Archive Review: Mike Ness's Under The Influences (1999)

Completing the creative circle that he began earlier this year with the release of his first solo disc, Cheating At Solitaire, Mike Ness delivers his late ‘90s version of Bowie’s Pin-Ups with Under the Influences. Country and rockabilly influences were much in evidence on Cheating At Solitaire, and really seem to provide a comfortable fit for Ness. Although firmly identified with his punk persona as the gravel-voiced, guitar-bashing frontman for the twenty-year-old Social Distortion, Ness is, at heart, one of those greasy guys from down the street with his “Born To Lose” tattoo and an oil-dripping, high-powered Mopar muscle car in the yard. Since I grew up with those guys in the rural outskirts of Nashville, as did Ness, I can readily identify with his gradual evolution back to his roots.

Under the Influences focuses on the country, honky-tonk, and rockabilly music that Ness has come to love and throws out inspired covers of folks like Hank Williams (naturally), Harlan Howard, Carl Perkins, and Marty Robbins, among others. The performances are delivered with passion and energy, bridging the musical gap between the natural early rebelliousness of C & W and surly punk attitude. Not that these are punked-up covers, mind you – Ness plays it straight, with reverent readings of such classics as Robbins’ “Big Iron,” Wanda Jackson’s “Funnel of Love” (also covered nicely this year by former punk diva Rosie Flores), and Bobby’s Fuller’s “I Fought the Law.” Under the Influences closes with a cowpunk version of Social D’s own “Ball And Chain.” It’s an overall spirited effort, and if Ness and crew turn one young punk poseur onto Hank or Marty with Under the Influences, then their work here is done. (Time Bomb Recordings)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine, 1999

Album Review: Pete Berwick's The Damage Is Done (2023)

A multi-talented man of the media – singer, songwriter, actor, and novelist Pete Berwick comes to his ‘Outlaw County’ credentials honestly, the Chicago native serving his time in Purgatory (i.e. Nashville) during the Music City’s late ‘80s/early ’90s indie rock boom. Berwick was a man without a country in many ways, however, as the major labels’ narrow vision only saw room for two Gnashville twang-bangers (Jason & the Scorchers, Webb Wilder), completely ignoring Berwick’s songwriting skills and onstage charisma. Not that those other guys were undeserving of their big-league status, but there should have been one more artist on that alt-country Mount Rushmore circa 1990 or so…

Pete Berwick’s The Damage Is Done

Berwick returned to the Windy City and, undeterred by trends, continued to tread the boards with an impressive catalog of releases that includes bona fide country-rock shit-kickers like Just Another Day In Hell and Ain’t No Train Outta Nashville. For his seventh album, The Damage Is Done, Berwick returned to Nashville (or nearby Tullahoma, actually…) and turned the clock back to his 1980s cowpunk roots. Although it has its more traditional country moments – as “traditional” as a born ‘n’ raised rebel like Berwick can get, anyway – much of The Damage Is Done is an unhinged, unbridled, and utterly brilliant rock ‘n’ roll album. The first couple of songs on the album, “She Ain’t Got Me” and “Finger Down My Throat,” burn with the anger and white-phosphorus energy of anything Black Flag or the Dead Kennedys every cranked out, true blue “cowpunk” with the emphasis on “punk,” and we’re all the better for it.

After all, who needs another treacly Music Row release with safe-as-milk lyrics penned by committee; passive, inoffensive production; and music straight from the 1970s performed by aging session drones? Berwick has pulled off a keen trick, indeed, recording a contemporary country album that captures the piss ‘n’ vinegar spirit of early Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings while still managing to channel more righteous anger and angst than a dozen generic SoCal punk rock poseurs. Berwick’s lyrical skills still shine through on songs like the bluesy blue-collar anthems “Time Clock On the Wall” or “Don’t Know How,” but it’s when he truly cuts loose with the evangelical fervor of songs like “You’ll Get Used To It” or the monster title track the that the creative venom shotguns out of your speakers like a firehose.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Berwick’s voice has aged into a dangerous weapon, his raw, whiskey-gutted vocals imbuing each performance with pain and penitence you only earn through decades of hard-won experience. Ashley Argo’s backing vocals provide a sweet counterpoint to Berwick’s sandpaper vox, and Charlie Bonnet III’s flamethrower guitar licks rage through the mix like molten metallic slag. Multi-instrumentalist (and album engineer) Dave Summers picks up the slack with bass, drums, keyboards, and some guitar, and the entire quartet displays an enormous musical chemistry throughout The Damage Is Done, delivering what was needed to support Berwick’s unique vision and performances. As such, Pete Berwick has delivered another career tour de force with The Damage Is Done. If you like your country music with a little rock ‘n’ roll edge, or you like your rock music with a little country twang, you’ll find a lot to like in The Damage Is Done. Grade: A   BUY!