British rock sensations The Darkness are bringing their Motorheart tour to Australia this October for what promises to be a typically entertaining romp through the two decades of music that comprises The Darkness' back catalogue.
Known as much for their humorous take on music as they are for their scintillating guitar play and the dynamic vocals of frontman Justin Hawkins, The Darkness are a band who have brought the swagger back to rock music without curtailing any of their free spirit or values.
With a large chunk of the shows either sold out already or well on the way, it seems like Australia - like the rest of the world - have been swept up in the irresistable charm of the band.
HEAVY caught up with guitarist/backing vocals Dan Hawkins to talk about what The Darkness will be showcasing while here.
"The usual kind of stuff, I suppose," he promised. "Loud music played by men in loud outfits shouting at each other really loudly and at the audience really loudly. Just lots of loudness. Volume."
That all sounds like a bucket of fun, but what can we actually expect from the live show?
"I wish there was such thing as a typical Darkness show." he laughed, "because you never know what's going to happen next - and that's exciting for an audience - but I would say my place in the band is musical director and you put all these things in place and you rehearse like mad and spend all this time to get things perfect and Justin goes out there to cause as much mayhem and stop and start the show. At one point we were playing a show and he ended up collecting every single hat and pair of glasses from the audience, and a fairly big audience, and was just trying to put them all on at the same time. It took about 10 or 15 minutes and we had to cut five songs out of the set. It was ludicrous. You never know what's gonna happen next."
In the full interview, Dan responds to some outlandish claims in the press release, including just how they will be operating at their loosest and most extroverted frequency, translating the humour of their music to the stage, the VIP tickets and how they give punters the opportunity to perform live on stage with the band, the possibility of new songs on the tour, the early days of The Darkness, the band's early success and what he puts it down to and more.
Intro song THE POOR 'More Wine Waiter Please'