Justin Hawkins, The Darkness, Hot Leg, British Whale and Projects. Latest News and information. Tours and releases.

What Culture - Foxy Shazam Review

Some good reviews coming in on Foxy Shazam's new album, produced by Justin Hawkins. What Culture wrote:

"It’s difficult to say this is their finest album to date for the simple reason is that there isn’t really another album like it; and that includes Foxy Shazam‘s previous album. Each album is a knowingly different style and whilst we can absolutely compare, I feel as though it would be fruitless. Some may compare this latest attempt as being very similar to “Queen” in style, or maybe even “The Darkness” (whose front man, Justin Hawkins, produced the album), but I feel The Church of Rock and Roll continues to toy with elements that makes Foxy Shazam so original and one has to respect the band’s decision not to conform to a more acknowledged musical style as Foxy Shazam become more and more recognised. I await eagerly the band’s next move."

The Darkness on set at ZingZillas?

Justin Hawkins posted on twitter this evening:

"On set at Zingzillas. A career highlight!" with the photo below:



ZingZillas is a BBC Children's tv show.

Justin later tweeted:

"@darknessactual feature in 2000AD American Reaper. It's futuristic and terrifying!"

MetroMix: Foxy Shazam Album Review

The buzz: Cincinnati’s self-appointed saviors of rock are back! And this time, they’ve got Justin Hawkins of British retro-metal icons the Darkness sitting in the producer’s chair. Sounds like a match made in rock ‘n’ roll heaven to us.

The verdict: Where most bands might make at least a token effort at concealing their influences, Foxy Shazam tend to blast theirs like stage pyro.

The Darkness at Rockfield Studios - Photos

The Darkness have posted some photos on their Facebook page from Rockfield Studios, based in Wales (UK).

Click here to view the photos on The Darkness' Facebook page

For more information about Rockfield Studios, visit their website at rockfieldmusicgroup.com



Here is a photo of the bands visitor book pages from their time at the studios in 2005 whilst recording 'One Way Ticket to Hell... And Back':

Rolling Stone Exclusive - Foxy Shazam's New Album Preview

Cincinnati rockers Foxy Shazam release their fourth album, The Church of Rock and Roll, on January 24th. In February, they'll be hitting the road with The Darkness and that band's frontman, Justin Hawkins, produced Foxy Shazam's latest record.

Don't bother asking the band to define their sound, but suffice to say it's full of loud guitars and strong, wailing vocals. "We're not concerned with what category we fall into," says singer Eric Nally. "We want to stand for our generation."

Read more and listen to the album at www.rollingstone.com

LOUDWIRE.COM: THE DARKNESS: NEW ALBUM ‘NEARLY FINISHED’

“Yeah, so we’re in the studio even as we speak,” said Justin. “I think we’ve got nine of the required songs done or finished, all sounding shiny and good and we’ve got about two weeks of recording in January and bits of it is already going off to be mixed even as we speak so it’s kind of nearly finished now.”

The sound is distinctively the Darkness, but it’s got a very natural sound, said Dan Hawkins.

“We’re kind of trying to get back through the more organic sort of rock sound of the Darkness, hence we’ve kind of done a joint production with Nick Brine,’ explains Dan. “He’s an engineer that’s worked with us a lot rather than going for a big-name producer, we decided to do it ourselves as per the first record really."

Famous Ukulele Players - Justin Hawkins

From www.gotaukulele.com:

"Hot on the heels of my last instalment, the wonderful Adam Wolters of UkeJam got in touch to let me know that Justin Hawkins of the rock band The Darkness, has been known to have a crafty strum.

Adam writes,

"I was playing session bass for a single (yet to emerge ) for Al Murray in Rack studio in London - I was very excited, and took the uke as usual - though they are frowned upon in "proper music" circles quite often - this Oscar Schmidt ou2 sounds so sweet that it got all over the record...

I kinda shoved it into JH's hands and was a bit - go on go on... but he left me dumbstruck when he played it :) so so good." "

The Darkness Announce 3 More North American Dates

The Darkness have announced 3 more North American Tour Dates for their February 2012 tour:

Feb 23rd at Roseland Theater in Portland, OR
Feb 24th at The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Feb 25th at Neptune Theatre in Seattle, WA.

Tickets go on pre-sale via a link that will be posted on their Facebook page at 10am (your local time) Wednesday (11th Jan) morning, then the usual outlets.