Music

Tonight on HARD Danko Jones Bridges the Gap between Hard Rock and Metal

by Michael Joffe

Danko Jones seems to be a Canadian staple despite the fact that his band has yet to see mainstream ‘success’ in North America during the group’s long and colorful career. That being said, Danko Jones has made his band’s lack of mainstream acknowledgment work for them by touring relentlessly in Europe and pressing on regardless of any adversity that presents itself. Because of the band’s ability to kick-ass, Danko Jones has been afforded some amazing opportunities, including the appearance of metal gods Motorhead in one of his latest videos.

Now, the inclusion of Motorhead in the band’s video may seem kind of strange—when one thinks of Danko Jones, metal doesn’t come to mind. As Danko Jones explains, metal played an important part in his life during his formative years. “I grew up listening to whatever was heavy,” said Danko, “and for a while I got really into metal and then I got into punk. Once I got into punk and I discovered the Bad Brains—and then Public Enemy put out It Takes a Nation of Millions with the song She Watch Channel Zero [which utilizes a Slayer sample]. I realized that all bets were off and you could listen to any type of music you want as long as it rocks you.”

There seems to be a strong divide between metal and other genres of music which Danko acknowledges. “In North America rockers stay on one side and metal heads stay on the other and there are only a few bands that bridge the gap between the two,” Jones continued. “But when you talk to guys in metal bands and when you talk to guys in rock bands, everybody listens to both sides of the music. We don’t sound like Slayer or Obituary but we listen to all that stuff and that gets funneled into that hard rock sound we have no matter how subtle.”

You can see a video interview with heavy riffin’ Danko Jones along with interviews and live performances by Fight Amp and Reedemer on an all new episode of HARD tonight at 10pm only on AUX.