Canadian Musician - March/April 2016 | Page 52

JOHN “ JC ” CALABRESE
JASON DECAY
Danko Jones is fresh from the release of Live At Wacken , a CD / DVD and Blu-ray combo recorded during their 2015 appearance at the Wacken Open Air festival . Entering their 20 th year as a band , this release celebrates two decades of life on the road and on stage together . JC Calabrese took some time to tell us what it ’ s been like and why they ’ re still going .

JOHN “ JC ” CALABRESE

Danko Jones
PHOTO : PEDER CARLSSON
In Ruin is the latest release from Toronto heavy metal trio Cauldron . The release earned Loudwire ’ s “ Release of the Month ” distinction for January 2016 , beating out Megadeth ’ s Dystopia , among others . That ’ s a pretty solid start to the year . Jason Decay is a heavy metal fan and says it ’ s the fans that keep the music and spirit of metal alive . In addition to holding down the low end , he ’ s also the co-founder and lead vocalist for Cauldron – and wouldn ’ t have it any other way .

JASON DECAY

Cauldron
Basses Ibanez / El Degas Late- ’ 70s
Rickenbacker Copy BC Rich NJ Series ( x2 ) Ibanez Destroyer
Amps Yamaha G-100 Solid State
Head SVT ‘ 70s 8x10 Cab
Bass Sandberg Virgin White 4-String
California II VM
Amplification EBS TD650 Head EBS Classic Line 450 Head EBS Classic Line 8x10 Cab EBS Classic Line 4x10 Cab ( x2 )
CM : What ’ s the one thing you can ’ t go without while you are on stage ?
JC : I ’ m a bass player , so I can get by with anything , but a tuner is usually nice . If the amp blows up there ’ s always a backup . I can always just play through a DI , so I ’ d say a tuner . I do use EBS Amps and they ’ ve been great . They ’ re a Swedish company , so I ’ m a fully European-endorsed Canadian bass player . But we keep it simple , man . A lot of frills and thrills just make life too complicated .
CM : Twenty years is a big milestone to hit . What ’ s the most important thing you ’ ve learned from playing and being on the road for 20 years ?
JC : Just to stick with it and just keep doing it . This is what I do . It ’ s not a pastime or a hobby ; it ’ s my life , so I just have fun doing it . Just don ’ t get caught up in other dynamics . You work because you love doing it . We ’ ve been lucky and able to do that and tour with a lot of heroes who became friends later on . Yeah , perseverance .
CM : Not too many people get to have that experience . What ’ s it like having your heroes become friends ?
JC : It ’ s cool . I mean , we toured with Motörhead a bunch of times and Lem came out to our show in a small venue in London . It was great to meet
him like that and then to later on have his sort of seal of approval on our band and be a genuine fan is something that you can ’ t really describe with words . We ’ re just really lucky and fortunate to have that . Being acknowledged by your peers , elders , and people you respect is something that ’ s beyond any sort of award or anything else that we can get .
CM : Danko Jones continues to release new music , but with such an extensive back catalogue , how do you keep things fresh and maintain the excitement with older songs ?
JC : They ’ re just fun to play . I mean there ’ s always going to be somebody in the audience that ’ s never seen the songs played live and never seen the band . You play as much for that person as the person who really wants to hear that song for the umpteenth time .
Effects Just one cord straight into the amp
CM : What ’ s the most recent piece you ’ ve added to your live set-up and why did it earn that spot ?
JD : Nothing ’ s new . The newest thing would be the current bass I ’ m using , which I started using about seven years ago now . It ’ s a Rickenbacker copy made by Ibanez / El Degas in the late ’ 70s . It ’ s known as the “ lawsuit edition .” The only difference I know of is the truss rod . Everything I own is really old and I ’ ve been playing through it for a long time .
CM : What is it about the older gear that keeps you playing through its physical deterioration for such a long time ?
52 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN