DANKO JONES Doesn't Really Believe All Of His Band's Songs Sound The Same: 'The References' In The Music 'Are Really Varied And Very Particular'

In a new interview with Kati Rausch of Music Interview Corner, DANKO JONES's namesake frontman was asked about his previous comment that all of the band's songs "sound the same". He clarified (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That's just a joke. Obviously, I don't believe that. I don't really read reviews anymore of our music or our records, but when I have in the past, a lot of the negative ones just kind of dismiss it and say that all the songs sound the same, it's like another album. Immediately that tells me they haven't heard it or they are out of their element in reviewing this kind of music. One of those two. Because all our albums, yeah, it's all through a hard rock funnel, and if you're not familiar with the music, yeah, maybe it all sounds the same. But if you are familiar with the music, you can start to get the references, and the references are really, really varied, and very particular. And that kind of awareness comes if you really know the music. I don't expect people to really know the music. So I take it the way, almost as if the reviewers take it and go, 'Yeah, it sounds the same.' I'm not gonna bother explaining you the band or the song or the album that we took this from, if you don't appreciate it just on first or second listen."

Back in 2019, Danko told GRIMM Gent that his response to someone saying that his band's albums all sound the same would be "'Thank you very much', because that's a tradition that's been laid out by bands that I love like the RAMONES and SLAYER and MOTÖRHEAD and AC/DC, and that's not a bad tradition to follow. Those bands did okay, I think," he said.

Earlier this month, Danko told Tony of Metal Exposure that his band's next album is "gonna sound like the last one. And we're not gonna pull any tricks. We're not gonna evolve. We're not evolving. We're not doing anything new, and that's a page right out of the RAMONES and MOTÖRHEAD and AC/DC. And that's fine company by me. So, yeah, I have no problem doing that. Also, there is an art to taking the same three chords and making it fresh again. I didn't say 'new'; I just said 'fresh'. So I don't have any problem writing another record in the same style as we do. So there's a bit of an urgency in the sense that we still have yet to prove ourselves to certain aspects of the music world, but I embrace the routineness of it."

DANKO JONES's latest album, "Leo Rising", came out last November via Perception, a division of Reigning Phoenix Music and Sonic Unyon (for Canada). The LP was produced by longtime collaborator Eric Ratz. Guitar legend Marty Friedman (MEGADETH, CACOPHONY) makes a guest appearance on the single "Diamond In The Rough", which landed at No. 32 on the Billboard Canada Mainstream Rock Airplay chart in February.

John Calabrese laid down bass tracks from Finland, Rich Knox flew to Toronto to record drums, and Danko worked with producer Eric Ratz in the same city to capture vocals and guitars.

One of DANKO JONES's biggest singles, "Full Of Regret", charted at No. 96 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No. 36 on the U.S. Top 40 Singles chart, and notably appeared in EA Sports's "NHL 11" video game in 2010.

DANKO JONES has been nominated for six Juno Awards, including a nomination for "Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year" in 2024 for "Electric Sounds", which marked the band's second nomination in the category.

Formed in Toronto in 1996, DANKO JONES has seen and done just about everything over the last three decades. Powered by a DIY punk rock spirit, and inspired by the good, great and grotesque of electrified rock 'n' roll, they have steadily built a colossal international fan base and become one of the most acclaimed live bands around, embraced by everyone from mainstream radio-rock fans to diehard metalheads. Along the way, they have released twelve widely praised studio albums, generating a peerless repertoire of fists-in-the-air crowd-pleasers into the bargain.

Photo credit: Ole Martin Wold