The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins recently answered the comments that came to him on his YouTube channel, Justin Hawkins Rides Again. While talking about the one about Jeff Beck, Hawkins mentioned that Beck had no competitors as a guitarist, including Johnny Depp.
Jeff Beck has influenced the rock scene as an excellent guitarist examining various genres like blues-rock, jazz, and electronica. His style has been defined as innovative and has received many positive reviews since the beginning of his career. The rocker’s talent earned him six Grammys, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and the British Academy’s Ivor Novello Award.
The musician has collaborated with other artists, and Hollywood Vampires member Johnny Depp is one of them. The pair recorded the cover version of John Lennon’s 1970 song ‘Isolation.’ They released the cover in 2020 and informed the audience they might have upcoming projects together.
The actor had an ongoing lawsuit with Amber Heard in the previous months. While the trial took a break for jury contemplation, Depp surprisingly appeared on Beck’s show in Sheffield, England. People commented on this surprise on social media, saying they were happy to see them performing together.
Justin Hawkins was recently interpreting the comments that came to him, and one of them was about Jeff Beck’s show in Sheffield. The audience commented that they went there to watch the complete Beck show; however, they saw Depp more in its second part. They would prefer to see the guitarist throughout the entire performance, as stated in the comment.
The Darkness singer said that Jeff Beck had no rivals in performing as an excellent guitarist by adding that he did not disrespect anybody, including Johnny Depp. Hawkins mentioned that he could understand that the audience went there to see Beck’s guitar talent, but somebody was to play those guitar parts on stage anyway. As the singer indicated, he could not think of a show that Beck was left behind. Hawkins respected the audience’s point of view as he was not on the show.
Regarding a fan’s comment, Hawkins said in his words:
“I think if anybody is on stage with Jeff Beck, he doesn’t really have a rival in a sense like Mick and Keith or Joe Perry and Steven Tyler. There’s nobody who can compete with Jeff Beck’s playing. No disrespect to Johnny or anybody else. It’s a foil to Jeff Beck’s rapier. You get to hear him playing more like an actual guitarist in the band where he has to work around the vocal.
If it’s not Johnny Depp that’s doing that, it’s going to be somebody else from Jeff Beck’s band. I can’t really imagine Jeff Beck playing second fiddle to anybody, but if that’s the way you saw it then, I’ll bow to your perspective because I wasn’t there.”
You watch the entire video below.
