Half of legendary rock duo says reunion's unlikely: `I've moved on'
If you've been hoping that Daryl Hall and John Oates would be able to settle their differences and reunite, we've got some bad news for you.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Oates said it's highly unlikely.
“As far as I'm concerned, I've moved on. I feel like I have a new lease on my creative life,” he said.
“Daryl Hall is an amazing individual. He is one of the great, great songwriters of all time, and without a doubt, one of the great singers of all time,” Oates said. “I would never say anything negative about him. But we have a different strategy for our lives, and we have a different strategy for our business lives as well as our personal lives. And that's that, so be it. We're old guys. We deserve to be allowed to do whatever we want to do.”
In November of last year, Hall filed suit against Oates, saying his musical partner sought to sell his share of the Pa.-born duo's business, calling it the “ultimate partnership betrayal.” The pair haven't played a show together since October 2022.
Hall told the court he was “deeply troubled by the deterioration of my relationship with, and trust in, John Oates. His behavior has become adversarial and aggressive instead of professional and courteous.”
In the Rolling Stone interview, Oates said his decision to sell came about while reevaluating his priorities during the pandemic.
“I'll tell you what changed,” he said. “During the pandemic, there were no more private planes. There were no more arena shows or even acoustic shows. It gave me a chance to step back. I had a chance to reevaluate things.”
“Those [Hall [Amp] Oates] songs are going to live forever. But I wanted to relegate them to the classic file that they're in. And I wanted them to be heard in the best possible light, the way they were when the spark was on fire in the Seventies and Eighties. That's when those songs really resonated. To keep playing them, for me, was no longer interesting. I just wanted to do something else.”
Oates, however, was optimistic that his legal battles with Hall would resolve without too much acrimony.
“Daryl and I have a business partnership, and there was some things about the business that we disagreed with, which happens all the time in business. And we're going to work it out.”
But Oates had nothing bad to say about his songwriting partner, even if he doesn't keep up with his latest adventures.
“I don't follow him on social media. In fact, I don't even know what he's doing,” he said. “I hope he's doing well and I hope he's having a time of his life, but it's not part of my life.”
As far as reuniting for a tour, however, “I don't see it,” Oates said. “I really don't. Life is funny though. You never know what kind of curve it will throw you.”