Social Distortion guitarist Jonny “2 Bags” Wickersham recently gave Blare Magazine at least two updates on their anticipated next album, including the musical direction. He states:
“Mike’s always done that and we’ve always performed songs even if they weren’t completely finished. Now, every show you do, someone captures a new song and throws it up on YouTube. Back in the day you could do things like small shows at home in a small venue and it could actually be a warm up show for a tour or a chance to showcase some new material in a smaller and relaxed way. But now, that can’t happen anymore because everything is documented at this point and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
On the album’s musical direction:
“I think it will be different but that doesn’t mean that any direction we’re talking about now will actually happen on the new album. Hard Times wasn’t supposed to be how it turned out. We had planned out certain ideas before going into the studio for that album, but if it wants to do something else then you have to let it. I can say from my own experience that some of the best songs I’ve ever written are the ones I had very little to do with. I can look at the lyrics and say “I don’t even know where this came from,” and it may not be what I set out to say, but they work. On the other hand, some songs that I toil and toil over just turn out to be super crappy. You just have to let creativity happen, and it’s taken me years to learn that.”
Social Distortion last released Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes last year through Epitaph. The band is now on tour.