Pop Music : Social Distortion’s Full, Frontal Attack

Social Distortion fights its rock ‘n’ roll battles in much the same way Gen. Grant fought the Civil War.

No feinting tactics, no dashing finesse. Just a full, frontal attack and a rough, unrelenting grind that succeeds through sheer superiority of force.

The Orange County band was back on the home front Saturday, playing to a full house of about 2,000 fans at UC Irvine’s Crawford Hall. The 80-minute show held no surprises, but Social Distortion was in fine form, displaying its customary blunt virtues.

Mike Ness, the singer and lead guitarist, saved himself and his band by giving up hard drugs and hard drinking a few years ago, and most of his songs reflect without moralizing on his progression from hell-raiser to survivor.

The infusion of blues and country strains in Social Distortion’s sound brought a rough eloquence to an erstwhile punk band that otherwise might be little more than a hard-driving battering ram. Four promising new songs demonstrated a willingness to burrow even deeper into those influences.

The challenge for Ness now is to evolve from the diarist he has been over Social Distortion’s three albums into a more artful storyteller with a wider range of moods and subjects.