The Darkness have announced the new album 'Dreams On Toast' and a 2025 UK tour.
The 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love' rockers are set to release their eighth studio album next March that has been inspired by "the life-changing music of the ages".
The band has also teased the lead single from the record, the 1970s-inspired 'The Longest Kiss' which nods towards Queen and Sir Paul McCartney.
Frontman Justin Hawkins said: "You know the thing when God's breath tickles your soul and tells you to create? Yeah, makes me giggle too. But you can't resist.
"God might not be the power she once was, but say what you like about her, she knows damn well that what the world needs now, is rock sweet rock. And who are we, mere mortals of extraordinary ability, to argue with the divine?
"So we knuckled down and thought really hard about the best of the best, the elite songs, the life-changing music of the ages. Then we popped out a dozen bangers before lunch.
"And these bangers we present to you here, wallowing in an aromatic aural ragu, served atop the charred remains of our envious contemporaries... ladies and gentlemen, I give you 'Dreams On Toast'."
The 49-year-old musician added on 'The Longest Kiss': "Misty Orchards! That's not my porn name, that's the kind of scenery that I love. I awakened to such a vista in the delightful Scottish highland town of Nairn on the morning that inspiration for 'The Longest Kiss' lyric struck. I was bleary-eyed and locked in an unending embrace with my (mid) life partner. Weird that I can still sing, but that's a testament to the resilience of humans, especially lead singers.
"The music itself is a piano-led composition, the chorus of which my brother and I came up with after he'd taken a long time to empty this bladder during some impressive pub endurance.
"The verses were transported from a song I've been working on for decades as part of a musical about the collapse of the Lowestoft fishing industry, called 'The Collapse of The Lowestoft Fishing Industry'.
"The musical isn't finished yet. But 'The Longest Kiss' is. The results are astounding. We're all very proud of this."
The Darkness will also be going on a tour of the UK that will see them play 17 shows across the country in March 2025 – concluding with a gig at London's Wembley Arena.
The Darkness 2025 UK Tour Dates:
MARCH
7 – Ipswich, Regent’s Theatre
8 – Oxford, New Theatre
9 – Swansea, Arena
11 –Guildford, G Live
12 –Hull, Connexin Arena
14 – Liverpool, Guild Of Students
15 – Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
17 – York, Barbican
18 – Edinburgh, Usher Hall
20 – Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
21 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall
22 – Manchester, O2 Apollo
24 – Bristol, Beacon Theatre
25 – Portsmouth, Guildhall
27 – Leicester, De Montford Hall
28 – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
29 – London, OVO Arena Wembley
