The Darkness have admitted their festive anthem Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells Finish) was written on the fly after a drunken night time out.
Photograph: Avalon
Guitarist Dan Hawkins recalled how the band’s label pushed for a seasonal single following their breakthrough success within the UK.
He advised NME: “I used to be within the Met Bar getting horrendously drunk with Max Lousada, our A+R man on the time.
“He stated, ‘We’ve bought to consider a Christmas single, haven’t we? What do you reckon: Love Is Solely A Feeling?’ I advised him, ‘Nicely, it’s not a Christmas single, is it?’ He requested if we had one and I stated ‘Yeah’… however we didn’t.”
The following day, en path to assist Metallica at Dublin’s RDS Area, the band threw themselves into the problem. Hawkins purchased fairy lights and Christmas jumpers for the bus, and the 2003 hit was shortly pieced collectively.
He added: “Justin had that refrain as a piss‑round factor from years in the past.
“We labored out the right way to flip it into a correct tune and it was completed in a few hours at the back of the bus. We simply blagged it, actually.”
Regardless of its spontaneous origins, Hawkins stated the band had been decided to make a real Christmas single reasonably than merely including sleigh bells to an present monitor.
He continued: “On the time, I wished to compete — I wished to be a part of the race for Christmas. You may spot it a mile off once they simply add some bells and the phrase ‘Christmas’ to a mean tune. We wished to do it correctly.”
The monitor went on to turn out to be one of many band’s most recognisable hits, cementing The Darkness within the pantheon of recent Christmas rock classics.
The tune narrowly missed out on the primary spot after being overwhelmed by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews’ cowl of Tears For Fears’ Mad World.
