Interview: Danko Jones

Dass der Rock 'n' Roll eine launische Geliebte sein kann, spüren viele Bands nur zu gut am eigenen Leib. Manche früher, manche später, aber abbekommen tun sie es fast alle. Um so erstaunlicher ist es, dass sich das kanadische Rock-Trio Danko Jones mit ihrem namengebenden Frontmann, im Laufe der letzten 18 Jahren zu einer festen Größe im Rock-Zirkus avanciert hat. Mag sein, dass die Anfänge der Truppe nicht leicht waren, vor allem der Schritt über den großen Teich schien zu Beginn eine unüberwindbare Hürde. Und doch, mit viel Hartnäckigkeit und Herzblut, gelang es der Formation sich auch in Europa zu etablieren. Den Kanadiern sagt man ja bekanntlich eine gewisse Nettigkeit nach, dennoch zeigen neun Studio-Alben, zwei Live DVD's, eine B-Seiten-Compilation und einige EP's von der Kompromisslosigkeit des Trios. Die Einladung aufs Wacken Festival war dann der längst überfällige Ritterschlag für die Band. Seit dem sind sie vom Alternative-Rock nicht mehr wegzudenken und so machen sie sich - wieder einmal - auf, den Rock 'n' Roll zu predigen. Und das aktuelle Release Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue scheint dafür das richtige Werkzeug zu sein. Zum zweiten Mal besuchten sie die oberösterreichische Hauptstadt Linz, was wir uns zum Anlass nahmen, der Kombo mal auf den kanadischen Zahn zu fühlen. Nachdem mit Atom Willard ein neuer Drummer gefunden wurde, der schon bei Rocket From The Crypt, The Offspring, Social Distortion oder Angels & Airwaves die Felle massierte, gibt es alleine diesbezüglich eine Menge Fragen. Der sympathische Bassist der Truppe, John Calabrese, erzählt wie es war, in Wacken zu spielen und welche Festival heuer sonst noch anstehen. Interessant wird es auch, wenn er seine Meinung zu dem zur Zeit um sich greifende Phänomen der Casting Shows äußerst und es für sich persönlich entschieden ablehnt. Außerdem scheint er gefallen am österreichischem Bier und Wein gefunden zu haben, aber lest am besten einfach selbst! Viel Spaß mit dem Interview!

The Interview:

John Calabrese: JC from Danko Jones! John: All things are great. I'm lookin forward to the show. John: The last time we were in Austria, we were in Vienna, which was in November. But I think the last time we were in Linz was probably four years ago. So I think we were at Posthof as well, but in the smaller hall. John: Just this park in front of the venue. (laughs)
We haven't had the chance to do anything yet. Now we have just finished our soundcheck, maybe after the interview I'll go for a run to Donau-Park. Is that right? John: No, but tonight of course. After the show I will try many beers. I'll do all the quality controls. (laughs)
And Austria has excellent wine as well. So that's very good. John: Yeah, we always tour a lot. (laughs) John: Oh yeah, it's great. I love being on the road. It's a pleasure, when you came to a venue like this. Everything's so organized. It's very pleasant. Not the typical rock 'n' roll club, where are no toilets and nothing's working. This is very nice. John: It's tough but it is what I do, so … On the other side is, I can be away for many months, but then when I'm home, I'm always around. John: Playing. That's the best part, definitely! The part that I don't like the most is flying. I don't like flying anymore … I used to like flying, but now I hate it. Getting on the airplane, and the securities …. John: Yeah, I fly all the time, that's why I don't like it, to be honest. John: I think that there's a lot more bands today. I think that, regardless twenty years past or twenty years forward in the future, that you have to be a good band. A good live band. And so if you are a good live band and the people come to see you, and will continue to see you. If you're not as good, than you probably have a bit of trouble. And struggles doing it. John: Yeah, almost 18 years. John: We just work hard. There's no bad habits or anything like that. Of course there's always conflicts, but there's not anything that's detrimental. Cause we need to have a sort of pushes and pulls within what would be argued like creative arguments, but it's nothing that is detrimental. And, you know, for us doing it this long it's a testament, too. Hard work more than anything. John: Oh, Wacken is always amazing. I think we went on stage ten minutes after Kreator on a different stage. They run stage A and we ran stage B. It's just so many people and so well organized. You know, Wacken Open Air is really about hard music and metal so there's so many great bands played there in years. We went backstage with Danko and we saw the guys from the Scorpions. And we say "Hi!" to them and it was pretty fun! It's just fun because it's a fun festival. John: This year it's an off-year for Wacken. So hopefully next year again. (laughs)
I think they are having us every year now, that is a bit odd. We really love the festival and they've been very gracious to us, having us over the years. We played there all together three times now with Danko and the spoken word as well. John: There are so many festivals out there. On this run I think the Southside and Hurricane-Festival, the ones in Germany, are really good. There's PinkPop at Holland and Lowlands are great. And of course Wacken! John: You know, when you say something is "black and blue", you're saying it's beat up, and it's gone to like a fight and stuff. So Rock and Roll is taking a bit of a beating and that's what we thought. John: Oh, it's been good so far. We are still touring. It's been good in the US as well. One song got good play on the radio. And we are playing the songs live and the crowd seems to like it. It's been great. John: In a way….It's the same band, we do not try to do anything new. John: Ah okay, I think we left the roots too too far, but yeah, I know what you mean. John: We're discussing it at the studio and then we got this backup singers and we got this gospel-feel into it. Yeah, sounds nice. John: Yes, 29 or 26 or something like that. It's been a few years now, that we're working on the radio in the US. It's nice to see that. John: Yeah, we put everything out on vinyl! John: Oh, it's just the artwork looks cooler cause it's bigger. I've been collecting vinyl for years now. We always put all our records out on vinyl, so it's just cool to have. John: Nobody sells CD's anymore. We live from touring. It's impossible to sell CD's. John: Yeah, but that's not even the thing. You can't just limit it to one medium and expect just to make a living out of selling CD's. John: They are are just rock 'n' roll songs about a good time. So there as relevant now as in the time we wrote it. (laughs)
We're not trying to save the world or do anything different. We're just wanting a girl or having a girl or wanna be with one. The message is not that deep. If it makes you have a good time for about three minutes, and you don't think about your work or your problems, then we did a good job. John: Yeah, we leave it up to him. It's not that I don't care, but it's not our job. John: I grow up to listening to all kinds of stuff: From Metallica to The Clash….more punk rock and metal when I was growing up. John: No, we go in with finished songs. Cause the time in the studio is precious so we do all the demos on computers now, these days it's really simple. John: Pickin' which songs to use, cause we have so many songs. For this record there is about 40+. So we had to pick and choose which one to use. If it was writing a song, then we shouldn't be doing it. (laughs) John: Yes, when you think about stuff to much. If it's good it's good, there's no sense in trying polishing an idea that's not there. John: Yes, but you know, in the end of the day you know when it's good and you know when it's not. You know, you can put all kinds of things around a box. But if that box is filled with poo then it's still gonna be filled with poo. (laughs) John: I think the songwriting is gotten better, we definitely been able to play the instruments better and yeah, that's about it. And there's definitely more thought behind the vocal phrasings, the melodies…it's just stuff, that comes with the years: Practicing, playing, touring and seeing other bands. And of course, listening to music, that's the most important part. We need listening to lot's of music. John: Oh, he has been a fan and a friend of the band. So we thought his style would be suitable for the band. And the resume does speak for itself. John: Hm, for us…we just do the rock 'n' roll part. The drugs is not a fun thing to be doing on the road. Especially you loose friends and see what happens to people over the years. Sex is always there, but you know, i think after the eighties we lost the "sex drugs and rock 'n' roll thing" a little bit. Yes, to answer your question, it is dated. We're just a rock 'n' roll band. John: I think that's just a shortcut to fame and fortune and if you're doing this for fame and fortune, it's the wrong reason to be doing this what I do, playing music. To be famous for one minute is not really what I wanted to do, when I started this. What our band is doing, is we've been touring for 18 years now and it's the only thing we know how to do and so that's the thing we keep doing. John: No, I never met Jeff. I met Kerry but yeah, it was definitely a sad day. John: Never been thougt about that ... All the clubs should have nice backstages for the bands. So the bands can be comfortable on tour. See, I'm thinking for everybody. (laughs) John: Yeah, was it "Code of The Road"? John: Ah, no, but we're in a movie called "Kick Ass 2" this summer with the song "Dance". John: Some ideas here and there, but nothing concrete. John: Yeah, a little bit now, but not too much. Just try out some little things. John: Yes, it's easily home, we just come back home and spent some time… John: We play a good kick ass rock show. (laughs) And lots more touring for the band. John: No problem, you come and see our show tonight? John: Great. See you there!
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