The Darkness with Rufus Taylor
STUFF.CO.NZ
27 March 2017 by Shaun Bamber
The Darkness bring some light to New Zealand
EXTRACT:
Having released two albums since reforming – 2012’s Hot Cakes and 2015’s Last Of Our Kind, neither of which attained the same success as Permission To Land – The Darkness now consists of original members Poullain and the two Hawkins brothers, Justin and Dan, plus new drummer Rufus Taylor, who joined the band in 2015.
Taylor certainly has the right pedigree for a band like The Darkness – his father is Roger Taylor, drummer for Queen.
“They used to come and see us play back in the day,” says Poullain of Taylor senior and his Queen bandmate, guitarist Brian May.
The rock legends have always been fans of The Darkness it seems, and May even joined them onstage for the final gig of their 2011 comeback tour at the Hammersmith Apollo, tearing through Darkness tunes Bareback and I Believe In A Thing Called Love, as well as a cover of Queen’s own Tie Your Mother Down.
It’s easy to see the influence the iconic British rockers have had on The Darkness – singer Hawkins once famously described his band as being like “either a really gay AC/DC, or a really straight Queen”.