Well, it's all rock 'n' roll I suppose. The Darkness' Justin Hawkins has lost the use of his right hand after smashing it through a window during a fight. According to the Sunday Mirror, Hawkins had to be rushed to hospital after the fracas with a mystery attacker - the paper assures us Justin was acting in self-defence. The rocker is now facing several months without being able to play his guitar, which means the band may have to bring in a support guitarist for eleven up coming tour dates.
Don't know if it will be any consolation for poor Justin, but elsewhere in Darkness news it has been revealed that the band have sold so much merchandise - including official band thongs at ten quid a go - that they could afford to keep the Darkness machine going for quite sometime without selling any more records (though presumably the record label, who as far as we know don't get any cut of merchandise revenue, wouldn't agree!). Russel Coulthart of Recordstore.co.uk, who have recently launched a new merchandise offshoot called Teeshirtstore.co.uk, told reporters this weekend: "Ultimately, bands want to reach fans and maximize revenues without a huge chunk disappearing into the labels. This is definitely a new business model."