POP MUSIC REVIEWS : SOCIAL DISTORTION GETS ITS ACT BACK INTO FOCUS

“No one said life would be easy,” sang Mike Ness as his band, Social Distortion, kicked into a blazing rendition of “It Wasn’t a Pretty Picture” at the Music Machine Friday night. Indeed, life hasn’t been very easy for the Fullerton group in recent years, given its recording inactivity and Ness’ fight to overcome heroin addiction a while back.

But Friday’s show indicated that things might be turning around for these former hard-core champs. What was most encouraging was that SD’s set featured a bevy of unreleased songs, most of them bristling with a rousing energy and spirit. Of course, the quartet has had plenty of time to come up with new material, since it hasn’t released a full-length album since 1983. Ness, though, promised the audience that a new album is on its way.

Unlike most surviving punk bands from the early ‘80s, Social Distortion has been able to branch out stylistically without sacrificing its abrasive, rebellious tone. A new mid-tempo song called “No Pain, No Gain” was particularly impressive as it slithered ominously through a martial beat while Ness sang in his gruff growl. Several other numbers even exhibited a cow-punk flavor.

The black-clad band did make a few ill-advised turns--a sloppy version of “Maybellene,” a mauling of “Bad Moon Rising.” Overall though, Social Distortion played with the vigor and determination of a group intent on not just surviving, but flourishing.