In a recent conversation with Guitar World, The Darkness bassist Frankie Poullain revealed how it was to play like AC/DC’s Cliff Williams on the song ‘The Power and the Glory of Love’ from the 2021 album entitled ‘Motorheart.’
In 2003, The Darkness got attention with the debut album entitled ‘Permission To Land.’ The band released ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love,’ ‘Growing On Me,’ ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman,’ and ‘Love Is Only A Feeling’ as the singles.
The Darkness gained three Brit Awards in Best British Group, Best British Rock Act, and Best British Album. The band was inspired by impactful names like AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Queen, as the vocalist Justin Hawkins revealed in a past interview while he was talking about the first album.
He said:
“Home is where the heart is. When you write songs, you need a grounding to set the stories in. There’s a lot about small-town life. The album has songs about stuff that’s happened to us in the town. As for influences, it’s AC/DC, Queen, Aerosmith, et cetera.”
In a recent interview, Frankie Poullain talked about the process of creating the band’s new song ‘The Power and the Glory of Love,’ indicating that it was tough for him to play like AC/DC’s Cliff Williams. Poullain recalled the first album where they tried to play like AC/DC by stating that they were doing it recklessly.
However, while playing ‘The Power and the Glory of Love,’ Frankie tried the same technique with Williams by using his thump, as he stated. According to the bassist, this technique was very challenging for him.
Poullain explained in his words:
“I have to say, that was a big struggle, that song. You know, we used to play a lot more like AC/DC on the first album, although I think part of the charm was the fact that we did it with a kind of reckless, irreverent kind of approach to AC/DC rather than being a faithful kind of thing.
But this time, I decided to use my thumb. I find that the pad of the thumb for muting seemed to be the closest thing. Dan was laughing when I was doing it because it’s such an old man thing to do. I looked like I should be wearing a bowtie.”
You can listen to the song below.
