took off with my wallet and keys in my my Social D jacket. That was the best symbolic break-up I ever had and it will surely be in my movie. Took me a couple days to get my shit back though.
I too will be seeming them often. Anyone up for a Vegas run? Seeing them at The Joint is one of my favorite times.
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Vansmack, count me in...Social D in Vegas would be awesome. The thing about those guys is that they're ALL incredibly nice. I had interviewed Dennis Danell twice by phone and he told me they were coming into town a day early with a night off. I wanted to take them to the Crow Bar (the old biker bar on K Street...I hung out there all the time in college) and he said he'd call. I was a little bummed but not surprised when he didn't call back, until I got a phone call from him the next day and he left me the COOLEST message on my answering machine. I got to hang out with them that night, and my friend Whitney finally got to meet Mike Ness (whom she had a MAJOR crush on). It was hilarious to see her knees practically buckle. It was very cool to hang out with Chuck Biscuits too.
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I used to have some friends at Time Bomb Recordings and I got a chance to meet many of Social D thoughout my time back home. Cool guys, can still party like rock stars despite being sober (well Ness anyway). My sister has the same love for Ness, despite the fact that she's much taller than he is. Vegas with the boys is a good time so we'll be in touch when days are announced.
Anyhow, I sent my buddy and email and he says August 2004 release for the new album to back up what thatguy said. He also said that Another State of Mind will be released on DVD at the same time.
Laslty, I asked about a special unannounced performance at the Hootenanny (http://www.thehootenanny.com/main.html) this year and he said, "no way" but I can always hold out hope.
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June 25, 2004
SOCIAL DISTORTION TO RELEASE FIRST EVER LIVE DVD
Social Distortion will be releasing their first ever full-length concert release entitled ??Live In Orange County? on July 27, 2004, coming out on Time Bomb Recordings.
This is only the second time (since Another State of Mind) that the group has been captured on film. This event was filmed on January 19, 2003, at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA, and will feature back stage footage, interviews, a photo gallery and more.
?? Live In Orange County? spans the guys extensive history, and will take you from ??Mommy??s Little Monster? through ??White Light, White Heat, White Trash?, and includes two never before released songs, ??Footprints On My Ceiling? and ??I Wasn??t Born To Follow?. Both songs are to be included on Social Distortion??s forthcoming studio album due out later this year.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
SOCIAL DISTORTION TO RELEASE FIRST EVER LIVE DVD
<img src="http://www.socialdistortion.com/images/live_in_oc_dvd_art.jpg" alt=" - " />
Set List:
Making Believe
1945
Telling Them
Bad Luck
Footprints On My Ceiling
Don't Drag Me Down
I Wasn't Born To Follow
Another State Of Mind
The Creeps
Mommy's Little Monster
Mass Hysteria
99 To Life
Ring Of Fire
Story Of My Life
Bonus Features:
Pre-show Warm Up
Rollin' For 4-5-6
Outhouse Acoustics
Interview and Hi-Jinx
The New School
Cruizin' The '36
Photo Gallery
Nona Split
(Don't even get me started on the exclusion of Sick Boy from yet another live Social D release)
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I'm really disappointed with the setlist for this thing. Doesn't it seem like it's rather short as well? Personally, I'm not going to run out and buy it, even though I love Social D. But whoever put this thing together really failed miserably. No "Ball and Chain", "Cold Feelings", "Prison Bound", or "I Was Wrong"? I'm not paying 20 bucks for that.