Last week we noted that Darren Hayes - former Savage Garden frontman, electropopper extraordinaire, all-round bon viveur - has been "a bit quiet of late". Little did we know that, quite literally, he has been very quiet of late.

Here's what he emailed The Sound just a couple of hours ago:

"I'm in Melbourne, Australia getting ready to perform at the last two sold out shows on my tour in Melbourne and my home town of Brisbane (where we are filming the performance for a DVD) and I've been in complete silence for three days!

The entire band and crew have been battling a throat infection since the beginning
of the tour and I finally got it. I'm totally on the mend but on doctor's orders I was told not to speak for three days.

I've had to write down everything which has made for some hilarious and frustrating experiences for all around me, not least my partner Richard. My nickname on tour is 'the mime artist'.

Very excited about the tour and I'm getting ready to release plans for an exclusive and intimate New Year's Eve show in London."

To be perfectly honest, we're not entirely convinced by this "throat infection" story. We reckon Dazza lost his voice after attempting one too many high-pitched "woos" when he was covering Kylie's '2 Hearts' last week. Evidently, the man believes in suffering for his art.