Just pure rock’n’roll: Danko Jones at A38
Danko Jones delivers no-frills rock music and has been a steady cornerstone of the genre for 30 years. Hungarian audiences have already seen them at several festivals and concerts. The band released their latest studio album, Leo Rising, in November, which they will also bring to Budapest on October 15 at A38 Hajó.
The Canadian Danko Jones was formed in 1996 and named after its founding singer-guitarist. Originally, the band had no intention of releasing albums: for a long time, they built their reputation purely on live performances. Their debut full-length record finally saw the light of day in 2002. Since then, Leo Rising - released on November 21 -, is already their 12th studio album. Once again, the material was produced with the involvement of Juno Award–winning producer Eric Ratz. The songs were quickly picked up by both radio stations and audiences alike, and their autumn European tour proved to be their most successful to date, with several shows moved to larger venues or doubled after tickets sold out in advance.
Danko Jones consistently delivers authentic rock’n’roll anthems: melodic, catchy, and easy to sing along to. Their concerts are true rock parties, with the frontman acting as a master of ceremonies who always knows how to crank up the atmosphere. It’s no surprise that the band has performed at all major European festivals, including Reading Festival, Download Festival, Hurricane Festival, Wacken Open Air, Roskilde Festival, Sweden Rock Festival, Greenfield Festival, Nova Rock, and Sziget Festival. They last performed in Hungary in 2024 at Campus Fesztivál, but even before that, they had proven numerous times that the name Danko Jones guarantees an uninhibited rock night with no nonsense. This time, we can once again expect a wild party featuring songs from Leo Rising alongside old favorites on October 15 at A38. Their support band will be the British Split Dogs.
General ticket sales for the concert start on February 26 at 11:00 a.m. at www.livenation.hu and www.funcode.hu.
Named after their bandleader, Danko Jones are a Canadian hard rock trio whose bluesy style is rooted in the tradition of Thin Lizzy and AC/DC and whose popularity in Western Europe compensates for their lack of recognition in the United States. Comprised of band namesake Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John Calabrese (aka JC; bass guitar), and Dan Cornelius (drums), the band was founded in Toronto, Ontario, in 1996 and made its recording debut in 1998 with a five-track self-titled EP on Sonic Unyon. A follow-up EP on Sound King Records, My Love Is Bold (1999), garnered airplay on Canadian hard rock radio, setting the stage for I'm Alive and on Fire (2001), a 13-track compilation of the band's recording output from 1996 to 1999.
Marking the beginning of Danko Jones' commercial ties to Europe, I'm Alive and on Fire was released in Europe by the Swedish label Bad Taste Records. The band's full-length album debut, Born a Lion (2002), was its first major-label release, distributed in Canada by Universal Music Group; Bad Taste Records continued to release the band's music on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. We Sweat Blood followed in 2003 under the same arrangement. For Danko Jones' next album, Sleep Is the Enemy (2006), they remained with Bad Taste Records in Europe yet switched from Universal to the independent label Aquarius Records in Canada. Never Too Loud followed in 2008 under the same arrangement.
Recorded at Studio 606 in Los Angeles with Grammy Award-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz, whose credits include the Foo Fighters (One by One, 2002; In Your Honor, 2005) and Velvet Revolver (Contraband, 2004), Never Too Loud was Danko Jones' most commercially successful album to date in Europe, particularly in Germany, where it became a Top 40 hit. In February 2009 the group released the appropriately titled B-Sides, followed in 2010 by its fifth full-length, Below the Belt. The following year, Danko Jones announced the departure of longtime member Dan Cornelius, who was replaced by Angels & Airwaves drummer Atom Willard. In 2012, Danko Jones returned with their sixth studio album, Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue. 2014 saw the release of Garage Rock!, a collection of rare and unreleased early recordings cut between 1996 and 1998. Rich Knox became Danko Jones' new drummer in time to play on the sessions for the album Fire Music, which was released in February 2015.
