They came out of nowhere in the ’90s and went on to sell over 25 million albums around the world, a figure that’s unheard of these days, even for some of the biggest artists kicking around. In fact, Savage Garden have sold more copies per album than any other Australian act ever.

Considering they only ever released two albums — their eponymous 1997 debut and 1999’s Affirmation — that’s understandable. In 2001, the band went out on top, with singer Darren Hayes confirming the breakup of the band he started with instrumentalist Daniel Jones following seven years of existence.

While Hayes embarked on a semi-successful solo career and has stayed busy since, mystery continues to surround just what happened to Jones, who went from being in Australia’s biggest pop group to seemingly falling off the face of the planet.

The band recently returned to the promotional circuit, albeit separately, to promote their new best-of compilation, speaking to Australia’s News Corp. While the interview focused largely on Hayes, the more vocal of the two, the full interview with Jones has now been unveiled.

So, just what happened to Australia’s pop star who vanished? The one whose dissatisfaction with the lifestyle of being in a band and even being on stage led to the band’s breakup? Well, he’s basically done his best to avoid the limelight ever since he stepped away from it in 2001.

“It’s just not for everyone,” Jones says. “And you don’t know that until you do it. The one thing I never wanted Darren to think was that it was personal against him. My decision of walking away from the limelight wasn’t directed towards anyone but my own self and my own happiness. Years later, I don’t miss that lifestyle.”

“The decision I made back then is still the right decision for myself. It’s who said what sometimes, it can get out of control but the reality is I never loved the lifestyle of the band or the existence of touring. I’ve never said anything other than that.”

Now married to former Hi-5 member Kathleen De Leon, a Las Vegas-based Jones stays busy by looking after his family and “flipping” houses he buys cheaply in Vegas, even getting involved in the renovating himself. For him, music is “on the back burner”.

“I’m pretty good on the tools and quite hands on. I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed doing hard work,” he says of his new venture. “I’ll be painting one day, putting up stud work one day, plastering the next day.”

“I’m doing that on houses mainly through Las Vegas where I purchase them at a low deflated price and then hold onto them and flip them. I’ve got a small crew who work with me… for me. It’s so far away from music right?”

As far as Jones is concerned, he’s not the mystery man of Savage Garden. “There’s not a lot of mystery about it,” he says. “I’m number one a father, number two a husband and number three I dabble in property. Music is sitting on the back burner now.”

“I still enjoy it, I still write and record and play around with it purely for fun, the same way I did 20 years ago with Darren. But I don’t take it as seriously any more as far as the dream I dreamt. Which I realised wasn’t really my ideal dream.”

“The dream I’m dreaming now is another one I’ve dreamt but I’m happy and that is a family. Two beautiful daughters and a beautiful wife, everything’s good.” Jones says there have been plenty of offers to reform the band, but that fans shouldn’t get their hopes up.

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“There has been [offers], the reality is the band will unfortunately never get back together,” he tells News Corp. “What we have to do is remember what we did do, if that’s touched your life to some degree, you’ve got to look back fondly rather than wish for more.”

Jones stresses that there’s no animosity between Hayes and himself and that while he refuses to reform Savage Garden, he can see a return to his homeland in his future. “We’ve been in Las Vegas for five years and we were in LA before that,” Jones explains.

“I thoroughly enjoy living here but I miss Australia a lot. Kathleen and I were talking seriously about when we’d move back. In the back of both of our minds there’s a return trip home. We’re an oddball family.”

“I was born in England, Kathleen was born in the Philippines, my eldest daughter was born in Sydney and my other daughter was born in LA. None of us were born in the same country, only one of us is a true Australian, but it is our home. Our parents are there, our siblings are there. I miss Australia a lot.”

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