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"We Know there are people out there that hate what we'er doing," says Savage Garden's Darran Hayes, " but do you know what? We don't care. Ok so our sound isn't guitr-based. I'm not singing about how drug***ed I am.So what? some people seem to think you have to be cool then that's fine but.with the greatest respect, I think we'er doing OK." OK! Savage Garden are one of the hottest acts in the world.On the eve of the release of their debut self-titled album in New Zealand their debut single I want You reached NO 1 in Australia and Canada and the US. Similar international succsess seems likely for the next two singles, both of which debuted at NO 1 across the Tasman.It has been a phenomenal rise for Hayes(25) and his songwriting partner Daniel jones( 24). Three years ago, after playing in a string of Queensland bands, the duo got together to try and see if they could make it on their own.
" We literally decided we were goingt ot get a record deal," says Hayes. " We never once stopped to think about whether it would or wouldn't happen, or for that matter how it would happen. On reflection it was preety suicdal. The most remarkable aspect of the Savage Garden success is in the US whwre they knocked the Sprice Grils from the top spot. With the US success came instant financial security and fame.But you wouldn't konw it talking to Hayes who is completely unaffected by the success." It's funny because and I'm not trying to be humble, but we just don't feel successful," he says. " I know that we have achieved al ot but in places like the United States and New Zealand we'er only one song old. I guess we are aware at how sceptical the industry can be. We don't wnat to rest onnour laurels because we don't want to become complacent or cocky about it We don't want to be a one hit band or even a one album band. We want to be doing this in 10 or 15 years time.
" Thats why we'er not walking around thinking we'er the greatest thing out and developing huge egos. There is enough hype in this business without us buying into it. I mean the hype,It's just bulllshit.
It' would probably be apuilcist's dream if we werearrogant and acted like pricks but we want a career. We'er not into showmanship.We realise thatas soon as the televiosn lights go out, the limos disapper. there's a lot of bullshit we could get into but we'er intent on avoidingit.
One thing Savage Garden have been able to do is combine all their influences to become the biggest success stroy if the year so far. Their sound is a remarkable mix of Duran Duran, Tears For fears and dance beats straight out of brit pop. the lyrics are deeper the "tell me what you want, what you really ,really want."
" Pop culture in the nineties is about cannibalising," says Hayes. "It's about taling your influences, shaking them up and reacting to it. The best thing about Savage Garden is the credibilty they have brought to pop though thier lyrics. " Sometimes I think I've been too personal on the album," says Hayes. " I mean the songs tell the stroy of my life. They are based on verey real emotions-sometimes it's almostuncomfortable taling about the songs because they're....me. It's music from the heart. the somngs are as heavy to me as Nirvana might be to someone else. It's Hayes ands Jones' maturity that seam set to deliver then a career of longevity.
" Sometimes it scares us that we have started so high in the charts," says Hayes." There will always be high expectations on us but those exectations will be from other people.Ultimately, the best lessonwe've learnt is that this business of pressure and expectation can be fun. that's the way we want to kepp it - whether we're in the charts or not."

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When you're home in Oz, what gets your tail wagging?
Darren: Actually,its my dog!i have a cocker spaniel named Obi, after Obi-Wan-Kenobi ( Star wars Character),
He was just nine weeks old when I got him. just before Christmas. He's beautiful.Helike a kid- all he needs is affection. He will forgo food for a pat on the head and I am his universe. I love that.
I'm sure you do.So tell me,does Oz have lot of wide open spaces in whci a young pup can frolic?
Darren: Yes, it's a hige country, Australia's as big as Amercia,with a tenth of the population. There are beautiful beaches,rainforests,desets,cities...everything.
Sounds grrrrreat! But Savage Garden doesn't sound like a safe place to have a kennel?
Darren:Oh dear,how do you live with yourself with these questions? Have you seen the movie As Good As It Gets. When Jack Nicholson puts the dog down the trash chute? Well, that's whereI'll like to put you. HAhaha!
I can't answer that question-it just stupid.
That's ruff! surely you'd give a poor dog a home?
Darren:Of course, you're welcome to sleep at my house with my puppy any day. Nels,but youcan't share toys.and you'll have to fight it out with Obi. about who comes into my bed in the morning.

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what did you dream about last night?
Daniel:To be honest,I can't remember what I dreamt
about last night,even though I've just got up, but the night
before I dreamt I shot Will Smith! Everyone put flowers
down where he'd died and I felt really, Really bad about it.
It was horrible because I felt what it would be like to kill someone.
I didn't like it.but then his spirit came back into my body and
I started dancing like him!
Darren: I dream a lot, but I have real trouble remembering them.
this sounds really stupid,but Daniel was teaching me to fly the
other night and geese kept landing on my shoulders!I dream about
flying a lot,but I get scared I'm going to fall out of the sky.
Do you daydream much?
Darren: I Daydream a Lot. My eyes focus on something and I can't move them. I'm not even looking at whatever it is that I'm stating at. i do it mainly when I'm tired, though. i think me life's just one big daydream anyway!
Daniel: when I'm falling asleep I get this sort of spirtual thing where I heara humming sound and I realise my body's asleep and my mind's not. It's like my body's not there anymore. I go into another dimension where I open my eyes, but they're not really open and you cansee the room.
Darren: i love it when you talk about that. I don't think that happens to many people.It's a really special thing.
Daniel:It's really freaky 'cos it's like being half asleep and half awake.
Do You ever have nightmares?
Darren:I did for a while after I was held up with a sawn -off-shorgun when I was working in the video store! I had the gun right in my face and these guys were really violent and horrible. For ages after that I had nightmares that they were really breaking into my house. I really freaked out afterwards'cos I could easily have been killed. It only took a dog to bark at me to make burst into tears. In my dreams these two guys were breaking into my house and I'd wake up in an icy cold sweat. It was horrible. I don't have many nightmares these days, though.
Daniel:I've had ones about being run over and stuff, but not that often.
Have you had any sleepy-type dreams that've come true
Daniel:when I was about 16, working as a printer, I had a dream that I cut off my fingers. I worked with my brother's girlfriend, Fiona. at the time and I went into work and told her about the dream. I said, 'I hope dreams don't come true,' because that's the last thing I'd want to happen to me, being a musician and everything, And then that afternoon I trapped my finger in the printing machine and injured it. I didn't cut it off thank God, but it was really scary!

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So what have you been up to since we last spoke Daniel?
To be honest, I haven't stopped, even though it's been a while since I last talked to you. We've toured the wrold,won loads of awrads and made our new album Affirmation.We've been pretty busy!I've also moved to America- I now live in San Francosco,but I try and split my
time between New York and Australia as well.
your new single's called I Knew I loved You- have you ever loved anyone before you met them?
No,not really-it's more of a term, a feeling you get when you meet someone. Sometimes you feel like you've known them and loved them a lot longer than you actually have!
It's a bit of a ballad isn't it, Dan? Do you prefer singing slowies to uptempo numbers?
Vocally it's more passionate, but I don't prefer them.Uptempo songs are great to sing because they give you real buzz when you're doing it, but I guess they both have different merits.
Do you belive in fate?
Yes, absolutely! I believe everythingin life happens for a reason...
what aout love at first sight-does that happen?
Yeah, definitely.If you see someone and connect with them spirtually, then love at first sight can happen- the thing is you only find that out much later on.
So c'mon Dan- are you in love at the moment?
Not at the moment I've just moved to the other side of the world, so it's time to start my life again here. I've got to adjust, and it'll take some getting used to. But you know, I'm sp busy, I haven't really got the time for love at the momnet. It'll just have to wait.
How do you know when you're in love?
Because there's no other feeling like it.. It's absolutely amazing and it'so difficult to describe...It's a mix of absolute warmth,safety,comfort and vunerabilly...

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Okay all sg Fans and interested people pay attation.. something has changed.
the Group is cut in half. No don't be upset right away;singer Darren Hayes and Musician Daniel Jones stay together thye just rearrange the way they do things they did.
He still sounds very australian , but the sg singer lives in a New York.
He's sitting crossed legged on the sofa in the building of Sony Music. SG is doing a big promotion tour in the big apple. The album will be released early November.Although Daniel is no where to be found. That's right Darren says he's in Australia! He's preparring the band for the big tour. And Daniel doesn't like to get to much attention.
I think, that he never would have put himself on the foreground if he had known that he was going tot be so famous. He would rather be a musician of the band. As Long as other famous people know
that he's a very good musician that's something he think is important.So you see look out for what you wish for cos it may come true. All of a sudden we where famous cos a new duo such as we was
a easy sale. We are no supermodels but not ugly too,right? A little make up and go!!After a while we thought hey what's happening all of a sudden? what do you mean? you want to make dreadlocks in my hair?and eye shadow? We said stop that's enough, we want to do what we want. Andf Daniel didn't like it at all. Cos I had the time of my life. Dan thought it was horrible! He got lots of stupid questions like"why don'tyou sing? but nobody asked me why don't you play instruments? I can't play nothing but no one blamed me for that.

DANIEL GETS MORE ATTENION

I think that everybody knows be now how the roles are played ,says Darren. It's the same from the beginning; Daniel plays the instrument and I write the lyrics anf the melody. Abnd we never go on each others territory. and now we adjuts the rest od all the things we are doing. We both know what we are good at I'm extrovert,talks a lot about myself and I like to be the center off it all. Daniel don't like to be the center of everything. And the stupid part of it is that he get more attention then me. HAHA!! People think that I aways going to take a step forward when the pictures are taken but the though is that Daniel takes a step back. And the people look just beside me and look at him HAHA!! ?It's a bit like a puzzle, where's Daniel? But hey the boy just want to make music. Let him play his music and work things out in the studio and he's happy. And I'll do the talking about the new single and album. After he said this he walks out od the room to the next interview.

A Big thanks to Ingrid for the Translation of this articles

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They call themselfs the odd couple of, with feeling of understatment, of the music scene.but in the meantime austarlian Savage Garden suprise the world over and over again with beautifull popsongs. Back Up talked to with the band from down under in the big apple.

If we didn't knew nay better we could have thought Savage Garden was a one man band. A misunderstanding.It's just that Daniel Jones the shy musician of the couple rather leaves the talking to Darren. It's very hot in New York but Darren sits comfortable in his chair.

A while ago it was very different he talks without breathing it seems , Live is a party. Not so long ago I wasn't very pleased with myself. I felt lonely,unhappy and I had to get use to the thought that we are a megaband. I sometimes wasn't very nice to people around me. We never suspected that all of what happened could happen so fast. I mean Daniel and I are a odd couple who started a band and before we knew it millions of records were sold and we saw ourselves all the time on MTV. Fame can do lots of strange things with a person. If I look back I can say that I was very depressed but I didn't realise it at that time. I didn't had my own life in my hands. Till one day you wake up and decided to do all the things your own way again.

The big change happened in the states. Darren decided to leave his town Logan and moved to the buzzy city New York. He lelf his wife Colby( he wrote Truly madly deeply for her) and that was a big sacrifice for him . But I was so messed up that I had to do that. I had to leave the people that I love. It sounds selfish but I feel much better here all alone. But God knows that I felt lonely in the begining. there where days that I wanted to crawl back to Australia. But I couldn't do that.

Lots of the lyrics on Affirmation pointing to Darren's self chosen isolation in the big apple. In australia he couldn't write a word but since he lives in New York he works on the lyrics till very late at night. This are the most intimate lyrice I ever wrote. They come right out of my heart. You know in this world you can only count on yourself. You can have lots of friends but sometimes you have to kick youself to go forward. There is no one eles who does that for you and it seems that I needed that.

His wife Colby didn't want to be a exstanion of her husband and ended the relationship Darren is now in peace with her decition. We are still friends. She's my soulmate.but i know that I'm not only an australian guy but a world citizin. I feel at home every where. home is whwre my heart is you know? Did you know that I almost bought a house here? But the sale felt true cos the neighbours didn't want a musician in the appartment complex.As if I was a party animal and a big coke user. I'm not!! But the worst part of the contract was that I wasn't allowed to have people sleeping in my house.So I was forced to let family and friends to stayin a hotel. No way I didn't sign that!! My next town will probbebly be LA. nice weather and lots of space, I Stay and Aussie.

File
Savage Garden started in 94 in brisbane australia after Daniel put a ad in the paper.
The name savage Garden comes from a book written by Anne Rice called The Savage Cronicle.
Darren collects everything that has to do with star Wars
Daniel loves chocolate, seinfeld and the simpsoms
Darren hated school so much that he wished that he were abducted be ET. He wanted that so bad that he mad his onw ET and put it on his bike.
Daniel nickname is waggin'
Darren is a vegetrian and never drinks alcahol.
Daniel is adicted to chatting and the internet
Darren had two Kangeroes as pets
Daniels father cried during the first Savage Garden concert
Darren likes singing better then sex
When Daniel is in america he always checks if the toilets are clean.

A Big thanks to Ingrid for the Translation of this articles
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