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\n\tIn April 2024, Mike Ness<\/a> was ready for Social Distortion<\/a> to finally get back in the studio. The Orange County punks<\/a> were set to record their first studio album since 2011\u2019s Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes<\/a><\/em>, with Ness armed with an arsenal of riffs, grooves, lyrics, and ideas he\u2019d been sitting on as far back as 1996\u2019s White Light White Heat White Trash<\/em>. About halfway through the April 2023 recording sessions in Los Angeles, Ness was diagnosed with Stage 1 tonsil cancer. Not only was the album indefinitely postponed, but the singer-songwriter also faced his biggest challenge in a life full of adversity. After a year on the sidelines undergoing surgery, treatment, and recovery, Ness received a clean bill of health and, along with producer Dave Sardy and his bandmates, got back to work.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI can\u2019t tell you just how grateful I am, because some people have much different stories with cancer,\u201d Ness tells Rolling Stone<\/em> over Zoom from his OC hideout. \u201cEven if they do survive, they\u2019re struggling days, years, and maybe they don\u2019t even beat it. I don\u2019t say I beat it. I got lucky that it was curable.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe doctors told me [that this type of cancer] had a very good success rate,\u201d he continues. \u201cSo I get into a positive headspace and really like envisioning the future. I had a grandson on the way. I had a record to finish. I had unfinished business here. I found myself bargaining, \u2018God, just let me finish the record, please.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNearly two years later, Born to Kill<\/em>, Social Distortion\u2019s long-awaited eighth studio album, is set to arrive May 8, through Epitaph. Beginning with the hard-charging title track, which the band test-drove live for years before recording, the album is a look back at nearly 50 years of defiance and hell-raising that began on the streets of Fullerton, California. The nostalgic \u201cThe Way Things Were\u201d references Ness\u2019s teenaged years, roaming around with late Social Distortion guitarist and friend, Dennis Danell. Akin to a heavyweight boxer in the latter rounds of a title fight, Ness is bruised and battered at this point in his career, but ready to fight with a wink and a smile.<\/p>\n