January 5, 2013 | Happy New Duran Year to all of you! First post of the year, so it has to be a massive one! It has been a while since the last full installment and I know many of you, duranasty.com friends, have been looking forward to it as I got many email and personal messages over the past few months. Life has kept me busy and with little changes in my job and the kids growing up things have become increasely intense.

Thanks to you all for your patience in waiting this, hopefully rich and interesting update which features a selection of the best things I have put together for you since the last installment. So, starting from making the point of the current status of the band, their upcoming projects a look to the future, we then get back exactly where duranasty has left recounting the band's history, right at the beginning of the last leg of the world tour which marked also the end of the 'All You Need Is Now' project.

In duranasty.com usual style the update is filled with comments and reviews from the fans, highlights from the recent online media, official statements and comments by the band members... I like to put things in perspective and have a full picture putting together all the little pieces from the puzzle. I want to thank all the people who, in a direct or undirect way have helped out to build up this page.

I want to start this new update reporting the words of our wise drummer, Roger Taylor, who delivered trough the pages of the Post Gazette, an honest picture of the Duran status and where the band is up to. His realistic and hyperbole-free comment sumps up two years of really hard but fantastic work.

"We didn't have any huge massive expectations," Roger says of All You Need Is Now. "This record, it was done in a very kind of punk way. We released the record to the public though iTunes. We didn't have a major label involved in the release.
We got involved in the digital online stuff. It was kind of between us and the fans. The record seemed to have hit home with the hardcore fans, and it grew from there."

"We survived 30 years now and we have more respect that we ever have.
We get good reviews of our concerts now, which is... we never used to get that.
Life is good."
Roger Taylor

He continues: "We've been to every corner of the globe, it seems. We've been to Australia, the Far East, the U.K., we've been to Europe, Eastern Europe. It seems like there's nowhere we haven't been on the back of this record. It's been a total gift and surprise at this point in our career to have a record and tour that's been accepted so well all over the world."

We're so busy looking forward, and these things can pass us by a little bit. We're grateful we can celebrate 30 years in the music business. We thought it might last a year, two years, five years, when it got going. Grateful is the word you think of, 30 years of doing what you love and what you started out with as your passion in life."

"We worked hard for the respect we have"

That's what happens when you stick around long enough. It's like actors, if they make movies for 40 years, they finally get the respect they deserve. Thank goodness, it's not like a painter, where they have to die before they get respect," he says laughing. "But it's great to feel that."

We had so much spit from the critics early on, but we learned to survive despite the lack of critical acclaim. We were painted as plastic posers, a video band, clotheshorses and whatever. It's great to know that the songs have outlived the clothes, outlived the videos and what went with the packaging. It feels really good to have that respect, and I think we worked hard for it."

Roger puts into persperctive the work they did with producer Mark Ronson

You don't want to be a pale imitation of yourself. You don't want to be creating exactly what you were creating in the early eighties. You have to have some contemporary spin on the sound, and Mark Ronson came in with that. He won a Grammy. He worked with Amy Winehouse. He came in with that real hip contemporary thing about him and that was thrown into the mix. He created something that was very unique and very 2011.

Nick Rhodes talks about the future of the band with the Chicago Reader | late 2012 | "If anyone had asked me three decades ago, well, do you think you're still going to be doing this, do you think you're still going to be in a band, I would have just laughed, because you never know whether you're going to be in a band for more than three months. Even three decades later—yes, of course, we're planning already next year and we're very excited about going to the studio again, but the bottom line of it is, you never know when somebody's going to change their mind or make a different decision..."

So, even though the band is on a well deserved break [more about this below] the guys are already planning the band's next moves... According to John the band had a conference call with Mark Ronson recently. He reports on the official site "All systems are go for a return to work in the studio first week of March. I could not be more excited about that" he says.

And it's also very reassuring his answer to the question [from Guitar World]:

What does Duran Duran have planned for next year ?

"We’ve made tentative plans to start work on a new album in March. Mark Ronson is going to be on board to produce it. We like touring in the summer so we’re open for summer business. Of course, anything can happen but we’re working towards that end."

About working with Mark again,
John recently said:
"I think it’s something that he wants to do as much as we do. It’s unusual to get that much enthusiasm from a producer.
I like the idea of doing another album with him. I feel like we’ve had a different producer on every album we’ve done for the last 20 years"

John Taylor to the Ocregister | Do you think letting a younger producer/musician like Mark Ronson take the studio reins for All You Need Is Now gave everyone a creative boost?

Massive. The thing is, we’re kind of at the age where we think we know it all. Actually, we’re at the age where we really need direction. But there’s so few [producers] that we all trust. Finding somebody that we all believe in and are prepared to put our faith in [is rare]. We did that to an extent with Timbaland [on Red Carpet Massacre], but he just wasn’t ever gonna hit the spot. I shouldn’t compare it, because it was a very different situation. Mark undoubtedly was the right man for the moment.

In November 2012 Nick said during the KatyKafe: "We had a chat, a little conference call to Mark Ronson about starting to schedule the new album which we are going to commence work in March next year, I think we all be ready at that point, it's good after being out on the road for the best part of 20 months to take a break and clear your head."
"I started to sort out my photography archive but by march, whatever we are all doing in the meantime, our focus will become our next album."

I'm very very happy that we are gonna be working with Mark Ronson again. We all feel that it was the best combination we had in many many many years.
He clearly understand us well, and we had a lot of fun togehter so that is a good sign.

"It will be done when it's done" says Nick

John and Nick might start writing few lyrics for the new album to speed up the process

We haven't really discussed direction... about writing... as ever we are going to try to make it faster then the last album, you never know, it will be done when it's done. I'd love to get an album done in 3/4 months. I'm quite good at working very fast, I think the hardest thing is for Simon with lyrics, but we decided we may split the map a little bit earlier this time as John and I will start write a few [lyrics] early, in that way we might go speed up the process, 'cos there's a lot of pressure trying to think of new ways to say things with songs and to create something that captures people's attention, something new sounding... I'm always surprised and happy to hear a great new lyric.

Inspiration for the new album

Nick discusses also the possibility to write music starting from a specific concept and says: "one of the ideas that John and I have at the moment, which I want to release out of this little track door, has to do with writing a whole selection of songs about one very specific subject or person to be precise.
I like the idea of it because I think taking somebody's life and writing about that gives you good material to find different ways of looking at things, that's a possibilty. Don't think we have suggested it to Simon yet, but John and I like the idea."

A nice picture of Nick and Mark taken on 5 October 2010 when Ronson received the Q 'Innovation in Sound' award

Nick discusses inspiration [Chicago Reader ]

What inspires you these days?

Well, inspiration, it's such a difficult one, isn't it? Because I think if we knew exactly where it came from, then I would bottle it and sell it for a lot of money, and there'd be a long queue every day—we'd never close.
But personally I know where some of it comes from for sure. It can be a conversation that I just had with a friend; it can be something I saw on television or read in the newspaper; it can be a painting or a photograph that I've seen; it can be a book that you've just read, a movie you've just watched; it can be a child's drawing.
It's really the things that you're surrounded with and how you interpret them and what kind of emotional impact that they have on you. For me to be inspired personally to write a piece of music or a lyric, then I definitely need to have had something that has affected me in a way that's enough to want to create something relating to that.

I love the beginnings—I think we all do—when we start the process of an album, as we’re going to be starting next spring, because we start out and you always think, ‘This is gonna be the one; this is gonna be the masterpiece!’

And you get into it—you start getting ideas and going ‘Yeah, that one, and that one and that one.’ And you get a couple of months into it and maybe you finish one, and you go…‘Yeah—that wasn’t quite what I wanted. But still, hey! There’s all these other ideas!’
John to Prosound

John to Bay Bridjet | Where does Duran Duran go from here?
JT: We just keep writing, don’t we? You know, we just step back into the studio and start writing more songs.
Mark Ronson is going to produce the next album. Which is very nice, because I don’t think we’ve had the same producer for a couple albums since the first two albums. He knows us as well as we know him.
We’ve got the same band, which is unusual for Duran Duran because usually there seems to be some sort of change that takes place between albums – either the drummer or the bass player or the guitar player. We’ve got a stable line-up. It’s the same group of guys who made All You Need is Now.

Dom Brown, has really fit in well! Fantastic. We’re really lucky to have him. I love Andy and it was great to be on stage with him. But I have to say that Dom’s energy and his youth relative to ours – he’s just 40 – makes me really enjoy playing with him. He brings a lot of energy to the team. JT to the Orange County Register

Groove is in the heart brothers! John Taylor has teamed up with Roger and Dom Brown on December 12th 2012 "to spread a little jam".

John continues: "I’m thinking maybe this is going to be the best album we have ever made. I have to think like that, even if it’s delusional. It’s always possible. You’re dealing with energy and chemistry. It’s like catching a spirit in the air. It’s difficult because we write together, and we protect that process.
One of our greatest strengths is that we write democratically, as a team. But it also has its downsides. It can be a clumsy way to work, at times. But everybody’s happy to work that way.

“Nick is a workaholic, one of the most driven men I know, and he just hit the wall. He was having fainting spells, it was very frightening."John September 2012.

With the premature ending of the North American tour the All You Need Is Now project, which has seen the band on the road for almost two years, has come to an end. Our favourite keyboardist and keeper of the Duran Duran flame fell ill in August while the band was on the road in America and his health issues prompted the band to scrap the six remaining shows of their tour.

The band members were all extremely disappointed, as that was the final leg of their world tour and more than anything, they hate to disappoint their fans.

A break we need to take! John

On august 25 John said:
"This is not how we want to end this wonderful, amazing tour. Mixed feelings re: impending end of tour. Today, aching and tired, am thinking it is a break we need to take!"

Simon: "It leaves a big hole"

On August 31th Simon writes: "It's taken a few days for me to come to terms with the premature ending of our tour. After nearly twenty months on and off the road... It's terribly hard on many of our followers who've organised their time, to come and see the closing of the tour. It leaves a big hole. Of course, the No. 1 concern for all of us, is Nick's recovery. I can tell you that all the support he's receiving is very much appreciated. We all feel your frustration and we thank you for your undertanding.

We were hoping for a triumphant conclusion. It feels incomplete, said Nick

On August 30th Nick speaks out trough the pages of the band's official website: "I contracted a virus, which dragged me down and left me entirely exhausted. Although I made it clear to doctors that it was my express wish to recommence the tour as soon as possible, they all strongly advised that I needed to recover properly [...] I am relieved to say, I have only ever had to cancel a couple of shows, in almost thirty five years, due to an ear infection, but this was particularly hard to come to terms with as it was the last week of nearly two years of touring and we were hoping for a triumphant conclusion. Now it feels incomplete".

It was “frightening” Nick was having fainting spells, John says.

In an interview with the Huffington Post John Taylor said it was “frightening” to see his friend suffer fainting fits. He tells “Nick is a workaholic, one of the most driven men I know, and he just hit the wall. He was having fainting spells, it was very, but he saw a doctor, and was made to rest. His immediate treatment was to do as little possible, for as long as possible.

"We don't have plans to work as a band until the New Year, so now he needs to look after himself"

Taylor admits that Rhodes' plight shook him up, particularly after they'd had to cancel shows earlier on the tour due to Simon suffering throat problems. "If Duran Duran is a plane, Simon is the nose-cone, in fact his voice is the nose-cone, and we work like One Direction, we go for it.

"So Simon went down at the beginning of the tour, and Nick went down at the end, and it could have been me or Roger [Taylor]. It's a warning for all of us.

"Nick always says we're an aristocratic band with a working class work ethic, but you just never know if you're coming back. We didn't know.
"One show gets cancelled and you think 'okay', then it's a second one and suddenly the tour's over."

Duran Duran fans are relieved to know that Nick is in good health, even Simon recently said:

"He's completely recovered"

He has been very active in the London party scene with his girlfriend Nefer Suvio and busy planning the future of the band and cultivating his own interests such as photography and music collaborations... He's enjoyng life in London, the city that he won't ever leave as he says in The Telegraph article published in late August. Below an excerpt.

"I’ve lived in London for more than 30 years. Before moving down from Moseley in Birmingham, my perception of the city was as somewhere both enormous and hugely exciting.
Turns out, I was pretty much right – and I still feel the same way now. I like to walk everywhere I possibly can and, from where I live in Chelsea, can be in Kensington and the West End in no time. I suppose I’m part of that south-west London versus north London contingent. But, as much as I love the area in which I live, I’m very fond of Islington’s antiques shops, as well as small galleries such as the Whitechapel in east London.

• Nick is currently collaborating with MNDR on some remixes of her brand new album. Do you remember this interview of MNDR to Nick published in late 2010? Check it out, it's worth a re-read!

MNDR: Literally a masterpiece. Why do you think synth music has become popular again?

Nick: I suppose, the one thing Mark and us definitely have in common is that we believe that synthesizers can create something unique and beautiful that other instruments can’t. To me that’s the realization that a lot of people are starting to have now, maybe through soft synths and computers, but those that really do fiddle around with analogue gear and get to grips with it discover something incredibly special. I don’t think it’s necessarily a backlash against the guitar thing, it’s more of a realization that these instruments really do something different.

Some fans have commented with skepticism the band's decision to tour USA for the third time on the same album [March/April 2011, September/October 2011, August 2012] and they felt that the Olympic show could have represented the perfect and triumphant conclusion that the amazing All You Need Is Now tour deserved.

During the summer shows in Europe fans have witnessed some of the greatest performaces the band has ever delivered in their entire career. The guys were fantastic on stage, absolutely breathtaking, they have reached the highest level on every aspect of the show, musically and visually. Apart from that off stage the guys semed exhausted, probably tired of all the travelling in the hot european summer and the usual media/fans attention to them reserved in every city they landed.

it’s so exhausting, the traveling and the playing at shows is really all that I have got the energy for (towards the end of the tour) says Simon.

During a chat a couple of friends and I had with Simon at the begining of the italian tour, he expressed his disappointment about the behaviour of the fans who usually book a room in the same hotel were the band stays, sometimes invading not just the hall but also spaces where the guys could actually relax. He expressed his need of privacy and said: "when the band is on tour the hotel is like our home, we need our privacy". I told him how much I care about him and the guys and I would do anything to protect the band. I asked him what could I do to help him out and he said "I like you guys, just put the word out that it isn't cool anymore to book in the same hotel where the band stays". He insisted that they have had fans booking in the their hotel everywhere they have been travelling, from Argentina to Asia, from USA to Europe. During the italian tour Simon has been lovely with the fans waiting to see him outside the band's hotel. I'm glad he talked openly about something that he doesn't like anymore and I'm sure that all the interested Duran Duran fans are wise enough to understand his message.

"If you carry, if you push it too hard, if you go straight back in, you might get to the point where you decide that “I never want to do this again.” And I don’t ever want to get to that stage.
So that’s why I insisted on this rather long and luxurious break."

"I told them I needed six months straight out of the game, for a bit. Just cuz it’s been a really long project. And I think it’s no good just going straight back in, otherwise you know you start to suffer from “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” syndrome. And I don’t want to do that. I want to have something to write about. I want to live a bit as well." Simon Le Bon

Signs of Simon's weariness surfaced also in the October KatyKafe:

"I’m very happy that Nick’s doing better actually" says Simon, "He was really, really bad [and that’s all there is to it]. And I’m just so happy that we’re through that.
But, you know, we’ve got so much to look forward to. We’ve got a little break to look forward to.
I think We’re going to get back together in March.
Yeah, I told them I needed six months straight out of the game, for a bit. Just cuz it’s been a really long project. And I think it’s no good just going straight back in, otherwise you know you start to suffer from “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” syndrome. And I don’t want to do that.
I want to have something to write about. I want to live a bit as well, you know? I love Duran Duran as much as the next band member but there is life outside of it and I’m experiencing that in as much glorious detail as I possibly can right now."

He continues: "It’s not a problem for me coming off of the road. I’m quite happy off the road. I enjoyed it very much, it was a magnificent tour. We had a lot of fun, went to a lot of places played a lot of great music to a lot of beautiful people. But... after a long tour, there is that kind of sensation that you’ve grown older but no wiser. Because life becomes very simple, very essential because it’s so exhausting, the traveling and the playing at shows is really all that I have got the energy for [towards the end of the tour]. So I don’t really go out and do the places, I don’t go sightseeing, I don’t even see friends apart from backstage after the show. And it’s a bit sad really cuz your life is ticking away and you’re just, you’re just exhausted. You’ve just got enough energy to put together a show.
But I’m not complaining about it, it’s a great job. But there is a time when you say to yourself, “Ok, I’ve had enough of this, I want to do something else.” Even just temporarily. And that’s the thing, you see…if you carry, if you push it too hard, if you go straight back in, you might get to the point where you decide that “I never want to do this again.” And I don’t ever want to get to that stage. So that’s why I insisted on this rather long and luxurious break."

Below, a beautiful picture of Simon sailing in Cannes - October 2012, on the right the Le Bons at the Goodwood Revival back in September 2012.

Simon is enjoying his break very much, he has been to India with Yasmin who also did some charity activities over there. He has also been involved in some sailing in Sardinia and Cannes back in September and October.
In Cannes he took part at the Regates Royale on Eileen. On October 18 on the Eileen website the Captain Log's reports:

"the on Day 3 everybody was keen to perform, especially as we had Simon Le Bon on board who we haven’t sailed with since Antigua earlier in the season. Just over the line at the start we flew around the race course often with the rail in the water." On the left the article published on the italian magazine Vela which reports about the Duran Duran trip to Antigua to visit Eileen. Get your scan here

He also did some charity activities for the Air Ambulance Service such as launched the Children’s Air Ambulance at Coventry Airport and visited one of its fund-raising charity shops in Warwick.

Mr Le Bon said: "This is a fantastic new service that is desperately needed throughout the UK because each year, thousands of seriously ill children need urgent care at specialist hospitals. "However, at the moment, they can face long road journeys, which could be detrimental to getting the lifesaving help they need.
This service relies completely on charitable donations from the general public. It is my intention to do all I can to raise the profile of TCAA and to help raise the money that is so crucial to keeping the service running."

To find out how you can donate log onto thechildrensairambulance.org.uk or contact The Air Ambulance Service on 08454 130 999.

As part of his involvement with the Air Ambulance he also took part at the Business With Pleasure dinner at the Ivy [on 11th October 2012]. It was a relaxed yet star studded networking dinner held in the private room of one of London's most famous restaurants with 60 other guests. Check out some cool pics of Simon taken during the Business With Pleasure dinner. Click on the banner below!

TV Mania update | Nick in the November Kafe said: "I sort of promised myself that we would release the album this year, but I think I was being a little bit over optimistic because the material has been ready for 17 years now sitting there, mixed and ready to go, and didn't have any artwork, or any remixes, or any video stuff, nothing, there was no preparation so I felt that after waiting so long few months wasn't going make any difference. We're actually going to release it around February time I think, is gonna come out on vynil, very very special limited edition and download."

Literally it has been lined in the box drawer... the tapes were all there, we couldn't even find the multitrack mastertapes. So for people doing remixes we had to create a master from the computer parts because we don't know were the originals are, they are long gone, or they are somewhere were they shouldn't be, but we did have the final mastered version of the album from the mixes we did in 97, so littealy nothing has been changed 'cos we couldn't anyway even if we wanted to.

The album is entirely made from samples taken from television, so our lead vocalist is the TV. At that time, in 97, I remember taking it to record labels and publishers, their astonish look, the look of shock horror and absolute disbelieve on their faces when I said 'This is what I'd like to put out', but fortunally most of them don't have that job anymore...

Nick is working on the artwork with Andrew Day [Medazzaland, Pop Trash, merchandising for the reunion tour, The Devils] who has started the work on the TV Mania project 17 years ago.

Promotion | "TVMania isn't the kind of project that requiere to tour the world. I would gladly do some Interview to explain the project."

Q: Let's talk about working with Blondie on “Pop Trash Movie”. She's a true icon from the 1970s.

AR: That was a very interesting project. Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran had written that song specifically for Debbie Harry. But the song was going to be for a project we were working on called “TV Mania.”

That was a period when they were deep into samples of people saying absurd things…. which inspired the project. Anyway, we got a hold of Debbie and met with her in New York City at the Hit Factory for about a week. We came up with two tracks. The chemistry was great and we all got along famously but the timing was off.
She ended up getting a record deal shortly thereafter and it was complicated with politics and paperwork. The one track never saw the light of day but “Pop Trash Movie” ended up on the next Duran Duran album.
There was talk that the other song “Studio 54” was going to end up in the movie Studio 54, but unfortunately it just didn't happen.

Q: Since you brought up the subject of politics and paperwork, I'm interested in hearing how that unfolds when all you're doing is trying to make music.

AR: Anytime you start playing with the big boys there's eventually going to be contracts and negotiations that can get quite convoluted. You've got various managers and lawyers looking out for their client’s interests or people might have a different vision for how a project should come together. It might get to the point where it's too complicated or difficult to work out.

Q: You mentioned “TV Mania”, which is a project that's been sixteen years in the making. What is it about and why has it taken so long to get off the ground?

AR: It's about the absurdity of life through a TV that speaks. It was before we started seeing reality television dominate the landscape. The concept is more of a stage presentation and it was visual in nature. Unfortunately, everybody gets busy and things fall to the backburner.
But over the years, people kept hearing about it and asking when it was going to see the light of day. I remember Duran Duran was actually playing stuff from it on their tour before their set. Sonically it's a real interesting record because we spent a lot of time on it.

We [Duran Duran] did have extraordinary chemistry but it took time for the band to come together.
We had to make some changes along the way and they weren’t always out of choice.
Guys left us. Nick and I were stranded by our first singer, but we didn’t drink over it.
We kept moving and made the best of the situation.

Nick, the first copy of the book I had, I gave him.
He told me that he wasn’t going to read it and I understand that.
He is the last person who needs to read it.
He was there, and he doesn’t need to read it.
I think he would enjoy the stuff about my parents.
But stuff about the band, he would use very different language to describe the sensations he experienced.

"I was so happy when Nick said to me the other day, 'Johnny, I’m not going to read your book, I said, 'Nick, I’m so happy about that, because you really don’t need to.' There’s a lot of love for Nick in the book, but he’s going to be, 'But it wasn’t like that,' and he’s going to get all out of joint about it."

Curt Smith interviews John for salon.com | This is an excerpt about John and Nick long time friendship.

The first concert I went to, I went to with Nick. He’s two years younger than me, so he’s a year younger than you. But he was pretty advanced. He had already been to concerts. He had a little bit more dough than me. He had a record collection, nice hi-fi. His parents both worked, they both had small businesses. So it was a little bit more fluid. Not that that’s really got anything to do with this, but he had an aesthetic already.
He had the look.
He was thinking about it. Maybe he thought about what he would put on on the weekend.

Do you think he got you more into fashion or the look at that point in time?
It was tremendously validating when you find somebody and go, “Oh, yeah. You want to do that, too.” He’s probably a bit more mature than me, actually. And probably always was. Nick’s more of a radical than me. He’s a rebel. I’ve seen him.
He’s not shy about it, either. Supremely confident.
Which I didn’t have, although I never really caught that until I left the band. It wasn’t until I left the band and went back and thought, “Whoa!”
Your relationship with Nick is far more complicated than it is with Simon [Le Bon]. Or any other member of the band. But you’re very close. You started Duran Duran together. You’ve been doing it together the longest, so it seems a far more complicated relationship than the other relationships you’ve had.
It’s probably the most complicated relationship that I have —

In The Pleasure Groove has been a huge sucsess entering the Uk and Us top 10 charts and getting great reviews. John says he is pleased with how it has been received.

The Duran bass player said he was approached about penning his autobiography at the beginning of 2011.

I’m glad I wrote the book at a time when…we’ve had a great couple of years since the All You Need is Now album. We have been supporting it for almost 18 months, and it is a positive time to be in the band. I was really happy that I got to write the book during that phase. I didn’t want to upset anybody. I just wanted to put some love in it.

"It was suggested to me that if I wanted to write a book, it was a good time," he said. "There was a bit of a gold rush on in the publishing business."
Taylor reportedly landed an advance of more than $500,000. While his agent Jonathan Conway would not reveal the exact amount, he says that figure is "conservative."
"There was exceptional interest in John's autobiography during the auction for his book," Conway tells The Hollywood Reporter. "And the bidding war amongst many major publishers was, inevitably, intense."

sfgate.com asks: What made you think this was a good time to stop and look back?
This was the point that presented itself to me. I was glad the book was written during a really positive, active period during the band's life because I didn't have anything negative to say. Two years ago the first three albums were reissued on premium vinyl. I thought, "You know what? I'm going to listen to 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger.' " It was like taking out a vintage bottle of wine from the cellar. I just sat back and let it wash over me. I thought, "Wow, this is good." I'm at the point I can review the work from 1983 and feel pretty good about it.

My therapist kept telling me, “It’s a message of hope, John, don’t forget that.” Roger Taylor said to me, “Just tell the truth JT,
and it will be great.”

I was so full of self pity about everything that wasn’t working about my life. I had a long list of what wasn’t right in my life and she said, ‘Whoa, you need to get sober because if you get sober you could really be somebody, and if you get sober I can treat you and we can really find out what’s making you unhappy, but while you continue to drink and use you’re like a shifting target.’ I won’t say I went right away, I had to hit bottom, which meant going out and getting so f**ked up, so disillusioned by my own inability to control myself, and then surrender. Now it’s been a whole different me, and I wanted to write about that. A lot of people are struggling and a lot of people still don’t believe that sobriety is possible for them.

This is my question published on the www.biography.com interview | Hi, John, this is Salvo from Italy. Would you consider to grant the rights to make a film of 'In The Pleasure Groove'? In this case, what actor would you like to interpret your character? Thank you. [Duran's Duranasty]
John: It would depend on the period. Probably the young man's story at the beginning of the 80s.
Some young Brummie star. Who? I have no idea.

Contact sheets: Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon through the lens of Viramontes. Above pic: original artwork for So Red The Rose by the artist: the picture represents Violetta Sanchez , the model has been also Interviewed for the book. We can't wait to have our hands on it!

Tony Viramontes

• A new book about the work of artist Tony Viramontes [known among the Duran fan-base for his beautiful illustrations on the Arcadia album], written by Dean Rhys Morgan, will be published next year by Laurence King Publishing.
  Viramontes was one of the defining and prolific artist's of the 80’s, creating some of the most iconic looks of the decade. Tony had great artistic potential, but he died in 1988 at the age of thirty one.
  According to the author, Dean Rhys Morgan, the book has been enriched by contributions coming from different artists [including Nick Rhodes!] who have worked with Tony during his fantastic career.

• Careless Memories, the Duran Duran book by Denis O'Regan might see the light next year according to some of his recents tweets:
  
  "I took a batch of material to DuranDuran's Nick Rhodes' house today. My limited edition '1984' Sing Blue Silver book has legs!"
  [posted on November 23].
  
  He also said: "I've found more unseen DuranDuran pictures from 1984. Now scanning & retouching. Busy time!"

You never stop learning something new on your idols

• Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardus is the new book by Ken Scott and Bobby Owsinski. Ken is the man who engineered Thank You and Pop Trash albums. He's also a long time Warren Cuccurullo friend who had worked on the production and engineering of the 1982 Missing Persons albums.
  If you like to have a picture from the other side, from someone who has worked in the studios with a many stars, from The Beatles to Bowie, from Elton John to Duran Duran, you really have to get this book! It's filled with behind the scenes and interesting stories. It's true, you never stop learning something new on your idols.
  There's a full chapter to Scott's collaboration with Duran Duran. 8 full pages rich of facts, comments by Warren [who has been interviewed specially for the book]. I transcribed a couple of quotes, just to give you the idea of what the book is like, I don't want to spoil the pleasure of reading and discover for yourself this side of the story on the making of two difficult albums like Thank You and Pop Trash. We have read a lot about the most successful Duran albums, but there's not much material circulating on the Duran Duran production of those low profile years. So it's really worth a read!

  Thank You "the album meant to be a quick stopgap as their previous album, The wedding Album featured two huge hits that had resurrected their carrer... Thank you would be recorded while they were on tour... When they had three days off in a city, I would fly in, we'd go into whatever studio was available there, then I'd fly home. Always first class, of course [...] The whole thing was scattered... I'd go into the studio in LA with John Taylor and record some things, then I'd fly off to Paris to do keyboards with Nick Rhodes or vocals with Simon le Bon, who were both doing tax exile thing and couldn't go back to England without being hit with a huge tax bill. That's where things got a little silly. If they didn't like Warren or John's parts they wouldn't say, "We just won't use them in the mix," it was, "You've got to erase them," and they would actually sit there and watch me o make sure that I erased them. There was a lot of weird stuff like that going on." [Ken Scott]

  Pop Trash " It was a difficoult album to make on the lyric end because over the last few years Simon had a difficult time coming up with lyrics. He just dried up. Nick started writing lyrics and there was a sharing of the writing that had never happened before on a Duran record. It took a lot of the burden off him but also a lot of the creativity as well. He was having problems in his personal life, so it was a really traumatic experience and Ken had to deal with those issues. [Warren Cuccurullo]
  Hollywood Records wanted someone else to mix the album and the album ended up being compressed to holy hell, sounded like shit. [ken Scott]
  There was one song that I absolutely refused to go with the [record company] guy's mix, so we went with Ken's mix on Starting To Remember and it's beautiful. [Warren Cuccurullo]

salvo@duranasty.com: How and when did the idea to invite Roger Taylor at Amami originate?

Matteo: I have been collaborating with Amami discoclub for 5 years now and I've never hidden my love for Duran Duran. This summer, talking with Giacomo we had the idea to do something different for the Real House night [the Amami one night, one Wednesday per month], we wanted to call a different name rather than the usual famous and highly paid international DJs. The idea was to combine the pop icon figure represented by Roger and his most recent DJ activity. In this way we could retrieve both, the usual Amami audience and the Duran Duran fans. Let's just say that I have transmitted to Giacomo all my enthusiasm and passion for the band and he just believed in my idea. And I'm glad to say that it was a success!

Have you experiencing any difficulties organizing the event?

I would say no. Nothing particularly different than managing a regular special guest. Roger and his management were very professional and so helpful. We can say that it all everything went well, and I have to thank Amami and Roger for this!

What was it like spending two days around Venice and Treviso along with Roger and James? Did they visited Piazza San Marco?

Well, we spent a wonderful day together. Roger and his son James landed at around lunch time at the Venice airport, so it would have been a shame not going to Piazza San Marco for lunch and sightseeing. We had a wonderful taxi [motorboat] ride to the Grand Canal and arrived to Piazza San Marco. James was very excited, being the first time for him in Venice. Roger was just happy because, as he told me later, he was already surrendered to the idea of being shut up in his hotel room until it was time to play his DJ set. A stroll through Venice, a bit of shopping and then we rushed away to Treviso for the sound check!

A funny anecdote, a gesture or a phrase to remember, to share with other fans...

I believe that all fans who attended the night have witnessed the hug full of esteem and gratitude we gave each other that night at Amami: I will hardly forget that! I would have a funny story too, but I'll not make it public, just because Roger will definitely read this ;)

In what terms your perception of Roger Taylor, one of your idols ever, has changed after working with him?

I met Roger for the first time back in 2008, I think we were at radio Deejay in Milan, and the impression I got then, is still the same that I have now after spending an afternoon with him and working with him. A very special person, humble, kind and very professional.

In this particular moment the world of nightclubs is flooded with models, actors, ex-singers, porn stars that are just re-invented themselves doing the DJs thing... sometimes with catastrophic results. In Roger instead I found a real DJ, with a great set, he didn't follow a predetermined playlist... he just played looking at audience he had in front right in that moment, selecting track after track with care. Such a fantastic performance!