After the one ubiquitous Darkness melted down in 2005 after their dissapointing sophomore album One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back (which I maintain was the worst album title of the decade), Justin Hawkins, the possessor of the finest metal falsetto this side of Freddie Mercury, is…back. His current band is named Hot Leg, which has a solid and surprisingly un-campy MP3 “Heroes” available for download and a new album recorded. They also have a video diary than is more cinema vérité than Behind the Music.

Will Hot Leg be able to recaputre the heights of 2003’s Permission to Land, or will it be something new and/or not as good? Like a dancer who shimmys when all else fails, Hawkins can still survive a bad album scream in falsetto ad nauseum.

prefixmag.com

Tom Porter, Thu 3 Jul, 3:22 pm BST

Hot Leg? Pull the other one

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Former The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has named his new band Hot Leg. ‘The Leg’, as they are yet to be known, are just putting the finishing touches to their still-untitled debut album in a LA studio before embarking on a mini UK tour in August.

Rob Laing, chief scribe for the mighty Guitarist magazine, just delivered a glowing review of Justin’s brother Dan’s (and the other half of The Darkness) new band Stone Gods. We asked Rob for his thoughts on Justin Hawkins and Hot Leg: “Obviously the name is crap, that’s probably the point knowing Hawkins’ ‘crazy’ sense of humour”.

“From the small amount of music heard it’s telling that he’s gone back to a classic rock guitar driven sound more akin to Permission To Land than the dodgy couple of pop songs he put out under the British Whale name”.

“Hopefully those snippets are a sign of things to come. Not sure if it’ll be too little too late though – he was the reason a lot of people disliked The Darkness after all and some may never want to hear that falsetto again. Still, he’s a classy guitarist who knows his classic rock – and a talented songwriter too, and that often gets overlooked amongst the cat suits and wailing”.

Stephen Marcussen, master of mastering at the LA studio, was asked for his favourite Hot Leg tune: “I’m not that familiar with it that I can make that call – there’s nothing I didn’t like”.

That’s not exactly reassuring considering Marcussen just sat there and mastered the entire thing. Let’s just hope this marks a return to form for grandma’s favourite Lycra-clad rocker, and not a one way ticket to obscurity… again.

musicradar.com

One of my favorite albums of 2005 was the Darkness’ unheralded One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back. With the help of Roy Thomas Baker, the band had finally constructed an entire album of ridonkulous pop-metal moments—but it was tossed aside with minimum publicity thanks to internal meltdowns and label indifference. Since leaving the band in 2006, screaming mimi Justin Hawkins announced a solo album, Panther (now scrapped), and released the song “Do It In The Dark” as a free download to promote energy conservation. But now he has a new band, Hot Leg, and they have an album in the can and a tour kicking off next month.

“Heroes” is pretty good for a non-album promotional MP3, and this behind-the-scenes clip is equally promising.

Still, Hawkins has a lot to live up to.

idolator.com

03/07/2008

All the info about the former The Darkness frontman’s new band.

Former The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has announced that he has formed a new band called Hot Leg.

The band will be a four-piece and are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album which they hope to have available by the end of the year. Hot Leg have also announced a short four date tour in August.

Dates are as follows:
London Proud Galleries – August 8th
Birmingham Barfly – August 9th
Manchester The Roadhouse – August 10th
Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut – August 11th

metalhammer.co.uk

Justin Hawkins – formerly the frontman of chart-topping faux-rockers The Darkness, has now started a new band named Hot Leg.

The four-piece comprises of Hawkins on lead guitar and vocals, Pete Rinaldi on lead guitar & backing vocals, Samuel SJ Stokes on lead bass and backing vocals, plus Darby Todd on drums.

Hot Leg are currently recording their first album and next month will play their first live shows together.

August Tour Dates:

London Proud Galleries (8)
Birmingham Barfly (9)
Manchester The Roadhouse (10)
Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (11)

angryape.com

FORMER DARKNESS frontman JUSTIN HAWKINS is gearing up to launch a fresh chart assault with new band HOT LEG.

The rocker with a fondness for Lycra catsuits is in Los Angeles mastering their debut album ready for release later this year.

From what I hear you can expect plenty of camp glam rock influences — sound familiar?

The group officially launches in August with gigs at London’s Proud Gallery, Birmingham’s Barfly, Manchester’s Roadhouse and Glasgow’s King Tuts.

I hope this latest comeback is more successful than his bid to represent the UK at last year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Then again, he’s never worried about making a fool of himself.

On Monday he donned tight yellow leggings to perform BON JOVI’s You Give Love A Bad Name in an LA club with cult comedy rock band Steel Panther.

Reports he changed the lyrics to I Give Rock A Bad Name are yet to be confirmed.

Gordon Smart’s Bizarre – The Sun

There are Hot Leg doings afoot.

The tour dates are:

August 6th: Proud Gallery, Camden, London

August 7th: Barfly, Birmingham (Digbeth Civic Centre if you’re old skool :p)

August 8th: Roadhouse, Manchester

August 9th: King Tuts, Glasgow

For tickets, visit Musicglue

For the free MP3 of ‘Heroes’, a non-album track, either buy a ticket or join the mailing list.