English rock band the Darkness exploded into the popular mainstream during the early 2000s, reviving the flamboyant spectacle and over-the-top attitude of classic rock & roll through their debut breakthrough Permission to Land in 2003. The group racked up numerous awards and chart milestones before collapsing nearly as suddenly as they had emerged, dissolving after their second album One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back. In the years that followed, members launched new projects, completed rehabilitation, and reconciled longstanding tensions. The band reformed in 2011 and delivered their return album Hot Cakes in 2012. Later releases throughout the 2010s extended their consistently rowdy and retro-hard-rock discography, winning over audiences with extravagant live performances and a steadfast embrace of excess paired with wry humor. Entering the new decade, they issued Easter Is Cancelled in 2019 and Motorheart in 2021.
Irrepressible frontman Justin Hawkins, handling vocals, guitars, and keyboards, anchors the Darkness alongside his guitar-playing younger brother Dan, bassist Frankie Poullain, and drummer Ed Graham. Together they single-handedly revived the long-unfashionable sounds and attitudes of late-'70s hard rock for a new audience. After the breakup of their earlier synth-pop outfit Empire, the Hawkins brothers planted the seeds for the Darkness during an impromptu New Year's Eve karaoke session in 1999. Justin's soaring take on Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" pointed the way forward, and the suitably theatrical name "the Darkness" was adopted soon after Poullain and Graham joined.
With flamboyant stage moves that featured garish leotards borrowed from Steven Tyler's closet, leaps and splits drawn from David Lee Roth, and a piercing falsetto lifted straight from Freddie Mercury, the multi-talented elder Hawkins steered the quartet through two years of grinding London's pub circuit. Although the notoriously sharp British press dismissed them outright as a joke, the Darkness' high-octane shows, instantly memorable songs, and unapologetic celebration of old-school rock & roll gradually built a devoted following through word of mouth alone.
Their fortunes shifted decisively in August 2002 when the band released the debut EP I Believe in a Thing Called Love on independent label Must Destroy Music, claimed victory in a major talent contest, and secured key support slots with Deep Purple and Def Leppard. Momentum carried into the following year, highlighted by a standout set at Austin's SXSW in January, the February release of the single "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" that reached number 36 on the U.K. chart, and their signing with major-label Atlantic in March.
The Darkness' rapid ascent proved unstoppable, and a string of well-received festival appearances paved the way for Permission to Land to enter the British charts at number one—the first new act to accomplish that since Coldplay three years earlier. Apart from the 2003 Christmas single "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)," the band focused on touring until 2005, when they entered the studio with Cars and Foreigner producer Roy Thomas Baker. During those sessions they parted ways with Poullain and brought in former guitar tech Richie Edwards as his replacement.
One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back arrived late in 2005 but underperformed relative to its predecessor, placing added strain on Justin Hawkins. After months of touring he entered rehab in August 2006 for alcohol and cocaine abuse. Although he completed treatment, Hawkins exited the lineup later that year, leaving the remaining members to regroup as Stone Gods the following year. Justin pursued solo work, releasing a single as British Whale and the full-length album Red Light Fever in 2008 with his new band Hot Leg. The original Darkness lineup reunited in 2011 and embarked on several European tours before issuing Hot Cakes in 2012.
Their fourth studio album Last of Our Kind appeared in 2015, marking the first Darkness release to feature new drummer Emily Dolan Davies, who had replaced founding member Ed Graham the previous year. Davies left the group shortly before the album's release, with Rufus Taylor stepping in for the subsequent tour. Taylor, son of Queen's Roger Taylor, made his recorded debut with the band on their fifth studio album Pinewood Smile, issued in 2017 through Cooking Vinyl. After touring with American supergroup Hollywood Vampires, the band released their first live album, Live at Hammersmith, captured at the Eventim Apollo in late 2017. This was followed in 2019 by their sixth LP Easter Is Cancelled, whose provocative artwork portrayed the members as biblical figures in an alternate universe.
Launching the 2020s, they delivered their seventh album Motorheart. Drawing inspiration from AC/DC and Guns N' Roses, the high-spirited collection of rock & roll anthems featured the sex-robot ode of the title track alongside the melodic "The Power and Glory of Love."
