Danko Jones on new album ‘Leo Rising’ and what it takes to grind it out on the road

Danko Jones (est. 1996) and his eponymous band continue to grind it out and are about to release a 12th album.

I’ve been following Toronto’s Danko Jones and his band — the hardest-working power trio in Canada —since they first appeared in 1996. While his group has found considerable success outside of Canada, it’s been a long, hard road. But that’s what it takes if you wanna rock’n’roll. I spoke to Jones just ahead of the band’s 12th album, Leo Rising, which will be out on Friday, Nov. 21.

Alan Cross: How many years have you been doing this?

Danko Jones: Twenty-nine.

AC: Did you ever expect that this would become your life’s work?

DJ: No. When we started this band, it was only on the heels of finishing our last local band’s record for me and JC (bass player John Calabrese) and we had no expectations past maybe putting out a cassette demo or a seven-inch. We just kept going. We kind of painted ourselves in a corner by having no Plan B, so it was this or bust.

AC: Twenty-nine years in, living in vans and buses, how do you do it? How do you stay motivated?

DJ: Motivated is easy. The motivation is the show. It’s the treat this mutt gets at the end of the day. But the grind of the travel is another thing entirely. It was worse back in the day when we’d all just borrow our parents’ car. We do the shows for free. It’s the 22-and-a-half other hours that we get paid for. It’s harder as the years go on, but it was easier when we graduated to vans, buses and planes.

It’s tough being away from home. Starting this band, it’s something that we didn’t think about when we started the band. Then you get older, life happens, and you start wondering how you’re going to juggle everything, hold all these buckets. And you just… do. That’s the one thing about doing this job — about being in a band for a career — that sucks. Being away from home, from friends and family. Missing out on stuff. Even my connection with Toronto has changed. I come home and I wonder, “What happened to this place? Where did that go?” When I drive in the city, I’m like a country bumpkin.