FRANK POULIN
The Darkness bassist
www.thedarknessrock.com

(Summer 2004) by George Dionne

You can’t escape it. TV, radio, the Internet, magazines; they’re all riding The Darkness bandwagon. So I figured, why not me? The Darkness don’t really appeal to me, but I know there are hundreds, no wait…thousands of you out there that crank up your radio every time their infectious single “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” comes on. I now it’s hard to resist singing along with that ridiculous falsetto that vocalist Justin Hawkins employs in the chorus. Bassist Frank Poulin stopped by my office while on a break from The Darkness’ current 2004 U.S. tour.

RIL: What can one expect during your live shows?
FP: It becomes a shared, communal experience. It can be powerful and bombastic, it can be sexy and fun, or it can be ruckus and wild.

RIL: Isn't that what rock and roll is all about?
FP: Yeah.

RIL: You’re currently on a headlining tour with The Wildhearts opening, did the band get to pick The Wildhearts as the opener?
FP: We picked them. There's so few bands that we respect, especially with this kind of music. They're kind of different than us, but they're purists in a way. They rock. They're not 'indie', they're heavy. There are a lot of bands that call themselves rock bands, but really aren't rock bands. There's rock, and there's rock. So the Wildhearts are a proper rock band. They're really heavy like Metallica, but at the same time they have so really great melodies and harmonies.

RIL: Most people who don't own the new disc only know "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"; is the rest of the album more of the same or more diverse?
FP: It's very diverse. Every song's different. Every song represents something different in rock history. We give it a little twist in our own way. There's something eccentric in what we do. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is the dumbest, most straight-vined song of ours. Even though it's dumb, it's quite intense as well. Just like the feelings you have when you're in love. It's kind of a throw back to Little Richard; a fun, joyful rock and roll. I don't think anyone's done it for a while. You hear it in dance music, like Outkast or something, but there's too much sophistication around.

RIL: Have you started working on the follow-up to Permission to Land yet?
FP: Yeah, we're starting to come up with stuff now. I think [the next album] is going to be more eclectic. It looks like we have four or five songs ready, but we're going to need another ten or so. We have a lot of bits and pieces. We have some producers that are interested. We have the whole month of October off to write. We're going to spend the month of September in the U.S. and the month of October writing.

RIL: Do you feel any pressure to make an album that's just as successful as Permission to Land?
FP: Yeah, but it’s only self-inflicted pressure. We've been pressuring ourselves, because that's how we made it in the first place. It was a huge, huge leap of faith, and completely against the odds for a band in our position, doing our kind of music, a few years ago. Everyone was laughing and ridiculing us. The leap of faith was putting ourselves out there under hug amounts of pressure. So there's some pressure with the second album, but we don't give a flying fuck about pressure from the public. We know where we are and we know our responsibility.

RIL: Mutt Lange is going to produce your next album?
FP: I don't think so. We've got quite a few options there. We met with Mutt Lange, we met with lots of people, but I don't think he's going to do it.

RIL: Was there a problem? It was announced earlier that he was going to do it, was that just someone jumping the gun?
FP: There's a lot of stuff out there.

RIL: So you were just meeting with people and [Mutt] was one of them; then it got out that it must be him?
FP: Yeah.

RIL: What did you do before you were in The Darkness?
FP: I did lots of stuff, from bicycle courier to drugs courier.

RIL: Well then. I'm sure you got bigger tips as a drug courier.
FP: (Laughs) I was also a tour guide in Venezuela as well. You know I've been in bands with Dan for the last seven years.

RIL: What made you decide to play the bass?
FP: Well, because Dan was a much better guitarist than I was. He was a bassist first.

RIL: Do you play any other instruments?
FP: Not really.

RIL: Do you ever look at the guitar player or singer and say to yourself, 'I wish I was doing that'?
FP: No-no. I think bassist suits me just fine. I think that when you use the term classic rock, it applies to us in a way. We all have these kinds of classic roles. Dan is kind of a classic guitarist; he's tentative, but also strong willed as well. Justin's kind of the classic frontman; he’s the attention seeker, manic, and hyper. Ed drinks like John Bonham and he's very physical and strong.

RIL: It seems that The Darkness are compared to Spinal Tap a lot, do you think that's a fair comparison?
FP: (Laughs) I don't know, to me the spirit of Spinal Tap is there. Not so much a superficial comparisons as it is cosmetic comparison. Maybe it's because we have long hair, we play classic rock, and we have a couple of Medieval songs. We're not scared of the comparisons though. The actual spirit of Spinal Tap is basically about self-inflicted egos; it's not like we have that kind of thing. We're not living a lie. The spirit of Spinal Tap is captured much more like Linkin Park or Fred Durst; people who have a complete over-inflated idea of themselves and are completely delusional.

RIL: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" has appeared in a few movies and soon in a video game, does the band have a say in this?
FP: Really? It's going to be in a video game?

RIL: According to your website, it's going to be on a karaoke game.
FP: Oh yeah. I don't think it's a big deal. I don't think that we're the kind of band that would think very carefully before doing a big campaign. For example, some bands do a big campaign for a car advertisement; I think we would think carefully about that. Something like that dates your music and people will associate it in that context. It's a good cash-in initially. It really depends on the brand. Of course a computer game like that is just something fun. If the song fits everything, I think that's okay.

RIL: You said in an interview with the Cleveland Free Times that when you listen to [Motley Crue's] greatest hits, there's less quality songwriting on their hits album than on [The Darkness'] debut; were you just talking shit?
FP: I can't believe that spread so quickly. I was looking to piss them off, because I kind of like Motley Crue. I think that they're amazing people and everything, but yeah, I really believe that there are more good songs on our album. That's just my personal opinion. In terms of quality I mean lyrical content, ideas, originality, lack of cliché, and thought-provoking songs. The Motley Crue album probably sounds better because they worked with top producers and everything. Our album was recorded for twenty-five thousand pounds ($35,000). It's an indie album, produced by an engineer with no previous experience. We did it in two weeks. Rock is the kind of music that needs a big budget. I wouldn't say that there's [better songs] on our album than on Highway to Hell or Night at the Opera, but Motley Cure, I would say that.

RIL: Who do you think has a better falsetto: Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, Kind Diamond, of Little Richard?
FP: Little Richard without a doubt. I would say Little Richard along with Prince. If you listen to something like "Beautiful Ones" from Purple Rain, you'll hear that Prince has a good one.

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