Aashna: Hello!
Darren: How are you?
Aashna: Good, how are you?
Darren: Really good actually.
Aashna: Welcome to our set, do you like it?
Darren: It's really funky!
Aashna: It looks like your at home here.
Darren: I feel it! I'm just saying I don't want to push it too far or I might fall over.
Aashna: Well that's okay, if you fall over you won't hurt yourself.
Darren: At least I'll look good.
Aashna: All right, tell me about the name Savage Garden. I know you get this all the time but I didn't know!
Darren: Oh no no that really sweet that you ask, I'm just worried that I'm going to bore the pants off you! Where does it come from.. Anne Rice. She's an American writer from New Orleans and she wrote a series of horror books. Um, one series, The Vampire Chronicles, Interview with The Vampire was a film that starred Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and I think it's in the second novel, The Vampire Lestat, where she describes the world as a savage garden.
Aashna: All right now you and Daniel are in the group, so who's savage and who's like the garden?
Darren: It depends on what day, do you know what I'm saying? It's funny it's just, a name is just something, when you start off you need to represent yourself and now, I feel so far removed from that. I think of groups like U2 or INXS and I don't even know what the link is. Rolling Stones, I don't know what the link is.
Aashna: It's important that it's catchy, right?
Darren: Well, I guess so. It's important that you like it, because you'll have to hear it years from now. It's funny because we used to be in bands where the name of the band every 3 or 4 weeks. And it's funny, I've only just become accustemed to the fact that this is our name and it's not going away.
Aashna: You and Daniel are a pair, how did you guys meet?
Darren: You know, it was about 7 years ago, and he was in a band that needed a singer and they placed an ad in a magazine, and I was 1 of about 20 that answered. And I tried out, not very well I might add. I think my voice split the first audition. But we just got along, we became friends and we played together for about 2 years in clubs.
Aashna: Did you have that connection from the beginning?
Darren: We really did. I think we're both very ambitious. Very ambitious people and sooner or later we ended up writing songs together. It amazed us how quickly the songs came. Still to this day we write very easily and it's just a pleasure.
Aashna: You sold 10 million albums.
Darren: It just keeps getting bigger, that figure.
Aashna: Have you had a chance to celebrate at all?
Darren: Yeah and no, you know? I just think that, there's so much opportunity and chance involved in this business, and we've always been cautious not to get a big head about it. I don't think this business has a lot to do with talent sometimes some of these talented people never get the opportunity of what we have. So I think we've been a bit scared to pat ourselves on the back. You know, we just finished that big American tour, we played 85 shows and we've stopped for a while and now it's slowly starting to sink in.
Aashna: So what's it like being on a bus?
Darren: You know, it's much more luxurious than you would think. It's like being in the Partridge Family but the clothes are better. There's a big kitchen, and a big stereo, and our band are like family to me. For 2 and a half years I'm still coming down from that experience. Because every day I'd wake up and all I had to do was go to the gym, do a sound check, do another concert, and get on the bus with my family and got to another city and it's a great way to see the world.
Aashna: Now when you're not on tour, what are you doing?
Darren: I go to movies a lot, I'm tragic. I'm a homebody! I just moved into an apartment and for two years I haven't really had a fridge or a washing machine, and every day I get excited about fabric softener, I've been talking about it all day believe it or not. Just normal things! We are very blessed that our life is exciting and we get to travel around the world, meet beautiful people, see exotic places. You sometimes take for granted the little things in life like going for a coffe with your friends or doing laundry.
Aashna: All the best, thanks for dropping by.
Darren: Thank you.