The Darkness News

Fresh off a stint in rehab, the band's cat suit-wearing frontman and cofounder shocked fans by announcing he's quitting the glam-rock outfit he led to chart-topping success.

In an interview with London's Sun, Hawkins, 31, admitted his cocaine and booze-fueled benders were taking a heavy toll on him during the Darkness' ascension to the upper ranks of U.K. rock royalty following the release of the 2003 debut, Permission to Land.

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

Hawkins said he spent nearly $300,000 on cocaine during the three-year span, averaging nearly $2,000 a week. "I regularly used to stay up for four days at a time on coke and alcohol binges," he said.

Success came fast for Hawkins and his crew. The Darkness' revival of full-blown glam generated enough buzz to help the 2003 single "Growing on Me" muscle in at number 11 on the British charts. A month later, Promise to Land debuted at number two before hitting the top spot the next week.

But then things took a nose dive.

"I became secretive, volatile and verbally abusive, a really unpleasant person to be around. There were lots of periods I don't even remember, blackouts," the rocker said. "I couldn't even tell you how much I was drinking--it was all day when we were on tour. My weapon of choice was vodka. It has affected every aspect of my life, with the band and my girlfriend Sue."

Hawkins' cocaine addiction began in 2002 after the band released its debut, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love," which failed to reach the U.K. Top 40. By the time the tune was reissued the following year and hit number two, Hawkins was suffering physically.

"On the surface my nose looks okay, but there are problems higher up. I'm lucky I still have a septum," he told the paper. "It was always terribly sore but I would just take more cocaine to kill the pain. I was constantly blowing out blood."

He eventually began to hear voices and hallucinating and finally decided to enter a rehabilitation facility in August. After getting sober, he decided he needed to ditch the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and quit the band.

The parting is said to be amicable.

The other members of the Darkness--his brother, guitarist Dan Hawkins, drummer Ed Graham and bassist Richie Edwards (who took over for original bassist Frankie Poullain last May), have vowed to soldier on, possibly with Edwards taking over vocal chores.

As for Justin Hawkins, he's seen the light and is embracing healthy living.

"There are people who can be in bands and stay clean, but I'm not one of them," he told the Sun. "I am going to do a solo record at some point and get into scoring films. But this is all new so the future is still uncertain.