As anticipated, Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes
confirms this week that the band is ready to sign with Disney-owned Hollywood Records (allstar,
July 6). "I think some time at the end of this week or the beginning of next week
everything will be sealed," he says. "The ink has not touched the paper yet, but
we're really happy about the situation. It's just down to a few finite things." The indestructible British band, best known for flamboyant early-'80s hits
like "Girls On Film" and "Hungry Like The Wolf," parted ways with its
original label Capitol last year, after nearly two-decades.
"It's quite extraordinary to think we were with that label for
17 years and every single record we put out, we had a different CEO at the company,"
Rhodes says. "What that means in simple terms is that they're just changing direction
all the time. Each person that comes in wants to put their stamp on the company and isn't
particularly interested in anything else."
Duran Duran had enough after its last album, 1997's Medazzaland,
stiffed. Even though the band was coming off its biggest success with the disc's
self-titled 1993 predecessor (1995's Thank You covers album was an interim
release), and the hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone," the label
had lost interest. Meddazzaland did not even get released in the U.K.
Now Duran Duran is banking on Hollywood, a label with a relatively
small roster that includes Fastball, Jesse Camp & The Eighth Street Kidz, and the
Queen back-catalog, to take a more practical role in stabilizing its mercurial success.
"It'll make an enormous difference having a label that
understands Duran Duran and understands what they've got," Rhodes says.
The band, which is currently in the middle of an extensive American
tour, has already completed work on its next album, tentatively titled Pop Trash.
Rhodes says the disc was originally intended for November release, but may now come out
later to avoid the millennial crush.
"All the record labels are going to think it's party time to
release every compilation and horrible gimmick album they think they can," Rhodes
says. "In reality, I think we'll release our record early next year. It will be a
good album to start the century with."
Duran Duran -- which also includes singer Simon Le Bon and guitarist
Warren Cuccurullo -- is currently previewing some new songs in its live show, including
"Hallucinating Elvis," "Someone Else Not Me," and "Lava
Lamp." Fan-operated web sites have already started posting bootleg MP3 files of the
tracks, which mark yet another new direction for the band.
"We're not frightened of change," Rhodes says. "We're
not frightened of moving on. I'm sure there's a whole bunch of people out there that were
teenagers when Duran Duran started and feel it will never be like it was in 1980. Of
course it won't, nor will it ever be like it was in 1999. Each little phase is different.
We're on a particularly good one at the moment."
-- Aidin Vaziri