CREAM MAGAZINE ARTICLE--- OCTOBER 2004
TRUTH OR DARE
By Nick Bennet
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.
Source: Cream Magazine 2004
Thanks to Keri at All Around Darren Hayes net
Darren Hayes Articles 2004