Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
Hall & Oates are the best selling duo of all time. With an estimated 40 million record sales, worldwide and 30+ Billboard Top 100 hits, including 6 #1 songs, it’s easy to see why the Philadelphia act was one of the most influential of their time.
Enter H20…a Florida-based production that pays tribute to the music of Hall & Oates. We had the pleasure of speaking with the band’s production manager, who gave us a behind the scenes glimpse into the making of a Hall & Oates tribute…
With so many legendary, chart-topping artists throughout history, why Hall & Oates?
The body of work over the years is so extensive and varied we wanted to pay tribute to the amazing careers and musicians that have been part of the Hall and Oates band over the years, The music just speaks for itself.
Tremendous vocal chops are needed to pull off most of Daryl Hall’s vocals. What kind of preparation/education/vocal exercises does Jason Ames do, to be able to emulate one of the greatest male vocalists of all time?
As the producer I chose Jason as I had the luxury of working with him years ago and I had a feeling that his raw talent was such that if he could embody the approach that Daryl takes on phrasing a song and then letting it really melt in your mouth so to say we would really have something special. Jason has spent a year re training himself to sing in a whole new way, Philly Soul is a unique approach to how words play with the music and he has really found his way learning what we call Daryl Gymnastics with his vocals. Daryl is just an amazing vocalist.
Hall & Oates had so many hits. How did you select which songs to include in your shows? Which song is your personal favorite to perform, and why? Which one is the most difficult to pull off?
When we set out to select a set list, we searched as many versions of live performances as we could find. We believe that an artists live versions seem to harness the true”sound” they were after when they created the song, so we wanted to do our best to reproduce that sound when playing one of their songs. As for which is our favorite, well we each have one I am sure… for me, as the FOH and producer, I think the acoustic versions section we have set out to play is mine. It is a direct reflection of a tour Hall and Oates did to Japan in 1991 on a release called “Acoustic Power.” So much power, yet with the sensitivity of an acoustic approach. Just a fantastic concert to listen to and enjoy. As for the hardest, there are a few that are so unique vocally that there is no room for anything but what they did, and learning the phrasing and timing was hard, “You Make My Dreams Come True” is that way for sure.
What kind of show/performance can concert goers expect when they come to see one of your shows?
Well our goal is to play the music of Hall and Oates with passion and be true to the song and the background of that song,… the when, where and what of the song. We research every songs story from the writers. Even the artwork behind the band live is filled with the imagery of the origins and meanings of each song. So, as for the show people will see, it will be heartfelt, we have so much respect for the Hall and Oates family we just cannot do this any other way.
Have you ever had the chance to meet Hall & Oates? If yes, how did that go? If no, how do you think you would react to them attending one of your shows?
No we have not yet we have all seen them live multiple times but someday we hope to. John does check in on our progress from time to time via social media and we appreciate that very much. As I said earlier, we hope that one day we have the opportunity to play where they could hear us and we can only hope they are pleased with the care and passion we put into the performance, we learned from them, we can only hope they feel that we did their music with the respect they and it deserves.
Thanks for taking the time and good luck on the road!
