THE Darkness have returned with their fourth album Last of Our Kind and are performing at festivals ahead of their own solo tour.

They are set to play Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival on August 30. They then bring their Blast of Our Kind UK Tour to Southampton O2 Guildhall on December 14 and Bournemouth O2 Academy on December 17.

Produced by guitarist Dan Hawkins, the album boasts new track, Barbarian, described by frontman Justin Hawkins as having “not one but two dramatic monologues, a guitar solo that has been declared ‘irresponsible,’ and a riff that weakens lady-knees.”

I caught up with bass player Frankie Poullain, who explained much of the album had been written on the weather-battered, isolated Valentia Island off the Southwest of Ireland.

“My brother lives in an old cottage there and it’s the most westerly harbour of Europe. Symbolically it’s pretty cool.” It’s a really interesting little island, and it’s where they laid the transatlantic cable from Europe to New York when people used to send telegraphs. We were there off-season and the weather is very extreme - very changeable. We got loads of fresh air. It was very isolated ; we were burning the peat and we were ‘Bono-ing’ – as in Bono from U2; a system we use to get inspiration. Bono will just sing gobbledegook into a recorder and when you listen back to it from another room through the walls your subconscious suggests words. You put the mic in the middle of the room and just circle around it singing – it frees the mind. It’s like when you are watching children play they come out with spontaneous phrases. Like my boy said to me the other day: “Look the trees are dancing – they’re having a party.”

So did being on Valentia inspire the medieval themes on songs like Barbarian and Conquerors?

“It definitely did as the weather there is rather tempestuous and ever-changing – very schizophrenic and extreme. It matches the emotional landscape of the album as well. And there is the history too with the folktales.

“We made three different visits over there to make the album, but we also spent time working on it in Ibiza before that! Both Barbarian and Hammer & Tongs were written in Ibiza round the pool in the sunshine – even though you wouldn’t have thought it.”Sometimes it’s inside out. Music is an escape from our conscious selves; it doesn’t matter where you are but being in unusual places helps isolate you and your sense of consciousness.”

I mention that James Blunt has a home in Ibiza and wonder if they had hung out together. Frankie seems amused by the suggestion, so it would appear not.

“Well Justin got a new hairstyle during this time and we’ve told him he looks like James Blunt! It’s grown out now : it’s now real 80’s- shorter at the side and floppy on top. And he’s got an electric blue satin suit like David Bowie. He’s 80’s glam but absurd . In fact we all have our outfits made by designer Ray Brown who also makes them for Arctic Monkeys. He created a lot of 80’s icons such as Bon Jovi.”

The Darkness now have a new drummer as of five months ago – Rufus Taylor, son of Roger Taylor from Queen. He must be good, I suggest, as he has good genes.

“Well no, his dad wore Wranglers and he wears Levis,” Frankie quips, adding, "Well, you be the judge of that. We love playing with him. He hits the snare hard and he’s got attitude.”

The Darkness formed in 2000, split in 2005 and got back together in 2011. What had he done in that time besides this?

“I got married, divorced, travelled, bought and sold a French chateau , had a year in South America and had fun.”

So why had the band got back together in 2011?

“It ended badly in a negative way. We were so big and then we were suddenly in obscurity. It was a bit of a blow and we had never had chance to grow organically.

“This is our most natural album; our most un-self-conscious. Usually we spend three years on an album but our next one will be relatively quick. The worst thing that happened to us was getting the Ivor Novello Award for song writers of the year because once you get that you believe you are song writers, rather than just having fun. The magic of rock 'n' roll is that it’s spontaneous and sexy and there’s something about it you can’t define, but of course you should not auto-tune it because if you try to perfect it it’s not rock 'n' roll any more.”

*The Darkness Blast of Our Kind UK Tour. Tickets: livenation.co.uk/artist/the-darkness-tickets.