Five years ago, ..JUSTIN HAWKINS.. was fronting the U.K.’s biggest band—until he succumbed to the very clichés the Darkness were lampooning. Now, as he tries to kick-start ..HOT LEG.., he’s hauling his own gear, sleeping on floors, and trying not to make the same mistakes twice.

BY DAVID PEISNER PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREAS LASZLO KONRATH

 

and party”—he responds with a polite smile.

The 34-year-old Hawkins is a man at a surreal crossroads. Less than five years after he headlined British festivals with the Darkness in front of 50,000 people, Hot Leg—which he formed last year with guitarist Pete Rinaldi, bassist Samuel “SJ” Stokes, and drummer Darby Todd—has toured the U.K., opening for ’90s hard-rock footnotes Extreme as well as Creed castoffs Alter Bridge. Hawkins has spent much of what he made in the Darkness and has yet to secure distribution for Red Light Fever outside of the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. (It can, however, be purchased online.) Their SXSW jaunt is being financed on a shoestring—they’re bumming rides to shows, borrowing other bands’ drums, and participating in the festival’s International Housing program, which arranges for foreign bands to bunk with local families for free. As Sue Whitehouse, Hawkins’ longtime manager and on-again, off-again (currently off-again) girlfriend puts it, “He’s at a really weird

place right now. He’s got fame without money. He gets mobbed by fans, then goes back to sleep on someone’s floor.”

 

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★ ★

★ ★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★ ★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

Avate gigs by superstars like Metallica and Kanye West, at its heart the festival is still a showcase for up-and-com-LTHOUGH 2009’S SXSW featured pri-

ers. Hawkins first came in 2002 with the Darkness. At the time, the band—which included his younger brother Dan on guitar, a Scotsman named Frankie Poullain on bass, and childhood friend Ed Graham on drums—had been playing their winking version of stadium rock to half-filled pubs throughout Britain for a couple of years. “The momentum had stopped,” Hawkins says. “So there was a lot riding on that gig. We sort of bottled the show—we weren’t great and had a few problems with the sound.” Nonetheless, Atlantic Records began making noises

about signing them. “The fact they were interested sparked more of a roar in the U.K.”

Atlantic did sign the Darkness and the following year released Permission to Land, which the band had already recorded for a British indie label. The album only went gold in the U.S., but in the U.K. the Darkness became A-list rock stars. Hawkins in particular seemed hell-bent on justifying that status, frequently mouthing off about other musicians in interviews and upping his intake of booze and cocaine so it remained commensurate with his rising income.

“It got completely ridiculous,” he admits. “I remember walking through the airport on the way back from Europe, completely wired. This was when I was in my really belligerent phase, so I was like, ‘Search me, go ahead, search me,’ to the customs officer. Mind you, I had a gram of coke on me at the time. I don’t know why I wanted them to search me—maybe to prove I could get away with it. But they were like, ‘We know who you are. We don’t want to search you. Just go.’ I could’ve ended up in prison, but I didn’t care.”

The chemically fueled circus began to aggravate other problems within the band. Although Justin was the frontman, Dan had been the de facto leader, and the two were very different personalities. As Poullain wrote in his 2008 memoir, Dancing in the Darkness: “Justin had a delightful childlike way about him and refused to take anything seriously, but Dan took things very seriously indeed.” The brothers’ writing partnership

 

SPIN.COM IS WH Y YOU LEARNED TO READ JUNE 2009 71