Danko Jones

Mind over Matter presents Danko Jones

Every time someone announces the death of rock ‘n’ roll, Toronto’s most incendiary power trio roll with the punches and keep rocking with maximum commitment to the cause. Danko Jones are a three-piece rock ‘n’ roll band from Toronto. They never sleep. They sweat blood. And they are keeping rock alive by doing it better than anyone else.

On duty since 1996, these unstoppable road-hogs have devoted their lives to rousing the people with blistering, no-bullshit, all-action rock. They have rallied a global army of rock-hungry fans, and blown them away with a steady stream of explosive, anthem-packed albums and an absurd number of live shows. From early underground smashes like We Sweat Blood and Sleep Is The Enemy, to the band’s recent, triumphant triumvirate of A Rock Supreme (2019), Power Trio (2021) and Electric Sounds (2023), Danko Jones have been a relentless force for rock ‘n’ roll good, both in the studio and on the road. And they have absolutely no intention of stopping.

“You know what? I like the routine of recording, touring, writing, and repeat,” states singer/ guitarist, Danko Jones himself. “I can do that till I’m dead! It may sound boring, but it’s so hard for a band to achieve. I don’t take this lightly. Also, it’s a page out of the Motörhead handbook so it works! Since Electric Sounds we’ve been touring and touring. We managed to play in Mexico and Greece for the first time, and we even played Prince Edward Island, a province in Canada we’d never been to before. Other than that, it’s been a life of gigs and writing more songs to play more gigs!”

Proving that their time was well-spent, Danko, bassist John Calabrese and drummer Rich Knox have conjured yet another blazing banquet of nourishing rock goodness on their 12th studio record, Leo Rising. 11 songs deep and as sharp and fat-free as it gets, it enters with a bang and leaves with a swinging van door and a cloud of smoke. Danko Jones’ unerring ability to write righteous sing-along turbo-bangers has never been more apparent.

From the thunderous knucklehead action rock of opener What You Need and the insanely catchy Diamond In The Rough, which features a cameo from living guitar legend Marty Friedman, to the rampaging power-pop of Every Day Is Saturday Night and the post-Pistols roots-punk juggernaut I Love It Louder, the first four songs alone are hot enough to burn a million beards.

“I could give you some pat answers as to our writing process, new inspirations, experimental tangents and all of that,” states Danko, “but the truth is that this is yet another serving of peerless hard rock served via bass, drums, guitar and vocals. No frills, just meat and potato music meant to put a satisfying smile on your face, preferably while the windows are rolled down.”

He isn’t kidding. Leo Rising may just be the most uplifting and inspirational Danko Jones album to date. With songs that take a wry squint into the human relationship miasma, like the positively priapic Hot Fox, and mischievous, sleaze metal throwback Pretty Stuff, and grittier glimpses of the band’s real-life trials and tribulations via the muscular, motoring Gotta Let It Go and the swaggering, riff-rich I’m Going Blind. Meanwhile, It’s A Celebration delivers exactly as promised: fiery, red-blooded rock ‘n’ roll to lift the spirits. Produced to red-hot perfection by esteemed Canadian engineer and long-time collaborator Eric Ratz, Leo Rising is what loud guitars were made for.

“You know the sound every kid makes with their mouth when they play air guitar?” Danko asks. “That’s still the sound I want to put on every album we make. If we can come close to that sound, that’s an album worth releasing. Eric Ratz produced this album and he knows this about me. I have complete faith in the guitar tones he manages to capture. There weren’t any changes in recording. We still did it all apart from one another, like our previous two albums. JC recorded in Finland, Rich flew in