The darkness: the British rock band that's transforming hair metal from Gaudy to Glam

Interview, Oct, 2003 by Jonathan Durbin

Justin Hawkins, the front man for British hair-metal revivalists the Darkness, is serious about his rock 'n' roll. Recalling the spandex-clad salad days of melody abusers like Whitesnake and Def Leppard, his group's performances include costume changes into an array of unitards. In fact, the 28-year-old singer's Spinal Tap dreams are so vivid that he even longs to be launched onstage out of a cannon. "We're absolutely determined to make sure everyone has a good time at our shows," he explains.

The London quartet's debut, Permission to Land (Atlantic), features a mix of rift rockers and inspirational power ballads that would make David Lee Roth mist up. Hawkins is almost pathologically charismatic, punctuating songs with scissor kicks. In fact, his hair-metal devotion runs so deep that he even blueprinted their album art--a spaceship landing on a runway, directed by a naked blonde with red ping-pong paddles. But the idea is to entertain, not offend. "We're aiming for perfection," he declares. "Sometimes I feel like I've created a monster."

Jonathan Durbin is an editor at Maclean's magazine.