DANKO JONES

By their own admission, you know what to expect with a new Danko album. With this year's Leo Rising being met with more positive responses than they're used to, things are looking good.

- Interview: Rich Hobson

Few things in life are guaranteed. But after 29 years and 12 albums, Danko Jones have reached the same level of implacable reliability as death and taxes. Leo Rising, the Canadians' latest record, is another fine slab of power-pop-infused rock'n'roll, big on riffs and choruses and with more hooks than a fisherman's knapsack. Classic Rock caught up with vocalist Danko Jones the man (aka Rishi James Ganjoo) to find out how 2025 has been for the band.

Twelve albums in, is it safe to say Danko Jones are not looking to release a 47-minute prog epic about Lord Of The Rings?

Yes. We know we know who we are by this point. The thirteenth album is gonna sound like the twelfth album, give or take. You can have that as an exclusive [laughs].

What do you make of the response to Leo Rising?

You know what, across the board it's been, like, ninety-five per cent positive. That's a high percentage for us! We're used to fifty-five or sixty per cent. I've been scrolling through the comments trying to find the negative, which is usually the opposite. We got Marty Friedman on [Diamond In The Rough], so that's added some spice in too.

Danko Jones and Megadeth's former guitarist is not an obvious match.

Well, our friendship is like fourteen years old, and I was on his solo album [2014's Inferno] a way back, so I've played with him a bunch. It's been a long time coming to get him on a Danko song. But I didn't want to just ask him to be on a song just cos. We've released what, six albums since [