As 2019 turns inexorably into 2020 Rufus Taylor, son of rock royalty but more importantly drummer of everybody’s favourite tongue-in-cheek rockers The Darkness, is set for some very busy times indeed. I was offered the chance to find out more, so of course I waited by the trans-continental dog n’bone for the man himself to give me the lowdown on the band’s new album and Australasian tour plans…

Greetings, Mr Taylor, and thanks for taking the time to speak to us here at Sentinel Daily… There’s a lot going on in the world of The Darkness at the moment, with the imminent release of new album Easter is Cancelled on October 4th plus some heavy touring in support of the album that’s set to take in a suite of Australasian dates in March 2020, so I’d like to chat about as much as possible about both…

So  firstly I’m going to ask you to respond with a one-word answer to each of the song titles from the new album – what’s the first thought that comes into your head about each song? “Oh my God… I’m so bad at these! Go on…”
The first track is Rock and Roll Deserves to Die… “Huge”.
How Can I Lose Your Love. “Erm… Banger”.
Live ‘Til I Die. “Classic”.
Heart Explodes. “Stadium”.
My favourite track on the album – Deck Chair. “Um… Tender”.
It is very tender! Easter is Cancelled. “Mental”.
Heavy Metal Lover “Insane!” (laughs)
In Another Life. “Er… ballad”.
Choke On It. “Violent.” (more laughter).
We Are The Guitar Men. “Indulgent!”
It’s my turn to laugh this time. He’s doing very well for a man who five minutes earlier had no idea of the ordeal he was about to be put through… The next track is Lay Low. (After a long pause). “After Party!”
Different Eyes. “Um… er… I dunno! I’ve got nothing for that one!”
Never mind. Confirmation Bias is the penultimate track. “Bonus”.
And finally… Sutton Hoo. “Track!” (more laughter, this time of the relieved kind).

Very good. Well done under pressure. This is the second Darkness album you’ve worked on. Did the band approach the construction of Easter is Cancelled in much the same way as Pinewood Smile? “No, it was a very different approach for this one. The last one was very quickly done because we were quite rushed – we had a timeline which we had to meet. And I had just joined the band. I’d never really had to write anything before under that sort of time strain. We were still treading new ground together. So we got a rehearsal studio in London… I think it was only a couple of weeks that it took us to get all the songs ready to record. And we recorded it in three weeks. For this one we took eight months to write and record. It was all done at Dan (Hawkins, guitar)’s countryside hideaway. All four of us would sit in his kitchen with acoustic guitars to thrash out the arrangements. That was all done before we even thought about taking it into a studio. We think it worked really well; it was stressful at times, don’t get me wrong, but we really gave each song the right amount of time to work out what would make the arrangements more impressive, to find what worked better for each song. We had everything written and recorded before we realised we didn’t really have a fast song on the album. So Dan and I sat down… we’re really good at just sitting down with guitar and drums and thrashing things out… and we started playing and basically came up with the first four bars of Easter is Cancelled! And we looked at each other and said ‘that’s our fast one!’ So it was a really different approach but we think it paid off in the end”.

I think it did too – As an album it flows really well, doesn’t it? “Yes”.

The way we listen to music today often means bands don’t pay much attention to the flow of an album – they seem happy to simply put a collection of eleven tracks out in the belief that most people will just cherry pick the ones they like for a single download. “Absolutely. This is a journey album for me. All of our favourite albums from our favourite old bands used to be like that”.

Even listening to it as an advance download you can tell where the end of side one and the start of side two will be. “Absolutely, yeah. And Deck Chair is the perfect little ‘rest’ in the middle of the album… I even insisted on that track having no drums on it. It’s great how it is, really lovely, with a Jeff Beck-influenced solo from Justin (Hawkins, like you didn’t know) which is just beautiful”.

That’s what stood out to me. It’s very much a kind of classic rock track from the seventies. “We like to think so!”

Okay – that’s the album portion of out chat done, although I could happily dissect the process in far more detail if we had the time… to the tour. Looking forward to coming to Australia? “Very much so, we always look forward to coming back. We have great fun there. On days off and on!”

Obviously you have been part of Queen’s live show for a while, playing stadia and big arenas. You play in smaller venues with The Darkness – do you approach the two types of show differently? “On the kit, yes, they are pretty much the same. Even the really small or intimate ones. I’m a great believer in giving absolutely fucking everything. You can really tell when people are half-arseing it. I don’t like it when I go and see a band I like and it doesn’t look like they’re making any effort. You want to see that effort. And you want to see everyone in the room going for it as well”.

As we said earlier you’ve been with the band for a couple of albums now. But what tracks from the earlier albums stand out for you as being a pleasure to play? “Well, when I joined I had to learn thirty songs in about two days! Obviously I new a lot from the first album because I was a big fan. Stuck In A Rut is one – I absolutely love that song. Get Your Hands Off My Woman is always fun to play. I always look forward to that at every single show. Even though Dan gets annoyed that I sometimes play it a bit too fast! I like to push him sometimes! Black Shuck I love. I even love Concrete (from 2012’s Hot Cakes), to Justin’s dismay! I’ve made him play it a few times! I love the fast-paced rockers to be honest. Love On The Rocks and Love Is Only a Feeling I should mention too”.

That last one’s never not going to be played, so it’s good that you like it! I think Australians love that song too because of where the video was filmed. “Yeah, true – the Blue Mountains?”

That’s right. I think that video sealed The Darkness’ place in the hearts of Australian rock fans. “Yes – the reaction to it at the Groovin’ The Moo festivals was brilliant”.

So a rest after the Australasian dates, waiting for the European Summer? “We’ve got a lot planned. We do the UK at the end of this year, just before Christmas. Then we come to you next, and then we’ll do the States, all of North America actually, and after that a big European tour. So we’re going to be very very busy and we’ll probably end up on the Festival circuit as well”.

The icing on the cake! “Yes!” (laughs).

You’re still a young man – but on those long hauls, especially across America, do you need to pace yourself to keep match fit? “I had some good early career training in that respect! The longest tour I did was nearly two and a half years long, playing nearly three hours a night on We Will Rock You. It was ridiculous! Eight shows a week roughly, really fucking hard. So I’m used to the long tours, it’s pretty much all I’ve ever known. I don’t really keep match fit! I really should be doing some Cardio stuff! My surrogate big brother (Foo Fighters drummer) Taylor Hawkins has been telling me I should be cycling for quite a while now. He says the closer I get to thirty the more I’m going to need it! I definitely will start it at some point, but I’m not thirty for another year… so I’ve still got another year of not cycling!”

And with that piece of sage life coaching advice, it’s time to bid our farewells – thanks again for taking the time out to chat! “Thank you – and thanks for your kind words about the album!”

THE DARKNESS
EASTER IS CANCELLED
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND TOUR 2020
WED 11 MARCH – METROPOLIS, FREMANTLE
FRI 13 MARCH – ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY
SAT 14 MARCH – FORUM, MELBOURNE
SUN 15 MARCH – THE GOV, ADELAIDE
WED 18 MARCH – THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE
FRI 20 MARCH – POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND