Daryl Hall has been extremely busy. He recently released his sixth studio album, D , his first in 13 years since Laughing Down Crying in 2011. Hall co-produced the album with former Eurythmics frontman Dave Stewart, who also co-wrote seven of the nine new original songs that sound like quintessential Daryl Hall: bright, happy, and full of energy. It's been quite a decade for this modern-day renaissance man, Rock Hall of Fame legend, restauranteur and performance venue owner, and star of his own award-winning web series, Live from Daryl's House . The show, which began as a 'light bulb' moment for Hall when he launched it in 2007 as a free webcast, has set the standard for artist-initiated projects. The groundbreaking series provides a mix of legends and the next generation of superstars. Live From Daryl's House streams on Daryl Hall's YouTube channel. And yet this Philadelphia soul man is still achieving career milestones more than four decades later, continuing to perform with his band to sold-out venues everywhere. Most recently, he went on tour with his good friend, 80s synth-pop legend Howard Jones. Expect to hear a lot of goodies, old and new.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, this is Daryl Hall. You're listening to Life Minute.
00:03Daryl Hall in the house, joining us at Life Minute.
00:06Thanks so much for being with us.
00:08Sure.
00:09How are you doing?
00:11I'm doing fine. I'm doing fine.
00:13You just released your sixth studio album.
00:16The first in 13 years.
00:18It's fantastic, by the way. It sounds great.
00:22Tell us about it.
00:23Well, what's to say here?
00:25I did it with my friend Dave Stewart in the Bahamas,
00:28where we both have houses.
00:30And it was a real, you know,
00:32I mean, it's a labor of enjoyment, I guess that's the best word.
00:38You know, we just had such a good time making it.
00:41It's pretty much a two-person project.
00:44I mean, Dave and I did this together.
00:46I had a couple of songs that I had written beforehand,
00:49but most of the songs we wrote together right on the spot
00:53over a period of about two years.
00:55And I just came up with ideas and we just elaborated on them.
00:59And the two of us, you know, Dave's a guitar player,
01:02I'm a keyboard player.
01:03And we had some various people just kind of helping us out.
01:07And we pretty much did it ourselves.
01:10What comes first, the lyrics or the melodies?
01:13I think the ideas come first.
01:15There's really no, there's no formula.
01:18What Dave and I were doing,
01:20we were sitting around and just kind of,
01:22I had a lot of like sort of phrases and ideas and things like that
01:26I had written down in my various notes,
01:28notebooks and things like that.
01:30And, you know, I just read things out to him
01:33or we'd be discussing something, you know, and say,
01:36well, like in song two, something happened
01:39and I just went, too much information.
01:41He said, that's it, there's a song.
01:43And I just, I started singing that phrase.
01:46Too much information running through my head.
01:51And that's where that song came from.
01:53And then we just elaborated on the lyrics.
01:56Too much information running through my mind.
02:00Pulling me, pulling me.
02:03So that's kind of typical.
02:05We're just doing it, making something out of nothing really.
02:08What inspires you?
02:10Everything.
02:14Not one thing, sounds.
02:16The sounds of the city inspire me.
02:18Thoughts, ideas, experiences, emotions, sights, places.
02:26And then November tour with Howard Jones.
02:30He was just in our studio recently, actually.
02:33Oh, he was? Okay.
02:34Yeah, great guy.
02:36Tell us about that.
02:37Howard was one of my more recent guests on Life in Daryl's House.
02:42And we got along right away.
02:44It was one of those things, I don't do it very often,
02:47but after the show, we spend a lot of time together
02:50in the making of that show.
02:53We start about noon and we don't finish
02:55maybe until seven o'clock at night.
02:57And it's straight through, like intensity.
03:00And I usually say, okay, that's it.
03:03But I actually asked Howard and his wife and daughter
03:05to go over to the house and hang out.
03:07And that's what we did after the show, which is a rarity.
03:10And that shows how well we got along.
03:13I like doing these sort of live versions of the Daryl's House show.
03:18And I've been using, I've done a number of them over the years,
03:22but I did a long run with Todd Rundgren
03:26that lasted off and on for about two years.
03:29And then I did a short, well, two month run with Elvis Costello,
03:34which was not like an LFDH.
03:36And now I'm back to that again.
03:38So I really like doing these sort of Daryl's House shows
03:43with my various guests, alumni or whatever you want to call them.
03:47And tell us about the show.
03:48What are fans going to get when they see you play live?
03:51Well, the way I do it is, or have been doing it,
03:55is that Howard opens and does whatever his set's going to be
04:02with my band.
04:04Then I do my set, and then Howard and I come together
04:08and we do a bunch of stuff together.
04:10That's usually how it works,
04:12and I think that's what we're going to do.
04:14And then, gosh, 10 years it's been of Daryl's House?
04:1710th anniversary, is it?
04:19Of the club, yes.
04:21The TV show's been a lot longer than that.
04:24I think it's 15 years for the show.
04:27Amazing.
04:28You definitely are a Renaissance man, that word came out.
04:31It's so true.
04:32What made you think to do that?
04:33I mean, you were so ahead of the game there.
04:35I just felt like I had been spending so much time on the road
04:40that I wanted to do something the opposite, an alternative,
04:44and turn everything on its head.
04:46Instead of me going out to the world,
04:48I bring the world right into my living room,
04:50or wherever I do it.
04:53And no audience, so that sets the whole scene,
04:58the whole thing in a different way.
05:01Because my band and me and the guest,
05:06there's no pressure to perform.
05:08We're just there hanging out.
05:10And the audience, because of that,
05:12the audience is more like a fly on the wall.
05:14When you watch it, you're like in the room,
05:16you're watching, you're amongst us,
05:19as opposed to sitting there in your seat
05:21and watching a performer do his thing or her thing on stage.
05:25So it's very refreshing that way,
05:27and it's unbelievably stimulating.
05:29I can't even describe how crazy it is,
05:32because we don't do any rehearsals.
05:35We do our homework, and then we come together,
05:38and what you hear is the first time we're actually doing it.
05:41The most we'll ever do is maybe one run-through, possibly,
05:45but a lot of times, most of the time, they're first takes.
05:48So you're seeing the real thing happen in real time,
05:53and it keeps us on our toes,
05:55because we don't know what's going to happen.
05:57But anyway, that's the Daryl Suss experience.
06:00And then a private concert, too, to celebrate the 10 years?
06:04Yeah, I opened the club about 10 years ago.
06:07Not about, 10 years ago.
06:09And yeah, I did a show then.
06:13Back then, man, lots changed.
06:15Oh, my God, so much has changed in those 10 years.
06:17But here I am.
06:19I'm going to do a show at the club.
06:22How do you decide who's going to be on?
06:24It's a strange process, because it's really hard to get people.
06:29First of all, everybody's busy.
06:31Anybody that's working is busy.
06:34They're doing things.
06:35They get their own tours and whatever.
06:37And they have to come to upstate New York and make time for that.
06:44So scheduling is a big problem.
06:46So we usually have a short list of people that are possibilities,
06:51and then we have to figure out how that scheduling might work.
06:54And it's planned a lot in advance, really.
06:57It has to be.
06:59And that's really the selection process.
07:02More than desire.
07:04It's more like who's available.
07:06Let's talk about D a little bit more.
07:08How would you describe the sound of that?
07:11Boy, it's not a band sound.
07:13That's the best way I can say what it isn't.
07:16Because we didn't do it as a band.
07:19We just used sounds.
07:21There's a lot of sounds on the record.
07:25We used a lot of things, percussive things that weren't percussion.
07:30And a lot of recording techniques were involved in the record.
07:36But I think the enthusiasm comes through.
07:39There's something happy and up about the whole album.
07:43But even in the sad songs, it feels that way.
07:47Let's talk about instruments.
07:49When did you know you wanted to be a musician, first of all?
07:52I was born one.
07:54My parents were musicians.
07:56My mother especially.
07:58And my earliest memories are watching her sing in a band and on stage.
08:04Traveling around, going around to various places she played.
08:11I was on stage maybe four or five years old.
08:15It's never really changed.
08:17And what about the instruments?
08:19Keyboards, guitar?
08:21Were you self-taught?
08:23The guitar, I'm self-taught for sure.
08:26The piano, I had lessons for years and years.
08:30I started at five.
08:35I had lessons on and off until I went to music school.
08:39I went to Temple University Music School.
08:42I had five years there with formal training and the whole bit.
08:48My style, I really learned from watching people like Leon Hough
08:54and working with them and Tommy Bell and all those kind of people.
08:59I think whatever I do on piano has very little to do with formal training.
09:05That was my next question, who your influences were
09:08and what band you grew up listening to.
09:11I grew up in Philadelphia, which is a very vibrant regional music scene
09:17and has its own music, especially back when I was a kid.
09:21It was just a local scene was the music.
09:24And that's what I listened to.
09:27Street corner band groups, vocal groups and early R&B and gospel music.
09:34Then I started as a teenager working with people like Campbell and Hough
09:39and knew very well Tommy Bell.
09:43Then worked with a lot of R&B bands that came in and out of Philadelphia
09:48from other places.
09:49That was really my background.
09:52Any musicians of today you particularly are a fan of?
09:56I don't like to name names, but yeah, I hear people.
09:59I hear people that I like.
10:01I think there's so much music out there.
10:05Every once in a while I hear something and I say,
10:07wow, that's really cool.
10:08That's really great.
10:10There's a lot out there.
10:13What does music do for people?
10:15Music does different things to different people.
10:19Music over time has done a number of things.
10:24First of all, it can make you dance, obviously.
10:27It can sexualize you, obviously.
10:30It can make you cry.
10:33It can exalt you in a metaphysical way.
10:39It can make you want to fight if that's where you're coming from,
10:47depending on the times.
10:49It can make you not want to fight, depending on the times.
10:55It's a real indicator of human emotion and motivator of human emotion.
11:01What's a day in the life like for you when you're not working?
11:05That seems like not much time.
11:09In those rare times, the battery and the engine turns off.
11:16I go quick.
11:17I'm a real reader.
11:19I just sit around and vegetate, really.
11:24I don't do much of anything.
11:25Go to the store.
11:26Go to the grocery store.
11:28What are some of your favorite books?
11:30Oh, man.
11:31I have a wide range.
11:33I read historical books.
11:34I read things about current things.
11:37I read a lot of, you know, like I'm working my way through James Elroy
11:43right now, who I particularly like.
11:46He's fantastic at his genre.
11:49He's a master of that.
11:53History and crime.
11:55That's where I go for pleasure.
11:58What would your current self say to your younger self?
12:01Pay attention to your money.
12:04I'd brand that on my forehead.
12:07What's your favorite cocktail and comfort food?
12:10I don't know.
12:11I like a good cheeseburger, I've got to tell you, if it's made the right way,
12:16especially California style.
12:20As far as drink, you know, I like martinis.
12:26I like Irish whiskey.
12:28That's my thing right now.
12:29What's something no one knows about you?
12:31Probably everything.
12:34What's next?
12:35What's something that you want to do that you haven't done yet?
12:38That would be a hard one because I've done so many things.
12:41You know, my avocation, the other thing I like to do is I like to build things.
12:48I've taken houses down.
12:50I've reconstructed houses.
12:51I do a lot of those kind of things.
12:54I'm a fan especially of old architecture, antique architecture.
12:59I don't know.
13:01If I wasn't doing what I'm doing, I'd spend more time doing that.
13:05I was going to say your home is beautiful.
13:07I could see in the background.
13:08Yeah, I did this one.
13:10This is a 1780s house.
13:12It's beautiful, really beautiful.
13:14See, I didn't know that.
13:15That's interesting.
13:16How would you describe your home style?
13:18Eclectic, antique, I suppose.
13:20I look around.
13:21I like antiques.
13:23Yeah, I like antiques.
13:26I like antique houses.
13:27I like antique furniture.
13:28I like antique rugs.
13:29I like antique everything.
13:31I think that's really good.
13:33Is there anything else you want to tell me about music that we didn't cover?
13:36I can't tell you how much I loved making, to get back to the D album.
13:41It's a very personal album.
13:44It describes a lot of things that have happened to me in the recent,
13:48I don't know, over the past few years.
13:50Dave and I, I think we're both very proud of this album.
13:55I think we did something that's very unique to us.
13:58I think if you like what I do or what we do together,
14:02you're going to like this album.
14:04Do you want to go through any of the songs?
14:06The first one I wrote was Can't Say No To You.
14:08That was the one we got together on.
14:11That all happened out of some crazy guitar sound that Dave came up with.
14:16That's kind of a happy-sad song about an impossible situation.
14:21And I don't know.
14:23I'd rather be a fool is one.
14:25That's what I wrote a while ago, about seven, eight years ago.
14:30And that describes a moment in my life that was kind of a very down time.
14:36I think that's important to put those things on,
14:40what do you want to call it?
14:43Put them out into the world.
14:45Because that's all part of it, too.
14:46That's all part of life.
14:48But that's a pretty intense song, I've got to say.
14:52I don't know.
14:54It's hard for me to describe these songs.
14:56You've got to listen to them and take what you do.
14:59Take what you take from them.
15:01Well, it's really beautiful.
15:02Congratulations.
15:05Another piece of good artwork from you.
15:07You like the artwork?
15:08That was Dave.
15:09No, I just mean the music's artful.
15:11Oh, okay.
15:12All right.
15:13Gosh, Daryl, thank you so much for doing this.
15:15Sure.
15:16You're amazing.
15:17A legend.
15:18Thanks for all the many gifts you give us.
15:20Thank you so much.
15:21I'll see you now.
15:23To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast,
15:25Life Minute TV, on iTunes and all streaming podcast platforms.