THE SAVAGE GARDEN HOUR OF POWER
On the 27th of October 1999
DJ : On today’s Austereo netword,and you’re listening to an hour of power with Darren and Daniel from Savage Garden. Well you guys have been on an incredible journey over the past 4 or 5 years. I guess it’s been good and bad experiences. I just wanted to know how you think you’ve changed due to that experience that you’ve had in the last 4 or 5 years. Tell me through yourselves or talk about each other.
Darren : You know, actually I’m just starting to realise that I think that changes, or the significance of this event that has occured to us has been actually profound. I think everyday I’m realising how much I’ve changed and I’m just trying to do changes into good ones. To me, seriously this career is an elaborate life journey, it’s… I’m learning about myself, it’s like a big mirror, I’m constantly faced with things about myself that I like and I don’t like you know, I see it back and I’m trying to use it as a positive experience, yeah.
DJ : Daniel, you’ve got probably bigger or better toys to play with, electronics…
Daniel : Personnally I guess, there are good changes and bad changes that I’ve seen. I’ve probably gone into my shell a little bit more in some cases, only for a self-protection mecanism sort of thing, and then also I’ve become, I don’t know, maybe more…had a lot more experiences to actually see. I mean, we’ve been to India now, we’ve been to Thailand, we’ve been to some sort of unfortunate countries and there are changes that just make you appreciate life. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s just life and you’re alive. So I appreciate being alive.
DJ : Well IKILY is the current hit. You’re gonna do it live in some seconds. Now it wasn’t a part of the original of the songs, the songs listed on the album. And it eventually got put on the album to prove a point is it ? (laugh)
Darren : It actually was. Here’s the deal. Hum, we wrote an album. A lot of that I was in New York and Daniel was in Brisbane, so we wrote about 2/3 of the record like that, and it was very moody and dark because New York is and I was at the time. Then we went to…
DJ : You like Brizzie now ? (laugh)
Darren : Well we went to California, and life picked up, and so all the poppy, sort of up stuff was written there, and the album was almost finished and we, you know, we heard whispers that you know, where is the Truly, where is the love song ? ‘Cause this is a very serious record you know. I never lie. I mean I tell you how it is, that’s the only way I know to do it so I guess it was just to prove a bit of a point. We went to the studio and wrote about 5 or 6 ‘hits’ and they were all laughable, they were completely laughable and calculated. And this, this beautiful song just came out you know, which was, I can’t lie to you, it was born out of calculation, it was born out to try and say, you know ‘screw you’ to the powers that be. And I litterally fell in love with it and I… look I wasn’t even in love at the time and I had to write a song about remembering when I was and looking forward to.
DJ : So this is Darren song about screwing you ? (laugh)
Daniel : I think they used the wrong words when they asked another Truly Madly Deeply, it sort of insulted us as artists because we’ve done TMD, we’ve been there, we’ll never ever write another TMD or TTMAB, so it was just our way, our reaction to ‘they wanted a love song’.
Darren : You must believe this. Honestly, i love the song, and everytime I sing it, you watch me, I smile basically everytime I sing it, and I fell in love with it.
DJ : Well you’re gonna do it live now. We’ve got the band here, we’ll introduce you to them, all australian, in just a minute. IKILY in exclusive on Today’s austereo network, Savage Garden.
~I Knew I Loved You live in acoustic~
~Break me shake me~
DJ : BMSM, it’s Savage Garden from their debut album that sold over 12 million copies and still counting…
Daniel : I’ll have to correct you… it wasn’t 12…
Darren : I think it’s 11
Daniel : That was on the press release
Darren : Sorry we just have to really….
DJ : 11 and a half
Daniel : They’re putting more pressure on us man !
DJ : …and won 10 ARIA awards.
Darren : It was 10
DJ : in 1997. The guys are here in body. Their spirit is somewhere in the sky, they just flew back from Japan this morning, they’d be in Sydney doing some trips on lear jets…
Daniel : Yeah, after seeing the news today, it was pretty scary to get through it but we spent 3 weeks in Europe travelling around in like, a private lear jet because they didn’t have commercial flights when we needed to travel.
Darren : I mean they had us in 3 countries in one day : I litteraly…we woke up in Italy one day, flew to Amsterdam, did press there, and went to bed in London, in one day.
DJ : Wow ! [ I didn’t understand the question, it was something about the jet]
Darren : I guess so. It’s a way to walk you like a dog, and pretend it’s fun (laugh)
DJ : Pretty good Darren. Well we’re gonna take some calls from SG fans on line. Here LeeAnn who’s listening to the Fox in Melbourne. Hi LeeAnn, are you there LeeAnn ? Maybe…say hello to her.
Daniel : Hello LeeAnn
Darren : Hi LeeAnn, we can’t come to the phone right now, but if you like you can leave your name, number, and a brief message…
DJ : We’ll get back to you. Well we got Doris from Sydney, hi Doris !
Doris : Oh hi, how are you ?
Darren : Hi Doris
Daniel : Hi Doris
Doris : Hi guys, how are you ?
Daniel : Very well thank you.
Doris : That’s good, I just wanted to ask you guys a quick question : are you considering any duets with anybody in the near future ?
Darren : No I don’t think so. Hum, we just made this album and I have to say…I think Daniel Jones is my favorite musician in the world.
Daniel : Awww…
Doris : Yeah I agree, I agree
Darren : (laugh) I think it’s one of those things when you want to explore and you know, I think for us this is just a second record, so we’re still really working out what the hell it is that we do together.
Doris : I understand, that’s ok. Thank you very much for a beautiful album by the way.
Darren : Thanx for liking it.
Doris : Thank you
Daniel : Thank you
Doris : Thanx a lot
DJ : We’ll talk to LeeAnn again, take a risk. Are you there LeeAnn ?
Lee : Yes, hello !
DJ : Ask your question for the guys !
Lee : Ok, first I wanted to congratulate you on your worldwide success. And the question I would like to give to you is, what stage did you both realise that you wanted to be singers ? Was it when you were children, when you used to dance around, you know, with a hairbrush, or was it when you’re a bit older and you started to do things at school or after that…
Darren : Well, you know, I think we both at one point, thought we were members of Kiss (Daniel laughs), in totally different realities, but we spent hours with towels on our backs and didn’t know each other. We both bought Michael Jackson’s Thriller from the same music store in Woodridge and didn’t meet each other but I, as a singer yeah, I did the whole hairbrush thing since age 4.
Lee : Wow, well you’ve done a wonderful job, you know, adding to that. So congratulations and I hope it keeps going for a long time to come.
Darren : Thank you
DJ : Alright, thanx for your call there LeeAnn. We’re gonna strike up the band [ ?] You can hear another track from Affirmation, The lover After Me. Hum, Daniel, you said it’s almost your favorite song, but it was a really difficult song to record. Why was that ?
Daniel : It was. It reminded me of the recording process in which we worked with TTMAB on the first album . It was just hard to actually get what we wanted it to sound like accross first time. It actually took us 2 or 3 goes to record it and to get it right because it was written nearly this way, you can hear it, very acousticly. It was Darren and I, just sat down with a guitar and we wrote it. So yeah, it took a while to get it.
DJ : We’re gonna listen to it now.
~The Lover After Me acoustic live~
~The Animal song~
DJ : You’re listening to an hour of power with Darren and Daniel from Savage Garden. Affirmation is being released in different configurations around the world. I think Australia and Japan are amongst the first before it goes to the US. Now, on the australian configuration of the CD, which you haven’t seen, has got a bonus CD-Rom, and a dance remix of the song, Animal Song. But the CD-rom is sensationnal. Do you have a creative on that ?
Darren : This amazing guy called Zac from Village Roadshow in Sydney actually put that together, and PA to the stars, Leonie Messer shot a lot of video fottage and put it together. I love it, it’s up there. We’ve cheched it out, we love it. It’s a different cover too in Australia, different colors and stuff like that so…
DJ : Well it looks great. And of course it comes out Monday officially. Would this album be the same if you hadn’t gone and lived in NY Darren ?
Darren : No, but you know, nothing would be the same withouth experiences, I think that…
DJ : (laughing) Nothing’s the same after you’ve been to NY ?
Darren : Exactly ! For me, you know what, I think I knew the subject matter of this record. It’s very personal and I knew it would be kind of sad, beautifully sad in some parts, and I went to a city where I was pretty alone, you know, I didn’t feel famous at all, and no one really noticed who the hell I am there, and I just collected lyrics while Daniel was sending me, you know, music and no, I don’t think it would have been the same without that.
DJ : And Daniel, no desire to upgrade yourself from Brisbane ?
Daniel : Definitely not.
DJ : So were you sitting back there, being an intrumentalist playing around with your new toys. We’ve talked about that. What’s your favorite new toy ?
Daniel : Hum…it’s probably gone more into the guitar world, in sort of technique, you know. I’ve got a great Fender, it’s just fantastic. I love playing so…but who cares ? I mean it’s just guitars, I love guitars, gimme guitars…
DJ : Once a Brisbane boy, always a Brisbane boy.
Daniel : Yeah, it’s gonna be that, yeah
DJ : The hour of power continues with SG. We’ve got another live track to come as we go live around Australia…
….We’re live around Australia and Darren and Daniel are with us. We’re getting closer to the new millenium, what’s on the Savage Garden schedule ? Where are you on New year’s eve, you know ?
Darren : I think I’m gonna be in Bresil ! (laughs)
DJ : When my baby smiles at me, I’ll go to Rio ?
Darren : I’ll go to Rio ! No actually, I think initially we were thinking about playing or something but I have never been into the whole new year’s eve thing. So I’ll probably ; I’d be in Bresil or I’ll be at Mum and Dad drinking tea, playing Monopoly or something.(laughs)
DJ : What about you Daniel ?
Daniel : I would love to go down to Sydney to have a look on all the action there. If not, hey, the Brisbane boy’s back again !
DJ : Alright, well we’re gonna play a track from your new CD now called I don’t know you anymore. There’s no doubt about it, Darren you wear your heart out on your sleeve, your pen on your sleeve [ ?]. You wrote a marvelous love song, this is a very sad one.
Darren : You know, I just don’t know any other way to do it than to be honest you know. My favorite artists always do that. There’s a Bruce Springsteen album called ‘ ? ? of love’ and it’s one of my favorite record of all time, and I think when we wrote this record, we sat down and I said to Daniel I want this record to sound like a snapshot or, you know, a soundtrack to my life and it pretty much is.
DJ : The empty feeling you get when a relationship is over and you finally realise that this portion of your life is gone.
Darren : Yeah I guess so. You know, I mean, I don’t know…I mean I’m happy now !It’s a happy record, don’t think it’s too sad, it’s beautiful in parts you know. It’s necessary. I think that life, if it wasn’t flat, I mean if it was perfect, you wouldn’t appreciate anything.
DJ : I don’t know you anymore, Savage Garden
~I Don’t Know You Anymore live acoustic~
~To The Moon And Back~
DJ : You’re listening to an hour of power with Savage Garden. You were talking before about not doing a duet. I know you covered a George Michael song.
Darren : (laugh) Yeah, lately
DJ : Which one did you cover ?
Darren : It’s a charity and Rosie O’ Donnell, who pretty much loves our band, and we love her. She did this charity record for children in New York, and she got I think Celine Dion, Billy Joel, N’ Sync and a few other people to do Christmas covers, and I figured Christmas songs are cheesy anyway, so I did the world’s cheesiest one… which is a Wham one. I had a ball really.
DJ : Which one ?
Darren : It’s Last Christmas.
DJ : Oh that’s one of the better ones
Darren : It’s fun man ! And it’s a charity record and I would encourage anyone to buy it because 100 percent of the proceeds go to a children charity.
DJ : Will it be released ?
Darren : Yeah it will be and… It’s probably going through another record company we’re not signed to, it’s completely for charity, that’s why I do that.
DJ : Now we have some fans who have come to the radio station because you’re with us for the hour of power this afternoon. One of them is Kath.
Darren : And they’re very attractive fans too !
DJ : Welcome Kath, you’ve got a question for the boys ?
Kath : I have indeed. I was just wondering, being on the opposite sides of the world, I guess you do a lot of work together, probably on the internet, but how do you coordinate your composing, and your arranging and that sort of stuff ?
Darren : Well it’s funny because Daniel was chasing me down, I think he almost put out a missing person’s file for a while because for 6 months I was in New York, I was just living life, and he would send me zip discs, you know what a zip drive is ? So we both had a hard dics recording system at home, so there were basic, like a 16 or 8 track system, that if you get a file, you can load it. So he would send me, I would load it up in my machine, and there’d be 2 tracks of music, and I’d have about 8 tracks where I could mock around, record lyrics, melodies, send them back and forth to him. But I have to be honest, for the longest time, he would ring me up and he’d go : How’re you’re doing with that one ? ? (Daniel laughs) And I’d be like : Yeah ! I think I’ve lost it, can you send it again ?
Daniel : He’s lost them about 5 times !
Darren : And they kept pilling up on my desk
DJ : What were you waiting to hear Daniel ? The lyrics ?
Daniel : Hum, I was waiting to hear what emotion my music was gonna be speaking really, you know, and what lyric content Darren was going to put into it. And you know, I have my expectations, about what I thought was gonna go there, and then it’s always completely different when Darren does what he does. And that’s great because if it was coming back exactly how I had expected, I would do it myself naturally you know, and that’s the chemistry that I enjoy between Darren and I.
Darren : The cool thing is about that song I don’t know you anymore, which we played before, where I had actually 2 or 3 different melodies, 3 rhythms, and it was a great way for me to experiment sort of…without anyone saying yeah or no, send it back…Didn’t know that did you ?
Daniel : No !
DJ : Now Sandra’s also here. Say hi to Darren and Daniel.
Sandra : Hi Darren, hi Daniel
Darren : Hello
Sandra : How do you feel about Hey Hey it’s Saturday being next ? [ or something like that]
Darren : I only found out ! I actually am devastated ! ‘Cause we’re performing on it this Saturday. Oh I don’t know…like when I was a kid, it’s an institution you know. I’ve grown up watching it my whole life, so I just hope…
Daniel : I hope that we can, you know, not look into a place [didn’t get what he said… ?] so soon but at least have some shows that encourage live performances from bands and to actually, you know, on the musical sense, and to also…some of the comedy that’s on the show you know, that’s gonna be missing.
DJ : Thanx Kath, thanx Sandra. Now this song is Hold me, which you’re gonna do live. Your leadt favorite song on the album Daniel ?
Daniel : Did I say that ?
Darren : Wow
Daniel : I’m too honest sometimes ! Hum, it’s actuallyreally starting to grow on me ! Have a listen !
Check it out ! (Darren and Daniel laugh)
DJ : Savage Garden, from Affirmation live
~Hold Me acoustic live~
DJ : You’re listening to the Savage Garden hour of power. (sounds of people clapping). We are out of time and I guess you guys, just about ready to drop off and have a sleep.
Darren : Can I just say…Something really funny happened, ‘cause we got people in the studio to make some noise and Leonie Messer, PA to the stars, just went : now, wooo ! !, she clapped so that she can make our scene look very popular. (Daniel laughs)
DJ : Listen, thanx to you and the band for coming in. An all australian band except for one
Darren : We just got a keyboard player from LA but yeah, this is pretty much the same band we had 2 and a half years ago. We have Lee Novak on bass, Karl Lewis on drums, Ben Carey on guitars, Angie Becker’s a new vocalist from Melbourne, and Anna Maria Laspina…
DJ : She’s a Melbourne girl ?
Darren : Yeah, Angie’s from Melbourne, Anna Maria Laspina, this diva from Brisbane
Daniel : And Jennifer Blakeman who’s an LA keyboard chick
DJ : Oh ok
Darren : And we love them.
DJ : And when do you think you’ll be on the road ?
Darren : Well we’re pretty humble about this record because you know, it’s a new record. It may work, it may not. We’re doing the same amount of work promoting it, but maybe March, next year if it all goes well.
DJ : And of course the launch, the australian launch which is pretty much the world launch, which is officially in stores Monday isn’t it ?
Darren : It’s actually available right now !
DJ : In stores now. Thanx for your time, thanx for coming in, thanx a lot. You’ve been listening to an hour of power, live around australia on the austereo network.
THE END