Duran Duran Skip Collaborations With Gwen, Justin To Focus On 'The Original Five'
Nearly three and a half years since they announced that the original members were reuniting for another go-round, Duran Duran are back with a new album — and it couldn't be soon enough for bass player John Taylor. "It's like we're James Bond," he said. "You've had the Roger Moore version, but Sean Connery is back."

Without the feathered hair, that is. Though the original members of the double-D haven't recorded anything together since 1983, they've managed to stay current. While Astronaut isn't likely to win them any new fans, it's not just a flashback to the '80s, either. Thanks to knob-twiddlers Dallas Austin (TLC, Madonna), Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne) and Nile Rodgers (David Bowie, Diana Ross, Duran Duran's "Wild Boys"), the album's swinging pop-rock sound manages to evoke the band's halcyon days and also modernize it a bit, with two songs ("Point of No Return" and the touching "Still Breathing") that owe their moodiness to 9-11. Call it a new maturity, or at least an ability to put the baggage behind them.

"We worked through everything," Taylor said. "And that wasn't all sunshine. It was hard work. Before Simon called me to suggest we get back together, I was actually thinking of calling him, but I didn't know how he'd take it. I took it as a sign that he called me first, that we were on the same page. And God knows, we needed a sign."

Originally, Taylor thought they'd get back together for just one event — perhaps it would be broadcast on TV, perhaps it would result in an album. But then they did a small show together at New York's Joe's Pub, and were surprised at their reception, and that cinched it. "We tore the roof off," he said. "And I realized I had missed that. I had missed the energy we had together."

So they announced their return, started recording Astronaut in the south of France, started touring, and started shopping for a record deal — in that order (see "Duran Duran Prove They're Not Ready For Vegas Circuit At Tour Opener"). Duran Duran had a prior deal in place with Disney-owned Hollywood Records but decided they would be better off with a fresh start. As Taylor jokes, "It's funny that a record label whose logo is a big pair of ears couldn't hear us." So after Duran Duran proved they could still consistently draw a respectable crowd, they struck a deal with Epic. In all, the boys wrote 30-some songs, whittling down the final contenders to an even dozen. The album is a sort of day-in-the-life, starting with "Sunrise" and running through a gamut of emotions that could be felt in that day.

"You wake up, you have sex — or not," Taylor said. "You get the paper, and you read that, and you think about Iraq, and think, 'Oh my God.' But then you turn on the morning show, and laugh, and it's more ephemeral.

"If I watch a film and it does its job, I'm going to laugh, I'm going to cry, I'm going to feel several different emotions," he continued. "And we should be able to do that with music too."

Duran Duran ultimately decided not to do any collaborations on the album, as they had been considering, with folks like Justin Timberlake and Gwen Stefani. "It would be a distraction," Taylor said. "We've never done that. And I love Gwen as a friend, but that would be a different journey, and it would be all anyone focused on, instead of us, the original five: our look, our sound, our style."

The stakes are higher this time around, Taylor said — instead of already being on top of the world, Duran Duran are trying to find their way back into it. This time, they're not quite the jet-setting playboys from "Rio," as much as they try to recapture that in their video for "Sunrise." And though the years have been kind to them, they were never critics' darlings. "People really underestimate the band," Taylor said. "They just have this image of us, so that the questions I get now are more like, 'So, do you still wear lipstick?' But that's OK. That just makes us want to do what we do best, and get their rocks off."

—Jennifer Vineyard, Courtesy MTV.com

Wild boys, part two

Duran Duran take on gay lovers, the new Fab Five and even bedroom toys. Notorious, indeed!
by Larry Ferber, HX.

Once a band reaches iconic status, it can expect its title to be challenged. Duran Duran are no exception. "Someone told us one day that five queens had stolen our moniker," recalls keyboardist Nick Rhodes, pointing out that Duran Duran had been lovingly dubbed The Fab Five some 20 years before Queer Eye's gay guys televised their first makeover. "So we were proper cross with them - right, we'll getcha." Although Duran Duran have been making albums steadily since their eponymous 1981 debut, the band's original Fab Five lineup - vocalist Simon LeBon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor, guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor - have not worked together since 1985. Yet the Duran Duran we came to know and love during the '80s have returned full force with Astronaut (Epic), an irresistibly catchy disc containing all their trademark pop goodness. "It's got energy, grooves, it's uplifting, optimistic," offers man-of-many-haircuts Rhodes. "It's funky, it's edgy and, boy, has it got a great package."


As Duran Duran's 20th anniversary approached, a reunion tour seemed apt and inquiring phone calls were placed. "It took 24 hours before everybody had agreed in principle that they wanted to do it," Rhodes recalls. "The next stage was getting in a room and looking at each other over a table and discussing how." Minutes into this meeting, they were talking about more than just a tour: "We were discussing how we were going to make a record," Rhodes continues.


Self-financing this effort, the band rented a house in San Tropez, shipped down a hefty load of gear and holed up by 2001, pumping out some 35 songs, a dozen of which make up Astronaut.


The infectiously danceable, driving single "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise" is already familiar to queer ears thanks to Jason Nevins' club-ready remix on the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy soundtrack. Of course, Rhodes was joking about a potential catfight. Besides, the Queer Eye's Fab Five wouldn't dare lay a hand on Duran Duran. "Because we're already perfect," Rhodes says. "That's absolutely true - that's what one of them said. Somebody accused us when I was in New York of being wholly responsible for metrosexuality. And I asked, 'Is that an accusation or a compliment?' We're all for male grooming, honey."


Astronaut's titular track is a fun, spacey number about going "out there" as far as you can go, while also celebrating the band's love of sci-fi. (In fact, the band is named after a missing scientist in the 1968 film Barbarella. "I always saw myself as Barbarella's Pygar, the flying angel," LeBon muses, "carrying Jane Fonda around in my arms.") "Finest Hour," which takes its name from a Winston Churchill WWII speech, is about holding on to your identity. Most playful is surely "Bedroom Toys," a slinky, tingly, seductive number that includes a chorus of I saw the bedroom toys / now I'm crawling / I've learned to improvise / You want it, you got it, now what you gonna do with it? This was one of the first songs the band wrote once reunited, and it apparently contains a personal resonance for at least one of Duran Duran's members. "Nick, oh God, yes, he does have a lot of bedroom toys," LeBon cracks, "Unfortunately he keeps running out of batteries."


"Bedroom toys are essential," Rhodes responds. "A blindfold is a bedroom toy. It might be the tie I was wearing that eve. It didn't have a battery in it, my tie, but I'm all for any kind of toys."


Sexuality is one topic the band members have no hang-ups discussing. And on a serious same-sex note, they fully support queer rights and are happy to speak out for gay marriage. "To deny marriage to any couple in love suggests that gay relationships are not valid and relationships only exist for financial benefits and children," LeBon says. "I think that's wrong. It's very unfair and you should use your vote as powerfully as you can in the upcoming election. I would do anything in my power to change the [U.S. presidential] administration. I believe you've got [a president] who's not really capable of leading, without any real consciousness of what's going on. And it's frightening for the rest of the world as well."


Adds Rhodes: "It's absurd in this day and age that anyone should try and take away civil rights from any group of people. It's absolutely ridiculous. I think people should be allowed to get married if they want. It's an institution that's worked appallingly for straight people, so I don't see why gay people shouldn't have some of that!"

This gay-friendly attitude - not to mention their fabulous fashion style - have opened LeBon and Rhodes to sexual rumors and tabloid scandals, which tickle them more than anything. "Marc Almond once said I was a male prostitute - I thought that was fantastic," LeBon laughs. "I could make a lot of extra money doing that."


Game for more frivolous speculation, when asked whom they would actually choose to have a gay affair with, LeBon ponders for a moment and replies, "It'd probably be with someone quite macho, quite manly, because I'm a big guy myself, you see. I don't see myself having a poodle so to speak. I'd be quite well with Russell Crowe and Antonio Banderas. Yeah. Antonio because I'm blonde and he's dark."

As for Rhodes? "Maybe Captain Scarlet, the puppet. He's a Thunderbird. Fantastic outfit."

Astronaut (Epic) is in stores now.

Courtesy HX/Gay.com

Back Together Again: Original Duran Duran

KIMBERLY REYES

Associated Press


NEW YORK - They played the obligatory classics: "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Girls on Film." But when Simon Le Bon ripped into the chorus of the new single "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise," the sun suddenly illuminated Times Square as if to officially mark a new day for Duran Duran.

As the original five members performed for "Good Morning America" last week, it seemed the planets had finally aligned for a band that had been ignored through its ever-changing lineup and lackluster albums of the past ten years.

The British quintet once created a fan hysteria that was compared to the Beatles', and they are largely credited for ushering in the music video age with their innovative and exotic clips. Still, until recently, they couldn't buy the sort of publicity they're now enjoying.

"We are really pleased to be back in the history books where for a while it looked as though we were being written out of them," Le Bon told The Associated Press, commenting on the Lifetime Achievement award MTV finally bestowed upon the video pioneers last year and the sudden excitement over Duran Duran's 12th album, "Astronaut."

It's been three years since Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist Andy Taylor, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor (none of them related) announced their reunion. Since then, they've played to sold-out crowds and made calculated public appearances to whet fans' appetite for the product. The anticipation also helped to secure a multi-album deal with Epic Records.

"We were dealing with the industry in its most jaded, deprived, downsized state," Andy Taylor recalled, "but when they saw the concert tickets flying out the ... window the question was answered for them and they came to the table with what we wanted."

Enduring good looks didn't hurt the band's cause either, but the former poster boys, now in their 40s, had no intention of simply letting Sony repackage their greatest hits.

"We didn't get back together to play 'Hungry Like the Wolf,'" John Taylor said, revealing the small creases bordering his flirty eyes. "We got back together to see what kind of music we could create together, and oh my God, this is the sound that we've been striving for!"

Who better to achieve that sound than old Duran Duran producer Nile Rogers, alongside Don Gilmore and Dallas Austin - who's been a big fan since he was a kid.

"I don't think they try to come off too trendy or too young or be what they are not," Austin said. "I think if you like Duran Duran you'll really like this record."

Rhodes agrees: "If it hadn't of worked musically and we hadn't have felt that it was something that was as good as everything we had done before, there is no way it would have ever come out. There's just too much pride in what we created together."

The studio chemistry (which the band considers their best since 1983's "Seven and The Ragged Tiger") resulted in a potent, moody album that showcases a newfound comfort in voicing powerful opinions.

"The first batch of songs we did in the South of France were all very upbeat and happy go lucky," Roger Taylor said, "and the second batch was after 9/11."

"Point of No Return," perhaps their most political song to date, deals with America's response to terrorism. Le Bon said the message is that rather than bombing people, "you've got to try and make the world a fairer place."

No matter where this release takes them, the quintet is committed to not letting their youthful insecurities once again divide them. Still, the band may always have to ride the line between '80S nostalgia act and relevant 21st century band.

"We are proud of the '80s, we know where we came from," Le Bon says with a transfixing, crystal-blue gaze. "But it ain't where we're going."

Duran Duran Redux, Without The Egos
New York Times, October 5, 2004

by John Caramanica

Here are things you don't forget about being a rock star. Sequestered for an interview in a private chamber at a posh hotel in downtown Manhattan, Simon LeBon motions for an assistant to come over. Pointing to his sparkling water, he says, with practiced derision: "They made the ice with tap water - I can taste the chlorine in it. Can you bring me another?" Pause. "With no ice?" Moments later, the offending glass is replaced. Order, if it had ever been lost, is restored.

These days, it's all coming back to him, along with the other members of Duran Duran, the band that once made them the crush objects of seemingly every adolescent girl on the planet. The group was one of the first success stories of the MTV era, five comely British lads with penchants for supermodel girlfriends, aggressive fashion and bombastic, synth-happy rock that wasn't afraid of disco sensuality.

For three years, they topped the U.S. and U.K. charts with indelibly catchy songs - "Rio," "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "The Reflex" - puffy with lyrical ambiguity. Their second and third albums, "Rio" and "Seven and the Ragged Tiger," went platinum within weeks of release and contained their biggest hits. Then, just as quickly as the band appeared, it dissolved. Various permutations of group members, some recording under the original name, would chart through the next decade, but they would never register as highly as the original crew.

Five years ago, they emerged from semi-slumber for a pair of warts-and-all documentaries on VH1 and the BBC that revealed the onetime libertines' humbler sides. And now, almost 20 years after they broke up, they have decided once again to cast their lot with one another. The original lineup - LeBon singing, Andy Taylor on guitar, Nick Rhodes on keyboards, John Taylor on bass and Roger Taylor on drums (none of the Taylors are related) - has reunited for an album, "Astronaut," to be released this month.

"You don't realize it when you're in your early 20's," said Rhodes, 42, still the blond-streaked picture of fey cool, "but it happens that we really got it right the first time around. With this lineup, it's all or nothing." When they reconvened three years ago in a rented house-studio in the south of France, they found themselves free of such usual rock-star burdens as management and a record deal. "We were all treading on eggshells," Rhodes said. "It was so fragile. We had a few incidents where people were thinking: Is it really all worth it? Do I really want to give up my life to these four people? Again?"

But they eventually agreed to write and record new work. Without a contract, the band members financed the studio sessions themselves, hiring an engineer and, naturally, a cameraman to document the process. As ever, music was to be merely one part of the greater Duran Duran multimedia experience. "You don't do all that to just hang the record on the wall," said Andy Taylor, 43, permanently styled in wraparound shades and tousled hair.

"We can try to appear altruistic and purely idealistic," LeBon, 45, agreed. "But it's great to get paid to do music. We've got families, and earning money makes you feel like a man." Last year, during a lull in recording, the band decided to revisit the stage, selling out a string of Japanese dates in hours, and playing to celebrity-filled rooms in New York and Los Angeles. "Up until that point," John Taylor, 44, said, "it was really just the five of us trying to reassure each other that this was worthwhile and not getting a lot of feedback. The audiences were a lot more reassuring than we expected them to be."

By February, helped along by a coincidental 1980s revival in popular culture, the band had a host of awards: lifetime achievement trophies from MTV and Q magazine in Britain, and a Brit Award (the equivalent of the Grammys) for outstanding contribution. By June, they had a four-album deal with Sony. And they had "Astronaut," which at its high points is as lurid and sensual as any of their best vintage work.

Back in 1985, Roger Taylor was the first to abandon ship. Exhausted, he retired to a farm with horses, chickens and a new wife. "I'd been on 1,000 airplanes, but I didn't know how to get on one as an individual," he said, still quiet and demure. "I had to relearn life." Andy Taylor departed soon after - he and John Taylor had a successful side project, the Power Station - and the decimated Duran Duran was soon a pop footnote.

When John called Roger about getting back together in 2000, it was Roger again who played the skeptic: "A bit late, isn't it?" he asked.

He agreed to the reunion, but this time he came on his own terms. Clearly everyone had changed; figuring out how was a key part of the project. "When you spend as much time together as we've done over the last three years, you get to know everybody's dynamic," Rhodes said. "Who's tired and grumpy that day. Who's suffering from anxiety because they've been on the phone to home. You just have to try to be patient."

Or as Roger, 44, says, "We respect each other's space a lot more. We have better boundaries." John quickly interjects, joking, "We use words like 'boundaries.'" John was long regarded as the band's most outrageous member. In a 2003 interview, Boy George recalled that John's apartment "was the most rock 'n' roll place I had ever seen." But now he seems the most centered, thanks most likely to time spent in rehab and therapy. He likens the reunited band to "a second marriage." He continued: "There's things you do that you just didn't do the first time. And you work a lot harder at it. You don't want to look like a loser again."

That humility is one of the things they don't teach you when you're a rock star. But a decided lack of bombast is one of the hallmarks of the new Duran Duran. They can't afford to be cocky the way they once were; sticking together is the only option. And as Roger Taylor confides, "We wouldn't necessarily be hanging out together if it weren't for the music."

They interact like the old friends they are, laughing easily at one another's jokes and at absurd tales of past mishaps, but they aren't quite the tightly clustered unit they once were. "I don't care how this thing works out, as long as we get along," John Taylor said. "If you're making it difficult for me to love you, then I don't want to do it." All are fathers now, and their work schedule has evolved along with their home lives.

"There used to be times I wouldn't go back home for months and months and months," says LeBon, who is still married to Yasmin, the model he first courted 20 years ago. "The way we're doing it now - two months on, two weeks off - is much more human." The music has evolved, too. As with their 1993 lite-radio hit, "Ordinary World," the songs on "Astronaut" are aimed at audiences willing to accept a less louche sound, but the members of Duran Duran want to be seen as more than a throwback.

"I don't feel like a nostalgist," John Taylor said. "Artists are always afraid that there's that youthful spurt that happens, and for the most part, those are your best years. Any musician will tell you that what he's doing right here and now is the most vital, relevant thing. You simply have to believe that, or it's not going to work."

ok, how about some eye candy.


[Edited 10/27/04 18:27pm]

I think we should create a drinking game where we take a shot everytime we read in an article "(none of the Taylors are related)".

JediMaster said:

http://www.gusworld.com.a.../drink.htm

The DD drinking game follows the same principle as many drinking games: you down a shot (or ten) when a certain event occurs. Feel free to vary the rules if you like. Do whatever you want, see if I care. However, it is important to yell the name of whatever you've spotted as loudly as possible in order to get the mood happening. Anyway: Fill your glass and get to it.

MEDICAL WARNING FROM SPANKY: Watching the 'Save A Prayer' video will probably leave you comatose; the risk and the stains are yours and yours alone.

The rules
Whenever you spot one of the following, drink the prescribed dose:

Body Parts/People:
Topless person (male): 1 shot
Topless person (female): 2 shot
Bare feet: 2 shots
Any band member who changes hair colour from the previous video: 3 shots (note that if you are watching post 1988 videos, a change in haircut will suffice)
A child: 1 shot
Band member snogging somebody: 3 shots

Clothes:
Any white item of clothing: 1 shot; take a bonus shot if it is those white leather shoes
Any item of clothing that is rolled up (eg shirt sleeve, trouserlegs): 2 shots
Tie tucked into shirt: 3 shots

Ooh! How exotic!:
A boat: 1 shot
A body of water: 1 shot (vary according to size of water; a glass of water would necessitate 1 shot, but the ocean could require 3 or 4)
An elephant: 2 shots
Ancient architecture (such as a statue): 1 shot
A resident of Sri Lanka or Antigua: 1 shot (so Sri Lankan kiddies will get you two shots and if they're dancing around some ancient architecture, don't hold back)

Russell Mulchay's been let loose:
A split screen: 1 shot
Lack of continuity: 1 shot
Re-use of old video footage: 2 shots

VinaBlue said:

Oh I know I wouldn't survive that game. by the time I hear "save a prayer til the morning after" at the end.


Great pics!

it looks likw of all the guys in the picture Andy Taylor did the most partying over the years

Mazerati said:

is andy the one with the shades on? my lord he looks like that troll in lord of the rings...