Social Distortion, Orange County’s long-running roots-punk machine, came back late this past spring with Born to Kill, their strongest release in years. Their eighth studio LP in a 48-year career, it sounds like leader Mike Ness woke up 15 years after their last album, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, and realized, “Didn’t we used to be a punk rock band?” While not exactly abandoning the country influences, Kill is their hardest straight-up rock & roll record in decades. Opening: pop-punk godfathers Descendents and Australia’s the Chats, who sound like someone gave their old Saints albums sandpaper inner sleeves. – Tim Stegall