Date:

Author:
Category:

History of The Darkness: biography and interesting facts about the band that revived glam rock

The story of the band that revitalised glam rock

History of glam rock band The Darkness: biography and interesting facts

The success of the British band The Darkness in the early 2000s was completely unexpected and deafening. Their success is especially impressive considering that the band did not go off the beaten track: they did not sing popular songs of the time, but decided to revive the already forgotten glam rock of the 70s.

The band's music is characterised by bright guitar solos, excellent rhythm, humour and beautiful vocals, in short, everything you need to become not a one-day band, but a band that will be listened to years later. Let's find out who and how they came up with the idea to revive a forgotten genre and how their success came to them.

The band the darkness
The Darkness

Beginning

Like many successful musicians, the future members of The Darkness began their passion for music as children, and like many, started far from the very band that gained worldwide fame.

So, it was in Lowestoft and it all started with brothers Dan and Justin Hawkins. The young musicians started by recording covers of famous songs. Later, in 1997, they moved to London, where they formed a band called Empire.

Empire played prog-rock music. There were difficulties from the very beginning: Justin was not happy with the chosen style, he didn't like his brother's vocals very much. In the end, the band fell apart, but the brothers' love for music and creativity did not disappear.

One New Year's Eve, Justin went to a club where he participated in a competition and performed Queen's song "Bohemian Rhapsody". The audience was amazed: Justin's vocals were great, and everyone liked the acrobatic jumps, with which Jas diversified his performance. Of course, he won the contest, and in addition, he got the idea to create a new band.

For starters, the brothers remembered their former Empire mate Frankie Poullain. He was in Venezuela by that time, but when he heard the Hawkins' proposal, he returned to his homeland. Frankie was a guitarist, it was just a matter of finding a drummer and the band was ready. Then Dan remembered about his school mate, drummer Ed Graham. That's how the band "The Darkness" came into being, with Justin as the frontman.

Quite unexpected for the time, the musical style was inspired by bands the members of The Darkness admired, such as Aerosmith, Queen, Thin Lizzy, T. Rex, Van Halen and Def Leppard.

Success

Not many bands have been as lucky as this one: success came to them right away. Their concerts were packed with crowds, and the band got the interest of "Must Destroy Music", a subsidiary of "Atlantic Records". In 2002 The Darkness recorded their first single "I Believe In A Thing Called Love".

In 2003, The Darkness played at Def Leppard's warm-up show, and also appeared on the same stage with Mettalica and Iron Maiden. Needless to say, the band's fame grows by leaps and bounds, and their own concerts are full houses.

In the same year the band's first album "Permission To Land" was released, which sold more than 3 million copies and reached the top of the charts for four weeks.

But unfortunately, things couldn't go so smoothly. When the second album "One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back" was being recorded, Frankie left the band. He was replaced by drummer Richie Edwards, who used to be a guitar technician.

The second album The Darkness was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who had worked with David Bowie and bands like Queen, Nazareth, Rolling Stones, Guns N'Roses... A real constellation. Everything said the band was going to be a success. But it wasn't. The album "failed", the position in the charts went down, even the concert activity went down. The band didn't want to give up, a third album was planned, but in 2006 frontman Justin Hawkins went to hospital with drug and alcohol addiction, and after returning from there he announced that he was leaving the band. So The Darkness suddenly broke up.

The remnants of the band changed their name to Stone Gods and Justin organised a band called Hot Leg, but both of these projects went under in 2010.

Renaissance

In 2011, the band members settled all misunderstandings and a happy reunion took place. The band immediately recorded a new album "Hot Cakes". The album was liked by both critics and fans and reached number 4 in the British charts.

In 2014, drummer Ed Graham left the band. The band members assured the fans that everything was fine in their relationship with Ed, and he was leaving due to poor health and his inability to continue his work. Emily Dolan, the girl who, according to Justin, revived The Darkness with her energy, was hired to replace Ed.

Emily stayed with the band until 2015, when she decided to leave The Darkness to pursue new projects. The band members gave her a very warm welcome, recognising Emily's great contribution to their fifth album "Last Of Our Kind".

Emily was replaced by drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor, son of Roger Taylor, drummer for Queen.

the darkness press session 2015
The Darkness (2015)

In 2017, the band played a warm-up show for Guns N'Roses, the same year their album "Pinewood Smile" was released. The story continues and the band does not change their retro style, reviving the traditions of hard and glam rock.

LEAVE ANSWER

Please enter your comment!
please enter your name here

19 + = 20

'Pretty Woman With A Secret': Debbie Harry's 'Blondie' Secrets She Long Hid From Fans

Debbie Harry: facts about her personal life and career Debbie Harry is unfortunately a rarity: a surviving 78-year-old punk scene icon whose career developed during the era of...

Yuri Antonov - The Hardest Idol: Antics and Scandals That Made Producers Walk Away From the Master

Yuri Antonov: character, scandals, antics Recently, producer Sergey Lavrov said that Yuri Antonov is the most difficult, capricious and wayward maestro of the domestic variety, with whom he...

Ekaterina Batrakova: "A good half of academic musicians listen to good rock"

Ekaterina Batrakova - interview: about career and plans for the future The correspondent of Fuzz Music talked to the rock singer Katya Batrakova, whose songs have repeatedly hit the...
Recommended

Queen's first hit that got the band on the radio

Queen - "Seven Seas of Rhye": All about the song, history and facts, translation The Kingdom of Rhye was surrounded by seven seas, where fairies and other... lived together.

What's SHAMAN's Little Brother, or the PR stunt that worked: The Neverlove Story

Neverlove band: history, vocalist Yaroslav Stepanov, tracks and clips Perhaps you have already seen a video on YouTube (and by the way, it is far from one), which...

Best Song From The Rolling Stones' Worst Album

The Rolling Stones - "She's a Rainbow": all about the song, story and meaning, recording This song isn't quite like what you expect to hear....

Deep Purple: The Band That Trials Accompanied

Grim little-known facts about Deep Purple Deep Purple is one of the most legendary, yet darkest bands in the history of classic rock. Even their...

Ace of Base: The Fate of the Happy Nation Performers

Members of Ace of Base today: photos and facts In 1992, the debut album of the band Ace of Base was released. The single of the same name from it was instantly...

Yoko Ono Admits She's A "Witch" - and 4 More "Witchy" Songs About Women

The best rock songs about witches: translations, clips and facts The connection between witchcraft and rock and roll has been around for many decades. Thanks in large part to a conservative society that still...

"Did One Song Split the Beatles?" - A Fresh Look at the Affairs of Yesteryear

The song "Cold Turkey" and the breakup of The Beatles The Beatles are a band that definitely needs no introduction. Being one of the most colourful and influential pioneers of...

Top 3 Led Zeppelin Songs Written by Jimmy Page Solo

Led Zeppelin songs written by Jimmy Page Today, classic rock is still at the very centre of popular music, alongside genres such as country and hip-hop. А...

Who she is - Jimi Hendrix's mysterious "cunning lady".

Jimi Hendrix - Foxy Lady: meaning and history of the song, muse Jimi Hendrix didn't like to write songs - or rather lyrics to them: according to him, "usually...