Pitchfork

Well I'll be: Glammed-out Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins revealed today to British tabloid The Sun (no, seriously) that he is quitting the quite-popular, glammed-out arena-rock band he's bled, sweated, and cried for since 2000.

The reason? Cocaine.

"It affected every single decision I made," Hawkins told The Sun's Sean Hamilton in a lengthy and revealing interview (well-worth reading in its entirety-- click here). "Everything was decided on the basis that I wanted to take cocaine at some point. I would demand that we were the first on at awards shows so that I could get on with my drinking and drugging.

"I feel like I've lost three years of my life. I'm only just coming to terms with what has happened because I was always off my face."

Apparently Hawkins' addiction grew in tandem with the Darkness' swift ascent to fame and fortune. He admitted to spending over £150,000 ($278,279.98 on today's market) on cocaine over the past three years.

"But the simple truth of it is that when you realise your dreams, they are not special any more, particularly when you are in the midst of addiction," he went on to say. "We never really had a chance to sit back and enjoy things. It all happened so quickly. And I never coped with it all as well as I thought I would."

Hawkins checked into rehab last August, and it was there that he decided that if he wanted to stay clean, he had to quit the band.

"I feel bad for the others," he told The Sun. "It will be an upheaval. But it's time for me to move on. It would be damaging to my recovery to stay on. I'm not blaming the band for my problem-- I am an addict. There are people who can be in bands and stay clean, but I'm not one of them."

And the band will carry on without him, apparently. Hawkins suspects new bass player Richie Edwards will take over as frontman, while Hawkins himself-- clean for nine weeks and counting-- returns to the finer things in life: his girlfriend, his new home, his solo project, film scoring-- and feeling things.

"It sounds stupid but I now get a thrill from things like putting on a cashmere cardigan and feeling how soft it is. I never used to notice things like that."

And Justin's solo project, British Whale? If that World Cup ditty was any indication, boy oh boy do we have something to look forward to.