The Continuing Rise of Darkness

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Interview with Frankie Poullain of The Darkness ahead of their Thursday night headline slot at Belladrum 2016.

The Darkness is not your typical Rock ‘N’ Roll band, The Darkness are Rock ‘n’ roll to it’s very core, over coming it’s ups and downs with aplomb and certainly now in the midst of a comeback that in the past would have seemed impossible. We caught up with bass player Frankie Poullain who knows better than most the journey the band have experienced

We last caught you at the Ironworks at the back end of 2013, do you have any recollection of the gig?

Yes. Comedian Phil Kay is my step brother and his daughter Coco came to the show with a bunch of her teenage girlfriends. They came into the dressing room post show and were treated to the sight of four pasty middle aged men in various states of undress accompanied by that unmistakable fart stench of men in close proximity and, to make matters worse, a freshly cooked spaghetti al oglio with huge amounts of garlic that we ate at the time to ward off tour flu.

What took our breath away in the gig was the high level of enthusiasm, banter and energy on show, how difficult is it to maintain this night after night?

Not difficult no, because we are more often than not feeding off the fans. It’s probably the best job in the world.

Seeing Taylor Swift lip syncing to “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” for an Apple advert, can life get any better for The Darkness (have a look here)?

The words ‘advert’ and ‘lip syncing’ would indicate that yes, things can get a whole lot better. And I sincerely hope they do, at the risk of sounding ungrateful…

We noticed a small bit of impatience on your social media for a follow up to ‘Last of our Kind’, what is the status of the fifth album?

Currently enjoying panoramic views of the Beauly Firth and composing said album. It’s going brilliantly well.

Justin, in his interview with Nerdist , warned that “New bands that come through, they’re either gonna becompletely retrospectively doing rock and roll as a tribute, or they’re gonna be doing what they need to do to get on the radio and make a good living out of music.” Do you think this demise can be turned around?

Ultimately yes. Realistically no.

As a band what are the challenges and advantages of playing festivals compared to other live gigs?

At festivals you invariably arrive on stage ‘cold’ as there are often no times for rehearsals and preparations involve travel, Hotels and such like. You’re living off your wits but that can be exciting and nutty. Things happen that you weren’t expecting. One man’s dream is another man’s nightmare!

What’s attracted to you to playing Belladrum this year?

The tartan heart is the one that beats the loudest.

It’s the 13th year of Belladrum, do you have a superstitious side to you and if so any pre gig rituals that you have to do?

No one takes a dump on the tour bus. If they did the toilet would be blocked and that would be very bad luck.

The Darkness headline the Garden Stage of Belladrum on Thursday night, do not miss it.

All our Belladrum coverage can be found here, and if you need to buy upgrades for the festival, using this link means that you are also supporting the website.

A notefrom the editor

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Chris Lemon
Chris Lemon
A lifelong passion for music matched with a geeky fascination for social media and websites resulted in the creation of Inverness Gigs back in 2010. The aim of the site is to helpĀ promote, support and generally raise awareness of the local music scene.If you want get in touch you can contact me direct at invernessgigs@gmail.com

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