Justin Hawkins Quits Darkness

Motley Crue

Is anyone else a little shocked by this. I found the report on Blabbermouth.net because I dont usually buy the Sun and taught it was a joke.

I mean, I couldnt believe he had such a serious problem, I actually prefered the last album to their debut and was shocked to hear he had made the decision to quit the band due to a cocaine habit for the last 3 years.

I mean, I understand, but am a little shocked he'd been snorting so much. He is supposedly being replaced by the bass player, Richie Edwards I think, and the band just seem to be going downhill from there...unless he really changes things.

I saw them in The Point in Jan 06, supporting Metallica in Aug 03 and headlining ****** in 2004 so officially the band ive seen the most times alongside Guns N Roses and Metallica.

Owen

Wow. My sister's neighbor is his brother in law, and they were all at a BBQ in the house in London, and she never noticed anything odd. I'll miss him for his sense of humour while rocking out. I always enjoy playing The Darkness with my own band ...

Sarky

The fool, The Darkness weren't nearly famous enough for him to afford to develop a drug problem!

phantom_lord

Really wasn't expecting this, can't see them lasting without him

redmosquito

I, for one, wont miss the darkness as I thought they were absolutely muck, but having said that, hopefully he can sort out his problems before its too late.

senordingdong

Is their a legit source for this?

Nightwish

Sky News
And it says here that they've been dropped by Atlantic Records.

senordingdong

Damn, that's a shame.
I really liked them.

Would have never guessed he was a coke fiend.

Motley Crue

Nightwish wrote:

Sky News
And it says here that they've been dropped by Atlantic Records.

Well, could you see a major label keeping you after your lead signer develops a cocaine addiction. Its more a blow to the music, i mean, despite how tounge in cheek The Darkness actually were....they were bringing back that 70s Queen inspired Glam Rock...they even got Roy Thomas Baker to work with them, and god knows what age he is, I mean he was older then Queen when he worked with them

Tar.Aldarion

Too bad about the drugs, not too sad at all to see the darkness go.

Nightwish

senordingdong wrote:

Would have never guessed he was a coke fiend.

Did the first minute of the new album not give you any hints!!!

Mushy

Thats a disappointment. The Drkness were the first band i ever saw live(supporting Metallica), and i loved them. the second album i didnt care at all for but Justin was a laugh. Poor chap.

senordingdong

Nightwish wrote:

Did the first minute of the new album not give you any hints!!!

Nah, I still haven't gotten around to buying their new album.
I've been so un-impressed with the singles they have released from it that I'd rather wait till it drops in price....signifigantly.
Or I can pick it up in some sort of bargain bin.

Patricide

Yup knew he was a coke fiend from the miniute i saw the lyrics to the first darkness album. Still though a TERRIFIC live band and there first album was a classic if your one to "rock out with your cock out". Second album wasnt my bag and frankie leaving brought a tear to my eye(that mustache was cool) but in all fairness im not too pushed.

Still though hope he sorts himself out.

Mental Mickey

I agree with Red Mosquito.....they WERE absolute MUCK!!! I saw them support Metallica at the RDS a few years ago, and they were f**kin horrible!!!

They seem to mix all the bad parts from bands like Aerosmith,Queen,Lizzy,etc, and throw it out in one horrible mess!!!

That said, I DO hope he gets clean......!

Black NG-60-90

Lets keep this thread positive. When i heard them for the first time they were like rain after a drought. We have to remember that they didn't so much kill nu-metal as hack it to bits with a chainsaw and bury it 6 feet under while having a laugh. Permission to Land was a great album, the last one wasn't as good. Its a shame though.

Mental Mickey

Why should we keep it positive???

I was just expressing my opinion that I think The Darkness were absolute MUCK!!!

If you like them, fair enough, but MY OPINION is that they were rubbish!!!

Shiminay

First of all, I'm not a fan of The Darkness, but like many, I found them to be a pretty funny and refreshing injection into the pop market (a rock band they may be, but pop their music was). Isn't it sad that todays "rock stars" seem to be such light weights?

seanironmaiden

I was so shocked to hear about this the other day. It was so bizzare as I had actually just listened to their latest album fully for the 1st time that morning. No joke!!!

I know the guys from before they were big and did a bit of work for them a few years back. They were really great lads and I'm so sorry to hear about Justin. I'm not at all sure if the band can make it through this, they maintain they will continue on but they've lost the 2 most charismatic members of the origional line-up and I don't think anyone could match the witiness of Justin's tongue in cheek lyrics or pull of his onstage antics without being considered a faker. The Darkness will definately not be the same without that guy

I do think, though that he'll be back at some stage. He obviously needs time to get his head straight. All the best to him..

senordingdong

Kharn wrote:

First of all, I'm not a fan of The Darkness, but like many, I found them to be a pretty funny and refreshing injection into the pop market (a rock band they may be, but pop their music was). Isn't it sad that todays "rock stars" seem to be such light weights?

Well, 'pop' really is just an abbreviation of 'popular'. I don't think they deserve to be categorised with the usual tripe in the 'pop' charts just because they were popular themselves. (and popular with good reason, not like the aforementioned tripe)

Caco

Nightwish wrote:

Did the first minute of the new album not give you any hints!!!

Or they're last vid, all that "snow"!! (Look near the end for the most obvious signs of addiction, it's not very subtle!)

Het-Field

The Darkness had one album which was considered good !

Het-Field

No big loss

SirLemonhead

The second album was great, better than the first I thought.

Better than Metallica's current output at least, eh Het-Field

egon spengler

Is it just me or could this be an elaborate media hoax? I read Poullains comments on One Way Ticket last year and he made a veiled reference that while Justin did party and went wild a good bit he didnt take any hard drugs. When I heard One Way Ticket I always thought it was a homage to Queens parties with dwarves carrying bowls of cocaine on their heads, not about actual coke use on the part of Justin. Bear in mind that the 2nd album didnt sell too well and that they were meant to release a 3rd album soon enough, so all this drama would be beneficial for raising their profile to increase sales. Note this is just a hypothesis, he probably did have to go into rehab and my best wishes for him to recover and that the band will get back together because their first album rocked and their second, although being mediocre imo, had some great moments, hazel eyes being one example.

Motley Crue

egon spengler wrote:

Bear in mind that the 2nd album didnt sell too well and that they were meant to release a 3rd album soon enough, so all this drama would be beneficial for raising their profile to increase sales.

Egon, I agree with you for a couple of reasons, listed below

1. Its been a week after the event and already Justin Hawkins has signed up to do his solo project with the label that dropped the Darkness (Atlantic)
2. The story now goes that Justin actually came out of rehab to find his fellow bandmates ****ing about and decided, no wait, i dont want any part of this anymore and adopted a Christian 'Holier Than Thou' attitude
3. The bands website mentions nothing of the incidents until several days after they are publically announced in the media, quoting below....

The Darkness wrote:

We're sorry that you had to find this out through the newspapers, but we were hoping until the last minute that this – Justin's exit – wasn't going to happen. We – Dan, Ed and Richie – are still in total shock and can't say at this stage what the future holds. We would like to thank all our fans, partners and family for their continuous support. You will hear from us, once we know what we want to do...

Nothing about the label drop, and certainly nothing about the future, it looks as if these lads are keeping something quiet. Perhaps Justins new album will feature co-writing credits and guitar parts from his brother, the odd drum track from Ed and even some Bass licks from Richie. Put simply, the Darkness was quite possibly on a one way ticket to hell, but the way back was to let Justin carry the flag and the other guys to ride the coatails for a while

mike65

When I first heard them I thought it was a Queen parody and of course I woz right in part at least. They were great fun, can't see any future without Hawkins though unless its in a completely new band.

Mike.

BopNiblets

Livin' the rockstar dream, lucky git.

I'd do it for the groupies!

Two albums is a bit crap though, I liked a few songs from One Way Ticket To Hell And Back, and a few of their singles not on the albums.
I bet they reform sometime in the future.

Hey! Mushy stole my avatar!