Darren Hayes Interview

DARREN HAYES

Affirmative Action
by Craig Ablitt

Much has been written about Darren Hayes in the media over the last decade. As one half of multi-million selling duo Savage Garden, significant solo success was to follow after the band split in 2001 thanks to his debut album Spin and the worldwide hit ‘Insatiable’. Despite sales of over two million copies, his label Columbia/Sony dumped the Australian singer following second album The Tension and The Spark, after combined sales failed to replicate the lofty figures of his former band. However, Hayes was suddenly a liberated man. Free from the shackles of being chained to a major label he decided to set up his own, publicly announced he was gay, entered into a civil partnership with long-term boyfriend Richard Cullen and released an ambitious double album last year with This Delicate Thing We’ve Made. Just before he embarks on an unusually intimate jaunt around the UK, we spoke to Hayes about his feelings over the album, releasing records independently and how it felt to come out in public.

“This album says that I dared to go it alone and say no to the majors, plus I did it before Radiohead!” Hayes laughs, verbally sticking two fingers up at the big labels. “It was released in August 2007 and was finished for a year before that so I’ve had a lot of time to absorb it and I’m enormously proud of it as an ensemble record. So many people played a part in its creation and as a record that dared to be individual I think it stands apart in the musical climate we experience today. I think it’s a true one off,” he says confidently.

With the album reaching what many would term a disappointing chart position of fourteen, many unaware of the mechanical workings of the music industry would point to the fact that without the backing of a major label to splash out on promotion; the album was doomed to fall short of the high ranking chart positions Hayes has become accustomed to in his impressive career thus far. However, it is of Hayes’ own opinion that the record is in a lot of respects his most successful to date.

“I’ve made about four times as much money from this album than my first solo record because I own the master,” he explains. “Sony charged me to make my albums and once I’d paid them back and the cost of massively expensive pop videos I was left with nothing. This way, I have kept 100 per cent creative control and earned some cash so I’d say I’ve got my cake and I’m eating it to be honest,” he remarks, somewhat analytically.

An aspect of his career that isn’t up for debate is Hayes’ continued public appeal as a live performer. Already he has seen a date at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall sell out with ease during the first leg of this tour and this month sees him take the unchartered territory of performing at remarkably smaller venues, which sold out so rapidly around the country; more had to be added quickly to meet demand.

“I’m ready to have the opposite experience to playing the Royal Albert Hall,” he shares. “My tour last year was a huge production and I wanted to have one last run of shows where I got to totally break things down and explore rarer songs and things I didn’t play on the big tour,” he explains, no doubt nodding towards some of the twenty five tracks from the latest album yet to be aired. “You can only do that in an intimate setting where people are willing to let you be a bit experimental.”

What wasn’t intimate however, was the way Hayes’ ‘coming out’ and subsequent civil partnership was big news in gossip rags and public domains. Although far from shocking news to his legion of fans, it became of curiosity to his followers how the usually guarded singer would take to being spotlighted by the numerous celebrity obsessed publications so many Brits appear to live their life by, but for Hayes there were more positives to be had than annoyances at the outcome.

“I think gossip magazines are the definition of hell to be honest, so I avoid them like the plague,” he says sardonically. “I pretty much despise celebrity culture so I think a lot of people’s reactions were like ‘well, duh’, plus I’ve never been ‘in the closet’ really and I told my friends and family the minute I worked it out and it’s been a process of acceptance ever since,” he points out. “I think fundamentally being true to yourself can only be a good thing anyway, so on that level it’s improved my self esteem tenfold and in the public eye it’s been very rewarding emotionally because I receive many letters from gay or questioning young people and they are so supportive and thankful of my decision to live my life openly.”

An Interview with Avenged Sevenfold

AVENGED SEVENFOLD

In America Avenged Sevenfold are big news. Exploding onto the U.S circuit thanks to their aggressive brand of metalcore and punk, the Californian five-piece were just out of school when debut album Sounding The Seventh Trumpet was released in 2001 and after second album Waking The Fallen was released in 2003, major label Warner snapped the band up, seeing the potential that was on show. It was this move to Warner, which coincided with a shift away from the more metalcore style of screaming on the tracks, combined with the band’s incessant and workmanlike attitude towards touring that saw them release their breakthrough album City Of Evil in 2004, earning them almost 1 million albums sales in America and a top ten Billboard single in ‘Bat Country’, plus picking up an MTV Award for Best New Artist (although the band had been going five years at this point!)

Meanwhile in the UK, City Of Evil planted a seed for the band. Although it sold what many would term meagre sales of around 50 000 copies, high profile support slots with the likes of Lostprophets saw their British fanbase swell with each visit. Fast forward to October 2007 and the release of their eponymous, self-produced Avenged Sevenfold album, the band announced a small UK tour including a show at the miniscule 100 Club. This may seem modest and inconsequential when trying to argue that a band are becoming big over here; in the three months since that show (and by the time you read this) Avenged Sevenfold will be fresh from headlining Brixton Academy as well as conquering several of the other large halls this country has to offer, such is the appeal for the band both sides of the Atlantic these days.

“We have the greatest fans in the world,” bassist Johnny Christ tells us, when we ask him what he thinks it is that attracts so many people to the band. “It’s cool we are able to do something different with every album that comes out and doing just what we want to do and I think people can identify with that,” he explains. “People can see that what we do is real and when people come and see us live, they notice that we’re not just some band that’s been thrown together. We’re honest and people seem to like that in us.”

This is certainly true of their aforementioned eponymous album released late last year, which Johnny Christ tells us is “the most honest representation of us so far.” The album is a landmark for the band, in the fact that the record is totally of their own making, from writing the tracks through to producing the long player themselves, with the results not just pleasing to fans around the world, but obviously to the band themselves.

“Every time we release a record, we always think it’s our best to date,” he shares. “We decided we wanted this record to be self-titled too because we wrote, recorded and produced it ourselves. There’s nobody else involved in the making of it except us,” he outlines proudly. “We’ve had a great response since it was released and we took a lot of time to put it together, so to get all this great feedback is cool.”

With tickets snapped up quickly for their recent UK tour leaving many disappointed, the new found interest in one of the hottest tickets out of America will be appeased with the news that the band are to return to these shores again in the not too distant future. This is hardly surprising given Avenged Sevnfold’s continued hunger and intensity to tour the world and play to as many people as is humanly possible, just as they did when they toured the States in a van when they first formed., something that after seven years would see most bands kill each other in such circumstances.

“You’d think we’d get fed up of each other by now after all this time, but we haven’t,” he laughs. “We’re five best friends who grew up together and since day one this is all we’ve ever wanted to do and it just seems to be becoming more fun as the years go on because we’ve always got new stories to tell each other,” he shares warmly. “We’re gonna be touring our asses off for this record for what we hope will be a couple of years and will definitely be back touring the UK a lot too.”

Kylie Minogue Interview with Craig Ablitt

KYLIE MINOGUE

Her Xstatic Return

by Craig Ablitt

How to sum up Kylie in one introductory paragraph? Impossible really. Does she even need an introduction? In what is now approaching two decades, the diminutive Australian superstar has gone from Charlene – the girl next door in Neighbours to global music sex siren, arguably as famous as the Queen of England, although with more hit records, albums and admirers than Her Maj could shake a jewel encrusted sceptre at. From bubblegum popstrel in the late 1980s and early 90s with ‘I Should Be So Lucky’, ‘Hand On Your Heart’ or ‘Especially For You’, to reinventing herself as rock darling – recording with Nick Cave and ending up on the cover of NME, to launching herself back to the top of the charts in the naughties with the unforgettable gold hot-panted dancefloor busting classic ‘Spinning Around’; Kylie Minogue has an arsenal of hits and number of successful reinventions of her sound and style that only Madonna could equal, with icon the only word that springs to mind

However, Kylie’s career hasn’t always been flavoured by chart success, record-breaking tours and global domination. Her well-documented breast cancer diagnosis threatened to take all that she had conquered away from her, understandably rocking Kylie and her worldwide fanbase alike. But like all challenges that have been thrown her way; Kylie came out fighting, beating the disease and coming out in true Princess of Pop fashion to conquer the world once more and complete her unforgettable Showgirl Tour, culminating in the massive Homecoming Tour back in her native Australia. 2007 sees the release of her tenth studio album X – her first since rising above her biggest challenge to date. Rather excitingly, we got the inside info from the girl herself. Here’s Kylie….

“I think it’s safe to say I’ve never had to prepare like I have for this album before,” she begins, hinting at the uphill struggle that faced her in getting back to her best. “I started work on this album a year and a half ago when the album was so far in the future. Who knew when it was going to be?” she questions. “No-one wanted to pressure me, but I had to get back into the studio just to test myself and get some things off my chest, which I did, then went on tour, then finished the album.”

As well as coping with the obvious challenge of returning to full fitness to prepare herself physically and emotionally to get back onstage and into the studio, it is evident in what Kylie has to say, that although the battle against cancer was of her own, she is quick to point at the immense support she received externally at this dark time, and takes this opportunity to thank her immense legion of fans that sent her their best wishes when she needed them the most.

“I had the reality [of the diagnosis], I didn’t need anything else, but I did receive a lot of letters and cards from all sorts of people,” she explains “They all helped, and what I didn’t know about I definitely felt. I felt those good vibes and well-wishers and I’ve kept a lot of the little cards from them because I cherished them at the time,” she reveals warmly. “I really loved them. A lot of them would just say: ‘To Kylie, Popstar, Australia,’ or just ‘Pop Princess’ or something and a number of them actually found me so that was really cute.”

So to the business of this highly anticipated tenth studio album, which according to some was whittled down to just thirteen tracks from a mammoth 100 to choose from. After months and months of hype as to what it was going to sound like and of all the superstar names and contributors such as Calvin Harris that had been rumoured to be getting involved, we finally have the finished project, although according to Kylie, the tracks that were left on the cutting room floor were still of vital importance to the completed product.

“A year and a half I’ve worked on it and a lot of the songs which didn’t make the album in my mind have as much importance as the songs that did end up on the album,” she outlines, “because they were the stepping-stones to get there and it gets to the point where you have to finalise the tracklist; what’s staying, what’s going. Making it’s the fun part, in a way it’s the easy part, but getting towards the end, this is difficult.”


From spinning the record however, you can see in the floorless production throughout and the tracks that made the final cut, that X is arguably Kylie’s most succinct, all killer, no filler album to date – a collection of modern day pop gems with an edge, typically suited to arenas and dancefloors alike – and a record Kylie has been equally as eager as her fans to get recorded and released, so she can take it out onto the road when she tours in 2008.

“I was just so excited to be back in the studios, so excited to have that opportunity to do this and knowing that some of it would be different than before,” she says exuberantly. “ Something had definitely changed in me and I think you can hear that throughout the album,” she outlines, hinting at songs such as the complicated, vocal layered ‘Speakerphone’ or ‘Sensitized’ with it’s clever sample usage of Serge Gainsbourg. “I am proud, but I’m also nervous, which I am every time I’ve got a new album or single,” she continues. “I just want it to be out now and let it do what it’s meant to do and it’s the last bit that’s missing – the audience,” she says, bringing her fans into the foreground again. “It’s like the dress rehearsal for a show, and I can’t stand dress rehearsals! So, go on X, run free!” she proclaims excitedly.

As well as being an album of typically quality musical embodiment, it does of course touch upon Kylie’s personal experiences of the last two years. Although Kylie is willing to talk about her illness when questioned, at the same time she outlines that: “I never wanted to go on about it.” Instead, her true sentiments can be felt and heard on a handful of the tracks on X, which she felt she owed to her fans.

“I think I’d probably be most proud of the fact that with ‘Cosmic’, ‘No More Rain’ and ‘Stars’ perhaps, being songs that touch upon my illness,” she explains. “I think it would have been unfair on my fans to have an album without any part of me and that experience in it because it is very much a part of me now,” she accepts. “At the same time, I wouldn’t have liked to deliver an album full of that type of material so I think we’ve got the balance right. I feel, well, now that it’s about to come out; I’m starting to feel quite excited.”

With Kylie back to her stylish, glamorous and beautiful best and arena dates selling out and being added as numerously as she changes costume on stage; it’s fair to say Xcited is most definitely how she should feel. Welcome back Kylie.

A chat with a Young Knife

THE YOUNG KNIVES

Still As Sharp?

Of all the ‘second album’ brigade of the indie class of 2005/2006, The Young Knives make for perhaps the most intriguing of all releases as they prepare to follow up the notable Voices of Animals and Men next month. In fact, to label the Ashby de la Zouch trio as ‘indie’ would be an insult, as it was them alone who decided to create an alternative for those sick of the existing alternative scene.

As Razorlight went all ‘America’ on us, The Young Knives were highlighting the problematic scenario of hitting the girlfriend’s parents (in the face). As every kid in every indie disco the country long decided they were Pete Doherty after securing the identikit uniform in the local Topman, The Young Knives appeared more like geography teachers in their gingham shirts and tweed jackets whilst chanting the loser-friendly ‘anthems’ ‘She’s Attracted To’ or ‘The Decision’ which highlighted some of the oft overlooked aspects of being an unpopular British human being in the naughties.

This anti-attitude paid off rather favourably for brothers Henry and Thomas Dartnell and drummer Oliver Askew nonetheless when they were shortlisted for the Mercury Prize’s best album award last year. However, where many of this country’s popular acts would see this as a landmark achievement, Henry is quick to shun such accolades when we quiz him about the nomination and the sophomore Superabundance.

“I was disheartened by it quite early on by the way it was called the Nationwide prize,” he groans unenthusiastically. “I think it’s an odd way of judging music anyway and I was quite down on it at the time and also at the desperation some people have of winning it. I’m not desperate to win any awards, I just want to maintain being in a rock band that maintain fans.”

Whether the trio achieve this or not with Superabundance is anyone’s guess given the minefield that is the music business of late, with Dartnall caustically remarking: “it might, it might not, we’ll just be objective about it,” before explaining to us that fans of the band’s angular, post punk past as displayed on the previous album and to an extent ‘Terra Firma’ and latest effort ‘Up All Night’ may be surprised by some of the elements they are greeted with on the new long player.

“People will find that there is a fuller sound this time and that we’ve gone for folkier sort of melodies and different approaches to the songs and there’s an orchestra on there too,” Dartnall outlines. “There’s one track called ‘Current of the River’ that’s an epic, sort of narrative song and another called ‘Turn Tale’, which is also quite epic, intricate and proggy in a way it goes off in strange directions without being ten minutes long. Another one I like that’s different is ‘I Hardly See Them’ and is inspired by the Silver Apples, that has this glitchy electronic sound with a dreamy vocal that floats on top of this strange sort of music and is one of the heaviest tracks we’ve ever done.”

Before Young Knives fans begin to panic at the bizarre direction the band may sound like they are heading on, Hartnall quickly adds: “we’re not going to turn into The Verve or something,” promising the string arrangements will “work in an epic, Viking sort of a way rather than sweet and beautiful,” before reassuring that the band still have every intention of maintaining the sound and style many have identified with thus far.

“The orchestra thing is only like the third element to the song and when we’ve performed the track live without it, it still sounds good,” he stresses. “We might rope the orchestra in for special shows, like if we get asked to do Jools Holland or perhaps on one of the bigger shows. We don’t want to get too many musicians in anyway; it’ll cost too much money for a start and probably put our fans off. The three-piece rock & roll band theme is something we haven’t run out of steam on yet.”

An interview with Tiesto

What can we expect from Tiesto in 2008?
First thing you can expect is DVD of world tour and maybe a new mix album, that’s about it, maybe a couple of remixes

What can people expect from this forthcoming DVD?
Demonstration of the Element of Life live show that we took around the world and this time we recorded it in Copenhagen and a road movie about some of the things we got up to on the world tour is on there too

What special about that show?
We were thinking ‘what’s a nice venue to do?’ We wanted to do something outside Holland and switch it up a bit and that show at Copenhagen was at a nice new venue and was sold out quickly and easy to work with, easy one to record it.

What was so special about this tour that made you want to share it with everyone via DVD?
Special for me because it’s a memory of time. The Elements of Life tour was unique and never done by a DJ before, in the way that we travelled the world like a band and that was special to me. I also think that a lot of people who managed to get to the shows London, Prague doesn’t matter it’ll be a great thing to have to help them remember the show they were at.

On Elements of Life you worked with high profile people like BT, but from now on you’ve said that you’d like to work with more up and coming talent. What qualities do you look for in a collaborator?
Basically the voice has to be great and the lyrics have to be great because they are the most important thing, it doesn’t matter if they’re famous.

People have come in their millions to come and see you play over the years. What do you think it is attracts these numbers to your shows?
I think its a combination of feeling I put out when I DJ. It’s from the heart its not an act and I could be one of the people in the audience, you know? Also, I think and the music is accessible for people. It’s not crazy underground and it’s not crazy commercial, it’s a very nice thin line between both worlds.

How does it feel being stood up there watching a huge audience react to what you’re playing?
I’m getting used to it nowadays but that’s not to say it isn’t still special because it is. What I’ve noticed is every year the audiences keep growing, the shows are getting bigger and better and that’s the challenge for me; to make the shows bigger and better. It doesn’t matter for me if I’m playing to 5 000 or 50 000 people, it’s the same feeling, I want people to go home with a good vibe.

When you started out as a DJ, did you ever imagine a day would come when you would be playing shows this big?
No, not at all. Even two years ago I didn’t imagine it, even this year when I started this tour I didn’t expect all the dates to sell out either, that was amazing! When I started out as a DJ, it was at a bar and the man behind the bar was more important than the DJ because he got all the attention from the ladies! DJs were like the nerds back in the day, nobody cared about the DJ!

Consistently you get voted the world’s number one DJ. Is that a title that sits comfortably with you?
Err, well I think that’s more to do with some of the things that I have achieved. Calling someone the number one DJ is very hard for any person to say. You have DJ Mag who makes that list and that’s a little bit of opinion, not worldwide, that’s fine though. I think people call me the world’s best because I play to the most people. I think the Olympics helped with that too, but I don’t think I’m the biggest or the best, because there are too many great DJs to list.

To go with your achievements, you’ve also had a lot of chart success. How important is chart success for you?
It’s not that important for me now. It’s great if you’re album is at number one because you have this great compliment that people have been buying your music because they like it, but that’s not me just trying to be cool by saying that. I do think though that every artist that releases an album wants it to be successful and to have their music heard by lots of people, although for me the money from that doesn’t matter, it’s more that the album has sold so many copies.

What’s happening with Dance 4 Life this year? Any big plans?
Yeah, at the end of the year there’ll be another party the week before World AIDS day, but I dunno how many countries will share it, but two years ago we ha 10 who joined in and now we hope to double that and more and more people are getting involved.

Can we expect you at Ibiza this year?
Yeah, I’ll be there this year, but it’s changed for me. You say like Ibiza again, but its been two years, Last year I did two Elements of Life shows with Privelege and that was the only time really in the past three years. This year I’m going to be back there doing a residency though with Privilege on the Monday nights, every Monday.

What still attracts you to playing Ibiza after all this time?
New inspiration. The island is always changing and so is the development of the music on the island, its never the same. It’s the new kids who decide whats hot or not, could be there to see what’s happening and g et inspiration and its very good for me to go.

When can we expect a new artist album?
I’ve started thinking about the next record, but at the moment I’m still enjoying the success of the Grammy nominated Elements of Life album!

What stage would you say this album is at?
I’ve contacted a few artists about doing some collaborative work, nothing concrete yet. I’ve done some sound demos and at very premature stage.

How did that feel – being nominated for a Grammy!?
I was extremely surprised, I was blown away by it to be honest!

Will there still be more to come from the Elements of Life tour this year?
Yeah, I still have one leg to go to Asia and doing the April and May in Australia and that’s last part of the tour.

After all this success with the album, will It add any pressure when you go into the next one?
Not really, the artist album gives me more freedom than when I do a mix album because I also have the In Search of Sunrise album which for me is more pressure, because people expect a proper mixed album and with the artist album I am able to experiment a lot more and like I did on In The Dark on Elements of Life, good freedom for more.

Will there be another In Search of Sunrise this year?
Yeah!

You’ve also done some very high profile remix work and mentioned that we can expect more of that. Can you tell us a bit more?
Yeah, there’s a buzz about them right now and I have a lot of record companies who are approaching me for remixes. I’ve done a couple at the end of last year and there’s definitely more coming because artists keep asking.

Can you tell us who some of the people that are asking you are?
On my MySpace there is the Britney one and one for Feel, couple of others that I am not allowed to name yet but I’s good to work with high profile people and expect more soon.

What do you enjoy about the remix side of things?
It’s just fin to do and be given licence your own musical opinion on a track. For me it’s not always for me to play out in the clubs. I see remixing as a piece of art and something very enjoyable. The Britney Spears remix is really high profile and when someone says ‘oh it’s remixed by Tiesto – what a shitty name!’ but if you listen to the track and what I did with it, it’s so different, it’s a pure artistic piece of work and one of the best ones I’ve ever done.

You’re coming to the IndigO2 next month – tell us what’s happening there.
A lot of previewing from the DVD, it’s the world premiere, so an hour from that and a special DJ set from me for a couple of hours and a special new talent from England is going to play who is only seventeen. MATZO is his name.

What elements of the DVD do you think will please the fans when they put it on?
I think it will please people and those especially who went to the show. If you went to the show and had a good time then it’s a must have, that’s what is made for. I’ve been to the show. I have the DVD and now I want to relive it all over again.

Elements of Life Live is out now