Cuckoo's Nest (1976–1981) was a nightclub that was located at 1714 Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa, California . The club was founded in 1976 by Jerry Roach, a former bar owner who had turned to selling real estate, after receiving the property from a client as a commission payment. A local Costa Mesa bar that was already in operation was named Jaws, after the film, and Roach took inspiration from this and named his new venture after One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , the big box-office draw of that year, to make the club's name easily memorable. The club became known for punk rock .
58-464: At first the club catered to fans of conventional rock. After almost two years, a slow period hit the business and in February 1978 Roach decided to give the bands that played a relatively new form of music called punk rock a shot. There were no venues in southern California at that time that would book punk bands due to the extremely negative reputation the fledgling scene had earned itself, as well as
116-548: A brain aneurysm . According to other sources, the Orange County Coroner's Office lists his death as "Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy." Ness was devastated, stating "I am saddened beyond any possible form of expression. Dennis and I have been friends since boyhood, starting Social Distortion together while we were in high school. My deepest regrets to his family." Social Distortion went back to work in June 2000 on
174-545: A 1940 Martin D-18 that I sold last year; I'm just a Gibson guy. I gravitate to the Gibson J-45 every time I write. It's a balladeer's guitar". Ness also plays a 1939 Gibson J-35, that he says "...very rarely leaves the house...". Ness uses Fender Bassman amps modified by Fred Taccone of Divided by 13 through Marshall 4x12 slant cabs with Celestion Greenback speakers. Most of his touring amps were modded by Billy Zoom of
232-432: A 1954 Chevrolet and a 1936 Ford . In 2003, he founded Black Kat Kustoms with "long time hot rodder and builder" Don Nemarnik. Black Kat Kustoms is an expression of his love for hot rods, cats, bikes, Alpine horns and counter-culture clothing. In a 2015 interview with Eric Walden, he said in reference to the song "Ball and Chain", "It was basically, 'I've seen God,' I guess if you will — God of my understanding; I'm not
290-616: A July 2009 interview with Tarakany! Bad TV, Ness stated that Social Distortion was planning to return to the studio in December of that year or the beginning of 2010 to begin recording their seventh album. The album, now known as Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes , was finally released on January 18, 2011. On May 17, 2008, Ness and his band were joined on stage by Bruce Springsteen at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park , New Jersey for
348-461: A black 1970's SG covered in stickers as seen on the cover of the compilation album Mainliner: Wreckage from the Past . He currently uses four 1970s Gibson Les Paul Deluxes (two sunburst models from 1971 & 1975, and two goldtop models from 1975 & 1976). His 1976 goldtop is his favorite and most used guitar currently, however his 1971 sunburst was his main guitar for many years, especially through
406-509: A bonafide and ever-growing youth gang dedicated to hatred, hedonism, and crime, the general public started to see punks as nothing other than thugs and losers who needed to be dealt with. Jim Kaa, guitarist of the Crowd, said in 1998: "[The scene at the Cuckoo's Nest] was crazy; it was young, and the police didn't know what the crazy punks were about. There was a lot of fighting, not just [against]
464-423: A capo on the second fret. He also once used a non-reverse Gibson Firebird , as seen on the back cover of Social Distortion's 1983 debut Mommy's Little Monster , and a white Gibson Les Paul Custom in the "Ball and Chain" and "Story of My Life" music videos. In an interview with Guitar.com Ness said: "The guitar that I write on is a 1940 Gibson J-45. I have three of them – I searched high and low for them. I had
522-604: A co-headlining tour with Bad Religion in April and May 2024 and they will perform Mommy’s Little Monster in its entirety to celebrate the album's 40th anniversary. Social Distortion will also do their own headlining tour in September and October 2024. Ness currently lives in Santa Ana, California , with his wife Christine and two sons. He is an avid collector of vintage ephemera such as Hamburglar toys and hot rods , owning
580-457: A documentary about the club and the punk scene came about from there, and Roach and Young began interviewing and filming the bands and club patrons. The footage was compiled into a documentary, roughly 40 minutes in length, titled Urban Struggle: The Battle of the Cuckoo's Nest . The film also goes into the legal battles that surrounded the nightclub and Roach's defiant effort to "shove punk rock right up their asses". We Were Feared – The Story of
638-408: A few dozen some nights. In his 1981 film on the subject Urban Struggle , Roach suggested that perhaps this was the first time that the authorities would stamp out a fad, but also asserted that a scene with as much intensity as punk-rock could not and would not die out; it would merely go back underground and continue to bubble under the surface. The club finally closed its doors in 1981 as a result of
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#1732791775686696-437: A free pass to unload nearly socially encouraged ignorance and elitism. Violence had been to a degree always a part of the scene, being downright necessary most of the time in relation to self defense, but began to steadily escalate within the club between the punks themselves as more and more violent and macho types began to get into punk rock and go to shows at the Cuckoo's Nest, believing the media hype surrounding punk that it
754-431: A hippie, and would often get beat down. Mike Ness of Social Distortion had part of the upper cartilage of his left ear bitten off in the parking lot during a fight that stemmed from a methed out punk, who didn't like that he was smoking a joint. The word "poser" started getting tossed around a lot at the club, ironically enough, usually being flung by new punks. Senseless violence also began to be perpetrated by both some of
812-546: A performance at the Anaheim House of Blues to him shortly after. Despite earlier reports that the band would begin recording their next studio album by 2008, Social Distortion took a hiatus from touring and recording, when Ness was on tour with his solo band which is composed of two current members of Social Distortion, Brent Harding and Jonny Wickersham . Also touring with Ness were Chris Lawrence on Telecaster and pedal steel guitar and Dave Raven on drums. In
870-400: A pizza place." Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L. also said: "It was wrecked the day Zubies got it." The Vandals ' songs "The Legend of Pat Brown" and "Urban Struggle" cover the parking lot battles between Cuckoo's Nest and Zubie's patrons. In 1981, as the police started to sporadically raid the club, Roach hired a student film-maker named Paul Young to record them when they did so. The idea to film
928-411: A regular sight in the parking lot. Arrests became commonplace in and around the club, for even the tiniest infraction (jaywalking and littering were popular offenses), and steadily escalated to the point where business started to suffer. There was a very real threat that patrons could be arrested for any number of reasons before they ever even stepped inside the club. This ultimately led to an incident in
986-414: A religious guy; I do consider myself a spiritual man." On June 7, 2023, Mike Ness announced that he was diagnosed with stage one tonsil cancer and is expected to make a full recovery from surgery. Ness said that it is "a day-by-day process and in three weeks we start radiation and that should be the last therapy I need." Early in his career, Ness was seen using Gibson SGs and SG Juniors, most notably
1044-427: A videotape of me beating up these two cowboy guys, and I was wearing a dress at the time. I was trying to tick my dad off for a while, and wearing a dress was working good." One night a group of cowboys even came out of Zubie's wearing football helmets and carrying baseball bats, looking to spill some blood in the crowded parking lot. Around 80 punks rushed at the rednecks, who dropped their bats and took off running, with
1102-399: A warehouse. Roach, who went back to real estate after the club closed, said he was relieved it would be demolished: "I don't have fond memories of losing, of unfairly having my means of making money taken away from me ... "I still think I was railroaded, but that's the breaks. I don't have any nostalgia for it. I'm kind of glad it's getting torn down. I'd rather have it not be there than be
1160-472: The Mainliner/Playpen 7" record on Robbie Field's indie label Posh Boy Records in 1981. Two years later, they released the album Mommy's Little Monster (1983) on 13th Floor Records, which was owned by Monk Rock, their manager at the time. Ness was featured in the independent film Another State of Mind , which chronicled Social Distortion's first cross-country tour with Youth Brigade. It
1218-680: The punk rock scene. In the 1980s, Ness was the original renter of the one-bedroom apartment described in the Adolescents song " Kids of the Black Hole ". The punk house is located in Fullerton and still exists today. Inspired by The Sex Pistols , Ness founded Social Distortion in 1978 with Casey Royer . He later recruited his high school friend Dennis Danell into the band in 1979, and Ness dropped out of high school at age 17 to focus on his music career. Social Distortion released
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#17327917756861276-527: The 1990s. Ness uses Eb Standard tuning and usually uses a capo on the second fret while using his goldtops. He has used Seymour Duncan P-90 pickups in all of his guitars since touring with Neil Young in the early 1990s; Ness recalled seeing Young's guitar tech take the stock mini humbucker pickups out of a Les Paul Deluxe, throw them in the trash and replace them with the P-90s. Ness' goldtops have maple necks which he says contribute to his tone especially when using
1334-637: The Cuckoo's Nest , directed by Jonathan W.C. Mills and executive produced by York Shackleton, premiered at the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival . The film includes interview footage from Urban Struggle , which led to a copyright claim from Young. Clockwork Orange County: The Rise of West Coast Punk Rock (2012), directed by Jonathan W.C. Mills, features performance footage from the 1981 Urban Struggle documentary and more recent interviews. 33°38′13″N 117°55′53″W / 33.63687°N 117.9313°W / 33.63687; -117.9313 The Masque Too Many Requests If you report this error to
1392-498: The Cuckoo's Nest. Roach took the matter to court, claiming that the city had violated the constitutional rights of free speech and liberty for both himself and the punks. In March 1981, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the city, and rejected the allegations that the city had at any point been unjustly fair in its decision. However, less than a month later the California Supreme Court overturned
1450-716: The Go-Go's , Red Kross , the Minutemen , the Blasters , the New York Dolls . Henry Rollins ' first show with Black Flag was at the Nest on August 21, 1981. Cuckoo's Nest sat at the back within a shared parking lot of a liquor store, a transmission shop, a laundromat, as well as a bar and grill next door named Zubie's that had an "urban cowboy" motif, which attracted a mainly blue-collar crowd. The parking lot of The Nest
1508-582: The Influences that same year. Both albums came out on Time Bomb Recordings. Ness toured extensively in the US in support of these albums, backed by the 2006 partial incarnation of Social Distortion: ex- Plugz and Bob Dylan drummer Charlie Quintana and Brent Harding (upright and electric bass). Ness and the band played at Woodstock '99 . Childhood friend and founding member of Social Distortion guitarist Dennis Danell died on February 29, 2000, at 38 due to
1566-620: The Past (a collection of old recordings and singles that were done in the early '80s), a re-issue of the long out of print Mommy's Little Monster , along with a re-issue of their second album Prison Bound , and Live at the Roxy (1998). Ness married his wife, Christine Marie, in the late 1990s and they have two sons, Julian (born in 1992) and Johnny, Mike's stepson (born 1997). In 1999, Ness released his first solo album, Cheating at Solitaire . Although some of Social Distortion's songs paid homage to country music artists, Cheating at Solitaire
1624-526: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 939244888 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 11:02:55 GMT Mike Ness Michael James Ness (born April 3, 1962) is an American musician who is the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion , which
1682-710: The album Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll . Many of the songs on this new album are dedicated to Danell, such as "Don't Take Me For Granted", "Reach for the Sky" and "Angel's Wings". At an October 2010 concert in New York City Ness dedicated "Don't Take Me For Granted" to Joey Ramone . In 2003, Social Distortion recorded a live DVD called Live in Orange County at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California which
1740-468: The anarchistic ethos of punk rock, wreaking havoc at a lot of shows that had taken place at other clubs. This trend relegated punk bands to play almost exclusively for free at house-parties, and keeping the majority of the southern westcoast scene underground. The first punk show to take place at The Nest was a benefit for the legendary Los Angeles punk club, The Masque , and took place on February 16, 1978. The owner of The Masque, Brendan Mullen, brought along
1798-486: The band, just a month before the release of Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll . In February 2006, Ness broke his wrist while skateboarding in Las Vegas . He continued to perform vocals on the tour while T.S.O.L. guitarist Ron Emory filled in on guitar until Ness recovered from the injury. On January 18, 2007, former Social Distortion bass player Brent Liles died after being hit by a tractor trailer truck. Ness dedicated
Cuckoo's Nest (nightclub) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1856-532: The bands that performed that night, which included; The Skulls , The Bags , The Controllers , and Steamin' Freeman. In the early 80's, the club claimed to be the biggest punk club in Orange County. Bands who performed there include the Adolescents , FEAR , Social Distortion , T.S.O.L. , the Vandals , Iggy Pop , Ramones , Dead Kennedys , 999 , the Misfits , Circle Jerks , Wasted Youth , Agent Orange ,
1914-547: The bands while they were on stage, as well as the crowd, as stage diving and slam dancing shifted from harmless fun and starting to get progressively and genuinely violent at times. At the same time, punk was gaining a certain degree of popularity within the youth as a whole, and started to be viewed as a real threat to established order. In the early days, people would usually just gawk or laugh at punks, and it usually wouldn't go beyond childish name calling. However, with each newspaper or television story constantly portraying punks as
1972-452: The beginning it was the punks fighting either the pseudo-cowboys and macho jock types, or early long haired metal heads and leftovers from the hippie generation, all of whom saw punks as an outright affront to civil decency and established "normality". Within the confines of the largely affluent Republican area of Orange County at the time, homophobia and classism was rife, and many people saw the homemade clothing and provocative hair of punks as
2030-514: The car, quickly told Pat that he was a cop, and reached inside the car to presumably put it in park. Pat punched the gas and took off, with the undercover officer hanging onto the car. An on-duty officer was catapulted over the hood of the car, who had come to backup the other officer, who some say Pat intentionally swerved to hit. The undercover officer was dragged several hundred feet before letting go and firing three shots into Brown's car, which had upwards of two passengers in it. He then ripped out of
2088-403: The costly damage done to some venues by punk fans, which had resulted in more than a few having to close their doors due to legal problems and finances. Several of these early Huntington Beach area punk bands, such as Vicious Circle and The Slashers had extremely violent and hardcore fans who made it a point to be as destructive and criminally-minded as possible, being fully pledged in allegiance to
2146-411: The dance ban, as Roach said he did not want to see kids being arrested for simply expressing themselves. Almost all those involved believe this was the city's plan from the beginning, to systematically wear him down, since they could not simply shut him down and smother the punk scene. He said in later years that he would have continued on fighting the city, had he had financial backers or more support from
2204-405: The decades since, the police would stop and detain any person they identified as a punk based on their haircuts and clothing. They were reported to have been often combative and vulgar with the punks, intimidating them with authority and calling them names like "faggots", and assembled a massive "Punk File" which contained names and Polaroids of all detainees for future use during investigations. In
2262-752: The encore. Songs played were "Misery Loves Company", "Ball and Chain", "If You Leave Before Me" and "I Fought the Law". On April 16, 2009, Ness joined Springsteen and the E Street Band on stage at the Los Angeles Sports Arena . Songs played included Social Distortion's "Bad Luck" and Springsteen's "The Rising". On May 18, 2009, Mike Ness and Social Distortion played a benefit show at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California called "Rock to Recovery" and his son joined him on stage and played lead guitar for
2320-410: The fact that the Cuckoo's Nest did not have a licensed dance permit, and effectively crippled the club by imposing a ban on dancing, refusing to issue a permit, and having a judge uphold the ban in court. The police started to strengthen their presence and upheld the ban without exception, making countless arrests, and club attendance dwindled drastically by December 1981 from nearly 350 people a night, to
2378-400: The lower court's ruling, and The Nest was allowed to reinstate live music, much to the disapproval of the city. In total, Roach had been fighting the city for nine months to ensure that the basic freedoms of himself and his customers couldn't be trampled, with no help from anyone. Not soon after the club began to showcase bands again, Roach was blindsided by the city when they took advantage of
Cuckoo's Nest (nightclub) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2436-453: The music video for the songs "Slipping Away" and "Lights Out". In 1989, Social Distortion signed a deal with Epic Records and released three albums with that label: Social Distortion (1990), Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell (1992) and White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996). The band left Epic Records after White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996) and Ness formed Time Bomb Recordings , releasing Mainliner: Wreckage From
2494-462: The parking lot and sped up Plancentia Avenue with no headlights on. No one was seriously injured, although both officers were taken to the hospital. Brown was pulled over a few blocks away for his headlights not being on, but was quickly arrested for attempted murder, after he was beaten severely by the police. Soon after the incident, the Costa Mesa city council revoked the entertainment permit for
2552-487: The parking lot between them and a large group of rednecks during a T.S.O.L. show. Despite this, several band members and patrons of the Cuckoos Nest claimed that the club bouncers could be as aggressive as the neighbors, and were known to drag anyone who got too out of control out the back door, where they would work them over. The police already had a strong dislike for punks, and the constant fighting between them and
2610-400: The parking lot on the night of January 30, 1981, when an infamous punk and club regular named Pat Brown attempted to run over two police officers with his car. According to an eyewitness account of Casey Royer, Brown was driving through the parking lot with a group of friends while he had a beer in his hand, looking for a place to park. He was stopped by a man dressed as a cowboy, who approached
2668-438: The people at Zubie's but punks against punks. 'The Legend of Pat Brown' epitomizes the entire craziness of that whole era." As tensions mounted within the community regarding the Cuckoo's Nest, the police started to station themselves outside of the club on a nearly nightly basis and started cracking down hard on both the punks and the club itself. Undercover officers, usually posing as cowboys but sometimes as punks, started to be
2726-436: The police coming to their rescue. Another night at the club, an on-duty police officer drew his firearm on a cowboy who had come into the Cuckoo's Nest with a loaded 9 mm pistol, who claimed he had been jumped by a group of punks outside and was looking for revenge. The Zubie's patrons would also be combative towards the security force of The Nest for defending the punks, which escalated into an all-out gang fight one night in
2784-449: The presentably decent folk at Zubie's, along with an ever-growing presence of punks in their town centering at the Cuckoo's Nest, started to become a major annoyance to them. They began harassing the punks, seeing them as the problem, and Roach soon found himself gaining the contempt of both his business neighbors and the city council and police, all of whom saw him as essentially fostering and encouraging delinquent and subversive behavior. He
2842-443: The song "Ball and Chain". On April 7, 2023, Ness and Social Distortion posted to their Instagram pages that pre production on the band's next album was completed and that they would begin recording on April 17. The album was expected to be released in early 2024. However, in June 2023, recording was postponed due to Ness being diagnosed with tonsil cancer . On December 12, 2023, Social Distortion announced that they would be doing
2900-413: The very scene that he was fighting for. In 1982 the building became another music venue called The Concert Factory before closing down again after a couple of years. The space was then absorbed by former adversary Zubie's and became a pizzeria named Zubie's Gilded Cage. The former site of The Cuckoo's Nest, along with Zubie's, was bought in 1998 by Hank's Electric Supplies, who demolished both to make way for
2958-411: Was admittedly not even a fan of punk music, but nevertheless saw it as the unquestionable right of the kids to be into and to play without persecution or victimization. After an incident involving punk band names being tagged across a 100 foot long wall of Five Points Plaza next to a large slogan which read "Death to Huntington Beach Pigs!", which members of the band Youth Brigade have taken credit for in
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#17327917756863016-438: Was an unalloyed expression of Ness' country influences. Solitaire included guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen , Brian Setzer , Billy Zoom and Josh Freese , as well as members of Royal Crown Revue . Springsteen had touted Social Distortion's Heaven and Hell as his favorite record of the year in a Rolling Stone interview in 1992. Ness continued in this vein, releasing a compilation of country covers entitled Under
3074-504: Was as popular a hangout as the club itself, and was usually filled with punks. There were almost nightly confrontations between the punks from the Cuckoo's Nest and the cowboys from Zubie's, being almost always started by the latter, who would usually hurl homophobic and ignorant remarks at the punks and were known to assault them without provocation, regardless of age or gender. Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L. said in 1998, "They'd come out of Zubie's drunk, and there'd be fights every night. There's
3132-527: Was formed in 1979. He has also released two solo albums, Cheating at Solitaire and Under the Influences (both 1999). Ness was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts on April 3, 1962. His family relocated to Orange County, California , later that year, and he grew up in Fullerton . As a child, he idolized gangsters such as John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde . At a young age, his parents divorced and he
3190-671: Was later kicked out of his father and stepmother's home in Fullerton when he was around 15 or 16 years old for incorrigible behavior. During his early years, Ness was raised on the blues, country and early rock and roll, and he grew up listening to the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , Johnny Cash , the Supremes , Creedence Clearwater Revival , Led Zeppelin , Lou Reed , David Bowie , ZZ Top , Kiss and Bad Company . As he drifted around Orange County, Ness became involved in
3248-489: Was on the DVD commentary where he claimed to have never had anything to do with the armed forces or religion. This prompted many fans to consider him an atheist, though some of his lyrics seem to indicate otherwise. Five years passed before Social Distortion released their next album, 1988's Prison Bound , on the heels of Ness's recovery from drug addiction . Ness performed in the band Easter from 1986 until 1988 and appeared in
3306-490: Was primarily about fighting and taking drugs rather than the music. The punk scene as a whole was beginning to splinter, and progressively there were a lot of rules and codes of conduct being established within a group who were supposed to say "fuck the rules". Differing factions would often clash over disagreements regarding bands, political ideals, drugs of choice, to even more ridiculous points of contention such as hair length. If you had slightly long hair or smoked pot, you were
3364-564: Was released in 2004 along with Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll , both of which were released on Time Bomb Recordings. These efforts marked the first recordings with a line-up consisting of Ness on guitar and vocals, Wickersham replacing Danell on guitar, and Quintana on drums. It also consisted of a number of songs co-written by Ness and Wickersham. This is the first time Ness collaborated with another songwriter since his 1990 self-titled album, on which he and then bassist John Maurer wrote "So Far Away". The band's lineup changed twice after Maurer left
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