Easter is Cancelled (Deluxe) The Darkness

• 1 Rock and Roll Deserves to Die 05:25
• 2 How Can I Lose Your Love 03:03
• 3 Live 'Til I Die 03:32
• 4 Heart Explodes 03:48
• 5 Deck Chair 02:24
• 6 Easter is Cancelled 04:18
• 7 Heavy Metal Lover 04:41
• 8 In Another Life 04:01
• 9 Choke on It 03:21
• 10 We Are the Guitar Men 04:22
• 11 Laylow 03:23
• 12 Different Eyes 02:52
• 13 Confirmation Bias 04:36
• 14 Sutton Hoo 03:28
• Total Runtime 53:14

Info for Easter is Cancelled (Deluxe)

We live in the darkest of times. As power-drunk clowns cast a shadow of despair across the land, our people cower in tumbledown hovels. The children do not dance and the birds are silent. Hope is crushed.

Where are the heroes that this world needs, the heroes that this world deserves? Cast aside despair, people, for the tide will turn! We are men in tight costumes, and we are ready to fight with every weapon that our forefathers have bequeathed – the guitar axe, the drum hammer, the bejewelled codpiece, and the banshee wail of righteous anger.

And we shall not be cowed by the nay-sayers, nor bought off by the money lenders, nor gagged by the reeking stench of pious indifference that pours from the orifices of the clown-lords. Cometh the day, cometh the band. We are The Darkness and we bring you Light!

Most will remember U.K. camp-rock maestros The Darkness from their early aughts days with lead singer Justin Hawkins croon-chanting, "I believe in a thing called love:

JUSTLISTENTOTHERHYTHMOFMYHEART!" Well, the quartet have been steadily producing records since their rollicking 2003 debut, Permission To Land, save for a hiatus between 2006 and 2011.

These days, Hawkins, his brother and guitarist Dan, bassist Frankie Poullain and drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor are fresh off of releasing their sixth studio album, the impishly titled Easter Is Cancelled, which, according to Hawkins, came from his going down a rabbit hole of savior-themed "what ifs."

"Let's imagine a universe when Jesus decides on the day of the crucifixion that he's not having that after all and he's going to use his supernatural God-attributed gifts to escape," he tells the Recording Academy over the phone. "And then I suppose the thinking is, what kind of world is it after that? Is there poverty? I suppose nobody else would get crucified either. I think that that that'd probably be the last time anybody's crucified. And that's just a kickoff."

Below, Hawkins delves further into the ideas behind Easter Is Cancelled, the current state of rock and roll ("there's a real appetite for quality rock; there just isn't any quality rock") and why the Darkness, despite the viral nature of their debut single, will never be in the business of creating "content."

The Darkness

The Darkness
England's the Darkness centered around irrepressible frontman Justin Hawkins (vocals/guitars/keyboards), who, along with his guitar-playing baby brother Dan, bassist Frankie Poullain, and drummer Ed Graham, single-handedly resurrected the rather unfashionable sounds and attitudes of late-'70s hard rock for an unsuspecting generation. Following the demise of an earlier, conspicuously synth pop-based outfit named Empire, the Hawkins brothers sowed the seeds of what would become the Darkness at an impromptu karaoke session on New Year's Eve 1999. Justin's rapturous rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" showed them the way, and the suitably dramatic name of the Darkness was chosen shortly after the arrival of Poullain and Graham.

With outrageous stage antics that included gaudy leotards stolen from Steven Tyler's wardrobe, leaps and splits borrowed from David Lee Roth, and an ear-piercing falsetto copped from Freddie Mercury himself, the multi-talented elder Hawkins led the quartet as the group spent the next two years slogging it out in London's pub circuit. Though they were immediately singled out as a joke by the notoriously vicious British press, the Darkness' high-energy sets, remarkably catchy material, and unapologetic worship of old-school rock & roll bombast gradually earned them a fanatical following based on simple word of mouth.

I Believe in a Thing Called Love [EP] The tide finally began to shift in their favor in August 2002, when they released their debut EP, I Believe in a Thing Called Love (through the independent label Must Destroy Music), won a major talent contest, and scored all-important opening slots with Deep Purple and Def Leppard. Their momentum carried through into the new year, starting with a knockout performance at Austin's SXSW music convention in January, continuing with the release of the "Keep Your Hands Off My Woman" single in February (which peaked at number 36 in the U.K. chart), and climaxing with their subsequent signing with a major-label, Atlantic Records, in March.

Permission to Land Nothing could stop the Darkness' snowball effect, and a series of acclaimed festival appearances set the stage for their debut album, Permission to Land, to debut atop the British charts -- the first time a new act had achieved such a feat since Coldplay three years earlier. Aside from the 2003 Christmas single Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End), the Darkness concentrated on touring until 2005, when they returned to the studio with Cars and Foreigner producer Roy Thomas Baker. During the recording of their sophomore album, the band parted ways with Poullain and replaced him with former guitar tech Richie Edwards.

One Way Ticket to Hell...And BackOne Way Ticket to Hell...And Back was released late in 2005 but didn't fare as well as its predecessor, which took a toll on Justin Hawkins. Following several months of touring, the frontman entered rehab in August 2006 for alcohol and cocaine abuse. Although he completed the program, Hawkins nevertheless left the Darkness' lineup later that year, leaving the group's fate in the hands of his former bandmates. The remaining musicians regrouped under the name Stone Gods the following year, while Justin busied himself with solo work, issuing a single under the moniker British Whale and a full-length album, 2008's Red Light Fever, with his new band Hot Leg. In 2011, the Darkness reunited with the original lineup featuring Hawkins and embarked on several European tours. In 2012, they delivered the full-length album Hot Cakes. In 2015, the band issued their fourth studio outing, Last of Our Kind, the first Darkness album to feature new drummer Emily Dolan Davies, who'd replaced founding member Ed Graham the year before. However, just before the album was released, Davies departed the band, with Rufus Taylor stepping in as her replacement for the subsequent tour. Taylor made his recorded debut on their fifth studio album, 2017's Pinewood Smile, released via Cooking Vinyl. (Source: AMG)

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