Francis Gilles Poullain-Patterson (born 15 April 1967), better known as Frankie Poullain, is the bass player for rock band The Darkness. He was raised in Milnathort then

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Scotland. He attended the Royal High School, leaving in 1985. Poullain was the only original Darkness member not from the Lowestoft area. Poullain left the band on 23 May 2005, citing "musical differences" as the reason. He was replaced by Richie Edwards, a former

guitar technician A guitar technician (or 'guitar tech') is a member of a music ensemble's road crew who maintains and sets up the musical equipment for one or more guitarists. Depending on the type and size of band, the guitar tech may be responsible for stringin ...

for the band. His departure caused quite a stir with the press, most notably in the ''

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'' magazine where he was reportedly regarded as their favourite member of the band. However, in 2011 The Darkness officially announced that they were to reunite, with all 4 original members. Frankie described this as being "Just like old times". The band sub-headlined Download Festival at Donington Park, England in June 2011, playing under

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), ...

. They also played at Hammersmith, with

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

guitarist

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

joining the band. The band's third studio album '' Hot Cakes'' was released in early 2012, as the band embarked on the Hot Cakes tour. Frankie's autobiography ''Dancing in the Darkness'' (John Blake Publishing), charting the ups and downs of life with the band, was released in November 2008. He is a step-brother of comedian Phil Kay.

Equipment

He plays a

Gibson Thunderbird The Gibson Thunderbird is an electric bass guitar made by Gibson and Epiphone. Background and introduction The Gibson Thunderbird was introduced in 1963. At the time, Fender had been the leader in the electric bass market since their introdu ...

IV bass guitar (nicknamed "the brown bastard"), recognizable for its reverse body design. He received this from a man in Wales named "Ray" who was in a band called "

The Pooh Sticks The Pooh Sticks were a Welsh indie pop band from Swansea, Wales, primarily recording between 1988 and 1995. They were notable for their jangly melodiousness and lyrics gently mocking the indie scene of the time, such as on "On Tape", "Indiepop ...

." When playing live he allows natural distortion to take place for effect. He also uses a Fender Precision Bass, Ampeg VT, Mesa Boogie, 50 watt hand-wired Marshall guitar combo and a Sans Amp bass driver.Frankie Poullain's Equipment
at outofthedarkness.co.uk

References

External links

FlamingWhopper.com
UK based fan website for The Darkness, Stone Gods, Hot Leg & British Whale (Established 2005)
outofthedarkness.co.uk
, Fan based media website for The Darkness, Stone Gods, Hot Leg and British Whale 1967 births Living people Scottish bass guitarists The Darkness (band) members {{UK-bass-guitarist-stub