John Oates - Of Hall and Oates Fame

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

Everybody knows the duo, Hall and Oates from their countless number one hits. Most people think of them as one branded unit, however are they truly joined at the hip? John Oates tells us how they work and even reveals, "If it wasn't for music, I doubt whether we'd be friends"

DM) I was surprised that you guys would do tribute songs, considering that you've originated so many number one songs.

JO) We made an album about two years ago called, "Do It for Love" and had a lot of success with it. We decided we wanted to do a project that had a feeling.... At some point in their career, most people do an album of great hits of other performers--a tribute album that shows their influences. It shows the music that they listened when they were kids. Our motivation was a little different. We decided to do an album a little different. Every song, except for one, is contemporary with our careers, and not preceding our career. And in some way, we're competing with these songs simultaneously with our own material on the radio. Every song on this record has a connection to us in some way, either personally or professionally. We knew the artists; we knew the producers. But it's the kind of album that where we wanted to redefine ourselves to the music that was part of our lives, not preceding our lives and career.

DM) Do you still work on material similar to what you've started off with then?

JO) Our basic style of songwriting has never changed. I think we've gotten better at it, but in terms of how and why we write songs it's really similar. The basic format is no difference then it was ever.

DM) Recently I saw you guys at Jones Beach, and Daryl did a song form his solo work. Do the solo albums pull away from Hall and Oates?

JO) We've done that over the years, each of us releasing solos. I think that's why we're still together. That freedom doesn't keep us too restricted.

DM) The time you've been together is longer than most marriages in America. Is that one of the reasons why you've been able to work together so long?

JO) We very seldom have fights. If something that needs to be done that we don't feel confronting, we do it through the manager. Let him do his job, but the reality is that we rarely have fights that get that big. Everybody always asks the same question, but the best way to describe it is that it's like the relationship that brothers have. We've been together since we've been teenagers. I can go away and disappear for two years, and when we get back together, it's like nothing ever has changed.

DM) All too often I've seen Saturday Night live type of shows that portray you two as the next Real World college roommates.

JO) (laughs) People like to think that because they associate the name, the blond guy and the little short guy. It's like a trademark. We're two individuals, we have our own families, we live in different parts of the country, and we have our own interests. It's the music that brings us together. If it wasn't for music, I doubt whether we'd be friends. It's the music that brings us together. It's that we have a shared common background. We have this common musical vocabulary that is the bedrock of our relationship.

DM) You said, "If it wasn't for music, I doubt whether we'd be friends"

JO) Well, because we're so different as people. And it's that difference that probably also makes it easy to stay together, because we don't get in each others way.

DM) Watching the two of you, Daryl seems more outgoing while you're more laid back.

JO) I don't require what Daryl requires. He likes the performance a lot more than I do. I enjoy playing with a great band. I don't need to tour. If I stopped touring tomorrow, it wouldn't change my life. If Daryl stopped touring it would be a big part of him missing. That's why that works. I just like playing with the band and doing what I do. I do a lot of things behind the scenes. I do a lot of things that don't hit the headlines. Most relationships where two people have the same motivation, needs, desires and requirements... there's usually a butting of heads at one point. In our relationship, we don't have that situation. I don't require what he needs, and he doesn't require what I need. I know what I do; I have an amazing life that nobody knows about. I have a great family, I live an amazing life. I'm like two different people. I strap on the guitar, and I'm that person, and the minute I go home, I'm somebody else.

DM) You get to lead a normal life.

JO) It's not very normal. I live in the middle of the mountains in Aspen Colorado, I have the tractor on my ranch. Right out my door is thousands of acres of national forest.

DM) If you didn't go touring, you said, you'd be ok?

JO) I don't need that kind of validation. I like playing on stage, don't get me wrong. To me, when a great band is playing together, it's amazing for me. It's amazing for me to be part of something that's greater than the whole, whereas I don't need to be the whole.

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