Thursday, August 8, 2002 Crossing swords with Danko "The lion rules the animal kingdom," it begins, "and spends his days showing everybody who's boss by chowing down on the bones of those who dare challenge his supremacy. Now meet his son, Danko Jones. This time, people, the rules are simple: (bleep) with the beast and he will (bleep) with you." So, you want a fight then? This scrappy invective is how Danko Jones's official online biography reads, and it mirrors the Toronto singer's attitude in a phone conversation. Jones plays one way, talks another. He's indignant, defensive and questions why so many reporters come after his banshee lyrics, often about sour relationships. It's one of the most ejoyable interviews I've had. Jones plays the Suburbs tonight, if you're interested in some meaty, angry and ultimately preachy lyrics, riding an exposed wiggly member of E-Z chord blues-rock. The band's good at least. Enjoy the chat, and hang on. FISH: Danko, what's wrong with the blues today, from your perspective? DANKO: There's nothing wrong with them. FISH: Oh. Well, your bio has a line about Robert Johnson not selling his soul so a bunch of white yuppies could shake it at House of Blues. DANKO: Well, that's not the blues, is it? FISH: OK, sorry for calling what is actually called the blues in the year 2002 "the blues." I'll try to be more specific. DANKO: We're not a blues band. We're a rock band. We just respect artists like Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, Fred McDowell, Robert Johnson. FISH: Yeah, you listed those guys off in your song (in the exact same order). Um, are you a lion? DANKO: (Long silence) No, I'm just a Leo. FISH: Was your mom a lion? DANKO: What? FISH: Well, again, your bio, it says you're a lion. I'm just wondering how you came to think of yourself as a lion. DANKO: I didn't write that stuff. FISH: But it represents you, right? Your album is called Born a Lion. And the bio has the same tone as your lyrics. It comes off kind of like a wrestler's bio. DANKO: I don't know. I've never read a wrestler's bio (coldly). What is a wrestler's bio? FISH: You know, words to hype a wrestler's ability to crush his enemies. Do you take yourself that seriously? DANKO: In the sense that I'm doing a job, I take myself very seriously. Compared to how other people take themselves seriously, I'm not full of self-pitying and a lot of crying that life's not fair. This is the greatest job in the world. FISH: Now, I think everybody should rock as hard as possible, so in that sense I appreciate where you're coming from. I just wonder how much of it is for show, you know, the whole "IF YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE BLUES, GET YOURSELF A WOMAN" thing. It's like Blueshammer in Ghost World. Your lyrics aren't dumb, per se ... DANKO: Why is it that so many reporters qualify with that same question? It's a funny thing that people like to tag on, that the lyrics aren't intelligent. It's rock and roll. We never pretended to be intelligent. It's not asking to be highbrow. I'm sorry if I'm not discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in my songs. It's supposed to be fun rock and roll, you know? We're talking about guys and girls here. FISH: Maybe it doesn't come off as fun from a certain ear. I mean, it's funny, unless it's serious. But it seems more serious than fun. You seem to have had a bad experience, according to some of your lyrics. Like men getting burned if they pick the wrong woman. Do you have any advice for women tired of, you know, loser boyfriends? DANKO: I have no advice for women. When a girl becomes a woman, she knows who she is. She knows what she wants to be. The last thing you need is someone who's flying off the handle because they don't have confidence in themselves. FISH: You seem mad a lot. Do you have a girlfriend? DANKO: I don't answer personal questions. But we play music. I'd like to talk about music, that's so much more interesting. So we do. But it's not. |
