Danko Jones
is a three-piece hard rock band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), JC (also known as John Calabrese) (bass guitar), and Dan Cornelius (drums).
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DANKO JONES TICKETS
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History
Formation
Formed in 1996, they played consistently for two years in and around the north-eastern 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 didn't 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". They were nominated for a
Juno in 2000 for Best Alternative Album.
In 2001 Bad Taste Records (Lund, Sweden) 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.
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.
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. More touring followed that included Europe and Japan. They were also nominated for two
Junos: Best Rock Album and Best video.
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 re: file sharing where Jones appeared as a pro-downloader opposite then CRIA president, Brian Robertson (Canadian Recording Industry Association). Putting their money where their mouths were the band uploaded 5 never-before-released "web exclusive" songs for free download which remained on their site () until a site overhaul was announced.
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 and tour Australia as well as more European dates including
Rock Am Ring and
Rock Im Park in Germany and Download, Leeds and Redding in England.
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 And Tie released
We Sweat Blood
and the band set out to America in support as well. 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.
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. Many were confused by the decision to tour with the multi-platinum radio friendly band, to which Jones shot back, "We get to play in every NHL hockey arena, sold-out in our home country. You do the math.". 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 Holland, Tuska Festival, Ruisrock and Ankkarock in Finland, Gampel in Switzerland and Wireless in the UK among at least a dozen more. Jones has been quoted as saying, "The highlight of the summer was getting to sing my favorite Motorhead song, not once but twice, with
Motorhead, "Killed By Death" at Metaltown in Sweden and Hellfest in France".
In May 2006, the song "Baby Hates Me", was the official theme song for
WWE Backlash pay-per-view.
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
. They performed a set of songs that included Thorn (Unida), Allen's Wrench (Kyuss), and Senor Moreno's Plan (Hermano). Garcia flew out to perform again with the band at the last show of their tour in Toronto this past December 2006.
Never Too Loud
Their fourth album,
Never Too Loud was released in February 2008 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 Holland; Sziget Festival in Hungary; Rabarock in Estonia; Provinsi 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". and a dozen and a half more. In the fall/winter of 2008 Danko Jones toured England, Germany, France and Benelux opening for
Motörhead.
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. Overall reception was more than positive and the album was quickly nicknamed "A-Sides". On February 24 they commenced a 7 week tour in support of the release that spanned Holland, 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, sadly the Birmingham (UK) date was cancelled for unexplained reasons. The Cd yielded the single "Sugar High".
Radio, Spoken Word and Columns
Jones hosts a syndicated radio show called "The Magical World Of Rock" 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). The show's website is at:
He also released his first spoken word album in 2004 entitled
The Magical World Of Rock
and completed two spoken word tours that same year, including a show at the Crossing Borders festival in
The Hague in
the Netherlands where he spoke alongside
Nick Hornby,
Ian Mackaye,
Jim White,
Michael Franti and
Irvine Welsh.
Danko Jones currently writes four separate bi-monthly columns for
Rock Hard (Germany), Guitar For The Practicing Musician (Germany), Rockstar Magazine (Switzerland), and Close-Up Magazine (Sweden).
Discography
- Sugar Chocolate 7"
(1998) (Sonic Unyon)
- Danko Jones EP
(1998) (Sonic Unyon)
- My Love is Bold
(1999) (Sound King|Outside Music)
- I'm Alive and On Fire
(2001) (Bad Taste Records)
- Born a Lion
(2002) (Bad Taste Records)
- We Sweat Blood
(2003) (Bad Taste Records)
- Ritual of the Savage 10"
(split with Gluecifer & Peter Pan Speedrock) (2003) (Drunken Maria|Suburban)
- Sleep Is the Enemy
(2006) (Bad Taste Records|Aquarius Records)
- Never Too Loud
(2008)
- B-Sides
(2009)
- This Is Danko Jones
(2009) (Canadian-only greatest hits release)
Compilations
- "The Return Of Jackie And Judy", from The Song Ramones The Same
(2002) (White Jazz|MNW)
- "Bounce" from How We Rock
(2002) (Burning Heart)
- "Dr. Evening" from Now We Are 5
(1998) (Sonic Unyon)
- "Samuel Sin" from Go! 50 Canadian Punk/HC Bands
(1996) (Fans Of Bad Productions)
- "I gotta calm down" 7"/CD with Prog Punk band Removal
Videography
- "Sugar High" from the album B-Sides
(2009) - Director George Vale
- "King of Magazines" from the album Never Too Loud
(2008) - by Steve Cross and Steve Stefanelli w/ Dave Cooper
- "Code Of The Road" from the album "Never Too Loud" (2008) - Director George Vale
- "Take Me Home" from the album Never Too Loud
(2008) - Director George Vale
- Live in Stockholm
DVD (2006) (Live Zone|Bad Taste)
- "Don't Fall In Love" from the album Sleep Is the Enemy
(2006) - Director Oskar Gullstrand
- "First Date" from the album Sleep Is the Enemy
(2006) - Director Micah Meisner
- "Baby Hates Me" from the album Sleep Is the Enemy
(2006) - Director Chris Grismer
- "I Love Living in the City" from the album We Sweat Blood
(2004) - Director Hanna Lejonqvist
- "Dance" from the album We Sweat Blood
(2003) - Director Kalle Haglund
- "I Want You" from the album We Sweat Blood
(2003) - Director Craig Bernard
- "Lovercall" from the album We Sweat Blood
(2003) - Director Craig Bernard
- "Sound of Love" from the album Born a Lion
(2002) - Director Craig Bernard
- "Cadillac" from the album I'm Alive and On Fire
(2001) - Director Jason Romilly
- "My Love is Bold" from the E.P. My Love Is Bold
(2000) - Director Jason Romilly
- "Bounce" from the E.P. My Love Is Bold
(2000) - Director Jason Romilly
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
)