Danko Jones Below the Belt Some bands get lucky. Danko Jones works for it, and he’s still not chillin’ at a pad in the Hollywood Hills. More like modesty in Toronto. On his sixth full-length release “Below the Belt,” Danko’s busting his ass arguably more than ever. Seriously. He’s got Elijah Wood, Selma Blair and Lemmy in the video for the album’s first single “Full of Regret,” which may be the first truly successful attempt at bridging the gap between underground rock and mainstream radio. Unfortunately, I’m one of about 10 people in the world who gets that, and judging by the industry, in America anyways, it probably won’t work. But for the rest of planet Earth, they get another standout song in a repertoire of an already amazing body of work. I said it in the first cover feature in the re-launch before he had to cancel his show in Youngtown, Danko sounds like Danko. You compare music to him now, not the other way around. And “I Think Bad Thoughts,” is another unmistakable track and an immediate greatest hit. Yeah, this magazine, and myself in particular swing from Danko’s collective nuts pretty hard, but I’ve yet to find another “rock” band that’s more underrated in America. He’s everything right about rock music. Even down to the insanely repetitive “I Want To Break Up With You” which is about the 1-millionth song he’s done on the subject. One song he’s hopelessly in love. The next he’s lovelessly in hate. But that’s rock ‘n’ roll in a nutshell. The blueprints if you will. “Below the Belt” ranks pretty high among his releases, and sure, as most of them, there’s a throwaway song here and there. But tell that to Kiss. Tell it to AC/DC. Tell it to Motorhead or anyone else who sticks to the formula that got them where they are. Danko didn’t reinvent the wheel. He just dated it. Kissed it. F*cked it. Then they fought. Then they broke up. 8/10 – B.J. Lisko