“When there’s no audience involved, at least no audience that you can see, you can just be yourself. You can just hang out, be friends, meet people for the first time, have all of those normal reactions, it’s a very natural thing.”
Daryl Hall is talking to Radio.com about his show, Live From Daryl’s House, which started as an online-only only webcast that was posted to the show’s official website, but now airs on Viacom’s Palladia channel. It certainly stands out from other shows: as Hall points out, there’s no studio audience: in fact, most of the 60+ episodes were filmed in his house.
But there’s also the fact that being on his show is a day-long commitment at the least. His home is about two hours north of New York City, so it’s way off the beaten path that most celebs are on when they’re in promotional mode in Manhattan. If you haven’t seen the show yet (and why haven’t you?) there are three parts: the performances, where Daryl and his guest(s) perform songs from both of their catalogs, and occasionally covers. Then there’s the meal preparation: a well-known chef will take Daryl and his guest through the process of making dinner. And then dinner itself, which is where the “interview” happens, but since it’s over food (and wine), its a bit more freewheeling than what you get when someone sits on a talk show host’s couch.
Radio.com spoke with some of his guests from over the years, all of whom gush about the experience. Tyler Glenn from Neon Trees told us “We are such Hall & Oates fans. I loved that day, hanging out with Daryl. It was one of my favorite creative days. It wasn’t about what anyone was wearing, or who they were wearing or who they were listening to at the time, it was just a bunch of cool musicians playing songs. I wanna go back! I get jealous when I hear that other artists that I know have gone on.”
The show’s first guest (other than John Oates) was Travie McCoy, a man with Hall & Oates tattooed on his hands. He told us “It was hands down, probably one of my favorite moments of my career. I was trying not to geek out, because I was sitting next to my superhero.”
An even bigger endorsement came from Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick of Fitz & the Tantrums : “For us, doing Live From Daryl’s House has been one of the most important things we’ve ever done as musicians. We’ve gotten more fans from that show than doing all of late night television three times over.”
After being on hiatus for about a year, the show returned in January with a new episode which saw Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top visit Daryl; since then, Gavin DeGraw and Johnnyswim have been featured guests, with more bookings expected in the next few weeks.
And that’s not Daryl’s only reason to celebrate: Hall & Oates, will at long last be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, along with KISS, Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt and Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Hopefully there will be a great jam session at the end of that show, and who knows: maybe some of his fellow inductees will end up at his house this season.
– Brian Ives, Radio.com
