THE DARKNESS - HAWKINS HATES CONTEMPORARY BRITISH MUSIC

THE DARKNESS frontman JUSTIN HAWKINS has branded British music "a joke".

The I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE singer insists his UK rock contemporaries produce boring music which fails to interest international audiences.

And Hawkins attributes the success of his band to their preoccupation with artists and groups from the 1960s and 1970s when the music industry was a far more vibrant community.

He says, "British music is the laughing stock of the world. It's such f**king dreary bulls**t.

"It's such a cliche to say, 'We were so bored of the industry around us that we started our own band!'

"But it's no coincidence that all our influences are from a long time ago."