The Darkness were at their 'lowest ebb' while filming documentary: 'It was really tough for us'

The Darkness were at their "lowest" when filming their new documentary, Welcome to the Darkness, members Dan Hawkins and Frankie Poullain tell Yahoo UK.

Filmed by the band's friend, and renowned photographer, Simon Emmett, the documentary follows the group —formed of singer Justin Hawkins, guitarist Hawkins, bass guitarist Poullain, and new drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor— during the early days of their reunion.

It also sees the group reflect on their debut and rise to fame with album Permission to Land (which features hits like I Believe in a Thing Called Love), their break-up in 2006, and the bumpy road they encountered with their return to music in 2011.

Where the documentary opens, Poullain says, was a difficult period as they'd just released an album that had failed to generate interest and were struggling to find themselves again after so much time apart.

"[Simon] was there actually for probably the lowest ebb, it was really tough for us," he says.

"It was very hard for him, it's very hard for us. But it wasn't just that happening at the time, there was problems with label, with management.

"So he had great timing to be there just then, when we were really at our lowest point, I would say, that makes for great documentary."

The group reunited in 2011, releasing album Hot Cakes in 2012 with original drummer Ed Graham who then left and was replaced with Emily Dolan Davies, who appears in the documentary briefly before parting ways with them too.

Hawkins adds: "We basically got back together the album before where he picks up on us, and it just misfired.

"It was just after the crash financial crash, so all of the the money that we'd made and had backed into it went into negative equity. Everything turned to s**t and then Simon started rolling the cameras!"

"It's a struggle, which is great," Poullain adds. "That's what people like to watch, other people struggling, there's nothing more compelling."

Welcome to the Darkness sees the band members look back at the highs and lows of their career, with Justin Hawkins examining his substance abuse during the group's heyday and how his relationship with his brother frayed as a result of it, and the immense pressure they were under at the time.

"The Hawkins brothers are probably the most honest," Poullain says.

Hawkins takes his time to answer, saying: "We were basically talking about doing a premiere for this, and the idea of us doing a red carpet seemed 'fantastic, really cool'.

"And then I remembered what I would be watching with loads of people around me, and thought 'oh f**k', it's all very real."

While it was filmed after they'd reunited and made a new album, Hawkins says the documentary found them when they were still in the midst of their reunion as they weren't quite back in sync yet.

"The album before that we still hadn't gelled together properly. We were still adjusting to each other and what the band really means," he said.

"Then Ed [Graham, the bands original drummer] went at the start of the making of that album and Last of Our Kind, which is the album we [were recording]."

Poullain said it took "a lot of time to adjust", adding: "We adjusted quicker for sure, but at the same time there's so many different levels... it just gets better all the time at the moment in this lineup."

With Rufus Tiger Taylor, the son of Queen legend Roger Taylor, now their drummer the band have been carving out a place for themselves in the industry again.

Hawkins admits the band "don't care" how people see them through the documentary, saying the film feels like a wildlife documentary to them and they "just happen to be the animals that are being studied."

"The big thing, in the end, was like 'f**k do we want anyone to see this? Is there any reason for anyone to want to see this in the end?' It took a good f**king few edits to get it to the point where we thought 'Yeah, actually, this is worth a watch'," he said.

And I think it's probably going to anger some people, disappoint some people, and then there'll be a whole lot of people that would love it much more than they thought they would."

Now they have looked back at their career in the documentary they are keen to focus on the future, with a European tour underway, and UK shows coming up in the New Year, they are excited to do more.

"One of the things that we haven't done for a long time is really take as long as we need to to make an album that we genuinely think it's amazing," Hawkins says.

"We're always having so much time pressure that, inevitably, you end up compromising, which is something that we didn't actually have to do on the first record.

"And we should have learned our lesson then, it took three years plus to write that record so we're giving it a little bit more time.

"But then, saying that, I just got told that the deadline [for our new album] is actually coming upon us pretty soon, so we'll see. Fingers crossed we'll make an album worthy of the Zeitgeist that is surrounding us at the moment."

Welcome to the Darkness is out in cinemas now, and it will be released on digital on 4 December.

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