The Darkness

The Darkness are an english classic hard-rock band. Their highly retro style of music was influenced by rock bands like Queen, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Sparks, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, T. Rex, Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy.

Achieving major success in the UK in 2003, The Darkness received considerable radio airplay of their singles, including I Believe In A Thing Called Love and the Christmas hit Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End). Their debut album, Permission to Land, reached number one in the UK charts and went on to sell one and a half million copies in the UK alone. The success of this album led to heavy touring for the band, which included headlining festivals in 2004. The band won three Brit Awards in the same year, including Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album. They also won two Kerrang! awards for Best Live Act and Best British Band.

By late 2004 the band's huge success had led to a public backlash, and people claiming that the band were more a joke than a 'real' band became more common. The band responded to this criticism by touring the UK's biggest arenas on their 'Winter-National Tour' with the Irish group Ash in support

The Darkness released their second album One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back in November 2005 to mixed reviews despite it having been produced by the well known Roy Thomas Baker whom has worked with bands such as Queen. Although it has been made platinum its sales do not come close to their debut's five-times-platinum rating and its chart peak at number eleven is a weak showing compared to Permission To Land's number one.

First Photo credited to Simon Emmett