Social Distinction

Mike Ness has two potential album titles for his forthcoming solo debut: I'm OK -- You're Fucked or Have I Told You Lately (That I Hate You)?. He's not exactly test marketing the caustic choices to gauge reaction, and either one will probably play well to the audience the record will target -- Social Distortion fans with a hankering for something new and different.

For Ness' foray into the world of side projects, the Social D frontman will delve into genres arcane to fans of brutish punk rock, such as rockabilly, blues, bluegrass and folk. Though, he says, "there was American roots music in Social D, but it could only go so far and then all of the sudden it wasn't Social Distortion anymore."

In a perfect world, Ness would love to duet with idol Johnny Cash on a new song called "Ballad of a Lonely Man," however, with Cash's health in question of late, that may be a longshot at best. Guests more likely to contribute to the album include swing flavor-of-the-month Brian Setzer and erstwhile X honcho Billy Zoom. Considering Ness' plans to cover a Hank Williams, Sr., song on the album, the Social D frontman would also like to team with either June Carter or Wanda Jackson, both venerable country singers, for another duet.

Thus far, Ness has more than twenty songs written for the album, which he plans to record with old microphones and antiquated gear to help achieve a lo-fi sound. He will go into a Burbank, Calif. studio after Thanksgiving to begin working on the project and release it on Time Bomb next April. After its release, Ness will do a "stripped down and primitive" tour in support of the album. "If I was to go up and play an acoustic song at a Social D concert," he muses, "what's the mosh pit gonna do?"

BLAIR R. FISCHER