Fresh from the ashes of The Darkness and recent appearance on BBC’s Top Gear, Justin Hawkins is back with a heavier sound in Hot Leg and their debut single, ‘Trojan Guitar’ – a huge hit on YouTube, where it was promoted with a suitably Spinal Tap-esque medieval battle video, featuring thousands of fans dressed for battle. 
The band are now getting ready to do battle with the masses this month, as they embark upon a UK tour, which takes in Swindon’s 12 Bar on 27th October. If the sound of Trojan Guitar is anything to go by, with plenty of riffs and harmonies courtesy of Hawkins and lead guitarist Pete “Liquid Hands” Rinaldi, they should be a force to be reckoned with. Jonathan Robert Muirhead caught up with Mr. Hawkins as he took time out from recording the band’s debut album in Swindon and also rehearsals for the upcoming tour.
Tell us about Trojan Guitar
Well, it’s out on the 20th of October. It’s a download-only vibe, so it’s not gonna go to number one. It’s like an introductory thing for the band, really. It’s just a question of seeing where things go from here, really.
It’s not such a huge departure from the sound of The Darkness as people might have expected from you.
I don’t know if it’s quite like The Darkness but I understand what you’re saying. It’s quite guitar, rock-orientated. That’s what we do best as a band, really.
It seems to be all about melodies and harmonies
Yeah totally, again that’s what we’re into as a band. It’s quite rocky and that’s not the case with all the stuff on the record
Tell us a bit more about the album
It sounds really good; it’s already marketed and ready to go. We’ve just been in Swindon recording the b-sides for singles in the last few days. It seems to have developed into a four-way thing, really. There’s lots of kind of bluesy stuff on there and I think the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
And what of the part that guitarist Pete “Liquid Hands” Rinaldi plays in this?
I think that Pete plays a great part in this band; I think he’s one of a kind. But I think it’s also just a great combination of everything, really.
You seem to have a very 70s influence to your sound – Rick Wakeman and Yes spring to mind, as does Spinal Tap when one sees your photographs
Yeah, well I think that’s true and I think that what Hot Leg are all about, like those guys, is making records with lots of ambition in them and we sort of plan to develop it from there, really.
Are you trying to hone a particular image to go with your sound?
Well, we’re trying to establish a simple dress code, based around denim, ‘cause we’re not that glamorous – we’re quite practical about the clothing choices we make. I reckon we’re very much in line with lots of early ‘90s British heavy metal. I mean by this that it’s all about the music – we haven’t got the money to go out there and kit ourselves out big style so it’s a case of just keeping it simple. But we have a four-album plan. We haven’t quite mapped out how the four albums are going to go but there’s a plenty of scope there. It’s a case of just seeing how it goes, really. It’s also a case of seeing how successful the first album is. I mean, talking about the prog period, ambition certainly comes into it and I think it’s something that we’re capable of and something that we want to develop. I mean, our guitar solos are really coming along and that’s something that we want to develop and really see where it goes. It’s a bit like that TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm, where they have like a Point A and a Point B to work around but anything and everything can happen in between.
You seem to be a real “fan’s band”, what with having them appear as extras in your videos and so forth
Yeah, totally. I mean, we like to entertain people and that’s key to what we do. So we’re trying to build up as good a vibe as possible with people. We are in the entertainment trade, after all.
Hot Leg release Trojan Guitar as a download only through their website www.teamhotleg.comon Monday 20th October and play Swindon’s 12-Bar club on Monday October 27th.