Welcome everyone to episode 431 of Signals from
Mars. I'm your host, Victor. And for this episode,
we welcome Rich Knox from Danko Jones. If you've
been following this show for all of these years,
you know that Danko Jones has kind of been the
white whale that we've always missed out on.
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.com to learn more. My Moby Dick reference there
at the beginning of the episode. So I've had
Danko scheduled several times. One time he just
missed the interview altogether. Another time
I had some tech issues on my end. And then another
time there were tech issues on his end. So we've
never been able to sync up. And with the upcoming
release of Leo Rising, the new Danko Jones album
that is coming out as I'm recording this. It
comes out tomorrow, actually, which is when the
video version of the episode will debut. This
audio version comes out a week later. So the
album's been out a week by the time you guys
listen to this. Anyway, so when the opportunity
came. To interview someone from the band. I said
sure why not. I really got the bug for interviewing
people again. It hasn't been like that for a
long time. And I'm not going to say that I've.
Interviewed a whole heap of people. Because I've
done a total of seven interviews this year. And
they've been. More or less. From. The late spring
where I set up a bunch of things for over the
summer to the last few weeks, I've been interviewing
a bunch of different people to fill out content
for the rest of the year. So instead of just
taking weeks off, as I've done in the past, I
figured I'd give you guys something. And there
were a lot of people that were clamoring for
interviews as well. So kind of getting back into
the swing of things and we'll be mixing things
up more so than. than I have before. I think
this discussion with Rich is really cool. We
also get into Performer's Health, which is something
that he's the founder of. And believe me, if
you haven't followed me on Patreon, you'll know
that I've worked a lot on mindfulness and working
out and different things over the years to go
from 270 all the way down to about 190, which
is where I'm at right now. Um, it's important
folks. Don't wait until it's too late to, um,
you know, get your health in order. Anyway, enough
of me blabbering. Let's get on with the episode.
Welcome everyone to the latest episode of Signals
from Mars. Joining me today is Rich Knox from
the band Danko Jones. Rich, how are you doing?
I'm great, man. Thanks for having me on your
podcast. Awesome to have you on. So first thing
I want to bring up is the first time I ever heard
the name Danko Jones was during MTV News or something
like that around the year 2000. And the first
thing that... stood out to me was Danko saying,
if you're a Kiss fan, you're either an Ace fan
or a Gene fan. Really? Yes. Okay. So my question
to you, being a member of the band, are you an
Ace fan or a Gene fan? I'm an Ace fan. But yeah.
But I thought, you know, I think Danko's like
Team Paul. Okay. But maybe in 2000, that was
the choice you had to make. But yeah, I'm going
to go with Ace. Okay. But yeah, insider baseball,
I think Danko, he's a team Paul. Okay. What's
your favorite interaction with KISS or anything
related with KISS over the years? Well, you know
what, man? JC and Danko are both huge KISS fans,
Danko especially. I'm like, I'm like a fair weather
kiss fan. I gotta be honest. I hope I don't break
any hearts here on the podcast. That's cool.
But like, but I mean, I, I love a lot of kiss
songs. I just never went deep into, into kiss
fandom as those guys had. One of my favorite
interactions with kiss is kind of a, like a indirect
interaction. And that would be our, our new music
video. for our song diamond in the rough i see
you probably wear your head with this but uh
we hired a kiss cover band from gothenburg to
uh to play our song in our music video dressed
up as kiss uh so i thought that was pretty funny
that was a jc's idea but that and yeah like uh
i don't know i mean kiss is a great i think they're
they are a great band but i just they're not
like my favorite band okay fair enough yeah um
What was your last, I mean, to me, that video
is kind of surreal, seeing the whole Phantom
of the Park type thing play out. For you as a
musician, what was the last surreal interaction
with another band? A surreal interaction I had,
I guess, is a couple of years back. This one
just comes to mind. There's a few, like you just
get to occasionally, you know, during festival
season, you get to. be side stage with people
that you've looked up to forever and you get
to see those people perform uh the songs that
you've known forever and it i mean that in itself
is surreal but like personal interaction a few
years back we toured uh the uk a short run with
the darkness and blackstone cherry and uh one
day uh rufus the drummer in uh the darkness was
late for soundcheck. And so about a half hour
before soundcheck, someone came and found me
and one of their crew and said like, Hey, uh,
our drummer's going to be late for soundcheck.
Do you mind sitting in and playing drums with
the band? So I, I said, yeah, sure. I'd love
to do that. And I, so I went up to their, uh,
uh, sound like their monitor tech and asked him
what, what are the guys usually like work, like
play during soundchecks. Most bands like usually
have a few go -to songs. I knew it wouldn't be
like the hit, the biggest hit, leaving a thing
called Love. I knew they wouldn't be doing that.
But anyway, so he gave me some and like I've
been listening to them. But anyway, I did a quick
study for a half hour and then went up and like
did my best Rufus impression to play along with
all their stuff. And so that was like that was
pretty surreal, just being on the stage with
those guys and kind of surprising them because
I actually tried to learn their songs. I mean,
as best I could in a half hour. But I definitely
like, you know, having their heads turned back,
they thought it was going to be just a total
shit show. And then I actually knew the part.
So that was like a fun moment. That's cool. Yeah.
Being a member of Danko Jones, what are three
non -negotiables that have to go into a Danko
Jones song? Three non -negotiables. Can't really.
I don't know that it's ever been explicitly decided
in the band, but I'm just going to shoot from
the hip here. It's got to rock. There's like
three ballads or slow songs in the Danko catalog
over 12 albums. So any attempts to do that have
kind of, in hindsight, have been like, ah, maybe
we should just kept it rocking. So it's got to
rock. that's, I mean, there's gotta be at least
with every album, except for one, there's gotta
be just three drums like snare bass drum and
Tom and floor Tom. Uh, there was one album, a
different drummer, uh, from the album, uh, rock
and rolls back black and blue. And that, uh,
that had more drums than, but otherwise it's
the, the drum kit is, is decided at, you know,
a cowbell and three drums and some cymbals. And
three, you put me on the spot here, man. Three,
it's probably got to reference the word rock
somewhere. That's a dig on ourselves, but we
sing about rock an awful lot because we like
it. Yeah. I mean, I think that if you're a fan
of the music, there are definitely certain spices
that go along with the music that help you identify
that it is Danko Jones. I mean, I think you make
good points. To me, the songs have to have attitude.
They have to have a certain swagger to them as
well, because there are some songs where you
guys aren't playing straight up 4 -4 or stuff
like that, where there's just a certain something
to the songs that they still rock, but they're
not like your typical just 4 -4 to the floor
with the song. So I think that there's a lot
of different ingredients that you guys throw
in there outside of... the norm that maybe if
you're only listening to, I don't know, just
whatever the, the latest single is, there's,
there's, there are deeper cuts and there are
other, other flavors that you guys throw in there.
Yeah, that's, that's fair. I think anything that
we do, we got, you know, it's got to go through
the filter of all three of us. Right. And we
all have to, we all have to like what's what
we're doing. And bands have a, you know, anytime
they're writing. any band's writing something,
I guess that's like, that's pretty across the
board. Every band's going to love what they're
doing at the time for sure. Like it's, but you're
always, yeah, no one can think it's lame. Everybody's
got to think it's, you know, it's, it's fun.
It's cool. And yeah, I guess like over the years,
we've definitely been like either complimented
or criticized to have a bit of that thing. Like,
like the ACDC. syndrome of like every song kind
of sounding the same but that's we don't shy
away from that i think so to say like what what
are the three ingredients i think it's without
trying but we're just ends up kind of like it's
got to have electric guitar like loud electric
guitars loud electric bass and slamming drums
that's kind of that's what that should that would
have been a slicker answer if i had a thought
of that if we could roll back the tape but yeah
uh yeah i think we've we've probably said enough
about this but yeah it's uh it's us okay so that's
cool because i mean you're more or less saying
that the three of you have to filter everything
and and you have to make sure that it is presentable
for the band i mean even though the band carries
the danko jones name it's important that the
three of you guys have input and make sure that
it it's up to the standard for all three of you
guys Yeah. Yeah, that's totally, if anybody's
not feeling something, they voice it. And then
we try to, you know, there's, there can be compromises
as three people. So, you know, there's compromises
being made, but in, you know, everybody's usually
comes around to the same, same spot. Like if
something's like, you know what, this just isn't
working. And then, you know, all right, we'll
go on to the other, you know, we come in with
like 30 to 50 ideas. that end up being whittled
down over time or whatever. So yeah, some just
get rejected outright. Some make it almost all
the way to the album, get fully demoed and everything.
And then, you know, just like, ah, nah, we're
not going to put this one on the album. So yeah,
there it's got, it's got to, it's got to be everybody
on board with every song. Okay. So you've been
with the band now for about a dozen years. What
was the original approach for you to join the
band? Did you find that about an audition, find
out about an audition? Excuse me. Did they approach
you? How did that all come about? It was a mutual
friend hooked us up. So a guy who actually plays
in some bands in Toronto, Nick Sewell is his
name. And he had like a wicked band called Biblical,
the Illuminati too. Anyway, and he's also worked
on one of our, a couple of our music videos,
like, uh, direct them, especially like lyric
videos. He's, he's done the, some of the production
on our videos, but anyway, Nick, uh, just messaged
me. So I was playing in this other Toronto band
at the time called Flash Lightning, which was
like, uh, kind of a very heavy ZZ Top influence
with a little bit of like Queens of the Stone
Age, a little bit, a different flavor, but a
very ZZ Top. And, uh, luckily though, like we,
My first show with that band was videotaped because
it was their CD release, their album release.
And so Nick had seen me in that band because
we'd shared the stage a couple times with our
bands. And then so he showed, luckily, I say
luckily that was videotaped because he sent that
video to JC and Danko when he heard they were
looking for a drummer. And that kind of got me
the audition. And then so I got an audition with
the guys. So Nick just wrote me out of the blue
and asked me if I'd like to. joined an international
touring act, I think is what he said in the email.
And I said, yeah, sure. And so that was that.
Went on an audition with the guys. Originally,
I got two auditions with them. The first, like
I learned all the songs, played all the parts.
And then at the end, I asked like, how'd I do?
And Danko told me like, it was good, man. But
like he was, came out that he didn't know if
I was hitting hard enough. So I said, well, give
me another shot. So we had a second audition.
And I blew the bottom skin out of the snare drum
on the second. And I made sure to hold up the
snare drum. I'm like, oops. How'd that happen?
And then, so anyways, I got the gig. I went out
and played a month through the States. We had
this, playing this thing called the Uproar Tour.
And it was like Alice in Chains, Coed in Cambria,
Jane's Addiction, like kind of headlining all
the. amphitheaters across the united states and
we were playing like in the parking lot there's
these two like blow up portable stages and so
we're sharing the stage with like uh this group
called walking papers which has uh barrett martin
and duff mccagan okay uh playing in it and uh
anyway so like the first so i go from like you
know playing bars and stuff in toronto uh small
clubs to like going up on the stage and like
i'm walking on the stage and duff mckagan's walking
off the stage like what the hell is going on
man so uh yeah that's kind of the story how i
got in that was like my probation period and
then after that i was they're like yeah we like
having you around so uh i i've been with them
ever since okay cool was there any type of initiation
or anything you had to deal with initially the
new guy no no there's no like sports team initiation
or anything like that it was just i think that
they just wanted to know that uh like any any
musician listening right now will know this is
true like he it was mostly uh yeah can you play
the part but can is the vibe right can you just
hang and be normal and uh so that i think that
was the that's the only initiation was just like
being on the bus and not being an idiot and i
guess i I passed. Gotcha. Yeah. Okay. You did
some session work before working in the jazz
world a little. Yeah. How could you compare or
what comparisons do you have between jazz musicians
and rock musicians? That's a good question, man.
They're like. The kind of gigs I was playing
were very different than the rock gigs I'm playing.
Like partly what I, what took me out of playing
jazz was I was playing all the time, but I was
playing just the nature of the, of the gigs you're
playing are like, you play a lot of like restaurant
background music. Like even if you're really
good, like not saying that I was really good,
but I played with some people that were really
good, like the best, you know, some of the best
in Canada. And even these people with me would
be playing like stages to people that aren't
there just to see you. Like that's just most
of the gigs that I had to do to survive were
that. And then, you know, the occasional like
play a jazz festival or something. Jazz musicians
are, I mean, both rock and jazz musicians are
kind of quirky to be honest, but jazz musicians
are like a lot of the best have like, are just
extremely. extremely hardworking and or autistic
-ish, you know, like they're just like, it's
so, to get that good, you just have to be so
focused. And that's not everybody, like, but
some of them are just like, that's a huge blanket
statement. Somebody's going to come rip my head
off for saying that. But like, it's like a lot
of hours of practicing, a lot of hours. What
I've found in the rock world that, yes, like
some musicians are that hardworking, but a lot
of it. With the punk aesthetic, you don't have
to spend eight hours a day playing the same power
chord to try to get it just right. Some people
will, and that's how some bands will totally
change their sound. I'm not saying that rock
musicians don't practice. That's not what I'm
saying. Metal musicians are kind of like the
jazz musicians of the rock world, I feel. They're
also practicing. a lot and you know it's very
technical so it's uh i don't know it's different
i think like my experience uh some of the it
was easy to be to get a little bit jaded about
playing music with with when i was only doing
like dinner dinner gigs in the jazz world um
and so i can only speak personally about that
but the rock world is more extroverted and loud
and uh just the nature of your shows are different.
So the nature of the people that, you know, your,
your environment changes you over time, I think
too. So like, yeah, it's just a different, a
different kind of beast, but I don't know. Does
that answer the question? I'm kind of just rambling.
I bring it up because as a kid growing up, I
was a drummer myself and my mailman was a jazz
drummer. He was jazz and Prague. So if he'd ever
hear me practicing, he'd always bring up how,
jazz and prog drummers are better than rock drummers
or metal drummers. And, and I always got like
this air of kind of superiority where they felt
that, you know, they were better than rock drummers.
So. Right. Yeah. I can, I can see how that person
would have that, have that thought. Like there,
there's something to it. Like they, yes, jazz
and prog drummers are better at some things.
than than rock drummers rock drummers the one
thing like you can get away with not being that
great as a rock drummer but just because of the
the sound that you've stumbled into or the feel
that you just naturally have you can go a long
way in your career with kind of not that's like
your kind of natural looseness is what makes
it cool right and whereas whereas jazz or prog
it's pretty like you got to be pretty right right
on like the technique's got to be there and the
timing's got to be like there's no there's not
as much room for looseness so that's that is
one thing that's that's different like you can
there's lots of great jazz drummers that like
if you put them on a rock kit like it'd be interesting
but it might not sound like rock yeah yeah you
know i totally get that the the ones that kind
of throw me off are like when you think about
a john bonham or bill ward who were trained as
jazz drummers And then you hear like a lot of
the intricacies in their playing and you're like,
okay, well that shuffle or that swing that they're
bringing in is definitely a jazz influence, but
they're making it rock. They're more field players
than maybe. And, and maybe this is going to come
off wrong, but I would say I enjoy them more
for their field than their technique. It isn't
like a full on, like jazz proficient technique,
what they're doing. Yeah, I feel the same way.
I love both those drummers. I would think that
their background is partly what informed their
feel, right? You can hear John Bonham's feel.
It always feels like he's not playing the subdivisions,
but I can hear it. If I listen to it, it's like
he's playing in this groove with himself almost
the whole time. Of course, he's playing with
like... phenomenal like everybody in Led Zeppelin's
amazing right so like hard to sound bad but like
yeah he's obviously amazing yeah yeah um yeah
okay so I kind of alluded to it before your first
album was Fire Music now with uh Leo Rising has
the approach changed at all with how you guys
write music or go into the studio you mentioned
before how you guys just start throwing music
together i mean is there any type of like purpose
thought beforehand oh well we need to do this
on this album or i'd like to try that or is it
we just start to write and then whatever we feel
is the best out of what we put together is what
you guys go with yeah um in the end it's that
it's like whatever came out the best right um
but there that's like the main criteria but i
think also there's a bit of like oh it'd be nice
to have like if all the songs like i said before
like songs sounding the same like they can't
sound too much the same it's got to be like some
variety of like yeah they all sound like danko
but there's like different feels or different
tempos or something um so like we'll make sure
that there's at least a little bit of uh variety
on on the record but it has changed because when
i When I first joined the band, we all lived
in Toronto. Now, Danko still lives in Toronto.
I live in Prince Edward Island, which is on the
east coast of Canada. JC lives in Finland. So
that changes the dynamic of the writing. So we'll
still get together once or twice a year. We'll
tack on some days or a week, depending, in between
shows. We've done it a few times where you play
one weekend and you don't play again until the
next weekend, but we'll just stay in a city and
rent a spot and write. But otherwise, it's kind
of using the Internet for good. It's like Danko
writing riffs, sending them to JC as a primary
filter, and then JC coming up with some arrangements,
sending them to me. I'll put drums down on them.
So a lot of the ideas get made like that. And
then they kind of go through the furnace when
we get together and see if they hold up when
we play them live or if anything changes to them
there. Or then there's some songs that we still
kind of write old school, like as together in
the room spontaneously or coming in with a riff
or whatever. But when we first started, it was
all like we just get in the jam space and start
like, OK, we're in writing mode now. So just
coming in with like. five probably five different
ideas to try a day and then something spontaneous
or two spontaneous ideas a day and then you know
they're together for three or four hours and
then come back the next day try again so it has
changed the like the technology's changed and
where we live has changed but the approach to
the how like what needs to be on the record uh
not really i think it's all kind of um there
might be a bit of like I really liked that song
on the last record. I'd like to write something
again, like it's kind of like a big anthemic
thing or something, but like, I think it's, yeah,
it's not like we're like getting too technical,
like writing out a spreadsheet and being like,
need one of these, need one of these. But I think
it's just in the back of our minds. Yeah. I think
there are plenty of bands doing that. Luckily,
you guys aren't. Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, yeah.
You've got bands that got that one radio hit
and they need to include that B or C version
of that song on each one of their albums. Yeah,
for sure. I mean, I get it. If it worked for
you and people like it, you kind of want to give
the people what they want. But at the same time,
if it's not coming from the right place, it's
not going to land. Special sauce is hard to find
the best of times. So, yeah. Well, could you
imagine doing a show like that where every song
is like the same tempo or they all more or less
sound the same because you're trying to recapture
whatever, you know, as you said, the special
sauce that won that award a million years ago.
Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah. It's not, I agree. That
would, that would be a terrible show or to play.
Oh, what off of Leo rising surprised you after
finally getting to hear the album? Uh, what surprised
me? Uh, that's cool. Uh, there's a few songs
that I are like, I don't have anything surprised
me, but there's a few that I really like. I like,
uh, I love it louder. I like, I knew I was going
to like that song, but the more I hear it, the
more I like it, um, which is coming out. i think
it's well i mean the album's coming out november
21st so if this this podcast drops i think maybe
that day or around that day uh you can listen
to it but um that's a little bit different for
us that's just the the feel of that song is a
little bit different and i i really like it i
think it's still us it's still rock but it's
it's more i don't know it's more of a I don't
know a story. It's not even telling a story.
I don't know, but you'll see what I mean when
you hear it. It's, it's kind of more like a storytelling
song. I don't know. It's it's, I like it. And,
uh, so that one and, uh, yeah, I don't know.
Not, not too much surprised me. Cause we kind
of, we kind of know what we're going to do when
we get into the studio. It's just, but when I
get there, it's just about, uh, execution really
like just can you can i play the parts you know
they're pretty well set what i'm going to do
and that's just about trying to play them and
then i always leave a bit of room for for the
fills to be a bit different too like that's the
only thing that i don't really have set in stone
there's certain fills like yeah i'll definitely
do that there but uh i'll kind of differ every
take i'll do probably a different fill in a section
or something to try to beat the last one and
just see if i can come up with something cooler
um I don't know if you were like that as a drummer
too, but sometimes I just feel like I'm literally
just throwing something at the wall. Like, see
if this lands. And sometimes you're happy with
what comes out. I guess maybe thinking about
it for another second, having Marty Friedman
play on it, that was a surprise because that
was one thing that didn't, we didn't know what
he was going to play. We just knew it was going
to be awesome. And so that was cool. Like when
we got that. that email because at that point
i'd already laid down my stuff i'd come back
to pei and uh then the email came like here's
what here's what it sounds like with marty's
parts and uh so that was like really really really
lifted the song and uh so that was cool yeah
that was a surprise because i didn't know what
he was going to do you guys knew beforehand that
he was going to be involved in the album or that's
something that just came up while you guys were
i think Yeah, I can't remember. I think it might
have been like around the time we were recording
that we just like thought like, hey, man, let's
let's ask Marty if he'd be into it. And so, yeah,
I wasn't like premeditated for a long time. I
think it just like. It was probably in a discussion
that like I don't remember exactly how it happened,
but I think it was like this would sound awesome
with like really ripping guitar. Who could we
ask? And then, oh, do you think Marty would want
to? I don't know. Let's ask him. And then he
was into it. So that was like, yeah, it's pretty
awesome. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. When I saw
that, I'm like, wow, they got Marty Friedman
to play on this. And then as I was thinking about
it, you know, as we started the interview, he's
a huge fan of, of a lot of the same bands that
kind of fueled what you guys do. So it makes
sense. Yeah. Yep. It's, I mean, yeah, I mean,
he's such a legend and. Yeah. It's, it's just
cool that it does, it does fit, but it's, it's
just, we're very happy and, you know, feel lucky
that he'd, he'd want to do it. So that's very
cool. So you mentioned before how the band is
known for the drummers being minimalist when
it comes to their drum sets. There's even up
on Wikipedia, there's a picture of you with just
the floor tom, bass drum, snare, hi -hat, ride.
And I don't remember if it's one or two cymbals.
So my question is, what's the smallest drum set
you've played on? And what's the biggest you've
played on? The smallest? Well, I mean, this one's
pretty small. I guess I've played this. I mean,
I've played on this kit for years. It hasn't
got much smaller than this. Like back when I
was doing all those jazz gigs, there'd be time
when I just have a bass drum and a snare drum
and a ride simple and a hi -hat. That'd be pretty,
you know, that'd be usual. Or maybe even not
a ride. Maybe just like, you know, there's like,
over the years you play so many different kinds
of shows and stuff, or I have. And so, you know,
there's sometimes like, you're playing on one
of those like, I think it's called a cajon, like
the box thing. Like I'd done that or like, like
I definitely prefer the drum set to that. Like
I, for one, it kills my hands. And two, like,
I just feel weird. I'm bent over while the guys
are rocking. But we've had to do that for like
a couple of like acoustic, you know, you're like
playing a radio thing or something and it's acoustic.
And so that's what I've ended up with. That or
like just a snare drum on, like there was this
bootlegger that. Used to be an operation here
in PEI and everybody on Tuesday nights, they'd
all go to this, to this place. It's in the small
fishing village and like musicians from all over
the island would go. And so I started going like
as a 18 year old and I'd just bring a snare drum
and pair of brushes. And you're kind of playing
like everything from like kind of the Celtic
tunes, which is like big here and just like,
and then covers or whatever. But so I guess that's
probably the smallest. thing i've ever played
on but that's not like a professional gig um
but the biggest uh i don't know i mean i i bought
my well my dad bought it for me this like it's
got like five or six toms and uh it doesn't have
two bass drums but like the double kick and a
bunch of cymbals and uh it's this yamaha um power
v So I think it was like when like they were
made in England for a couple of years. So it's
like, it's not like the nicest Yamaha kit, but
anyway, I set it up and got all new heads for
it. And I was like messing around on that for
a while, which is like, yeah, I mean, super fun.
I almost don't know what to do with it. Cause
I've played like, even before Danko, I was like,
I was just, I just had one more Tom. I was like,
kind of like that. John, like John Bonham was,
you know, I know sometimes you'd use the two
Toms, but like, I was just like, rack and floor
tom and that was it like John Ponem was my guy
so I was just or like even Elvin Jones or whatever
like all the coming from the jazz world like
two cymbals and two toms and a snare so yeah
when I get on a big kit I honestly don't know
what to do with it it's like playing like just
pretending I'm in Iron Maiden for a minute but
yeah I don't know yeah so it's yeah I haven't
played that many big kits to be honest okay and
what can you tell us about uh performershealth
.com yeah uh well performers health is something
i started um to born out of my own uh health
journey and just trying to stay fit on the road
and uh you know happy happy and healthy both
being important things as a musician because
there's a lot of downtime and a lot of just different
kind of uh stresses and whatever than than you
know, other jobs, just the nature of the business.
So I was born out of that. It's fitness and wellness
programming for primarily for musicians and anybody,
any artist really that kind of has like a, I
don't want to say an oddball job, but not, not
your regular nine to five. And yeah, I've been
working mostly with one -on -one clients so I
can set up anything from like nutrition protocols
or like, you know, I'm not like diagnosing your,
your diabetes or something like that, but like,
I can help you eat, find a way to eat healthier
in your specific, specific circumstances. Like
if you're on the road or your home or whatever,
just kind of gently guide you into healthier
eating or developing fitness plans or working
with you to improve your mindset too, about your
work and being on stage and stuff like that.
So yeah, it just, it's a one man operation at
this point. And, uh, it's just, it's kind of
like my personal passion project. Um, I really
started getting serious about it during the pandemic
when I had, couldn't do anything and was stuck
at home. And, uh, so I'd been going to the gym,
uh, for a year, like I've kind of always gone
to the gym and was a runner and, and stuff like
that. So I just kind of formalized my education
and, uh, decided to put my, what do you call
it? Like hang, Not hang up your shingle, put
your shingle, I don't know. Hanging up your shingles
when you're done, right? I don't know, whatever.
Anyway, whatever. The opposite of that, put my
shingle out. And yeah, so it's going all right.
I had a little, an app at one point called Fit
Drummers, which was like just kind of what it
sounds like, fitness for drummers specifically.
And then I just kind of got busy and took it
down because I wasn't paying much attention to
it. But I've seen some other people. are kind
of entering that world too now uh like fitness
for drummers and stuff like that so it's cool
to see but uh yeah i hope to pick it back up
more um but if anybody's interested just go and
drop me a line if if uh if you're thinking about
improving your health in any way and i'll see
if i can guide you personally or guide you in
the right direction cool yeah i wanted to bring
it up because i'm somebody who uh in the last
Four years kind of turned my health around due
to working on mindfulness, working on my diet,
getting exercise in. I went from being 270 to
somewhere around 190, which I am right now. Wicked.
So definitely it's, you know, as you know, something
that you have to continuously work on. Uh, yeah.
And so when I saw that, when I was preparing
for the interview, I was like, I, I got to ask
him because, you know, there's a lot of things
that I think crossover and I wanted to make sure
to be able to, um, to give you a shout out about
that and, and, you know, platform to talk about
it. Thanks, man. Well, congrats to you on that.
That's huge. It takes a huge amount of work and,
uh, and, uh, and just a decision too. That's
cool that you. got to that point where i was
like yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna take care of this
and and yeah as you know like it sometimes it's
like getting the snowball sometimes it's hard
starting it and getting it up the hill but then
you know you do get some momentum with it and
you start to feel like you miss it if you don't
get your your walk in or your workout or your
meditation in or whatever um but yeah thanks
for giving me the opportunity i mean anybody
that's listening if that's something that's been
on your mind uh I mean, you're a great example
of, of, uh, what can happen and really just,
you know, you can start small and, and it will,
it will, uh, expand, you know, like, uh, exponentially.
So yeah. Give me a call or just, I don't know,
give you a call or just, you know, just, just,
uh, there's lots of resources out there. So,
uh, but I think it's, it's super important, especially
in the music industry. Uh, cause you know, it's
like for a long time. And even to this day, like
there's the, you know, just when people think
of musicians, what they think of, it's like getting
loaded and busting up hotel rooms and stuff.
And that's like a cool story. Those are cool
stories. And they're like, it's fun, like romantic
ideas of like what it is to be a rock star and
whatever. But that shit catches up with you.
And, you know, it doesn't like, you don't want
to be just. feeling crappy all the time like
you know you want to feel good and uh yeah so
anyway rant over but uh thanks for thanks for
asking me man yeah no problem and since you brought
up the pandemic um i got to see the there was
a live stream that you guys did um right when
the pandemic happened and i'm in europe so i
was up at like one or two in the morning i forget
what it was and watched that whole thing live
and it was just such a kind of a surreal thing
because you guys did the question and answer
afterwards as well and and you could tell that
the mood was just kind of you guys were kind
of on edge you know there was so much uncertainty
with what was going on so that was really like
coming off like the the performance was great
But afterwards, it just, there was something
weird about the whole thing. Yeah, yeah. I mean,
what are your memories of that? Yeah, now that
you mention it, I haven't thought about that
in a long time. But yeah, like, frig, man. Like,
that time, it was like a black hole of time,
right? Like, I feel like in some ways, like,
I'm starting to come around to, like, remembering
it's like. 2025. And, you know, but like, like
even last year, it felt like, I don't know about
you, but like, it felt like it was 2020 a minute
ago. And then obviously, but like, no, wait,
it's four years later. Like it, like there was
just a gap in, in time, but yeah, everybody that,
that was just a talking about the other day.
And it's just, that was just a shitty time, man.
Like that's the understatement of the year, but
you know, aside from everybody that. you know,
lost their life from it or got like permanent
lung damage or whatever. Like just to, it just
upended everybody's life in a shitty way. And
it was just people, I felt like people coped
as best they could. Like, you know, I don't know
if like some people maybe, I don't know, like
could argue that they thrived or made certain
like positive life choices that were for them.
Like I moved cities during the pandemic. that
was one of the big life moves i made and i think
a lot of people made big life moves because it
just like totally screwed up the rhythm of life
like anything you had going on not everybody
but like musicians for sure um and so yeah i
think if you yeah referencing that those questions
and answers like you got to see like everyone
was curious like what are you guys doing because
everybody was like what what is everybody doing
and like yeah we had like a variety of responses
uh you know from like I think JC started running
during the, during the pandemic and like, but
it wasn't like that, you know, it wasn't like
healthy habits for everybody. Some people just
got like, went dark. And, and, uh, so I dunno,
my, my memories are like, um, kind of this, like
a little, not like super frightened at the beginning,
but you just thought it was going to end right
quick. And then, you know, you're kind of like
on getting on zoom calls with all your friends
and you're hanging out and you're buying, making
food at home. probably gained a quick 10 pounds
just cause you're like not moving and you're
like drinking or like just eating crap. And,
um, and then it just kind of, those stops and
starts were just like, I mean, you gotta, you
gotta move, you gotta have purpose to your day.
And that, that like just took that out, uh, of
me for sure. And it was, I filled the gap with
like the performer's health studying and just
like getting into other things. It was like,
I gotta do, gotta have a goal, something I gotta
do. But, uh, Yeah, it wasn't good, man. I don't
know. Yeah, it was a shit time. There was nothing
cool about the pandemic. Some cool things came
out of it, but it wasn't good. Okay. Where should
people go to keep up with you and the band? Yeah,
so you can go dancojones .com. is the best place
to get information on shows and music. You can
find us on all the streaming platforms, Apple
Music and Spotify, YouTube Music, and we have
videos on YouTube. Instagram, I think it's Danko
underscore Jones. It'll be really obvious which
one is him. And then if there's any fakes, it'll
be pretty obvious because it'll be the one with
the most followers. I'm Rich Knox Drums. And,
yeah, that's, I think it's Calibre's John, I
think is what it is, or Calibre's Jay is JC's
Instagram. So, yeah, we're on Instagram all the
time. That's kind of our, I think everybody's,
you know, we don't do all the, like, everything,
like TikTok and everything, but we're just, we've
chosen that one, and that's where you can reach
out to us or just check out what we're doing.
Okay. And then, of course, performershealth .com.
Sure, since you brought it up. If anybody's interested
in the health stuff, hit me up. Okay, cool. And
where should people go if they want to buy Leo
Rising? Is there a specific site that they can
go to or a specific store which guarantees that
the most amount of money gets back into the pockets
of the members of the band? I think the best.
place to get a Leo rising album is probably at
a show, but if you can't get to a show, um, then
just go to the Danko Jones, uh, website and order
from there. And that, that would be the best
way, uh, best way to, to get one, um, failing
that, go to a, go to a local record store, got
to support our local record stores too. Um, but
yeah, the, the show is the, if you can come to
our show, that that'd be the. The bee's knees.
Awesome. Yeah. Rich, I want to thank you for
your time. Been a great deal of fun talking to
you. You too. Yeah. The door is always open for
you to come back or anyone from the band. I mentioned
to the PR person, I've had Danko scheduled three
times and I've never spoken to him. There's always
been something either tech malfunction. Someone's
forgotten an interview or there's always been
something. So we've never been able to, to make
it work. So when I saw that the album was being
promoted, I said, is there any way to finally,
you know, I'm like, this is like my white whale
here. You know, this is Moby Dick for me. Can
I finally get. I said, well, he doesn't do many
podcasts. So I'm like, all right, well, I'll
speak to anyone from the band. Oh, cool, man.
Well, thanks for having me. And I'm glad somebody
connected. We finally got connected to one of
us anyway. Yeah, there you go. It's been a pleasure,
man. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you for
your time, sir. You can subscribe to the show
on all your favorite podcast platforms like Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon and
more. Go to signalsfrommars .com for more information.
This concludes our show.