Eight years after their 2003 debut Permission to Land that had sold 720,000 copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan, and the release of their out-of-nowhere hit single, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” the rockers from The Darkness have reunited and plot to hit North America with a substantial tour and a new album as well. The group’s messy breakup is history so the band members plan to reestablish themselves and make their old songs listen again in the United States but not this year. The Queen-inspired band will put their plans into action next year, in 2012, when they will target different venues across U.S. for the first time since 2004.

The tour kicks off February 1 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto but there’s no official announcement of its wrapping. Here are The Darkness’ official 2012 tour dates and locations with the mention that new dates are to be revealed:

Feb. 1: Toronto, Ont. (Phoenix)
Feb. 3: Boston, MA (Paradise)
Feb. 4: New York, NY (Irving Plaza)
Feb. 7: Philadelphia, PA (Trocadero)
Feb: 8: Washington, D.C. (9:30 CLUB)
Feb. 10: Detroit, MI (St. Andrew’s Hall)
Feb. 11: Chicago, IL (Metro)
Feb. 12: Minneapolis,MN (First Avenue)
Feb. 15: Denver, CO (Summit)
Feb. 17: Las Vegas, NV (House of Blues)
Feb. 18: Phoenix, AZ (Celebrity Theatre)
Feb. 19: Los Angeles, CA (House of Blues)
Feb. 21: San Francisco, CA (Fillmore)

As for the upcoming album, it seems that between their live performances in U.K. and overseas, including stops in Sweden, Spain, Japan, and Italy, the band has found some time to work on new material. “There’s one called ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Love,’ and I suppose it’s the nearest equivalent the new set of songs has to ‘Friday Night’ or something like that. It’s an acoustic-y, swing-y one with a massive guitar solo in the middle. Then there’s another song called ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,’ which has been in the set for a while. There are probably seven or eight tracks we’ve actually done live, all of which will make it onto the record probably,” frontman Justin Hawkins told Rolling Stone.

It looks like the band found its courage to take risks and be more creative and that’s what made singer Justin Hawkins return to the band. “We started doing stuff because we were trying to cling onto the achievements we’d made with the first record. And that’s definitely the main reason why I left, I felt like we’d stopped being creative and being fun in the name of desperately trying to maintain something,” the singer said about his parting away from the group following treatment for alcohol and drug issues in 2006.

Now, The Darkness is going to work with a particular producer whose name remains anonymous and hope to release their third album somewhere around January or March.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 9th, 2011 at 6:04 am and is filed under News.