The only concert Duran Duran will play this
year in England will be in London. Not surprisingly, Birmingham fans are just a little bit
put out by the band not playing in what is essentially their home town.
Keyboard player Nick Rhodes insists that the band wanted to play in the Midlands but
couldn't fit it into their schedule.
"We don't want the fans to think we didn't want to play in Birmingham. We really
wanted to but we couldn't fit it in.
"We've just finished a tour in America in the summer which went really well which is
why we're playing in London because we wanted to bring that here. If we had had the
space to do a tour we would have come to Birmingham."
He says that the Midlands area is very close to heart as his family still lives here.
"I come back here to visit my family frequently. I'm just disappointed that I don't
get the chance to do this as often as I'd like to."
Seventeen years after the release of the single Planet Earth propelled Duran Duran to pop
stardom, the band are still together, albeit with a pared down line-up which now only
features two of the original band members Rhodes and lead singer Simon Le Bon.
Three of the band have left, there was the fiasco of their last album Medazzaland which
wasn't released in the UK, and then the change of record company directly as a result of
the problems with the album and also the successful libel action against a tabloid.
Though the papers had one story, Rhodes explains about the spilt from their record
company: "We pulled the plug on the album being released here because the record
company handled it so badly in America.
"It was a shame to leave the record company after all this time because we
had been with them for 17 years.
Despite these facts, which some might see as a set-back, Rhodes says there are no plans to
give up the band just yet.
"We've got so much more music to come yet. "The new album we've been working on
will be out in early spring next year. It's a real mixture because it's 12 new pieces of
Duran Duran music. They all have strong melodies and interesting arrangements and are
quite modern but not gimmicky. It was like Electric Barbarella sounded like it could have
come off our very first album but it was a one off. The new album has a few beautiful
ballads and there are various influences."
Though the band are moving forward with new material, there is a huge fan base which
exists because of the music which the band has already released - just look at the amount
of Duran Duran tribute bands which have sprung up as a result of the recent 80s revival.
"There's quite a few tribute bands doing the rounds at the moment. I haven't seen or
heard any of them but I've been told about them. I think it's quite flattering that these
bands are around," says Rhodes.
Apart from the covers bands there is a huge internet family of Duran Duran web sites.
There have been problems with some people using the band's music on the internet to make
money.
Rhodes says: "I have no problem with genuine fans using the Internet to listen to
music. If people want to download obscure tracks and things like that because they want to
listen to the music that's fine. People who produce bootlegs for their own gain I
would have a problem with that. I am a great supporter of the Internet because of the
access it gives to people but it is open to abuses."
Rhodes, and the other two band members Simon LeBon and Warren Cucurullo, didn't take
kindly to another form of abuse when The Sun newspaper published an article which was
upheld as libellous.
"We haven't got a problem with the media.We haven't sued many times over he years but
this one I think we really had to take a stand on," says Rhodes. "The
article was quite malicious about the band and we didn't want to allow these people to get
away with that stuff. It was as much for every body else in the industry as well as us. No
one should be allowed to get away with this sort of thing."
In the near future, the band are heading back to America to carry out some production work
on the new album and Nick also has his hands full with a band a young American band he is
managing called Alian Magazine.
Duran Duran may not be playing in the Midlands this year, but they will be back next year,
promises Rhodes.
"We have never only done a London gig before it was just the way the scheduling
worked out. We are hoping to do a tour in Europe next year when we will come to
Birmingham."
The Midlands fans will be waiting. |
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