Cream
Magazine Interview Transcript
October
2004
TRUTH
OR DARE
Darren Hayes should have more secrets. He
is a pop stat after all, and aren't they supposed to tease and titillate?
But Darren's a little too down-home to hold onto pretences for too long.
Here, he speaks fairly frankly with Cream's Nick Bennet about adolescence,
suggestions of his being gay, prospective fatherhood, fame, and a very good
new album in 'The Tension and The Spark'. Introduction by Antonino Tati.
There's no doubt that is 2004, Darren Hayes is a pop star more at peace with
himself. With that first 'difficult' solo album out of the way, he's moved
on to produce and promote his sophomore effort, 'The Tension And The Spark'.
Actually it's less of an 'effort' and more of a feat.
Having tuned in to much French chill and house music over the past three
years (egs. Mirwais; Rinocerose), the borderline between mellow acoustic and
dance groove is crossed regularly on 'Tension'. In fact, the album runs the
gamut of ambient, pop, electro, dance, even a little rock. Lyrically, Hayes
is still playing the ambiguity trump card, like in the album's first single
'Popular', where he shamelessly/sarcastically sings 'I'm will to sleep my
way to the top, I wanna be popular, I don't wanna keep my feet on the ground,
I wanna be popular', knowing full well the lyrics could be read one way or
another: that is, with a hint or irony, or as an expression of subtle
humility. And in this day and age, both are quality traits in a music artist.
In 2002, around the time of the crossover success or 'Insatiable', Cream had
Darren turn when the subjects of sex and sexuality were brought up. This
time round, he's calmer in his responses to such issues. To his benefit, he
was once quoted as saying, "The blessing and the curse of being me is
that I feel so much." Today, he is equally as sensitive, but better
seasoned. And somewhat more sensible.
Ahead of live shows in Australia this summer, Darren Hayes was flung out of
a car and into a hotel lobby to clear a couple more things up with Cream.
NB: Congratulations Darren on a great
sounding record.
DH: Thank you. I do like it, as egotistical as that might sound. I don't
know if I've ever said that about my records so honestly, but I do, I feel
very connected to this one.
NB: Why so?
DH: God, it's like the record that may never have been. It was recorded in a
very brave way. When I was making it, I thought it was never gonna see the
light of day. I thought it was gonna have to be a side project. I thought
maybe I was gonna get dropped. I think all sorts of things when I'm not
pleasing the masses or the money-maker. It was really made with that mindset,
and I still can't believe it's being released.
NB: Come on, you didn't seriously think
you'd be dropped by your record company? You've sold 22 million records.
You're a bankable item now
DH: Well, not exactly dropped, because I have sold 22 million records, but I
thought that this record might have gotten handed back to me because it was
such a departure, and as much or a cliche as it sounds, it's a reinvention.
I presumed that it would be met with resistance from the powers that be.
Ultimately it wasn’t, but at the time it was such a different record for
me. I was mixing this album before my record company even knew I was making
one, so you can imagine the fear and paranoia going on in my head. By the
time I’d fallen in love with it, I wasn’t even sure if anyone else would
like it.
NB: It sounds like an accidental record.
DH: It was totally organic and it’s funny because I didn’t realize how
many rules and modifiers I had placed on myself. You hear artists talk about
how they feel boxed in, or how they are categorised, and I was a part of
that process. In general, I think part of the blessing and the curse of
being successful is that you are famous for a certain thing, and then that
is all people expect from you. In some ways I didn’t (realise) they were
also expectations I’d placed on myself, saying ‘Well this is just an
experiment’ or ‘This is gonna be like that Gorillaz (aka: Damon Albarn)
project and I’ll be animated’ or it’ll be ‘someone else’. It’s
kind of sad for me to realise the tricks that I had to play with myself to
be this free, but that’s how I had to view it thinking that it may never
be released, and it let me have that stream of consciousness. I have
certainly let go of (my) habit of perfecting and polishing everything to the
point of blandness.
NB: So who were your inspirations this time
around?
DH: I was listening to a lot of different records. A lot of French music:
the Mirwais album production was a huge influence on me for the last three
or four years and that’s how I really became enamoured with ‘Spike’
Mark Stanton (mix engineer with a somewhat twisted sense of musicology). I
really wanted to work with Stanton and he’s said no in the past. Then
there are these two bands, Phoenix and Rinocerose. But I don’t know if I
had one musical muse. In some ways I just know I wanted to make a personal
record. And when I started to take that hands-on approach with the music, I
let go of my heroes a little and decided that it was actually okay to be
myself.
NB: Away from the music a little, and into
your background, do you think you missed out on anything in your childhood?
DH: I never felt safe, ultimately. I think I play it down, but it was an
emotional, very turbulent domestic situation that (my generation) graduated
from. It’s funny what you’ll do as a kid to reinvent and repaint your
world. Me, I turned myself into ‘The Guy from Savage Garden’. That was
my way or escaping, I just dreamed of being on stage one day where the whole
world would love me and I think for about a minute it worked, but ultimately
I’m like any other man. We all have to grow up one day and just forgive,
move one, and take responsibility for our own life.
NB: Can you ever see yourself becoming a
father?
DH: Totally, but probably not without having been through this record. I
think its something in the next five years or so that I’d wanna do, but
I’ve been so selfish in the past. I hadn’t even realised how selfish
I’d been. I mean, the kind of ambition that I had, I can’t even relate
to that anymore. When I was 18, to quote myself, I was insatiable. I really
was. It was an obsession almost, and today, if I had to get a record deal, I
don’t know if I could. I’m much more at peace with that desire, or that
ambition.
NB: Are you saying that you’re not gay?
DH: I think it’s a really old-fashioned question, actually. Today, it’s
2004 and I’m like, ‘Do I have a burning desire to put myself into any
category any more in my life?’ No I don’t, certainly not musically;
certainly not professionally or personally. But I totally understand people
asking the question. Ultimately, all people want to know about you when
you’re a celebrity is, ‘How big is it and where do you put it?’.
NB: Maybe I’m old-fashioned?
DH: I think anyone could have children, I mean my God, whether I was
straight, into monkeys, married, singles, whatever, I thinks it’s possible
these days to have kids in any sort of capacity.
NB: Would you do it traditionally? Like, go
out and find a woman?
DH: I’m not in a position to have kids at all at the moment. Do I wanna
have kids one day? Absolutely, and I’m sure that it’d involve having sex
and getting pregnant so I’ll let you know when that happens.
NB: What do you think has been your biggest
contribution to pop culture so far?DH: Probably tunes that you
can’t get out of your head. I think a good song is a good song. To me,
Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ has as much relevance as a
Coldplay song because they’re both made with a true intention. If
Kylie’s intention is just to make you get up and dance, then it’s pure,
and I think that I’ve had a few of those moments in my life. Maybe in 20
years time we’ll look back and people will still get married to a song
that I was involved in. Even that tiny vague reference to me, or what I did
within the genre is cool, because pop is disposable, but at the same time,
like any cliché, I think it’s based on a fundamental truth.
