The Darkness have released their brand new single ‘Heart Explodes’. The song got its first play on Jo Wiley’s Radio 2 show last night, and also features in Spotify’s New Music Friday today. The track is taken from their jaw-droppingly ambitious quasi-sci-fi concept album Easter Is Cancelled, out on October 4th via Cooking Vinyl.
‘Heart Explodes’ is an almighty mini-rock opera, which finds The Darkness baring all in a multitude of heartfelt emotions reflecting the hardships, struggles and changing relationships of life.
Frontman Justin Hawkins explains, “It’s about the despair of change. Having to reappraise your life and what you’re holding on to. It’s like that feeling when you just want to go for a swim and keep going. Wanting to be enveloped by something that will gradually pull you down. If you really, really want to survive that process, you can. We’ve all been there – people who say they haven’t are lying.”
Guitarist Dan Hawkins adds, “The difference between the Darkness’ sadness and other bands’ sadness is that we don’t wallow in it. Even when it’s sad, there’s a playfulness to it.”
‘Heart Explodes’ follows the release of ‘Rock And Roll Deserves To Die’ at the start of August, which saw the band hailing the death of the guitar in an epic five-minute masterpiece featuring monumental riffs, thunderous bass and almighty drums, alongside some beautifully delicate touches from the band.
The songs are a glorious example of what to expect from Easter Is Cancelled, the band’s most exciting and diverse record to date.
The ten-track album examines the role of the musician in the barbarous culture of the world today, and their almost divine responsibility to challenge the establishment – something that most rock’n’roll artists seem to have given up on in favour of easy celebrity. And yet at the heart of this tale is love, loss and heartbreak, where redemption is ultimately found in the brotherhood of band friendship and the power of the guitar, as brought full circle in the glorious album closer ‘We Are The Guitar Men’.
Easter Is Cancelled will be released digitally and in full technicolour physical glory as a standard CD, digipak CD with bonus tracks, gatefold LP, limited edition colour vinyl gatefold LP and Cassette. The album is available to pre-order now from the band’s Official Store with special signed copies and exclusive album bundle offers.
The Darkness will be spreading their Easter Is Cancelled message across the land with a full UK and Ireland headline tour this winter and will play 18 dates starting in November 2019. These shows promise to be incredibly special, reflecting the grand scope and vision of the album, alongside the finest hits from the band’s spectacular canon.
The band will also be playing six stadium-sized outdoor shows as personally invited special guests and main support for follow Suffolk-based musician Ed Sheeran this month.
THE DARKNESS ‘EASTER IS CANCELLED’ 2019 TOUR
NOVEMBER
26th – Belfast, Limelight
27th – Dublin, Academy
29th – Nottingham, Rock City
DECEMBER
1st – Birmingham, O2 Academy
2nd – Leicester, O2 Academy
3rd – Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
5th – Norwich, UEA
6th – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
7th – Bath, Pavilions
9th – Portsmouth, Pyramids
10th – Brighton, Dome
11th – Watford, Colosseum
13th – Manchester Academy
14th – Newcastle, O2 Academy
15th – Glasgow, O2 Academy
17th – York, Barbican
18th – Liverpool, O2 Academy
20th – London, Roundhouse
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