We haven't heard from The Darkness in a while here on Metal Injection, but they have been back on the road for a while. With the summer months in full swing, it's festival season, which means bands might run into each other backstage and have a laugh and catch up.
That was not the case with The Darkness and Ozzy Osbourne at Sweden Rock Fest this past weekend. The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins did not appreciate the way Ozzy's handlers treated the rest of the artists at a recent festival and decided to go on Twitter about it:
Backstage in LOCKDOWN!
Ozzy is arriving at @swedenrockfest so nobody is allowed to leave their dressing rooms!
Heaven forbid the main attraction should have to endure an encounter with a fellow artiste…
Rock on!
— Justin Hawkins (@JustinHawkins) June 8, 2018
According to Justin, this wasn't his only negative experience with the Prince of Darkness.
We were once invited to interview Ozzy for Metal Hammer.
Then it transpired that we were to be collected in a "blacked-in car" so we couldn't see where we were being driven to.
I (im)politely declined the opportunity.
— Justin Hawkins (@JustinHawkins) June 8, 2018
I can see where Justin is coming from, but at the same time it seems to me that Justin can't grasp the level of celebrity that Ozzy is and also the level of punishment he must receive in order to enact these strict security measures. Ozzy just wants to get to his room and rest, he doesn't want to have to stop for small talk with some random band who he doesn't care about. Let the guy live in peace, we say!
