Topps
Magazine - Norway
My Father Beat
Me
Darren
Hayes, former member of Savage Garden,
has a
dark side that not everyone knows about.
We
met an open and honest Darren in
Oslo.
In the
limo: Henrik Lysell
WE
just picked up Darren Hayes at Gardermoen
Airport and is sitting in the back of a
limousine
on our way to Oslo City. He is in
a great mood,
but is tired
after yesterday's late party with 50
Cent.
Now he is doing an interview with TOPP.
Darren is a very polite and intelligent
man,
and we are sure that he can talk
about nothing
and everything
all the way to the hotell in Oslo.
Forunately, the nothing and everything
chatting
ends after a little while, and we
start asking him
about the
lyrics for the new songs on his new
album.
"There are many people out there
who seem to
think that the sun has always
shone on me, but
I have a quite
dark past," says Darren, and looks
out
of the window of the car. "When I was
young,
we lived in a caravan park. We
didn't have money
and the family
nights consisted of alcoholism
and
violence."
- Did your father hit
you?
"Yes, he did. But I'd rather not
get into that in
detail. I had a
tough childhood, but today,
amazingly
enough, my father and I are friends.
He is
my hero. We have talked about and sorted
out
the painful things of the past. This album
is
extremely personal and was quite
painful to
make, but I am happy now," says
Darren and
smiles.
-
Personal and warm lyrics, but the sound is
quite
electronic and
cold?
"The great thing about this record
is that the musical
image creates
an amazing contrast to the lyrics. But
it is
also a symbol of the change in my life. I was
sick
and tired of music after the last
solo album, and I
spent two years
doing anything other but music. I
had a
lot of unfinished business. My childhood.
Girlfriend. Everything had to come out on this
album.
A friend of mine with a lot of
credibility in the music
business really
wanted to produce "The Tension and
the
Spark", so we we started recording songs in
my
bedroom actually. We worked with
talented people
that have
worked with Madonna, Depeche Mode,
Massive Attack and Bjork."
- How
was it like becoming rich over night?
"I
remember the first time I received money
for
making music. I couldn't believe
how fast the
millions came into my account, but
I was still
unhappy. All the money in the
world couldn't
make me happy
until I had made things right
with my father.
I am a very emotional person,
and I need to
get things out of my system, or
I will explode.
My directness can seem kind of
extreme to
people, I am aware of that."
- What happened
to Savage Garden?
"We drifted
further and further apart. Daniel
actually hated the spotlight all
along."
- Do you think the fans will like
"The Tension
and the
Spark"?
"Yes, I do think they will. It's
not such a weird
album really.
It's still pop," says Darren, and smiles.
"I
bet you were sceptival when you were
going
to listen to my album?" says
Darren, and gives
us a curious
look. We have to be honest, and
admit that we
were, but we can assure Darren
that we liked
what we heard. The limo stops,
we are outside
the Grand Hotel in the heart of
Oslo City. The
4o minutes from the airport has
felt like five,
but we hope it won't be too long
until
we see Darren again. Darren is such a
jolly
chap and asks us to say hello to all the
readers of TOPP magazine.
