Dan’s delight to be back on the road

Dan Hawkins performs with the Stone Gods in Gorleston later this month. Picture: Angela Sharpe

17 October 2008

LOWESTOFT rocker Dan Hawkins has played at some of the biggest venues in the country, but later this month he moves another step closer to performing in his home town when his latest band play at the Ocean Rooms in Gorleston.

The former Kirkley High School student first shot to fame in 2003 alongside his brother Justin and close school-friend Ed Graham. Five years on, The Darkness is just a distant memory to Dan as he co-runs a successful recording studio and prepares to tour the UK once more with his band the Stone Gods.

The Darkness were Suffolk’s most successful ever rock band but when Justin quit in October 2006, Dan wasn’t prepared to stop performing. Soon he and band mates Ed Graham and Richie Edwards had been joined by Toby MacFarlaine, and they had formed the Stone Gods.

Together they toured the UK, but in July it was announced that Ed had left the band due to health problems. The band had to cancel a couple of performances, but managed to recruit ex-Bush drummer Robin Goodridge for the rest of their tour.

“He did a great job,” said Dan. “It was so last minute we had to cancel two dates and only had two days to rehearse before playing in front of thousands at The Download Festival. But he has played massive gigs before with Bush, so didn’t seem remotely nervous.”

Former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable also filled in for one performance, but earlier this month it was announced that Robin would be Ed’s permanent replacement and the band will soon be on the road again as they tour the country in support of Australian rock band Airbourne.

“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it; I’ve been going crazy as I haven’t played for a while,” said Dan.

The tour will see the band play across the UK in November, including at the UEA in Norwich, but before that they will treat their local fans to an extended set at The Ocean Rooms in Gorleston on October 30.

“Gorleston is one of the many places I’ve lived in and around Norfolk and Suffolk,” said Dan. “I’m gradually edging closer to Lowestoft, maybe we’ll be able to warm up in Lowestoft next time.”

On October 27 the band release Don’t Drink The Water, the second single from their album Silver Spoons and Broken Bones, which was recorded at Dan’s studio Leeders Farm in Spooner Row.

The studio, which Dan runs together with producer Nick Brine has proved a big hit, with the Arctic Monkeys and KT Tunstall amongst the artists to have used their facility.

“It always been a dream of mine to have a recording studio and the first year couldn’t have gone any better,” said Dan.

So with a UK tour on the horizon, a busy recording studio, talk of another support tour in December and writing already underway on new material for the Stone Gods, Dan is certainly not short of work.

Lowestoft Journal

XYZ: A lot is going on at the moment for Stone Gods. You had a single out on last month and your album on 7th July. What sets you apart from other rock/metal bands?

Dan: Our average height! [laughs] That’s a hard question. When we played Download festival this year, we stuck out a mile. We have more in common with your Judas Priests rather than the scream metal bands. I think we’re heavy, yet melodic and more song-based, rather than just an attitude. And, of course, we have loads of guitar solos!

I hear elements of Soundgarden, Thin Lizzy and Def Leppard coming through in your songs. Are there any contemporary bands that you admire at the moment?

Toby: I like the band Year Long Disaster [Rest of the band agree].
Richie: To be honest, I don’t keep up-to-date with modern rock bands. I’m kind of set in my ways really and just listen to the same old stuff. As a kid or up until a few years ago I used to actively seek new music and buy music. But these days I either haven’t got the time nor the inclination to do that so I just end up listening to the first six AC/DC albums over and over again! [laughter].

I wanted to talk about The Darkness for a little bit; they spread to a lot of people who weren’t what you might call ‘hardcore rock fans’, which you guys obviously are. Are Stone Gods setting out for a more hard rock demographic as opposed to the gimmick rock band vibe that celebrities thought it was cool to like, which plagued The Darkness towards the end?

Dan: In the beginning [with The Darkness] we didn’t care about who we’d appeal to. Before we were signed we sold out the London Astoria to a load of proper metallers. It was the same songs that we were playing to a pop audience in arenas with the same attitude, but yeah, we’re not trying to ride on what we done in the past and chase the pop contingency. We’re not worried about that.

Was that slightly annoying? It was a bit of a laugh what with all the spandex and the big posing rock guitar solo thing going on in your videos…

Dan: Like I said before, in the start we maintained what we did throughout The Darkness. I think it’s people’s opinions that have changed rather us. We just go out there and try and put on a good show and not take ourselves too seriously. I think the opinion of the band has changed because of their popularity and I don’t think we were gimmicky at all.

Is everything still amicable with Justin Hawkins?

Dan: Yes, he’s sent some positive messages. You know, we fell out for a while and we’re talking again now. So it’s all very amicable.

Do you fear that Stone Gods are perhaps not as accessible as The Darkness were for, say, the blasé rock fan but then you’re perhaps too ‘old school’ for the current kid who listens to rock or metal?

Richie: It really doesn’t bother us one way or another really. As long as we’re happy in what we do and if people want to jump on for the ride, then that’s fantastic. You quite rightly pointed out earlier that The Darkness was besieged by “not your average rock audience”, and you used that as a negative so…

I didn’t use it as a negative, I was just pointing out the mainstream appeal of your previous band and how far it spread…

Dan: We’re certainly not trying to recreate the success we had before. A really good level for this band would be to sell out venues like the London Astoria and get to that level of touring. I’ve been there and done it. I’ve played the festivals and the arenas, which is great. But I’m really enjoying the level of touring we’re on now. We’re not saying that we’re not ambitious. I think we have a couple of singles on the album that will cross over and get on the radio. But for now we just want people to get what the essence of what the band’s about.

Words by Mo Mostowfi
Photograph by Sarah Hadland

XYZ Magazine