"And of all of us, Frank was the least prepared for it." The rags-to-riches element of The Darkness's ascent is highlighted by a marvellous story that Ed Graham, when opening his account at Coutts, used a British Gas disconnection letter for an unpaid £50 bill as his proof of address. "People respond to surprise success in different ways," Justin explains. This, the Hawkins brothers believe, led to an "identity crisis", exacerbated by sudden success. Imagine being in a band where your musical input - that you think you're worthy of - actually amounts to next-to-fuck-all, but your ego can't handle it. Imagine presenting yourself as something that you're not. And you'd rather do a Hail Gainsbourg than a Hail Angus. "Imagine if you're in a rock band and you don't like rock music, for example. "His contribution to the band was largely image-related," Justin bluntly puts it. The new-look Poullain was to become iconic and emblematic, something of a mascot figure for fans (who would chant "Fran-kie! Fran-kie!") and for many, the embodiment of the spirit of the band. "That would be the day," jokes Justin, "that we said 'Grow a moustache or you're out'. But when people are telling you you're too sophisticated and you need to dumb down, the first thing you do is say 'Lets be more gay!' I want to be massive in America on our terms." NO! The crux of his argument was: we're too gay, and we really needed to get our balls out and make this sound like a rock album. But what he said to us was the thing that we have to eliminate about ourselves in order to break America - which is the least of our concerns - is to 'take away any ambiguity' as to what we are, and really dumb down. "We had one dinner with him," Justin recalls, "and before he'd even heard a note of what we'd written, he insisted on having a writing credit. When the others first came to stay, whenever everyone woke up I'd hear these massive bangs, then swearing!"Īt first, there was talk of bringing out of retirement the veteran producer Mutt Lange (famed for his work with AC/DC and Def Leppard, but now more preoccupied with country-pop artists such as his wife Shania Twain). He's taken head-sized chunks out of the beams. I can walk around downstairs and I don't have to duck any more. "Our dad's a builder," says Dan, "and it's ongoing. Rather than buy a country retreat, Dan - not thrilled by "the thought of the clock ticking in some sterile studio" - built his own residential rehearsal studio in the wilds of Norfolk, "in a farmhouse that was built for dwarves," Justin laughs.