Social Distortion Announce <i>Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes</i>

BY Alex HudsonPublished Oct 19, 2010

Back in the spring, long-running punk icons Social Distortion signed to Epitaph and announced that they were working on their seventh LP. The album was initially slated for a fall release, but the months have passed without any firm details emerging. Now, we can confirm that the LP, entitled Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, will drop on January 18.

This will be the band's first studio album since 2004's Sex, Love and Rock'n'Roll. According to a press release, the 11-song collection "builds on singer Mike Ness’s twin footings, one in the haunted American landscapes of Hank Williams and the other in the raw swagger of Exile-era Rolling Stones."

Recording took place in Burbank, CA, and ran from the spring up until early October, with Ness handling production duties entirely himself — a first for the frontman. "It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Ness said in a statement. “I love being on that side of the board. Even though I’ve co-produced all of our records, I always was there for everything. It just came to a point where I was like ‘I think I want to try this, I want to do this ourselves.'"

On November 9, the group will release the album’s first single, "Machine Gun Blues," via iTunes. It's said to be "a sneering modern day Bonnie & Clyde outlaw anthem which encompasses the album’s rebellious attitude." Other album tracks include the Hank Williams cover "Alone and Foresaken" and the vintage SxDx rockers "Gimme the Sweet and Lowdown" and "Diamond in the Rough."

Social Distortion will be gearing up for the release date with a North America tour with Lucero and Frank Turner. The outing includes one Canadian date in Toronto on October 23. See the dates below the tracklist.

Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes:

1. "Road Zombie"
2. "California (Hustle and Flow)"
3. "Gimme the Sweet and Lowdown"
4. "Diamond in the Rough"
5. "Machine Gun Blues"
6. "Bakersfield"
7. "Far Side of Nowhere"
8. "Alone and Forsaken"
9. "Writing on the Wall"
10. "Can’t Take It with You"
11. "Still Alive"

Tour dates:

10/19 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
10/20 Chicago, IL - Riviera *
10/21 Detroit, MI - The Fillmore *
10/23 Toronto, ON - Kool Haus *
10/24 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues *
10/26 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
10/28 Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights *
10/29 Philadelphia, PA - The Electric Factory *
10/30 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues *
11/1 Boston, MA - House of Blues *
11/2 Portland, ME - State Theatre *
11/4 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom *
11/5 Asbury Park, NJ - Stone Pony *
11/6 Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live! *
11/8 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel *
11/9 Knoxville, TN - Valarium *
11/10 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle *
11/12 St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Live *
11/13 Miami Beach, FL - Fillmore Miami Beach *
11/14 Orlando, FL - House of Blues *
11/16 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *
11/18 Austin, TX - Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre *
11/19 Houston, TX - House of Blues *
11/20 Dallas, TX - House of Blues *
11/22 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre *
11/23 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre *
11/24 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre ^

* with Lucero and Frank Turner
^ with Lucero

Tour Dates

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