How Prince Saved Harts From Giving Up On The Music Industry

If your parents christened you with the superstar-ready name of Darren Hart, you'd probably consider getting your ass into the public eye immediately. Add to that ridiculous good looks and a sense of style that has this scribe wondering whether Hart is a sneaky stylist in his spare time - denim jacket with sheepskin collar and black felt pork pie hat - and it's clear this gent belongs in the spotlight. Look at him, will you? A picture of sartorial elegance. When shopping for our shoot, Hart explains, "We went down to Anton's got, like, a real cool '60s-esque outfit and I loved the jacket! So I actually went the next day and I bought the jacket and then we used it for a video shoot as well," he laughs.

Hart's beverage of choice today is water. He has very expressive hand gestures and one gets the impression it takes a while to gain his trust since it's only towards the end of this chat that he maintains steady eye contact. For "this album" (Smoke Fire Hope Desire), Harts reveals, "We're thinking about, 'Well we really have to brand it properly'... A lot of the reasons why I hadn't done it yet was because I wanted the music to speak for itself... because if I started to wear certain stuff, I fall into the trap of being either too Prince or too Jimi Hendrix - with the appearance - so that was something that I was consciously avoiding for a long time. But now I've kind of embraced it."

He often laughs unexpectedly, usually while recalling personal career misfortunes. Understandably, Hart thought he'd hit the jackpot when he "was signed to Universal in 2011", but "it wasn't a good experience" (that laugh again). "The process of going through a major label just for one EP was a colossal waste of time," he laments. Although Hart "was in control of the music, which was good", he bemoans, "I wasn't in control of the scheduling... The EP was delivered to them in 2011 and it didn't come out until 2013. So that's two years that I was literally sitting at home doing nothing." Waiting for the official word that he'd been dropped from Universal's roster, Hart started freaking out ("No one really cares if I play the guitar behind my head"): "The day that I got the letter from [the label] saying, 'You're released,' within two hours I got contacted by Prince! So I was like, 'You can't make that shit up!'"

"If I started to wear certain stuff, I fall into the trap of being either too Prince or too Jimi Hendrix - with the appearance - so that was something that I was consciously avoiding for a long time. But now I've kind of embraced it."

Turns out His Purple Highness' majestic fingers discovered Hart via some YouTube videos he uploaded to hopefully gain some "exposure", which "actually got [him] discovered". "And it was nothing that a record label could do for me: it was something that it was my own idea and something I did for myself," Hart enthuses.

After emailing "back and forth" with Prince's manager for "about a week", Hart shares, "They could sense that I was a bit hesitant [as] to whether this was a legit opportunity and one day they just asked for my phone number. And one morning Prince just called me straight-up and I recognised his voice instantly." Hart recalls the pair "hit it off straight away". "At the end of the conversation he just said, 'Do you wanna come out here for a while?'" he marvels.

So was there someone waiting at Minneapolis St Paul International Airport, holding up a sign with Hart's name on it? "Yeah, everything was taken care of from the moment I left Melbourne airport... and, yeah! Once I was there he went up to me straight away and gave me a huuuuuuge hug and he was just like, 'Thanks for coming'. He was so appreciative that I went out there and I found that funny; I was like, 'He does know he's Prince, right?' But then after, you know, spending some time with him, I realised how humble and down to earth this guy is. And he doesn't think he's, like, at all better than anybody else, he doesn't think he's more powerful."

The "behind closed doors" Prince, according to Hart, was "just a normal human and he's down to earth and he's humble and he's appreciative for everything he has". "[He's] probably the same guy he was before he was really super-famous, which was just phenomenal," Hart praises. "There's no - what's the word? There's no bullshit around it, you know? It's real. And that inspired me to wanna have another huge go at the music industry, and we talked a lot; we spent a lotta time talking about music, recording, playing, jamming. He listened to a lotta songs I had at the time, which I was gonna put out as an album but I hadn't announced it or anything; he gave me a little advice on it. And then as soon as I got home I started telling everyone I was gonna do an album and that was the [debut] Daydreamer album."

As soon as the story broke that Hart had been flown over at Prince's behest, it made Hart "a little bit sad" when he noticed "all of a sudden the media jumped on board, all of a sudden triple j jumped on board, all of a sudden everybody started just, like, acknowledging it," he laughs again. "All of a sudden record labels were interested again - and not just Australian, but Atlantic and big labels in the States took me out for meetings and stuff like that as well." Hart acknowledges that this news "got so big" because Prince "worked with a lot of females - women - not a lot of males; so for him to wanna work with a male was a big thing". After being "blessed with that opportunity", Hart hit the ground running and hasn't "had a break" since, instead choosing to capitalise on momentum. For his Smoke Fire Hope Desire set, Hart stresses, "I've gotta put it out there and I've gotta get some actual people to find it that can really put money into pushing this thing; that's why I licensed it back to Universal and stuff 'cause they are still the best label." 

Hart was fortunate enough to be at one of Prince's Melbourne State Theatre shows in February ("the first one on the first night"), which he describes as "awesome". "That was something I wish he had done earlier," Hart admits, "because, like, the guy is - the guy was, I keep referring to him like he's still here - the guy was absolutely phenomenal and I didn't even know how good he was - like, I was always a fan, but until I met him and saw him playing with no pressure, just playing just for the fun of it; the guy was ridiculous!" After observing Prince's Piano & A Microphone Tour dates marked "the first time in his life he's done that", Hart adds, "He had a whole lotta dates planned that won't happen". "I think, you know, he had a lot of issues with his health that he knew about," Hart opines, "and he wanted to do some stuff while he had a chance. So it's good that he got a chance to do some of it."