Musicians Seek to Aid, Comfort

The Offspring will headline a roster of first- and second-generation Southland punk bands at a May 6 benefit concert in memory of fallen comrade Dennis Danell, the longtime Social Distortion guitarist who died Feb. 29 apparently of a brain aneurysm.

The Offspring, the multimillion-selling band whose name reflects its lineage, will be joined at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre by such musical forbears and contemporaries as Los Angeles punk kingpin X, the South Bay’s Pennywise, O.C.-Long Beach group T.S.O.L. and the three surviving members of Social Distortion. Other groups are expected to be added in coming weeks.

Organizers vow that all proceeds will benefit Danell’s wife, Christie, and their two young children. Tickets are $30 and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“This is a real sad one,” X lead singer Exene Cervenka said Monday. “The punk scene has always been like a big family, especially those bands from the late ‘70s. Social Distortion came along a little later, but they’re part of it, and so is the Offspring.

“It’s going to be a little odd,” she added, “because this isn’t the kind of benefit where everybody’s coming together to have a good time.”

Still, Cervenka expects there’ll be good feelings at the show too.

“It’s kind of like an Irish wake, isn’t it? It is celebrating someone who was here,” she said. “I hope that when I die, I get a big rock ‘n’ roll send-off. There’s going to be some sadness backstage, but also good memories, and the audience will get to see things that never happen anywhere else, so they’ll have a great time.”

X and Social Distortion last shared a bill in July 1998 at the annual Hootenanny show in Santiago Canyon that brings roots-rock, country, blues and punk groups and their fans together.

Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg said “we didn’t hesitate a second” on being asked to play at the benefit. “I had their first EP the day it came out, so from Day One I’ve been a huge fan. . . . Along with T.S.O.L., Black Flag, Circle Jerks, the Descendants and X, they shaped the Southern California punk-rock sound, which I believe to be the best punk-rock music that’s ever been made.”

When Pennywise, which formed much later, grew to the point to where it was sharing bills with Social Distortion, Lindberg said, “it was kind of like someone else getting to hang out with Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith. With those guys, and me being a couple of years younger, they were the rock stars.”

Social Distortion front man Mike Ness, who brought Danell into the group more than 20 years ago because he wanted the band to be a circle of friends, hasn’t spoken publicly about Danell’s death at 38 but said in a statement, “Doing this benefit show is a way for me to say goodbye to Dennis in my own way.

“We were as close as family, and it means so much to me to play this benefit for his wife and children. . . . Although it will be difficult to be on stage without him, his spirit will be felt.”

Danell stuck by Ness even after other members of Social Distortion quit in 1984 because of Ness’ ongoing drug problems.

“I don’t blame them,” Ness said a few years later. “I wouldn’t have put up with it in anyone. It was me and Dennis again. Alone. We both had such a love for the music. It seemed like nothing else seemed attractive to us.”

Offspring singer Bryan “Dexter” Holland and the other members of the group that gave Orange County punk a national profile with their hit 1994 album, “Smash,” have consistently acknowledged Social Distortion as a key influence not only on their music, but also on their existence as a group.

When Holland and bassist Greg Kriesel were shut out of a 1983 Social Distortion show at UC Irvine--a concert co-promoted by future Offspring manager Jim Guerinot--they went to a friend’s house and sulked over their misfortune. In their beer-fueled despondency, the pair decided that night to start a punk band.

“I’m stoked and proud that I came out of Orange County and was raised on that scene,” Holland told The Times in 1998.

Said Cervenka, “Another thing that moves me about [this show] is the fact that those big bands--the big famous bands--are doing this, and that’s really, really cool. It took a long time to recognize this punk scene, and [to see the most successful bands participating in the benefit] makes me feel good about whole family.”

Lindberg said, “Unfortunately we have some experience at this kind of thing because of what happened with Jason [Thirsk, Pennywise’s founding bassist who committed suicide in 1996]. We have a song we do about friendship, and about friends we’ve lost, called ‘Bro Hymn,’ and we’ll definitely be dedicating that to [Danell]. I think it all comes down to remembering the good times you had with these people, and not dwelling on the tragedy. And for us, this was a real tragedy. We expected to be seeing him again at their next show.”

The show is billed as “When the Angels Sing,” the title of a song Ness wrote after his grandmother died that includes the lyrics: “Sometimes I try so hard to understand the things you do/I like to question you when it all comes down. . . . Stand up strong, feel the pain/When the angels sing/Love and death don’t mean a thing/Till the angels sing.”

* The Offspring, X, Pennywise, T.S.O.L. and others play May 6 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. $30. Proceeds benefit the family of Dennis Danell. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).

Randy Lewis may be reached by e-mail at Randy.Lewis@latimes.com.