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Music-Interviews
Darren Hayes: This Delicate Thing We've Made
By: Jason Rosam
August, 2007

After selling over 25 million albums worldwide Darren Hayes returns with his 25 track double album opus, This Delicate Thing We've Made. The album sees Hayes at full creative throttle producing a daring, theatrical, wise, wounded and wonderful epiphany, representing his true maturation as an artist.

It's still in the realm of pop, but his sound has definitely matured - you'll hear similarities to Daniel Bedingfield, Prince, Robbie Williams, and a hint of Justin Timberlake.

GaydarRadio spoke to the singer about coming out, tying the knot with his partner, dogs and his new album!

Where are you based these days?
I love that no one knows this - I live in London and I've been here for three years. I live in Notting Hill and I married my boyfriend of three years.

Congratulations - when was that?
Our civil partnership was last year, but we actually had a private ceremony a year before that, so we're coming up to our fourth year as a couple.

So you're an honorary Brit!
I hope so! I'm a massive Madonna fan, so I'm just trying to do that whole honorary Brit thing, you know?

How did you meet your partner?
We actually just met in the boring way - we met through friends. It sounds really cheesy, but I knew the minute I met him. He was gorgeous and I just knew. I had that feeling in my gut that I was meant to be in London and I was meant to be with him. I think I told him after about two weeks that I loved him.

Do you miss Australia?
Yes, of course. I was over here to promote a record when I met Richard and then I just kind of knew that I was going to end up here. Although it's amazing that this country has civil partnerships, it's nonetheless something that isn't recognised around the world, and so I knew when I met Richard that if I was going to be with him, I had to live in England. Of course, I ended up falling in love with the country. But I miss my family and I'm lucky that I can fly back and forth when I miss them too much.

What is your view on the gay rights in Australia at the moment with John Howard as Prime Minister?
I'm proud that Australia has always been a country that's politically ahead of the curve. It's very forward-thinking and definitely very liberal. I think I feel about John Howard the way a lot of people think about George Bush. I think he represents something that is not indicative of Australians.
Australia has one of the most vocal gay communities in the world, while the culture itself is very open, accepting and embracing of gay culture. I don't think that John Howard speaks for the temperature of the country and so I think that gay rights in Australia will change.
What you've done in this country is an incredible civil right. I'm so proud that I live here and am a part of this time in our culture.

Why did it take you so long to come out?
Well, it didn't really; it just took me a long time to hold a press conference about it. I think coming out is a pretty complicated process. I'll buy flowers for Richard at a flower store and someone will ask if they're for my girlfriend and I'll have to say that they're actually for my boyfriend.
I think there's always someone that you have to come out to and, for me, when I realised that I was gay, I told everybody in my life who mattered to me - my family, my friends, my band members and everybody in the record company. I never lied about it, which I'm very proud of. I think that if you're in the public eye and you're asked about your sexuality, I think there's a very polite way to say that you are, but you don't want to talk about it. I used to say that I keep my private life private.

Did you feel any pressure that you had to come out publicly at some point?
Yes and no - I think I felt a moral obligation to come out. I was always kind of peppering my music with hints and clues about who I was and I certainly never did anything to appear straight. I didn't suddenly have a girlfriend on the red carpet and I never did those Cleo interviews where they ask what kind of girl I liked. I purposely didn't do those kinds of things.
Also, I think it took a long time for me to really accept it myself. I'm not somebody who was born in rollerskates singing - 'Xanadu'. I mean, I do now! But the reality was that it took me a long time to even work out that there was a name for the feelings I had and I had a very painful experience with it all. I went through a lot of self-hatred and a lot of those things that I think men of my generation went through.
I'm quite amazed when I see that fans on MySpace have just checked a box that says gay, straight, bisexual, or whatever. I could never have dreamed of being eighteen and being able to know which box I fitted into. My story took a little bit longer.

What do you and Richard get up to on the weekend?
Do you want the glamorous answer or the truth? The truth is we're homebodies and I'm absolutely lucky that I've found somebody who is into the same things I'm into. Richard is an animator and he's an ex-theatre director, so our house is very artistic.

Do you go around singing West End musicals, then?
No, the only musical I really like is Xanadu, actually! But anyway, we're into films and creative things like music and animating. My favourite thing in the world to do is just to hang out with Richard and our dog.

What type of dog have you got?
We've got a four-year-old English cocker spaniel named Wally and he's great because he's a manic depressive. Most of his life he's just sitting around writing little suicide notes, I imagine. Wouldn't it be funny if pets were suicidal? I think our dog would try to throw himself off our balcony someday.

Tell us about your new album and single.
I'm obsessed with the record. It's a double album called This Delicate Thing We've Made. It's really electronic and a track called 'Step Into the Light' has already become a top ten club hit without anyone knowing it because I changed my name, just so people would play it without judging me - suckers!
The single is called 'On the Verge of Something Wonderful'. It's gorgeous - it's about being at a crossroads in your life and taking the road less travelled. There are some cool mixes and it's a really fun project. It's going to end up with me playing the Albert Hall on 3 October in London with a pretty OTT show. I can't promise there'll be roller-skates, but there may be a few Xanadu influences.

Do you like doing the live stuff?
I love it!

Are you doing G.A.Y.?
I did it two days before the album came out and it was amazing. We pretty much brought out all the big guns and it was a bit of a teaser for the tour.

Do you go out clubbing much yourself?
I'm a bit of a teetotaller, actually; I tend to prefer re-mixes for my iPod than I do in a club. That might change now that the smoking law has changed but - as a singer - to go out to a club in London used to mean I couldn't speak for three days, so we'll see.
I kind of like my gay bars to be a bit grungy and a bit dirty. One of my favourite places to hang out in London is probably the Retro Bar. I'm not really into hardcore clubs, but I love club culture.

Find out more at www.darrenhayes.com and www.myspace.com/darrenhayes.

Read our review of Truly Madly Completely: The (Savage Garden) Greatest Hits and our Totty Watch feature on Darren Hayes.

This Delicate Thing We've Made [Box set], by Darren Hayes
Label: Powdered Sugar
Released: 20 August 2007
ASIN: B000SSESVG

Buy This Delicate Thing We've Made online and make your own mind up about Hayes' new album. Alternatively, why not buy his last release The Tension And The Spark and the Savage Garden greatest hits package, Truly, Madly, Completely - The Greatest Hits.

By: Jason Rosam

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