US Pops Hot Lads From Logan

By Darren Lovell

A Logan city pop duo are about to do to their town what the Beetles did to Liverpool and Nirvana did to Seattle - put it on the map. The duo, Savage Garden, look set to become the next big thing. Two weeks ago they released their first single, I WANT YOU in the United States where it debuted in Billboard' s Top 20. Today it sits at number 16 with a bullet. In Australia, the single went platinum and became last year's biggest selling single. Their second single, To The Moon and Back quickly became No 1, while the latest, Truly Madly Deeply, is waling out of the shops. The two Logan lads who make up Savage Garden, Darren Hayes, 24, and Daniel Jones, 23, are about to release their debut self-titled album later this month.

"How did two boys from Logan end up writing songs like this?" Asked Gary Beitzel. Beitzel runs Woodys, a record shop that nestles itself next to K mart in Logan, an area where heavy metal and grunge still dominate CD players. Beitzel knows Hayes almost better than anyone. For five years, the Mabel Park State High School student worked at Woodys, where he developed a love of music. "I would Say that the biggest influence on Darren would have to be Michael Jackson," Beitzel said. "Not only did he love his music, but he loved the approach Michael tool to the whole industry."

Friends of the boys both remark on how deserving they are of their success. But already they are getting caught up in the publicity machine that absorbs and ten spits out pop stars like chewing gum. Last year, Jones was unable to address the graduation Year 12 students at his old high school, Shailer Park State High, because he had to be in New York for a photoshoot.

Their record company, Roadshow Music, would not allow The Sunday Mail to interview Savage Garden last week because of prior exclusive arrangements. But their number one fan, Anna Nilme, 24, who met Hayes at QUT's Kelvin Grove campus where they both studied to be teachers, said the boys would keep their feet firmly on the ground. "They are pretty down to earth," she said.Coming from Logan helps. Both grew up in the area, but because of the geography they never met and went to high schools separated by freeways and shopping strips. They met when Hayes answered and ad Jones had place in a Music magazine, looking for a singer. For two years they played covers band called Red Edge, until they ditched the band and formed a pop duo. Hayes who loves Anne Rice novels, named the duo Savage Garden after a reference in the book Lestat.

"They are chalk and cheese," Ms Nilme said. "They are great friends, but because they work so close together they never socialise together."

School girls at Mabel Park State High talk about Savage Garden in the same breath as Take That. "They are better than Take That," They scream. "And they are bigger babes!"

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