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	Last update july 11, 2010

July 6 : I just arrive from a very hot and sunny London where I met the guys at their studio working hard with Joshua Blair [Recording and Mixing Engineer] at the very final stage of the recording session for the upcoming Duran Duran album. This is a fan-site, right? So here's what I do best, a fan report.

Since I was a kid I always loved to pay a visit to the guys at their London studio to show them support or just to have a more human contact with them while they were recording a new album or working on some new project. It's been a while since I last did it and I have to admit that I really missed the feeling of a face to face meeting especially with Nick, Simon and John whom have literally seen me growing up during the latest 20 years or so. I'm delighted with the kind of welcome, sympathy and respect that the guys showed me. Thank you, you have made every single moment so special to me. These very brief but intense meetings with the band have some personal content as well, such as showing them pics of my kids [I won't forget their nice comments!], and so on. I won't bore you with that kind of personal stuff BUT I'll report what the guys told me about the new album and other news.

some close-up of your pretty face, overnight sensation

Nick and John have been great, the two guys stopped for a while to chat and they were cool enough to give some news about the album progress. Nick in particular was very informative. he said: 'the album will be finished in July, then we'll mix it sometime before Christmas'. I asked if they already thinking to someone who could mix it and he said that they'll basically do it and Ronson will help around. The band won't take the full month to finish the album, they might work some more days, maybe a week or so to finish the album. 'We have 12 finished tracks already, 11 with lyrics! Nick says.

Wow, this is such a great news! We all thought that they had only 6 finished tracks and 3 still in progress, also everyone thought that there was still a lot of work to do on the lyrics front. Well, it seems that the recent session has been very productive and the guys are really moving fast forward. The album is almost done!

Nick also confirmed the two tracks with the cello player among these 12 tracks. On july 1st Dom Brown joyned the band in the studio, he brought two guitars. Later in the day Nick told me that Dom had laid some more guitars on the album.

I told John that it would be very nice if they could play at least one show before the end of the year, around Christmas for example, but he seemed skeptical about this possibility, he said that 'realistically it will happen next year', after march, when all things should be ready for the album realese. The band is keeping all so secretive about this album so I didn't bore them asking any question about it, I just listened what they spontaneously said about it.

We also talked about some other Duran related projects going on, Tv Mania for example. Nick confirmed what Warren already told me some weeks ago, 'the album will be released this year, we hope to get it out in October!' Nick said, 'Andrew Day [Medazzaland, Pop Trash... The Devils] is taking care of the artwork and packaging of the album'. Nick also refered to some pics that he saw on duranasty.com [in the Chicanery interview] that they might like to use in the Tv Mania artwork. [what a great surprise to hear Nick mentioning something that he has seen on this site, so glad that he visit it!]. From that we started to chat a bit about that particular photographer, Dean Karr, and the great photographs that he took on the set of the Out Of My Mind video. I told him that I bought some expensive fine arts prints from the photographer and he was very interested in the collection thing... I told him that I have been collecting for 26 years, since I was 12, and he said 'it's a long time Salvo, isn't?' In that moment I had the feeling that Nick actually realized that I have been there for so long, costantly, positive, and always doing my best, as a fan, to promote the band's activities, photocopied fanzines back in the days, a fan-site today.

smiling for cameras from all around the world...hey, not too bad for being all self-taken pics! ;)

With John I also talked about two books... the one that he's writing about Nick Egan's album artworks, and the Denis O' Regan one. John says about the first one ''it's in stand-by at the moment but I hope to write some more in August when I'll be back in LA. It should be out next year'. John continues: 'The Denis O Regan one should be all about pictures of the band taken in '84, the Sing Blue Silver period'.

Simon was very friendly but we couldn't chat much 'cos the first day he had to leave the studio earlier since he had a barbecue with his girls. The next day we talked about our vacations since he asked me what I'll be doing for the summer, and he also told me that he'll take part to a new regatta in agoust [Kaos if memory still serves me]. The new album? 'it's gonna be good!'

Roger was always up for a chat when he came out from the studio to take a breath of fresh air and enjoy the very sunny weather. I asked him if he had heard about Boy George's desire to tour with Duran for the Culture Club's 30th anniversary [news from a recent tv interview on Studio Five - Uk channel 5]. I reported what George said: "I'd love to do a tour with Duran Duran. I think that would be a great gig. Us and Duran Duran. If they're up for it, we're up for it. I'll support them I don't care! It would be great - that would be one hell of a tour". Well, Roger didn't know anything about George's statement so he said "Really? That would be a really good bill!"

On july 1st, when I was about to leave I could hear some 'noise' coming from the studio, Roger, Nick and John were still there listening to some new tracks. When Nick came out, he went straight to me to give one last update, he basically repeated what already said earleir that day: the album will be finished in july for sure, he said, we got 12 finished tracks, among them only one doesn't have lyrics. Roger gave him a ride on his car so before I left I took one last picture of them. You can see in Roger's face the satisfaction for what they have done so far in the studio.

Nick, the mind and the keeper of Duran Duran's flame, with that sweet-tired expression. He made that pose especially for the picture. Seems to say: "another intense and productive recording day in the studio has passed, just few more days to get '13th' completed!". Great! If you want to get more pics, click below!

 

July 8: On June 27 Roger Taylor and Jake Fonique played a deejay set in Bagnoli - Naples at Arenile Club but it's not all, while Roger and Gisela were in town they didn't miss the chance to attend Boy George deejay set at the Gay Pride party. My friend Christian, who is a journalist, attendend both events and sent me the following report and some exclusive pics, check it out.

"I got to Arenile di Bagnoli just outside of Naples on saturday 26th of june for the Boy George dj set at the Gay pride party. Around midnight Roger, Gisella, Jake and his girlfriend were already there waiting for George to show up. They share the same European tour manager and sometimes they attend each other's sets. When George arrived, late, they exchanged hugs and off he was playing his set of hard-house for a couple of hours.

The following day England was playing for the World Cup and Roger and Gisella wanted to see the match but soon it was obvious that it was a very sad day for the Brits. After the match it was time for soundcheck. So I ended up doing the interview I asked for [more on that in some Italian magazines next month] in the van from the hotel to the Arenile Club. There were some fans already waiting for Roger there and it was quite a mystique-Ibiza style sunset there. Roger and Jake did their thing while people were swimming, the sun was going down and the Save A Prayer arpeggio echoed in the quiete afternoon bay.

Around 10 pm Roger and Jake with their gang got back to the club where they started their set unusually early [it was a sunday night dance after all] and the dancefloor was packed with locals and fans dancing their night away. The set was very well received and I think the duo has really made a mark on those casual liseners who were attending."

If you are interested in Roger or Boy George activities here are some more summer dates for 2010:

Roger in Italy again! 14 August Roger Taylor at Sol levante [GE] www.sollevantebeach.it

Boy George

16 August Boy George at Baia Imperiale [Gabicce PU]
20 August Boy George at Canniccia [Forte dei Marmi-LU]

Exclusive photographs taken by Christian [Roger meeting Boy George and the dj-set rehearsals]

pic one pic two pic three pic four

 

June 25: Special thanks to Pietro Modica, Manager at Palazzo Guiscardo, for sending these exclusive pics of Roger and Gisela taken on june 18th 2010 and to Luca Mori, Deputy Mayor of the Pietrasanta Municipality, who is a great Duran Duran fan and organized with Modica the event at Palazzo Guiscardo. This morning they also informed me that they have some more projects going on with Roger so he might come back in Pietrasanta for a major event in the near future. They can't add more at the moment 'cos they are still working on it [watch this space]. All pics are taken at Palazzo Guiscardo where Roger and Gisela with Roger's Pr Erin McKee attended Ferdinado Cioffi's photographs exhibition [as we already reported]. Michael Guttman, the great violinist, delighted the guests with his music. The only pic in the photo-report taken out of the Palazzo is taken at the Enoteca Marcucci, the most famous restaurant in Pietrasanta, where the couple spent the evening. Click on the banner below to get to the photo report page. Enjoy!

 

June 23: Exclusive Report | Roger in Tuscany - Italy | On June 16th, during the Pitti Uomo fashion week in Florence, Roger Taylor played a deejay set at the 48th 'L'altro Uomo Party' which took place at the Villa Castelletti in Signa. Fans reports that it was a fantastic night [thanks to Katia Romani for sharing these very nice pics]. On June 18th Roger also attended the opening of the exhibition 'Portraits' by photographer Ferdinando Cioffi at Palazzo Guiscardo hotel in Pietrasanta.
Event involved all local authorities and special guests with a special appearance by Roger [with his wife Gisella], Andy from the italian band Blue Vertigo and musicist Michael Guttman.

Local newspaper 'Il Tirreno' reports that Roger has been filmed in Pietrasanta by a television crew for a British reality show he's taking part in. "I know Roger Taylor for some time through his friendship with Boy George and his manager Erin McKee," said Pietro Modica, Director of Palazzo Guiscardo Hotel, at the local newspaper. "He knows this area, he loves Versilia and Pietrasanta. On saturday 19 moreover, Taylor with his wife Gisella went to Bagno Sandra in Forte dei Marmi.

McKee has interviewed Roger in Forte dei Marmi, I translated the most interesting questions of the interview, originally published in italian.

What's more exciting, being on stage - any stage - or being in the studio?

Any live performance is exciting. As a group we are all born to be on stage and I think we all live for the adrenaline rush you have when you're in front of a crowd of fans. It is said that musicians, singers, suffer from low self-esteem , that’s why they need the applause of the crowd...

What was your worst mistake as a DJ?

I was playing at the Blue Marlin in Ibiza and in the middle of my set - by mistake - I pressed the 'stop' on the console that was airing in that moment: was there that I realized that silence is the worst enemy to a DJ - but at least everyone realized that I was there.

How do you see your career as a DJ in the future and which goals you want to accomplish. Are we going to see you more often in Italy?
Of course, you'll see me more often because I love Italy, the food, the culture, the people. Italians like Duran Duran and they love electronic music and this is a perfect combination. I would be very happy to continue deejaing around the world and we are also beginning to produce some of our dance songs, which should come out this year.

If you only had one day on Earth before leaving for a space mission, how would you spend it?
Would soon get out all my records and listen to them all day, then obviously I'd give a couple of kisses to my wife before leaving.

What does the "luxury" for you?
Refined sheets and a very good cushion.

What can we expect from the upcoming Duran Duran album?
Ha ha! You have to wait to know, but I assure you, it is worth it.

 

June 20: John Taylor celebrated his 50th birthday yesterday with a huge party in England [news from Nile Rodgers's facebook page - thanks Tin for the heads up]. John just moved back to Uk to stay there untill the record will be finished.

We'd like to add duranasty.com's 'Happy Birthday' to the chorus of birthday wishes coming from the entire fan community.

John, thanks for being a main creative force in the band and for putting heart and soul in everything you do. We appreciate it! Have a special day!

[download the special 'John's 50th birthday' splash page]

In the recent Katy Kafe exclusively on duranduranmusic.com John discusses various topics. If you are a member login into the site to listen an enthusiastic John Taylor. I think it's worth reporting the news that John gives about 13th. "It's been a slow year" John says, "we had a couple of gigs last month, we went back into the studio, we really had to look at what it was that we had and we where at, and we actually had a few really good days that changed the energy of the project [...], we were all excited, we were all hearing an album, so it's really exciting, we'll be back in the studio next week". The band will go on for a period of 4 weeks to finish the album. "That doesn't include mixing", John continues, "but the important thing is to get the songs finished and then we can go to get a deal... which I have no idea what kind of deal it's going to be for this album, [maybe you'll have something to hear before the end of the year]". About a possible record deal John says "I'd like to be reunited with our catalogue, I know the catalogue is with EMI, I think that's the best way for us, we are gonna try to make that happen".

Not long ago in the official site has been posted an audio file, a roundtable with Simon, Nick and Roger answering fan's questions. I submitted one, about the direction of the new album and it got an answer from the three Arcadia guys. Below the original question with the guys's answer [bear in mind that the roundtable has been recorded in march]. Salvo: Guys, you have already produced a good quantity of material for Duran Duran’s 13th album, so is there any orientation about the kind of impact you want to have with the first single? I mean, maybe is too early to say anything, but if you had to pick a song to represent the new album from the ones you have written so far, would you be mostly oriented to a ballad kind of slow song like Falling Down and the always contemporary Ordinary World or would you pick something more rhythmic, danceable a la Sunrise and Electric Barbarella?

Roger: very early in the day to say that
Nick: Little previous, little previous Salvo
Simon asks: Salvo is asking to pick from the record we have made already? The lost album? Or that represent the new album?
Simon: there's not a lot of similarity wise with ...
Nick: Could be further away from the last album
Simon: maybe 'Tempted' is a little bit like stuff... maybe?
Nick: Not really.
Roger: there's a lot of up stuff, there's a lot of rhythmic up-tempo with really good grooves and stuff, so Salvo that is going to fairly represent most of the album...
Nick: definitively more up tempo
Simon: you know, we didn't take RCM as a starting point for this album, enough time has gone by to do something completely different, with a compleeetely different style, and producer, we love that freedom...

More from John's recent Kafe: John speaks about Mick Karn, who has recently been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer: "it's terribly sad, I was in touch with Mick about two monts ago, because we're both involved with this Bowie tribute album, it was really nice to have a little back and fort email with him, I had spoken to Nick about possibly asking Mick to contribute something to the new Duran record, I didn't know he was sick, I'd like to do something for him, I'm not sure what that is, we talked about it as a band..."

Mick Karn is undergoing further tests and treatment. Since Karn has been struggling financially for some considerable time now, his official site is trying to help to raise funds for any necessary treatment. So if you want to donate just click here

Last but not least, John speaks about his contribuition to Swahili Blondie debut lp. It's John Frusciante and his girlfriend Nicole Turley's band. The album is titled 'Man Meat' and will be released this summer on Manimal Records. John Taylor plays on 'Tigress Ritual' that you can listen here [cool bass John!]

 

June 10: Exclusive | Jamie Walton, the talented and established classical cello player, has been involved in the making of 13th, in fact the virtuoso cellist recorded two tracks with the guys, one of them is a ballad he says. Jamie has been kind enough to stop for a chat with duranasty.com about his involvement in the making of these new songs and other stuff. He says "Duran Duran certainly haven't lost their great songwriting gifts and with Mark Ronson in the mix too, I would expect a very exciting record..." Check out the interview, you'll find out how how this collaboration started and developed and some interesting news about Simon and Jamie's performance at the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation Party held on june 5. Click the cello to read the interview.

 

"I listened to the track and played around for a while before actually writing my part, in collaboration with both Simon and Mark who would suggest motifs and melodic structure. In then took off, layering part over part so that it became a chamber group of cellos"

 

June 8: We'd like to add our 'Happy Birthday Nick!' to the many he has received during these days. So, happy birthday dear Nicholas also from duranasty.com. Keep on the great work in the band. You are such a great inspiration to all of us. Thank you!

We'd like to celebrate the man with an exclusive video download [thanks to Akiyoshi at Korg Japan]: it's a video of Nick in the studio playing his Korg micro, the video has been shot in march. Enjoy!

dowload video [right click, save traget as]

Buy the cd/dvd at the following link: New Roads 15th anniversary

May 16: duranasty.com review | I just got my copy of the New Roads cd/dvd wich I purchased for only $25.00 [plus shipping] on newroads.org. This very cool project deserves a new and updated post [in addition to the news posted on march 30]. You'll discover that John Taylor is actually the mind behind the whole project so he has a great role in the making of it all. The behind the scenes dvd reveals it all! These pics are just some screencaps I made of the video where you can see our bass player interact with the kids and in the recording studio following every step of the making of this unique and very orginal initiative. The highlight of the whole thing, from a Duran-fan point of view, is of course the video of John jamming with rock legend Stewart Copeland of the Police. I highly reccomend to buy your copy of this very cool limited edition collector item [only 1000 copies were made!] since John plays in 5 songs. Purchasing the cd/dvd you will also help the school raising funds.

I asked my friend Stephane LeClair [facebook/LeClair] to make a promo-sample using very short clips [20/30 seconds] of the five songs John played on, so you can have an actual idea of the kind of music and the singular arrangements that John created for the project. In the dvd you can feel John's human side and his felt involvement in the project, passionate about music and art, highly interested in the process of creating something cool with a group of very young and talented kids. From a musical and creative point of view, John has a lot give, so I hope to see more projects and collaborations like this in the future.

Above pics of the gatefold packaging [cd/dvd]

Above pics of the rehearsals: John jamming with rock legend Stewart Copeland of the Police.

John Taylor plays bass on: 'We Are Going To Be Friends', 'Crazy', 'Music', 'House Of Cards' and 'You Learn' Listen to a promo sample made of very short clips of the tracks featuring John Taylor playing bass [save target as]

 

May 12: Deejay Roger in Italy one more time: it's love! | Ancona - Italy - On May 8th Sui Club was packed, even tables were full. It's 2:40 am when Roger Taylor arrived at the club with Jake Fonique and their wives. Fans came from various part of central Italy to meet the Duran Duran drummer. Before the deejay-set they had a dinner at 'Bar Giuliani' with Marco Cerioni, one of the holders of Sui Club. Not an expensive restaurant, just a fine a place in the heart of Ancona. The couple had a quick tour of the city, they visited the Pope square, the harbor and the cathedral, then straight to Marina Dorica where the Club is located. Roger loved those places, "It's beautiful" he said. His wife, Gisela Bernales, who met in 2005 and married in 2007, followed him affectionately, she was happy to be in Italy. Taylor showed off, as well as discs and drums, even a camera to take pics of the crowd... cheers and smiles to those who came to meet him or just say Hello. During the deejay set Roger said: "I am really enjoying it, the reception is fantastic, there's a familiar atmosphere, I'm really satisfied". House music and some Depeche Mode, Roger only left at at 6 am closing the deejay-set with Wild Boys! The couple stayed one more day in Ancona to visit Portonovo, "they told me is a beautiful coast", the 'Palio di San Floriano' and the medieval villages of Jesi. Roger said he'll definitely come back on vacation in these nice places. Click below to get the photo report. On the right an article in the local newsper.

 

 

*Updated on May 12*

The guys have just made an official online petition for their effort, it's at the following link, sign it please:

Duran Duran to the Rock Hall of Fame

May 11: Check out what a group of active, passionate and organized fans is doing to promote Duran Duran's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland | Just got a very nice email from Kirk, Lead Effort Organizer of the initiative... have to pass it along 'cos this group of fellow Duran Duran fans is doing a great job but they might need also our precious help so don't hesitate to join all their webpages/social networks in support of this cool initiative! You guys have all duranasty.com's support and friendship.

Check out what these guys are doing in this great article from the Barrie Examiner! [they even got the front cover!] Kirk also gave me these additional info:

"We started in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the Rock Hall of Fame! Our staff is as follows:

Kirk Harrington, Lead Effort Organizer
Jason Henry, Admin, Youtube and Media assistance
Anitra Delorenzo, Admin, Myspace and Media assitance
Donna Searle, Admin, Facebook special projects

We sent letters to both the Rock Hall Foundation in New York and the Rock Hall Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. We received a reply from the Museum, explaining the induction process. You can see what our Myspace page is like and the bands we have 'befriended' at myspace.com/ddrockhall. Many of these bands were influenced by Duran Duran or directly influenced them [like David Bowie - himself a Rock Hall inductee]. We are working on trying to get 'official' support messages or interviews from these bands. We have a Youtube video. In it there is some ongoing research we are doing to support our point of view. There's a Facebook site, under Duran Duran to the Rock Hall - Official site. We now have over 1000 fans and are growing daily. We also have a Twitter account under DDTTRH, if anyone is interested in following us there. Finally, we have some interesting ongoing things... interviews with Your Vegas, Diminished 7 and Pride and the Vanities. Plus, fans approaching their radio stations and local newspapers about our effort. We are always doing ongoing research about the band... what bands were influenced by them, community service they have done, and how they have influenced the popular media. Very cool stuff! If you want to see the ongoing history of our effort you can find it in the blog section of the myspace page. If you prefer blogger, we are also at ddrockhall.blogspot.com"

If there are fans interested in either helping to get the word out or assisting with all the websites please email ddrockhall@yahoo.com

May 9: Nick and John have been in New York for some meetings and to attend some events. On may 4 they attended the 'American Patrons of Tate Artists' at Hearst Tower [where John shared the table - and some wine - with none other than Patti Smith! see pic below]. The previous day Nick attended the Unofficial After Party for The Metropolitan Museum of Art's and on april 30 he also went to the Cinema Society with Ambrosi Abrianna & Vanity Fair after party for 'Ultrasuede: In Search Of Halston'.

But more importantly we have a new update on the Duran Duran album from Nick Rhodes, who speaks from New York, through the new Katy Kafe up on the official fan community site, but first of all...some words to congratulate Katy and her husband on the arrival of their newborn!

Happy motherhood Katy! Motherhood/fatherhood are the most beautiful and fulfilling part of life, so enjoy it!

So, the news... one of subjects of the new Kafe is Duran Duran's 13th. Nick says: "I'm here [in New York] for a number of reasons, a few of them musical a few to have some meetings [...] I just came from London where we were doing some more work on the album".

Katy asks 'How is it coming?' Nick says, "slowly but surely, I'm so thrilled with everything we got, I think now we set ourselves a standard, that's pretty high. We need to try to make sure that every song leaves up to that, 'cos I'm always the first to say, when I listen to other people's albums, only two decent tracks on it, why would I want the rest of it.

[...] So we are trying to make an album that I hope people will listen to in its interity". Katy also asks what's coming up for the band in the next few months, in particular if they'll be doing any summer shows. Nick says "nothing planned at the moment, thus the end of the year I would like to think we play something...

we certainly have the album finished sometime within the next 2/3 months

I'm actually pretty sure about that just because I know how far we have gone, there must be at least 6 finished [songs], and other 3 almost finished, I don't know how many will end up... 10, 11, 12, but I'm pretty sure... I do, unfortunately, belive that leave us, probably, in the first quarter of next year for the release, purely because of all the setups, anything else".

Below pics of John [with Patti Smith] and Nick [with Laura Brown] at the 'American Patrons of Tate Artists' on may 4th

 

May 9: Nick Rhodes's message for 'Save 6 Music Campaign'.

"There are many generic mainstream radio stations who adhere to the rigid format of their limited playlists and cater to the taste of the masses, yet there are currently very few stations who actually support the upcoming artists of tomorrow and play a broad, eclectic selection of music across many genres. Radio 6 Music does exactly this. It is a true gem, cherished by its listeners, including myself.

I personally think it is vitally important to nurture new and creative British musical talent, and I would be appalled to see the BBC deny artists the opportunity to be heard. It would also be a terrible loss for all those music fans who get such great pleasure from 6 Music. I support all of the BPI's efforts in this campaign to save the station, and sincerely hope the BBC reconsider their decision.
Nick Rhodes [Duran Duran]

 

*Last Updated on may 9* May 6: More info on the news I posted early this morning on the Quick & Brief section | from todays Daily Mirror, printed edition | 'His name is Rio ... And He Could Be Singing With Simon’s Band'| England are – hopefully – in for a very busy summer but the most exciting World Cup match of all time could be about to kick off in a recording studio. We can reveal that Rio Ferdinand and Duran Duran are set to team up for the ultimate football anthem.

The Manchester United and England defender has been approached by the 80s legends to re-release a stonking new version of their hit Rio before he jets off to South Africa.
Duran Duran once said that they’d be tempted to re-record the 80s classic in the defender’s honour if England ever triumphed. Lead singer Simon Le Bon and Rio have been in touch about doing an unofficial tune before he sets off. Says our source: “ Simon and Rio are old mates. Rio got Si and the band along to a behindclosed-doors session at the Manchester United training ground to watch the lads go through their paces, and even introduced Sir Alex Ferguson to the group.” Blimey. Wonder if they asked to borrow Fergie’s hairdryer? Our source goes on: “ No one’s released a serious World Cup song this year and Duran Duran, with millions of fans, would be guaranteed a hit if they stepped up to the plate.
“Mark Ronson has been in touch, and would be up for remastering, as has Nick Hodgson, from the Kaiser Chiefs. Rio fancies himself as a singer. It’d be fantastic if they can find the time to get into the studio and bash something out.”
News of the collaboration comes after Rio joked in an interview that he wanted to take Simon Le Bon’s place in the band. Asked if he would be up for a joint number, he told FourFourTwo: “ No, I want to be the front man! Simon Le Bon’s gone – just give me a couple of bars. Can I sing? Of course I can sing. I can dance, but my voice is a lot better. I’d get to the latter stages of Britain’s Got Talent.”
That’s fighting talk. Come on then lads, the clock’s ticking. Altogether now: “ His name is Rio and he dances on the sand, defends for England and his surname’s Ferdinand.” Well, it’s a start...

[I guess it can't be 100% speculation]

May 4: On the eve of the release of their first album under the name Chicanery, I had the pleasure to interview old time friend Warren Cuccurullo [Duran Duran guitarrist 1986/2001] and Neil Carlill whom have embarked on a new project, a band and a brand new album that will be out on may 11 [as reported on april 17]. The result of my chat with the guys is a very candid and indepth interview which I really enjoyed to do. I Know Warren from a long time, I told him that he still has a place in the heart of all the Duran Duran fans for the great contribution he brought to the band with his talent as musician and songwriter and for the great human side of your personality, and I didn't have any problem to ask questions about Duran and related projects. So there are some exclusive news in the interview but I won't tell anything here. You have can read it all, just click on the banner below.

 

April 30: Emi has just re-released Arcadia's So Red The Rose as a three disc box set. This remastered collected all permutations and remixes of tracks released by the band. The third disc comprised the video collection on dvd. This album doesn't come with a cardboard box just like the most recent Duran Duran remasters, it's just a double jewel case. It would be cool to have all these new reissues with the same kind of packaging. At least the quality of the remastering is far better than the recent Duran reissues. This piece of Art deserves its own space on duranasty.com so here you go:

Arcadia's So Red The Rose Special

 

April 28: April 13th is a very important date for Saffron Le Bon, Simon's second daughter, it's the date of her debut with the band Benji XIII. The gig took place at the Troubadour in London. XIII and the Brave were originally two solo artists [Benji XIII and Saffy Le Bon] who have merged together to create guitar led, folk-like tunes. You can listen Saffron sweet voice in the song 'Worn Out' on their myspace page where they also say: "We are based in london and like playing gigs. We would also like a manager so if you would like to manage us [and you manage people for a living] please contact us".

Benji XIII: Guitar and Lyrics | Saffy Le Bon: Lyrics

Good luck guys from duranasty.com!

April 28: On April 21th Simon, Nick and Roger attended Mark Ronson's night for the launch of his range of footwear for top designer label Gucci. The new line had its London launch at a temporary pop-up store on Earlham Street in Covent Garden and was followed by an after-party at Ronnie Scott's in Soho. Ronson also produced a track with his group, Chauffeur, to celebrate the launch. “We named the band after the Duran Duran song,” Ronson said. “It sounded like something really luxe in the Eighties — a bunch of kids going out and putting on their Gucci, and listening to a band called Chauffeur.”

“I like the ones Mark designed,” said Simon Le Bon, pointing out a pair of gray herringbone tweed kicks. “If I’m lucky enough, maybe he’ll give me a pair — we paid him enough to produce our album.”

Simon LeBon performed The Chauffeur with Ronson's band Chauffeur. After the gig, Simon told Style.com, "Mark is producing our next album. He asked me to sing with him, and how could I refuse?"

download four high resolution professional pics taken at the event!

photo 1 photo 2 photo 3 photo 4

April 17: Huge Warren Cuccurullo update | two exclusive news | I just got the first news from Denise George who's helping Warren Cuccurullo promoting his projects | Personally I'm so glad to announce that our very dear Warren Cuccurullo is back with a smashing new music project: Chicanery is a collaboration between Warren Cuccurullo and Neil Carlill. They first met in London, England in the late 1990's where Neil was a guest on the TV Mania project created by Warren and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. Many years later after both Neil & Warren had relocated to the USA [East and West coasts respectively] they started work on Chicanery.

Fusing rich sound scapes shaped by Warren's legendary tune craft – densely woven around Neil's ‘tone poet’ vocals and lyrics – Chicanery is both a revival and a dream of a modern day band. It presents challenging, virtuoso musicianship and a daring-but-precise approach that transforms the collection of songs into an art form of its own. The musical terrain covers Zappa, Bowie , Dance, Club and alternative rock. It's a surreal and a psychotic vision of pop music.

Warren and Neil are joined on selected sessions by long-time Cuccurullo collaborator Terry Bozzio, Frank Zappa alumni Joe Travers, world renowned Sarangi virtuoso Ustad Sultan Khan, Muli-instrumentalist and producer Simone Sello and other guests. Chicanery's debut album was produced by Simone Sello and engineered by Fabio Angelini both of Red Rum Productions. Chicanery release their debut album on dPulse Recordings on May 11th 2010. [In conjunction with Fontana/Universal Music Group Distribution]

About Warren Cuccurullo: Perhaps best known for his work with Frank Zappa, Missing Persons and Duran Duran, Warren Cuccurullo today stands alone as one of progressive rock music’s most capable care takers. He has written and recorded Worldwide number one singles and albums, toured the globe extensively, received numerous honors for his songwriting achievements and has the distinction of writing the first single to be available for digital purchase/download on the Internet [Electric Barbarella by Duran Duran]. During his illustrious career Warren has also worked with Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson and Dweezil Zappa.

About Neil Carlill: Prior to Chicanery, Neil Carlill was a founding member of Delicatessen [Rough Trade/Big Life], who recorded three albums on the 90s alternative/experimental scene. He later was part of Lodger [Island Records], who landed the track ‘I’m Leaving’ in the UK Top 40. Neil is currently one half of Me Me the Moth with Marcelo Radulovich. Neil has also worked on other projects including Vedette with Manuel Stagars and Jayrope, 5 Little Elephants with Charles-Eric Charrier and Shoosh with Craig Murphy and Ed Drury.

listen!

Chicanery is on facebook myspace.com and warrencuccurullo.com

Warren is so productive lately... I just got another email from Katerina Rhodou of Minoan Music to inform me about another cool project of Warren with some other great names:

Hi Duranasty,

some news for you that may interest you and the readers of your nice site! A new project has come together with Anthony J. Resta ["Medazzaland", "Thank You" producer & mixer], Warren Cuccurullo, Steve Ferrone ["Notorious", "Big Thing", "Ordinary World", "Too Much Information", "Thank You"] and composer Eric Alexandrakis [Eric was discovered by John Taylor, and has a new song coming out this year with John playing bass]. They are currently simply referred to as:

ANTHONY J. RESTA + ERIC ALEXANDRAKIS + STEVE FERRONE + WARREN CUCCURULLO [COMPOSERS]

Here is their FB page: AlexandrakisCuccurulloFerroneResta

Here's a little sounvenir greeting as well: Hi From Warren Steve Anthony Eric [download - save target as]

Check out Warren laying down a solo on his track "Sid Arthur's Message" from "Playing In Tongues" on Edel.

April 16: Duran Duran and Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the new reissues from Emi, so discussed for the quality of the remastering, they are two great collector items, filled with some amazing previously unreleased gems. They can't be missed by all Duran Duran fans! The full package and the tracklist of both reissues look glorious so they really deserve a special space on this site, with pics and press reviews. Enjoy!

 

Reissue Special

 

April 6: What I offer here is just essential Duran Duran information in words and pictures, occasionally some frivolousness [hei! I'm a Duran Duran fan!]. Sometimes what I do is just underline things that are out there but pass unnoticed losing their impotance among all the non-news and the speculation circulating around a band with a 30 years long history.
In february John Taylor answered some fan's question in the Kafe. What John said in the chat is very interesting to say the least! and it has to be read in perspective of the band's new recording phase. He mentions names and collaborations he'd love to do, so did Nick. Who knows if these dreams of collaboration will ever happen and if they'll see the light, sooner or later, in the new Duran Duran album or just in some solo projects?

The question that made John talk is: "what other musician would you love to jam with?

John says : "well, funnily enough, I was recently put in touch with Mick Karn*, who was the bass player with Japan, and I had a couple of email exchange and I just thought:

how nice would be to have him play on something on the new record

and I imagined to go to the studio with Mick, myself, you know... making something interesting with him. You know... I guess [I'd like to work with] somebody who has some distinct voice, I remember also Nick [Rhodes] being in touch with John Foxx**, who was the singer with Ultravox and thinking how that could be kind of nice to have him sing... I love Gwen Stefani, I'd love to write something with her someday, I'd love to have her come on stage with us..."

* Mick, just like Duran Duran, will be contributing a cover [Ashes to Ashes] to the Bowie tribute on Manimal Vinyl Records in support of War Child.

** Nick Rhodes contributed two prints at the new DNA exhibition in July 2009, featuring work by visual artists, film-makers, illustrators, Manga comic artists, graphic artists and musicians who have been inspired by different aspects of John Foxx’s 30 year career. Nick’s two pieces were titled ‘I Want To Be A Machine’ and ‘Artificial Life’, the 2 titles come from early Ultravox tracks, the version fronted by John Foxx.

In the same kafe I had a quick answer from John to one of my questions, it was about the orchestral project the band were talking about last year, I just asked if they abbadoned the project or is still under consideration.

John's answer was clear: "it's been put on the shelves". An obvious choice since the band is concentrating all the creative energies in the new album.

In the latest Kafe [march 2010] Nick answers some fan's questions as well, one of these questions was mine. Here is a transcription.

Katy: Nick, Salvo, we all know our friend Salvo
Nick: hello Salvooo,
Katy: from Italy
Nick: of course
Katy: This is a long and a good question… Salvo says: In a recent interview Giorgio Moroder has been asked if he had any regrets for artistic enterprises he has refused over the years. He mentioned the never made remake of George Pal's 'Seven Faces of Doctor Lao' [film with Michael Jackson] and he also said that he renounced to produce Duran Duran before they became Duran Duran. He mentioned that you guys proposed him some demos to produce but he decided that it wasn't worth it... In 2005 some english newspapers reported about your desire to work with the italian producer on Duran Duran's -then next- album. Is there any thruth behind the latter tidbit and can you remember what demos you proposed him back in the days? Did he refer to the very early Duran demos [before you got Colin Thurston]? Are you still interested in working with Moroder on some project/dreams still closed in the drawer and if so did you ever discuss about it with him?

Nick says: Hmmm, well Salvo, Giorgio Moroder, as you probably know, is somebody who all of the band hold in particulary high regard, he was incredibly infuential on our earlier work, particulary for me with regards to his sequencies on songs like I Feel Love and on the Midnight Express soundtrack, later on Cat People and certanly with the fantastic Spark album Number One in Heaven, Beat the Clock and all that songs, Number One in Heaven how great that is, I haven’t heard that for a long time.

Sooo yes, I would love to work with Giorgio Moroder one day, even on a song,

I’m not sure what would happen at this point, I don’t know what he has done very recently but somebody who is that clever and has a vision like that usually continues to produce interesting things so that would be a real pleasure at some stage...

I imagine we did approch him very early on, I don’t recall exactly, it probably would it be for our first album around the time, hmm, guess would it be 1980 so those demos would it be things like Girls On Film possibly Planet Earth, but there you go, sometimes things don’t work out, sometimes they come together later, sometimes they never do but certainly he has created some terrific records, even his own solo records called E=MC2, for the mathematicians out there, that’s a beauty. Q: Would you work with hime now if you have the opportunity? A: Yeah! I think so, It would be fun to do a track together, I mean he did that one track with David Bowie, that Cat people sountrack in the mid 80s, one of the best things of that decade.

 

March 31: Roger Taylor deejayed at Fate Awards 2010 in Belfast on March 26th. Roger, with fellow deejay Jake Fonique, has been also interviewed by Belfast Telegraph's Gary Grattan at the Europa Hotel.

When the Duran Duran drummer was asked about the band's future plans he answered:

"We are actually recording a new album with Mark Ronson wich is supposed to be out this year but I think it's gonna be next year realistically. It's gonna be a great album."

March 30: On Saturday, March 20th, New Roads music history was made as student musicians gathered onstage with rock legends Stewart Copeland of the Police, John Densmore of the Doors, John Taylor of Duran Duran and Raul Pacheco of Ozomatli, to celebrate New Roads’ 15th Anniversary in grand style. The live performance and a companion cd were the culmination of a year-long project spearheaded by John Taylor, to bring together the school community in celebration of New Roads’ accomplishments over the last 15 years and in support of the school’s uniquely generous financial aid program. Under the supervision of Music Director, Michael Abels, and music teacher, Scott Roewe, students from K-12, faculty member, Andrew Werderitsch, plus alumni Noah Gersh, Claire Cronin, and Natalie Becerra, performed cover songs from the past fifteen years, and brought down the house when they jammed with the professional musicians.

A limited edition 15th Anniversary cd-dvd featuring the events musical performances is now available.

You can order your copy here and view Photo Highlights gallery here

John performed on five of the day’s 15 songs, including covers of “Music” by Madonna, “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley and “I Can Tell That We Are Gonna Be Friends” by the White Stripes.

March 26: Roger Taylor and his wife Gisela hosted a joint masquerade birthday bash at the at Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane in London. Hidden behind elaborate mask and colourful plumes, guest feasted on mini hamburgers and chips washed down on martinis and U’Luvka vodka. Simon Le Bon made a toast to the birthday girl while his model wife Yasmin and daughter Amber added rock ‘n’ roll glamour in full length dresses. Among other guests burlesque dancer Esmè Bianco, fashion designer John Richmond, Boy George, Tatjana Rhodes, James Taylor, Andrew Taylor Jr and none other than... the lovely Madeline Farley! I assume the party was held on january 15 as official news reports that Roger played a DJ set at Dorchester Hotel on that date to aid a fund-raising by The Wings of Hope [an organisation that provides free education to children in developing countries]. Thanks to Christian for these scans from Tatler. If you want to get a bigger picture of the above visual just click here

March 20: Joshua Blair is Duran Duran's Recording and Mixing Engineer on their 13th studio album. From audiopros.eu | Joshua is one of those all round nice guys who not only has a great ear or two, he also understands how to get the best from his gear... old and new. His credits as an engineer include everyone from Beyoncé, Leona Lewis, Take That, Mel C and the Scissor Sisters, through to Queen, Stereophonics, Thin Lizzy and Simply Red. Josh, is based in London and he's currently working with Mark Ronson on the new Duran album.

He's recording the Duran Duran album on Pro Tools using a few choice front-end processors and mic pres. Joshua says: "The Transient Designer is as much about effect as control “Especially on the Duran Duran stuff, when we do the set-up, we have an acoustic drum kit, an electric drum kit, Bass, Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals and 16 lines of keyboards coming in, so we can use the Transient Designer as a production tool or effect. It means that we can have a drum kit sound like a great drum kit or if we want it to sound completely different, then we can do that and we have every nuance we want in between.” [...] “Nick Rhodes was telling me that when they were mixing one of their tracks back in the 80’s, they wanted the snare to have a tail where the note slid down on every hit. And because there was no automation on the processor used on the effect, someone had to sit there and turn the knob on every snare strike. But now, you can just automate it or create the effect on one snare and copy/paste it in to the rest of the track.” [...] “Now the guys know that these effects can be achieved easily, they can be far more creative with sounds at a much faster pace.” At this stage of tracking the Duran Duran album Josh is mixing almost exclusively “in the box”, so it is the front end processing of the source signal that is so important to him. “When you’re getting down to it, you don’t have time to mess about changing settings constantly on a pre. The way I do my sessions is that if it takes longer than 30 seconds to set, it’s taken too long. The producer or the artist doesn’t want to wait around all day for you to get a sound, so it’s important to get an idea of what they are looking for before you go into the studio, listen to the instrument or voice acoustically and also know enough about your equipment to know what is going to work".

Joshua speaks about the equipment he's using on the new Duran Duran album also in these two videos:

Josh Blair talks about his SPL RackPack and Josh Blair talks about the Sonodyne SM100Ak

March 18: In January it was revealed that Duran would be contributing a cover of "Boys Keep Swinging" to the David Bowie Tribute Album due to be released in May 2010 on Manimal Records.

A huge update comes from Nick's recent chat with Katy in the latest Kafe as he answers some fan's questions. Nick expresses all his admiration for Bowie, then he adds: "We didn’t pick one of the really classic songs, I mean something like 'Life On Mars' or 'Ziggy Stardus' or 'Rebel Rebel' or, I don’t know, any of the ones I feel absolutely handsome, because I think they’re are all so perfect in their original form, would be very very hard to anything radically different to them."

"We all did pick Boys Keep Swinging 'cos it’s an iconic song, we felt we could duranize it, so our version is very different to David’s version, it’s a similar sort of tempo but it got a lot of rhythm on it, there’s a lot of drum, electronic drums and real drums, rhythm machine. It doesn’t have any guitars on it, the original was filled with guitars. Simon has played around with the vocal melody a little and he’s got a very different vocal sound on it, we also used a machine on that, but don’t worry, he doesn’t sound like one of those records in the charts. I’m actually very excited about it, I hope David likes it, I hope the fans likes it and I hope it raises some money [100% of the proceeds go to War Child Uk warchild.org]. It was a lot of fun to do, we recorded it very quickly in a couple of days in London. I have to say I’m very very pleased with the mix and the sonic quality of it. You’ll hear it soon enough!"

Repetition/A Tribute to David Bowie [2XCD - Mani-025 limited edition $15.99 - ships on May 14th, 2010]
click here to pre-order

 

March 12: These are a couple of preview pics of the new Duran Duran reissues, Duran Duran and Seven And The Ragged Tiger. Both products will be out on march 29th. The packaging looks absolutely amazing, a real treat for all the fans. Let's just hope that the quality of the remastered albums and videos will be as good as these glossy clamshell boxes!

 

March 12: Thanks to Pietro at Media Promotion we have a bunch of nice pics of Roger taken last week in Italy, I uploaded them all in a new gallery right here. I also managed to get 2 local newspaper featuring Roger:

Il Quotidiano Campobasso and Nuovo Molise | photo gallery Roger in Italy march 2010

 

March 10: Exclusive! Roger Taylor speaks to duranasty.com | On the eve of the launch of his new deejay set across Europe, Roger has been kind enough to stop for a quick ten question interview with duranasty.com's editor. Thanks very much Roger for taking the time and a special thanks goes also to his manager, Media Promotion and Red Passion Club.

Roger Taylor interview

 

March 9: More from Japan! Simon took one week longer stay in Japan than the rest of the band. Just after the CLSA corporate gig Simon and Nick Wood finished all their shooting for the Save a Prayer videoclip with Sylvio Anastasio [pic on the left] and they left Tokio for three days with Noriko [the author of these wonderful pics] to go to Oirase, a wonderful town located in the Kamikita, District of eastern Aomori Prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan. This post is just about sharing these cool pics of Simon relaxing and having fun with his two friends. Enjoy and have fun!

Some meditation in a real kimono, walks in the white snow, wonderful landscapes, typical food, and two very good friends... will all this bring some inspiration for some new Duran Duran lyrics?)

Hungry like the wolf: Simon Le Bon and his big fish.

Below good friends Simon, Nick and Noriko.

 

March 4: Simon Le Bon joined his old friend Sylvio Anastacio and co-founder of Syn production Nick Wood at Saigo Yama Park in Tokyo to film a video for their version of “Save a Prayer” [enclosed in the 2002 “From the Heart” Starbucks compilation]. Below some pics taken by Noriko [Private Secretary to Nick Wood] at Aomori railway station. On the left Simon and Nick Wood at the Concorde Hotel in Tokyo where Mr Le Bon sang at the bar with Sylvio Anastacio their rendition of “Save a Prayer”

 

February 28: While Duran Duran were in Barcelona to play a corporate show at the Global Mobile Awards some spanish fans were lucky enough to meet the guys at the Palau Nacional. When fellow duranie Imma met John she promptly asked when the new album will be out, at first he said he didn't know, then he said September... Thelsus also reports that the guys did a pro-photoshoot in Barcelona. Simon and Roger shoots were done outside and in the park in front the Palau, Nick's posed inside sat on the floor. [in the small pic, taken by Thelsus, Simon during the photoshoot, main pic the band in Barcelona on feb 16] According to this fan-report published on duranplanet.com Nick told fans who met him at the studio that a new tour might kick-off from the U.S.A presumably in August, but it all depends on the album. Finger crossed guys!

February 28: From the thesun.co.uk: Mark Ronson has been working on his next album the 'Record Collection', which is being recorded under the name Mark Ronson And The Business. Veterans including Simon Le Bon, Sir Elton John and Boy George are collaborating with Ronson on his new disc. The record is slated for release in July. Read more here.

February 28: Roger and Jake will be showcasing a brand new set for the coming spring at The Red Passion Club in Campobasso [Italy] on March 6th. Roger says: "We have more dates coming up soon..."

Download scans of Red Passion magazine with our favourite drummer on the cover and a three pages article!

cover . page one . page two . page three

February 28: Duran Duran have just played a couple of corporate gigs, one at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards party in Barcelona [as we previously reported] and one at the CLSA 7th annual Japan Forum at the Grand Hyatt hotel in central Tokyo. Have a look at this great collection of 178 [!] professional pics of the guys playing in Barcellona [courtesy of Howard Sayer]. Some more quality pics from Barcelona can be seen here. Not as good as these but they are the only ones I could find online from the Tokio gig... so here some from CLSA show pictures [click on the pics to get a larger version].

February 17: *Updated with a pic of Nick at the event [below]* | Duran Duran were headliners at last night’s GSMA Global Mobile Awards party in Barcelona. Nick Rhodes also made an appearance at this morning’s Mobile Entertainment & Lifestyle session [‘The Future of Media on Mobile’]. Show Daily magazine caught up with him to pose a variety of questions [some of which were contributed via social networks]. Below the most interesting and informative question [made by tof075 via Twitter]

Do you plan to promote your new album with special iPhone apps, like Robbie Williams?

"We are currently in discussions with several phone companies about what type of experience we can provide for our audience when we release the new album later this year. We are always looking for interesting and innovative opportunities and there's undoubtedly some exciting technology out there to both deliver music and engage our fans.

Download a scan of the article and read the full interview here

February 10: I'm glad to announce the real [and hopefully final] release dates for Duran Duran and Seven And The Ragged Tiger. I just spoke to my contact at Emi Catalogue who also sent us in advance the official press releases with tracklist and special contents of all the upcoming products. A real treat for the collectors out there 'cos the special packaging of both releases will be made with a clamshell box, an 8 pages booklet, postcards and also a poster. Great to hear that the Air Studios versions, The Manchester Square Demos and the BBC Radio 1 Peter Powell session will be included in Duran Duran and the wonderful live show 'As The Lights Go Down' will see the light of day as official release on dvd! Below the final and official release dates and info:

Duran Duran - Duran Duran Release Date: 28/03/2010

Format Cat.No. ICPN Packaging
CD Album + Bonus DVD (3) EMCX 3372 5099960960320 Clamshell box
CD Album (2) EMCS 3372 5099960959720 Digi-pack
Digital (2) 609 6005 5099960960054 2Component digital download
Vinyl Album (2) EMCD 3372 5099960960610 Heavyweight 2LP

Product Suite
2CD+DVD Special Packaging edition
CD1: The original album + b'sides
CD2: Packed full of previously unreleased material includes:

The AIR Studios versions, The Manchester Square Demos, BBC Radio 1 Peter Powell session and Night Versions of Planet Earth & Girls on Film.
DVD: Original Videos plus previously unreleased versions of TOTP, Old Grey Whistle Test, Get Set For Summer and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop footage.

Special Packaging
*Clamshell box with lift off lid
*8pg booklet
*5 x postcards of individual band shots
*Folded poster approx 30cm x 38cm used in Japanese original LP

2CD/2Component Digital Download
CD1: Original album + b'sides
CD2: As per 2CD/DVD edition above.
Packaging
*6 panel digipack
*8 page booklet

Vinyl
LP1: Original Album
LP2: Bonus 12"
Packaging
*Wide spine sleeve
*2 x 12" heavyweight vinyl - 180gram

Duran Duran Seven And The Ragged Tiger Release Date: 29/03/2010

Format Cat.No. ICPN Packaging
CD Album + Bonus DVD (3) EMCX 165454 5099962609722 Clamshell box
CD Album (2) EMCS 165454 5099962609425 Digi-pack
Digital (2) 626 0915 5099962609159 2Component digital download
Vinyl Album (2) EMCD 165454 5099962610018 Heavyweight 2LP

Product Suite
2CD+DVD Special Packaging
CD1: Original album released 3 Dec 1983
CD2: Bonus album with non album singles, b-sides and mixes

DVD: As The Lights Go Down: A film Conceived by Duran Durand and Russell Mulcahy, the Videos from Seven and The Ragged Tiger and two Top of the Pops performances.

Special Packaging
*Clamshell box with lift off lid
*8pg booklet
*5 x postcards of individual band shots
*Folded poster approx 30cm x 38cm used in Japanese original LP

2CD/2Component Digital Download
CD1: Original album + b'sides
CD2: As per 2CD/DVD edition above.
Packaging
*6 panel digipack
*8 page booklet

Vinyl
LP1: Original Album
LP2: Bonus 12"
Packaging
*Wide spine sleeve
*2 x 12" heavyweight vinyl - 180gram

Read/download the full tracklist on the press releases:

press release Duran Duran: page one, page two

press release Seven And The Ragged Tiger: page one, page two

EMI has also confirmed Arcadia's So Red The Rose release date [April 12th and 13th].

Both packshots showed in the above visual are just a simulation of the prodoucts

January 26: Denis O'Regan has just launched his new improved website with a fantastic collection of 45 new-old Duran Duran pictures from his archive... check them out here and enjoy the trip! There's a lot more... Denis, who has been taking memorable photographs of the band for three decades, unveils his great new project, a new Duran Duran visual book. He says: "I‘m currently producing a book with Duran Duran trough my intense Book Imprint, entitled ‘Careless Memories - Duran Duran in The Eighties’ and I will be opening a print gallery in London’s Westbourne Grove in 2010".

‘Careless Memories - Duran Duran in The Eighties’: this unique book documents Duran Duran in the Eighties, using pictures from Denis O’ Regan Archive. It will be available for pre-sale from April 2010.
Duran Duran contribute interviews and their memories from the period. The Sing Blue Silver tour is covered in detail, featuring numerous unseen images, many of them black & white. The book is a strictly limited edition premium publication, delivered in a custom slipcase, signed by band members. Book buyers will receive an invitation to an exclusive Duran Duran performance, at wich they can meet the band. Buyers will also receive a custom USB stick featuring a recording of the show. all photos by Denis O'Regan

You may register your interest in the book here

January 23: I haven't posted since late december 'cos there haven't been any relevant news to report about. All we would like to hear is that the work on album is progressing well, and I'm sure the band will give us an update soon trough the official sources. Meanwhile Duran Duran has announced their collaboration to Manimal Vinyl's awaited tribute to David Bowie [due in stores May 2010]. The guys decided to cover “Boys Keep Swinging”. 100% of the net profits will go to Warchild.
The album will be available as a limited cd, limited double lp and download with extra tracks unavailable anywhere else. Site says "expect tracks to start leaking out around February 15"

This week I had a quick chat with Paul Beahan, owner of Manimal Vinyl, as I was curious to know how Duran Duran ended up in this project, with such a different range of names and genres, right in the middle of their busy recording session for their upcoming album.

Paul, Can you tell us how DD got involved in the project, was John Taylor's idea maybe [since he lives in LA and he's actually a great vinyl collector]?

Aside from owning and operating Manimal Records, I have been working as a fashion stylist in Los Angeles and New York City since 2002. From this I became aquainted with John's lovely wife, Gela [co-owner of Juicy Couture]. Having been a Duran fan since 1982, I simply wrote to their management asking if they had any interest in being a part of this charity project. Thankfully they were.

Is the cover similar to the original song or quite different, would you please describe it? [guitar or electronic oriented sound?]

The track will not be ready until next week. I am just as anxious to hear it as you are. ;) I will let you know.

Has Bowie actually heard any of the songs?
No, but he will soon.

Reissues | Some more news comes from my insider at Emi Catalogue about the upcoming reissues: Duran Duran special edition and Seven And The Ragged Tiger special edition have just been postponed [from march 12] to march 26. Emi will be also reissuing The Greatest dvd in standard amaray case because the first digipack edition is now out of stock. The release date for this one is currently the same of the other two products, Emi Catalogue's representative said.

December 24: A picture is worth a thousand words and I really couldn't find a better image to post duranasty.com's Christmas wishes than this one showing a daddy dressed as Santa Claus with his daughter. The mentioned daddy is none other than Nick Rhodes with a very young Tatjana Rhodes [the picture has been posted on jewelsfromtherovingstove blog where Julie Anne is also running the competition "Name That Santa". Well, what can I say, I Just want to wish everyone in the Duran Duran universe a wonderfull Christmas time and a Fantastic 2010, I'm sure the new year will bring us a lot of Duran Duran emotions with many releases to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary and finally the so awaited new album and tour... so never lose faith and keep on loving Duran Duran!

December 20: Below the very nice Christmas greeting we have received from Duran Duran's guitarrist Dom Brown. We just wish the best to you, Dom, and your growing family, and lots more years of success with Duran Duran and Blue To Brown. We are so lucky to have a talented musician and down to earth guy like you is in the band, we just can't wait to listen some new music. Happy Christmas and a spectacular 2010!

December 17: In the last KatyKafe John mentioned a new project with Nick Egan, not something that seems of immediate concern... the news needed more investigation anyway! John said: 'I've got a little project on the back burner with Nick Egan who designed the Wedding Album and he did the videos for Ordinary World, and White Lines, and it's kind of a, well, it's sort of in the works, but it's like a book project, we've been thinking about, it's kinda about Nick's work, it's about really the twilight of the album cover years, it's really about the death of the album cover.

I've always been a huge fan of Egan's work, he's a 360° visual artist and I just loved what he did with Duran's image, graphically and in video, over the years. I particulary enjoyed the totally new visual identity of the band that he created around the release of the Wedding Album [Ordinary World video, the album cover, the press adverts, the tourbook and all the merchandise including the cool t-shirts: just terrific and very fresh at the time]. So it was a real pleasure to drop him a line and ask some more info about the project. Nick was very nice to return a quick but informative email: below I report what he said'.

Hi Salvo, Thanks for contacting me, actually the book isn't about Duran. It's a book, written by John, about my artwork starting with The Clash and Ramones and including Bow Wow Wow, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Malcolm McLaren, Bob Dylan, INXS, Iggy Pop, Oasis and of course Duran Duran. I can't really give you anymore info than that, other than to say that John is a terrific writer. Feel free to check in with any updates of the next few months.
Best wishes.
Nick

For sure I'll do it and I'll keep you posted! Thanks again for sharing this bit of info Nick!

In the same Kafe John speaks about his talk at ucla, his musical obsessions [he did a nice analogy of mp3's to vinyl as McDonald's to a fine, local restaurant] to art, poetry and books. He also commented on the Rio reissue and said: 'Emi is warming up to do the same with the first album, the third, fourth [Arena] and fifth album'. My contact at Emi Catalogue told me that, despite all that has been posted online, the only confirmed reissue at the moment is Seven And The Ragged Tiger: release date march 12, 2010. According to my source the special edition of Duran Duran and So Red The Rose have been both postponed to april 2010, but no date has been announced yet.

In the pictures Nick Egan, Ronah Elliot Catherine Roylance [publisher and designer], John Taylor, and Catherine Roylance [Owner of Genesis Publications - Publishing industry]. The pic was taken on October 8th 2009 at Taschen in Beverly Hills for The Brian Wilson Book Signing. I guess the book will be released on Genesis Publications, it's the world's leading publisher of signed and numbered limited edition books and fine art prints on modern music, art, sports, and historical manuscripts. The b/w John Taylor portrait was taken on October 1, 2007 during a shoot in London for Rockin On magazine from Japan.

December 9: As we reported last spring, Drama Americana, the documentary filmed during the 2005 Astronaut tour, is now finished. Nick said back in march: "it needs to go out soon, so it will be released on dvd, download or whatever it is". We still haven't got a clue in what kind of form the prodouct will be available to the public but we made a very interesting discovery... on heyluke's website [Gavin Elder's London based Video Production] have been uploaded the trailers of Drama Americana and another documentary titled Duran Japan. "Drama Americana" Usa Tour Film is 64 minutes long. You can watch the trailers directly from the source heyluke.com under the section 'work'. You might get trouble watching them 'cos these are Adobe Shockwave files. The way Shockwave files tend to work is to link to external resources which is why they often don't work... so if you won't get anything when trying to play the swf files you have a second opportunity here, you can watch and download the quicktime files by clicking the links below [right click - save target as]. Glad to help you! This news wouldn't be here without the precious help of Donata and Mr.T.

Drama Americana Trailer: 30 sec Duran Japan On tour in Japan. Preview: 1min 30sec

Nick says: "We also have a lot of footage we filmed during the South American Tour, mostly documentary and a little bit of live stuff, but I think it's very different than anything else we have put out before. It needs editing, hours of editing..." Will this stuff ever surface? We wonder also what happened to the Pop Trash tour documentary, hours and hours of shooting...

 

December 9: In August 2009 Orion Books has released a small paperback version of Andy Taylor's book 'Wild Boys, My life in Duran Duran'. If you liked the first edition and you think it was an interesting read, well... you have to get this new one 'cos it has a new chapter, chapter 18, titled "Accountants and Cocaine Don't Mix". The new script is revealing and once and for all Andy gives the fans all the answers they have been asking since he left the band. This chapter represents the end to the speculation and all the discussion the fans have been making over the last couple of years. Below just a couple of interesting quotes from the mentioned chapter. You really have to read the full chapter, so if you didn't buy a copy of the book when it was originally released you can always get it now, I highly recommend it if you want to get the full picture... Well, I should say the full picture from Andy's point of view!

On chapter 18 Andy talks about RCM and the management...

[...] Experience tells you that you can’t spin a good record [no pun intended]; it actually has to be a good record. There are those around Duran Duran who mistakenly belive that as long as they repeatedly state something is good, then it’s eventually going to come good. Force-feed the public till they damn well love it. I prefer to win by winning and not by spinning. I was reported on BBC website in November 2006 that Duran Duran had worked with Justin Timberlake in ‘a writing and production manner’ one one of three new tracks produced by Timbaland. Oh no, I thought, Duran Duran is about to become a celebrity fan club. The cast of characters was staggering: Timbaland, Timberlake, Furtado, Nate Hills... who next? You have to ask yourself what on earth they were all chasing - and really, was the creative energy so lacking that so many other beautiful minds, dare I say egos, had to be involved?

...and about running into Roger Taylot at a Who concert and the end [?] of their friendship.

[...] The box from wich Tracey and I watched the concert was close to the one Simon and Roger shared but but Simon disappeared pretty quickly. Roger and I, however, came face to face over drinks - and I think that was the moment when the enormity of the split finally hit me. Roger smiled and we shook hands in tacit agreement to put any bitterness to one side. Opening up any differences would hardly have been appropriate given the time or the place. Roger is never one to be confrontational and even though I can rip someone’s throat out if I ‘m in a temper, I just didn’t have the heart to bear an old friend any ill will. I felt a little saddened knowing that Roger and I had adgreed on so many issues and now he seemed as if he was just cruising along with whatever was dished up, including using some beat machines. [...] Roger and I vowed to keep in touch with each other, but while we were chatting, i couldn’t help feeling that the atmosphere seemed just a little too polite, if not a tiny bit frosty. I think that’s when it properly sank in: we have nothing left in common, our friendship is gone. I was no longer a member of the band we created - we no longer had the same terms of endearment. It was the last time Roger and I spoke and none of us have ever spoken since.

He speaks also about Reportage and mentions that people keep asking him if he'll ever return to Duran Duran, and he finally answer the question...

[...] I hadn’t disagreed with Sony in 2005 when they’d rejected JT’s painful production of Reportage [our unreleased album], and I wasn’t alone, but nobody had the balls to tell Nick and John that the album just wasn’t up to it. JT couldn’t see this, or more to the point, feel it. They knew how I felt but in their ignorance ignored the one guy who was being straight and actually knew how to operate the machine. Occasionally [like on most days] I get asked by fans if I would ever consider joining Duran Duran for a third time? Sadly, I don’t think there’s any likelihood of that and the direction they’ve taken would not be of my choosing. Aside from anything else it would mean Nick and I have had more make-ups and break-ups than Liz Taylor and Richard Burton! So there’s not a cat in hell’s chance - it’s over. Like all divorces, it was inevitable that at some stage the lawyers would become involved. Our financial affairs had always been a bit of a complex web to say least, and no severance was ever going to be easy, particulary one as sudden and deceptive as my exit from the band. there were no farewell or handshakes and there was not even time to arrange for all of my musical equipment to be sent back to me'.

Andy closes the chapter saying:

[...] I have the satisfaction of knowing that in Duran Duran we did it all, and we did it ‘our own way’ - twice - [well nearly]. So there's no point in getting hung up about how things turned out. It’s over baby, they didn’t want me around anymore and fundamentally I’m okay about that. And we were gone just as quickly as it all had began.

November 24: Album Update | Read it carefully 'cause this is not a take of this Roger Taylor's blog on the official site.This is a transcription of the most interesting part [about 13th] from the recent KatyKafe, online on ddm from november 19th. Roger says: "We'll probably back in the studio as a band in the new year. Simon is writing lyrics, he is just sorting the final vocals. I know that he'll back in the studio next week and I know that he has got around six songs and they are all pretty much finished so I think we really start moving again from there" [...] There will be a tour for sure, we hope to get some dates for the second quarter of next year" [...] I'll probably deejay in a couple of weeks in London, at the Met Bar, it's kinda like my resident, I kinda play there when I want.

November 19: On sunday november 15th, Yasmin Le Bon with husband Simon and their three daughters joined other celebrities in raising money for charity by manning stalls at the Really Really Great Garage Sale fundraising event at Selfridges in London. Here is a fan/fun experience from our London reporter Silvia Chironi [pictured with Simon on the left. Silvia is also known for being the fan who lent her voice to speak the italian words in Venice Drowning].

"My friend B and I arrived at Selfridges at about noon, when the event was actually supposed to start! Big mistake! We should have known better! Tons of celebrities selling their own clothes for charity, certainly a very attractive event! The nice police-officer I talked to estimated 4 hours queue. We decide to go for the Jimmy Choo sale at H&M which was quite a big deal as well to be honest! We go back at around 2pm! We were lucky! Barely half hour in line! We walked right away towards Yasmin’s stall! She’s already sold almost everything. She welcomed us warmly, she started talking with us saying that she’s been there since 9am but she’s very proud of what she accomplished so far! We asked if she had eaten at all… she said: ”not really!”. The 3 girls are all there with their aprons and horns helping mom!! Simon arrives 5 minutes later in a very good mood! He tries right away to sell us one of his jacket, light grey/white XL and stained! We really were laughing very hard thinking about our husbands wearing it… they would have most likely thrown it in our faces! We didn’t ask anything about the work they’re doing with the band because he seemed very excited about the event and wanted to show us more clothes! I go back to Yasmin and spot a very sexy black dress… I guess I couldn’t resist and besides the money will go to charity! She tells us that she partied very hard on it, it’s a Versace dress. She sells it to me for 15 pounds and Saffron put it the shopping bag for me! We spoke about the Wallis collection and boobs... Right! Boobs! Which she confessed: ”I never had!”. We decided to wander around and check out the other stalls! Simon is always somewhere around us very excited! We meet again and I decide to ask for a picture… it’s been 20 years that I don’t take a picture with Simon, it seemed a good occasion! He looks very happy and proud of what Yasmin was doing and he’s keeping on saying:” this is so fucking cool! Some people recognized him and ask for autographs! At some point some tv journalist interviewed him! That’s pretty much it! Very funny and exciting experience! Certainly a little different from the usual ones where Duran Duran are involved!"

From the Indipendent: Sunday is a holy day for bargain hunters, who flock to car parks and playing fields around the country to rummage through stalls of second-hand clothes, toys and bric-a-brac in the hope of finding a hidden gem. But while boot sale-goers wouldn’t spend hours queuing for the privilege, a fashion-conscious crowd arrived at the car park of London's Selfridges early yesterday morning in the hope of bagging a bargain and spotting some celebrities at a charity jumble sale. Famous names including Gwyneth Paltrow, Lily Allen, Yasmin Le Bon [with Simon and their three girls] donated items, with many choosing to man their own stalls. Wider baby smiling you just made a million: Yasmin gets money from Silvia!

November 19: On November 14th John Taylor, wife Gela Nash and daughter Atlanta attended The Museum of Contemporary Art [MOCA] 30th Anniversary Gala in Los Angeles. The gala and auction of new artworks will benefit the museum's exhibition and education programs.

Above some unusual pics of Simon shopping in Casablanca. The pics were taken in the early days of November when Simon and his family attended the launch of the Mazagan Beach Resort in Morocco. Credit goes to the very informative forum All for Simon Le Bon

Last but not least... when Spandau Ballet came to Milan last week for a quick promotional tour, during the press conference they were asked about Duran Duran and their historic rivalry. Spandau said: "They are very nice guys and we are friends. The night of our London debut they sent us a very big bottle of Dom Perignon, some of them also attended the show. With the bottle there was also a wishing card... they didn't write the typical english good wish "break a leg", they just wrote ‘We’ll break your legs’! From rockol.it

November 13: Review | Originally released in 2003, the Single Box 81-85 gets new life with the a new release. If you have purchased this compilation in the form of 13 cd singles you won't be disappointed getting this wonderfully designed new podouct by Duran Duran under Emi! Not only is this 3cd version considerably cheaper, you're also spared the irritation of having to constantly swap discs over in order to hear all the tracks. The box set contains so many great remixed/extended versions of classic Duran Duran tracks, such as the 'nite versions ' and the 'dance mixes' [in the early days, the band would actually re-record the extended versions of their singles]. You'll be able to listen to Khanada, Fame and Secret Oktober without the hassle of changing disc: a real full immersion in the Duran Duran b-sides world. I just hope that Emi Catalogue will reissue soon the 'Singles Box 86-95' in a similar manageable and usefull format. [the box is available on amazon.co.uk for only £7.98]

Press release: 2009 three CD set from the New Wave quintet containing all of their singles [A and B-sides] released between 1981 and 1985. From their debut single 'Planet Earth' to their James Bond theme, 'A View To A Kill', Duran Duran could do no wrong and were one of the most sucessful Pop acts of the '80s. This triple box features all 13 singles released during their first four years including seven inch single mixes, extended mixes and b-sides. Features the hits 'Rio', 'Hungry Like The Wolf', 'The Wild Boys', 'Girls On Film', 'Save A Prayer', 'Is There Something I Should Know', 'The Reflex' and many more. Emi.

November 13: Duran Duran has recently inspired a musical in Australia and a movie still in production in Uk. From the Sydney Morning Herald | Section: Spectrum | "Musical theatre is undergoing a metamorphosis as plot-driven epics make way for nostalgic fantasy. Listen up, theatreland, have I got a show for you. Rio! – The New Romantic Musical!© is the heart-warming story of an apprentice in a run-down suburban hair salon who enters an international hairdressing competition in Brazil because she’s searching for her father, a man that her mother – now tragically deceased, but still available in humorous ghost format – allowed her to believe is Vidal Sassoon. Stay with me, people. There’s a hilariously bitchy gay character, a wedding [maybe two!], a haircut gone seriously wrong and, best of all, it’s stuffed full of retro-fabulous ’ 80s pop anthems including Duran Duran’s Rio for the spectacular beach finale".

The film Elevator Gods has been in preparation for eight years and is being directed and produced by Tadcaster man Peter Hunt, who is starring in the film alongside comedians Trevor and Simon and Ralph Brown, who played drug dealer Danny in Withnail And I. The film, which has a budget of just £100,000, is being billed as The Full Monty meets The Commitments, and tells the story of a Bradford poseur who must persuade his friends to reform their Duran Duran tribute band to enter a contest and win the cash prize to save their nightclub. The budget is so tight that Mr Hunt’s family and friends are helping to get the film made. Writer and Director Pete Hunt and the crew hope the film will be released early in 2011.

November 8: The Le Bon family were among the celebrity guests who attended the launch party of the Mazagan Beach Resort in Morocco. The luxury property is located in the Mazagan region south of Casablanca. According to Dean Piper [Celebrity & Showbiz Expert and currently the celebrity and entertainment columnist for The Sunday Mirror] guest were also invited at the Birthday party for Simon Le Bon, Hollywood actor Gerard Butler and Naomi Campbell’s millionaire boyfriend Vladislav Doronin. The threesome celebrated their birthdays at Mazagan’s Sanctuary Club. Yasmin and Naomi had pre-planned the entire evening around their men and a huge cake was brought out for each man! And part of the celebrations included Simon and hotel owner Heather Kerzner taking to the mic for some impromptu karaoke! Meanwile Simon and Dean Piper engaged in a ‘dance-off’ in the middle of the Sanctuary club. Simon wandered over to the DJ booth and yelled: “Got any MGMT. Please play it.” Unfortunately the DJ had no idea an eighties pop legend was before him and said he ‘didn’t take requests’. Blasted!

As soon as Simon returned to London he was busy doing quick rehearsals to play live with Mark Ronson and the Kaiser Chiefs at Brixton Academy for Care. Proceeds from the show went to Care international – one of the largest international relief and humanitarian organizations in the world. Simon sang an interesting rendition of Planet Earth with Mark Ronson and the Kaiser Chiefs. Something funny [?] happened that night to Mark Ronson: David Walliams a comedy actor played a joke on him earlier that night. He did a sketch and got Mark up on stage where they played a game called 'find the sausage' anyway it ended up with him pulling Marks pants down! By all accounts Mark didn't know it was going to happen and had his pants ripped in the process. Those funny pics appeared in the papers the next day. [thanks to snr79 for reporting about the Ronson bad joke and to Daniela for the Simon picture above-right]

in the Media Simon, Kaiser Chiefs and Ronson's performance from Youtube. On the right two papers from last week about Casablanca and the bad Ronson joke.

November 7: Phillips de Pury & Company, one of the most innovative forces in the art world, has introduced a new series of theme auctions of Contemporary Art and culture which will be held at their headquarters in London and New York. Two lots of photos from Nick Rhodes are available for auction [view them here], "Selected images from the Flag" and "Selected Images from American TV". Both photos come from the Interference project dated 1984. The MUSIC theme sale will be offering four key components to the sale: art and design by contemporary artists that has a reference to music; art by contemporary musicians; portraits of contemporary musicians by top photographers; plus music memorabilia. Auction starts Saturday 21 November 2009 5pm London with Simon de Pury and featuring DJ Matthew Herbert. Viewing 9 – 21 November. You can order a copy of the MUSIC catalogue featuring pics of the two Rhodes artisitic polaroids right here.

Here is a nice photo of Nick at the book launch party for Nicky Haslam's autobiography - 'Redeeming Features' on November 5, 2009

November 6: Last week, during the 40th Anniversary of the Internet celebration, John Taylor revealed some juicy details about the still embryonic Apple-Itunes collaboration for the future Duran Duran album and products. At the end of the conference John answered a couple of questions that don't appear in the video posted by UCLA in the webcast site. This is an exclusive transcription of the most interesting part of the chat that John had with the audience after his official speach. John was asked to talk about the recent meeting of the band with the Apple-Itunes representatives. Here is what he said: " [back in July] We went up to Apple, we met quite a few people there, we talked to Robert Gondrick at Itunes about how we could expand, we talked about packaging [I'm obsessed about that kind of stuff! John says]. I was finding the [dowload] experience actually buying music, 'cos I'm an old-timer... I find that downloading experience a bit of a let-down, I'm looking to an answer and get a little bit more out of it and he [Robert] is of that mind also. So we got to see a little bit what they were doing with a view to a new project, we talked about an Anthology project and how we could release it, maybe not all in one go, or just releasing it. I suppose asks questions of how the prodouct show be presented, you know I'm used to very much like a recording with a beginning and an end and maybe with the online services is not like that. We even talked about releasing an album that maybe hadn't a fluid running order... that maybe everybody that downloaded the album ain't got it in different order..."

"I like the idea of selling my music directly to people out there"

November 3: Just some Taylor Made news and tidbits! On October 15th Cindy Crawford [in the small pics with Roger] launched a new Omega advertising campaign commemorating 10 years of the brand’s Co-axial technology. The evening party - attended by celebrities - was held at the exclusive Almada bar in Mayfair and music was provided by DJ Roger Taylor.

Andy and James Taylor, sons of Andy Snr and Roger, are launching their new band Nitevisions. Listen a bit of their song Fire here.

Since I haven't seen these pics posted on the usual boards I take the chance to show them to you... Roger with his wife Gisela at the Neville Hair And Beauty - Salon Relaunch Party [taken on June 22, 2009]

More Taylor Made news. Our correspondent Alexandria visited the Eastside Project Abstract Cabinet Show [Taylor/Toledo's exhibition in Birmingham]. Here is what she has to say: "It's a small gallery in the middle of what aptly felt like an industrial estate, there are various pieces on show and as I meandered around towards the rear I thought I could hear a familiar voice. Behind a black curtain is the looping short film show with the words of John and Laureana. Interesting thoughts about cities, architecture and what was home, nostalgia. If you get a chance I would recommend seeing it, for those who can't I took a snap of the amp and the paper." Check out this great document of the multitalented and creative John Taylor right here

Last but not least Taylor Made tidbit... if you missed this revealing interview to Andy Taylor [published in september], well here is a chance to read it again ... Andy says about Nick Rhodes! [...] "to his credit or discredit - and it’s a very subjective sort of thing, y’know - all he’s ever known is Duran Duran. That it! All he’s ever known. So, you can forgive him for screwing up sometimes. Q: So you don’t hate him? AT: [Laughs] No, not at all. But y’know, me and Nick can push each other’s buttons like nothing else and it’s one of the most productive things when it works and one of the most destructive things when it doesn’t, and that’s what bands ought to be. Not those homogenised fuckers from Pop Idol.

Since we are talking about the keeper of Duran Duran's flame, aka Nick Rhodes, I want to close this post with this priceless picture of him, Mark Ronson and his girlfriend [French model and actress] Josephine de la Baume [taken at the Pringle of Scotland fashion show at the Sacchi Gallery on 21/09]. It's your turn now! Caption this pic, email me your captions at salvo@duranasty.com The funniest caption will be published!

*Updated on December 9*: The best caption is from Bev Smith [thanks!]:

"Yes Mark, of course you can be the fifth member of Duran Duran, now put the gun down theres a good chap!

Watch the video In the pic from left: John Taylor, John Perry Barlow, Electronic Frontier Foundation; and from World-of-Warcraft producer Blizzard Entertainment, Blizzard officials Frank Pearce and Mike Morhaime.

Ocotber 31: John Taylor was one of the panelist who spoke at UCLA's 40th Anniversary of the Internet celebration, hosted by Prof. Leonard Kleinrock, on October 29, 2009. The conference marked the 40th birthday of the Internet, which was created on Oct. 29, 1969, at UCLA when a team led by Engineering Professor Leonard Kleinrock successfully linked a campus computer at Boelter Hall with a machine at Stanford. Kleinrock predicted decades ago that the resulting connectivity would one day be a household product, like electricity, but said he never guessed that the Internet would be used to connect people to people, instead of people to machines. The logistics of the conference itself revealed how far the Internet has come: Although 200 people attended in "real life," as speaker John Taylor from the band Duran Duran put it, the live webcast attracted more than 51,000 viewers, an uncounted number of whom submitted questions to the speakers via Twitter. Many more watched the conference via the online video posted after the event. The speakers revealed how their early forays into web technology resulted in creating new communities. Taylor now blogs on Duran Duran's fan site but he was a veritable pioneer who began selling music via the web before practically anyone else.

October 27th 2009: Wishing Simon a great 51st Birthday! Thanks for all the great music, lyrics and shows you have been giving over the years. We love you www.duranasty.com

special birthday splash page

October 17: Exclusive | For collectors and paper-lovers only | Patty Palazzo reveals to duranasty.com some juicy details on the look of the new Duran Duran calendar for 2010 available from november in the duran.com store|

Hi Salvo, here's what I can tell you on the calendar... firstly I'm very excited about it! :) I had a lot of fun designing it as it was quite different than the other calendars I've done. The photos of the band were taken by Kristin Burns [she took some great band photos that are part of the "Red Carpet Massacre" CD package as well as the tour programme for the RCM tour * editor note: the three small pics above-left are taken from that old job], and they were all shot from the band's West Coast mini-tour this past summer [Seattle, San Francisco, Saratoga, Vegas and LA]. Rather than using the usual one photo per month, I incorporated A LOT of Kristin's photos in a more collage-based design, with many photos working together on a page telling a visual story. The photos themselves are a combination of live on stage, behind the scenes backstage, and photos of the guys during their downtime on the road. What is great about Kristin's photos is that they take on a documentary feel and I was inspired by that, so it sort of dictated where I wanted the overall design to go. The look has definitely moved away from the RCM splatters, etc... as the band are moving into a new period, however, as there is no album 'look' yet, this is a more stand alone design. What I like though is that this calendar is a snapshot, a mini tour book of sorts, of the band's summer tour. Look out for it in the Crewe Issue/DD.com store most likely in November! [Simon's close up pic from my photo archive - taken in '97]

Talking about paper goods I also have to report about the new Denis O'Regan Duran Duran book! On his website he says: "as of 2009, a limited edition book is in production with Duran Duran"! Here is what Denis told a while ago to my friend Christian, author of the unofficial Duran Duran biography Glam Pop Party published in Italy in 2006 [these tidbits extracted from the unpublished interview are another exclusive of this site]

Denis says: I first met the band in around 1981 - John told me that he knew of me and my photographs from NME. He was very friendly and I liked him. From a photographic point of view the band looked great. [...] When they split I spent more time with Power Station than Arcadia, mainly because I spent more time with John anyway. I live in London but but I saw John at the NYC apartment quite a bit in 1986. It was big, modern, stylish, quiet, with a great view - I found a buyer for him when he sold it. [...] The photo shot in Marrakesh in 86 came about because DD were flying there for a French TV show. I suggested that I came along to take some pictures because of the location. Very many magazine covers and features appeared - I liked the light and the photographs. The guys looked great. [...] I've got a lot of unseen Big Thing pictures - in fact many unseen DD pictures. I have also some unseen pictures of the Caravan tour - I suppose there are fewer pictures after Sing Blue Silver because the budget wasn't there to take me on tour for long. [...] In 1990 I invited John & Amanda to Lake Como for a Formula One party - I had introduced them and knew them both before they knew each other. They had a good time - it's a beautiful relaxing place. [...] I wasn't always in touch with the band, even though Simon lives very close by - not much happened between us in the Nineties although I stayed in contact with John, then in 1999 Andy again [we set up one of the first music download companies together]. I got back in touch with everyone in 2003, had lunch with John in London and joined them at rehearsals - it was really great to see them all together again and I loved hearing them play in a tiny rehearsal room. Fantastic! I'll work with the band on an official book this year - a major biography. I'll probably provide pictures for the anthology.

Ocotber 16: The band takes a little break from the new album recording session to attend some social events| John Taylor and Gela Nash-Taylor with Duran Duran and their families attended the launch party for Juicy Couture's flagship store in central London on October 13th. The store is located in Bruton Street in Mayfair.

On the 14th of October Nick and John have been spotted with their ladies at the Frieze Art Fair private view at Regent's Park. At the fair John showed interest in a Richard Prince collage [source]. The same day Nick and LouLou attended the No Love Lost new paintings by Damien Hirst private view held at The Wallace Collection, Hertford House while John and Gela attended Tatler's 300th Anniversary Party, at Lancaster House [pics below are taken at the mentioned events]

Ocotber 10: Exclusive pics | On October 7th Nick and LouLou attended the Louis Vuitton Pret a Porter show as part of the Paris Womenswear Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2010 at Cour Carree du Louvre in Paris. The same evening the couple attended the John Galliano fashion show Spring-Summer 2010. The couple has been seen kissing and hugghing tenderly in front of the of the Ritz Hotel in Paris on the 8th of October. So Mr Rhodes is finally dating somenone his height... ;)

Ocotber 7: 42 atheist celebrities, comedians, scientists and writers give their funny and serious tips for enjoying the Christmas season. Last year, Guardian journalist Ariane Sherine launched the Atheist Bus Campaign and ended up raising over GBP150,000, enough to place the advert 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life' on 800 UK buses in January 2009. Now Ariane and dozens of other atheist writers, comedians and scientists are joining together to raise money for a very different cause. The Atheist's Guide to Christmas is a funny, thoughtful handbook all about enjoying Christmas, from 42 of the world's most entertaining atheists. It features everything from an atheist Christmas miracle to a guide to the best Christmas pop hits, contributors include our Simon Le Bon with is first published work of prose "Losing My Faith", an account of how he stopped believing.The full book advance and all royalties will go to the UK HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust. Ariane Sherine, the author of the book, is a comedy writer and journalist. She writes for The Guardian. She was also a Duran Duran fan back in the days... as Simon reported in his blog "When I saw her on telly I thought “Hang on, I know her!” – she used to hang outside of Warren’s house in 1996 when we were making a record! I remember I really liked her and thought she was smart – so I wanted to get back in touch to lend my support."

Ariane was kind enough to show me some pics of her with Simon, she says: "one is taken in March 1997 in Battersea [when I was aged 16, Simon was 38 and the band were recording Medazzaland] and one taken 12 years later in August 2009 [we are now aged 29 and 50] in HarperCollins, Fulham!" Below some personal reflections I picked up for you from the 5 pages prose written by Simon. I suggest to read the full piece to discover and understand this unknown side of Simon Le Bon, it's a must for all the Simon fans. The whole book really deserve a read anyway.

"Losing my faith was very gradual. I was confirmed, and I absolutely 100% believed in the Christian God. And then, after a while, it started to change. I started losing my faith when I started trying to figure out what God was: “He can’t really look like us! This whole thing about ”Man created God in his own image”... When it came working out what I really believed in, I realised that, if there is a God, he doesn’t have a personality. He certainly doesn’t have a set of morals - certainly not human morals, wich we impose. And then I started thinking, “Well, what if it’s just people trying to personify life? To personify the fact that there is a matter, and that there is a universe? If there is a God, that’s it. God doesn’t have a brain, God doesn’t think, God is just existence.” For me, the hardest thing about losing my faith was facing the possibility that life is all there is. One of the foundation stones of all religion is people’s fear of death and non-existence. People will do anything and belive anything if they can think, “You don’t really die. There’s somebody up there who says you carry on and you go to heaven.” [...] Part of me would like there to be a God, because part of me wants there to be a parent looking after me. To say, “Hey, it’s okay, it’s all under control. No matter how much you mess up, I’m here to save you.” that’s very natural feeling, very normal. But on the other hand, I don’t think it’s enough. I’ve found I’m more responsable, freer and more liberated living a life without God."

You can order your copy of the book at amazon.co.uk

Ocotber 4: The Birmingham Comedy Festival this year hosts the Abstract Cabinet Show, a public sphere of groups, collaborations, galleries and other phenomena. The Abstract Cabinet Show includes the Premier of a new multi screen film, sound, bass amp and newspaper publication project, Correspondence/Correspondencia, made collaboratively by Mexico City based Laureana Toledo and John Taylor. Fueled by Toledo and Taylor's Super-8 footage of Birmingham and Mexico City - with Taylor filming Mexico and Toledo filming Birmingham - the work is a meditation on local and international constructed space and identity, the sound of cities and an inquisitive meeting of difference, coincidence and shared passions.

Laureana was kind enough to answer duranasty.com's questions. Here is what she told me when I asked to give us some more info about the movie and her collaboration with John: I'm a visual artist, my practice involves photography, video, sculpture, drawing, writing. In my work there is usually a reference to popular culture, be it music, architecture, painting... it has to do a lot on how information travels, is digested, translated and re-incorporated into our daily lives.

When I was invited to do a piece for Eastside Projects' opening exhibition in Birmingham last year, I knew I wanted to do something that involved John and the role of the bass player in a band-comparing it to the secondary role that a place like Birmingham has, or the role that Mexico has as a peripheral culture center. And also that that feeling could be transported to any other place in the world, and how it is that when we move around, the place where we started gets a different connotation in our memory: our houses move, we change, and the perception of it all starts shifting all the time. But lots of things remain in place.

From there, through a mutual friend, I got in touch with John and we started talking about doing a collaboration. He had never "done" art, but he knows a lot about art and obviously has the sensibility to do it. Although this was done in my platform, his approach to the piece was always very generous. It was very interesting to work with him. And very easy.

This piece is a conversation between two individuals, two cities, two circumstances. For every sensation or idea you have, there's a correspondence in another person, in another place.
The piece consists of two films, super 8 transferred to dvd, in which John is filming Mexico City and I'm filming Birmingham. There is a conversation interrupted by music from both cities. There is an amplifier where the bass lines of a Duan Duran concert is heard all the time. There is a newspaper printed with the conversation and a centerfold with the blend of the two cities as one... (John's only 2 seconds in the films, but his bass playing is there, nonstop. And he's one half of the 9 minute conversation.)

[Interview: Laureana Toledo about her collaboration with John Taylor | source bhamcomfest.co.uk]

How did the collaboration come about? I was invited by Eastside Projects to do a piece in the opening exhibition last year. In my ignorance, all I knew about Birmingham, was that Duran Duran were from there. So I thought of doing something related, but not about them directly. In any case, I didn't want to speak to just any member of the band, but rather used the context to get John to collaborate with me. Thoughts went from here to there, one thing led to another, time passed, axioms were discarded, degrees of separation were used and I ended up finding him and asking him to work along. He seemed quite ready to jump in.

Are you a hardcore fan of Duran Duran? I like their music a lot. I'm not a big fan of anyone in terms of following a band around the world, knowing weird information of each member, knowing what school they went to, their parent's names, etc. I'm a music freak, and I always admired John for his bass-playing skills. I like songs like My Own Way, Shadows on Your Side, Lonely in Your Nightmare… mostly, hidden and a bit obscure songs.

What's John's input? He really did half of the piece. Like they say, "takes two to Tango", here it took two minds to accomplish this work. Of course it is done in my platform, but he was always ready to suggest visual and conceptual solutions to my entanglement. I like the fact that he's not used to doing art, but he knows a lot about it, and likes to see a lot of art, so his input was much better than that of many artists. We had a lot of help from other people too, like cinematographer Rain Li in the first part of the filming in Birmingham, and designer Patty Palazzo designing the newspaper insert.

The exhibition is part of the Comedy Festival - is there a humorous element to the piece? I'm not funny at all. And I couldn't think of a worse duo for a stand up comedy! I believe there has been a terrible mistake there [laughs]!

Have you worked with other musicians in the past? [I gather you recently formed a band in Sheffield?] I have worked with musicians. I've also worked with tattoo artists, with architects, with painters. I find a lot of inspiration in music, but also on the funny associations I can get by receiving filtered information. By living in Mexico City, which is a periphery, weird connections are made. Like, for instance, on day discovering that three of my favourite bass players were called John [Entwistle, Taylor, Paul Jones]. I believe that this connection led me to work with a person and not with a celebrity.

Do you have plans to work with John again? What I've learned with this is that you can never know what's going to happen tomorrow.

Eastside Projects, 86 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AR
Admission: Free Times: Thu noon-7pm, Fri-Sun noon-5pm; Comedy Night, Thu 8 Oct, 7pm
www.eastsideprojects.org

There is another element [part of the Correspondece/Correspondencia project] the Proximo magazine designed by Patty Palazzo based on rough ideas of Laureana’s and John, printed on pale pink paper in the spirit and remembrance of the old Birmingham ‘Sports Argus’. Patty Palazzo is also launching her own t-shirt/greeting card line. Below you can read the nice email she sent us yesterday:

Family & Friends,
Many of you know I have been working on designing and launching my own t-shirt line for a good part of this year, and I'm happy to say it's finally arrived! Called Punk Masters, it's a line of t-shirts, greeting cards and tote bags all designed as well as hand screen printed by me. The Punk Masters combine imagery and aesthetics from the great classic masters and royalty of centuries past, but punked up, rocked out and living in my world now. I like the idea of combining opposite worlds, all living harmoniously (and humorously) together. My army of one (ie: me) has set up a website (pattypalazzo.com) with all of my goods, plus a few other sections to peruse... all about me of course. No, seriously... that's not true as I've had a lot of help, creative counsel and advise from some great people along the way getting me to this point. And may it continue! I'm happy to invite you all to take a look. If you like what you see, tell a friend! Also, if you feel so inclined, join my page on Facebook. My aim is to keep things exciting and fresh, updated and fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy creating it all. And, really, how hot would you look in one of my shirts?! Also, for those in the Los Angeles area, a selection of my tees are available at Fred Segal/Ron Herman at 8100 Melrose Ave. With Thanks & Appreciation,
Patty

pattypalazzo.com, punkmasters.com, punkmasters.etsy.com, facebook

Great stuff as usual Patty, we love it! Good luck!

Another one to add at his art-book collection to put in the Tuscan Red Room [that's how Nick calls a particular chamber in his house] or maybe he was just looking for some inspiration for the new album artwork?!

October 2: On the 25th of september Nick attended the Private view at The Whitechapel Gallery Book Fair Mile End in London [the Fair presented the work of international artist bookmakers, gallery presses and arts publishing houses alongside a wider associated programme of talks and events]. Nick has been caught by paparazzi having a look at Allen Jones's Projects book. Jones was a leading figure of the British pop art movement and his work has remained very popular. He borrows from pornography and fashion magazines and the resulting work is often both erotic and witty.

 

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