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The Darkness bassist Frankie Poullain says that the band put itself in isolation as it began to write the songs that would become the British rock band’s new album, Dreams on Toast. Members went to an artist retreat in the Scottish Highlands to devote themselves solely to penning material for the release.
“I have a friend who runs a retreat near Inverness,” says Poullain from his home in London via a Zoom call. “It was winter time, but we had a river outside to take cold plunges. We spent the whole time locked away, just the four of us. Then, we went to [drummer] Rufus [Taylor]’s place in Cornwall, which is the peninsula on the southwest of England. It was next to the water and an inspiring place. We tend to have writing trips in the winter when there are less distractions.”
While album opener “Rock and Roll Party Cowboy” features the usual over-the-top glam you’d expect from the British rockers, other songs embrace country and soul.
“We definitely didn’t set out to make an eclectic album,” says Poullain. “We challenged ourselves and that is what happens when we do. That is what happens. We go off into a genre or arrangement that takes it in a different direction. We like to dare each other. For example, on the extended album, there is a solo track for each of us. Rufus [Taylor]’s was about just his love for his dog in the tradition of Barry Manilow’s ‘Mandy.’”
Guitarist Dan Hawkins produced the album at Hawkland Studios in Sussex, England. Poullain says the nonsensical album title has been circulating for some time.
“[Singer] Justin [Hawkins] and I were loving the album title backwards and forwards,” says Poullain. “Dan [Hawkins] wasn’t so keen. He said, ‘Over my dead body.’ On this one, Dan used some psychology on us. He said, ‘If you deliver this album on schedule, and you guys do your solo songs, then you can call it Dreams on Toast.’ It was a carrot-and-stick situation.”
In typical Darkness fashion, the stripped down “Hot on My Tail” has a few different meanings.
“It was inspired by Justin’s love of double entendres,” says Poullain. “He wanted to see how far he could stretch a song about passing wind. He sticks in double entendres, which he loves. Justin gives himself that challenge. Dan took it to another level with the arrangement. To me, it’s like something from Blazing Saddles. It’s like an old Western. That’s what it reminds me of.”
With its fiddle and somber vocals, “Cold Hearted Woman” comes off as an old school country classic. Poullain says he can imagine a couple of different classic singers could give it a go.
“I think Chris Isaak could sing it,” he says. “Maybe k.d. lang. That’s where I feel like the song exists. It’s somewhere between k.d. lang and Chris Isaak.”
“Mortal Dread” might be the best AC/DC song that AC/DC never wrote.
Oh yeah, I agree,” says Poullain when asked about he comparison. “And that goes back to the early days when people used to say we were a gay AC/DC. There’s more of that on the first album. It goes back to that blues-based rock. We don’t do it that often. Justin is more of a theatrical singer. No one sings like him. That’s a blessing because we would do a lot more AC/DC if he did have a blues voice.”
Originally, Poullian met Dan Hawkins when the guitarist was just 18 or 19.
“He was a kid,” says Poullian. “He was really talented. I was meeting people through the classified ads. It was in hard print. It was the mid-’90s. Dan was very quiet and focused and serious. At the time, I was playing guitar, and he was on bass. His technique was so evolved. I relegated myself to bass, so he could play guitar. We were in a couple of different bands, including one that had more of a Teenage Fanclub vibe. I had a side project that was more of a mainstream ’80s vibe. That was the band Empire, and we recruited Dan’s brother Justin to play keyboards.”
Dan Hawkins warned Poullian that he often had to “sack” his brother because he didn’t take things seriously.
That changed with the Darkness.
“I think [Justin Hawkins] got a bit of a sniff of the possibilities and realized how talented he was,” says Poullain. “The kind of talent is so instinctive. It comes to him easily. Because of that, it took him a while to realize the value it had and what he was capable of as well. Not many people come alive in moments of high pressure when the wheels come off, but he loves it. Most people just panic.”
Thanks to the jubilant, Queen-like hit “Thing Called Love,” the band left a lasting impression with its debut, 2003’s Permission To Land. Released at a time when physical album sales still mattered, the LP went platinum a couple of times over. At the time, however, the group struggled to keep the momentum going.
“What was difficult after that was that we kind of fell apart and lost contact with each other,” says Poullain. “That had a lot to do with the people looking after us at the time. The labels were falling apart then, too. There were all these mergers. Everything was falling apart. We were maybe in a way the last rock ’n’ roll band before the wheels fell off. From that aspect, we were lucky, but we were also unlucky because it was the period everything changed. Record companies wanted to milk our band as much as they could. We allowed ourselves to be milked. We didn’t like each other and ourselves, and then, we imploded.”
After going their separate ways, band members would reunite in 2011.
“That was incredible,” says Poullain when aked about the reunion. “It’s surreal. It’s rare in life that you get a second change after you messed up. The people around us thought it was inevitable. When you’re in the middle, you think you can’t rebuild the bridges. It’s just ego and pride, and we had to transcend that. As we all know, that’s one of the hardest things to do.”
Poullain is excited for the upcoming U.S. tour, particularly the chance to return to Cleveland.
“I really appreciate the American taste,” he says. “It’s less parochial. They get rock n’ roll because they invented it, and Cleveland is an especially good place for rock ’n’ roll.”
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Jeff Niesel
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