Justin Hawkins went back to school last week to cut the ribbon on a new, state-of-the-art recording facility - named after himself.
The Darkness frontman travelled to Hereford last week, where he opened the Justin Hawkins Recording Studio at the town’s Cathedral School.
Having cut the cord, the singer spent time with the school’s A Level musicians, listened to one of the school’s rock bands, Minerva, and toured the control room. “On a purely ego basis, it means the world to have a studio named after me,” he said. “It’s a great feeling. I wish we’d had something like this at my school.”
He also spoke to pupils about the creative mindset needed in a studio, explaining that “Recording is a totally different experience to performing live as you probably already recognise.”
Underlining the importance of trusting your musical instincts, he encouraged students to perform in the moment, saying, “For me, there’s a tendency to overthink that stuff. But there’s something magical about the first performances. Once you’re comfortable in this space, don’t overthink it, just enjoy it.”
He also shared his thoughts with students about the need for authenticity in music creation, saying: “You’ve got to take the building blocks of songwriting, dismantle it, rethink it, put it back together in your image. And that’s what the authenticity thing is going to be about. It isn’t just copying and pasting stuff. “
“I’m very old-school,” he admitted. “When you play a guitar, you're holding a piece of carpentry with bits of steel on it. It’s prone to environmental changes. I don’t think there’s any place for laptops in authentic music. That's one of the things that irks me a bit.”
Music is central to the school’s identity – it was founded way back in the 7th Century (yes, the 7th Century. It dates back to Anglo-Saxon times) as a song school for choristers. But even today it hosts a music programme that includes rock bands, open mic nights and jazz, cabaret and classical concerts.
Head teacher Dr Michael Gray sounded suitably made up by the new facility, saying in a statement: “The opening of The Justin Hawkins Recording Studio is an exciting development in our musical offering. Blending our ancient choral traditions with a contemporary provision is at the heart of our broad curriculum, which attracts the best musicians from across both the county and further afield.”
