Out of Darkness cometh . . . Richie

Lichfield rocker Richie Edwards has tasted the highs and lows of the music business.

From treading the world's stages as bassist with The Darkness, his world looked like it had fallen apart when flamboyant but troubled singer Justin Hawkins called it a day.

But now Richie and the rest of The Darkness have regrouped, with a new name, a new sound and a new attitude.

Stone Gods will release their first album in the summer and are already celebrating seeing their first, four-track EP, Burn The Witch sell out on the day it went on sale.

"We couldn't believe it," says Richie, who has taken over vocal duties with the new band.

"We pressed 2,000 limited edition physical copies, plus you can download it. By 4 o'clock on the day of release they'd all gone.

"I've only got two myself. I unwrapped one just to check it out and make sure it was OK but the other is still shrink wrapped so it might pay for my pension on eBay one day!"

Richie took a long and winding route to rock superstardom before it then all went pear-shaped.

Born and brought up in Lichfield, more famous for its spired cathedral than classic rock bands, he first picked up a guitar when he was about 11 and over the years played in a few local bands, but admits to having been "very green and very lazy".

"I've always been in bands. I've been playing guitar since I was about 11. Then I just started working with bands as a technician and that was my lot," he says.

Richie plied his trade around the world as a roadie with the likes of Supergrass, Reef, 100 Reasons, Hell Is For Heroes and Polyphonic Spree.

He admits: "There was always a yearning to be playing with bands but I'd resigned myself that that was it."

In 2003 Richie found himself on The Darkness's payroll, hired to be guitar technician to Dan Hawkins, brother of catsuit-wearing frontman Justin, getting a behind-the-scenes view as they conquered the world with their eccentric, flamboyant and very British classic-rock-meets-glam sound with a string of hit singles and two albums.

Then, out of the blue The Darkness parted ways with bassist Frankie Poullain and asked Richie to pick up his bass and fill the vacant position, joining them on a world tour that took in Birmingham's NEC Arena where he had once seen his favourite bands as a fan.

"It came as quite a shock," he says. "We had a great year and a half and then it all fell apart."

That happened when Justin Hawkins left the group after a battle with drug addiction which saw him check in to rehab.

Richie takes up the tale: "At the tail end of The Darkness things were a little dark. It went from a lot of fun to very little fun.

"Justin was having problems. I got a call from Justin saying he couldn't carry on. I remember just sitting down in the room with my girlfriend and saying 'That's it'.

"Then about half an hour later Dan called and said 'This isn't the end, do you want to do some singing?' "

The decision was made early on that this was a whole new band and The Darkness was dead.

With Richie on rhythm guitar, Ed Graham on drums, Dan Hawkins taking over lead guitar duties and new recruit Toby MacFarlaine on bass, the new band holed up in Leeders Farm, Dan's residential recording studio in Norfolk, and started writing new material.

"The fallout from any band is unpleasant. We were holed away in the studio and didn't even switch our phones on," says Richie.

"We wrote 30 to 35 songs, we just sat round with a couple of acoustic guitars and a pad of paper and when we had something we'd demo it in the studio really quickly.

"It's in the can and ready to go mid to late June to tie in with the festival season."

Although fans will recognise the classic guitar crunch of The Darkness, Richie says Stone Gods are an altogether edgier and heavier affair.

The album was by produced Dan and a co-producer Nick Brine and mixed by Mike Fraser who has worked with the likes of Aerosmith, AC/DC, Motley Crue, and Metallica.

Richie is delighted with the finished, as yet un-named, project.

"It's a really diverse album, a big mix of influences on there. There's a classic rock element to it but some folky influences, and out and out heavy metal. But every song is a rock song.

"Recording was a cathartic thing. Now we're having so much more fun. It's like when you're at school and you've got a band, it's that kind of vibe, This is how it should be, euphoric, upbeat.

"I'm a firm believer in everything happening for a reason and if Justin hadn't left The Darkness then I wouldn't be the singer of Stone Gods."

Richie adds: "Stone Gods are far less showbiz than The Darkness, far less cabaret. I don't think we'll appeal to the Saturday morning TV kids show audience and I don't think we should."

So it's off with the sequinned cat-suits, and on with the black leather jacket as the band prepares to hit the road again, following low-key support slots with the reformed Thin Lizzy and some toe-in-the-water headlining gigs that included Birmingham Barfly.

Richie can't wait to get back on the road.

He says: "We're planning to do some support slots, then we'll bring a single out in May to tie in with a little tour of our own, then it's off round Europe doing festivals, just touring, touring, touring.

"The Darkness just exploded overnight to a lot of people, but they did years of touring and earning their stripes.

"Stone Gods did a small tour, getting back into venues where you can see the whites of their eyes. It's a really intense experience, far more than an arena.

"Don't get me wrong, it's awesome playing an arena but getting back to grassroots is fantastic. We're in the back of a van, sharing rooms. I think that's one of the reason we're enjoying everything now, we're a little gang a little army, not going off in separate cars."

Richie is proud of his Staffordshire roots.

I'm Lichfield born and bred," he says. "My Mum and her Mum were born here. I love it, I just like the place. They say home is where the heart is and my heart's here."

And the Midlands are where his adopted football team is based.

"I was never really a football fan as such," he explains, "But when we were making the album I got into footy.

"Dan said 'You've got to pick a team, you're spoiled for choice up there' with Villa, Birmingham City, Wolves, Albion, Derby, Coventry even. So I just picked Wolves.

"Then, one time I was in Wolverhampton with my girlfriend and we saw the Wolves shop and there was a gorgeous black strip, the away strip I guess. And of course Robert Plant is a season ticket holder, so that's another good reason."

But he's left lost for words when I tell him that there's another good reason for him to have picked the Wanderers – Wolverhampton's motto: 'Out of darkness cometh light'.

"You're kidding," he says.

That's amazing. There you go then."

By Ian Harvey

Visit Stone Gods at www.stonegods.co.uk and www.myspace.com/thestonegods