'Justin Hawkins Rides Again' podcast
It is no coincidence that we associate the famous quote "live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse" with music, since many musicians throughout history have made a great effort to live accordingly. However, some lucky ones also had the ability, help or luck to put the brakes on in time. Justin Hawkins is one of those cases who have lived to tell the tale, a phrase that makes even more sense in his case, as he is still musically active and hosts the podcast 'Justin Hawkins Rides Again' in which he talks about the music industry from his perspective, which is none other than someone’s who touched the sky at the beginning of the century.
However, if his name does not ring a bell to tell you who this man is, we should go back to 2003, when the album 'Permission to Land' by The Darkness was released. The formation led by Justin Hawkins (vocals and guitar) was heavily influenced by rock bands of the 70s and 80s (particularly Queen, Aerosmith, Def Leppard and AC/DC) and in just a few months they sold millions of copies of it, bringing its members fame, awards and large sums of money that Justin Hawkins was determined to shove up his nose, fully immersed in his role as a rock star. By 2005 Justin was no longer part of the band, had gone into rehab and had squandered much of the fortune he had earned with the group (he admitted to having blown £150k on cocaine after becoming dependent on five grams a day). However, although Justin has never been able to repeat the success he achieved then, he has never stopped releasing music and playing live, something that he is doing again as part of The Darkness, since he rejoined the group in 2011.
And going back to the podcast 'Justin Hawkins Rides Again', which is the real subject of this article, Justin uploaded to YouTube last October 2021 a first video in which he promised to start releasing weekly content with music reviews, lyrical analysis, songwriting and a lot more. And just three months later, his channel already has almost 100K followers and around 60 videos. With clickbaity titles that may promise blood, what the videos really show is a guy who loves music and offers a point of view of the industry that is entertaining and interesting to say the least. And while it may be disconcerting to see an artist like him on YouTube, Patreon or Cameo, not only it is an opportunity to look into a world that many of us are unfamiliar with, but also it provides a large dose of reality about an industry that is as incredible and attractive as it is mythologized, changing and probably unknown to the vast majority of people. Personally, he won me over then, and he's won me over again now.
You can stay updated on The Darkness upcoming tour dates by visiting their website and follow Justin Hawkins podcast by subscribing to his YouTube channel here.
