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.