The Darkness: "Hot Cakes"

Blackleaf

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British glam rock band, The Darkness, released their third album, "Hot Cakes", on 15th August.

It is the Suffolk band's first album since they re-formed last year after splitting in 2006 and the first to feature bassist Frankie Poullain since the release of their debut album "Permission to Land" in 2003. Poullain left the band in 2005 via a window during recording of their second album, "One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back", due to "musical differences" to be replaced by the former guitar technician of the band's guitarist Dan Hawkins. When vocalist/guitarist Justin Hawkins then left the band in 2006, the band was re-formed as The Stone Gods with Edwards switching to vocals and Toby McFarlaine becoming the bassist.

But now now The Darkness, with their original line-up, are back. The majority of the new album was recorded at guitarist Dan Hawkins' home, Leeders Farm, in Norfolk.



Discussing the album in comparison to the band's previous two studio albums, the triple-platinum "Permission to Land" (2003) and the less successful "One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back" (2005), drummer Ed Graham noted, "I think that we all feel that the second Darkness album is a bit over produced and maybe lost its way in places, a bit. I think we wanted to return to the form we were in; we wanted to make something that was more like Permission to Land than the second album."

"There are a couple of songs on this new album that are actually really old songs that we played ten years ago when we first formed."

The track, "She Just a Girl, Eddie", is written about Graham's ex-girlfriend. Prior to the album's release, Graham noted, "Justin's written a song about my ex-girlfriend which is slightly embarrassing. He wrote a song called "She Just a Girl Eddie", and it’s very obviously about the split up with my ex. It doesn’t mention her name but I enjoy playing that. It’s a good song. [...] I’m not speaking to her so I don’t know if she’s heard it or not. I’m not sure how she’d feel about it."



Lead vocalist and guitarist Justin Hawkins (Dan's brother and who has the name of their hometown, Lowestoft, tattooed across his stomach) said of the album, "'Hot Cakes' has a nice raw feel to it like the first album had, with occasional luxurious moments akin to the second. We're proud of the songs and we can't wait for people to hear them. We've been playing a lot of the material from the album in the live set for some time now. Each time we play a new song it feels like a deep powerful thrust in a frenzied love ritual between us and our fans."

The album includes a cover of Radiohead's seminal single 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)', of which Hawkins said: "We included the Radiohead cover because it has been a live favourite for many moons, and we wanted to release a definitive recording of our interpretation."



The Darkness are:

Justin Hawkins: Lead vocals, guitar
Dan Hawkins: Guitar, backing vocals
Frankie Poullain: Bass, backing vocals
Ed Graham: Drums

Track listing

"Every Inch of You"
"Nothin's Gonna Stop Us"
"With a Woman"
"Keep Me Hangin' On"
"Living Each Day Blind"
"Everybody Have a Good Time"
"She Just a Girl, Eddie"
"Forbidden Love"
"Concrete"
"Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
"Love Is Not the Answer"

Hot Cakes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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