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A new Social Distortion album — the legendary punk band’s first in 15 years — will be arriving next year.
Frontman Mike Ness confirmed that the long-awaited follow-up to 2011’s Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes will drop in May during an interview with KROQ at the Almost Acoustic Christmas 2025 event on Saturday at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Ness revealed in a separate social media post that the lead single would drop in January.
The track will also be the first new music from Social Distortion since Ness was diagnosed with tonsil cancer in 2023, though the So Cal punk vets have since performed live, including tour dates in 2024 and appearances at the Punk Rock Bowling festival. At the time of his diagnosis, Social Distortion had been working on the new record.
“I was afraid I was gonna not gonna live,” Ness told KROQ’s Kevin Ryder, offering an update on his health (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “I’ve been through some hard things in my life in some dangerous situations, as you can imagine, but nothing like that.”
Asked if he had to learn to talk and sing again, Mike replied: “I had to learn to eat, swallow — everything. I mean, they went in there — they sent a robot. I call him Ike, the robot. He went down and cut out my tonsil and the tumor. And then the second part of the surgery was, they slit my neck and cut the lymph nodes out. So I could not eat food. I mean, I came out of surgery with a drain and a feeding tube.”
Fortunately, Ness added that his singing voice is now “stronger than it’s ever been.”
“I think I’m singing like there’s no tomorrow,” Ness said. “So every show is great because I’m singing like there’s no tomorrow.”
Social Distortion were recently added as the headliner of the 2026 edition of Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise, setting sail April 3rd from Miami. The band also has a run of festival and headlining dates set for the UK and Europe beginning in June (pick up tickets here).
Watch the full interview clip with Mike Ness below.
English (US) · 