Derek O’Brien played drums in Social Distortion. He replaced initial drummer Casey Royer in 1983. New Year’s Eve 1983, a fed-up bassist Brent Liles and drummer Derek O’Brien bailed out of the band in the middle of the show.



At the beginning of 1984, Ness and Danell recruited John Maurer, another old school buddy from Fullerton to play bass and Christopher Reece came in on the drums. This lineup weathered Social Distortion’s worst years