Edge - Boston, Massachusetts USA
Up Close With Darren Hayes
by Rick Dunn
EDGE Community Editor
Wednesday, December 5, 2007

As one half of pop duo Savage Garden, singer/songwriter Darren Hayesdominated the Adult Contemporary charts for several years with such colossal hits as I Want You, I Knew I Loved You and Truly, Madly, Deeply. Before they split in 2001, Savage Garden's two CDs collectively sold 25 million albums worldwide, making the band one of the most successful recording acts of the last two decades.

Hayes, who recently performed at Miami's White Party, is now three albums into a solo career that has kept him on the charts internationally, but not stateside. Now, he's touring the U.S. to promote his two-disc set This Delicate Thing We've Made and his new single Me, Myself and (I). This Friday, the 35-year-old, out gay singer makes a promotional stop at Borders in Burlington, Mass. He will perform an acoustic set and sign copies of his CD.

EDGE: You performed at The White Party in Miami last week. Was was your take on the whole experience, from your performance to the scene itself?

Darren Hayes: Honestly, I don't know if it was my scene. I totally support the charity and the idea behind raising money and awareness for HIV related illness. But our set was acoustic and the stage was way at the other end of the festivities. By the time we got there it was a little hard to compete with hard club beats and the celebration going on. I'm a gay man, but I often feel rather on the outskirts of mainstream gay culture. I don't quite know where I fit in in terms of the scene but I know I was honored that I was asked to perform.

EDGE: You've taken your music from circuit parties to scaled back, acoustic shows at Borders Bookstores, which is a clear indication that your music is versatile. As artist, what format feels like the most natural fit for you?

Darren Hayes: The smaller acoustic gigs are definitely more my temperature. I just finished a massive tour of the UK where we finished the dates at the the Royal Albert Hall. It was a dream of mine to play that venue and I sold out the place. The stage and set design were massive and to be honest almost broke the bank! But the irony is people seem to be just as moved by us pitching up to a Borders store and playing acoustically.

EDGE: Wayne G., Andy Allder, Andrew Friendly and 7th Heaven just issued remixes of Me, Myself and I, and before that, Tony Moran and Moto Blanco remixed Step into the Light. How did you choose what remixers would tackle those songs?

Darren Hayes: Some of these people are my friends. People like Wayne G for example is just a lovely human being and someone I've built up a relationship with over the years. Others just came highly recommended or I'd loved their stuff in the past so wanted them to be involved. I am not a huge fan of mindless club music but I adore a good remix and I tend to work with some of the finest people. I'm very lucky in that respect.

EDGE: Your recent appearances Borders Bookshops have brought you face to face with your fans. Performance wise, what adjustments do you make to adapt to such an intimate setting?

Darren Hayes: The hardest thing is taking an album which is quite electronic and breaking it down so it's just piano and one instrument. I guess it's a sign of a song having good bones when it stands up so strongly on its own.

I'm very proud that this album does survive the breaking down process. To me it's a validation that the melodies and concepts are universal.

EDGE: Since they can basically reach out and touch you, do you have any crazy fan stories from one of your recent shows?

Darren Hayes: In general, I seem to have lost a lot of the crazies. For which I'm eternally grateful. These days I am someone who is pretty accessible via my website or MySpace. I'm very hands on and I seem to have more of a friendship with my audience than an adulation. That's much more comfortable to me as a performer. I feel like I can make mistakes and be real with the people who relate to my music as opposed to living up to some kind of false public image.

EDGE: In 2006, you split with your former label Columbia following the release of your second solo disc and began your own label, Powdered Sugar. What inspired - or instigated - that transition?

Darren Hayes: I think it's fair to say what inspired the departure was their negative reaction to my last album. The UK loved it the US were terrified by it. It was a real direction change and it was heartbreaking to see this album, which got such wonderfully positive reviews to sit on a shelf and gather dust. I vowed that would never happen to me again. Luckily, most of the people I loved who had worked on my albums in the past ended up leaving the label when it merged with BMG - so there really wasn't much of an incentive to stay. I feel proud that I never compromised my artistry and glad that I'm one of the first mainstream artists to have said no to the major label system and self release my music.

EDGE: This Delicate Thing We've Made is very ambitious, considering it's a two-disc set with 25 tracks. Did you set out to make a double album or did the recording sessions reveal a much broader musical canvas that you anticipated?

Darren Hayes: It took a while to get the songs together, some 3 years in fact. And then there was a process of elimination, knocking tracks off the drawing board that didn't fit. But I didn't realize I was making a double album until I listened to Kate Bush's 'Hounds of Love' album one day. It is a concept record where one side is conceptual and the other literal. I loved the device of vinyl - how it made you or forced you to take a break half way through the set. Since we live in an era of digital convenience the only way to really do that was to separate the music into two discs. So the double album idea became a definite.

EDGE: You've collaborated somewhat with your partner Richard, who designed the cover of This Delicate Thing We've Made. How do you navigate that particular creative process, considering that - unlike your time in Savage Garden - he is your partner in your private life as well?

Darren Hayes: Richard didn't design the cover. An amazing artist by the name of Jane Wallace designed the artwork and the cover for the album. Richard has made several music videos for the album including the first teaser song 'Who Would Have Thought' and the music video for 'Me Myself and I'. I love working with him. He's a genius and he brings out the best in me. There's never any tension, it's more a flurry of ideas. I have to be careful how much I ask him to do because he seems to be good at everything! He's done visuals for my tour, posters, logos, graphics, all of it. It's great to have a creative and romantic relationship. It's my ideal relationship.

EDGE: Throughout most of your career you avoided discussing your private life, but then you surprised many by announcing your civil union on your website. Did your comfort level change or were there other factors that enabled your decision?

Darren Hayes: I think the fact that we could get married in the UK made the decision a lot easier. Richard became a permanent part of my life and I wanted my audience to know that. I can't say enough positive things about the Civil Partnership legislation in England. It has removed any shame or humiliation I ever felt about being gay. It's wonderful to be able to feel acknowledged and respected in your community.

EDGE: At the time of their release, I Knew I Loved You, I Want You, and Truly, Madly, Deeply made huge impacts on the world music charts. In 2000, I Knew I Loved You was the most played song on U.S. radio. Over the last few years, Top 40 play-lists in the U.S. have become incredibly restrictive. What do you hear when you turn on the radio? As opposed to five or six years ago, what does an artist who is not working with Timbaland have to do to be heard?

Darren Hayes: I honestly don't bother competing. Music is fashion. Sometimes you're in. Sometimes you're out. But classics always seem to find a way to survive. I just keep doing my thing and I focus more on my audience than I do on trends.

EDGE: I read that you're a huge Star Wars fan and that you actually auditioned for a part in Episode III? What was the part and how did the audition go?

Darren Hayes: I begged for a role playing anything. I famously told the casting directly I'd play 'a rock, a dead stormtrooper, anything!'. I really just chatted for a while in her office and after a while she just said... 'I really don't see anything for you!'. I thought that was quite funny and very gracious of her to even entertain the idea of an Australian pop star in a Star Wars film. And now it's become something that I can tell my grandkids.

EDGE: How will you be following up the Borders promotional tour? I hear you have a big New Year's show planned?

EDGE: I'm playing what I hope to be a regular New Years Eve show in London. And then next year I'm back in February and March for a full U.S tour. It will be my first U.S tour in 7 years so I'm very excited.

An EDGE Founding Editor, Rick Dunn's writing has appeared in Bay Windows, The Windy City Times, Washington Blade, among many others. He also initiated The Boston Globe's very first (and last) gay column, Out & About in 2001. He was the editor of In Newsweekly from 1996 to 2003.

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