The Darkness brings glam rock sound to SLO

In the title track of its newest album, “Last of Our Kind,” The Darkness issues a defiant challenge to anyone who might question the British band’s dedication to the burgeoning glam rock revival.

“We are survivors/The ones left behind/Defenders of the legacy/The last of our kind,” frontman Justin Hawkins sings in his signature soaring tenor. “When the arrows fall like rain/We’ll start and rise again.”

“We’ve amassed a tribe,” said Hawkins’ younger brother, guitarist and backup vocalist Dan Hawkins, reached by phone at his home in West Sussex, England. “People … don’t just like bands because of what they hear. They like who they are.”

The Darkness performs Saturday at the Fremont Theatre in downtown San Luis Obispo on its Back to the USSA tour. Rock trio Raveneye, best known for the song “Breaking Out,” will open the show.

“One thing you know that is going to happen is we’re going to have a good time,” Hawkins said. “It’s infectious, really. Especially in America, we just seem to induce a feeling that it’s a party, a celebration of rock.”

That effusive attitude, plus a love of retro rock anthems and a penchant for outrageous outfits, is something The Darkness shares with its flamboyant forebears, such as T. Rex and Slade.

According to Hawkins, he and his brother grew up idolizing David Bowie, Queen and The Rolling Stones.

Dan Hawkins remembers gazing in awe at the inner cover of Queen’s 1986 album “Live Magic,” which shows Queen’s helicopter approaching the grounds of England’s Knebworth Park, the site of the band’s final concert.

“The crowd … (was) just massive,” Hawkins recalled, as was the music. “It blew us both away. It was like ‘That’s what I want to do.’ ”

Fortunately, his parents fostered their sons’ dreams of rock ’n’ roll stardom.

“My parents … always said to Justin and me that ‘If someone else can do something, then you can. Nothing’s out of reach,’ ” he recalled. “ ‘If you work hard enough and practice hard enough, then you can do it.’ ”

The Hawkins brothers started The Darkness in 2000 with bassist Frankie Poullain and drummer

Ed Graham. “We were like, ‘Let’s take this thing as fast and as far as we can,’ ” Dan Hawkins said.

An initial lack of industry buzz didn’t deter the band.

“We made a decision from the very beginning to not clamor for record deals,” Hawkins explained, opting instead to “get as many fans as we could possibly get and let them sell the band.”

“It’s not always best to wait for permission,” he added. “You have to jaywalk and cross the road when you want to.”

The Darkness’ debut album, “Permission to Land,” shot to the top of the UK Albums Chart in 2003 on the strength of the hit single “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” The album, which also fared well in the United States, was eventually certified as quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom.

“When we started this band … I was a complete slave driver,” Hawkins said. “Really it was born out of fear. I didn’t want to go onstage and be ridiculed because we didn’t know what we were doing.

“Even if you’re a genius, you still have to work unbelievably hard to find those things that haven’t been done before, and do them really well.”

But that work ethic couldn’t save the band’s sophomore effort, 2005’s “One Way Ticket to Hell … And Back,” from falling somewhat flat. It garnered mixed reviews and weaker sales than “Permission to Land.”

The Darkness saw the departure of Poullain in 2005, and went on hiatus a year later after Justin Hawkins underwent rehabilitation for alcohol and drug abuse.

All four original band members reunited as The Darkness in 2011 and released their third album, “Hot Cakes,” in 2012. Graham left the band in 2014; he was replaced by Emily Dolan Davies, then Rufus Taylor.

Dan Hawkins said “Last of Our Kind,” released in June 2015, is a return to the band’s roots.

While The Darkness dealt with studio pressure in the past, “With this one we just flat refused to let anything get in the way that would stress us out,” said the guitarist, who engineered, mixed and produced the album in his own Norfolk, England, recording studio, The Hawk’s Nest.

In addition to the title track, “Last of Our Kind” features such sensational tracks as the lusty “Open Fire” and the brazen “Barbarian.” Hawkins called the latter song, an exuberant ode to the “remorseless Norsemen” who once invaded England, “one of the best things we’ve ever done.”

“It walks the line (between) serious and ridiculous, right on the line,” Hawkins said. “That’s when we are at our best — whether ridiculously rocking or just rocking.”

“We take ourselves very seriously, but we’re not opposed to taking a mickey out of ourselves,” he added.

Ultimately, Hawkins said, The Darkness just wants to entertain audiences.

“We want approval,” he said. “And we’ll wear anything, do anything, play anything (to get it).”

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 9:55 AM with the headline "The Darkness brings glam rock sound to SLO."