Robert Smith previously said that he isn’t a fan of The Darkness but Justin Hawkins recently shared his admiration for The Cure and the band’s new material.
The comments from The Darkness’ frontman have emerged as The Cure are preparing for the upcoming release of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’. It’ll be their first album in 16 years, following on from 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’, and has already been previewed by the lead single ‘Alone’.
On Sunday night, October 6th, the post-punk icons dropped a teaser of the second single ‘A Fragile Thing’ via the group’s fan WhatsApp channel and mailing list. They would go on to share another preview on their social media channels.
The upcoming song which is set to arrive soon, ahead of the album release on November 1 – has already debuted alongside ‘Alone’ at a 2022 show, and has been a frequent part of the band’s live setlists in the time since.
Justin Hawkins talks about The Cure
Justin Hawkins has shared his thoughts on the new Cure material, and revealed that he considers Smith to be one of his favourite vocalists, even though the frontman dislikes The Darkness.
The comments from Smith first came in a 2004 Rolling Stone interview where he said: “I can honestly say I hated Queen and everything that they did. To have that rehashed [with The Darkness] and reheated for a second time around is pretty weird. So, no, I don’t like the Darkness at all. I think they’re a comedy band.”
While addressing the opinion, Hawkins took to YouTube, saying: “I heard Robert Smith saying some disparaging remarks about the flamboyance and [how] he just doesn’t like Queen I suppose.
“I took that as a personal slight and he may have said something bad about The Darkness. I may have indeed heckled him once at the Ivor Novello Awards or some award ceremony somewhere when I was very very very drunk,” he continued.
“But that’s only because it hurt me so much. I think the way I enunciate when I sing and the Englishness of the pronunciation is definitely inspired by Robert Smith. He’s one of my favourite singers, funnily enough. I only heckled him because I was hurt that he didn’t like my music.”
He praised Smith as one of his favourite vocalists and recalling the influence he had in his own work. Hawkins also went on to play the snippet of the new Cure material and analyse it for fans.
Listening to ‘Alone’, he paid close attention to the instrumentals and vocal melodies and shared his thoughts. “Whatever he’s been doing for the last 16 years, it works. You can hear something in the timbre of his voice that’s a little bit Jeff Buckley,” he said.
“I know he’s not exploring the same ranges as Jeff Buckley, but he’s not just emoting, he’s properly singing.”
