February 7 2011 | How cool is start a new site update with so many intriguing news, and it's even cooler if you have such a great and artish photo session to play with! These great pics are part of the 12 page feature on the february issue of Love magazine just out in Uk! To purchase your copy visit their site www.thelovemagazine.co.uk.

John and Nick talks about art, fashion, style and also about Andy Taylor's book 'Wild Boy'... check it out!

Many thanks to Nath at the Order of the Johnnette who has been kind enough to share with the Duran Duran fans good scans of the great spread.

The latest in case you have missed something... | It's been a very busy time for the guys since I last updated the site, lots of media activity, the announcement of the Uk tour dates and the first big live event since the album release, at the Pepsi Fan Jam - Grand Prairie in Texas. There's a lot to report about so let's start from the latest events. So in case you have missed something here is your recap on all the current Duran Duran things!

So the band will be soon on the road! They've announced the UK arena tour, the Ultra Fest in Miami [check out the poster of the event below], the iTunes Festival in London, Coachella [just outside LA], and the Electric Beats Festival in Berlin.

On February 3rd they performed at the Pepsi/NFL Fan Jam, fantastic performance! dallasnews.com reports: "Simon Le Bon also showed off his new beard. His group performed for 36 minutes and included three songs from the group's new album, All You Need Is Now, which were "Being Followed," "All You Need Is Now" and "Girl Panic." The tunes boasted a slightly updated classic Duran Duran sound.The most noise from the crowd came during the staples, particularly "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Notorious" and "Girls on Film."

blogs.dallasobserver.com reports: "Despite the way it appeared on television, Duran Duran were the first performers the audience saw, and despite some preshow doubts, the '80s megastars seem to still have "it." It was a little unexpected how many of their songs this professed non-fan knew - and knew quite well. Even more remarkable was how seamlessly the three songs from their upcoming Mark Ronson-produced lp fit into with the rest of their setlist. What you didn't see on tv:

Model Marisa Miller poses backsatge with Duran Duran during VH1's Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam.

Set Lists:
Duran Duran:
View to a Kill
Being Followed
Hungry Like the Wolf
All You Need is Now
Notorious
Girl Panic
(Reach Up For The) Sunrise
Girls on Film

Download

Nice quality video download | 2011.02.03 - Pepsi Superbowl Fan Jam 20011, VH1

All You Need Is Now | Notorious [ Right click, save target as]

 

While the guys were in Dallas they didn't miss the fun at the party at Rio | The nypost.com reports "Partygoers in Dallas are feeling the burn - freezer burn - during Super Bowl weekend from 4 inches of snow on Thursday night that brought the city to a standstill. At the downtown Rio Room Thursday night, guests Amy Smart, Dave Annable, Reggie Bush, Simon Le Bon and his Duran Duran were stranded at the DeLeon tequila-sponsored bash because no cabs or car services would drive out to pick them up. Check out below some cool pictures taken that night!

Duran Duran on tour | The guys will be back on the road this May and June. The tour will mark the band’s first European performances in support of their new album ‘All You Need Is Now’. The Wild Boys will be joined by unofficial member Mark Ronson when they tour the UK.

According to this article Ronson, will perform with them on their 11- date arena jaunt when it kicks off at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena on May 18. As if Rono wasn’t enough, Scissor Sister Ana Matronic, Kelis, and even ITV newsreader Nina Hossain, are poised to make guest appearances too.

Duran Duran have also announced their exclusive Electronic Beats Classics gig in May. The Electronic Beats Classics event will take place on May 26th, 2011 at the prestigious Admiralspalast in Berlin. Following the Electronic Beats event, the band is supposed to head off to do a world tour in support of the album - their first world tour for over three years.

Speaking from the studio in London, where the band are rehearsing for their upcoming tour dates, Simon Le Bon said:

Above picture, the great Admiralspalast theatre in Berlin. Below posters and advert for the upcoming shows.

....

• John Taylor has recently reassured via twitter his american fans that Coachella Festival, on Sunday, April 17th, is just one of the many shows that Duran Duran will be playing this year! He says: "there'll be many, many more DD dates this year, DON'T WORRY. Coachella is the beginning of a busy summer for us".

Vevo, a popular US music video site, will finally launch in April 2011 in the UK, after a 12 month delay.

The Telegraph revealed that the music video service, which is jointly owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music and the Abu Dhabi Media company, would definitely go live in the UK this year.

However, a specific month has now been earmarked for launch, with a pre launch party occurring in London last night, with the headline act Duran Duran.

According to Media Week, David Kohl, Vevo’s executive vice-president, sales and customer operations, said: "Vevo is currently recruiting for sales, content and marketing staff and hopes to have a UK office of 25 to 35 people within a few months."

Thomas Hesse, president Global Digital Business for Sony Music, confirmed Vevo’s much anticipated UK launch last week.

Talking at the launch of the annual IFPI digital music report, Hesse said that the Vevo would launch in the UK during 2011, but did not venture a precise date.

...and if you can read german then here is the review on the february issue of Rolling Stone magazine from Germany (thanks to Kirsty for the scan)

Exactly 30 years ago, Duran Duran exploded into the charts with their first single, Planet Earth, and became a major force in pop music's New Romantic movement before going on to establish themselves as one of the most successful bands of the 1980s.
They were helped by Princess Diana's admission that they were her favourite – it was said she would boogie in front of her mirror at Kensington Palace listening to Girls On Film on her Sony Walkman.

When she was pictured being introduced to them in 1983 it was hard to make out who was the more starstruck, them or her.
Those three decades have seen the five boys from Birmingham enjoy untold wealth and fame, as well as access to some of the world's most beautiful women, but like true pop stars they have also littered the time since with acrimonious splits and mediocre comebacks, battles with drugs and drink, ill-advised solo projects and many years in the critical wilderness. Now they have defied the cynics and come up with a critically acclaimed new album All You Need Is Now, produced by the man who helped create Amy Winehouse's sound, Mark Ronson.

For John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, who founded the band in 1978, sitting here talking about what is being hailed as their best work in more than 20 years is something they couldn't have contemplated as Duran Duran reached its Duran Duran have seen it all. Now, with a new album out, John Taylor and Nick Rhodes tell all about the highs and the desperate lows... and reveal how Simon Le Bon managed to keep hold of Yasmin lowest point at the tail end of the last millennium.

By that point Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes were on their own and sales of their albums and concert tickets were on a downward curve. Taylor's features are still chiselled, if a little wrinkled, his hair almost upright as if a mild electric current had passed through it, his stomach toned and flat. But he was well on his way to being burnt out by the time he got to 31, when he married so-called 'wild child' turned TV presenter Amanda de Cadanet, daughter of Le Mans racing driver veteran Alain de Cadanet, by whom he has a beautiful daughter, Atlanta, now 18.

In fact, she is so beautiful she is being tipped as a face of 2011, signed to a leading model agency.
And it's not just physically that she takes after them. There are plenty of pictures of her on the internet having a wild time.
'It's funny,' he says, 'I was looking at her the other day thinking, "You're just a squirming mass of mine and your mother's DNA." You can see the bits of me with the bits of her wrestling and trying to become something new.

She's got great style and she plays it, she's out there. You don't have parents like us and not ask questions like, "Why should I go to college? You didn't go to college. Hey, you were dancing on tables when you were 16, so why shouldn't I?"

'Amanda was really smart, and still is. She's amazing. She was 18 when I met her; a girl [he was 30]. 'I was part of that party scene when we met. I was trying to hold on to my youth by binding myself to a considerably younger woman,' he says. 'When you're in a young man's business, you're told success is down to the way you look. You try to slow down that process – we all do to an extent. Pop stars aren't unique in that they like younger women. Any thirty-something guy given the opportunity will take it.'

Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran's keyboard player – the inscrutable opposite to flamboyant bass player Taylor and singer Simon Le Bon – agrees. Rhodes has had many a beauty on his arm. He jokingly refers to them as MAs – models and actresses – as though he has a qualification in them.

'I like beauty, for sure, and intelligence. Nice combination,' he says. Among them was his wife of eight years, Julie Anne Friedman, a former model with whom he contested custody of their then ten-year-old daughter, Tatjana, now 24, back in 1997. Nick won the case, and Tatjana still lives with him in his Chelsea home. 'That was somewhat nightmarish, to say the least,' he says.
'I don't think anyone wins. I sort of prevailed, if you like, in that her mum wanted to move to LA and I wanted Tatjana to grow up in England. 'I was deeply saddened that I had to go through that. It was an awful time, but I get along fine with Tatjana's mother now.'

Hits like Hungry Like The Wolf, Girls On Film and The Reflex established Duran's Duran's reputation. But it was the video for Rio, in the early days of MTV, that set the template for them to be viewed as international playboys. For these young men it was bliss.

'Yes, I've been lucky,' says Taylor, 'but I have to work hard at being happy, it doesn't come naturally to me. I feel extremely guilty. I was raised a Catholic, so maybe it has something to do with that. When the band was so successful so early on, I felt I didn't deserve it. I was embarrassed, waiting for someone to turn the lights on and go, "Ha ha, we're going to take that back now."
'The second half of the Eighties were a real grind. The initial fame had dried up. We weren't pop stars any more, we weren't getting the hit records. Our concerts rarely sold out unless we played smaller venues.
'If it hadn't been for Simon and Nick, I have no idea where I would be today. 'Nick is extremely tenacious. If he has doubts, he never expresses them. And Simon is more philosophical. He might love fame but he doesn't act like he needs it.

'One of the amazing things about Simon that drove us crazy, but I came to appreciate later, was that he would send out emails saying, "I'm not available between blah and blah. My family are going on holiday,"' says Taylor. 'Nick and I would say, "How can you do that? We've got this great opportunity." 'But Simon would just say, "Not interested." 'He'd always carve out time for his family. Not me. I was available to this band every day of every year. But if you want a good, healthy family life, you can't just give them the off-cuts.'

The band split into two parts in the mid-1980s for side-projects. John Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor (none of the Taylors are related) were fed up with the band's direction and teamed up with Robert Palmer to form the more rock-oriented Power Station, while Le Bon and Rhodes created the more experimental Arcadia, with drummer Roger Taylor occasionally working with both bands. But John Taylor was sinking into an alcohol and cocaine hell. 'I was so miserable. I was under a cloud and I couldn't get out of it,' he recalls.
'Drugs were a part of it. I was so full of shame. I feel good about who I am today, but 15 years ago I had to step away from that life, it was crazy.' He embarked on the 12-step programme, which he still maintains today. 'I shouldn't really be here,' he says, 'I just made it. I've seen much stronger people than me die; Michael Hutchence, Robert Palmer. I wasn't a war horse. I had to find another way to resolve things.'

Did the band ever consider disbanding entirely at their lowest point around 1999, when it was just Rhodes and Le Bon? 'I think the closest we ever got to it was then,' says Rhodes. 'But no, Simon and I never discussed calling it a day. We're survivors. That's what led to the reunion. We knew if we wanted to survive we had to do something radical. This was something we'd talked about for a long time but we didn't know if everyone was up for it.'

By the turn of the millennium, now clean but with his solo career going nowhere, John didn't need much persuading when Rhodes and Le Bon turned up in LA on business and mooted the idea to reform the original line-up. 'It was the most fantastic thing I could have done,' says Taylor. 'I'd stepped away for four or five years and came back as a fan.'

The original five got together to record the following year, but all was not well. Guitarist Andy Taylor was at loggerheads with the rest of the band, and he left again in 2006. Now Duran Duran are on a creative high and the new album is one of the best of their career. Producer Mark Ronson, a childhood fan, has successfully recreated the energy and sound of their early and best albums and put it into a contemporary setting.

Ronson's favourite Duran Duran member was John Taylor, who he said he wanted to be. 'There's a great story he tells about going to have a haircut as a kid,' says Rhodes. 'He takes a picture out of a magazine and asks them for a John Taylor. It takes half an hour, and then he says to his mum, "Oh no, it's gone wrong. It's a Nick Rhodes." Ghastly! Can you imagine?'

Article orginally posted on chroniclelive.co.uk | This edited version focuses on john's thoughts about about Andy Taylor |

Duran Duran will kick off their first UK tour in Newcastle, minus former Geordie guitarist Andy Taylor. But the Cullercoats-born musician will be with the band in spirit, according to bassist John Taylor. Andy quit Duran Duran for a second time in 2006, and John admitted to the Chronicle it will be weird playing the Metro Radio Arena on May 18 without him.

“It definitely will be strange playing Newcastle without Andy. That is going to be significant,” he said from his Hollywood home. “Andy is one of us and he will be with us in a way. I’m super-excited. I’ve come to love the North East and the Geordies – that’s another thing Andy is responsible for. I always want Newcastle United to win if they are playing.

“It’s given me a love for the region and the people up there and I’m really happy the tour is starting there and can’t wait to get there.” Andy left Duran Duran in 2006 due to an “unworkable gulf” between him and the rest of the group.

John added: “I don’t feel that Andy, at the end of the day, was prepared to do, wanted to do, what was necessary to be a member of this band – the travel, the commitment. “Andy is not a schmoozer. He’s a down to earth bloke. For me he is one of the greatest guitarists of the post-British blues era. I love him, but I haven’t spoken to him in several years.

“You’ve got be a schmoozer. You’ve got to be prepared to do what I am doing now – getting up at 7.30am. It’s not enough just to say ‘I just want to play my guitar’. “Andy is a family man, he doesn’t like leaving his family behind. At least he is still with us. We’ve lost so many friends along the way.

“You do carry people with you on the stage and I think when you give a performance every night, part of what you bring to that performance is honouring friends who have been with you along the way. “You take them on board in a way. that will be the case with Andy when we go on tour, especially in Newcastle.

“Andy was never not significant. If Andy was in the room, everyone would be listening.”

“That’s why a tour like this is so great. It’s an opportunity to do what’s most fun to do. We love building the shows – we love putting together the running order and the presentation, such as the special effects and lighting projections. That’s the stuff I dreamt of doing when I was a kid and I still love it.”

Article originally posted on walesonline.co.uk | Author Karen Price | This is edited version focuses on John's interview |

John Taylor may sound very chirpy on the other end of the phone but the Duran Duran favourite admits he’s desperately in need of some caffeine.“The mornings just don’t get going for me before I have some coffee – just don’t talk to me,” he laughs. “It’s 7.30 in the morning where I am – I’m in California,” he says, sounding like he could be in the next room.

“You New Romantic you!” he teases referring to the youth fashion and music movement of which Duran was at the heart. “I’m back and forth between the UK and US,” he says. “I’m a very lucky bunny actually. The travel is a bit of a grind but there’s such a great contrast between the two places.”

About the UK dates | “I’m excited about it – it’s really nice to have a string of dates,” says bassist Taylor, who celebrated his 50th birthday last year but looks years younger. “We try to play gigs fairly frequently – just one offs to keep everything working. “We have the new album so there’s a lot of new material which we’re really excited about playing. “Even though people want to hear the hits it’s good for us to have some new material to sprinkle in there. It adds energy to the show.

“We’ve found a formula that works. You’ve got to keep generating new material. I’m very excited about the new songs. When you have new material it throws new light on the old material and you find yourself thinking about it in a different way and playing it with renewed vigour.”

Duran Duran started work on the new album, All You Need Is Now, which was produced by Mark Ronson, in London during Spring 2009. “We started with a heavy burst of energy then we had a holiday period for about six months before working on nothing but the lyrics – it could mean that just a comma was added,” admits Taylor. “It was very slow as we weren’t all together. Then it all just started coming together.”

About Ronson | “It was great to work with him. He’s a treasure. We worked on a live project with him a couple of years ago during a show in France which was real fun. We got to see who he was and he got to see who we were. “He really helped us find a sound for the new album. We’re really happy with it.”

The foursome are looking forward to touring once more | “It’s a different kind of fun now. I look through the tour dates and think, ‘ooh it will be great to go there.’ I relish the prospect of touring around Britain by road,” Taylor says, breaking off as he finally gets his caffeine fix.

“Here comes my coffee – now I will start talking twice as quickly,” he reveals.

Do they get on well spending long periods of time in each other’s company? “We don’t get on at all – we have to travel in separate cars,” laughs Taylor who’s as affable as I’d always hoped he’d be. “We get along like brothers – we have a very powerful relationship with each other. We’ve been through a lot together.”

Their families won’t be travelling with them | “Are you crazy? At the end of the tour they’ll come along if there’s a party maybe. We have to be super focused as there’s a very strict schedule to the days – every breath has to serve the performance. It can be really boring to be around.”

And it sounds like there won’t be much wild partying either | “We are very lucky boys. We’ve had an extraordinary run. None of us are in the funny farm right now and I’d like to keep it that way. Any wildness would be pushing our luck a little bit.”

As a band, Duran Duran have enjoyed so many memorable occasions, particularly during the ’80s when they were at the height of their fame. “Live Aid was amazing – that was the ’80s Woodstock,” says Taylor as he reels off some of his favourite memories. “Band Aid was also an amazing event. I loved recording the James Bond theme tune (A View To A Kill), that was terrific, and meeting Princess Diana through the Prince’s Trust – those photos were on my parents’ wall for many years.”

Taylor, who names Hot Chip, Sleigh Bells and Deerhunter among the new bands he likes, says the fact that Duran Duran are still together is both amazing and challenging,

“I think we’re all still in a sense of perpetual surprise that we’re still doing it. It’s not one of those professions you think you’ll still be doing in your 40s and 50s. It’s not like being in the medical profession or clergy when you say, ‘By the time I’m 50 I will have my own practice.’ “It’s amazing to me. Through a sheer source of will we’ve stayed together and ridden out any changes and we’re still doing it. It’s because of the magic time on stage – it’s all about that.

“That’s why a tour like this is so great. It’s an opportunity to do what’s most fun to do. We love building the shows – we love putting together the running order and the presentation, such as the special effects and lighting projections. That’s the stuff I dreamt of doing when I was a kid and I still love it.”

“We’ve got a really powerful fan base. It’s really great actually. Yes they do get excited still – that’s good in a way as it makes it fun. It’s part of the territory. In my experience the reason you’ve got the table in the café is because the maitre d is a fan.”

Like many of today’s celebrities, he’s also embracing the digital age to liaise with his fans on the internet. “We are engaging on Twitter and Facebook. I’m kind of enjoying it – you can feed them little titbits. I’ve only got into it because of the digital release of the album – I felt I needed to get stuck in online and be part of social networking. I’m amazed how much I’m enjoying it.”

Music To Kill For [Compilations]
New music from Warren & Co. for the compilation 'Music To Kill For'. The compilations are the first to feature music from collective supergroup The Electrons™, which features Warren Cuccurullo, Eric Alexandrakis, Anthony J. Resta & Steve Ferrone. The Electrons tracks are titled and "Roll Credits" and "Delicious".

You can listen these new tracks and more here

On their fb page they say: "Most definitely the coolest new collaboration money can buy: Warren Cuccurullo + Steve Ferrone + Anthony J. Resta + Eric Alexandrakis [pictured on the left]

From andy-taylor-music.com | This is an excerpt of the new blog posted by Andy on his site.

"I have to tip my hat in respect of Messers: Taylor Taylor Rhodes & Lebon" says Andy

Myself & the rest of DD were weaned on a basket of influence from the 60's & 70's that played a key role in our development as young people, it's that deep "album experience" as a kid that has indelibly etched the creative process in my/our psyche, not as a 2 song stocking filler for the next bling purchase, no its a way of life & trust me, albums aren't always a profitable venture, but that shouldn't null the need to express yourself, as I have said, what else is there to replace it - DJ hero - NO NO - you just keep going, which is why I have to tip my hat in respect of Messers: Taylor Taylor Rhodes & Lebon, [note there's only 2 Taylor's - it just don't have the same ring] … Iam not going to indulge you in what I think of the album, forget that, its not my place, but even without the support of a label, they brought in the big-guns to produce, hired a real master of the mix in Spike S & went for what they believed in - kudos man. [probably broke the bank but what the fuck]

Andy in Ibiza in 2008

More tidbits

• Simon says on twitter: "Today I have been working on the lyrics of an extra track Too Close To The Sun [posted on january 21]

• Spike Stent did the mix of the new song Too Bad You're So Beautiful.

• It seems we'll get some night version as bonuses on the new album/singles... as John says on twitter: "listening to night versions [of the new stuff] now - coming soon!

• Check out Dom Brown's post on twitter: " Did I hear a rumour that we may be doing Glastonbury this year... now that would be super duper amazing!!" that was followed by a dubious tweet by Simon...

• If you are a fan of Nick Egan's work check out this interview/podcast from ideasicle.com

Check out the great quality, striking and ironic video for Being Followed that our friend Nikolaj Georgiew, director and big Duran Duran fan since the 80's, did for the Genero Tv competition. Nikolaj told us that they shoot the video two week ago in Germany. Nik adds "the effect to see the story of the paranoid Simon Le Bon in 25 years time is so cool when you see it the first time". As a fan Nikolaj was pleased to share the video and some of the pics of the making and behind the scenes.

Nikolaj started his career as a photographer in 1989, but in 1998 switched from still to moving images and he began to create music Videos... Check out his site georgiew.de and the great video below. We hope you win!

Not long ago I got this email from the guys at Filter magazine:

We are very excited to announce the launch of the new issue of FILTER Unbound: Truth or Dare with Duran Duran!

Please see the attached info about the launch, and be sure to check the issue out here You can also download a pdf file of the magazine right here

If you've never seen Simon Le Bon do a card trick or sing the song from "The Jungle Book," now's your chance.

We would love for you to post information about the issue on your site and share it with all your Duran Duran fans/friends. Enjoy!

Plenty of video interviews have been published online recently. I enjoyed this one of Simon and Nick for thefader.com tv and I also loved the teaser for the new Dior campaign for the new Dior's lipstick be Iconic, annouced by Nick on the article below published on the february issue of Harpers Bazaar Uk: