Darren Hayes with new view on
success
With
the duo Savage Garden Darren sold 20
million
records. But the success had a
flipside and the star
felt like a
misunderstood product of the music
industry. His second solo album The
Tension
and the Spark is the Australian's
reaction
about the
past.
- I
was so bored with pop music and myself
-
didn't want to listen to Darren
Hayes any more.
I am 32 years
old and my heroes, people like
Björk, Madonna and David Bowie, have
let
themselves to develop. I too
wanted to do
that, says Darren Hayes when he
talks about
his new
album.
The
repeated word is misunderstood and
he
means that his second album was
born out of
that frustration that hit him
after the solo debut
tour.
- A
lot is my own fault. I had since the time
with
Savage Garden placed myself in a
musical folder
- both sound -
and look wise.
Darren
Hayes and his Savage Garden was one
of
the worlds most successful popbands
between
1997-2001.
Songs like Truly Madly Deeply and
I
Knew I Loved You placed the duo on top
of
charts around the world and the
band's two albums
sold incredible
ten million copies each. The
popduo split in 2001 when the other
half,
Daniel Jones, didn't want to
continue. Darren
Hayes went on
on his own and released
the solo album
Spin 2002. He sold "just" two
million copies
of the debut - did he consider it
a
failure?
- Sure
I did. But this time is different. I
don't
expect to sell ten million albums.
My view of
what is success
have changed. My goal is
that the record
will sell a bit more then the
previous.
On The
Tension And The Spark Darren Hayes
has
worked with star producers like Mark
"Spike"
Stent who
previously have worked with Madonna
and
Björk. And although the sound differs
alot
from previous Hayes productions
there is still
a lot of the
mainstream feeling the artist wants
to
let go of. Darren Hayes is sitting at a
trendy
hotel in Stockholm and talks open
heartedly
about how he
sold himself to the music industry.
Good
enough
- I
thought that if I became famous
everything
that was wrong,
everything that was broken
would be
fixed.
The
artist tells that he grew up in a famil
y
with alcohol problems. This is something
he
never wanted to talk about during
the Savage
Garden
years.
- My
songs, even in Savage Garden, was often
very
melancholic and nobody understood where
they
came from. I have decided to talk
about
this publicly now. But we survived
it. I'm proud
of my family
and view my dad as a hero who stopped
drinking. In some way we have managed to
stick
together - but my childhood was a
nightmare.
The
former mega star is not quite as bright on
the
fame sky anymore, but he is aware
of that and
seem content during our meeting.
He means
he has sold
enough records, earned enough
money and now
also made the record he
always wanted
to make.
The
Australian has lived in San Francisco the
last
five years but now lives in London.
Recently
he also bought an apartment in New
York -
but he regrets that and thinks he
will settle
in San Francisco again. Savage
Garden second
half, Daniel
Jones, stayed in Australia but they
still
keep contact.
Do you
never miss the possibility to share
your
success with someone like you did
in
Savage
Garden?
- No,
but I miss the success - private jets,
sold
out venues and such. But regarding
the
work I'm mostly glad I don't have
to compromise.
Darren
Hayes stumbles a bit in his attitude to
success - does this mean that there could
be
a reunion in the
future?
- I
have a hard time believing that. I
can't
write that type of songs anymore,
he says.
By
Pontus Hammarlund
for Borås
newspaper
