Danko Jones wears his Thin Lizzy influence on his sleeve on Never Too Loud

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 1, 2008

By Steve Newton

When it came time to record its fourth CD, Never Too Loud, Toronto power trio Danko Jones took a cue from Foo Fighters, recording at the band’s L.A. facility, Studio 606, and hiring producer Nick Raskulinecz, whose credits includes the Foos, Rush, Coheed & Cambria, and Velvet Revolver.

As guitarist-vocalist Danko Jones explains on the phone from T.O., he and bandmates John Calabrese (bass) and Dan Cornelius (drums) weren’t there to mess around.

“We didn’t really have time to dilly-dally,” he points out, “so we just did what we needed to do and got out of there.”

In keeping with Jones’s no-nonsense approach, the new disc sports a decidedly in-your-face vibe, some of which comes courtesy hardcore-punk veteran Pete Stahl (Scream, Wool, Goatsnake), who shared guest vocals with former Kyuss member/current Danko buddy John Garcia on the Sabbath-approved “Forest for the Trees”.

“We could hear another voice on that track,” relates Jones, “so we were throwin’ names around. Nick had actually produced Goatsnake’s Flower of Disease, and he threw out Peter, and I was like, ‘Wow, you know Pete Stahl? You can get him down here?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, I just gotta make a phone call.’ ”

Jones describes the music on Never Too Loud as more melodic than his previous three CDs, and more of a nod to some of the classic-rock acts he admires. That notion is particularly apparent on “City Streets”, which boasts the unmistakable influence of Thin Lizzy vocalist Phil Lynott.

“I’ve been compared to Phil ever since we started the band,” says Jones, “I just could never hear it; I was always puzzled by it. But it’s not as if they were never an influence, so this time we decided to kinda wear it on our sleeves. I mean that song’s a real ode to Phil.”

“City Streets” is one of three Never Too Loud tracks–along with “Code of the Road” and “Take Me Home”–depicting life in a travellin’ band. That doesn’t mean Jones and company live to tour, though. “It’s just a necessity,” he explains.

“You don’t tour, you don’t eat, so we’re always out there. Some people romanticize it, and that’s probably ’cause they only tour on the weekend. When you really tour, man, there’s no romance-all the romance has been sucked out after the second or third tour.”

At one point Jones had considered making the new CD an entirely road-themed project, but then other subjects came up, like sex (“Let’s Get Undressed”), soured relationships (“Your Tears, My Smile”), and the deafening effects of rock music (“Never Too Loud”).

“When I go to shows I wear earplugs now,” he says, “and if it’s really, really loud I just leave. I can’t handle it. ‘Never Too Loud’ is actually a song about losing your hearing. It’s never too loud when you’re deaf, man.”