THE DARKNESS Frontman Talks Reunion, Forthcoming Album

Darryl Sterdan of the QMI Agency recently conducted an interview with vocalist Justin Hawkins of reunited British rockers THE DARKNESS. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On reuniting:

Justin: "The thing that was infectious about this was that we didn't care. We weren't doing it to become huge. We weren't doing it because we're ambitious. We're doing it because we are genuinely loving the music ... We're back to Square 1, where it's just music and the creative process ... We have to fight for it. It's gloves-off time and it's time to get your hands dirty. It's time to get in there and change people's idea of what we're doing, so it's going to be hard work and I'm aware of that, and that's what I'm excited about getting my teeth into now. I would sort of approach it more like a sportsman than an artist."

On the new album:

Justin: "We're in the studio even as we speak ... I think we've got nine of the required songs done or finished, all sounding shiny and good ... It's kind of nearly finished now. I'd like it to be on my birthday really, which is the 17th of March. I think that would be the ultimate gift to myself."

On his goals:

Justin: "Something I've always wanted to do is a musical but, you know, musical from beginning to end, not like a musical of our songs horned into a storyline. I started to work on one that was called 'The Collapse Of The Lowestoft Fishing Industry' ... The main character has lost his throat to cancer so you have to sing all the songs in a voicebox. But that's kind of ... I've got about three of the songs for it and the storyline but that's the stage it's been at since 1995. Don't know if I'll ever get around to finishing it."

You can read the entire interview at QMI Agency.