danko

The Brown Panther and the Magical World of Rock: Danko Jones By Jeff Warren _____________________________________________________________________________________
Danko Jones is the coolest cat in rock n’ roll. And I don’t mean your fake, TV cool, but the kind of cool that oozes and struts and cultivates its own culture. In Danko’s world, tongues waggle, the women wear their heels to bed, and rock is boogie blooze gospel. And they don’t let nobodies cross the velvet rope, jack, so you better get hip to the scene real quick ‘cause you’ll want the seat down front when the red fog lifts and the magic show begins. So here’s your ticket. Don’t say I never gave you anything. The first thing you need to know is that Danko Jones is both the band and the man. The band is a swaggering three-piece from Toronto, Canada, who have released three albums, We Sweat Blood, Born A Lion, and I’m Alive And On Fire. They play sweaty raunch n’ roll with deep grooves, insatiable beats, and heavy hooks, like an electric firecracker exploding Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top, and Unida. The man himself is bona fide, straight up, and will flip you with his maniacal, crooked brow and pursed lips, daddy’s-coming-to-get-ya caterwauling. He’s the brown panther and he’s always on the prowl.
The second thing you need to know is that Danko Jones feels the pulse. And I mean feels it, ‘cause when he ain’t rockin’ it, he’s walkin’ it and talkin’ it. His close friends are the who’s who of sleazy rockdom, nameable cool Euro rock n’ trash cats, and I imagine being part of that clique has its definite perks. Most recently, Danko tangoed with a few of them on the Backyard Babies song “Friends,” off of their latest release, Stockholm Syndrome. The song features appearances by Danko, Michael Monroe, Joey Ramone, Tyla, Nina Persson (the Cardigans), and Kory Clarke. 'They (Backyard Babies) brought a whole bunch of people into their practice space to lay down some lines,’ he says. ‘I guess they liked what I did cause they picked it for the song. Around that same time Dregen was hanging around while we were recording We Sweat Blood we said to each other that we should put him on something. We were working on the song Strut so we had him sing some background.’ Danko’s line for “Friends?” : "I got a friend/Her name is Grace/When we broke up it put a smile on my face." Bitchin’.
Danko also hosts a syndicated radio show out of Stockholm called The Magical World of Rock with Danko Jones on 95.3 Rocket FM. Each show boasts a different theme, allowing Danko to showcase his particular knowledge of all things rock and to spend some time with his friends. Certain show topics to chew on: Top Ten Rock Singers of All Time, My War by Black Flag Track for Track, East Coast vs. West Coast Thrash Metal, Powerslave by Iron Maiden Track for Track, The Canadian Music Scene You Don’t Know, 10 Songs to Convince You to Join the Kiss Army, The Daves of Rock, Spotlight on Freeride, The Worst Band in the World, I Fucking Love Entombed and So Should You, and his various singers clinics, in which Danko interviews fellow lead vocalists about their off-the-wall techniques and infamous voices. ‘This is my hobby, getting clinics for my show,’ he admits. ‘If you’re a fan you want to hear about these guys and how they do what they do. I’ve learned a lot myself from doing these clinics.’ The clinics have showcased Dave Wyndorf, Blaine Cartwright (Nashville Pussy), Hank Von Helvete (Turbonegro), Derek Green (Sepultura), and Bruce Dickinson. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: bitchin’. And ultra cool.
	The third thing you need to know is that Danko Jones is a savage heavy metal music fan. And that’s alright with you and me, that’s for sure. ‘I grew up on rock and metal but I got out of metal for awhile because it was getting stale and stagnant,’ he says. ‘Being in Europe though, you find out there’s music that doesn’t masquerade as nu-metal.’ And Danko spins that music religiously – Caarme, Kataklysm, Exodus, Soilwork, Entombed, Nevermore, Cathedral, Death Angel, Hypocrisy, Iced Earth, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Nuclear Assault. The list goes on. Three times bitchin’ and doubly cool.
And finally, you can’t be the coolest cat in rock n’ roll if you don’t mix it up every now and then, rattle some bones, tell it like it is. Exactly three weeks after appearing on a TV panel, eschewing the pros and cons of downloading music, Danko Jones was dropped by Universal. Danko, as you might have guessed, is pro downloading. ‘All the arguments against it are really weak,’ he says. ‘The musicians who hate it are studio people. They live and die in the studio. The one thing downloading can’t kill is the live show. Only the strong survive. We are strong.’ As far as he’s concerned, the split was a blessing, since the label showed little interest in the band at all, doing jack squat to push the release of last fall’s We Sweat Blood. The band has since caught on with Bad Taste records out of Sweden and is spreading their infectious brand of cool all over the world. That should be enough to get you in the door, my friend. The rest is up to you. You will find love, kiss its poisonous lips, and then get hurt real bad all before the third drink goes down. It’ll be hot and loud and bloody and movin’ and you’ll be fucked by rock before you know it, courtesy of our prowling friend. It doesn’t get better than this, trust me. God damn it feels good to be cool. www.dankojones.com
-Jeff Warren ______________________________________________________________________________________