Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan runt Dog,
Speaker 1: but enough about me. My guest today is one half
Speaker 1: of the best selling musical duo of all time, Haul
Speaker 1: of Notes. But now he's spotlighting four decades of his
Speaker 1: rich and remarkably varied solo career with his first retrospective
Speaker 1: called Before and After. The two discs set features hits
Speaker 1: and deep cuts from his five solo albums, including his
Speaker 1: fruitful unions with Robert Fripp and Dave Stewart, the consummate
Speaker 1: musical collaborator. He's also included six previously unreleased performances from
Speaker 1: his beloved web series turned cable program Live from Darryll's House,
Speaker 1: in which he shares the intimate stage with a new
Speaker 1: musical guest each episode. The thirty track collection is due
Speaker 1: out April one, the same day he said to embark
Speaker 1: in his first solo US tour in a decade. The
Speaker 1: trek will take him to some of the country's most
Speaker 1: historic venues, including New York's Carnegie Hall, Nashville's Ryman Auditorium,
Speaker 1: and the met in his hometown of Philadelphia. For each
Speaker 1: of these dates, will be joined by another of Philly's
Speaker 1: favorite musical sons, Todd Rundgren. I'm so happy to welcome
Speaker 1: one of the most soulful voices we've ever had on
Speaker 1: this program, Mr Daryl Hall. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Speaker 1: First and foremost, congratulations on before and after. I I
Speaker 1: know you've said in the past that you rarely listen
Speaker 1: to your own work. What was it like revisiting these
Speaker 1: songs for you? Was it like going through a scrap book?
Speaker 1: Did it take you back to the moment when you
Speaker 1: wrote and recorded these songs. Are they taken on a
Speaker 1: whole new life of their own? Well, sort of like that. Actually,
Speaker 1: it was like going through a scrap book because those
Speaker 1: albums have so many great memories for me, you know,
Speaker 1: in the making the process of making them. Uh, that's
Speaker 1: the one to me that's the most fun about recording
Speaker 1: is the process. Uh is when you're working with but
Speaker 1: you really get along with and really laugh a lot
Speaker 1: with and uh and really good things come out of it.
Speaker 1: It's uh, it's it's it's it's the old story. It's
Speaker 1: the journey, not the destination. Yeah, it was. It was
Speaker 1: amazing to revisit it. And I've realized that it really
Speaker 1: holds up. I mean, I was, I hate to say,
Speaker 1: I was sort of impressed, impressed myself all right on.
Speaker 1: I mean, listen to all these songs back to back.
Speaker 1: It really emphasized the diversity in your work because I
Speaker 1: mean not only your work with your songs, but the
Speaker 1: collaborators I mean, Robert Fripp, Dave Stewart, Tip and Walk.
Speaker 1: I mean, and there are deep cuts in there too,
Speaker 1: mixed with the you know, the familiar favorites. What was
Speaker 1: the process like for you of actually putting the track
Speaker 1: list together? Did you sit down with you know, your
Speaker 1: whole discography? What was it? What did you know? Did
Speaker 1: you were you able to sort of pull off the
Speaker 1: top of your head what you knew you wanted in there. Well,
Speaker 1: a lot of these songs I've been playing on the
Speaker 1: Life from Darrell's House show, so they're not they're not
Speaker 1: even new to the audience in a lot of cases
Speaker 1: if you watch that show. So, Uh, I certainly wanted
Speaker 1: to include those songs, uh, most of those Uh. And uh,
Speaker 1: I really felt like I wanted to do things in
Speaker 1: a non chronological order. Uh, treat it like it's a
Speaker 1: new album, and and put it together according to flow
Speaker 1: and mood and excitement and ups and downs and all
Speaker 1: the things that that you do with either a live
Speaker 1: sheet or you do with the with with the recorded album. Oh.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that it wasn't chronological. I mean
Speaker 1: some of the transitions were so cool, like the crackling
Speaker 1: vinyl sound at the end of n Y C N
Speaker 1: Y into What's Gonna Happen to Us? To me, that
Speaker 1: was almost like the scene in the Wizard of Oz
Speaker 1: when it comes into color, when it goes into crackling
Speaker 1: into the different sonic, or like you know in the
Speaker 1: in the Girl Can't Help It when Tom Yule snaps
Speaker 1: his fingers and everything goes in the color like that
Speaker 1: was such a great transition. I love that. Well good analog.
Speaker 1: I'm that's a very impressive analogy. It's so great. I mean,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned obviously live from Darrel's House. You have
Speaker 1: some incredible performances from there on here too. I mean,
Speaker 1: you did the rhythmics here comes the Rain again with
Speaker 1: Dave Stewart, Todd run Grins. Can we still be friends?
Speaker 1: I mean, so many amazing and diverse artists on your
Speaker 1: show over the years. I mean, Smokey Robinson, Sharon Jones
Speaker 1: to Ben Folds and Chromeo and Hallo Black. Was there
Speaker 1: any one guest on that show that really surprised you,
Speaker 1: either musically or or personality wise? Man, every show was
Speaker 1: a surprise to me. Every an I went in there
Speaker 1: without knowing what was going to happen, even with the
Speaker 1: people that I knew, you know, even with with with
Speaker 1: my friends or with with veteran artists, UH, really didn't know.
Speaker 1: With the new artists, and I don't think they knew either.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of kids kids, Yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: of these young artists. They came in and they were,
Speaker 1: you know, they were relatively inexperienced. And and to to
Speaker 1: go into a situation where you're with all these amazing
Speaker 1: musicians because my band are amazing musicians and uh, and
Speaker 1: and have to be to play, to work on your
Speaker 1: feet because it's it's not rehearsed, you know. And so
Speaker 1: there was a lot of these a lot of scared
Speaker 1: people out there, you know. But part of my job
Speaker 1: was to calm them down and say, look, there is
Speaker 1: you can't make a mistake here. It doesn't matter, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll just cut it out. If something that doesn't work,
Speaker 1: just let yourself go and that with very very varying degrees,
Speaker 1: people would fall into that that pattern, and that's what
Speaker 1: you see. That's the to me, that's the exciting part
Speaker 1: of the show is how people start responding to this,
Speaker 1: uh sort of a new feeling that they haven't experienced before. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's such a joy to watch. I know there's a
Speaker 1: question you've been getting quite a lot of lately, but uh,
Speaker 1: do you have any plans to return to to resurrect
Speaker 1: life from Darryl's House and then and then I know
Speaker 1: you have so much in the works now with the
Speaker 1: album going out on tour, but any any plans for
Speaker 1: that to come back in the near future. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: like to do. I would like to to return to
Speaker 1: it very much. So I just need to Hey, I
Speaker 1: need funding. Who uh anybody wants to fund it? Let
Speaker 1: me know. Uh. And I'm not sure what what format
Speaker 1: am going to come back with it, you know, but
Speaker 1: uh uh we're recording one show at the Rabbit Auditorium
Speaker 1: in Nashville. Oh man, Yeah, because Dave's gonna call hi.
Speaker 1: Dave Stewart's gonna be there, and Todd and I, you know,
Speaker 1: worked together and and uh so it'll be sort of
Speaker 1: Darrell's house and uh it'll be streamed around the world.
Speaker 1: So there you go. Oh cool, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see that. Todd's obviously going out on the road with
Speaker 1: you and you go way back. I know he produced
Speaker 1: war Babies. But what was the point of connection? Initially?
Speaker 1: Was it back in the in the Philly days. We
Speaker 1: didn't we didn't really we knew each other. We we we
Speaker 1: we didn't really connect in the Philly days because he
Speaker 1: he was sort of in the British invasion world, you know,
Speaker 1: and then you have the Nas and all that, and
Speaker 1: I was, you know, I was deep in into the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia soul scene with the Gamble and Huff and Tommy
Speaker 1: Bell and all those all those groups. Uh so we
Speaker 1: didn't really know each other, but uh we met. We
Speaker 1: both moved to New York around the same time, and
Speaker 1: then we we started, you know, knowing, starting to know
Speaker 1: each other. And that's when we said, why don't we
Speaker 1: make a record together? Do the War Babies album? Oh man,
Speaker 1: I mean, my my families from Pennsylvania. I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you, how much is being from Philadelphia, Being in
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia area, I should say impacted you musically. I
Speaker 1: mean you mentioned Gamble and Huff. I mean, it doesn't
Speaker 1: get more Philly than that. How much has that been
Speaker 1: part of your musical psyche? Every it's everything. I'm part
Speaker 1: of the sound of Philadelphia. I started with those guys,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm of the age where they were just
Speaker 1: they're just a little bit older than me, and and
Speaker 1: we we were all we were all working together at
Speaker 1: the in the very very beginning. We we both we
Speaker 1: we all worked for the same people before that, you know,
Speaker 1: when we were coming up together. Um, so it's it's
Speaker 1: it's all. It's all. I can't separate what I do
Speaker 1: from from where I come from. It's impossible. There's a
Speaker 1: great quote, and I'm trying from you that I'm trying
Speaker 1: to paraphrase something, the fact that soul music was crying
Speaker 1: in tune. I think I have that right. I want
Speaker 1: to ask you more about that. That's such a great line,
Speaker 1: and I feel like that sums up so much of
Speaker 1: what you do and where you come from when you're
Speaker 1: putting these songs across. Yeah, well, I I stick by
Speaker 1: that by that statement, you know, crying a tune, that's
Speaker 1: what it's all about. I mean you touched on this earlier,
Speaker 1: but I mean the hallmark of these Darrell's House performances
Speaker 1: is that they're so intimate and laid back. I mean
Speaker 1: they feel like a bunch of friends in someone's living room.
Speaker 1: How do you bring that lightness and ease to this tour?
Speaker 1: How do you make the stage feel like Darryll's house?
Speaker 1: There are little tricks. I was doing it with hollow
Speaker 1: notes to sub degree, but it's it has to do
Speaker 1: with lighting and how you can bring the audience, make
Speaker 1: the audience well. I I the audience is always interactive
Speaker 1: in my shows on and even enhanced that as much
Speaker 1: as possible. It has to do with lighting and and
Speaker 1: things like that. And uh, I'm not really using on
Speaker 1: This is a theater tour, so I'm not really using screens.
Speaker 1: But when I play bigger places, I make big use
Speaker 1: of screens. So it's not just similar to watching it
Speaker 1: on TV, you know. Um, So there's a lot of things.
Speaker 1: And it's also has to do with with performance style.
Speaker 1: You know, you just bring people in. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: you gotta stay loose and spontaneous. It must feel so
Speaker 1: good to get back out on the road. I mean
Speaker 1: especially after the last two years. Did your relationship to
Speaker 1: music change at all over the course of the pandemic,
Speaker 1: either in in you know what it means to make it,
Speaker 1: or how you appreciate listening to it, all of the above. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1: I I for two years, I basically hibernated creatively. I
Speaker 1: didn't do anything, and and that was the I mean,
Speaker 1: the pandemic has affected everybody in different way. With me,
Speaker 1: I've been traveling my entire life around the world, never stopped.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I have houses in various places,
Speaker 1: and you know, in and out of the United States.
Speaker 1: I was working, traveling, you know, doing whatever. And for
Speaker 1: two years I didn't. I just sat in this room
Speaker 1: here that you're looking at me at uh with with
Speaker 1: my cat. And I didn't I didn't play that. I
Speaker 1: didn't play the piano. I didn't I did hardly even
Speaker 1: played the guitar. I didn't didn't sing, didn't really do anything.
Speaker 1: And it was sort of like breech charging batteries. It
Speaker 1: was a really uh uh. I can't even describe a
Speaker 1: transcendent experience that I came out of this a different
Speaker 1: sort of a different person. And I realized and I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people share this in their worlds too. Uh.
Speaker 1: I realized that now is the time to just uh
Speaker 1: not be restricted and and do whatever you were going,
Speaker 1: whatever you you should be doing, or what are you
Speaker 1: gonna do, or what do you whatever you want to do,
Speaker 1: do it, and you know, and that that's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons I'm doing this is what I'm this whole
Speaker 1: solo uh, this whole solo experience. I've decided to stop
Speaker 1: being restricted by by uh the good problem that is
Speaker 1: all and outs. You know, it's I don't have to
Speaker 1: just keep playing those same songs over and over again.
Speaker 1: I can I can show my sort of alternative side. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean, you mentioned that the last couple of years
Speaker 1: has been i um, more of a restorative time, a
Speaker 1: regenerative time for you creatively. Is that is that normal?
Speaker 1: Does the creativity and songwriting come and go in waves
Speaker 1: over the years, or is the last couple of years
Speaker 1: been atypical for you in that sense? I tend to
Speaker 1: try and work it that way. I mean, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: normally I've always coming up with ideas, but I tend
Speaker 1: to work for projects. Uh. If I know that I'm
Speaker 1: doing uh working with say Dave Stewart or whatever. I
Speaker 1: start thinking in terms of that and my songwriting ideas
Speaker 1: and phrasing, and I mean the phrases I write down
Speaker 1: and things like that um tended to fit what I
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna be doing. And uh, I'm not afraid
Speaker 1: to go follow you know, if if if something, something
Speaker 1: isn't coming, I don't try and force it, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: For someone who's written as much as you have, and
Speaker 1: especially it's many hits as you have, is there an
Speaker 1: element of you're gonna laugh at me, almost superstition to it?
Speaker 1: But from when it comes to writing, is there a
Speaker 1: certain time of day that you feel as best or
Speaker 1: I'm not hands they're called a lucky piano or a
Speaker 1: lucky keyboard. But is there any element of that too?
Speaker 1: Do you believe in any of that or is that
Speaker 1: not really factor into it for you? Well, no, no,
Speaker 1: it's not superstition, no, But but I think it's bi
Speaker 1: rhythms I tend to I I write and you know,
Speaker 1: when I first wake up my most creative period, the
Speaker 1: whole lyric just blew right out or come up with
Speaker 1: the idea for a song as as I'm coming out
Speaker 1: of the dream state and having a cup of tea
Speaker 1: or whatever. Uh that that first thing in the day
Speaker 1: is my best time for coming up with new ideas.
Speaker 1: And I tend to work during the day once other
Speaker 1: than the fact, other than when I play live six o'clock,
Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm done. I'm just gonna hang out, but
Speaker 1: have a drink, watch TV, do whatever I want to do.
Speaker 1: Um and I and I don't work. I don't like
Speaker 1: to work in the evening unless, like I said, unless
Speaker 1: I'm playing a show. And does it happen all different ways?
Speaker 1: I mean lyrics first, then melody or working from a
Speaker 1: chord structure first, and there is Do you have a
Speaker 1: set way that you go go about it? No, it
Speaker 1: can come anyway at all. I mean I was I
Speaker 1: just came back from the Bahamas. I was working with
Speaker 1: Dave Stewart and uh he I just have books and
Speaker 1: books of ideas, lyric ideas and phrases, and and I
Speaker 1: was just reading them to him and he went, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a good one. You know, Let's let's write a
Speaker 1: song even like that, you know, and then we elaborate
Speaker 1: on that. So a lot of times I'll just come
Speaker 1: from something like just reading a phrase out or or
Speaker 1: writing a phrase down, or seeing something. So one time
Speaker 1: I wrote a song about I saw something on the
Speaker 1: back of a truck and then they gave me an
Speaker 1: idea for a chord and Uh, sometimes it comes from
Speaker 1: a drum machine. You know, it'll be a beat that
Speaker 1: will cause me to play a certain bass pattern, a
Speaker 1: chord pattern. Uh. Sometimes it is the chord patterns. Uh.
Speaker 1: Very seldom is it a melody where I sing something
Speaker 1: and then put something around it. It usually comes from
Speaker 1: the melody comes as it's almost juxtaposed two a phrase
Speaker 1: or a beat or a chord pattern. This is maybe
Speaker 1: a strange question, but do you get more inspiration looking
Speaker 1: outward or looking inward? Uh? Both, I think equal equal.
Speaker 1: I'm a pretty introverted person and introspective, but I get
Speaker 1: I think I get my ideas from observation and and
Speaker 1: experience and and experience obviously. I mean by revisiting these
Speaker 1: songs from your past on this compilation, are there any
Speaker 1: songs on there that means something totally different to you
Speaker 1: now than when you wrote them? In some cases, you know,
Speaker 1: several decades ago. Yes, yes, I think all my songs
Speaker 1: I could say that about you know, you write a
Speaker 1: song about something that's happened to you at the time,
Speaker 1: and then if that's a universal not universal, but it's
Speaker 1: a timeless sort of thing, and you may have an experience,
Speaker 1: say with a person, you might have a an experience
Speaker 1: with a completely different person, but that that that thought,
Speaker 1: for some reason becomes even more valid in the new situation.
Speaker 1: That's That's as good as I could put that. But yes, uh,
Speaker 1: it's uh. When I'm singing the songs, I'm not always
Speaker 1: thinking about the the original subject of the song. You know.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love how multifaceted song. I mean,
Speaker 1: as you said, timeless songs can be. It makes some
Speaker 1: timeless is that they mean different things different people in
Speaker 1: different moments of their lives. And you know, songs that
Speaker 1: I knew as a kid I come back to now
Speaker 1: and uh and mean something totally different but touches me
Speaker 1: in just as deep away. I think that's amazing. On
Speaker 1: this tour, is there any song in particular that you're
Speaker 1: the most excited to perform, either one that you maybe
Speaker 1: haven't done live in a really long time, or just
Speaker 1: you know, something brand new that you're working on and
Speaker 1: you're excited to see what people respond to, Uh, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna play any brand new songs. But but
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, you know, I mean, I'm excited
Speaker 1: just to play any of the ones from the from
Speaker 1: the past albums. It's uh, you know, it'll be fun
Speaker 1: to play Babs and Babs because I'll play that one.
Speaker 1: And uh uh, I'm not even in rehearsals yet, so
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what's going to excite
Speaker 1: me yet. Let's see. Yeah, oh man, I mean, I
Speaker 1: I guess my my last question, I want to take
Speaker 1: up too much more your time by putting this album together.
Speaker 1: Did you learn something about yourself by going back through
Speaker 1: these songs? You know they always say that in a dream,
Speaker 1: every character is you. By hearing all these songs back
Speaker 1: to back, did you did that somehow? It was almost
Speaker 1: like getting a really good dream reading. Yeah. I to
Speaker 1: look back on it all. It I mean, I can
Speaker 1: relate to all every song intimately, the experiences, uh, the
Speaker 1: interaction I had with the people that I wrote the
Speaker 1: songs about or and also the people that I worked
Speaker 1: with making the records. Uh, yeah, it all. It gives
Speaker 1: me good feelings. It makes me know that I've had
Speaker 1: some amazing connections in my life so far. And uh,
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of it, and and I'm really really
Speaker 1: fulfilled by it. And we thank you for sharing it.
Speaker 1: Darryl Hall, Thank you so much for your time today
Speaker 1: and most importantly your music. Thank you silvery much. Thank you, Matt.
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio,
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