The remaining members of The Darkness have expressed shock at the singer’s exit from the band. When Hawkins entered rehab in August, the band insisted they would hit the studio as soon as he was well, but the band’s future is now uncertain.

In a message on their MySpace page they said, “We – Dan, Ed and Richie – are still in total shock and can’t say at this stage what the future holds. You will hear from us, once we know what we want to do…”

In the October 11 interview, the singer revealed that over the past three years, he burned through more than £150,000 (approximately $278,000) supporting a cocaine habit that saw him consuming as much as five grams a day.

He also admitted that he was battling alcoholism – drinking almost constantly, and sometimes going on alcohol and coke binges that would last for days.

Hawkins told The Sun, “It affected every single decision I made. Everything was decided on the basis that I wanted to take cocaine at some point. I would demand that we were the first on at awards shows so that I could get on with my drinking and drugging.”

The Darkness first caught fire in 2004, after the release of their debut album, Permission to Land. Hawkins said he blames his addictions on his inability to cope with the pressures of the band’s rapid rise to fame.

“Initially it was a huge slab of fun. All my dreams came true. But the simple truth of it is that when you realize your dreams, they are not special any more, particularly when you are in the midst of addiction. It all happened so quickly, and I never coped with it as well as I thought I would.”

According to The Sun, things came to the breaking point this summer. The bands sophomore album didn’t perform as well as expected, and the singer became disenchanted with his place in the band. He considered quitting last year, and even went as far as recording and releasing a solo single, but then the band went out on tour again, and his addictions got even worse.

Hawkins entered rehab in August after he began to hear voices and hallucinate. While there, he made the difficult decision to quit the band, but he says he doesn’t see himself kicking his addictions unless he does.

“I feel bad for the others. It will be an upheaval,” he told The Sun, But it’s time for me to move on. It would be damaging to my recovery to stay on. I’m not blaming the band for my problem – I’m an addict. There may be people who can be in bands and stay clean, but I’m not one of them.”