Country Exerts ‘Influence’ on Ness

Mike Ness is going back “Under the Influences,” but it’s a matter of digging deeper into the musical roots that sparked his rock ‘n’ roll career, not the substance abuse that nearly derailed it in the mid-1980s.

“Under the Influences” is the title of what will be Ness’ second solo album of 1999, after the mid-April release of “Cheating at Solitaire,” his first album away from Social Distortion, the punk band he founded in Fullerton 20 years ago.

“Solitaire” featured covers of songs by or associated with Bob Dylan, Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, along with a fourth track that was a country-music obscurity.

This time Ness is going all the way, with an all-covers release reworking material from Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, George Jones, the Carter Family and Hank Williams, as well as more obscure country and rockabilly figures.

It’s unusual nowadays for rockers to put out albums in consecutive years, let alone two within six months--the timetable for “Under the Influences.” According to a publicist for his label, Time Bomb, Ness was spicing his sets with covers not on “Solitaire” and decided to do the covers album honoring his roots.

Ness was busy recording the album this week with his “Solitaire” producer James Saez and Ness’ touring band of guitarists Chris Lawrence and Sean Greaves, drummer Charlie Quintana and bassist Brent Harding. Too immersed to do an interview, he responded, via his publicist, to a few written questions.

Doing a covers album “was in the back of my mind for a long, long time,” he said. “I have always tried to put out interesting covers on Social Distortion records, and this is just me taking that all the way.”

As for making a second album so soon, rather than touring without letup to promote “Solitaire” (which has sold a solid 90,000 copies in four months, according to the SoundScan monitoring service): “I have never tried to be commercially correct. But think about it--the Beatles’ entire recorded career was from 1963 to 1970.”

Ness said he isn’t trying to educate his fans about the oldies.

“I’m pretty sure a large group of my fans already know these guys. I look out at the crowd and they know the words to stuff we are covering that isn’t on my record.”

As for Social Distortion, which has been on hiatus since summer 1998, the plan is to resume at the beginning of next year. With “Under the Influences,” he said, “I am just squeezing in a little extra” in the time allotted for his solo record and touring.

Gaffney Breaks Live Ground

Ness isn’t the only bona fide Orange County rock hero who is having a recording boomlet. Chris Gaffney, whose last album, “Loser’s Paradise,” came out in 1995, will head back into the studio to record another in September, with buddy Dave Alvin producing.

While that album for Hightone Records is in the works, fans soon will have the chance to savor the first live album by Chris Gaffney and the Cold Hard Facts. It’s part of a two-disc set--one culled from shows Gaffney and band played last March at the Swallow’s Inn in San Juan Capistrano, the other a reissue of “Road to Indio,” a seven-song studio album from 1987.

Wymon Reese, the Cold Hard Facts keyboard player who produced the live album, said some details remain to be worked out in the next few weeks, including which label will release it, what to call it (“Live and Then Some” is the working title) and whether to keep or cut an opening special effect of a toilet flushing and a bathroom door opening to let in the sound of Gaffney’s music.

The live disc is 15 songs, stretching to 69 minutes, partly because Gaffney apparently was in rare form comically as well as musically.

“There was so much funny stuff he was saying in between songs that we couldn’t take it off,” Reese said.

The live repertoire will be about half covers--including a version of Joe Ely’s “Are You Listening, Lucky?” with the hot-rodding guitar solo of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” interpolated--and half originals, including one previously unreleased number, “Fade to Gray.”

Gaffney’s solo tours have been stripped-down affairs without his full band. “The studio stuff wasn’t indicative of the whole package,” Reese said. “I wanted to get this out so people could hear what really happens. I think people deserve to hear us live, and there’s people all over the country who have never heard the whole band.”

Slinkard Diagnosed With Leukemia

George Slinkard, who has promoted grass-roots shows by some of the local scene’s heavy-rocking bands, including Hed(pe), Orgy and Rooster, has been diagnosed with leukemia, said J.C. Thom, a band manager who has worked with Slinkard.

Thom said Slinkard, 27, is a single father with two children and might need a bone marrow transplant. People to be screened as potential matches can have blood samples drawn today at the State Farm Building, 333 Hyland Ave., Costa Mesa, or Sept. 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Boniface Church, 120 Janss St., Anaheim.