The Darkness are back -- new album coming, tour announced

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by Bill Pearis

The Darkness!

Oh happy day! The Darkness are coming back to America in early 2012, including a February 4 stop at Irving Plaza. (No on-sale date yet.) A full list of North American tour dates are at the bottom of this post.

We haven't had The Darkness on these shores in at least five years around the time the band was promoting their overblown second album One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back. Due to rock n' roll problems, the band didn't last much longer. Bassist Frankie Poulain left in 2005, and frontman/songwriter Justin Hawkins quit the following year after a stint in rehab. The remaining members of The Darkness continued on as the Stone Gods and Hawkins formed the more latex glam Hot Leg who played SXSW in 2009. In March of this year, the original line-up of The Darkness reformed, started playing shows and announced they were working on a new album.

That album is part of the reason why they're touring. Hawkins tells Rolling Stone that the band are going to Nashville in January to record a few more songs. The tour in February will unleash a few of those new tracks, as well as the entirety of the band's fantastic 2003 debut Permission to Land, which this writer considers to be a genuine classic, one of my favorites of the '00s:

Clearly you don't wear spandex cat suits, sing in a Tiny Tim falsetto and write a love song to a genital wart ("Growing On Me") and not understand irony, but it was clear singer/guitarist/songwriter Justin Hawkins loves this stuff. Part Thin Lizzy riff rock boogie, part Queen flamboyance, Permission to Land is all hits, start to finish. (If you can get past Justin Hawkins' falsetto.) And some of the most inspired, melodically-driven guitar solos (some songs have three) on any album of the last 20 years. Plus "Friday Night" which could almost be a Pulp song. And hilariously insane videos (especially "Growing on Me".) It all went up Hawkins' nose on the overblown second album, but Permission to Land is brilliant.

I still wear my Darkness t-shirt that I got free with purchase of the Permission to Land CD at Virgin Times Square and count their September 2003 show at Bowery Ballroom as one of the most fun of the last ten years.

Tour dates and some of their classic Permission to Land videos are below.

The Darkness - Growing on Me

The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love

The Darkness - Friday Night

The Darkness - 2011 Tour Dates
Feb 01 Phoenix Toronto, Canada Tickets
Feb 03 Paradise Boston, MA
Feb 04 Irving Plaza New York, NY
Feb 07 Trocadero Philadelphia, PA
Feb 08 930 Club Washington, DC
Feb 10 St Andrews Hall Detroit, MI Tickets
Feb 11 Metro Chicago, IL
Feb 12 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
Feb 15 Summit Denver, CO
Feb 17 House of Blues Las Vegas, NV
Feb 18 Celebrity Theatre Phoenix, AZ
Feb 19 House of Blues West Hollywood, CA
Feb 21 Fillmore San Francisco, CA

Tags: The Darkness

posted at 2:17 PM on December 5, 2011 in music | tour dates | Comments (45)

Comments (45)

embarrassing.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:01 PM

Naahh The Darkness are ok.There are much worse out there.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:02 PM

no. not really

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:03 PM

I saw them in 2005 and it was a great balls to the walls rock show!

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:03 PM

GUITAR!

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:05 PM

the darkness are very fun hair rock. if you don't like them, you probably hate a lot of other stuff.

obviously they are not artistically good, but they are entertaining as hell.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:06 PM

"if you don't like them, you probably hate a lot of other stuff."

That was surprisingly well put.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:09 PM

If you like them you also probably hate a lot of other stuff.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:12 PM

if you're indifferent towards them you probably hate a lot of other stuff

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:20 PM

hooray!

Posted by x wil tayk me | December 5, 2011 3:21 PM

Did they tour in the US at all in 05 to support the second album?

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:24 PM

@3:24,

They at least played NYC but pretty sure it was an actual tour.

Posted by bill p | December 5, 2011 3:26 PM

CHARLIE MURPHY! DARKNESS!

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:32 PM

the walking dead.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:33 PM

i was at that bowery show...great first album.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:35 PM

god damn i can't wait for this show.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:35 PM

that first album came out when i was in grammar school. i am now 25

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:37 PM

Didn't this joke get old about 6 or 7 years ago?

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:37 PM

i will definitely go to this show, fuck yeah. they're like spinal tap meets t rex meets infant sorrow lol

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:38 PM

Looks like the guy on the far left showed up to the wrong photo shoot.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:40 PM

3:38 also surprisingly well put.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:50 PM

nope, just did a little refresher, still unbearable

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:52 PM

not a joke.. The real deal. Justin is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 3:52 PM

this band is soooooooooo 2003

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 4:01 PM

Somebody get Jah Rule and help me make since of all this shit!

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 4:07 PM

I think the video for "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was the last music video I ever saw on VH1.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 4:17 PM

Christmas Time: don't Let the Bells End is the best christmas video ever.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 4:22 PM

4:07 I laughed.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 4:27 PM

I believe in a thing called . . . BAD.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 4:36 PM

lots of "nice" people do stupid things.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 4:42 PM

Lemmy has some ass to kick

Posted by knowYERbassGODZ | December 5, 2011 5:01 PM

I was just not thinking of this band the other day....

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 5:01 PM

they are awesome! god forbid a band have a sense of humor.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 5:18 PM

i love this promo shot. the contrast between the guy on the left and the rest of the group is fantastic.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 5:30 PM

I only got to see them play 5 songs at a CD signing event at Virgin Megastore but holy shit, they kicked ass. I forgot how good Permission to Land was! It's easy to hate on em, but it's also hard to deny they're talented!

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 5:52 PM

fantastic

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 5:58 PM

I thought their 2003 Bowery Ballroom show was very ordinary. They had nothing on NYC's own Toilet Boys.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 6:15 PM

That video for "I believe in a thing called love" is hilarious and awesome. You've got to be a pretty miserable person (or not a rock fan in general) to hate on it.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 6:32 PM

so much coke

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 6:40 PM

go to their facebook tomorrow morning at 10 for a pre-sale

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 7:37 PM

It's true. I don't like them, and I also hate a lot of other stuff.

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 7:57 PM

You NEED to add their xmas song's video, it blows their others away!

Posted by Anonymous | December 5, 2011 8:37 PM

"I believe in a thing called chickpeas"

Posted by Anonymous | December 7, 2011 4:39 AM

second show added