Danko Jones

Danko Jones
Danko Jones live at the Maquinária festival in São Paulo, Brazil 2009
Background information
Origin	Toronto, Canada
Genres	Hard rock, Garage rock, Garage punk, Blues rock
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Aquarius (Canada) Bad Taste (Europe)
Website	http://www.dankojones.com/
Members	Danko Jones - Vocals/Guitar John Calabrese - Bass Rich Knox - Drums
Past members	Atom Willard - Drums Damon Richardson - Drums Niko Quintal - Drums Gavin Brown - Drums Michael Cari Cari - Drums Dan Cornelius - Drums

Danko Jones is a Canadian rock band from Toronto, Canada. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John 'JC' Calabrese (bass guitar) and Rich Knox (drums).

History

Formation

Formed in 1996,^[1] they played consistently for two years in and around the northeastern United States and Canada, opening for The New Bomb Turks, Nashville Pussy, Blonde Redhead, The Make-Up, The Dirtbombs, The Chrome Cranks and The Demolition Doll Rods. Originally they did not even want to release an album opting to have the band's live reputation spread via word of mouth.

Eventually, the trio relented and put out a self-titled six song e.p. on Sonic Unyon records in 1998. In 1999 they released the self-produced My Love Is Bold E.P. and achieved national exposure with the single "Bounce".^[2] They were nominated for a Juno Award in 2000 for Best Alternative Album.

In 2001 Bad Taste Records released a compilation of the band's early recordings, demos, and b-sides entitled, I'm Alive and On Fire. A 5 week European tour followed to promote the release including shows at the Roskilde festival in Denmark and Hultsfred festival in Sweden. By the end of the year they had returned 2 more times, most notably as main support for the Backyard Babies.

2002: Born A Lion

In 2002 they released their first full-length album, Born A Lion, produced by Bill Bell, on Bad Taste Records in Europe and on Universal in Canada. The band did several European tours and two Canadian tours to promote the record including an unprecedented repeat performance at Roskilde and the now legendary return to Hultsfred as well as notable stops to Pukkelpop in Belgium and The Lowlands festival in the Netherlands. They also managed to grab the opening slot with The Rolling Stones on their "40 Licks" World tour kick-off show at the Palais Royale in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 16, 2002.^[3]

2003: We Sweat Blood

2003 saw the release of We Sweat Blood, produced by Matt DeMatteo, and the group taking a heavier approach to their hard-rock sound.^[4] More touring followed that included Europe and Japan. They were also nominated for two Junos: Best Rock Album (Born a Lion) and Best video (Lovercall).

While success was happening abroad, home relations with Universal Canada had soured and the band was dropped mid-album run. Explanations from the label were vague, but speculations point to Jones' February 2004 appearance on CBC Sunday where Jones appeared as a pro-downloader opposite then CRIA president, Brian Robertson.^[5] Getting dropped from Universal Canada did little to stop the group as they continued to tour heavily for the rest of the year well into 2004 with bands like Turbonegro, Sepultura and The Bronx. While touring they managed to pick up another Juno nomination for Best Rock Album (We Sweat Blood) and tour Australia as well as more European dates including Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park in Germany and Download, Leeds and Reading in England.

2005-2006: Sleep Is The Enemy

Early 2005 was taken up by recording the follow-up to We Sweat Blood, but not without a series of tours amidst recording that brought the band to the Netherlands, Germany and South Africa. In April, American label, Razor & Tie released We Sweat Blood and the band set out to America in support as well.^[6] Working two releases simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic proved quite hard and the worldwide release for the upcoming album, Sleep Is The Enemy, produced by Matt DeMatteo, was pushed back to 2006.

During the summer and fall of 2005 the band toured America heavily with two of We Sweat Blood's singles being second most added to active rock radio in America ("Lovercall" and "Forget My Name"). Stateside tours with Flogging Molly, Our Lady Peace, The Supersuckers, and The (International) Noise Conspiracy followed. Prior to the release of Sleep Is The Enemy drummer Damon Richardson left the band, citing fatigue as a reason for leaving. He was replaced by Dan Cornelius.^[7]

In January and February 2006, under new Canadian label, Aquarius Records, the band set out to do their first Canadian tour in almost 4 years opening up for Nickelback.^[8] With the release of Sleep Is The Enemy came more touring including America and a headlining European club tour with support from Brant Bjork & The Bros.

The summer saw them perform at Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, With Full Force and Wacken Open Air in Germany; Hellfest and Furiafest in France, Metaltown in Sweden, Pinkpop and Lowlands in The Netherlands, Tuska Festival, Ruisrock and Ankkarock in Finland, Gampel in Switzerland and Wireless in the UK among at least a dozen more. In October 2006, a 2 week tour of Norway saw the band play with ex-Kyuss front-man, John Garcia who appeared on the song "Invisible" off Sleep Is The Enemy.

2008: Never Too Loud

Their fourth album, Never Too Loud was released on February 27, 2008^[9] and produced by Nick Raskulinecz. The album yielded three singles, "Code Of The Road" followed by "Take Me Home" and "King Of Magazines". A major city tour of Europe in April 2008 was followed by a Canadian tour in May and a three month stint in Europe playing almost 30 dates on the festival circuit that included Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park and With Full Force in Germany; Bospop and Lowlands in The Netherlands; Sziget Festival in Hungary; Rabarock in Estonia; Provinssi Rock in Finland; and Eurockeennes and Hellfest in France, where Jones got to sing on stage with one of his favorite bands, Death Angel for the song, "Bored". In the fall/winter of 2008 Danko Jones toured England, Germany, France and Benelux opening for Motörhead.

2009: B-Sides

On February 3, 2009 B-Sides was released in Europe only - a collection of previously released b-sides from European singles and unreleased tracks that spanned 1996 to 2008. On February 24 they commenced a 7 week tour in support of the release that spanned The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France and the UK with support coming from The Backyard Babies, Winnebego Deal and The Black Spiders. The CD yielded the singles "Sugar High" and "My Problems (Are Your Problems Now)". A greatest hits compilation titled This Is Danko Jones was released on April 7 the same year in Canada only.^[10]

In the summer the band managed a few festival appearances, most notably, the Sziget Festival in Hungary on the main stage with Faith No More and The Offspring, as well as Huntenpop in The Netherlands, Winterthur and Gampel Open Air in Switzerland, Parken Festival in Norway and Jurassic Rock in Finland. In January and February 2010 the band toured across Canada with Guns N' Roses and Sebastian Bach.^[11] In March the same year they toured the United States with Clutch.^[12]

2010: Below the Belt

Their fifth album Below the Belt was released on May 11, 2010 and produced by Matt DeMatteo. The album's first single, "Full of Regret", features Elijah Wood, Lemmy Kilmister, Selma Blair and Mike Watt in the accompanying video, the first in The Ballad of Danko Jones. It debuted at No. 36 on Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks in November. It is also featured on EA's NHL 11.^[13] soundtrack. The second single, "Had Enough", has Ralph Macchio appearing in the accompanying video while "Full of Regrets" features Wood, Macchio, Jena Malone and Watt in the final installment of the music video trilogy.

On June 8, 2011 Danko Jones announced on the band's website that drummer Dan Cornelius was no longer with the band.^[14] In the same statement Danko Jones said Atom Willard had joined as a replacement. In a March 2012 question-and-answer session with fans on Twitter Danko Jones said: "Dan's time with the band had run its course but it was completely mutual from both sides. An amicable split." ^[15]

2012: Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue

In early 2012 Danko Jones revealed the band was working on a new album, posting footage of the writing process on the band's YouTube channel.^[16][17] Jones said the album was likely to be out in the European fall.^[15]

A 90-minute documentary about the band, entitled Bring on the Mountain, was released in June 2012. The 2-disc DVD also featured a short film based on the band's latest three videos, all their music videos and several live clips.

An oral history book about the band, called Too Much Trouble: A Very Oral History of Danko Jones is set to be released by ECW Press in October 2012.^[18]

The title of the new album was revealed to be Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue, and will be released on 21 September 2012 in Europe and 9 October in North America.^[19]

It was announced that Danko Jones will hit the road for 2013 Spring tour with Volbeat and Spoken.

Radio, Spoken Word and Columns

Jones hosted a syndicated radio show called "The Magical World Of Rock"^[20] between 2003 and 2006. It was broadcast out of 95.3 Rocket FM in Stockholm (Sweden) and syndicated to Power 97 in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), Pure Rock Radio in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada), CT Das Radio in Bochum (Germany) and Radio Tango in Oslo (Norway).

He also released his first spoken word album in 2004 entitled The Magical World Of Rock^[21] and completed two spoken word tours that same year, including a show at the Crossing Borders festival in The Hague, Netherlands where he spoke alongside Nick Hornby, Ian Mackaye, Jim White, Michael Franti and Irvine Welsh.

In 2012 Jones resumed doing spoken word in the form of "lectures". He spoke at the Wacken Open Air Festival for 2 days, "lecturing" about the rock band Kiss.

Danko Jones currently has a monthly column for Close-Up Magazine (Sweden), Rock Zone Magazine (Spain) and a weekly column in The Huffington Post. He has also written columns for Rock Hard (Germany), Guitar For The Practicing Musician (Germany), Mute Magazine (Norway), Rockstar Magazine (Switzerland), Lángoló Gitárok (Hungary).^[22]

Jones is also one of the characters in the book Sex Tips from Rock Stars by Paul Miles published by Omnibus Press in July 2010.^[23]

Jones hosts a podcast called "The Official Danko Jones Podcast" often co-hosted by his friend, comedian/singer, Nick Flanagan. Guests on the podcast have included Brendan Canning, Henry Rollins, Damian Abraham, Duff McKagan, Marty Friedman, Chris Jericho, Scott Thompson, Feist, Patrick Pentland, Wade McNeil, Lydia Criss, Harald Oimoen, Jim Breuer and more.

• @ Hellfest 2013
• 

  Atom Willard

• 

  Atom Willard & Danko Jones

• 

  John Calabrese

Discography

Studio albums

• Born a Lion (2002) (Bad Taste Records / Universal Canada)
• We Sweat Blood (2003) (Bad Taste Records / Razor & Tie)
• Sleep Is the Enemy (2006) (Bad Taste Records | Aquarius Records)
• Never Too Loud (2008) (Bad Taste Records / Aquarius Records)
• Below the Belt (2010) (Bad Taste Records / Aquarius Records)
• Rock and Roll is Black and Blue (Bad Taste) (2012)^{[24][25][26][27][28][29]}

Honours

Juno Awards

• 2004 Nominated, Best Rock Album (We Sweat Blood)
• 2003 Nominated, Best Video ("Lovercall")
• 2003 Nominated, Best Rock Album (Born a Lion)
• 2000 Nominated, Best Alternative Album (My Love Is Bold)

See also

• Canadian rock
• List of Canadian musicians
• List of bands from Canada

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Danko Jones.

• Official website
• Danko Jones on Myspace
• Danko Jones on Twitter
• Danko Jones at the Internet Movie Database

v t e Danko Jones Danko Jones John Calabrese Rich Knox Studio albums Born a Lion We Sweat Blood Sleep Is the Enemy Never Too Loud Below the Belt Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue Other albums Danko Jones My Love Is Bold I'm Alive and on Fire B-Sides This Is Danko Jones Related Discography