REFORMED, refreshed, and rehabilitated, English glam-rockers The Darkness are heading to these shores for a run of shows with legendary rocker Joan Jett.

Coming off the back of album number three and an extensive tour supporting Lady Gaga, guitarist Dan Hawkins is looking ahead to the shows Down Under.

“Expect really loud sounds played through Marshall amplifiers, running about on stage, guitar solos, and great songs; a rock ‘n’ roll party basically,” he says. “If you’re up for having a couple of beers and taking your mind off work, then come along.”

Having left their rock ‘n’ roll excesses behind, the band have found a new lease of life which has seen their shows take on another dimension.

“I think we’re a lot more energetic than we were before,” he says. “We used to hide behind a massive light show and giant inflatable breasts and stuff like that. We never used to move from our spots as we were just getting over our hangovers. That’s all been well documented over the last couple of years, but we pretty much hit the ground running at a show these days. We’re in the zone now where we don’t give a flying fuck, so anything can happen at a Darkness show.”

Sharing a bill with the ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ is something Hawkins is looking forward to.

“Touring with Joan Jett is going to be amazing,” he says. “We’ve not met her before, and she just adds so much glamour to the show; it’s going to be quite the event. It just reads like a great gig.”

The band’s new and improved lifestyle has had plenty of other creative benefits.

“We’ve been writing on the road, which has never happened before, mainly due to massive hangovers all the time,” he says. “It’s not going to be a long wait before the next album comes out. We can’t keep our fans waiting, and obviously we lost a lot of fans when we split up. We’ve written quite a few songs already and we’re really excited about it.”

The new lifestyle also means many aspects of the band’s earlier shows have been left behind, including the infamous giant breasts.

“I thought about turning them into a really inappropriate water feature,” he says. “But the only giant tits on stage this time will be the band.”

THE DARKNESS PLAY BRISBANE RIVERSTAGE ON THURSDAY APRIL 4TH.