A Lesson In 09.08.09: The Darkness and Beyond...
Posted by Alistair McGeorge on 09.08.2009
This week is A Lesson In... three band special. At one time the biggest band in the UK, The Darkness, split in 2006 and two bands formed from its ashes. Alistair McGeorge returns to look at the history of The Darkness, Hot Leg and Stone Gods.
It's been a while, but welcome everyone to A Lesson In... with yours truly, Alistair McGeorge. Last time we were together we had a look at British pop-rock superstars McFly, and this week we continue a similar trend, with a twist. Of course, this week's band isn't at all pop-rock; it's all about the glam rock, and what came after it. Rather than just look at one band this week, I'm changing things around slightly. The main band that the column will begin with didn't have a long enough history to warrant a full column on their own, but after their split they spawned into two equally awesome bands. Whilst their careers are, hopefully, still to be written, I thought it'd be nice to try to spread their name around (as if this column would really affect their popularity?).
Anyway, as always we've got feedback to get through before we get to all of that, so STOP!
It's banner time...
To try and get this column (and hopefully, through that, 411mania) a few more readers, I'm getting into the habit now of announcing this column on the band's forum a few days before. I did this with the last Lesson In... McFly, and it seemed like a success. There weren't loads more comments, but we did get some nice pieces of insight from fans of the band. It'll take a while to get through, so feel free to skip to the main body of the column if you don't want to read this. Just before we start on last week's comments, I think it's time for a musical introduction to this week's band, with the song that put them on the map...
Feedback
First of all, I just want to say thank you to the (what I'm guessing were mostly) girls that commented this week. I got a couple of details wrong apparently, so we'll start off proceedings with more of a correction/explanation than a comment from Kryst:
Just a little thing, Falling In Love was download only, it wasn't actually a release, more a promo song for the DVD, in fact the videos derived completely from clips of the DVD.
I'll admit to not realizing it was download only, but I've seen the video (and the DVD) a few times, so figured it was there to promote that release. Thanks for the clearing the type of release up, though, because that goes some way to explain the bad chart performance. From Kryst to a very anonymous commenter called :). Whatever your name is, you have the floor…
I think that McFly are one of the best bands ever. They are probably the only band around at the moment that; have their own record label, play their own instruments, write their own songs, etc. I don't think they get enough credit for how awsome they are. People really need to buy their albums as most the songs they release in the charts arn't as good as their album songs- that's my opinion anyway. McFly really don't deserve all the bad reviews they get, i know that they have lots of fans that love them loads :) xx
As much as I love the band, I do find it very difficult to agree with a bit of what you said. When we've had bands like Queen, The Beatles, Aerosmith and even modern greats like Green Day, I can't really place McFly quite that high in the annals of music. Also, whilst it's definitely admirable (and for me, pretty much a requirement in my tastes) that bands write most of their material and play their instruments, McFly certainly aren't one of the only bands doing that. I do approve of them having their own label but, again, bands like Funeral For A Friend and one of this week's bands are doing the same thing. Plus, Enter Shikari turned down many major label offers just to do it themselves.
They are, however, most certainly underrated. The stuff they put out as singles is not as great as the rest of the album tracks (in some cases). They just get a bad reputation for the singles being catchy and poppy enough to get extensive radio play. However, possibly the most influential band of all time made a career out of catchy melodies and poppy songs...The Beatles anybody? I'm not trying to directly compare them, but it's just something to think about. That was a longer rant that I intended, so we'll move onto the bluntly honest Tara:
First of all, I admit that I've only read this article as you advertised it on the official McFly message boards. Straight away then you'll know that I'm slightly biased in my opinion.
Reading through your piece was a nice reminder of everything that my favourite band has achieved in their career to date. The success of their first album (and the singles taken from it) goes to show the impact they had on the British music scene. However as time went on, inevitably the genre of popular music within the UK changed, and McFly have suffered because of it. Whilst they still have a strong fanbase, the band is now somewhat frowned upon within the wider music community . And it's this that I find a great pity. Tom, Danny, Dougie and Harry are extremely talented at what they do, and deserve more credit for it. To me it seems that music isn't allowed to be fun anymore. Considering this is the style of music that McFly release, it's no wonder that they struggle to gain recognition for the deeper songs that are reserved for their albums.
With the band currently working on their next album, I'm hoping that they reap the rewards of all their hard work to a greater extent than their previous one (which itself was a fantastic collection of songs, and in my mind their best work). Long live McFly!
I'm glad publicizing this on the forum got you to have a read, and I hope you stayed around to have a gander at the hundreds of fantastic writers we have all over the site across all our zones. I'm glad such a huge fan enjoyed the column, and seemed to agree with most of what I said. They have had a huge impact in such a short time, and without a doubt deserve more credit than they get. I also found their last album to be their best work to date, and I'm excited for what the next chapter in their career growth brings. Just three comments left now, so let's quickly move onto Sandra, who's given me a correction to make:
Just a little note: McFly actually formed in the summer of 2003. Might not be a very important fact but I just had to point it out.
They are a brilliant, brilliant live act and now, six years after starting this band, is the first time people are starting to appreciate them for being talented. It's a shame, because they have always been but because of their age when they started they weren't taken seriously.
I think the break from their Record Label and starting Super Records was their smartest decision to date. Now the only persons they have to please, also the only they really want to, are the fans and themselves. I enjoy their music more now, knowing it's not a compromise - but actually something close to their hearts.
McFly have given an enormous amount of their lives to their fan, simply because they can and have done risky decisions to please them; and for that, they should get all the credit in the world. For many, including myself, they aren't just "a band" anymore, they're a lifestyle.
Firstly, thank you for the correction. All I could find when I did the research was 2004, so thanks for letting me know. The decision to form their own label will definitely help them creatively, but I do see a decline in their mainstream appeal because of it. That said, they have some of the most passionate fans in music, who all put up with a lot of criticism just for liking them. It's fantastic to still see that kind of commitment and love of a band in music today. There's just time for a quick comment from Kel before we get to the last one of the week:
Thanks for this, you obviously (pardon the pun) did a lot of research. Thanks for giving McFly a real chance to prove themselves as artists via your article. It's great when somebody doesn't just dismiss them because they've got a younger audience.
The pun made me cringe, I'll admit, but I'm more gutted that I didn't get to use it myself in the whole of the column. I'm glad you enjoyed the column, and they do need some more good publicity, so I'm happy to help! Now onto the final comment of the week with Jess (all these girl's names aren't really helping my case for them being more than a teen-pop-rock band made for masses, are they?). It's been edited slightly to make it more reader-friendly...
I think that you have done a good job on this and people shouldn't just think "oh i heard of them ages ago their rubbish". I think people should give them a chance. I get people who come up to me and start insulting me at school because I am a McFly fan and I say to them "McFly might not be your favourite band and you may not like their music, but I like them and that shouldn't change the way you see me as a person". I just shrug it off now and don't listen to the haters because I like them and nothing can change that.
I like how you made this article into something that everyone can read and understand and made the point that McFly are underrated and that they are VERY good guitarists and EXTREMELY talented! Thank you for pointing out all the good sides of being a proud McFly fan because the bad sides are just too hard to bear (especially as it is usually my sister going "you like McFly you have no opinion"). Life for a McFly fan is tough. Falling in Love is my fave at the moment aswell. I can't stop listening to it and I listen to it none stop. Thank you for this column it made me smile and brought back happy birthday memories xx
Where to start? We'll keep it short, because I want to get to the main body of the column. I'm glad you enjoyed the column, as you're clearly a huge fan of the band. I wouldn't say fan-adversity is exclusive to McFly by any stretch of the imagination, but McFly and their fans do have an unfair reputation. Everyone should just like whatever music they want to, and get on with their lives.
Case in point...this column. We've gone from Avenged Sevenfold and Rise Against to Good Charlotte and My Chemical Romance, and this week's band is different again. On that conveniently-placed note...let's get started!
I'll just explain how the format for this column's gonna work. Basically, it's a triple-lesson in The Darkness and the two bands that formed in its aftermath, Hot Leg and Stone Gods. I've seen all three of them live, and I'm a huge fan. Whilst Stone Gods started earlier than Hot Leg, I'll cover them at the end of the column. Justin Hawkins' post-Darkness career will get a section after the main body, covering British Whale and then Hot Leg. Seems simple enough? Good, let's get into the spaceship and head back in time to where what would be the start of the eventual careers of three of my favourite bands.
The beginnings of The Darkness occurred on New Year's Eve 1999, when Dan Hawkins saw the potential his brother had for being a fantastic front-man. The younger brother saw Justin perform a karaoke version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", and realized that, as far as stage presence and charisma went, he had struck gold for a front-man.
The original line-up of The Darkness was completed by Ed Graham (drums) and Frankie Poullain (bass). The brothers Hawkins would share lead guitar duties, with Justin also taking on lead vocals and, in the end, face of the band. They began to try to gain a live reputation over the next few years, mostly playing in small pubs and clubs. One early gig saw them perform in a Grimsby pub in front of an audience of five people. After gaining a reputation and a major label deal, the band was ready to launch. All they needed now was...
Permission To Land...
Permission To Land was released in the UK on July 7 2003 (remember that date- just for a bit of trivia, it will become relevant later on in the lesson), and in the U.S. a month later on August 5. In the States, it would peak at #36 in the U.S. Billboard 200. Its success in the UK was considerably greater, and made superstars out of the lads. Debuting at #2, it soon reached the top spot in the UK Albums Chart. It remained there for the next month, and Permission To Land would go on to sell 1.5 million copies.
The album also was also well-received by the press; Kerrang! magazine ran a feature which named the debut #49 in a Top 50 Albums of the 21st Century list. The 2003 Kerrang! Awards also saw Permission To Land win the Best Rock Album Award. In the annual BRIT Awards (held in a kinda high regard over here), The Darkness saw a lot of success, winning three awards in 2004. Permission To Land won the prize for Best British Album, and the band themselves won awards for British Group and British Rock Act.
Four singles were released from the album, to varying success. Before we get to how the singles charted, there's time to have a look at one of my favourite songs from the album. A video was made for "Friday Night", following on from the video for "I Believe In A Thing Called Love", but it was never released as a single. It's a fairly unknown video, so let's take a look...
"Get Your Hands Off My Woman" was the first single from the album, released in February 2003, around 5 months before the album. It became a live favourite at gigs, although it was The Darkness' lowest charting single over their entire (albeit short) career (peaking at #43 in the UK).
Another single would be released before the debut album came out, "Growing On Me". Although rumoured to be a song about...ahem, "pubic lice", Justin Hawkins has shot down these ideas, telling VH1 that it is actually about "a sweet lady woman that you will never fully fathom or understand, but you love her so much that after a while it doesn't matter". That's definitely a much nicer sentiment.
Its performance in the charts was much better than the debut single, with "Growing On Me" only just missing out on a Top 10 spot, peaking at #11. Whilst this was a good performance, and showed that The Darkness were quickly speeding towards mainstream exposure, the single that followed would really launch them into the eyes and ears of the public.
Released to coincide with the release of Permission To Land, "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" was, and still is, without a doubt The Darkness' biggest and best known song. It peaked at #2 (The Darkness failed to ever get a UK Number 1 single), and was very well received by critics and fans alike. The classic-rock riff and Justin's falsetto vocals made this a modern classic, and it has become The Darkness' legacy, in a way. The video (which you can see near the top of this column) was also very memorable, climaxing in the band battling with a giant squid to save their spaceship...yes, it's every bit as insanely cool as it sounds!
As a useless bit of additional info, Black Eyed Peas beat The Darkness to the top spot with their #1 single "Where Is The Love?" Apparently cynicism is easier to sell than blind faith. We're going to skip forward a bit in time now, then come back a bit, because I want to discuss all the singles from the album in one group.
The next- and final- one to be released from Permission To Land was the beautiful (in spite of being clichéd) "Love Is Only A Feeling". Reaching #5 in the UK, it was released in March 2004, and had a fittingly clichéd video to accompany it. Filmed on a Mesa in the Blue Mountains in Australia, scenes from the ambitious video include the band performing on top of said Mesa, and in a cave with acoustic guitars.
I would've linked to the video there, but we need to skip back in time a bit, then we can move back further to the future. Before "Love Is Only A Feeling" was released, The Darkness had their stab at a Christmas Number One with the up-beat, clichéd-but-fun "Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)". It was apparently #1 for the week the Christmas Number 1 would be decided, but lost out to "Mad World" covered by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews based on Saturday sales. It was one of the closest races to a UK Christmas Number 1 in history. Here's a look at The Darkness' effort...
Late 2004 saw the band embark on their Winter-National Tour, which I was fortunate enough to see them on. Let me tell you this- The Darkness put on a hell of an arena show. From the pyrotechnics to Justin's undeniable charisma and presence as a front-man, both times I saw them (the second coming a year or so later) were memorable live experiences. Writing and recording began for the band's sophomore album, to be released in 2005. The second album and the journey to it was not without drama. In fact, to make the obvious pun we could say it was a...
One Way Ticket To Hell...and Back...
Oh, the horrible, horrible puns. I dare say I've discovered a new-found wit in my time away. Alright, it was worth a try. Back to normal proceedings? Right, on May 23 2004 it was announced that Poullain had left the band, with the official reason being "musical differences". Poullain has gone on to dispute this, saying that he was "frozen out" and forced to quit The Darkness. And with him he took one of the greatest moustaches in modern rock...
He was replaced by Richie Edwards, which was announced on June 13. Richie had previously been the guitar technician for Dan Hawkins, so was a natural fit. Giving up guitar for bass, Richie joined the band too late to actually record on the album (Dan recorded the remaining bass guitar parts after Poullain's departure).
As if a messy change in line-up wasn't enough, there was more controversy to go through before the second album would see the light of day. A month before its November 2004 release, Justin Hawkins bought a copy of the album off eBay for £350. With it being an advance copy, he wanted to try to track down whoever sold the digitally marked copy to stop it happening again.
Finally, on November 14 2005, the first single from One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back was released, imaginatively titled "One Way Ticket". The song was almost a glimpse into the future, dealing lyrically with cocaine abuse, which was a reason for Justin Hawkins' later stint in rehab. It charted well, reaching #8 in the UK Singles Charts. The video was ambitious and humorous (at least in my opinion), and deserves to be shown on 411mania. Here it is…
The album release followed on November 28, with the second single "Is It Just Me?" seeing a release on February 13 2006. Like the last single, it reached #8 and was The Darkness' fifth consecutive Top 10 single. The third and final single off One Way Ticket… (and from The Darkness in general) would be their lowest charting single since "Get Your Hands Off My Woman", although it still performed slightly better. "Girlfriend" was released on May 22, only peaking at #39. The video was inspired by the movie Flashdance, but it would be the last project the band worked on together.
Following the album release, on February 4 2006 the band would embark on their second and final national tour, consisting of 12 dates at major arenas around the UK. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing The Darkness for the second time, but the signs of their demise were there. Justin looked clearly unwell, and the ticket sales were down compared to their last tour. By August, the front man had gone into rehab, amidst rumors that work would begin shortly on a third album. However, UK tabloid The Sun revealed that after Hawkins came out of rehab (from alcohol and cocaine addiction) he would be leaving the band.
This was later announced in an official manner by the band in a message on the official forum. This is where this column may get a bit disjointed and confusing. At this stage (as in, September 2009, not August 2006), there are two bands involving former members of The Darkness that should be looked at in the context of this article. Whereas one (Stone Gods) formed before the other (Hot Leg), I want to look at Hot Leg first. The main reasons for this are that Justin Hawkins (the front man for Hot Leg) did a couple of other projects that led into it, which began around 2006. Whereas Stone Gods were touring and released material before Justin's new project, I want to look at them at the end of the column. So, we'll begin the second part of this column, with Justin Hawkins and Hot Leg…
It ain't easy being a hero...
In 2005, whilst The Darkness were still together, Justin Hawkins started a solo side-project called British Whale. We'll keep this fairly brief, but this was the definition of disappointment. The three songs that were recorded and released were decent enough, but…that was it. Three songs, no album, and the only full-release single was a cover of Sparks' "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us". Its b-side was an original track called "America", and the single actually charted very well. Released in August 2005, it reached #6 in the UK Singles Charts. The other British Whale release was an unofficial World Cup anthem, which came out as a download-only single in 2006. "England" was a tongue-in-cheek anthem, and can be found on Youtube. It failed to chart at all. Thankfully, his next project would prove slightly more successful, actually making it to an album and tour, and they're still going!
In early 2008, Justin Hawkins revealed his new band Hot Leg to the world. Made up of, according to the band themselves, Justin "Dave" Hawkins (lead guitar and lead vocals), Pete Rinaldi (lead guitar and lead backing vocals), Samuel SJ Stokes (lead bass and lead backing vocals) and Darby Todd (lead drums and lead drums), the band debuted with a free download track, "Heroes". With this and "Trojan Guitar" to support themselves (the latter later became their first single, but if memory serves, it was also a free download before this. I could be wrong, so if so, comment away), Hot Leg went out on the "Hands Up Who Loves Hot Leg Tour" during the Summer of 2008. Playing a handful of small clubs and bars, it was a kind of fall from grace for Justin. I was lucky enough to see them at a bar called the Roadhouse in Manchester, UK. It holds maybe 200 people at most, and it was a great experience seeing Justin Hawkins perform in that kind of venue. Also, I managed to meet them man himself after the gig. I was going to put a pic here, but it was too large and I didn't know how to resize it. So, we shall march on with the column...
"Trojan Guitar" was officially released as a free download single on October 20 2008, but failed to chart. It's a suitably epic track, lasting 5.25 and being full of incredibly, soaring guitar work. The same month, the band went on their first full UK tour (which unfortunately I missed out on), covering England, Scotland and Wales. To help promote this, a "Mega Mix 1" to preview the album had been put on MySpace, along with future b-sides "Automatic" and "Cupboard Love".
Their first single was released on December 15, as a "contender" for Christmas Number 1. Entitled "I've Met Jesus", the band reported on their MySpace that it went to #1 in the "Man-Rock" Charts (‘man-rock' being the genre the band have created for themselves). "Trojan Guitar" also went to #1 in the ‘Man-Rock' Charts. In the actual UK Singles Charts, "I've Met Jesus" peaked at a less impressive #135. Here's a look at the video…
In November 2008, Hot Leg supported Alter Bridge and Extreme on their fall tours in the UK. However, the Leg was forced to pull out of three dates with Alter Bridge, apparently due to Hawkins having a throat infection. This is the official reasoning, although during the Glasgow night of the tour, Hot Leg were booed off stage by fans of Alter Bridge, so there were thoughts that the poor reaction may have contributed to Hot Leg missing the dates. Also in November, Hot Leg smashed the World Record for the highest number of people playing air guitar at the same time. After all this hype, we move into the New Year and finally get what we've been waiting for…
Whichever Way You Wanna Give It…
Red Light Fever was released on February 9 2009, featuring re-recorded versions of several songs he wrote and demoed shortly after leaving The Darkness. Like both of The Darkness' albums, Red Light Fever comes to just 10 tracks. I'll be blunt here before we go any further- if you didn't enjoy The Darkness because of Justin's vocals…you won't like Hot Leg. It's almost like The Darkness with the Justin factor turned up a notch. Obviously Rinaldi, Stokes and Todd all make fantastic contributions in the live environment and the band as a whole, but there is a big emphasis on Justin's style of guitar playing and writing (which Rinaldi matches brilliantly), and his falsetto vocals.
The album has peaked at #81 in the UK Albums Chart. When the band toured again in March (I believe), Justin announced at the show I was that the band were selling t-shirts with "81" on the back, to mark their achievements. Of course, it did go straight in at #1 in the Man-Rock Charts. On March 2 2009, the third and final single was released from the album, in "Cocktails". Peaking at #84 in the UK Singles Charts, it's the best performing Hot Leg single to date. Here's a look at one of the high points from Red Light Fever…
The future…
The band has apparently already written their sophomore album, and it is rumored to have a released aimed for either late 2009/early 2010. With Justin's history for creating great glam-rock masterpieces, Hot Leg's second effort is sure to be something special, and one to look out for.
Now, here's where we all get confused. We've got to go back in time now to a mere thirty minutes after Justin told the other members of The Darkness that he'd quit. We're going back now to the formation of an entirely new beast...
I'm With The Band…
Not to be put off after Justin's departure, brother Dan apparently phoned Richie half an hour after hearing the news, to see if he wanted to form a new band with him (Richie) as the front-man. Richie (on lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Dan (lead guitar and backing vocals) and Ed Graham (still behind the drums as he was for The Darkness) were joined by bassist Toby MacFarlaine to form the new band.
For the first year of their existence, nothing was known about the new project. The Darkness webpage was replaced by an image of the new line-up, but no name was announced. The only source of information was on the band members' personal MySpace accounts. In October 2007, the rumblings began when Classic Rock (a UK magazine) announced that a new band called Stone Gods were set to support Thin Lizzy on their upcoming UK tour. It also said that the band included ex-members of The Darkness. A month later (November 9), the Student Union website for the University of East Anglia announced a date for the new band, claiming that it was the new project of Dan Hawkins. The name was again announced as Stone Gods.
A few days later, this was all confirmed with a website launch and an announcement of a string of support dates for the last couple of months of 2007. Three gigs into this, however, Richie Edwards suffered a throat infection, and so the band was forced to pull out. However, by the New Year those of us who'd been followed the band's journey since the demise of The Darkness were treated to a very nice surprise…
Come on children, bring a match and start the flames…
The band went on their first UK headline tour in January 2008, and a month later released their debut EP. Burn The Witch contained two tracks that would be on the band's debut album (the title track and "You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight") and two tracks that were exclusive to the EP. It was a limited edition release, and all 1,000 physical copies of Burn The Witch sold out within a day! It also reached #2 in the Radio 1 Rock Charts.
Two support slots for Velvet Revolver came in March, and around this time an announcement was made regarding the band's debut album. Silver Spoons & Broken Bones would see its release fall on July 7 2008. I'm hoping that date may sound familiar…Stone Gods' debut album was going to be released 5 years to the day after The Darkness released their debut.
On May 23 2008, Stone Gods released a sampler for the album on iTunes. Three tracks were made available on the Knight of the Living Dead EP; the title track, "Defend Or Die" and this song…
After the sampler, the band went on tour in June, and I got to see them live for the first time. I actually got spoken to after "Making It Hard", which is one of my favorite songs by the band. I know I'm sounding very childish and easily pleased, so I'll try and scale back my fandom and stay objective. The first three dates of the tour were cancelled due to "an emergency health issue" with Ed Graham. Whilst this has never properly been specified, in an interview I did with Toby MacFarlaine in March 2009, he alluded to the reason, but also stated it was "down to Ed" to comment on it, if and when he wants to. After filling in temporarily, Graham was replaced by former Bush drummer Robin Goodridge permanently on 29 July. A month previously, on July 7, the long wait was over…
This is the start of something…
Silver Spoons & Broken Bones finally saw its release, and fans of the band finally had the album in their hands. It was extremely well-received by critics, with Kerrang!, The Sun, Metal Hammer and Classic Rock all giving it fantastic reviews. It would peak at #87 in the UK Top 100 Chart.
The album is brilliantly diverse, going from Metallica-inspired metal ("Defend Or Die" and "Burn The Witch"), more punk-rock tracks ("Don't Drink The Water") and acoustic ballads that just remind you of The Beatles ("Magdalene Street"). Richie fits effortlessly into the role of front-man, and comes across as a younger James Hetfield in the live environment. They also show a more humorous side, evidenced in this cover of Girls Aloud's "Something Kinda Ooh"…
"Don't Drink The Water" was released as a single in October, reaching #2 in the UK Rock Chart. Support slots with Airbourne and Black Stone Cherry followed in November and December, which were both successful and productive for spreading word of Stone Gods. On the Manchester date of the Airbourne tour, the band sold all 60 copies of the album that they'd brought with them to sell at the merchandise stand, which is a great feat for a "support" act.
In March 2009, Stone Gods released the Start of Something EP, but the title track (which is taken from SS&BB) failed to chart as a single. It contained acoustic versions of "Don't Drink The Water" and "Where You Comin' From", as well as a previously unreleased track "Things Could Be Worse".
Last month (on August 10), the band announced on their website that work has begun on their highly anticipated second album. On August 25, it was revealed on the band's official forum that the new album is "over half way there and fingers crossed for a Christmas release with a tour to follow early in 2010". There is much more to come from Stone Gods, and indeed Hot Leg, so it's a good time to be a fan. Hopefully soon they'll be able to break into the States.
Grading…The Darkness, Hot Leg and Stone Gods
These are three of my favorite bands of all time, and I won't lie- I was devastated when The Darkness split in 2006. However, I needn't have worried. This has given us the best of both worlds, to be honest. If you liked The Darkness for Justin Hawkins vocals, and the glam/classic rock style, then Hot Leg will be for you. If you appreciated Dan Hawkins' incredible talent, and want something a little different, then Stone Gods will definitely appeal. As Toby MacFarlaine described them in my interview (which can be found at www.stonegods.org), it's just the sound of "four lads in a room". The four albums released with various members of these bands in are some of the only ones I can happily listen to in one sitting. Whatever you thought of The Darkness, I highly encourage everyone to at least give Hot Leg or Stone Gods a chance.
That does us for this week, and I'll apologize now that this has been so long (Microsoft Word is telling me I'm getting close to my ninth page). We'll call it a day here, and I'll give you the clues for next week's lesson. If you're reading this for the second or third time, I want to apologize, but the band has changes, and thus so have the clues. Basically, with moving back to university on Saturday, I could be without the internet for a few days, so the next column has to be done as soon as possible. My last idea for the next band would take too long to get done comprehensively, so I've gone for an alternative/emo quartet with a smaller history...
Homework
1. They have collaborated with a band we've looked at in an earlier column.
2. Sometimes, they just go for it.
3. In 2006, they had a temporary drummer. He is now the official drummer for a band we've looked at in an earlier column (not the same band as the first clue).
Ok, so that's all for now. I'll be back next week with another lesson, and I hope this week's hasn't dragged on too much. Until then, I've being Alistair McGeorge, and class is now dismissed.
