Mike Ness (Social Distortion) mourns Ron Asheton (The Stooges)

Mike Ness of Social Distortion recently sat down with LA Times to discuss the death of Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton earlier this month. Ness had this to say:

For me as a guitar player, the first thing I pick up on is tone. "He had this primitive, high-energy sound. It was pre-metal, but still a metallic sound. It's just so awesome. That was definitely what caught my ears. Everything he played -- it wasn't like it was a rehearsed solo. It was always very spontaneous, I feel, very organic.

They weren't like Aerosmith. In the '70s, you had all these classic-rock bands, but it seemed so unattainable to get to something like Keith Richards' stature. But the Stooges, they were unpolished. Like the [New York] Dolls. They didn't take that extra $200,000 in the studio and polish it.

Social Distortion is currently working on a new album expected to drop around mid to late 2009.