John Oates speaks candidly about partnering with Darryl Hall as legal battle continues

John Oates says he has “moved on” from his time as part of beloved rock duo Hall & Oates, and that he prefers to live “in my present”.

In a move that shocked fans, Daryl Hall, the other half of the duo, applied for a restraining order against Oates in November. Hall argued in a lawsuit that Oates' plans to sell his stake in a joint venture would violate the employment agreement between the two.

In “Behind the Velvet Rope” Wednesday PodcastOates told interviewer David Yonteff that he was proud of Hall & Oates' work, but that was in the past.

“You can't ignore the fact that Hall & Oates' successful catalog and 50-year career will almost always outperform anything Darryl does on his own or I do on my own, and that's a good thing, because I'm very proud of that music,” Oates said. That we made music that will stand the test of time.”

“But at the same time, I'm not very nostalgic,” he added. “I liken it to when you go to a great museum, and you're really excited to go see all the beautiful paintings or exhibits or whatever it might be, and then near the end, your feet start to hurt and you're like, ‘You know what?’ I can't wait to get out of here. This is how I feel about it.

When asked if there was a song he would be happy not to perform again, Oates, 75, replied: “To be honest with you, I'm not touring with Daryl these days, I'm doing solo shows.”

“I've moved on. It's a matter of living in my present,” he said.

Hall & Oates formed as a duo in 1972 and continued to dominate the charts throughout the 1970s and 1980s with hits like “Out of Touch,” “Maneater,” and “Rich Girl.”

The duo never officially broke up, as they performed together in October 2022.

But Hall, 77, claimed In the lawsuit he filed in court in November, he said the fight over Oats' attempt to sell his stake in Whole Oats Enterprises to music publisher Primary Wave amounted to a “global divorce” and amounted to a “betrayal of the ultimate partnership.”

Oates said in his own filing that Hall's statements were “inflammatory, bizarre, and inaccurate.”

The matter will be decided in a confidential arbitration process.

Oates talked more about his solo career on “Behind the Velvet Rope,” touching on his time on the TV show “The Masked Singer,” his opinion of Taylor Swift (whom he's a fan of), and his plan to release an EDM version. From Mark Cohen's book “Walking in Memphis.”