The Darkness have announced their eighth studio album, titled Dreams on Toast, along with their “biggest tour in years” across the UK ahead of the new LP in spring 2025. Set for release in March next year, the new album will be the band’s first new output since 2021’s Motorheart.
The tour will see the band perform 17 shows in just 22 days, beginning with something of a homecoming performance in Ipswich for the Lowestoft natives. After a hectic three week run in which the band will hit mid-size venues in cities towns across the UK, the tour will conclude with a bang at Wembley Arena on 29 March. Tickets will be available here from 27 September.
Most of the tour will precede the new album’s launch, so fans can likely expect a mix of old and new material. The Wembley Arena finale, however, lays the ground for a climactic live debut of new material from Dreams on Toast, coming the night following the album’s release.
“You know that thing when God’s breath tickles your soul and tells you to create? Who are we, mere mortals of extraordinary ability, to argue with the divine? So it gives us the most pleasure to announce that our new album, ‘Dreams on Toast’, will be released on Friday 28th March 2025,” the band wrote on its Instagram, announcing the new album’s name and release date.
The Darkness recently rocketed up the US iTunes Rock charts with a resurgence in popularity for their 2003 glam rock anthem ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’, after Taylor Swift was spotted singing along to the song in the crowd of the US Open tennis final.
Propelled to fame by frontman Justin Hawkins’ unmistakeable falsetto and camp humour, the band’s debut album Permission to Land was a seismic event in the rock world in 2003. With hits like ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ and ‘Growing on Me’, the album soared to quadruple platinum status in the UK. The band’s blend of glam, classic and metal, as well as a jocular stage presence, set them apart in an era dominated by more subdued acts.
Despite their meteoric rise, internal tensions and Hawkins’ struggles with addiction led to a temporary split in 2006. The band members pursued separate projects, but the allure of The Darkness proved too strong to resist. They reunited in 2011, much to the delight of their fans, and have since released several more albums, including Hot Cakes (2012) and Easter Is Cancelled (2019).
Accompanying the album announcement was the launch of the new song, ‘Longest Kiss’, which in keeping with the band’s penchant for pastiche of rock legends, gives a nod in homage towards the dandy side of Queen’s late seventies era.
In his typical parodic style that has made the band renowned not just as beloved rockers, but also as beloved interviewees, frontman Justin Hawkins told NME about the upcoming album: “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.”
Dreams on Toast will launch on 28 March and can be pre-ordered on vinyl here.
