Eccentric wild-haired rockers The Darkness are back with their brand-new album \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffPinewood Smile’,
\nas well as a huge nation-wide winter tour. After band departures, and a relative lack of activity over
\nthe past two years, these new projects are a statement of intent from the four-piece that, even in
\ntheir seventeenth year, they are still committed to, as per their single \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffSolid Gold’, “blow[ing]
\npeople’s fucking heads off” with their innovative, humorous, and electrifying music. \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffPinewood
\nSmile’ is certainly not a complete departure from The Darkness’s rock \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffn’ roll roots, and is saturated
\nthroughout by heavy beats and riffs, but it does demonstrate an expansion of the band’s musical
\nrange, as well as their undeniable talent and passion. I spoke to the band’s bass player Frankie
\nPoullain about the album, the tour, and possible new ventures.
\nWhen asked to describe the general sound of the new album, Frankie compares it to that heard
\nacross the Beastie Boys’ albums \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffPaul’s Boutique’, \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffCheck Your Head’ and \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffIll Communication’, saying
\n“it’s very much in that vein, it’s very playful”. When listening through the album, it is extremely hard
\nto disagree; the varied nature of its contents gives the whole work a youthful vibe, and preserves the
\nband’s endearing imagination, as they continue to fight against mundanity. “The sound is definitely
\nadventurous” says Frankie. “But we try new things on every album, otherwise what’s the point, you
\nknow? The most dangerous place to be is in your comfort zone”. As a result, \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffPinewood Smile’ is
\ndefined by the band “playfully delving into things [they] haven’t done before”. For example, as
\nFrankie explains, “Why Don’t The Beautiful Cry?’ is [their] first venture into soul music, and \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffSouthern
\nTrains’ is probably more of a political protest or punk song”. The youthful feel to the album can
\nsomewhat be credited to the inclusion of the band’s new drummer, Rufus Taylor, who “brings a lot
\nof energy through both his drumming and his duets with Justin”. Although this is the first The
\nDarkness album on which Rufus has performed, his inclusion feels very natural. “He’s fitted in very
\nwell” Poullain explains. “Just the synergy, the way he connects with all of us in different ways\u00d4\u00c7\u00aa it’s
\nlike a dream really, I can’t imagine it any other way. I think we got lucky there. He’s not like I would
\nhave imagined at all. He’s very wise in some ways, I think he’s an old soul”. Furthermore, the band’s
\ncollaboration with producer Adrian Bushby [Muse, Foo Fighters] has also shaped the album’s sound.
\n“For someone who has worked on so many albums, he has an amazing boyish energy and
\nenthusiasm, which is also definitely reflected in the songs [on Pinewood Smile], although enthusiasm
\nhas always run through everything we’ve done”.<\/p>\n
The UK leg of the band’s upcoming year of touring begins in late November. I was keen to ask
\nFrankie if there were any venues that he was particularly excited about playing at. “Well, I like to be
\nsurprised, so I don’t want to look too far ahead” he said. “However, I am looking forward to playing
\nat the Hammersmith Apollo [on 10 th December], that’s always the highlight. It’s such a great venue,
\nand there’s always a great sense of occasion and a sense of history when you play there”. The band
\nare in Cardiff (at St David’s Hall) three days later, and Frankie was full of praise for the energy of the
\nWelsh crowds. The tour also provides an obvious opportunity for the band to play some of their new
\nsongs from Pinewood Smile. I asked Frankie if he felt optimistic that the new material would go
\ndown as well with crowds as the band’s early hits \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffI Believe in a Thing Called Love’, \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffLove is Only a
\nFeeling’ and \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffOne Way Ticket’. “It really depends. You never know if the new ones are going to be
\ngood, it’s a testing ground. When you play live, you have no idea, and sometimes you can be
\npleasantly surprised, or sometimes it could be the opposite, when you think a new song is going to
\nbe good and just it falls flat live. I guess in a way the truth comes out, you know? And that can be
\nquite scary, but you have to confront that.”<\/p>\n
Moving away from the tour and the album, the eccentricity and humour of The Darkness as a band
\nhas, for years now, rendered them unique within rock music and in music as a whole. Whilst their
\nedginess may have originally left many listeners confused, their ability to not take themselves too
\nseriously, in a business that has become obsessed with image and success, is partly what makes
\nthem so endearing. I asked Frankie if he thought that humour and showmanship were being lost in
\ncontemporary music, or if it was simply being reimagined. “Yes, I think it’s definitely being
\nreimagined. People always used to accuse us of being ironic. Some people would say it was ironic,
\nsome people would say it was comedy. Now, irony is everywhere, even amongst indie bands. Father
\nJohn Misty, for example, has irony running through a lot of his songs, and it’s very dry and self-
\nregarding. So, yeah, I think humour has just evolved. We’re trying not to be clever-clever or
\nsophisticated, I guess we’re anti-sophistication. So we’re happy to embrace elements of humour that
\nare maybe a little more vaudevillian or music hall. We’re not trying to be subtle or hide behind
\nobscurisms”
\nSo, what does the future hold for The Darkness? Their tour will run through to the end of 2018, with
\nsome other appearances being made during festival season, before returning to song-writing again.
\nAs ever, Frankie and the rest of the band are plan to expand their musical range even further on
\nfuture projects. “We’d like to maybe try on the next album, rather than collaborating all the time,
\nband members to do some more solo compositions, so it gets a bit more competitive. We haven’t
\ntried that before, it might bring a new side out of us”.<\/p>\n
The Darkness’s new album \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffPinewood Smile’ drops on 6 th October. The UK leg of their tour begins on
\n23rd November and ends on 14 th December.<\/p>\n
By John Jones<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eccentric wild-haired rockers The Darkness are back with their brand-new album \u00d4\u00c7\u00ffPinewood Smile’, as well as a huge nation-wide winter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":447,"featured_media":12765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,3523,9],"tags":[797,3,3054,557,802,2368,96,1206,19,1160],"class_list":["post-12764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-interview","category-music","tag-album-review","tag-cardiff","tag-cardiff-student-media","tag-cardiff-university","tag-interview","tag-music","tag-quench","tag-quench-magazine","tag-review","tag-the-darkness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n