‘Thank goodness that we’ve got Ed Sheeran...’
The Darkness are on the road with their latest album, Easter Is Cancelled. Guitarist Dan Hawkins talks to NEILL BARSTON
ARMED with a hit-laden debut album, The Darkness swiftly found themselves under the global limelight with their infectious brand of glammed-up classic rock. Their swagger was matched with success as they quickly gained a tally of three Brit Awards for their troubles.
As guitarist Dan Hawkins explains, it’s been one heck of a ride over nearly two decades, emerging triumphant over naysayers dismissing them for their clear influences of heroes such as Queen, AC/DC and Thin Lizzy. While he admits that in true rock’n’roll spirit they’ve endured their share of trials, including member departures and a split for several years, it seems they are now enjoying life as a re-united band more than ever.
These days, they are aided by the services of Rufus Taylor, son of Queen’s Roger Taylor, on drums, who joined their ranks four years ago.
Demonstrating their renewed spark is their sixth studio album, Easter Is Cancelled, described by frontman Justin as a concept record that’s “biblical” in scale. It’s seen them make a return to the top 10 charts.
“I’ve a slightly different take on the album to the other members as I produced it, as I have done with our past few records.
“With the previous albums, I’d be listening back to them looking out for any mistakes I might have made, but that really wasn’t the case with our latest one. I think it sounds amazing,” enthuses Dan of their efforts to restore rock music to its former pinnacle.
It’s this very subject that Dan appears to have trained its attention – Rock And Roll Deserves To Die, lamenting in tongue-incheek fashion a perceived lacklustre state of their beloved genre. The track’s accompanying video including a finale of Marshall amplifiers raining down from the sky.
“For that song, we went for essentially four styles of music in one – from Led Zeppelin, a Deep Purple scream, to Black Sabbath and AC/DC. It’s not something we are afraid to do with our music.
“I do think that there are some really good bands out there, but a lot of what I hear is very linear sounding. So forget being authentic, what’s needed is some innovation to move things forward,” says Dan.
Their latest album, recorded and mixed at the guitarist’s self-built Hawkland studio in Sussex, contains a number of standout moments including the ballad Heart Explodes, hard rock tribute in the form of
Heavy Metal Lover and the defiant closing song, We Are The Guitar Men.
“The one thing that I wanted to bring to the new album was just in terms of giving as much of my own studio time for it as was possible – allowing them to come back and spend as long as they wanted on it.
“It’s about as close as we’re ever going to get to making a concept album, with a definite thread of subjects covering life and death, and how we bring meaning to them.”
Beyond laying down their latest recordings, they’ve certainly not been slacking off on the live performances – enjoying performances last year with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp’s band, The Hollywood Vampires. According to Dan, it was something of a surreal episode hanging out with some of the most famous people on the planet, but it proved to be a blast.
“Our lives are pretty insane really – it was amazing to be playing those shows. I’m not someone that gets starstruck, but with Johnny Depp I actually felt a bit freaked out that we were just hanging out with him. But after talking to him backstage for about half an hour, he was actually pretty down to earth.”
Another highlight from this summer was their invitation to join fellow Suffolk-raised star Ed Sheeran on his UK tour dates. It seems the solo star took time out to chill out with them and share some tales from their home county.
“Ed was very affable indeed – he’d come and see us before and after our shows, which was nice. He’s the only person I can think of that when he is at gigs and there are fans are around, he actually goes up to people and asks them if they and their kids want selfies with him, rather than them having to ask for pictures.
“In a world where we have things like Brexit and Trump, thank goodness that we’ve got Ed Sheeran,” adds Dan, who at 42, says that life in Sussex with his family, which now includes three children, is treating him very kindly indeed.
He jokes that the two of his youngsters who appreciate the music of The Darkness will be remaining on his Christmas present list this year.
“I’ve been a dad for 10 years now and it’s the best thing ever, and makes everything else you do worthwhile,” adds the guitarist, who says when he’s not in his studio, spending time with the family is his foremost priority. As he reflects on his career to date, he acknowledges the band’s success was hard won through paying their dues for years on the live circuit. He recalls that both he and his brother were particularly musical from a young age, briefly playing in a group together called Vital Signs, which Dan joined up with when he was just 12. But far from being overnight trailblazers, he says that it took a long while before they would ultimately make it in a late 1990s music scene that had been dominated by the tail end of Britpop acts.
“Before we got our deal, nobody wanted to sign us, including the label who eventually did. It was a long wait for us to make it – I was 27 and actually at the point where I thought we’d missed our chance.
“So Justin and I just thought we’d form a band playing the music that we wanted to play,” which would finally see their determination pay off, after self-financing their debut singles.
In terms of overall highlights, he says that while gaining the Brit Awards was something to celebrate at the time, it was subsequently gaining an Ivor Novello songwriting award that meant even more.
As for the present day, he enthuses that there will be plenty for fans to enjoy this time around, mixing their new material alongside a greatest hits set.
“It’s going to be really good to be playing some material we’ve not played before, and the whole thing about this being a concept album will be answered on this tour.”
■ The Darkness’s 2019 tour plays Nottingham Rock City, Friday, November 29, and Leicester 02 Academy, Monday, December 2. Tickets: rock-city.co.uk, academymusicgroup.com/ o2academyleicester/events