Instinct Magazine (US)
May 2007 Issue
putting it delicately
by Tyler Steele

Instinct Magazine - May 2007 Issue

Beach-in' Summer Entertainment Preview
Sneaky Peek: Music

putting it delicately
by Tyler Steele

DARREN HAYES looked to his past to craft the stories and sounds on his third solo album. But the music couldn't be a further departure from his days with Savage Garden.

"The reality is the music that I make and the person I am is vastly different to who I was when I began," Darren Hayes explains of his third solo album, due this August. "For the people who really, really loved Savage Garden, they're not going to like what I'm doing today. And I don't take offense to that. Now I'm meeting people who would never have listened to the Savage Garden stuff but think my (current music) is really cool."

The double album, This Delicate Thing We've Made, covers the emotional journey of Hayes' life. A time machine of sorts, it was recorded around the sound of a 1983 Fairlight CMI synthesizer, which he says provided an "otherworldly quality" that he loved from records by artists he grew up with - Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Duran Duran - and influenced the writing of much of the music.

The year 1983 was also a turning point for Hayes. His Australian family life was topsy-turvy, in part due to an alcoholic, and sometimes violent, father.

"It was the year I went inside myself the most and the time that I wanted to become a performer," he says. "Looking at people like Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna - it was a really colorful, exciting year of the megastar. Prince was just starting to come up on my radar I wanted E.T. and The Empire Strikes Back. For a kid who hated his home life, there were a lot of wonderful distractions with music and film." Hayes has since worked through issues with his dad, now sober, whom he calls his hero. That emotional tearing and healing seems central to the themes explored on the dual-disc album.

Hayes is quick to point out, "It's not a concept record, but there is a definite idea that begins with a loss of consciousness and goes into the psyche. It's subtle in that you could listen and not pick up on it, or you could totally." Whereas previous Savage Garden songs like "Truly Madly Deeply" and his solo hit "Insatiable" were about yearning for love, the new songs are personal stories, including what it is really like to be in a relationship.

The singer and his husband, Richard, reside in London, and he credits a solid, stable bond between the two of them for furthering him as an artist. "It's made me feel stronger to talk about other things like growing up, my relationship with my past, my father," says Hayes. "A lot of the album is autobiographical and tries to bring some joy to memories of my life that have been traumatic. It's more emotional than other records, but more balanced."

The newlyweds recently celebrated the first anniversary of their civil union - which is legally recognized in the United Kingdom - and have discovered that with marital bliss also comes the occasional, if minor, fight. "The only conflict in our lives is who makes the next cup of tea," Darren laughs. "We live in a Victorian house and there are lots of stairs, so we really flip-flop on whose turn it is. So, really, we just fight over the damn stairs."

Both men share an office on the first floor of their home. Richard, a former university lecturer turned full-time 3-D animator, has a talent for setting up music equipment that can elude Darren sometimes. "I'm putting together mixed tapes for the music people to listen to before and after the shows I'm doing, and I was having trouble figuring out all of the DJ equipment out," Hayes says. "He figures it all out in 10 minutes. And I joked, "Can't I just have one thing? Next you'll be producing my albums, Yoko!"

Darren points out that This Delicate Thing We've Made will come packed with a few extras for fans. "The album will have a companion DVD mixed in 5.1 that will feature 13 animation and short films to songs," he says. There are also plans for additional tour dates, including stops on the West Coast in Los Angeles and his former hometown, San Francisco. "I'm a Cali boy. I lived (in San Francisco) for seven years and it'd be a dream come true to play some gigs there."

To get the new music out there, a few test-run shows in London and New York at legendary Joe's Pub at the Public Theater were set up in the spring. Though unadvertised and unannounced, both shows sold out in less than 10 minutes, setting a record for a venue that has also seen performances from Bono, Dolly Parton, Joss Stone and Elvis Costello. It's a dramatically different setting than the arenas he toured with Savage Garden, but Hayes is quite happy with his current fan base.

"I'm so lucky that my fans are incredibly, amazingly loyal," he notes. "It's a genuine connection (because) they've been through this entire journey of growing up with me. It's been interesting lately, because there's a whole new audience coming in from MySpace who maybe wouldn't have listened to my music before, who've been converted. It's beautiful to see my past and future melting together."

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