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The Darkness are a British rock band from Lowestoft, Suffolk, formed in 2000.
The band consists of Justin Hawkins (lead vocals, guitar), his brother Dan Hawkins (guitar, backing vocals), Frankie Poullain (bass, backing vocals) and Ed Graham (drums).The Darkness came to prominence with the release of their debut album, Permission to Land, in 2003.
Backed by the singles "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Growing on Me", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", and "Love is Only a Feeling", the album was certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom, with sales of over 1,300,000.
In 2004 the band won three Brit Awards: Best British Group, Best British Rock Act, and Best British Album.After extensive touring in support of their debut album, Poullain left the band in 2005, and was replaced by former guitar technician Richie Edwards.
The band's second studio album, One Way Ticket to Hell...
and Back, was released in November 2005.
The following year, Justin Hawkins departed from the band after successfully completing a course of rehabilitation from alcohol and cocaine abuse.
As a result, the remaining members formed Stone Gods, and continued to perform and record without Hawkins, who subsequently fronted his own project, Hot Leg.On 15 March 2011, The Darkness announced reunion shows, with original bassist Frankie Poullain, including Download Festival 2011, and the Isle of Wight Festival 2012.
Their third album, Hot Cakes, was released on 20 August 2012.HistoryThe Darkness were directed by manager Sue Whitehouse, who had managed them since Justin Hawkins' time as a creator of music jingles and their original band days as Empire.
The Darkness were renowned for their live show, and such was the popularity of the band, they had a Carling Homecoming gig booked for the London Astoria before they had even signed a record deal.The band already had music industry interest from their days as Empire through connections with Sue Whitehouse, who was based at Savage & Best in Camden.
Joe Taylor, Aled Jones and Paul Scaife at The Tip Sheet first heard about the band through a post on The Tip Sheet message board, and featured Love Is Only A Feeling in January 2002.
They started Record of the Day, and featured the song again around the time of SXSW in March 2003.
They wanted to feature Friday Night too but they were told the band was saving it for an album.According to A&R Nick Raphael in an interview with HitQuarters, there was no initial clamour to sign the band, "There couldn’t have been less of a buzz, and only two record labels showed any interest in them." He believes the reason for lack of interest was that "The business as a whole thought they were uncool.
In fact, people were saying that they were a joke and that they weren’t real." As part of Sony Music UK, Raphael had attempted to sign them but the band instead opted to go with Atlantic Records.Permission to Land and commercial success (2003–2005)Their debut album, Permission to Land, went straight up to number two in the UK charts upon its release on 7 July 2003, before going to number one and staying there for four weeks, eventually going on to sell 1.5 million copies in the UK.The Darkness took inspiration for some of their work from the local north Suffolk area, including "Black Shuck" which mentions the nearby village of Blythburgh.The success of this album led to heavy touring for the band, including European portions of Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003.
They then went on to headline the Carling Festival in 2004.
The band won three BRIT Awards in 2004 in response to the album, Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album.
They also won two Kerrang! awards in 2004 for Best Live Act and Best British Band.
The third single from the album, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", was a substantial hit in the UK as was their tilt at the Christmas 2003 number 1, "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", which only just fell short, both singles reaching No.2 in 2003.One Way Ticket to Hell...
And Back and decline (2005–2006)In October 2005, a month before the album was to be officially released, Justin Hawkins won an eBay auction for a copy of One Way Ticket to Hell ...and Back for £350 under the username 'turbogunhawk'.
He claimed he did this so that he could track down whoever sold the digitally-marked advance copy of the album and try to prevent it from happening again."One Way Ticket", the first single from their second album, was released on 14 November 2005, debuting and peaking at number 8 on the UK Singles chart.
The album itself was released on 28 November 2005 to mixed reviews.
The album was produced by rock producer Roy Thomas Baker, best known for his work with Queen.
Early sales figures in the UK showed the album had not sold as well as its predecessor, Permission to Land.
The album debuted at number 11, and fell to number 34 in the second week of its release.
Although it has since reached platinum status, this contrasts with their debut's five times platinum status.The second single taken from their second album was "Is It Just Me?", released on 20 February 2006.
The single gained a preliminary position of No. 6 all that week, but finally charted at number 8.
The album's third single, "Girlfriend", was Released 22 May and charted at number 39.The band followed up their second album with a tour of the UK and Ireland, consisting of 12 dates in the major cities.
The tour opened in Dublin's Point Depot on 4 February and closed in the Nottingham Arena on 20 February.
Few of the venues sold out, their appeal seemingly having become more selective.
Their world tour, which followed, arrived in Australia and Japan after touring Scandinavia and Continental Europe in March.Justin Hawkins' departure (2006)In August 2006, lead singer Justin Hawkins was admitted to a rehabilitation clinic in concern of his health, which caused the band to cancel several concerts.
Around this same time the band confirmed that they were to start working on their third album to be released early 2007.
However on 10 October 2006, The Sun newspaper reported that Justin Hawkins was leaving the band after completing his course of rehabilitation from alcohol and cocaine problems.
The article, and ensuing rumours, stated that the band would continue without him, possibly with Richie Edwards as the front man.
In response to the story being reported by the media, the following message was posted on The Darkness' official forum:"We're sorry that you had to find this out through the newspapers, but we were hoping until the last minute that this – Justin's exit – wasn't going to happen.
We – Dan, Ed and Richie – are still in total shock and can't say at this stage what the future holds.
We would like to thank all our fans, partners and family for their continuous support.
You will hear from us, once we know what we want to do..."Using the pseudonym British Whale, Hawkins went on to release a cover version of the Sparks song "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", reaching No.
6 in the UK singles chart.
In 2007, he launched a failed attempt to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.Other projects (2006–2011)On 9 November 2007, it was announced on The University of East Anglia's student union website that a new band had been created comprising Dan Hawkins (lead guitar), Toby MacFarlaine (bass), Ed Graham (drums) and Ritchie Edwards (vocals/guitar).
The name of the band was The Stone Gods.In 2008, Justin Hawkins formed a new band, Hot Leg with Pete Rinaldi (of Anchorhead), Samuel SJ Stokes (formerly of The Thieves) and Darby Todd (from Protect the Beat).
In 2009 Hot Leg released an album, Red Light Fever, which failed to make a dent on the charts (#81).
Three singles were taken from it with two of them failing to chart.By December 2010, both Hot Leg and The Stone Gods were in hiatus.Reunion and Hot Cakes (2011–present)On 15 March 2011, the four original band members announced that they would be reuniting.
Speaking about the announcement, Justin Hawkins said that "the main thing for us is to make sure that musically we turn the experience into something positive again.
We've been remembering why it was so much fun in the first place, just four men making loud music in a room.".
The band played three warm-up shows in Norwich, Leamington and at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire, before performing at the 2011 Download Festival.
On 10 October 2011, the band played an "intimate" show at London’s legendary 100 Club, which featured support from Dark Stares and notable appearances from Queen guitarist Brian May and comedian Rufus Hound.
The band then headed out to Japan for a string of dates.
In late 2011, the band toured the UK and Ireland, playing 17 dates between 8 November and 5 December.On 1 February 2012, the band released a new song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us" as a free download.
They toured North America, playing with Crown Jewel Defense and Foxy Shazam, then performed at the Sweden Rock Festival in Sölvesborg, Sweden and the 18th Przystanek Woodstock.In May 2012 the band released "Every Inch of You" as a download single in the USA and the UK and in June the Darkness headlined the Big Top Tent at the 2012 Isle of Wight Festival.
The single, "Everybody Have a Good Time" was released on 26 June 2012.
Former Hot Leg drummer Darby Todd filled in for Ed Graham in June 2012, including the Isle of Wight Festival.
By July Graham had returned to the band.The Darkness released a third album, Hot Cakes, on 20 August 2012.
and the band was the opening act for the European and African leg of Lady Gaga's The Born This Way Ball world tour.Justin has said the band are already working on new material for the follow-up to "Hot Cakes", and are even aiming for a 2014 release.
Short YouTube clips were released on their channel showing their on-the-road recording set up.On the 20th of April 2013 it was announced that The Darkness would be headlining Y Not Festival in Derbyshire on Sunday the 4th of August 2013.On the 19th of November 2013 the band cancelled their show at Buckley Tivoli, at short notice, due to Justin's vocal illness.On the 25th of November 2013, they released a new single called The Horn.