THE Darkness have never lacked self-belief when it comes to their bombastic riff-laden rock ‘n’ roll.
And eight albums in, their musical confidence is unwavering as they prepare to do battle in the UK chart with banjo pluckers Mumford & Sons.
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The Lowestoft rockers’ new album, Dream on Toast, is going head to head with the Sons’ big return, Rushmere.
But as far as guitarist Dan Hawkins is concerned it is his group who will come out on top.
He told Classic Rock: “I think it’ll go Number One. I am confident. We’re up against Mumford & Sons. We’re going to beat those c**ts.”
The record was made at Dan’s home using a pricey new mixing desk that allowed them to take time crafting perfect guitar tones without racking up huge engineering bills.
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The brothers Hawkins are more often than not musically in sync and the writing and recording process is relatively smooth, save for the occasional tantrum.
“Justin and I tend to see eye to eye – we can realise when Justin’s building something I know is going to be good,” Dan told Clash.
“We’ll toil away and spend hours on something that sounds better than we even thought it could and the other guys will come in and be like ‘meh’ and then I threaten to leave the band and they go, ‘actually, I like it’”.
In the early 2000s, when their debut album, Permission to Land, became a global phenomenon thanks to the megahit I Believe in a Thing Called Love, frontman Justin couldn’t be seen in anything but a skin-tight catsuit.
While he’s as limber and lithe as ever, Justin believes the time is right to hang up the flamboyant stagewear.
He said: “On consultation with our award-winning stylist, she just said, no, you can’t wear that f**king catsuit.
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“I will pack one just in case, for emergencies, but it’s time for us to move on from that… momentarily. I just don’t want us to go out there looking like Slade.”
Justin previously told us that the catsuits also came in handy in the bedroom.
He said: “I’ve got all of them. Occasionally, if the wife fancies some role play or a younger husband I’ll don it (laughs)… walk around with a boner in it because it reminds me of being successful. That’s alluring to a lady, success.”
After years grinding away on the theatre and club circuit, the boys are now back where they belong filling arenas.
Days ago they rocked Wembley and it was no doubt a moment to savour as Dan told us in 2017: “We’d be lying if we said we didn’t want to be back in arenas at some point.
“Just because we can make reality of all the crazy stage set ideas that we have. But we’re doing pretty well. We’re just happy playing to our massive fan base.”
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