Tools
The Darkness
w/Billy Talent
Stranger Personals
Sat Nov 22, Studio Seven, 8 pm, $10.77 adv/$12 DOS (all ages).
The Darkness are currently masters of the British universe, delivering anthemic, '80s-inspired arena rock with such an overwhelming amount of sincerity that you almost believe them when they tell you they're not supposed to be a joke. Their warm embrace of Reagan-era hair metal makes it hard not to view them as a Spinal Tap for the new millennium--but they're as serious as a heart attack in their claim that satire is not on their ambitious agenda. They're also charming and witty as hell, particularly foxy frontman Justin Hawkins, a man so shamelessly flamboyant he'd make Freddie Mercury blush.
You're ridiculously successful in the UK, but it's clear from reading your press that it's important to you guys to make it big over here, too.
In the UK, the work is done, really. We've always considered ourselves a global proposition, and the United States is certainly the most important market, isn't it?
Your video [for "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"] is pretty over-the-top. What can people expect in a live setting?
We take our songwriting very seriously, and with videos we approach... we just want to have a laugh with those things. Live, it's more of a collective experience with the audience and us, and we're not at all confrontational in that way. The music might be challenging in some areas, but really we just want to have a good time with our audience and that's what we do. In that sense it harks back to the glory years of rock, you know.
So you guys aren't traveling with any pyro or crazy stage sets?
No, not this time. I think our outfits are more spectacular, but I think that's about the extent of it at the moment.
In addition to singing and playing guitar, you also handle the synthesizer parts. In the mid-'80s keyboards were highly controversial in the heavy-metal world--in fact, a wise man once said that synthesizers are the Roe v. Wade of heavy metal. Have you ever had any moral quandaries about your instruments?
[Laughing] As a prime purist in that field, some people won't use piano or acoustic guitar--and they'll hardly even use a ride cymbal; it's all high-hat-driven drumming. But it has its place: I don't think Starship would sound the same without synthesizers, I don't think Foreigner would... a song like "Urgent" on Foreigner's 4 would be unforgivable with the Mutt Lang-assisted synthesizer production on it. "Jump" by Van Halen is another one--it would be unacceptable without that motif.
You're in a band with your brother, so I can't help but think about other bands with the brothers...
Van Halen was one of them! And AC/DC...
Yes, but I was thinking of those Oasis clowns. Have you learned anything about managing sibling conflict by watching the Gallagher brothers?
We're grownups and we're also intelligent people, so we don't have those communication difficulties. It seems sort of born of ignorance--that sort of squabbling, bickering, petulant behavior is not us at all. We used to be like that in our early teens, but we're just like mates now.
Was the early conflict an asset in any way?
Well, we've discovered a balance now, and it was sort of an asset to have that conflict early on because we developed very differently as musicians. Now what he brings to the table is very different than what I bring. I'm all about showing off and flamboyance and bombast--and he's more about the tasteful end of it, which is very important, especially when it comes to songwriting.
I wanted to ask you about that song "Givin' Up." It's one of the cheeriest songs ever written about heroin, but it obviously isn't an endorsement. I'd say that's quite an accomplishment.
Yeah, I'm proud of that one. Someone in our family has been a full-time junkie the last 10 years, and so many people who've been in my same situation come up to me and say, "Thanks a lot for that, you know how it is"--and I find that very moving. If you approach something in a conversational way you're more likely to get your point across than if you're being cryptic.
And that's why you chose a more upbeat format for that song?
In a way it's like the Beach Boys' approach--very sinister messages over jubilant music. As long as you're honest, it works.
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