Daryl Hall Goes Live From His 'House'

By his own admission, singer-songwriter Daryl Hall says that there is something inherently comical about his longtime musical partnership with John Oates. After all, Hall and Oates, known for classic pop hits such as 'Kiss On My List,' 'Private Eyes' and 'Maneater,' were affectionately spoofed on the cult Web series 'Yacht Rock' (featuring a long-haired mustachioed actor as Oates yelling at his partner, "No more songs about Sara!"). In addition to being a subject of a musical tribute by the New York City collective the Losers' Lounge, the duo was on SCTV in the '80s and later on the TV sitcom 'Will and Grace.'

Hall, however, seems to take the humor all in stride when he spoke to Spinner. "Is it because I'm tall and John's' short?" he joked. "I talked to both the Losers' Lounge and the 'Yacht Rock' people, and it was definitely done with respect."

Gym Class Heroes also honored the veteran hitmaker by naming their recent tour 'Daryl Hall for President.' But fans of both Hall and the Heroes' Travis McCoy may have been surprised by seeing them performing together on Hall's recent Web series, 'Live From Daryl's House.' The series, which premiered last fall, features Hall playing with his band at one of his homes in New York, Maine, London or the Bahamas, while recasting his hits with Oates and his solo work in informal, intimate arrangements.

The idea began when he realized that it was becoming harder to be on the road and everywhere at once. "I thought, 'Okay, if I can't be everywhere, why can't I bring 'everywhere' to me?' And then I went, 'Well, what can I do? Can I have my own web site and basically put on a show, and let people watch it?' And that's where it came from."

Hall understands how unusual it may be to have artists of different musical backgrounds such as McCoy and KT Tunstall play with him on the show. "I love doing that because not only is the audience surprised, but I'm surprised," he said. "I always had the idea of having guests on because I love collaboration. The residual of this is so far everybody that I've worked with is really having a great time."

The most recent episode of 'Live From Daryl's House' centered on Hall's first trip to this year's South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, where he performed a set. "It was wild," he recalls. "It was just really cool to hear all these different people." The experience also confirmed his feelings about the music industry when he witnessed some of the A&R people who were present there. "There was this smug expression on their faces," he says. "They're looking for basically music whores that they can pimp. And SXSW is the alternative to that. It just underscores the fact that the old way is dead and buried, and they don't even know it."

Meanwhile, Hall and Oates are still making appearances together and next month they will be inducted as BMI Icons. But it might be a while before they start collaborating again on new material. "[John is] working on a solo record," Hall said. "I have my band and I'm doing solo shows, so there's room for everything. But the emphasis right now is on separate lives."

Add your comments

New Users

Current Users

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

ADVERTISEMENT
Spinner Radio

Spinner on iGoogle
Get the latest news, features and free music from Spinner on your iGoogle home page. Click to add it!

Send Ringtones to Your Phone

Choose from over 34,000 tones, graphics, videos and games. Join now and get 10 BONUS downloads.
Get started now

Interface Podcasts

This Week: Duffy

The British invade our studio yet again, as soulstress Duffy performs on the Interface.

3x3

Watch live performances from Sons and Daughters, Tapes 'N Tapes & the Long Blondes.

The Week's Live Pics

Love live shows? So do we.
Check out our set of scorchin' stage shots each week.

Spinner Radio

Spinner Radio

Experience a mix of all things good and musically left.

Sessions Live Performances

Who: Smashing Pumpkins
What: Smashing Pumkins rocked out in our Sessions studio.
Highlights: Billy Corgan kicks it old school with 'Tonight, Tonight' in our studio.

Blogroll