In 2012, short-lived super-group The Darkness decided to reform. I was asked to undertake creative duties to help steer the bands media outputs in the promotion of various album, single releases, tours, festivals, online spaces and merchandise. The challenges were hard and fast with a band that had never managed to make it in any sober sense out of the 90s where the internet was still an alien concept.
And so I had to work with the labels, management and venues still willing to entertain them in order to assist in the production of media production, merchandising and promotional material. Further challenges came from pushing creative input in to all social media channels and eventually the art direction and creation of 'The Last of Our Kind' album cover & CD artwork often funded by micro-budgets or spare change begged from fans.
Further outputs came in the form of video production, animation and direction of the hit single 'Barbarian' with DC Comics' superhero artist Nick Roche. The result was a smash hit video that spurned its own movement at COMICON along with a range fan generated merchandise and associated fan groups that took it's 1.3 million views on You Tube to a new height for the band and the label, all on a budget of £1500.
Further interest came from Viking re-enactment groups, Nordic jewelers and tattoo parlous, many of which appeared on stage at various events and festivals where the band played. The resulting traffic took the bands social media profile from a few thousand to well over half a million with nearly 300k continually engaged users.
