Daryl Hall & John Oates – HuffPost 12.3.09

[Note: These are quotes taken from my interviews with Daryl Hall and John Oates that are included to be inspirational.]

Mike Ragogna: On your show, you’ve featured classic acts such as Smokey Robinson, Todd Rundgren, and Nick Lowe, but you’ve also focused on current artists like Matt Nathanson, Chromeo, KT Tunstall, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T’s, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump…

Daryl Hall: Yeah, there’s a certain kind of artistry that’s common in the whole thing. It’s people who’ve influenced me like Smokey, and people I’ve influenced like Gym Class Heroes, people like that. It kind of goes both ways, but I’m kind of concentrating on my interaction with newer artists. I think the bulk of the shows represent that, and that’s sort of what it’s all about–although I do like to throw in, as you said, the occasional Nick Lowe or Smokey just to break it up and to have some fun.

MR: So it’s almost like it’s your turn to mentor, and these younger acts genuinely are having fun in the process.

DH: The other thing about the show is that it shows people in their native habitat as opposed to most performance situations being an artist doing his or her “act” and the audience just sort of watching. But it’s an act, there’s a fourth wall. On this show, there’s no act, everybody is completely themselves–you have to be due to the nature of what’s going on. I know from a lot of managers, record companies, and artists themselves that they’re very happy to come on the show because it shows their fans what they’re really all about. Especially when you’re a new artist and people don’t really know who you are, it allows people to show a different side of themselves.

MR: After working together for many years, some acts naturally disband. But Hall & Oates is a brand that just keeps going strong. What’s the secret?

JO: Well, what you’re hearing when you hear Hall & Oates is a brotherhood. It’s not two guys who are friends or have a professional relationship. It goes way back, we’ve known each other since right out of high school, we grew up together, and we experienced everything in our adult lives together. The traveling, the business, the ups and the downs…it really goes beyond just a normal working relationship.