The Darkness (band)
The Darkness is a hard rock band formed in the United Kingdom by brothers Justin Hawkins (guitar and vocals) and Dan Hawkins (guitar) and later joined by fellow bandmates Frankie Poullain (bass).) and Rufus Tiger Taylor (drums).
In 2001 they signed with Atlantic Records where they released their first single "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" and the hit "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" which reached number one on the UK charts. United and their first album Permission to Land managed to sell up to four million copies worldwide. Later they released their second studio album One Way Ticket to Hell... And Back which gave them a gold record in the UK and coupled with the hit single "One Way Ticket" with great commercial performance, It is worth mentioning that the band has won three Brit Awards in 2004, including Best Band, Best Rock Group and Best Album.
After all this media success, in 2005 bassist Frankie Poullain left the group due to musical differences, being replaced by Richie Edwards who left the band some time later and in October 2006 Justin Hawkins, composer, guitarist and singer, announces that he is leaving the group to be able to begin a complete treatment against their addiction to drugs, which caused the band to take a six-year break.
Influenced previously by hard rock and Glam Rock bands of the 1970s such as David Bowie, AC/DC, Queen and Led Zeppelin, the band reunited in 2012 to release their third studio album Hot Cakes, they returned to the stages with opening concerts at The Born This Way Ball World Tour world tour of Lady Gaga.
Trajectory
His debut album, Permission to land (2003) has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. They became known after a series of concerts in London. His recent performances at the Glastonbury and Reading festivals were the most talked about this year.
Influenced by the greats of rock, The Darkness demonstrates with their first album that the classic format of guitar, bass and drums (and a spectacular singer like we haven't seen in a while) is still capable of moving us, making us jump, vibrate and trust in rock & roll like the most vital music of all. Songs like the first single Growing on me, I believe in a thing called love or Get your hands off my woman which, among many others, confirm the enormous potential of this band that recovers the spirit of the best rock of the 70s and 80s; they have a unique style, their songs are all potential anthems and it's very hard not to sing along while listening to them. The essence of big rock bands is captured in the group's songs, but they deliver their music with convincing swagger and a touch of postmodern irony.
Their sound is heavily influenced by '70s and '80s classic rock, but it works because they do it with 21st century production, because no one else has sounded like that for a long time, and because they do it that way without any shame. “Everyone is so uptight these days,” says Frankie, “I hate the arrogance of bands who think their petty emotions are interesting. If you look at bands from 25 years ago, people have smiles on their faces. We're bringing this back." A concert review of his noted: “The rare spirit of an archetypal great showman-vocalist lives within Hawkins. Possessing a phenomenal voice (part Bon Scott type, part Freddie Mercury, and part Luciano Pavarotti), he brags and poses all over the stadium, while the members of the group give off electrical energy and vigorous rhythms”. Another review: “True stars. So original that they can make disappear the aroma of apathy and insipidity that is multiplying in our country, thanks to a band that gave us rock with such force that we had to follow them”.
Permission to Land
A while ago, nobody gave a penny for this group, to the point that they themselves had to pay for the recording of their first album Permission to Land. Now they have a multinational supporting them and that has certainly increased the myth that is being woven around the Hawkins brothers and company, who on February 17, 2004 captured the attention of the press by receiving three statuettes at the Brit Awards.
The album begins with “Black shuck”, one of the most powerful songs on the album with a riff in the purest Angus Young style. In “Growing on me”, Justin takes a break from his falsettos, which only appear at times, and he can enjoy how his normal voice sounds. Then comes the commercially flashy global hit “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”, which at various times you can perform as Queen. [citation needed] “Love is only a feeling” is a ballad that has a melody full of contrasts and that wanders through a wide register. The guitar plucks stand out a lot and that mixed with the choirs gives a very interesting result. “Givin´ up”, with its tiresome chorus, and “Stuck in a rut” are the weakest tracks on the album. “Holding my own” is a classic rock ballad. The melody, the guitar and the choirs interact and are interspersed in a dramatic structure that is reminiscent of the best examples of the genre. A very beautiful song.
In short, Permission to land, is an album with some harmonies and a very typical sound of eighties metal, guitars reminiscent of Aerosmith, Kiss and AC/DC, and some theatrical falsettos that somehow evoke the incomparable Freddie Mercury.
One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back
Unlike his debut album, much more excessive and cartoonish, this album is shaping up to be a more accomplished and structured work, thought through at every step of its construction. The singer Justin Hawkins surprises us with his voice, not at all limited, but much more controlled in impulses, he has learned to modulate it and thus control his registers.
In the new sounds we can now find pianos and synthesizers, or less common elements such as sitars, triangles, tambourines or a Peruvian flutist in the particular intro of the album.
And it is with all these changes that the group intends to present itself to the media and the public as something less fun than in their debut, and thus achieve a much more respectable image, in order to position themselves as a lasting band over time.
It is true that every one of the tracks included is a potential big hit. And it all starts with “One Way Ticket”, a specific cut with a collapsing guitar riff. And he surprises us with the highly exaggerated, operatic falsetto and a simple chorus that manifests the basis of rock'n'roll.
The album has been produced by producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Who)
The departure of Justin Hawkins
As revealed by the British newspaper The Sun, vocalist Justin Hawkins has quickly left The Darkness after leaving the rehab center to continue his drug treatment. The band will carry on with bassist Richie Edwards on vocals.
In an interview with this newspaper, Hawkins has spoken candidly about his battle with alcohol and drugs. Hawkins claims to have spent more than 150,000 pounds (about 225,000 Euros) on cocaine over the past three years. According to Classic Rock, Hawkins told The Sun that "One way ticket to hell...and back" (the band's latest album) "is, of course, autobiographical." Hawkins comments that he “was doing up to five grams of cocaine a day, which was costing me about £1,000 a week, sometimes even more. He used to stay up for four days straight on coke and alcohol. It affected every one of my decisions. Everything was decided on the basis that I should take cocaine at some point. He asked us to be the first in an awards ceremony so that I could continue with my alcoholism and my drug addiction”.
In August, Hawkins canceled a festival in Denmark and went to rehab. “I got in there, and I got rid of it,” Hawkins told The Sun. Now Hawkins is taking the first steps towards his recovery and enjoying a quiet life with his girlfriend, Sue Whitehouse, manager of The Darkness. Regarding his decision to leave the band, Justin has said that “I feel bad for the other guys in the band. It will be a hard blow. But it is time to change. It would be dangerous for my recovery to continue in the band. I don't blame the band for my problem – I'm an addict. There are people who can be in gangs and stay clean, but I'm not one of them."
Hawkins also stated that he had in mind leaving The Darkness last year before the band's world tour, but that he wanted to continue before going into rehab. Hawkins says that he will now concentrate on making a solo record and writing music for movies.
Stone Gods, New Beginning
On December 14, 2006, it was reported by Yahoo! News that Richie Edwards will carry on with the band as the group's new leader, with new member Toby MacFarlaine taking over on bass. In blog posts on MySpace, Richie Edwards, Dan Hawkins and Ed Graham said that they had begun recording a new album with Toby McFarlaine and the official name change. On March 2, 2007, the official page and his Myspace entries were abruptly changed showing a new image, new musical influences and a new name that was not yet known. The group released their album 'Silver Spoons & Broken Bones' at the beginning of the summer of 2008, reaching number 67. Three singles were released from the album apart from the EP that they released at the beginning of the year. The chosen singles were: Don't Drink The Watter, Knight of a Living Dead and Start of Something. Each single came with previously unreleased material, just like with The Darkness singles.
After the release of the album and a few shows, the original drummer and member of The Darkness left the band allegedly due to physical problems. Although he later assured that he was thrown out. Stone Gods continued the tour with a new drummer named Robin. After the tour, they began to record their second album, which was ready at the end of 2009. However, the album would not arrive... at the end of 2010 and without any news about them in a year, their bassist announced on Twitter that Stone Gods was in "hiatus", or what is better, stopped. The reasons were apparently the band The Darkness itself, which apparently would reform for 2011 to tour again and possible new material. Dan Hawkins confirmed it in a conference, but we are still waiting for an official announcement.
Hot Leg, the other side of the coin
While Stone Gods were on their debut tour, Justin Hawkins announced a new band for late 2008, called Hot Leg. In October 2008 they performed 4 concerts in London and released their first song: Trojan Guitar. By the end of the year, they released another single: I've Met Jesus. And finally in February their debut was released, called: Red Light Fever. The record company that was in charge of editing it was one made by Justin himself: Barbecue Records. That despite the fact that he expected to be very successful, it actually sold less than the Stone Gods debut, and only reached number 81. Another single was released: Cocktails. The band toured from March to late summer 2009, with quite a crowd in attendance. But Justin was not happy with the band's repercussion and at the end of the year after a concert in which he was seen sporting a mustache, he also put Hot Leg on hiatus and fired himself by his record company. During 2010, Justin made innumerable collaborations with other artists, such as Meat Loaf, Adam Lambert... and at the end of the year, after the news of the return of The Darkness in 2011, it is assumed that he is rehearsing and composing new material for the long-awaited comeback tour of The Darkness in 2011.
The Darkness, Gathers
The rumors started at the end of 2010 after it was said that Dan Hawkins had given a lecture at a university and had confirmed it. Ed Graham, the original drummer of The Darkness had announced his last performance with his band KFB, and the rest of his members confirmed that he was leaving to return to The Darkness. The Darkness' original bassist began giving evidence of the band meeting on his Facebook after commenting on the rumors: "Possibly, so be it..." Justin posted a video of The Darkness on his Twitter page and commented that he was in a rehearsal studio.
An official The Darkness Facebook page followed by an official website and Twitter were launched in January/February 2011 confirming the return. At the same time that Justin confirmed that we would have news of The Darkness very soon on his Twitter, the official website was open to the public saying that we would have more news soon, and where you could already buy a T-shirt of the group.
On March 15, 2011, the definitive return of the band was announced, with the original lineup. They also announced their participation in the Download festival on June 10, along with Def Leppard, and the recording of the band's third album would begin in April.
The band confirms at the end of March that they are in the Cafe Studios, composing their third album. In addition, they confirm more festivals for summer, among which, would be Sonisphere in Madrid. They would perform on Friday, July 15, along with Slash as headliners.
In mid-May, the band confirms 3 concerts in London before their official return at the Download festival, it would be three concerts to warm up for the festival. The first of them, which would be in Norwich, sold out the same morning they went on sale, and the second, also sold out a few days before the concert. In addition, Justin confirmed in an interview that there would be a new album and world tour in 2012.
2012: Hot Cakes
In 2012 they were selected to be the opening act for Lady Gaga on The Born This Way Ball Tour, part of their tour of Europe and the entire Latin American phase in countries such as Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, said tour considered an electro-metal pop-opera.
In February they release the first advance single of the new studio material they work on during their spare time between tours, called Nothing's Gonna Stop Us. It is released digitally and free from its official website, The album becomes the title Hot Cakes, and is announced to be released on August 20 of this year. The album has been produced by Justin Hawkins and Dan Hawkins, along with their collaborator Nick Brine, and is mixed by Bob Erzin.
On May 29, without prior notice, the second advance single from the album is released: 'Every Inch Of You', for digital download on amazon and iTunes. It should be noted that the album contains the version of Radiohead, Street Spirit. The theme Cannonball is released in the extended version, this theme had been previously performed without being officially released. Justin has said that the band is already working on new material for the follow-up to 'Hot Cakes', and is even targeting a 2014 release, Short YouTube clips were released on his channel showing his recording on the workshop created. On November 25, 2013, they released a new single called The Horn.
2015: The Last of our Kind
The Darkness returned to the studio and announced their new album for May 27, 2015. Unfortunately, drummer Ed Graham left the band for unknown reasons with rumored health issues. He was initially replaced by the drummer Emily Dolan Davies and later and definitively to date by Rufus Taylor, son of the legendary Roger Taylor of Queen. Following the departure of Emily Dolan Davies from the band, The Darkness performed live for the first time with current drummer Rufus Taylor, at an album release party, hosted for fans at London's Gibson Guitar Studio on 23 April. The first song revealed from the album was 'Barbarian', which was released on February 23 at the same time as the official album announcement. The album's second promotional single, 'Open Fire', premiered on March 23, followed by an official chart release on May 25, 2015. A third single, 'Last of Our Kind', was released on July 29, accompanied by an in-studio promo video, featuring the band alongside a select number of fans. The album was re-released on November 20, 2015, with an alternate Christmas-themed version and four bonus tracks including the singles "Million Dollar Strong" and "I Am Santa". The album was very successful, reaching number 1 on the UK Rock Chart and number 2 on the US Top Hard Rock Albums Billboard.
2017: Pinewood Smile
The Darkness announce their fifth studio album for October 6, 2017. They previously released the first single from the album, July 21, "All the Pretty Girls". Three other singles from the album: "Solid Gold" and "Southern Trains" [2] [3] were also pre-released from the album on August 18 and September 25, respectively, with "Happiness" after the album's release on November 24. Pinewood Smile received generally positive reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71 based on 7 reviews.
2019: Easter is Cancelled
The sixth and final studio album to date will be released on October 4, 2019. The group has posted the first two singles on their official YouTube channel, on August 6 "rock and roll deserves to die" and on August 16 "Heart Explodes".
Members of the group
- Justin Hawkins - voice, guitar, synthesizer and piano
- Frankie Poullain - bass
- Dan Hawkins - guitar
- Rufus Tiger Taylor - Battery
Former members
- Richie Edwards - low (2005-2006)
- Ed Graham - Battery (2000 - 2014)
- Emily Dolan Davies - Battery (2015)
Discography
Albums
- Permission to Land (2003)
- One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back (2005)
- Platinum Collection (2008)
- Hot Cakes (2012)
- Last Of Our Kind (2015)
- Pinewood Smile (Limited Edition) (2017)
- the darkness live at hammersmith (2018)
- Easter is cancelled (2019)
- Motorheart (2021)
EP
- I Believe in a Thing Called Love EP (2002)
- Girlfriend EP (2005)
Simple
| Year | Title | .svg){kind=small} UK Singles Chart |  Irish Singles Chart |  Mainstream Rock | Modern Rock |  AUS | Certification | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | «Get Your Hands Off My Woman» | 43 | - | - | - | - | Permission to Land | |
| «Growing On Me» | 11 | 42 | 40 | 31 | 46 | |||
| «I Believe In A Thing Called Love» | 2 | 5 | 23 | 9 | 40 |
| ||
| «Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)» | 2 | 2 | - | - | - |
| ||
| 2004 | «Love Is Only a Feeling» | 5 | 10 | - | - | 35 | ||
| 2005 | «One Way Ticket» | 8 | 22 | - | - | 36 | One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back | |
| 2006 | "Is It Just Me"? | 8 | 36 | - | - | 39 | ||
| «Girlfriend» | 39 | 40 | - | - | - | |||
| 2012 | "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us" | - | - | - | - | - | Hot Cakes | |
| «Every Inch Of You» | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| «Everybody Have A Good Time» | - | - | - | - | - |
.svg){kind=small}
Compilations
- The B-Sides Collection (2006)
- The Darkness: the Platinum Collection (2008)
Awards
2003
- Kerrang! Awards for Best album (Permission To Land) and Best live performance
- Metal Hammer 'Golden God' for Best Single (Get Your Hands Off My Woman)
- Mercury Music Prize nomination for Album of the year (Permission To Land)
2004
- Kerrang! Awards for Best British band and Best live performance
- Metal Hammer 'Golden God' for Best video (Love Is Only A Feeling)
- BASCA Ivor Novello Award for Composer of the Year
- Brit Awards for Best British Rock Performance, Best British Rock Group and Best album (Permission To Land)
- MTV Europe Music Awards for Best MTV2 UK & Ireland Act
- IFPI Platinum Europe Award – for selling more than 1,000,000 in Europe (Permission To Land)
- Nordoff-Robbins Tartan Clef - T In The Park Best Live
- Elle Style Award - Most Stylish Band
- Meteor Ireland Music Award for Best album (Permission To Land)
- Smash Hits! Pollwinners' Party - Best rock prize
- RIAA Digital Sales Certifications Gold Award for 100,000. downloads (I Believe In A Thing Called Love)
- European Border Breakers Award - for the debut album in Europe that achieve the best sales outside of your country in 2003 – noticed by MIDEM 2004 (Permission To Land)
2005
- ASCAP Award by one Most Performed Works in USA by PRS member 2004 (I Believe In A Thing Called Love)
- Grammy Award* Best Rock Song Girlfriend
2006
- MTV Australia Video Music Awards for Best Rock Video (One Way Ticket)