The only contempory band to encapture my interest and enthusiasm was The Darkness. I obsessed over their debut album, 'Permission to Land', and obsessed even more over their second album, 'One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back'. Between Justin Hawkins' soaring vocals and the band's solid wall of sound they severely dented the music industry. However, because Justin Hawkins needed rehabilitation, the band fell apart and into two seperate artists: Stone Gods & Hot Leg.
Stone Gods are the band members of The Darkness without Justin Hawkins. And more interestingly, Hot Leg is Justin Hawkins with new band members. I can't help but question who will, if any, succeed the other in popularity and/or music quality. Obviously, both new artists will not fail their fans again, as they have both stated several times that they have learned from the past. Actually, Justin Hawkins has been sober for approx. 685 days now!
Which artist entices you more? Stone Gods claim to take a completely different direction, while Justin Hawkins and his new band are clearly keeping the old approach (that crazy kinkyness and campyness). I'm afraid, and this comes from listening to their music online, that Stone Gods will become just another typical artist with very few surprises if any at all. And from listening to 'Heroes', Hot Leg's newest song which is free online, I get the feeling they will continue to stay true to innovation, if such a thing exists anymore.
Visit the following sites if you're interested to learn more about these artists:
Stone Gods: link
Hot Leg: link & link
Let us know how you feel about the two bands, and who you feel will most likely gain more popularity.
I'm happy, we get twice the music now...
The Stone Gods will be limited by Richies lack of vocal prowess, but, have a heavier sound indeed, which I like. In listening to their music, you can immediately tell that Dan Hawkins is quite the guitar player himself, and is probably the one that originated the "Thin Lizzy" sound of the material past and present(I think that Breakdown is a fab song).
With Justin and Hot Leg, hell, you never know what you're gonna hear, which is great, in and of itself. It's plain for me to hear that Justin is back in top form vocally now that he's kicked the blow.
So, I think that the Stone Gods may have more commercial success to start, I prefer the camp and hilarity of Justins stuff, just because it makes me laugh...
I'm happy with both.
Amen to that, Haystacks Calhounski. The unpredictableness of Hot Leg is what intrigues me the most, while Stone Gods certainly sounds solid. To me, The Darkness harked back to the classics, such as Queen, AC/DC, and Kiss. So, whichever band stays closest to that formula is the one I will most likely have more interest in. It's one of those things where we'll have to wait and see, but this is still fun to discuss.