As The Darkness celebrate the 20th anniversary of their mega-hit album Permission To Land, Justin and Dan Hawkins discuss their unique chemistry as guitar-playing brothers in arms
Every once in a while, a group will come out of nowhere and give rock music the good kick up the arse it desperately needs. In 2003, that band was called The Darkness, and it was their debut album Permission ToLandthattook the sound of Les Pauls and cranked Marshalls to the very top of the UK charts.
It is often said the greatest twin-guitar bands – from Thin Lizzy and AC/DC to Aerosmith and Guns N’ Roses – boil down to the chemistry shared between both players, which is something The Darkness have always excelled at. On stage right, there’s Dan Hawkins, the rhythmic engine and occasional soloist at the very heart of the noise. And centre stage is where you’ll find his older brother Justin, the quartet’s unflinchingly flamboyant singer/guitarist who is typically responsible for their more technical, Eddie Van Halen-inspired leads. With a newly expanded reissue of the album, Permission ToLand… Again,released in October, the siblings join TG for a deep dive through the creative relationship and arena-conquering anthems that helped establish them as one of the most important British rock bands to emerge in the 21st century
When did it first become apparent you would have different roles when working together musically?
Justin: Dan and I played in our very first bands together. Dan was either the bass player or the drummer. I guess that would end up being [early band] Vital Signs. We often came as this guitarist and bassist combo. We started playing in a band called Fish Logic, who were already on the circuit and much more established at the time. We came as a pair of hired guns to help fill out the sound. The twin guitar thing didn’t start happening until Empire, the band we were in before The Darkness. Dan was playing rhythmic lead guitar filling out all of the parts while I was on keyboards. Towards the end of Empire, I started playing guitar too. It was all about Dan in terms of the core and then in terms of the upper frequencies it was all about me. Wouldn’t you agree with that, Dan?
Dan: Yeah! I wasn’t a lead guitarist by any means. I was just the rhythm guy. I’d go wherever Justin led really. Because he was older and knew better musicians – and was also a better musician than me – twas ever thus! I’d follow him from one band to the next. Usually what would happen is someone would get fired and everyone would ask Justin, ‘Do you know anyone?’ and he’d say ‘Well, my brother’s pretty good!’ I think I was given a week’s notice to learn how to play bass for Vital Signs, I’d only played drums until that point. I’ve been blagging my way through ever sin
