“We recorded with him, but the song was demoted to a bonus track. I’ve had to add him to the list of people who’ll never speak to me again”: Dan Hawkins hates how The Darkness treated Ian Anderson

Dan Hawkins and Ian Anderson — (Image credit: Getty Images)

In 2012 the reunited original line-up of UK rockers The Darkness released comeback album Hot Cakes. It was originally set to include a track featuring Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson on flute – but guitarist Dan Hawkins’ bandmates outvoted him and it only ever appeared as a bonus track. Hawkins tells Prog he still regrets the episode.

“When The Darkness split in 2006, our then-bass player Richie Edwards and I formed a band called Stone Gods. He’s a big Jethro Tull fan, and he was like, ‘I think you’d like them.’ I think it was because I’d started getting into stuff like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.

So there I was in my Norfolk farmhouse – on my own because I was single at the time – and Jethro Tull just seemed to fit my surroundings. That was my soundtrack to a good couple of years. I loved the folk element to it straight away because I was into Richard Thompson and things like that.

Jethro Tull twist and turn in a really musical way; you think you’ve got a handle on what they’re doing, and they completely change. It’s music that makes you think, ‘Why have they just done that?’

The Darkness - Cannonball (Long Version) - YouTube

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A song could be in a minor key, and then just a section of it will change to a major, then it goes back to a minor again. It’s so cleverly put together – it’s virtuosic and really fun to listen to.

When The Darkness reformed in 2010, I was still in Jethro Tull mode. We were recording a song called Cannonball; there was a big section in the middle that had a big guitar solo and I was developing these progressive guitar lines.

I thought to myself, ‘This would be much more interesting if it had some kind of Jethro Tull type flute playing on it.’ So I got in touch with Ian Anderson, told him I was a big fan and said, ‘What do you think you can do? And would you be interested?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah! I love The Darkness – I’d love to do it!’ So we recorded with him.

But the worst thing in the world is that Cannonball was demoted to a fucking bonus track. It was one of the worst days of my life when I was fighting to have it on the main album and I was outvoted. I was like, ‘Not only have you disappointed me, you’ve disgraced the honour of the greatest living prog-rocker!’

I’ve had to add him to the list of people who’ll never speak to me again. Or maybe I could offer my services to any bonus tracks that he’s doing?”

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Julian Marszalek is the former Reviews Editor of The Blues Magazine. He has written about music for Music365, Yahoo! Music, The Quietus, The Guardian, NME and Shindig! among many others. As the Deputy Online News Editor at Xfm he revealed exclusively that Nick Cave’s second novel was on the way. During his two-decade career, he’s interviewed the likes of Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Ozzy Osbourne, and has been ranted at by John Lydon. He’s also in the select group of music journalists to have actually got on with Lou Reed. Marszalek taught music journalism at Middlesex University and co-ran the genre-fluid Stow Festival in Walthamstow for six years.

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