Danko Jones And The Trews To Rock The Brier

Swedish metal band Hammerfall enlisted the women's world curling champions from their homeland to appear in their "Hearts On Fire" video last year. Danko Jones knows virtually nothing about curling, but the Canadian rocker and his band of the same name are very popular in Scandinavia.

"What's the connection?" you're asking yourself.

Danko Jones, The Trews and Idle Sons will open the Canadian men's curling championship, the Tim Hortons Brier, in the legendary Brier Patch at the Hamilton Convention Centre on Friday evening. The Brier Patch, for those of you who've never had the pleasure of getting drunk in one, is the bar where curlers and curling fans gather for beers in between games of the nine-day bonspiel.

While Blue Rodeo, Ashley MacIsaac, Trooper and the Stampeders have all opened curling events in the past, Friday's bill will be harder than a raise takeout thrown by Kevin Martin. But since the three groups and the sport all bring the rock, it seems like an appropriate pairing.

Except, of course, that the majority of fans attending the Brier will be closer in age to the band members' parents than the bands. But that doesn't phase K-OS' nemesis.

"I love playing in front of those [new] people, it's great," Jones told The Curling News, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. "There's something to be said about playing for the converted, and a lot of bands like to do that.

"But that's too safe for rock 'n' roll. It's fun. It always yields some interesting responses."

Hamilton hosted the world curling championships in 1996. The city was also home to joke-punk band the Dik Van Dykes, who released a great song called "Curling" in the '80s.