Carla Jenkins
Easter might be cancelled for The Darkness but luckily Christmas is not. The long-time rockers are rolling into Glasgow tonight as part of the tour for their new album. When we caught up with the band, guitarist Frankie Patterson was amidst a Marie Kondo-ing of his house, a feeling which he says influenced the new style of his album.
"I'm into bringing the new stuff in, getting the old stuff out. De-cluttering. I've got some new tapestries and a rug, but they're from Ebay and Etsy – old, but new to me. I did make a £100 mistake with a rug, though. It only cost £10 to buy, but £100 to return to India. Rookie error."
Soft furnishings aside, The Darkness' sixth studio album, Easter is Cancelled, is the musical version of bringing out the old with the new.
Exciting as that may be, Patterson has managed to keep his cool. "It's not a good sign of my age to be fanning my face and OMG-ing. If you get excited about things you can lose focus. You need to be cold blooded to keep focused, like a shark. It's all fine being good vibes but we have a duty to our fans to keep focused and not get carried away and over-excited. Being excited on stage is different, feeding off the energy of the crowd."
Being able to stay focused is something the band are clearly well versed in, having been playing for nearly two decades. It was after their debut album that The Darkness swiftly found themselves in the global limelight with their infectious brand of unashamedly glammed-up classic rock and the band gained three Brit Awards, and fans around the world.
Over the years they’ve endured their share of trials, including member departures and a split for several years, but that renowned focus is back. "We're doing a show that we've never done before" says Patterson. "This album is the best thing we've ever done. We spent a long time in the studio doing it.
"We're going to present in a different way, with different narratives and different visuals. Rock 'n' roll is so conformist now – we're shaking it up.
“We as a band are constantly evolving, and I think that Easter is Cancelled is our most evolved and edgy album,” he says. “It’s big. It’s a shame that we can’t actually show that on the stage every night, but we’d need the wigs and they’re really hard to get on and off.”
The album has seen the band make a return to the Top 10, just in time for the seasonal period (which of course they are well acquainted with – their single Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) has more than 14 million streams on Spotify).
The band have stated their intention to rejuvenate rock music with tracks like Rock and Roll Deserves to Die, a tongue-in-cheek lament on the lacklustre state of their beloved genre. The track’s accompanying video includes 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,” says guitarist Dan Hawkins. “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. What’s needed is some innovation to move things forward.”
These are big promises from a band with a big sound and bigger hair.
The Darkness, O2 Academy Glasgow, tonight at 7pm
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