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Darkness falls
He's been straightening himself out and getting shot of his £150,000 cocaine habit - and now Justin Hawkins has quit The Darkness. His new plan, it seems, is to join the ranks of the evangelical recently sober:
“I have to say please avoid getting into it at all costs.
“Let’s not pretend — there are upsides to drugs. It’s a thrill, a bit naughty.
“But you pay a price. You lose a massive chunk of your life — and money.”
"You have to understand that I have always publicly had a very anti-drugs stance — for the right reasons. My family has been affected by heroin in the past. A close family member was addicted.
“That is one of the reasons I found it hard to be open about it. It flew in the face of my moral code and my values.”
Although he had no problem with the actual flying, you'll note:
“I hit absolute rock bottom. I spent over £150,000 on cocaine in three years — a frightening amount. I was consuming up to five grams a day which cost me £1,000 a week, sometimes more.
“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 couldn’t even tell you how much I was drinking — it was all day when we were on tour. My weapon of choice was vodka. It has affected every aspect of my life, with the band and my girlfriend Sue.”
Sean Hamilton is given the job of breaking this news to Sun readers. Sean, it seems, was the last to know:
Despite all my years on the showbiz circuit, Justin’s revelations come as a real shock to me.
I first met the singer before The Darkness were even signed and immediately fell for their refreshing brand of old-school rock.
I’ve followed his career closely since, interviewing him many times. I never saw any signs of his secret snorting.
You interviewed the man and didn't realise how much coke he was on? You're a bit of a loss to the Sunday Times Insight team, aren't you? We're picturing Sean watching Justin descend to stage on a pair of giant tits and it not crossing his mind that just maybe the stage show was being driven by something more than childish enthusiasm.
Perhaps the only surprise in the story is that The Darkness are going to limp on without him, with Richie Edwards (no, the one who replaced Frankie Poullian, not that one) taking over lead vocals. Although since the band pretty much were Hawkins' ego and falsetto, it's not clear why.
And Justin?
“It sounds stupid but I now get a thrill from things like putting on a cashmere cardigan and feeling how soft it is. I never used to notice things like that.'
We think he's heading for an arrest in Debenhams at some point in the future.
1 comment:
You almost have to admire someone who 'closely follows' a singer in a band whose second album launch single was about cocaine addiction and was accompanied by a pile of interviews in which said singer talked about how much cocaine he'd hoovered up over the course of the first album's success, and is still apparently astonished to later find that he was spending a lot of money on cocaine.
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