Hot Cakes is the third studio album by British rock band The Darkness, released on 20 August 2012 on Canary Dwarf Records. Produced by Nick Brine and band members Justin and Dan Hawkins, the album is the band's first since their 2011 reunion, and the first to feature bassist Frankie Poullain since the release of Permission to Land in 2003. Despite not being released until 20 August, the album was made available to stream on the Rolling Stone website on 14 August. In 2011, The Darkness reunited following a five-year break-up, with founding bassist Frankie Poullain returning to the band, replacing his successor, Richie Edwards. Regarding the band's reunion, drummer Ed Graham stated, "I heard a rumour that Dan and Justin [Hawkins] were actually writing songs together again and, having not spoken to them for ages, I emailed them. Basically I presumed that they were going to reform but I didn't really know that I was going to be in it. Then Dan, one day, was in London and he said, 'Ed, I'd like to meet with you' and we just had a drink and he said, 'we've been writing songs together for months and we've just finally got to a stage of where we really want the original four people, so are you interested?' Which was obviously great."