Justin Hawkins - The Darkness - Interview - 2002

As with the sixties revival of the early nineties, the seventies revival of the late nineties and the current obsession with the eighties, it seems that each given era is reinterpreted to suit the new audience. Only people in bands bought winkle-pickers in ’91, only DJ’s bought obscure funk in ’98, and it appears that only ‘art’ students get mullets. It seems odd that kids who like nu-metal have no idea about the history of the music they love – save dropping Iron Maiden into conversation. And how many ‘art’ students really like Bon Jovi, Saxon, WASP, Skid Row, Van Halen or Anthrax – apart from in the now chic, post-modern ironic way: obviously an excuse to justify doing something deemed sad or uncool.

It seems a shame to start a profile of metal and rock by using as a launch pad, the emblematic hairstyle that has since been employed to ridicule the genre. So to add credulity and cachet to what would otherwise be a thousand words of mouth-foaming polemic, I have enlisted the help of a fellow East Anglian, Justin Hawkins, lead singer of rising stars and sole purveyors of true rock, to help me set the record straight and give a real look into the most mocked music of the 20th century, to say it how it is/was from a fan's view – two guys who own Whitesnake albums. 

The Darkness are a four-piece centred around guitarist Dan Hawkins and the late-coming front-man Justin (Dan's brother), with bassist Frankie Poullain and drummer Ed Graham completing the line-up. 

The reason that the Lowestoft boys and their band have managed to bring classic guitar solo laden rock’n’roll back into the spotlight is for the simple fact that there is no competition. But then there’s not much competition for Al Minzer and his Bavarian nose flute octet. And his debut EP didn’t sell out after three pressings and three chart entries. So why have The Darkness managed to achieve the impossible? A new and unsigned heavy metal band who sound like AC/DC having two top 40 hits – with a third single ‘Growing On Me’ (9 Jun) set to follow suit. 

Heavy metal can trace its roots back to Robert Johnson and turn of the century blues, but its nearest visible ancestor is generally recognized as Black Sabbath – a Hendrix/Zeppelin inspired blues band who with their iconic frontman Ozzy Osbourne became the gothic metal band of legend. The term ‘heavy metal’ was contrived by the infamous rock journalist, Lester Bangs, who adopted the name of one of William Burroughs’ characters from his novel ‘Nova Express’ to describe the music of bands like The MC5. With its purely descriptive beginnings, the phrase soon became the accepted moniker for the emerging style.

Through the seventies, British bands like Judas Priest and Iron Butterfly reigned supreme and although slow to pick up on the style, America produced only a couple of notable contributions to the early days in the form of Kiss, and Alice Cooper. America’s homegrown punk genre soon captured the nation’s attention (the Ramones and the Stooges) and the fever spread to the disenfranchised youth of the UK – and they claimed it as their own.  

Punk soon imploded and while the UK’s attentions were drawn largely towards the two tone and post-punk bands like the Beat and The Jam, America took the reigns on hard rock, producing bands like Zztop, Whitesnake, VanHalen, Motley Crue and the young Bon Jovi. These bands were the backlash to the backlash. While punk hated the sugary showmanship and affluence of gig bands and pop in general, the new bands were a celebration of being free, single and virile young men. The music was explosive, powerful, overtly sexual and hinted at the Western affluence that was to follow.   

It was still early days –1984 - when Rob Reiner’s seminal rockumentary, ‘Spinal Tap’ parodied the genre in this seminal spoof. Since then the genre became a self-parody, with bands like WASP sending up the classic metal excesses of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. Justin “Rock is funny by definition. AC/DC had a dude in school uniform for no reason, and they’ve done it ever since. Now there is a culture of ‘that can’t be real’. Rock is about the suspension of belief – it’s like that’s not acceptable any more. Just be moved by the music – where’s the problem.” 

Mean time bands like Whitesnake and Bon Jovi were achieving global crossover success, and the genre started to lose credibility. And while Iron Maiden, and Motorhead were keeping things real In the UK, change was afoot for both sides of the Atlantic.

In the States, industrial was born of bands like Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and Tool – a combination of the emergent dance trends, and the self-explanatory thrash-metal rose to prevalence through bands like Megadeth and Metallica. In the UK the situation was worse, not only had acid house and the Madchester scenes drawn people away from guitars, but the rave scene would continue to do so for years to come. Justin; “styles of music come and go, but there will always be music to chill to and music to go crazy to.”

By the late nineties, Jonathan Davis and half of LA metal band LAPD had almost single-handedly brought made metal cool again: with their hip-hop inspired beats, heavy chords and raw uncompromising rage. Nu-metal was born. All that followed was the radio friendly MTV fodder of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park – with their naval gazing power ballads and baseball caps. 

Then there was the Darkness.  

“The eighties were all about affluence. People had a different set of values. It wasn’t just music or fashion, it was across the board. Look at [the film] ‘Pretty Woman’ the happy ending is that she gets it on with a guy who’s got lots of money, she aspires to be something she’s not, it’s not about finding a life partner – it’s about the bank. Rock reflected that: it was decadent – people wanted bigger hair and shinier costumes. Music should be aspirational, not navel gazing.”

“[In terms of rock] mediocrity is something that people don’t want. It’s not enough to just play your guitar – you have to be amazing. It’s good fun and it’s entertaining; [a gig] isn’t just about the music, its an event. [Rock] works on lot of levels.”   

 “Rock is mass individuality. There’s Room for everyone. People go to a gig to have fun. They wanna go crazy – that’s been absent for a while now. It’s all about the characters. The reason Bon Jovi made it is because Jon Bon Jovi has a height complex; he got where he is by being a cunt to everyone. It’s all about penis envy, guitars are extensions of your penis.”

Justin concurs with the postulation that the older Iron Maiden fans are happy to shell out to see the band they idolized in their youth, but that younger fans have no desire to see some fifty year olds [try to] leap about. In fact there is probably nothing more pf a turn off that your dad asking you to a gig with him. So is there a market for new rockers? Young bloods in spandex? Teens in ripped jeans? Poodle perms on puppies? Yup.

On supporting Def Leppard on tour: “With anyone else we’d have struggled. They made it really easy for us: they gave us good sound and gave us crew to help us put up our backdrop – which is unheard of y’know. I think there is a certain amount of fatherly feeling there. They would stand at the side of the stage and watch us, and say ‘It’s like being 16 again’.

“I thought ‘I really want a catwalk to go with my catsuit’. I wanted to get amongst the crowd. So at the Notting Hill Arts Club gig we had a catwalk. It’s part of our thing: a stadium feel for people who can’t afford to see old timers at Wembley. We’re 100% musicianship and 100% showmanship. The Datsuns have come along and tried to do the AC/DC thing, but they’re winking at the camera, it’s like ‘they’re so shit they’re good – so it’s ok to like them. Too many bands think it’s enough to be a little bit of either.”    

For an unsigned band, the foursome have had a massive amount of media attention. Most of which sees the band misconstrued: as part of the tongue-in-cheek trendy crowd. So many skeptics out there will be putting this attention down to a fad, a media hyped feeding frenzy in which the food is devoured so quickly that no one else gets a look in. Those who have been burned by putting their faith in moribund genres like speed garage and electroclash. But as well as being a true hard rock fan, I can see that as Justin says “three years ago we won the In The City music business conference unsigned competition, but no [labels] wanted to know. But you don’t get top 40 hits for nothing – especially when you’re unsigned. We’re in a field of one, and we’ve got a strong following. The genre IS us… but then it’s been like that for three years now.”

Justin adds: “In the early days, people used to say to us ‘you know how you fuck around at the end of rehearsal and play mad shit, well your whole set is like that.” The Darkness have opened the doors to a world of forgotten wonder. The next question is: who will be next through the door?  

Not everyone is quite as taken with the Darkness as we. And they’re not so keen on them either.

“The NME can fuck off.” Adding, “they don’t know if we’re cool or not – they can’t make up their mind. Half of the people there don’t understand us, the other half can’t stand us.” He continues, “If NME want to speak to us, we just say ‘read Kerrang mate’. They can’t pigeonhole us. We can make music and have fun… Really simple.”

Do you think the kids who listen to self indulgent emo and nu metal will appreciate what you doing?

“I’m not concerned, to be honest. We’re unsigned and nearly got in the top 40. We’re selling out the Astoria and had ‘cunt’ and ‘fuck’ in our song - we have to be record breakers, man. We have to be.”  

It’s exciting when a scene is in its infancy.

“Everyone can bring whatever they want to it. There’s room for everyone. We can’t be precious. You can already see our influence – after seeing us with our old guitars, Def Leppard picked up their old guitars - Explorers and that.”

So can we look forward to more authentic rock bands with an eye for a flamboyant stage show and a guitar solo littered with hammer-ons? Or are the Darkness destined to be the lonely rulers in a kingdom of one? The fact that their growing market includes older rockers who don’t want reminding of how old they are, twenty-somethings who still have a copy of ‘Appetite For Destruction’, the younger versions of girls who obsessed about Jon Bon, and teenage kids bored of nu-metal and need new role models as they get better at the guitar, is sure proof that the future is bright – the future is Darkness.

Top 5 metal/rock albums

AC/DC - Powerage 

Aerosmith - Pump

Van Halen - 1984

Whitesnake – Ready & Willing 

Foreigner - 4 “it’s all I listen to at the moment.” 

Top 5 guitarists

Eddie Van Halen

Angus young [AC/DC]

Jimmy Page [Led Zeppelin]

Jo Perry [Aerosmith]

Brian May “He’s butchered Queen’s back catalogue by allowing shit covers by people like Five or whoever. It wouldn’t have happened if Freddy was alive.”