The Darkness – Interview [2006]

Everything you’ve heard is true. All of it. The exhaustion and the fear, the pressure, paranoia and pan pipes, the breakdowns and break-ups, the sackings, sitar solos and endless studio sessions, and now ultimately – with this, their second album – the rebirth and redemption of The Darkness.

ONE WAY TICKET TO HELL…AND BACK is the conclusion of a year-long journey from Lowestoft to London and from Monmouth to LA to prove to everyone (and themselves) just how utterly irrelevant every other band is right now. To create the album they simply had no choice but to make. To prove The Darkness are still the world’s greatest band.

We interview guitarist Dan Hawkins.

HIP: Was there a lot of pressure to follow-up the first record?

Dan: It was weird. It was intense. It was a like a dream—like a car crash. I think the guy who wrote our bio… we might have been a bit drunk when we did it because it was actually a lot of fun. We were laughing our way through [recording One Way Ticket To Hell… And Back]. The only intensity is if the first album is really successful then the second one, good or bad, is going to be reviewed. I know people are going to have an opinion and if it’s a shit record you are going to hear about it. The other pressure is the fans. Remember when you were a fan of a band and you were wearing a t-shirt? It wasn’t to show off it was about who you are. As a kid your first possessions are your albums. To be a fan of ours you’ve got to be pretty brave in the first place. If we make a shit record it’s going to affect them and us.

THE DARKNESS

I remember being a kid and buying a Motley Crue t-shirt and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.

It’s weird now because people seem to syndicate these rock t-shirts out to these fashion stores now. It’s all about owning a t-shirt and being an individual. And if your band makes a shit album you are going to know it because you are a fan so you’re going to be a bit pissed off aren’t you? You’ll feel betrayed as a fan and we don’t want to betray our fans because they are the only ones who give a f*ck about us.

It’s interesting that you guys have brought some kids back to listening to groups like Motley Crue—and you came after them.

It’s cool right? My record collection was my dad’s but all the bands I listened to growing up were Sonic Youth and Teenage Fanclub and they informed you of the bands they liked. That is how I got into Neil Young and The Birds. We do our thing but there are a lot of kids who are discovering good music through us.

What I found really weird was that until you guys came along a lot of people didn’t want to admit what they used to listen to.

Maybe you are right. Actually, I can understand that by the reaction we got when we first started gigging. People were either appalled or embarrassed. We just stopped giving a f*ck and people started to think we are cool.

Do you get bothered by comparisons?

People have to compare us to other people to give readers images to describe what your band is like. I don’t mind it. Some would say on the first album that we sounded like a tribute band to Queen. To me that says they don’t listen to rock music at all. It’s all par for the course.

THE DARKNESS

The new record reminds me of when I was twelve and all those bands like Cinderella came out. I think all those bands were trying to write those epic rock songs.

That’s the same kind of rock we do. We aren’t copiers we are yet another band of that genre of Queen, Cinderella, and AC/DC. There has been a massive gap since them but maybe we are so ignorant that we carry on as if that gap never existed. Maybe that has to do with the fact that we are from a really small town and miles away from anywhere and weren’t particularly affected by scenes or fashions.

What about buying records?

We had one record store but we had to wait for them to order stuff in and it would take three months. So we’d take a cassette recorder and record off the radio. We were laughing the other day about recording songs off the countdown on the radio and trying to stop it before the announcer started talking.

I remember I tried recording off the radio when I was kid. I even remember one of the songs; “I Love Rock N Roll” by Joan Jett.

I was young, but I think the song I tried recording was Michael Jackson “Bad.” (Laughs hysterically) Kids don’t have to go through that these days—they’ve got it too easy.

I still liked having records because of how big the inserts were.

Me too. My first album was Magic Live—Queen’s album. And you open it had a shot of the helicopter and where they were playing.

The first record I got was Kiss and it had Japanese writing on it. I got it at a flea market.

Wow, that might be worth some money.

Probably, if I could find it.

I never got into Kiss. I never dug that genre. There was something about it that I couldn’t stand. I was more into bands like AC/DC and Cheap Trick. There were some heavy metal bands I liked—like Europe. I loved the guitar solos.

They had that epic sound that The Darkness boasts.

Yeah. You know I have a hard time trying to backtrack into bands like the Beatles. I got to Led Zeppelin fairly late—when I was fifteen. I’m an ‘80’s kid.

Regarding those bands—you have that same sense of seeking epic songs. “Blind Man” is a good example of that.

That is probably the only time we were influenced by the Beatles. We were trying to do a “Let It Be.” (Laughs hysterically) Obviously we failed miserably and came up with something much better. (Laughs hysterically) I can’t believe I just said that. (We both laugh) What a wanker. (Laughs)

What is interesting about you guys is that you pull both a bit of that epic sound and also pull no punches like AC/DC. They just made great rock songs and didn’t try to get overly dramatic.

We are a bit varied. Some of the songs they wrote in a different way and had that journey like “Shoot To Thrill” We take from them with the punchiness and getting to the point. We are similarly influenced by AC/DC and Queen.

“English Country Garden” is weird. I don’t know why I like it but it really stuck with me.

That seems to be a love it or hate it song on the album which is cool because you need those sort of songs there. IT was one of the most aggressive songs on the album because it is really odd.

I think “Dinner Lady Arms” is another odd track that works.

Yeah, right. I think we defined ourselves as the Darkness more on this album not because we sound like The Darkness but because no one else could do that. I’m really proud of that.

+ Charlie Craine