Rocky Mountain News
August 25, 2000
by line By Mark Brown
News Popular Music Critic
Yes, Darren Hayes knows exactly what critics think of his band, Savage Garden, especially after huge smash hits like Truly Madly Deeply and I Want You.
"We are perceived as being cheesy and Hallmark and non-offensive," Hayes says cheerily.
Yet the Australian band's new album, Affirmation, brought a few critics around. It chronicles a dark time in Hayes' life after a relationship went bad, with lyrics and songs that delve into that darkness.
And suddenly, the comparisons to the Backstreet Boys and other prefabricated bands seem to have dried up.
"We actually write. I can actually sing. It actually means something. Isn't that surprising?" Hayes says. "We're competing with people who have a team of Swedish lab experts writing this stuff, designing this stuff, casting people who are going to perform it. We just write it in our bedrooms. I'm surprised someone doesn't snatch it out of my hands and give it to someone thinner and younger."
Expect a heavy dose of pop songs and Hayes' own affable humor when Savage Garden hits the Fillmore tonight and the Colorado State Fair on Saturday.
"Our joy has been in sticking around," Hayes says. "Getting our second No. 1 in the U.S. is a thrill. You get Billboard and there's your name. It's a thrill."
As for the comparisons to lesser artists, "really, we're a band about songs," he says. His band's synth-heavy sound "probably is dated," he says. "When I was most influenced by music, I was listening to Michael Jackson, Madonna, George Michael � melody-drenched kind of productions. If nothing else, our songs are all about melody."
With his partner, Daniel Jones, Hayes wrote and recorded Affirmation in something of a vacuum. Both had identical hard-disc recorders in their homes, Hayes' in New York City, Jones' in Brisbane, Australia. Via fax, e-mail, telephone and the Postal Service, they put together half an album from half a world away.
"We had this period of naive bliss and disconnection from sales and expectations. We just wanted to make a record that we were proud of, a record that had integrity," Hayes says.
"I knew what the record would be about. I knew it would be quite emotional and very personal. Daniel would send a track and it would completely match my mood. I'd do a rough mix and just send it back. It was generally done without any discussion, which was very fascinating."
Eventually, Hayes went to Australia to finish the writing face to face. He and Jones found their relationship more comfortable than ever, with Hayes being the frontman and Jones sticking to more behind-the-scenes work.
"If Daniel could step back in time, he might have never been in the public light," Hayes says. "He might have just been a co-writer with me as a solo artist. He's the kind who's in the dressing room before the show working on the next Savage Garden record while I'm doing the meet-and-greet. He's more into the science of things than into the moment."
Hayes was proud of their self-titled 1997 debut but realized he'd hidden behind metaphors and posturing. By the time the band finished its first world tour, the songs felt alien and impersonal to him.
"I decided that when I do this again, I want to get onstage every night and really draw from an emotional place, to feel it and mean it," he says. He listened to the work of Sarah McLachlan and Aimee Man and "decided I want to be that literal; I really want to be that personal."
After recording Affirmation, "I don't know if I could go back," he says. "Springsteen's Tunnel of Love, that was a big predecessor for this record. That and Peter Gabriel's Us. They dealt with the same thing: a relationship that ended. Taking stock of your life, that's what the album is all about."
Not everyone got it. When the record company first heard the dark songs, including I Don't Know You Anymore and The Lover After Me, the reaction was, "Well, Darren's had a tough year, hasn't he?" he says with a laugh. "Everyone came out of the first listening session and they were all sort of emotionally exhausted, I think."
Yet 2 million copies of Affirmation have sold, with more singles on the way. Fans at either show can expect an extravaganza.
"We're not in a position where we can really afford to do it, but we're doing it anyway," he says. "Touring for us is about establishing a legacy. The first two or three songs, you need to wear sunglasses or your eyebrows will get singed off. I'm looking forward to keeping this stage set and having the wildest New Year's Eve party you've ever seen."
Contact Mark Brown at (303) 892-2674 or [email protected].
