Danko Jones may be a straight-forward rock band, but their story is anything but. They’re a band that has roots in many different music communities — the North American indie-rock scene, the Scandinavian garage-rock scene, the European metal scene — but belong to none of them. They’re the only band that’s toured with both Blonde Redhead and Nickelback, and they’re the only band whose biography could attract a cast of characters that includes Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, Elijah Wood, Ralph Macchio, Peaches, Dizzy Reed of Guns N’ Roses, Damian Abraham of Fucked Up, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, George Stroumboulopoulous, Alan Cross, Mike Watt and many others.
Too Much Trouble is about more than just Danko Jones’ history — it’s an exploration of the rigid politics that govern both underground and mainstream music, and how a band can succeed without pandering to either.
This is a 15-year saga that goes from college-radio DJ booths to corporate boardrooms, from dingy after-hours boozecans to the biggest festival stages in Europe, marked by encounters with everyone from D.C. riot grrrls to Dublin riot police, from death-metal deities to Hollywood celebrities. And if all this sounds somewhat preposterous, well, as Danko himself would say: this book ain’t boastin’, it’s truthin’.