East Anglia's multi-award winning rockers, The Darkness, have announced a special trip to Thetford Forest next summer.

The show will be a local affair for the band who hail from Lowestoft, when they perform as part of the Forestry Commission Live Music 2012.

The Darkness exploded into the public consciousness for both their unique brand of glammed-up rock and outrageous stage costumes when their debut album Permission to Land shot to number one in 2003, spawning new rock anthems including Love is only a Feeling, I Believe In A Thing Called Love and Growing on Me.

The band - brothers Justin and Dan Hawkins, Frankie Poullain and Ed Graham - are currently in the middle a UK indoor tour following live sets at Download and Sonisphere festivals during the summer.

Justin said: 'I have often walked through Thetford Forest, enchanted by bird-song, mesmerised by the rhythm of nesting squirrels.

'My urge to fill the trees with music of my own can no longer be denied. Thetford has provided The Darkness with much enchantment and inspiration over the years. It's time we gave something bark.'

After a five-year hiatus, the original Darkness line-up made their welcome return to the live scene earlier this year with a warm-up gig at the Waterfront in Norwich.

Numerous European festivals followed before the rockers returned after the summer to finish recording and mixing the next album in East Anglia.

A woodland glade in Thetford Forest will be temporarily transformed into a concert venue for the gig on July 14 and income generated from ticket sales will be spent on improving the forest for people and wildlife.

Tickets, priced at �36, will go on sale on November 25 at 9am and will be available from the Forestry Commission box office on 03000 680400 or online at www.forestry.gov.uk/music.