For the past 15 years, Hawkins has been gyrating his hips onstage and driving fans wild with his group’s tongue-in-cheek brand of glam rock. It turns out the pants hold more than just his junk.
“It’s a special trick we use in the studio. Whenever we’ve got to record a chorus I get a more generous cut, where if we’re working on a verse I pack everything in to get those high notes. It’s absolutely true. If you condense anything you get more out of it, so I do it for the music.”
The Darkness continue to hold the world in their loving embrace and Hawkins believes the reason behind the band’s ongoing success is their own ambition. “The pressure is more from within the band. We’re all trying to be the best. That first album [2003’s Permission To Land] was our benchmark. It was such a strong album straight out of the gate. I mean, bands go their whole career without turning out something that good. So we push ourselves to keep up at our own levels. I don’t think it’s in us just to churn out something that’s less than absolutely awesome.
“When you get a little bit of success, it’s easy to keep going then. I mean, hell, I could be working at Starbucks or something, but instead I’m making incredible music. Success is our only propulsion. Our albums sell, people come to our shows, and with that success we get all the energy we need to keep doing it.”
But 15 years is a long time, and to maintain the same passion and energy for music is one of the greatest challenges facing an artist. But Hawkins believes that, while you may not feel the same way you did when you first start making music, your levels of enthusiasm will always remain the same.
“It’s hard to remember how it used to feel. It’s still exciting, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it. Whether it feels the same is hard to say. All sensations change [but] something of the original must be there. I know I still get excited whenever we play – I don’t know if it’s the same excitement I felt at the beginning, but it’s still just as exciting.”
The Darkness’ career has seen them release four studio albums and have numerous awards hurled their way, yet all the while people in the background continue to argue that rock is dead. Hawkins still laughs at a review that once claimed The Darkness were just a big-time ’70s rock tribute band.
“I think our sound keeps changing,” he says. “I wouldn’t say that our sound is a tribute to the ’70s, but more inspired by the rock of the ‘70s, ’80s and ’90s, simply because music from that time was almost always brilliant. If we felt the same about more modern stuff we’d be inspired by that too, but I find the sound of the 2000s is shit – mostly because people are trying to find something new instead of something good.”
With the band about to launch a new tour, Hawkins looks forward to travelling across Australia once again.
“It’s been long overdue. All of Australia is brilliant. A lot of people are saying that Melbourne’s where it’s at, but we’re just really excited to get to Australia and get the tour going. It’s going to be brilliant.”
BY DANIEL PRIOR
