Idolator
In a long, sad interview with Britian's The Sun, Darkness lead singer Justin Hawkins—a man who looks like a spider from Mars, and sings like a banshee who just stepped on a tack—announces that he's quitting the band. Apparently, Hawkins spent more than £150,000 on coke over the last few years (that's $278,219 in American money), and after a trip to rehab, he's afraid that staying in the group may cause a relapse:
"I regularly used to stay up for four days at a time on coke and alcohol binges. I became secretive, volatile and verbally abusive, a really unpleasant person to be around. There were lots of periods I don't even remember, blackouts...""I went through a period of doing drugs during shows. I would come off stage and do a line and then go back on. But it affected my voice so I switched to starting the minute I came off stage. I wouldn't stop until I blacked out. Every day focused around drink and drugs."
We understand that Hawkins may want to take it a little slow, especially now that he's on the up-and-up; but does he really have to quit the band entirely? As much as we love the Darkness—and we do love them, even on last year's spotty, underhyphenated One Way Ticket To Hell... album—this guy was the band, and with a few exceptions (Stephen J. Hawking, an actual hawk), it's hard to imagine a new singer making the band anywhere near as memorable. We look forward to being thoroughly depressed by next spring's sure-to-flop premiere of Rock Star: The Darkness.
Hawkins in 'I quit' shocker [The Sun]
The Darkness - Friday Night [MP3, link expired]
Comments
What happened to the days where rock stars could do drugs, stay in the band, and it wasn't a big deal?
Follow Clapton's lead. He plays Cocaine in shows now. It's not a big deal. And now, how he can get his voice so high has a better explination than the drummer warms up on his balls.
I imagine that you'd have to be pretty coked up to rock that spandex onstage like he did.
And this surpises anyone how exactly?
I suspect this has more to do with him just not wanting to be in a band with his brother, and a little rock-star drama never hurts. But the Darkness without Justin? He and the bass player's mustache were the most distinctive things about the band (after the songs of course).
"but does he really have to quit the band entirely?"
of course he does. did you see the episode of "lost" where charlie nearly quits driveshaft because of the women and drugs and stuff but then he doesn't and then gets all heavy with the chiva and ultimately freaks out and crushes on the totally unbearable claire? that's why hawkins needs to quit: his plane from australia will split mid-air one day and he'll find himself becoming one of the most tedious characters in primetime drama.
Now I'm glad I caught The Darkness live at least once. This was earlier this year. I was on vacation, and had just arrived in Melbourne, Australia. I stepped outside the hostel to walk a block away to the beach to get a picture of the sunset in the St. Kilda neighborhood, then saw a small line of kids waiting for a show. I looked inside and saw the lineup and gulped. How could I not see The Darkness - a shrill poncey AC/DC influenced band who I happened to like a lot -- play in AC/DC town? I lucked into getting tickets just before the show, despite it being sold out months in advance, and while The Darkness didn't put on the greatest show on earth, they were really good, and the audience were nuts.
Hearing this news is sad. So I'm glad to have gotten to see the band play to probably the one city in the world that appreciated them the most.
Nooooooo!
*sniffles*
I love how he said in that interview that his experience in rehab made him want to be a counselor, though. Maybe we can at least look forward to "Your Friend J-Hawk" on Fuse sometime in the future? (Hey, "Pants-Off Dance-Off" has gotta lose its appeal eventually.)
that's it.... i will never be able to sit over my Darkness smoked carnival mirror, lines, and listen to 'Love is only a feeling' ever again.
I'm bummed out over this...ironically bummed out that is.
The tragedy farce thing is relevant in this case. Hair metal lasted for 15 years (78-93). The revival couldn't even make five years.
I do wish him luck with recovery but I can understand why he would leave Darkness. The joke got old.
Does this mean The Darkness 2.0 will be touring in support of a puppet show?
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