Nathan Aspinall reckons rockstar darts smells of Guns N’Roses.

The Stockport slinger feels like one of the superstar snooker stars of the 1980s. But in the day, boys like Jimmy White and Alex Higgins were celebrities beyond their sport mixing with musicians and film stars. Now it’s the darts lads who are centre of attention as the sport blossoms.

Aspinall feels it and said: “Snooker players in the 80s were hanging around with Guns N’ Roses, they were rockstars, right? I do believe that we are the snooker players of the 80s. Everyone wants a piece of a dart player. Everyone loves darts and, yes, it’s come from Luke Littler, but Luke Littler is a 17-year-old kid. The other lads, myself, Michael Smith, Gezzy Price, they’re the ones they can get close up to. I might be out in Manchester on a Friday night and, oh my god, it’s mental. It’s unbelievable, but you’ve got to look at it in a positive light.

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"Wow, darts is that popular. I’ve never thought I was a celebrity until this year. But I am. And people love meeting me, love having pictures, but yeah it’s tough.

“I’m good mates with the guys from Blossoms, I went to school with them. I think the only difference is the fact it’s all about social media nowadays isn’t it?

“What Luke [Littler] and Luke [Humphries] have done over the last 12 months, it’s been unbelievable. Every single dart player that I know in the top 16, we thank them for what they’re doing because we are going to achieve and make a lot of money and also be very successful because of what they’ve done and we’ve got on a roll with them.

“But we are also good. There’s also more than two dart players in the world.

“Littler gets a lot of social media. I do, but nowadays no-one talks to each other. They just text each other.

“So I have messages off people, but I just think it’s crazy and I can’t see it stopping. I think it’s going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. I hope so.”

Aspinall is determined to keep pace with those elite stars and reclaim his place amongst them. The 33-year-old has had a tough time with injuries and the dreaded dartitis, but he’s had help from a gang of World Champions such as Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson.

Aspinall explained: “Yeah, it’s amazing. But the thing is, I listen to people that have been there and done it. “I’m not going to ask the World No.89 for advice, I’m going to ask the people that have been there.

“I see probably once a year at the Target launch and I sit with him for about four hours. I sit with him as long as I possibly can because he knows everything there is to know about darts.

“I think that’s probably why, yes I might not be the greatest darts player in the world, but I’m good at my job because I get advice from the people that have been there and done it and that’s what I’ve always done.

“I do look at Gary. He’s an idol of mine growing up and he’s helped me out a lot. Yeah, he’s had a lot of stick, obviously, the Scottish always do get a lot of stick, but he’s been there for me and he helps me out.

“We had a good chat about how I was playing and my form coming into the tournament. He’s one to watch by the way, this tournament, he’s going to be fantastic.

“We’re a family. I think we spend, I spend, more time with these lads than I do with my own family.

“There’s certain people, obviously, like Joe Cullen, Michael Smith, Dave Chisnell, Chris Dobey, we spend a lot of time and obviously, like myself, Joe Cullen, we’re not playing the best.

“You know, we’re going through a bad time and we’re the ones that are getting a bit of abuse and we get through it together, you know what I mean? We stick with each other, we help each other out through the bad times. All of us.

“We’re there for the bad times, we’re there for the good times. I think that’s why I love darts so much because yes, it’s an individual sport, yes we want to take as much money off each other as we can, but we are there for each other and it’s a great community.

“Even the hierarchy in the PDC, the people in the PDC, the media, the marketing people, we’re there for each other, all of us and we help each other out and I just think it’s fantastic.”