("I'm white hot," says Justin, "but he's shit hot."). Spotting their own potential they started a covers band with Dan on lead vocals.
In 1997, Justin departed to University in Huddersfield. Dan, meanwhile, moved to London in search of a band to join. That's when he met Frankie Poullain, an exiled Scot who came from a family of adventurers (he claims his dad was a pirate in the West Indies, his brother a soldier of fortune).
They shared a flat in Shepherd's Bush, where itinerant musos would pass through and jam. Justin, and Dan's schoolfriend Ed Graham, a drummer, would visit on weekends. Tbe two brothers and Frankie formed an ill-fated prog rock band called Empire. Under Justin's guidance, they increased the heaviness of the sound, and threw out the lead singer. The brothers Hawkins had a talk. Was it worth carrying on? The answer came on Millennium Eve, when the pair went back to Norfolk to their Aunty's pub.
Justin entered a karaoke competition and performed "Bohemian Rhapsody", acting out every line and doing spectacular star jumps. Dan beheld his big bro's flamboyant star quality, and saw the future: "I know, YOU be the front man! The first call they made was to Frankie, who left Venezuela to rejoin them. The second call they made was to Ed, who left his band to rejoin them. The Darkness was born.
"I'm in a band with my brother and my two best mates..."
The Darkness hit the live circuit in earnest, playing a series of now-legendary gigs around North London, almost always on a Saturday night (The Darkness are, in so many ways, the ultimate Saturday night band). A devoted following grew show-by-show, purely by word of mouth. The thing which set them apart, as much as the music, was their sheer showmanship.
"Everyone's too uptight these days," reckons Frankie. "I hate the arrogance of bands who think their petty emotions are interesting. If you look at bands from 25 years ago, people have smiles on their faces. We're bringing a bit of that back."
So there's no ironic intent? "No," he says, switching into sarcastic mode, "I'm just doing what's real and right." And they're not taking the piss out of Heavy Metal? "No way! Fuck that!"
"We know we've got a long struggle," says Dan thoughtfully. "No-one dares break any rules. But once we get unleashed, we could change everything."
The Darkness are: Justin Hawkins, Vocals/Guitar/Synthesizer/Dan Hawkins, Guitar/Frankie Poullain, Bass & Ed Graham, Drums.
Taken from The Darkness' Official Website
I DISCOVERED THE DARKNESS
February 27th 2004
The Scot who discovered The Darkness is still working behind the counter of his record shop.
But Alan Hake, who signed the then-unknown rockers to his tiny label 18 months ago, was there to see them collect their three Brit Awards.
Alan, from Aberdeen, and pal Ian Johnsen spotted The Darkness's potential two years before they were famous.
Their Must Destroy record label, run as a hobby, put out 2000 copies of the first Darkness single I Believe In A Thing Called Love.
The Darkness later signed to Atlantic Records and the re-released song was a huge hit.
Now a fat cheque is on the way for Alan, who works at The Record Exchange, and Ian, a graphic designer from Liverpool.
Last night, Alan said he was thrilled to be there to share in their biggest success at the Brits.
He said 'We said good luck to them at the start of the night and Justin said they didn't need it and that they were going to clean up. He gave us a wink.
'At that point we figured that they probably knew that they had won something. To win best album and group was amazing the best rock act award was created just for them.
'We did a lot of shouting and shaking of fists when each award was announced.
'We always thought they were great but the Brits is the music industry's seal of approval.'
As for the royalty cheque, Alan said: 'It is certainly going to wipe off our debts from all our other bands.'