Duran Duran on Piers Morgan Tonight
CNN (Transcripts) | Aired 28th October 2011
CNN (Transcripts) | Aired 28th October 2011
PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT
Interview with Heidi Klum; Interview With Duran Duran
Aired October 28, 2011 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
Interview with Heidi Klum; Interview With Duran Duran
Aired October 28, 2011 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MORGAN: Duran Duran has sold over 80 million records, had 18 American hit singles and 30 UK Top 30 hits. Now the boys are back with their -- boys? Not boys, they're men. The men are back with their 13th album "All You Need is Now." Their new single is "Leave a Light on." And John Taylor, Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes join me now.
Men you are, not boys anymore.
NICK RHODES, DURAN DURAN: Exactly.
MORGAN: And you're alive. I'm alive. We're all alive.
RHODES: Yes.
MORGAN: Who would've thought that to be 80s in Britain?
SIMON LE BON: We survived the '80s.
MORGAN: Exactly.
RHODES: And the '90s. SIMON LE BON, DURAN DURAN: Yes.
RHODES: It's the third British invasion, Piers.
MORGAN: Exactly. Exactly. You'd never really gone away. But when you come to America now, how's it changed in all senses from when you first came out here?
LE BON: Wow. I mean, we came out -- we've really hit New York to begin with. And it was just an incredible time. The early '80s in New York was amazing. The clubs that were there. Peppermint Lounge and Danceteria and Arias. It was incredible. There was a real scene there. Things have shifted a little bit now.
How was L.A. when we first came here, first?
NICK TAYLOR, DURAN DURAN: Boring.
I mean, yes, we played The Roxy, we did two shows at The Roxy and we stayed -- we got kicked out of The Hyatt. Continental Hyatt.
MORGAN: Kicked out of The Hyatt.
TAYLOR: That was a must do. It was a must do. You must get kicked out of The Hyatt --
MORGAN: So how did you get kicked out?
LE BON: Andy Taylor, who was a guitarist with Duran Duran, was standing on top of the hotel where there's a pool. And he found a bucket, and he as filling it up with water from the pool, pouring it over the diners who were eating in the open dining area 20 floors below.
I got a phone call, and they said you've got 15 minutes to get out of here. I said 15 minutes? Yes, 15 minutes. Pack your bags and get out of the room.
Sounds like our tour manager.
RHODES: Trevor. I have Trevor from Wolverhampton, who was very concerned about it because he was in the lobby and he got arrested by seven policemen. And he just said, I surrender.
MORGAN: Modern bands just don't do this kind of thing, do they?
RHODES: They haven't lived.
MORGAN: They're gutless.
LE BON: Gutless.
RHODES: Spineless.
MORGAN: They haven't chucked things out of a 20-story floor of a hotel. Really you're not a proper rock star, right? LE BON: Bloody jordies.
MORGAN: What about the music business itself? Because you were saying that this amazing record store around the corner.
I've actually got Vinyl sitting here in front of us here.
RHODES: Yes, Amoeba.
MORGAN: Amoeba is the store.
But, I mean, Vinyl for all intents and purposes is just not there anymore. How are you finding the changing style of music?
TAYLOR: Vinyl is here, actually. It's almost like the slow food movement now. You know, people -- well, in a way, you know, mp3s have become like the fast food of music. And if you want to listen to, you know, and you have a need, you can fix it with an mp3.
MORGAN: How do you guys listen to music yourselves?
TAYLOR: Well, ideally, I listen to music like that.
MORGAN: Do you?
TAYLOR: Yes.
MORGAN: Do all of you do?
LE BON: Yes.
RHODES: I don't have Vinyl at home. I have to confess. At studio we have Vinyl.
MORGAN: Why do you prefer it?
RHODES: It's better quality. It's much better quality.
MORGAN: Vinyl is better, is it?
LE BON: It's a better sound.
MORGAN: Is it, really?
LE BON: It's a ritual, putting it on, getting it oust sleeve, making sure that there's no fluff on it, and putting it on and putting the needle on. My wife, Yasmin, has Vinyl nights and she invites her friends over and they play '70s disco -- '70s and '80s disco music.
TAYLOR: You should see what they wear.
MORGAN: Are you guys on iTunes?
TAYLOR: We are.
MORGAN: One or two people are still resisting. RHODES: It's incredible, though. That is the world's record store now. No doubt. We actually released "All You Need is Now" the album, on that first before we put it out.
MORGAN: Can you make any money from that kind of thing? Real money. Or is all the money now just, from as I hear it, from touring and merchandise?
RHODES: Well, obviously, there's been enormous problems with illegal downloads, which has affected the entire industry in a massive way. But I think that will resolve itself over time.
MORGAN: How do you feel about it? Because you guys were the sort of trail blazers. But come on, we're all young, hip, crazy people. Part of you must think if you were a teenager, you wouldn't be paying for records, would you? You'd try to get them on the sly.
RHODES: Well, I think everybody likes to have things free. There's no question. And I understand it entirely. But at the same time, if we all did that in every industry, then there wouldn't be any --
MORGAN: That's completely wrong. I'm just not sure how you tame the Internet beast in that way.
TAYLOR: Yes. The culture is changing. You know, we're old guys. You know. And we're judging the business by our standards from when we were teenagers. But young people today have got an entirely different idea about how things are, you know.
So I think kids that are growing up that are starting bands have different expectations about what they can earn and how they can earn it. They have different ideas.
MORGAN: By the way, you're not old guys.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: I think you're vaguely maturing. Like a final Shafel Latoure or something.
Last time I saw you...
LE BON: Yes --
MORGAN: ...was at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. One of our great social occasions.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: And you could barely speak. It was back in May.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: And you had this dreadful thing. Tell me what happened. You were on stage. LE BON: We were on stage in Cannes playing a show that was very late at night. I must have been -- gone in very hard at the beginning of the show. And I went for a note in the third song, "All You Need is Now," and I tried to hit it and it wasn't there. And I couldn't hit anything above that note. So I lost seven notes of my range. And I went to -- I've seen so many doctors. It's been a wonderful night --
MORGAN: How did you -- when you came on stage, how did you feel?
LE BON: Terrible. I mean, I didn't feel ill. But psychologically, I felt damaged.
MORGAN: I mean, you've been a singer 30 years.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: That's all you've known.
LE BON: Yes. And, you know, people are very nice to me. But I've basically figured out that if I can't sing, what can I do?
I'm a good dad. You know, I'm good at looking after the dogs. I can ride bikes.
TAYLOR: It can get boring.
LE BON: And it was very challenging to me. And I was out of action for a long time.
MORGAN: Well, your whole tour had to be canceled.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: Your European tour.
LE BON: Yes. But we're back on now. We've made a lot of improvement.
MORGAN: I mean, for the rest of you, a worrying moment.
TAYLOR: Yes, it was.
MORGAN: You guys -- the story is great. You formed Duran Duran. And then, either you found Simon, or as I believe he prefers to tell it, he found you, right? Which way around was it?
TAYLOR: Well, actually, there was a middle person, Fiona, that Simon was living with. But she was working at the club that Nick and I and Roger were working in. We kind of got the band going, but we didn't have the front man. So we had the name and we had a sound --
LE BON: Actually, we'd split up and she came to me and she said, Simon, I think you should go and meet these guys. And I went, I thought, OK, well. And then I turned up one day and we hit it of immediately. It was -- we recognized kindred spirits in the way we dressed, in what music we liked, in everything.
MORGAN: You were new romantics.
LE BON: We were post-punks at that point.
MORGAN: Post-punk, pre-new romantics.
LE BON: There wasn't such a thing as new romantics yet.
MORGAN: But you evolved into new romantics? Or you never really crossed that barrier?
TAYLOR: It was something a little opportunistic about that, I think. There was an article in "Sounds" about Spandau Ballet calling them The New Romantics. And we read, we didn't know what they sounded like, but reading the article it sounded like they were doing a similar thing to what we were doing. So we called up the journalist who'd written the piece and said, you know, we're doing something like that, you should come and check us out.
MORGAN: When we come back, I want to take you back to the heady days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
TAYLOR: Brilliant.
MORGAN: Which I used to report on and feel envious from my horrible little tabloid desk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: That was your latest single "Leave a Light On" from your onstage tour performed here in L.A. and directed by David Lynch.
Your new collaborations with Mark Ronson on the new album. Now he's an exciting talent. Tell me about that.
LE BON: Mark has been a bit of a Duran fan for quite a few years. I remember meeting him in the streets in New York. Excuse me.
I remember meeting him in the streets of New York. He was 10 years old, and he asked for my autograph then.
MORGAN: Did he really?
LE BON: Yes. He's a -- he's come to us with a vision for how he feels Duran Duran should sound from the point of view of a fan. And it was something which really helped us.
MORGAN: What did he tell you that you maybe had just, I don't know, either got a bit complacent about? Or how did he revive the Duran magic, do you think?
RHODES: Well, I think really what Mark did was focus our attention on what we're good at.
LE BON: Yes. RHODES: He said, look, what people like about Duran Duran is this about your sound, the way that John, you play bass and you do this with Roger and you lock down to this funky groove. And then Simon sings -- sings a beautiful melody on top of this --
MORGAN: Was it reminding you, as a fan, was it reminding you of what you're all really good at, or was it making you more adaptable to the modern market?
LE BON: He said you don't have to try, you just have to do what you do, and that's what people want from you.
RHODES: If anything, he was reflecting for the first time on our earlier material because we don't usually look back on it. We try and just stay blinkered and move forward.
MORGAN: He had obviously a famous collaboration with Amy Winehouse.
LE BON: Right.
MORGAN: Obviously, she tragically died recently.
When you look at what happened to Amy Winehouse, you guys, at the peak of your fame -- I remember, I was reporting on it for one of the British papers. You know, you lived the excess life with great gusto and indeed pride and enthusiasm.
When you see what happened to Amy, what do you think of that?
TAYLOR: Well, I think we were fortunate that we were a band, first of all, and that we always had each other. And I think that, you know, whenever one of us got too close to the abyss, there were four guys kind of -- you know, you felt that. I mean, things got pretty hairy for all of us to different degrees. And we were quite I think -- I'm quite grate that we didn't lose any.
MORGAN: Did you all have moments when you could have potentially have ended up like Amy? I had her father in. It was interesting. The first report said there were no drugs in her body.
LE BON: Right.
MORGAN: He said she'd been clean of drugs for three years, but had a big problem with alcohol since then. Actually, her body, she was told to try and gradually come off alcohol, and she would do binge drinking and then do two, three weeks of no drinking at all. And she was tiny.
TAYLOR: Exactly.
MORGAN: He believes her body just in the end gave up.
TAYLOR: She got so thin, didn't she?
MORGAN: Yes. And she'd have these seizures. So it may be much more complicated than people think.
But to me there's no doubt that, you know, her spiraling descent into all that began when she got into the hard drugs. And the father accepts that. She got in with this guy, and suddenly it was all heroin and ecstasy and --
TAYLOR: Which we never went down that road.
MORGAN: Did you not?
RHODES: No.
MORGAN: I think it's interesting this parental role, isn't it? I mean, do you enjoy it, or do you feel part of you when you go on tour now think we've got to roll back the years here? I'm getting old here.
LE BON: No. I think you've got to -- I think -- the way I deal with it is I just accept what I am and where I am in my life. And that I have kids, that I love them, I've got a good marriage, and I'm not dangling myself out there as someone who's available. And --
MORGAN: Is that just as well, do you think, chaps? Would there be a massive queue these days, I mean?
Are these old fans of yours who've come with you or do you have a new breed?
RHODES: A mix. Some of them bring their kids. It really is from the Internet as well, I think a lot. People consume music in a different way now. And it's not so much to do with OK, this belongs in this time period.
I mean, when we were kids, right? When we were 17, 18, I mean, we only listened to music that had been made that year or the year before maybe. Right?
Now kids listen to '60s music, '70s music, '80s music.
LE BON: Absolutely.
MORGAN: That's completely true. My 3 sons, they listen to Michael Jackson, or whatever, or Duran Duran. I mean, it's very interesting that their musical tastes are much wider. They don't cop to a trendy, groovy set of music.
(CROSSTALK)
Let's have a little break. When we come back, I want to talk to you about what's keep the band together. Most bands get sick and tired of each other.
You are still talking, you appear to be reasonably friend to each other. No one has hit anyone yet. I want to found out how and why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Men you are, not boys anymore.
NICK RHODES, DURAN DURAN: Exactly.
MORGAN: And you're alive. I'm alive. We're all alive.
RHODES: Yes.
MORGAN: Who would've thought that to be 80s in Britain?
SIMON LE BON: We survived the '80s.
MORGAN: Exactly.
RHODES: And the '90s. SIMON LE BON, DURAN DURAN: Yes.
RHODES: It's the third British invasion, Piers.
MORGAN: Exactly. Exactly. You'd never really gone away. But when you come to America now, how's it changed in all senses from when you first came out here?
LE BON: Wow. I mean, we came out -- we've really hit New York to begin with. And it was just an incredible time. The early '80s in New York was amazing. The clubs that were there. Peppermint Lounge and Danceteria and Arias. It was incredible. There was a real scene there. Things have shifted a little bit now.
How was L.A. when we first came here, first?
NICK TAYLOR, DURAN DURAN: Boring.
I mean, yes, we played The Roxy, we did two shows at The Roxy and we stayed -- we got kicked out of The Hyatt. Continental Hyatt.
MORGAN: Kicked out of The Hyatt.
TAYLOR: That was a must do. It was a must do. You must get kicked out of The Hyatt --
MORGAN: So how did you get kicked out?
LE BON: Andy Taylor, who was a guitarist with Duran Duran, was standing on top of the hotel where there's a pool. And he found a bucket, and he as filling it up with water from the pool, pouring it over the diners who were eating in the open dining area 20 floors below.
I got a phone call, and they said you've got 15 minutes to get out of here. I said 15 minutes? Yes, 15 minutes. Pack your bags and get out of the room.
Sounds like our tour manager.
RHODES: Trevor. I have Trevor from Wolverhampton, who was very concerned about it because he was in the lobby and he got arrested by seven policemen. And he just said, I surrender.
MORGAN: Modern bands just don't do this kind of thing, do they?
RHODES: They haven't lived.
MORGAN: They're gutless.
LE BON: Gutless.
RHODES: Spineless.
MORGAN: They haven't chucked things out of a 20-story floor of a hotel. Really you're not a proper rock star, right? LE BON: Bloody jordies.
MORGAN: What about the music business itself? Because you were saying that this amazing record store around the corner.
I've actually got Vinyl sitting here in front of us here.
RHODES: Yes, Amoeba.
MORGAN: Amoeba is the store.
But, I mean, Vinyl for all intents and purposes is just not there anymore. How are you finding the changing style of music?
TAYLOR: Vinyl is here, actually. It's almost like the slow food movement now. You know, people -- well, in a way, you know, mp3s have become like the fast food of music. And if you want to listen to, you know, and you have a need, you can fix it with an mp3.
MORGAN: How do you guys listen to music yourselves?
TAYLOR: Well, ideally, I listen to music like that.
MORGAN: Do you?
TAYLOR: Yes.
MORGAN: Do all of you do?
LE BON: Yes.
RHODES: I don't have Vinyl at home. I have to confess. At studio we have Vinyl.
MORGAN: Why do you prefer it?
RHODES: It's better quality. It's much better quality.
MORGAN: Vinyl is better, is it?
LE BON: It's a better sound.
MORGAN: Is it, really?
LE BON: It's a ritual, putting it on, getting it oust sleeve, making sure that there's no fluff on it, and putting it on and putting the needle on. My wife, Yasmin, has Vinyl nights and she invites her friends over and they play '70s disco -- '70s and '80s disco music.
TAYLOR: You should see what they wear.
MORGAN: Are you guys on iTunes?
TAYLOR: We are.
MORGAN: One or two people are still resisting. RHODES: It's incredible, though. That is the world's record store now. No doubt. We actually released "All You Need is Now" the album, on that first before we put it out.
MORGAN: Can you make any money from that kind of thing? Real money. Or is all the money now just, from as I hear it, from touring and merchandise?
RHODES: Well, obviously, there's been enormous problems with illegal downloads, which has affected the entire industry in a massive way. But I think that will resolve itself over time.
MORGAN: How do you feel about it? Because you guys were the sort of trail blazers. But come on, we're all young, hip, crazy people. Part of you must think if you were a teenager, you wouldn't be paying for records, would you? You'd try to get them on the sly.
RHODES: Well, I think everybody likes to have things free. There's no question. And I understand it entirely. But at the same time, if we all did that in every industry, then there wouldn't be any --
MORGAN: That's completely wrong. I'm just not sure how you tame the Internet beast in that way.
TAYLOR: Yes. The culture is changing. You know, we're old guys. You know. And we're judging the business by our standards from when we were teenagers. But young people today have got an entirely different idea about how things are, you know.
So I think kids that are growing up that are starting bands have different expectations about what they can earn and how they can earn it. They have different ideas.
MORGAN: By the way, you're not old guys.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: I think you're vaguely maturing. Like a final Shafel Latoure or something.
Last time I saw you...
LE BON: Yes --
MORGAN: ...was at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. One of our great social occasions.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: And you could barely speak. It was back in May.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: And you had this dreadful thing. Tell me what happened. You were on stage. LE BON: We were on stage in Cannes playing a show that was very late at night. I must have been -- gone in very hard at the beginning of the show. And I went for a note in the third song, "All You Need is Now," and I tried to hit it and it wasn't there. And I couldn't hit anything above that note. So I lost seven notes of my range. And I went to -- I've seen so many doctors. It's been a wonderful night --
MORGAN: How did you -- when you came on stage, how did you feel?
LE BON: Terrible. I mean, I didn't feel ill. But psychologically, I felt damaged.
MORGAN: I mean, you've been a singer 30 years.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: That's all you've known.
LE BON: Yes. And, you know, people are very nice to me. But I've basically figured out that if I can't sing, what can I do?
I'm a good dad. You know, I'm good at looking after the dogs. I can ride bikes.
TAYLOR: It can get boring.
LE BON: And it was very challenging to me. And I was out of action for a long time.
MORGAN: Well, your whole tour had to be canceled.
LE BON: Yes.
MORGAN: Your European tour.
LE BON: Yes. But we're back on now. We've made a lot of improvement.
MORGAN: I mean, for the rest of you, a worrying moment.
TAYLOR: Yes, it was.
MORGAN: You guys -- the story is great. You formed Duran Duran. And then, either you found Simon, or as I believe he prefers to tell it, he found you, right? Which way around was it?
TAYLOR: Well, actually, there was a middle person, Fiona, that Simon was living with. But she was working at the club that Nick and I and Roger were working in. We kind of got the band going, but we didn't have the front man. So we had the name and we had a sound --
LE BON: Actually, we'd split up and she came to me and she said, Simon, I think you should go and meet these guys. And I went, I thought, OK, well. And then I turned up one day and we hit it of immediately. It was -- we recognized kindred spirits in the way we dressed, in what music we liked, in everything.
MORGAN: You were new romantics.
LE BON: We were post-punks at that point.
MORGAN: Post-punk, pre-new romantics.
LE BON: There wasn't such a thing as new romantics yet.
MORGAN: But you evolved into new romantics? Or you never really crossed that barrier?
TAYLOR: It was something a little opportunistic about that, I think. There was an article in "Sounds" about Spandau Ballet calling them The New Romantics. And we read, we didn't know what they sounded like, but reading the article it sounded like they were doing a similar thing to what we were doing. So we called up the journalist who'd written the piece and said, you know, we're doing something like that, you should come and check us out.
MORGAN: When we come back, I want to take you back to the heady days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
TAYLOR: Brilliant.
MORGAN: Which I used to report on and feel envious from my horrible little tabloid desk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: That was your latest single "Leave a Light On" from your onstage tour performed here in L.A. and directed by David Lynch.
Your new collaborations with Mark Ronson on the new album. Now he's an exciting talent. Tell me about that.
LE BON: Mark has been a bit of a Duran fan for quite a few years. I remember meeting him in the streets in New York. Excuse me.
I remember meeting him in the streets of New York. He was 10 years old, and he asked for my autograph then.
MORGAN: Did he really?
LE BON: Yes. He's a -- he's come to us with a vision for how he feels Duran Duran should sound from the point of view of a fan. And it was something which really helped us.
MORGAN: What did he tell you that you maybe had just, I don't know, either got a bit complacent about? Or how did he revive the Duran magic, do you think?
RHODES: Well, I think really what Mark did was focus our attention on what we're good at.
LE BON: Yes. RHODES: He said, look, what people like about Duran Duran is this about your sound, the way that John, you play bass and you do this with Roger and you lock down to this funky groove. And then Simon sings -- sings a beautiful melody on top of this --
MORGAN: Was it reminding you, as a fan, was it reminding you of what you're all really good at, or was it making you more adaptable to the modern market?
LE BON: He said you don't have to try, you just have to do what you do, and that's what people want from you.
RHODES: If anything, he was reflecting for the first time on our earlier material because we don't usually look back on it. We try and just stay blinkered and move forward.
MORGAN: He had obviously a famous collaboration with Amy Winehouse.
LE BON: Right.
MORGAN: Obviously, she tragically died recently.
When you look at what happened to Amy Winehouse, you guys, at the peak of your fame -- I remember, I was reporting on it for one of the British papers. You know, you lived the excess life with great gusto and indeed pride and enthusiasm.
When you see what happened to Amy, what do you think of that?
TAYLOR: Well, I think we were fortunate that we were a band, first of all, and that we always had each other. And I think that, you know, whenever one of us got too close to the abyss, there were four guys kind of -- you know, you felt that. I mean, things got pretty hairy for all of us to different degrees. And we were quite I think -- I'm quite grate that we didn't lose any.
MORGAN: Did you all have moments when you could have potentially have ended up like Amy? I had her father in. It was interesting. The first report said there were no drugs in her body.
LE BON: Right.
MORGAN: He said she'd been clean of drugs for three years, but had a big problem with alcohol since then. Actually, her body, she was told to try and gradually come off alcohol, and she would do binge drinking and then do two, three weeks of no drinking at all. And she was tiny.
TAYLOR: Exactly.
MORGAN: He believes her body just in the end gave up.
TAYLOR: She got so thin, didn't she?
MORGAN: Yes. And she'd have these seizures. So it may be much more complicated than people think.
But to me there's no doubt that, you know, her spiraling descent into all that began when she got into the hard drugs. And the father accepts that. She got in with this guy, and suddenly it was all heroin and ecstasy and --
TAYLOR: Which we never went down that road.
MORGAN: Did you not?
RHODES: No.
MORGAN: I think it's interesting this parental role, isn't it? I mean, do you enjoy it, or do you feel part of you when you go on tour now think we've got to roll back the years here? I'm getting old here.
LE BON: No. I think you've got to -- I think -- the way I deal with it is I just accept what I am and where I am in my life. And that I have kids, that I love them, I've got a good marriage, and I'm not dangling myself out there as someone who's available. And --
MORGAN: Is that just as well, do you think, chaps? Would there be a massive queue these days, I mean?
Are these old fans of yours who've come with you or do you have a new breed?
RHODES: A mix. Some of them bring their kids. It really is from the Internet as well, I think a lot. People consume music in a different way now. And it's not so much to do with OK, this belongs in this time period.
I mean, when we were kids, right? When we were 17, 18, I mean, we only listened to music that had been made that year or the year before maybe. Right?
Now kids listen to '60s music, '70s music, '80s music.
LE BON: Absolutely.
MORGAN: That's completely true. My 3 sons, they listen to Michael Jackson, or whatever, or Duran Duran. I mean, it's very interesting that their musical tastes are much wider. They don't cop to a trendy, groovy set of music.
(CROSSTALK)
Let's have a little break. When we come back, I want to talk to you about what's keep the band together. Most bands get sick and tired of each other.
You are still talking, you appear to be reasonably friend to each other. No one has hit anyone yet. I want to found out how and why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Of course, the "Immortal" video from Duran Duran's "Ordinary World."
One thing your world hasn't been, chance is ordinary.
(CROSSTALK)
Exactly. How have you stayed good mates? Because I know you are good mates? How have you managed to avoid the rock 'n' roll cliche of artistic differences? We're never speaking again?
LE BON: I think being a band goes beyond friendship, actually. There's times when you're together because you're in a band. And there are times when you could fall out with each other. But there's -- but I think underneath that, there's a real -- there's an underlying affection that we've got. We care about each other. And whenever there's a difficult time, it -- kind of that fades away and that care comes through underneath. We all like the same things. We love music. I think our relationship is very much based on that as well, the fact that we do.
TAYLOR: I mean, this summer, actually, going through this business with Simon's voice, it actually brought us closer together. It was one of those situations where we could have been like -- you know, it could have been an opportunity to splint and it drew us together.
MORGAN: Well, what are the ambitions now? Do you have a genuine ambition, or is it to keep going?
LE BON: I think the keeping going and to create a body of work is one of the big ambitions. It is for me.
RHODES: We always like to challenge ourselves. I mean, doing the sound with Mark Ronson, we didn't know what we were really going to get. But I think, we could all look each other in the eye and say it is the best Duran Duran album we have made in more than a decade.
And if you can do that when you're three decades in, that keeps it pretty exciting. We made a film with David Lynch. That was great. We had all been fans since we were kids.
MORGAN: The odd thing to me about you three is that you two are on Twitter. I know this because I read your tweets, and we're all fairly avid, you are not.
RHODES: Don't you read my tweets.
MORGAN: Is that what it is? Is it more of a primitive, because I would imagine you would be the first in that kind of stuff?
RHODES: I like the idea of it, but I think, one, it is very time consuming. These two are at it all the time. But I also -- I'm sure I'll get sucked in eventually. Just haven't gone there yet.
MORGAN: Here is a question for all of you.
What was the single greatest gig you've ever played? Would you be in agreement you think?
TAYLOR: Well, you know, Coachella was great.
LE BON: Yes.
TAYLOR: I mean, that was really up there.
MORGAN: You were third on. The sun was just beginning to set, right? I mean, that is a moment to play Coachella, isn't it?
Was it the best ever?
TAYLOR: I think to that point -- MORGAN: Even at the height of the mania?
RHODES: You can't just pick one. Madison Square Gardens is always great. When we play in London, it is always great. But then sometimes you will play in a city, Kansas City or something, and maybe your expectations aren't the same as New York or L.A., and it will be the best show of the tour.
TAYLLOR: That's something you learn. You learn you can have an amazing show in front of a couple hundred people and you can have a really crap show in front of 20,000.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: And the most outrageous party? In Duran Duran history?
RHODES: Well, the Warren Cuccurullo. The one with Cuccurullo years.
LE BON: I was going to say Nick's wedding wasn't bad.
TAYLOR: My god, yes.
MORGAN: When was that?
RHODES: Pink Flamingos.
MORGAN: Pink Flamingo?
TAYLOR: The groom wore more makeup than the bride.
RHODES: A lot of pink. It was a lot of pink.
It's hard for us to get away from pink, though. You look at our album cover, it's still half-pink.
MORGAN: How many of you still wear makeup? You clearly, have a little bit on. I mean, you do for this show, but do you normally?
RHODES: It's a tattoo.
MORGAN: When you're going out, do you still get the old gear on?
RHODES: If I feel like it, you never know.
Rubber suit. a bit of makeup.
MORGAN: Simon, do you?
LE BON: If I feel I need it, yes.
MORGAN: Let's form a very quick dream group to round off this interview.
LE BON: OK.
MORGAN: All-time dream group that you're in it. Who would you bring in as additional singers or guitarist --
TAYLOR: James Jameson and Benny Benjamin, bass and drums.
MORGAN: Yes. Who is the best other singer you have ever seen live?
LE BON: Well, I love --
RHODES: Prince.
MORGAN: Prince is pretty amazing.
LE BON: Yes. I would love Patty Smith on backing vocals, but she would upstage me.
MORGAN: A pretty good group.
Gentlemen, it's been brilliant rolling backed years with you. Good luck with the album, "All You need is Now." A template for Duran Duran, I think. It's all about now, isn't it?
LE BON: Absolutely.
MORGAN: Thank you all very much.
RHODES: Thank you.
MORGAN: That is it for us tonight. "AC 360" starts right now.
One thing your world hasn't been, chance is ordinary.
(CROSSTALK)
Exactly. How have you stayed good mates? Because I know you are good mates? How have you managed to avoid the rock 'n' roll cliche of artistic differences? We're never speaking again?
LE BON: I think being a band goes beyond friendship, actually. There's times when you're together because you're in a band. And there are times when you could fall out with each other. But there's -- but I think underneath that, there's a real -- there's an underlying affection that we've got. We care about each other. And whenever there's a difficult time, it -- kind of that fades away and that care comes through underneath. We all like the same things. We love music. I think our relationship is very much based on that as well, the fact that we do.
TAYLOR: I mean, this summer, actually, going through this business with Simon's voice, it actually brought us closer together. It was one of those situations where we could have been like -- you know, it could have been an opportunity to splint and it drew us together.
MORGAN: Well, what are the ambitions now? Do you have a genuine ambition, or is it to keep going?
LE BON: I think the keeping going and to create a body of work is one of the big ambitions. It is for me.
RHODES: We always like to challenge ourselves. I mean, doing the sound with Mark Ronson, we didn't know what we were really going to get. But I think, we could all look each other in the eye and say it is the best Duran Duran album we have made in more than a decade.
And if you can do that when you're three decades in, that keeps it pretty exciting. We made a film with David Lynch. That was great. We had all been fans since we were kids.
MORGAN: The odd thing to me about you three is that you two are on Twitter. I know this because I read your tweets, and we're all fairly avid, you are not.
RHODES: Don't you read my tweets.
MORGAN: Is that what it is? Is it more of a primitive, because I would imagine you would be the first in that kind of stuff?
RHODES: I like the idea of it, but I think, one, it is very time consuming. These two are at it all the time. But I also -- I'm sure I'll get sucked in eventually. Just haven't gone there yet.
MORGAN: Here is a question for all of you.
What was the single greatest gig you've ever played? Would you be in agreement you think?
TAYLOR: Well, you know, Coachella was great.
LE BON: Yes.
TAYLOR: I mean, that was really up there.
MORGAN: You were third on. The sun was just beginning to set, right? I mean, that is a moment to play Coachella, isn't it?
Was it the best ever?
TAYLOR: I think to that point -- MORGAN: Even at the height of the mania?
RHODES: You can't just pick one. Madison Square Gardens is always great. When we play in London, it is always great. But then sometimes you will play in a city, Kansas City or something, and maybe your expectations aren't the same as New York or L.A., and it will be the best show of the tour.
TAYLLOR: That's something you learn. You learn you can have an amazing show in front of a couple hundred people and you can have a really crap show in front of 20,000.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: And the most outrageous party? In Duran Duran history?
RHODES: Well, the Warren Cuccurullo. The one with Cuccurullo years.
LE BON: I was going to say Nick's wedding wasn't bad.
TAYLOR: My god, yes.
MORGAN: When was that?
RHODES: Pink Flamingos.
MORGAN: Pink Flamingo?
TAYLOR: The groom wore more makeup than the bride.
RHODES: A lot of pink. It was a lot of pink.
It's hard for us to get away from pink, though. You look at our album cover, it's still half-pink.
MORGAN: How many of you still wear makeup? You clearly, have a little bit on. I mean, you do for this show, but do you normally?
RHODES: It's a tattoo.
MORGAN: When you're going out, do you still get the old gear on?
RHODES: If I feel like it, you never know.
Rubber suit. a bit of makeup.
MORGAN: Simon, do you?
LE BON: If I feel I need it, yes.
MORGAN: Let's form a very quick dream group to round off this interview.
LE BON: OK.
MORGAN: All-time dream group that you're in it. Who would you bring in as additional singers or guitarist --
TAYLOR: James Jameson and Benny Benjamin, bass and drums.
MORGAN: Yes. Who is the best other singer you have ever seen live?
LE BON: Well, I love --
RHODES: Prince.
MORGAN: Prince is pretty amazing.
LE BON: Yes. I would love Patty Smith on backing vocals, but she would upstage me.
MORGAN: A pretty good group.
Gentlemen, it's been brilliant rolling backed years with you. Good luck with the album, "All You need is Now." A template for Duran Duran, I think. It's all about now, isn't it?
LE BON: Absolutely.
MORGAN: Thank you all very much.
RHODES: Thank you.
MORGAN: That is it for us tonight. "AC 360" starts right now.