It took a lot of determination, but hard rock outfit Danko Jones is still making music after more than a decade together.
“It’s a long time for a rock band, especially in today’s fickle and highly competitive rock and roll industry or scene, that’s a long time,” says Toronto-born front man Danko Jones. “Most bands are around for three or four years tops, and they just disappear or split into two new groups.”
The band’s latest release, and fourth full-length album, Never Too Loud, was produced by Grammy winner Nick Raskulinecz, (Rush, Foo Fighters, Coheed & Cambria, Stone Sour, Velvet Revolver).
The energy and fire that can be found on the disc is different from previous albums — 2002’s Born A Lion, 2003’s We Sweat Blood and 2005’s Sleep Is The Enemy. The sound is a reminiscent of Thin Lizzy, Kiss and UFO. And this time Jones isn’t barking or screaming, he’s actually singing.
“The difference is that this album I’m singing — that’s probably the one thing that people are hearing right off the bat,” says Jones. “It’s something that, you know, I’ve always wanted to do and have always been told I can do, I just needed the confidence to do it.”
When they first came out, the band members — which also include John Calabrese (bass guitar) and Dan Cornelius (drums) — told everyone they didn’t want to play in Canada, which, of course, got them a lot of criticism from others in the scene at that time.
“There were some people who hated us because they thought we were full of ourselves, and to a certain extent we were, but what we wanted to do was tour, see the world,” he says.
