Justin Hawkins disliked the “stigma” attached to being a YouTuber.
The Darkness frontman launched his YouTube channel, Justin Hawkins Rides Again, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has since grown into a runaway success, attracting 642,000 subscribers.
It sees the rock star offer his honest opinion of new music.
However, the I Believe in a Thing Called Love hitmaker has admitted he was “sceptical” at first because it’s looked down on.
He told Louder: “So my producer at the time said, ‘You should probably do stuff on YouTube because it’ll be really successful.’ I was very sceptical about it. I didn’t like the stigma of being a YouTuber, even though I’d had all these experiences [on camera] with Cameo and Patreon. For some reason I thought a more public-facing thing was not really what I signed up for.”
Justin has found it strange being recognised for his channel over the band.
He said: “The weirdest thing for me has been going to a festival where The Darkness is on the bill and having people come up and recognise me, not because of the band but because of the YouTube channel.”
One thing he loves about doing the series is discovering artists he wouldn’t have listened to.
He said: “Doing this, I’ve learned quite a lot about areas of rock that I never would have driven down really.
“I’m learning about music and teaching myself as I go along. I try to keep it accessible.”
Justin revealed he got into The 1975 through his side hustle.
He said: “One of the things I’ve found out about myself is that I’m not as closed-minded as I thought I was.
“I can listen to something by a band like The 1975 – a band who I’ve completely ignored – and end up crying on camera when I found something really moving. It’s really brilliant.”