The Darkness Return With New Single ‘All the Pretty Girls’ in Advance of Their Fifth Album, ‘Pinewood Smile’
Rock and roll warriors the Darkness are all set to release their fifth album, Pinewood Smile, on Oct. 6 via Cooking Vinyl. You can hear the first single, "All the Pretty Girls," above.
"All the Pretty Girls" finds them in top form with some fierce guitar action, Justin Hawkins' trademark shimmering vocals and keen melodic sense. Pinewood Smile is the first album to feature recent addition Rufus Taylor (son of Queen's Roger Taylor) on drums.
The band has always somewhat out-of-place in the by-the-numbers rock world due to their sense of humor -- they called Pinewood Smile "blonder, younger, more beautiful" than previous records -- but this doesn't seem to faze the band. “Rock has always had a certain amount of humur attached to it,” guitarist Dan Hawkins told NME. “That’s never changed, has it? We’re a rock band and there aren’t many rock bands left. We’re part of a dying breed. What you’re really asking is ‘Is there more of a need for rock?’ Yeah, there always is. There’s almost too much of a risk to not take yourself serious these days. It is harder for bands these days.”
In the press release for the album, Justin clarifies, "You may not give a s--- about Brexit or [Donald] Trump, but PLEASE... give a s--- about the Darkness otherwise the last bastion of cultural sensibility will fall and our airwaves will be polluted by meaningless pop purveyed by a---holes and morons... Oh wait!"
The Darkness, Pinewood Smile, Track Listing
1. "All the Pretty Girls"
2. "Buccaneers of Hispaniola"
3. "Solid Gold"
4. "Southern Trains"
5. "Why Don’t the Beautiful Cry?"
6. "Japanese Prisoner of Love"
7. "Lay Down With Me, Barbara"
8. "‘I Wish I Was In Heaven"
9. "Happiness"
10. "Stampede of Love"
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