Social Distortion

** The postponed Social Distortion show originally scheduled for July 26th, 2023 at College Street Music Hall has been RESCHEDULED for October 8th, 2024. All existing tickets will be valid for the new date. If you are unable to make the new date and would like to request a refund, please email with your full name and order number by January 12th, 2024 at 5PM EST and a refund will be issued at point of purchase. **

This event is General Admission Standing Room on the Floor, and Reserved in the Balcony.

"Ness is one of the most underrated pure songwriters in rock." – Los Angeles Times

Here's how you know you've made it in the music business: You've stayed strong for three decades on your own terms, on your own time, by your own rules, and over that time your influence has only grown. Each of your albums has been stronger than your last. You've been brought onstage by Bruce Springsteen, because he wanted to play one of your songs. You've seen high times and low ones, good days and tragic days, but every night you give 100%, and every morning you wake up still swinging.

This is the short version of the Social Distortion bio — the long version could be a 10-part mini- series. But over the past 30 years, the punk godfathers in the band have all but trademarked their sound, a brand of hard rockabilly/punk that's cut with the melodic, road-tested lyrics of frontman Mike Ness. Their searing guitars and a locomotive rhythm section sound as alive today as they did in '82, as do Ness' hard-luck tales of love, loss and lessons learned. "The most common thing I hear is, 'Man, your music got me through some hard times,'" Ness says. "And I just say, 'Me too.'"

Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes (produced, for the first time, by Ness himself) is the band's most recent release. For a band with a career spanning over 40 years, Social Distortion experienced a significant amount of firsts in 2011. For starters, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 and was the highest debut that the band has yet seen. Hard Times was also the #1 Independent Album and the #2 Modern Rock/Alternative Album week of release. The band also made their late night television debut when they performed "Machine Gun Blues" on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and later played for Conan on Hard Times’ release date. Taking their successes to the road, Social Distortion played European festivals including Reading and Leeds for the first time. They also booked their first tours of Australia and South America. And finally, Social Distortion played Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Festival, and Coachella – all of these for the first time.

A release of new music is forthcoming in 2024.

Social Distortion’s patented mix of punk, bluesy rock n’ roll and outlaw country — while also stretching the boundaries of their signature sound is a blend of potent power that appeals to all ages. They are honored to have been able to reach as many people as they have so far. "I write songs for myself, and I hope that other people will like them too," Ness says. "I think every record you make is showing people what you've learned over the past few years. It's showing people, 'This is what I know.' "

Now in their fifth decade, Ness and Social Distortion have officially achieved one of the most non- punk things possible: They've failed to burn out.

Links: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

Blues is the teacher. Punk is the Preacher. It’s all about emotion and energy. Experience and raw talent, spirit and intellect. Exciting things happen when these things collide.

Bob Vennum and Lisa Kekaula made The BellRays happen in 1990 in Riverside, California but they weren’t really thinking about any of this then. They wanted to play music and they wanted it to feel good. They wanted people to WANT to get up, to NEED to get up and check out what was going on. Form an opinion. React.

So they took everything they knew about; the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, the Who, the Ramones Billie Holiday, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams, the DB’s, Jimmy Reed, and Led Zeppelin (to name a very few to whom “BLUES IS THE TEACHER”) and pressed it into service.

Those bands and artists have since become “buzz words”, things to imitate and sound like. That was never The BellRays intention. The BellRays were never about coming up with a “sound”, or fitting in with a scene. It was about the energy that made all that music so irresistible. The BellRays’ influences learned from the Blues and then learned how to to make it their own. The Beatles wanted to play R&B, converted that energy and invented “Rubber Soul”. The Ramones were trying to be Del Shannon or Neil Sedaka and out came “Rocket to Russia”.

It’s an organic trail that flows through Bob and Lisa and the current rhythm section of Pablo Rodas (Lisa and the Lips, Alber Solo) on bass and Craig Waters (Countdowns, Andre Williams, Cody Chestnut) on drums, and comes out honest and urgent. You will learn and you will feel. Blues is always teaching and Punk is always preaching.

The BellRays are always listening.

Links: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

Host or Publisher College Street Music Hall