Teen People Magazine - USA - September 2000

Photo caption: "To this day, I can't go to sleep if I have friction with anyone, even Daniel," says Darren Hayes (left, with Daniel Jones). "I'll put a note under his door saying 'Hey, look--when you went to bed you seemed angry at me,' And he'll wake up in the morning and go, 'You idiot!' and we'll laugh about it."

Photo captions:
(Photo on left): Daniel (left) and Darren when their Garden began growing , back in 1997.
(Photo right top): Darren personally asked Kirsten Dunst if she'd costar in Savage garden's 1999 "I Knew I Loved You" Video
(Photo right below): "even in our happiest love songs there's a sense of melancholy."says Darren (at a '98 gig)

~*Garden Party*~
by Tom Lanham

What's love got to do with it? A lot, for Savage Garden's Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones. With their album, Affirmation, the pop duo takes romance to a higher ground

Garden Party

It's one of those rare spring nights in San Francisco: fog-free and cloudless, with the moon, huge and luminous, hanging regally over the bay. From his patio table at an elegant waterfront restaurant in this, his new hometown, stylish Savage Garden frontman Darren Hayes leans back in his chair and sighs contentedly. "It's not very masculine to say that the moon is really beautiful tonight," he whispers so that a passing waiter can't overhear. "But it is."
Beauty--and magic. That's what concerns the 28-year-old most these days. And celebrating both is the primary mission of his Australian pop duo , which also features Darren's multi-instrumentalist partner and longtime friend, Daniel Jones, 27. The credo is catching: Last November saw the release of the twosome's second album, Affirmation, which has gone double platinum and spawned their second No. 1 single, the delicate ballad "I Knew I Loved You" ("Truly Madly Deeply" was their first chart topper), and the hit follow-up, "Crash and Burn."
But tonight Darren isn't thinking about chart positions. He's grappling with the notion that real men don't gush openly--and especially not over things like the moon. "What I believe," he says, trying to explain, "is that a child is basically innocent and unbridled. But through society, we learn to restrain, we learn to conform, we learn to desensitize ourselves. You can't sing when you walk down the street. You can't get too excited about anything, and everything has to be kept inside. [But] I really hold on to my childhood."
Indeed. Darren enthusiastically collects Casper the Friendly Ghost comic books as well as vintage Star Wars toys; he's even hoping to land an audition for a bit part in George Lucas's next Star Wars movie.

Love Pangs

Born and raised in Brisbane, Australia, Darren relocated to the picturesque San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 1999, after living in New York City for 18 months. It was in the latter that the singer-songwriter, consumed with thoughts of his failed marriage to Australian makeup artist Colby Taylor, wrote much of Affirmation. The couple began "kicking around when I was only 17," Darren recalls. They tied the knot in 1994, but instead of living happily ever after, they began to grow apart and split in 1998. "It didn't have anything to do with this career or fame. We just didn't fit," says Darren sadly, adding that he and Colby have yet to officially divorce. "There was never any antagonism, never any animosity-it was completely mutual. I mean, we just holidayed in Rio together. And we have this intimacy which will never change. I didn't leave her for anyone-it wasn't like anyone was cheating on the other. It was sad, but just necessary." Anyway, he continues, suddenly perking up, "she does have custody of my two cocker spaniels, so I have visiting rights!"
These days Darren's most prominent partnership is his creative one with Daniel. While Darren is the "face" of Savage Garden, doing all the interviews and starring in the group's videos, Daniel, who still lives in Brisbane and comes to the U.S. only for Savage Garden business, craves anonymity and prefers to live outside the spotlight.
"Daniel is one of my favorite people in the world," says Darren. He's as close as a brother, yet sometimes I feel as if I hardly know him. He's elusive and guarded and somewhat of a mystery even to me. He fascinates me. Our songwriting relationship is like the mutual admiration society. We are each other's biggest fans."
The connection between Darren and Daniel certainly impressed Walter Afanasieff, who coproduced Affirmation with the pair. "They brought me back to a place I had forgotten about," says Afanasieff, who has also worked with Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Marc Anthony. "I mean, a lot of the pop scene-the female singers and the boy bands-get you into a mind-set of 'How may different ways, really, can you cut a ballad?' For producers, there's a science to it. But with Darren and Daniel, we went in thinking, 'Let's not use anything we've ever used before.' And it was fun, searching for just the right sound that would complete a song. I also though it was really awesome how Darren sang the whole record, every single line. Even the background harmonies--it's all him."
The duo has other fans in high places. Actress Kirsten Dunst (The Virgin Suicides) paid the pair a major compliment last year when she costarred as the object of Darren's affections in the "I Knew I Loved You" video. (He liked that they had shared a connection to the Gothic novelist Anne Rice: Savage Garden took their name from a phrase used in Rice's 1985 novel, The Vampire Lestat, and Kirsten costarred with Tom Cruise in the 1994 film version of Rice's Interview with the Vampire.) "The thing that really attracted me to this song were the lyrics," says Kirsten. "The song was beautifully written. And I kind of believe in fate, and I could really relate to what Darren was singing. Plus, he was such a blast to work with. We connected from the start and had a lot of fun on the set."

Planting the Seeds

The son of Robert, a merchant sea man, and Judy, a nurse, Darren--who had two pet kangaroos as a kid in Brisbane--says he's been singing since he was a toddler. By his teens, he was landing gigs in his school's choir and theater productions. Accepted into a performance academy after graduating from Mabel Park High School in 1989, Darren declined the offer when his then-girlfriend was refused admission. She dumped him six months later, leaving him stranded in his new profession--teaching kindergarten.
Fate interceded in 1993 when Darren answered an ad in an Australian newspaper placed by British-born Daniel, who was looking for a singer for his cover band, Red Edge. "We'd auditioned several vocalists, and the last one was Darren," says Daniel. "When he came in, he looked completely different from how he does now--blond hair, really young, baby face, slightly overweight. But as soon as he sang, I thought, 'Man! This guy's got a beautiful, emotional voice.' After all those singers we'd auditioned, he was like breath of fresh air."
Red Edge broke up within a year, but Darren and Daniel stuck together and eventually called their new act Savage garden. A five-song demo led to a deal with an Australian record label, and in 1996 Savage garden scored big Down under with its driving debut single, "I Want You." "I still remember the day I quit teaching," Darren says. "It was when the kids came in and said, 'we saw you on MTV last night!' I though, 'OK, it's finally happening!"
That was just the beginning. The song led to a U.S. recording contract with Columbia Records. Released in 1997, the duo's debut, Savage Garden, sold 12 million copies worldwide. Success, says Daniel, "brought a certain amount of insecurity for us as artists. We sort of go, 'Hey, don't like it too much because you'll frighten us away from wanting to do it again!"
That didn't turn out to be a problem. Dissatisfied with what he considers to be the superficial lyrical tone of Savage Garden and inspired by the confessional songs of Lilith queen Sarah McLachlan, Darren dived into his diary while writing Affirmation. He e-mailed his lyrics and sent tapes of his melodies to Daniel, who had recorded the musical tracks at his home studio in Brisbane. "A lot of this record for me is about acceptance and forgiveness and making peace," he says.
That newfound inner peace has resulted in an all-around healthier attitude. "It started me off on a whole chain of talking to kids about demystifying fame and its process and saying its just a game," says Darren. "I think there's a real danger in this business of believing your own hype. I mean, the clothes I wear in photos might be from fancy designer labels. But most of the time, I haven't paid for them, and I sure don't get to keep them. And if I did have to pay for them, I don't know if I'd buy them. It's ironic that we who can afford to but these things get them for free and then [they] sell them to the people who can't."
Darren isn't just paying lip service. At a recent show in Japan--a U.S. summer tour commenced in July--he urged gift-bearing fans to instead donate money to charity. Personally, he's partial to the Starlight Children's Foundation, which assists ailing kids. "I love children, says Darren. "I think I have a natural affinity for kids."
He even invited a couple of them to be the opening act for a Savage Garden Disney Channel concert filmed in San Francisco a few days after the Japanese gig (the special aired in July). After sifting through stacks of demo tapes form aspiring teen singers and auditioning three acts, Darren and Daniel chose the young pop duo Kelly and Kamille to kick off the show.

A Star's Orbit

Back at the restaurant, two young female fans at a nearby table have recognized Darren and begin angling for his attention. One of them walks back and forth in front of the table, pretending to have dropped an earring. "I don't want to be swallowed up by the whole star maker thing," says Darren, without acknowledging the antics of his admirers. "I'm not at all the schmoozy parties. I'm not best friends with this, that, and the other celebrity. So a lot of this record was me making peace with where I've come from and where I'm going."
A few minutes later, the girls-visibly frustrated-have given up. Reluctantly, the return to their parents' table. "Will you just look at that!" Their father suddenly gasps. "Look at that gorgeous moon!"
Darren smiles. With a moon like that to gaze at, why bother staring at stars?

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