From Spin Magazine Feb 2004
On the cover, titled 'The Next Big Things', Paul Banks of Interpol, Brody Dalle of The Distillers, Justin Hawkins of the Darkness, and Geoff Rickly of Thursday, at the end of the roundtable interview session...
"HOW TO STAY SANE WITHOUT KABBALAH"
(Justin Hawkins)
We did a show in Brixton and [Queen guitarist] Brian May came down. It was the third time I'd met him. I said to him, "Brian, with everything you've been through - being in the most important band that Britain produced that decade, probably, playing the biggest record-breaking shows and selling millions of records, and having a singer die of an AIDS-related illness at a time when AIDS was a real buzzword-how can you get through all that and stay the most down-to-earth person I've met?"
I've met gardeners with bigger egos than his: he's astonishingly grounded, a real inspiration. You know, half the people hate you, half of them love you, and eventually, it amounts to nothing. Obviously, I don't take a lot of this seriously. I take the songwriting seriously, and that's about it , I think."
*****
Before the section with the interviews was an article on why the Darkness isn't making it over here. Mainly, because us Yanks can't combine foolishness with seriousness....bands have to be one or the other. Hope to catch them in the upcoming months. With only one LP, it will be kinda hard to judge whether they'll be a flash in the pan or not.
Thanks to Joe, Susan and Dog (USA)
I really respect Justin Hawkins, to be suffering for that disability and still be much brighter than the majority of people in the entire world will ever be.
Oh.