THE DARKNESS's JUSTIN HAWKINS: IRON MAIDEN 'Always Nick' Our Guitar Techs

In a new interview with Ben Jones of Virgin Radio UK, THE DARKNESS frontman Justin Hawkins spoke about his band's upcoming massive U.K. concert with IRON MAIDEN as part of an outdoor event on July 11 at Knebworth Park in England, about 30 miles north of London. The "EddFest" show will feature additional special guests THE HU, AIRBOURNE and THE ALMIGHTY. The "weekend event" will include the biggest Eddie's Dive Bar ever, as well as MAIDEN-themed food and other specialized stalls, with proceedings kicking off on Friday, July 10 for fans with camping tickets.

Regarding the prospect of playing at such a legendary venue, Hawkins said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're getting to play at Knebworth. The last time we did that was 2003, and we supported Robbie Williams then. So it's been 23 years. But I think it's not about us. The whole story of Knebworth, it's quite amazing that IRON MAIDEN get to play that legendary space, having never made music that's designed to [get on] the charts in any way. They have obviously — I know they've had number ones and stuff like that and sold lots and lots of records, but it's outsiders' music. It's proper metal. If you wore an IRON MAIDEN t-shirt at school, you were wearing it as a sort of badge of honor to say, 'I'm not a townie. I am not a trendy. I do not belong to the usual cliques that you have in the school hierarchy. I'm a metal person, so leave me alone.' But the fact that there are so many of them, you can do Knebworth with it after this amount of time is really, really amazing, and that's what the story is, I think. So we're just happy to be part of it. We're really thrilled that they invited us. And then they invited us to the [recent] premiere of their ['Burning Ambition'] documentary."

Elaborating on his personal relationship with members of MAIDEN, Justin said: "We've got a lot of mutual friends. We don't do as much touring as IRON MAIDEN do. I mean, we're on the road a lot, but we don't do as much as them. And we always have brilliant guitar techs, and they always nick 'em off us. So we're like a feeder club for IRON MAIDEN's techs. So we've got a lot of mutual friends, and obviously whenever we are in the same room, we all get on great. So it's gonna be a really great day, I think."

After Jones joked that THE DARKNESS will "hopefully have some guitar techs left" for the band's headlining tour later in the year, Justin quipped: "That's what worries me. One afternoon with IRON MAIDEN, and then we're just on our own tuning our own guitars. The indignity of it."

When the Knebworth Park concert was first announced last September, Justin said in a statement: "We're thrilled to announce that THE DARKNESS are to appear LIVE in support of the legendary IRON MAIDEN at Knebworth! IRON MAIDEN are among our favorite all-time bands and what's more, they are named after my second favorite medieval torture device. My favorite would be the Pear Of Anguish. So those in attendance can expect us to force our music into them, whereupon the catchiness of our tuneage will expand until they tell us everything. Yay!!!"

Last month THE DARKNESS released "Masters Of The Universe", the theme tune to this year's long-awaited He-Man movie "Masters Of The Universe".

THE DARKNESS will embark on its largest headline tour in 20 years and will bring its beloved rock to arenas across the U.K. in December 2026. The seven-date tour will commence at Glasgow OVO Hydro on December 8 and finish with the band's debut headline performance at The O2 in London on December 16.