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British rockstars return to the US with a new drummer and a new tour.

Some people wait for a special sign before finally choosing music as their life path. For Rufus Tiger Taylor, that sign came early—before he was even born. The newest member of British rock band The Darkness is a son of Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor, while his striking middle name was chosen by none other than Freddie Mercury.

No wonder the 25-year-old musician already has a resume to die for: he toured all over the world with Queen + Adam Lambert for several years and last year joined the line-up of The Darkness. This April, the British rockers are playing shows in the States as part of their Back to the USSA tour, and then will head straight to the studio to record more stadium-ready anthems. In the meantime, we chatted with Rufus on everything ranging from the fear of the darkness to the safety of his wrists.

Is it true that Freddie Mercury picked your middle name?

Yeah, he did.

And you’re probably satisfied with his choice, right? I mean Tiger is a pretty cool middle name to have.

Oh, yeah [laughs]. It’s an interesting word. The boy version was tiger and the girl one was tigerlily. That’s me and my sister.

How did you get involved with The Darkness?

I’ve known them through a mutual friend. He knew them for a while. I was in Australia with my girlfriend roughly a year ago. I got a call from Dan saying "Hey, it’s Dan Hawkins from The Darkness. We’re missing a drummer and we got a gig coming up in two days, there are 10 new songs, can you join us?" I thought about it—it was definitely a difficult task. It takes about 24 hours to get to England from Australia, and I obviously had to learn all the songs. But I knew that if I didn’t jump at the opportunity, I wouldn’t be playing with them. So I said yes.

So I guess you didn’t ruin that gig and decided to stick around?

Oh, absolutely! It was quite a nerve-wracking experience, obviously. I only learned the songs that day and just met the guys for the first time, and it was a little daunting. But the guys were really nice, they’ve made me shit myself laughing. They made it really easy to get on with them. The gig went great, they enjoyed my performance and decided to keep me on. I just had to learn the rest of the songs so we could tour steadily. And we’re definitely past that point right now.

How would you describe the dynamic within the band? Were they all welcoming or did they haze you a little?

It was all totally warm. The brothers, Dan and Justin, were very nice and Frankie, the bass player, is one of the funniest guys that I’ve ever met. None of them is afraid to take a piss out of themselves or each other, which is a bonus for me. I hate people who take themselves too seriously; they drive me crazy. I could tell that if we went touring together, we would get on very well. And on top of that, the most important part: playing. They’re all very good players; they’re phenomenal! It’s quite unusual to have brothers in the band: two guitar players, both brilliant. They can read each other’s minds, telepathically.

We’re about to see these mind games on tour in the US soon. What should we expect from the tour?

Expect a loud, fun night. Justin’s also kind of a professional stand-up comedian in-between the songs. Everyone in the industry says watching them live is like jumping into a time machine and getting right to the mid-'70s.

You toured a lot before joining the band. What's your wildest tour story?

I would be hideous to tell you, my friend [laughs]. Tour life only gets boring if you’re very tired. Every day you get the opportunities life hands to you. It’s just a big hilarious situation. Especially with the good crew and guys that you really like. Just one big laugh.

I got to meet Nicolas Cage in Vegas once. He was great, a really great guy. Really funny, really interesting. We had a fun night.

You toured with Adam Lambert and Queen. Did you ever think about making them perform with The Darkness?

I’d love to do it, but obviously they call the shots. I know they all love the music. Adam and Justin have worked together before and written songs together. It would be an interesting project, would be great fun. I’d love to do a tour with these two.

Are you afraid of the dark?

No.

How long does it take you to switch a light on?

Haha. It depends on what type of morning it is, how late I’ve been up. Usually, if I know where I am, not very long. If I know where it is.

Do you believe in a thing called love?

Yes, I do.

Is there any type of doctor that looks out for a drummer's hand safety?

Honestly I don’t know. Some people have a lot of problems with them, especially wrists and elbows with rock drummers. I would say that a little bit of exercise every now and then, especially on the wrists. That’s all you can do really. I’ve had wrists problem before. It really affected my work. I couldn’t do my job at all, I couldn’t even pick up a drumstick in my left hand. I had three steroid injections and it fixed the problem. It’s a risk all the time.

What’s the least rockstar thing you ever did?

I think I’ve done quite a few…

Maybe binge-watch a new House of Cards season?

Oh, I love all that! I’m a big Netflix freak. When you’re touring and never get the chance to chill out in one place and then you get this one night in a hotel room, all you wanna do is watch the new House of Cards. And I am watching it right now. It’s amazing. I plan to watch the new Game of Thrones on tour, too.

What's the best advice your dad ever gave you?

A lot of things you pick up just naturally because you’re used to seeing him play.

We’ve yet to hear the studio recordings of the "new" Darkness. When will we be able to?

We have had one writing session just to see how we work together. We went to this villa in Spain and spent six days there. We left with about 23 song ideas.

That’s enough for an album. Or two.

It all felt very natural to us, so we’re looking forward to going to the studio together at some point in the summer and getting this album done this year.

So you’re shooting for a 2017 release?

Maybe the end of this year or the beginning of 2017.

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