Canadian rocker Danko Jones is a man who wears many hats – podcast and radio host, magazine columnist, spoken word artist, and just all-around music geek. The hat he wears best however is that of frontman in the band that bears his name. Along with his partner in crime of the past nineteen years, bassist John “JC” Calabrese, they’ve delivered a consistently solid slab of driving hard rock. This is even more impressive considering they’ve had a revolving door of drummers that would make Spinal Tap jealous. Regardless, Danko Jones’ music is sometimes funky, often punk, but always short, to-the-point and ready to kick ass.
Their latest and seventh full-length studio release, ‘Fire Music,’ continues that tradition, with eleven tracks clocking in at just over 36 minutes. Fans received a taste of the album late last year with “Gonna Be a Fight Tonight,” which was subsequently used by the WWE. The song’s subject matter and pounding tempo were a perfect fit for their ‘Royal Rumble’ pay-per-view. The second single and video from the album, “Do You Wanna Rock” has plenty of boogie and certainly enough cowbell to cure the fever suffered by The Bruce Dickinson.
As always there’s no shortage of fast and heavy numbers, including “The Twisting Knife,” “Piranha,” and my personal favorite, “Body Bags,” which is sure to inspire some crowd participation in a live setting. Likewise, it wouldn’t be a Danko Jones album unless those numbers were balanced out by some tunes with just a little more groove and melody. The disc’s opening track “Wild Woman,” along with “Live Forever,” and “Getting Into Drugs” more than satisfy that requirement.
Danko Jones is immensely popular in Europe, maybe even more so than in their Canadian homeland. While they have toured America, mostly in a support role for bands such as Clutch and Volbeat, they have yet to really break out here. Currently on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada, I’m anxiously awaiting the announcement of US dates. I highly recommend supporting a band that has certainly paid their dues, sweating it out in clubs night after night for nearly two decades. Do you wanna rock? If you do, then grab yourself a copy of this album as soon as you can.
