Thursday, August 8, 2002 Lion King The world is finally starting to keep up with Danko Jones. The Toronto musician and his band have been cranking out straight-up, high-energy rock 'n' roll throughout their career without sounding like some third-generation Pearl Jam clone. Now with the success of bands such as the Strokes, White Stripes and Hives, the trio are finally getting their due and the respect they deserve. "This band hasn't really changed since Day 1. I think people's listening ears have changed and they're coming around to what we've been doing for six years, so that's I think where the change is, it's on the other side of the fence," Jones says. "I think we are being lumped in with (those other bands) and that's cool ... I don't mind that at all, because those bands don't suck to me. They're really really good, and I like being lumped in with them." Jones has been touring with bands such Gluecifer, The Dirtbombs and The Hives for years and says there are plenty of other bands in the same genre -- New Bomb Turks, Devil Dogs, Teengenerate, The Go -- that deserve similar recognition for carrying the torch of classic, blues-based garage-rock. The sound has been around since the days of Chuck Berry, but spent most of the past decade under the radar, dwarfed by trends such as grunge, alt-rock, teen-pop and rap-metal. With those fads on the wane, however, good ol' guitar rock has been making a comeback, moving out of the cellar and back on to the airwaves. In Jones's case, it's also prompted a change of record company scenery. His latest album Born a Lion -- recorded for European label Bad Taste -- was picked up by Universal Music in Canada. The band had previously released a few EPs and a CD of early tracks but had never recorded a full-length album -- because no one wanted to release it, he says. "We've only gone into the studio and made demos and when they were rejected by labels, we released them," he says. The continuing lack of mainstream acceptance made Jones ask himself if anyone except a small group of people and music critics liked his style. "Being in this country and being ignored on certain levels, you kind of wonder if you're doing the right thing, like, 'It's not really catching on, so do people really want us?' " Jones says. The band's new CD is as tough and raw as the title suggests, even though the overall theme is one of love gone wrong. "Heartbreak and loss doesn't necessarily mean you have to go into a corner and cry. I mean sometimes the reaction is one of anger and in some songs revenge." Jones and his bandmates -- bassist John Calabrese and drummer Damon Richardson -- just returned to Canada from a seven-week tour of Europe featuring headline dates in Germany, Holland and the U.K., along with a slot on the Ozzfest bill at Castle Donnington. Their recently raised profile is nice, Jones admits, but it won't change the band's attitude or approach to work -- which is, basically, to get on stage and kick out the jams, brothers and sisters. "I know this is a trend now, but maybe when the trend is over some people will stick around and keep listening to it because there's just good and bad music out there, and I think we play the good kind." Tickets to Monday's show are $5 at the hotel. |
