Since forming in 1996, Toronto’s Danko Jones have thrived on volume – and on the visceral energy of being in rooms together. So when the pandemic forced them to make their previous album Power Trio entirely remotely, it paved the way for a new creative mode.
“When I heard Blue Jean, Denim Jumpsuit, which was the first song we wrote apart from each other, it blew me away,” the titular frontman says. “It’s one of our favourite songs we’ve ever written. It had a groove, a bounce, everything in my head that I wanted to hear.”
Accordingly, their new album Electric Sounds, a fiery fistful of Motörhead-meets-Misfits punk’n’roll, was made in the same way (save a few jam sessions last summer).
We caught up with Jones in Budapest as the band hit the European festival circuit.
Can you remember the first festival you went to as a punter?
I don’t really go to them. The only one I ever did was the first Lollapalooza in Toronto, with Jane’s Addiction and Siouxsie And The Banshees and Butthole Surfers and Body Count. I admire everyone at festivals and I’m happy that everyone attends, but I am not made for that. I’m really… ‘a tight-ass’ is a nice way of putting it.
Festivals are quite a specific environment, to be fair.
Well, my nickname at home is the Great Indoorsman, if that tells you anything. I think a lot of musicians are. The fact that I perform the way I do was due to a lot of hours spent at home in my room listening to music, wanting to be on stage and playing air guitar. I heard that to get good at something you have to spend ten thousand hours on it, and I’m like: “I got that doubled with the air guitar.”
Electric Sounds opens with the lyric: ‘Guess who’s back? Me, motherfucker.’ Who are you singing that to?
Good question. A lot of different groups. I mean, we live in an age of social media where anyone’s gonna lob over their uninformed opinion to anybody and everybody. Putting myself out there I’ve been subjected to a lot of comments, so that group. A lot of people who like our music already, that group. People who don’t like our music. I’m standing my ground when it comes to certain things, and I’m not leaving and no one’s scaring me away.
What makes a good time for you these days?
Barbecuing. That really sounds like a shitty answer, but it’s a truthful answer. I’m pretty one-track-minded. My head is always into music and rock’n’roll and collecting records and trying to find new bands. Pretty much nothing outside of that really interests me.
In the accompanying video there’s a karaoke theme. Do you have a go-to karaoke number?
Candle In The Wind. I’ll do Ebony and Ivory if they’ve got that in the rotation, but usually it’s Candle In The Wind.
You released a TikTok video in which you pointed out that Danko Jones have been around for twenty-seven years and never won a music award.
I said: “We’ve been around for twenty-seven years, and we’ve never won a music award… but we still make records to tour and promote it!” It’s kind of a little poke at music awards in general. They always get it wrong. The right bands are always ignored. And behind the scenes, from what I’ve observed, it’s really just a big ad for big labels to push their newest product. Having said that, if we ever win one I’ll get up on stage and thank everyone.
In the same video you said: “Most musicians have ignored career advice from friends and family for so long, that they’re afraid to lose face… and are now crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.” What sparked that?
I’ve felt that at certain points before we started touring. We were a band for six years before we put out a full length; we were putting out seven-inches and EPs, and they were sticking and we were getting radio play at home, but nothing like enough to quit your job and go on the road for the rest of your life. So I was dealing with these thoughts every six to twelve months, you know: “When are you going to stop this charade and get a real job?”
Could see yourself living anywhere other than Canada?
Sweden is a place where our record label that we were on [Bad Taste Records] for years and years [was based], so we ended up spending a lot of time there. I know Stockholm better than any other city that we toured in, so I could probably live in Stockholm.
You’ve got Radkey, another fiery, punk-infused trio, joining you on your UK and continental Europe dates this winter.
I heard their first or second album and I saw who was playing it, these three brothers, and I was like: “This is amazing.” The guy sounded a bit like Danzig. They had some Misfits thing. It seems like it’s gonna be a fun tour and everybody’s going to be cool. We’ve been lucky with bands like Giuda, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel, The Biters, Radkey… awesome opening bands that we’re proud of and I’m a fan of, and I buy their records.
You’ve long been a genuine champion for new and rising bands. Who do you rate at the moment?
The Linda Lindas are a good one. Stiff Richards from Australia. Jive Bomb. Sheer Mag. Lut from Norway, they’re amazing… That’s off the top of my head.
What would you tell a kid wanting to start out in music today?
Buy records. And when you think you’ve bought enough, buy more – obviously if your wallet allows. Even the act of buying the record, not just streaming it, is a way of connecting with the music that I think is getting lost by a lot of people. If you put your hard-earned money towards an album, it makes you listen to it.
Electric Sounds is out now.
