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 et's play a hard-rock variant on the old sleepover chestnut. Who would you rather sleep with: Chris Martin or Angus Young? Chad Kroeger or Robert Plant? Avril Lavigne or . . . uh . . . Lita Ford? Where have the sex gods gone? Hard rock is still, a decade-and-a-half since grunge broke, mired in neutered shoegazing and affected gravity. Pop music has taken over the mantle of big, dumb, sexy fun, but if your naughty bits thrill to the roar of electric guitars, you've been out of luck since 1991.Enter The Darkness, determined to bring the aforementioned pleasures back to the genre, armed with harmonic shrieks, thumping drums, and songs with titles like "Knockers." Their just-released second album, One Way Ticket to Hell . . . And Back, reaffirms their status as glam-rock love machines for the new millennium. Hooksexup spoke with guitarist Dan Hawkins about what it means that he and his bandmates are such good dancers. — Peter Smith Kerrang just called One Way Ticket to Hell... And Back the best British rock album in twenty years. Can you think of any other albums that might be contenders? Yeah, I heard. That's really nice. I guess Metallica, The Black Album?
Yeah, true. I guess it's just hard to compare. We're just really different from a lot of these bands. I mean, U2 . . . I think Bono's a sod, y'know? Your website states your mission as "to prove to everyone just how utterly irrelevant every other band is right now." Yeah, we might need to get the webmaster to tone that down a little bit. [laughs] There are already at least three Darkness tribute bands — pretty unusual for a band that's only released two albums. There was actually a tribute band before we even had an album out — they were filling venues that we couldn't fill! Tribute bands usually play weddings and that sort of thing. I guess since we're sort of a good-time band, it fits pretty well. The New York Times recently called you "a comedy act for people who would accept AC/DC only as some sort of guilty pleasure." Do you think your fans consider you a guilty pleasure? Oh, that's bollocks. We work on a lot of levels. Bands like AC/DC and Queen obviously had senses of humor, and could be tongue-in-cheek. Anyone who doesn't recognize that doesn't know what he's talking about. You know, of course we have jokes, we have a sense of humor, but it's essentially a serious album. It's just that people are used to bands taking themselves so seriously these days — Coldplay and that sort of thing. Where do you particularly see [producer] Roy Thomas Baker's influence on the album? I produced a lot of the first album myself, which is fine, but we really wanted to make a big rock album — not overproduced, but full-sounding — and it helps to have someone else working on it with a lot of attention to detail. Not overdone, though, y'know? Not everything turned up to eleven. Were you surprised by the success of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"? I guess somewhat. Not a lot of bands are doing four solos a song, and if you like that kind of thing, then it had to be one of the most important songs of the year. We wanted it to be an immediate rock song. There are a lot of double-entendres on this album, and actually a lot of single-entendres too. Justin has cited "English Country Garden" as containing "the best knob joke on the whole album," which is definitely saying something. Given your forthright sexuality, would I be right to assume you see a fair amount of action? Well, maybe before the album was out. Kind of got that out of our system pretty much. Now we're all happily attached and stuff like that. Would you say that your more sexual songs are more a tip of the hat to the over-the-top sex drives of past rockers? It's not really a tip of the hat directly, but I remember reading this thing about AC/DC, Angus [Young] saying that if you can't pull a move on the dance floor, you don't deserve to be in a rock band. 'Cause, you know, there's sort of a sexiness in that that's a rhythmic thing, a sleaze thing. And then lyrically as well, there's always a reflection of the person who's writing the lyrics. So I'd say yes, we are pretty motivated in that department [laughs]. All that's to say that we're really good on the dance floor. What was the sexiest rock band of all time? Bloody hell. Winger? [laughs] Aerosmith were pretty — well, Steven Tyler's got it going on in that department. To be perfectly honest, I never got into bands because they were sexy. I listened to music a lot for release of anger [laughs]. AC/DC have got such an amazing groove. Not particularly sexy, though, were they? Bon Scott was, I suppose. Name some people and I'll say yes or no. Led Zeppelin? Yeah, fucking hell, there you go! Sex on legs. Sex on eight legs. Judas Priest? Nah. Unless you're that way inclined. In which case they're probably very successful. Rolling Stones! There you go! They've got to be the sexiest band of all time, haven't they? Are there any bands outside of the hard rock genre that you count as influences? No! [laughs] Well, I like ABBA. Fleetwood Mac. Scottish band called Teenage Fanclub I really like. A lot of these songs are at least semi-seriously about relationships. Would you describe yourself as romantic? Yeah, definitely. Like I say, we're all in pretty serious relationships. I mean, it's a little crazy to pursue success in music. You have to be pretty romantic to even try, in a sense. Do you plan to have children? Yes. That's the whole point, isn't it? I'm really looking forward to mellowing out a little — just having the world revolve around me and not worrying about the little stuff as much. What were you guys like in high school? The gang I hung out in incidentally had Ed [Graham, drummer] in it. That's how I met him. Ed was a goth, I was sort of a rocky-goth. There would be grunge guys, skaters. School revolved around booze and sex. We still managed to get fairly good grades, apart from art, mind you. I got a U in art, ungraded. That means you were studying it for two years, and you did a test, and you got nothing. [laughs] I just couldn't bear to be told what to do creatively. Recent years have seen some resurgence of classic-rock attitude in music. What do you think of Andrew WK? Oh, I like him. I don't necessarily get off on his music so much, but as far as his attitude, yeah, definitely. Between him and you guys, coming out around the same time — I took it as a good sign. Yeah, I wouldn't say we caused it or anything — it was probably happening before we turned up. Yeah, hard rock is coming back a bit. I really like The Hives. How about the Strokes? Oh yeah, a great band. We toured with them. You know, they got a lot of shit for being good-looking, which I think people shouldn't care about. I mean, we got a lot of shit for being bad-looking. [laughs] But they've just got a really great, original sound. Tenacious D? Yeah, I guess the difference is they're more of a concept act. The Darkness isn't a concept, we're just a band — sort of a different thing — but yeah, they're great. I was going to ask you whether you preferred Cheap Trick or Van Halen, but since you mentioned Cheap Trick already, let's say Nirvana and Van Halen. Ooh, good one. I think I'd still go with Van Halen. Well, actually, for me to say this is pretty major, but I'd have to say that Nirvana should be on the same level as Van Halen. That surprises me. [laughs] You know, they were a great rock band. I mean, listen to Bleach — and I think it just shows how much the superficiality and bullshit of commercialism can really weigh people down. I mean, he obviously really cared, and his death still makes me sad sometimes. n°
© 2005 Peter Smith and hooksexup.com. |
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