Darkness frontman slams ex-bassist

The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has launched an attack on former bassist Frankie Poullain, while continuing his verbal assault on Coldplay singer Chris Martin. According to NME, Hawkins said about Poullain, who was fired earlier this year, "We all know the truth about Frankie - he's talentless. We're still talking about the settlement but he'll always claim more than he's due. He sectioned himself off from the group. Then, when he was sacked, he believed it was role to be devil's advocate. He's vain and paranoid."

Although The Darkness claim that Poullain was not involved at all in the writing or recording of the band's upcoming second album, One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back, he is credited as a co-writer on the album's first single, "One Way Ticket."

Meanwhile, Hawkins slammed Martin over his contribution to the Band Aid 20 remake of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which was recorded in England last year, saying, "During Band Aid, Chris swanned in, stayed for about 20 minutes...we were there for two days and worked our behinds off. He obviously didn't care. I got the sense he was just doing it to raise his profile."

Hawkins attacked Martin in an interview last week with the UK's Kerrang! magazine, over Martin's handling of fame and the 'Fair Trade' campaign.

One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back arrives on November 29th.