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Post by robertaganese on Sept 5, 2017 10:00:02 GMT -5
Hello, I have a question about this archived news from DD.com. The news article says "As many fans have speculated over recent months".
How did this news start to circulate at the time? Did it leak somehow? I am interested how people were speculating this, and how did the band know fans were speculating this?
Just curious how this happened.
Here is the article:
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SIMON & NICK ANNOUNCE THE NEXT PHASE OF DURAN DURAN
May 10th, 2001
As many fans have speculated over recent months, a profound change has occurred at the heart of the band as the story of Duran Duran moves into anew chapter. The trio of Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes & Warren Cuccurullo is coming to an end; the upcoming Japanese dates will be their last together after which Warren will be bound for America and a new project with his pre-Duran band, Missing Persons.
Simon & Nick are to be reunited with original band members Roger, Andy and John Taylor for the first time in 15 years.
“It’s something we are very much looking forward to. There has always been an incredible chemistry and musical energy when we have got together. We are all very excited about the prospect of seeing what we can create.”
An album will be scheduled for release some time in 2002
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trevgreg
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Post by trevgreg on Sept 5, 2017 10:11:17 GMT -5
From what I remember, these were the key things…
- There had been random news bits on various websites in late 2000/early 2001 saying that the original lineup of the band was considering a reunion.
- Probably as a result of the above and numerous fans writing them or Ask Katy saying “Hey, is there truth to (such and such)”, the band posted something during their Up Close shows with Warren in early 2001 saying that they “know nothing” of the reunion rumors. The wording was a bit weird, which didn't show a complete denial to some of the fans out there.
- Some time after that, John posted a video on his Trust the Process website talking about playing with Roger and Andy again, and even posted a few photos of the three of them together.
By that point, people were more or less putting two and two together. Then a few days before the band posted that statement you showed, Katy mentioned that Warren was going to play with Missing Persons again and said to “stay tuned” for what it meant for the rest of the band. The statement went out announcing the reunion not too long after that.
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trevgreg
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Post by trevgreg on Sept 5, 2017 12:01:22 GMT -5
I dug around the Wayback Archive and found the pictures and text John used to address the reunion rumors before it was official (minus the video). web.archive.org/web/20011211073228fw_/http://www.trusttheprocess.com:80/JapanT42Report.htmlMonday means the real get down start. The full on intense media HYPE-O-RAMA courtesy of the Avex machine. Now I really start enjoying myself. I always try to treat an interview as a therapy session. I aim to get at least some small insight of self awareness out of each one. In my spiel a party line begins to appear: The reunion rumors are addressed: I am totally/sort of honest: I tell them I got together recently with Roger and Andy. That slows them down. That the three of us jammed together for two weeks at a studio in South Wales, and had a blast. That puts a grin on their faces. Got some great shit on tape, I tell them, and generally got to know each other again. Some dribbling noticed. As for the other two, I say, well, we are all speaking to each other again, which is nice, so I suppose anything is possible. Aaaahh Sooo...
Excuse me? No. I won't be taking part in DD's Japan dates in June.I believe John later confirmed somewhere that the beginnings of Point of No Return came out of those jam sessions.
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trevgreg
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Post by trevgreg on Sept 5, 2017 12:05:39 GMT -5
… and I found the news bit Katy posted pertaining to the reunion rumors at the time. web.archive.org/web/20010405070502/http://duranduran.com/rumours The band are currently on tour in the USA having a great time playing the shows and know nothing about the current rumours pertaining to a reunion tour. [posted 3/20/2001]
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trevgreg
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Post by trevgreg on Sept 5, 2017 13:46:20 GMT -5
To be fair, that’s just about any band or person/group with a PR person or manager, etc. They’re not going to tell the world “yeah, we’re fighting” or give a play by play for behind the scenes drama. Hence, why some people are in those positions in the first place anyway. Plus, if its personal drama, I certainly wouldn't expect to be given that stuff anyway. Oddly enough, Simon did expand a bit on this concept when someone asked him about that very thing a few months later… www.duranduran.com/wordpress/index.php?s=warren+respectfully&cat=12A LITTLE PERSONAL? July 26th, 2001 Hi Katy. 2nd time lucky for me hopefully. I’ve seen the boys on the last 3 UK tours in Cardiff (The last 2 sans Taylor ) & could’nt help wondering, it was obvious to me that Simon missed having a on stage “foil” & all the on stage malarky & chemistry & was that one of the big reasons for bidding farwell to Warren? Any other comments on this issue? Regards Kevin PS, I can’t wait for the new stuff to see what it sounds like!!
“Dear Kevin,I don’t wish to sound aggressive but let me say that there are many reasons why WC has gone his own way, some are personal and some are matters of business. We issued a statement at the time which was written with the purpose of being informing while maintaining the dignity of all interested parties. I find your presumption offensive. After all you don’t go asking a friend if your theories on why say his marriage has broken up are true; it is simply not polite.yours respectfully, Simon Le Bon”
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Post by zealous on Sept 5, 2017 14:42:27 GMT -5
His response seems a little direct and accusatory. However it clear to me that he equates his relationship with the band members as very close, like family, and has no intention of ever sharing more than what's necessary for the band's business. And probably the extremely direct approach was useful in dissuading anyone from continuing with that line of questioning.
I say good for him for doing that. It IS none of our business and I respect him for his protectionist instincts.
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Post by jupiter on Sept 5, 2017 15:42:57 GMT -5
@skinburn, quite agree and well worded. There might have been other similarly terse replies from the band, but I can't remember any like that!
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Post by zealous on Sept 5, 2017 16:07:46 GMT -5
His response seems a little direct and accusatory. However it clear to me that he equates his relationship with the band members as very close, like family, and has no intention of ever sharing more than what's necessary for the band's business. And probably the extremely direct approach was useful in dissuading anyone from continuing with that line of questioning. I say good for him for doing that. It IS none of our business and I respect him for his protectionist instincts. By all means protect those close to you. But this was not about protecting the band. Besides, SLB and Warren were far from close towards the end. Fans want to know what's going on. It's natural to be inquisitive and we are all inquisitive at some stage. You put yourself in a public arena then expect the public to be part of your everyday life. Not every celebrity acts in the same manner as on this particular occasion. Simon's family is his business. The band is everybody's business. Well we're not going to agree on this I guess. I don't think all things about the band are everyone's business. It's our business as much as it pertains to their business. But any personal relationships the band members have or the dynamic of those relationships is not our business. That's their personal business. I get that fans want to know what's going on. But they're humans and no one has a right to know what's going on with any of them other than those they choose to share it with. If they don't want to share it with their fan base then that's their right. And it's clear that Simon DOES expect the public to be a part of his life, and he has plans in place for dealing with questioning that's more than he wants to share. I guess I just don't see it as any of our business. What difference does it make besides satisfying the curiosity of those that want to know?
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Post by goldengun on Sept 8, 2017 7:57:39 GMT -5
To be fair, that’s just about any band or person/group with a PR person or manager, etc. They’re not going to tell the world “yeah, we’re fighting” or give a play by play for behind the scenes drama. Hence, why some people are in those positions in the first place anyway. Plus, if its personal drama, I certainly wouldn't expect to be given that stuff anyway. Oddly enough, Simon did expand a bit on this concept when someone asked him about that very thing a few months later… www.duranduran.com/wordpress/index.php?s=warren+respectfully&cat=12A LITTLE PERSONAL? July 26th, 2001 Hi Katy. 2nd time lucky for me hopefully. I’ve seen the boys on the last 3 UK tours in Cardiff (The last 2 sans Taylor ) & could’nt help wondering, it was obvious to me that Simon missed having a on stage “foil” & all the on stage malarky & chemistry & was that one of the big reasons for bidding farwell to Warren? Any other comments on this issue? Regards Kevin PS, I can’t wait for the new stuff to see what it sounds like!!
“Dear Kevin,I don’t wish to sound aggressive but let me say that there are many reasons why WC has gone his own way, some are personal and some are matters of business. We issued a statement at the time which was written with the purpose of being informing while maintaining the dignity of all interested parties. I find your presumption offensive. After all you don’t go asking a friend if your theories on why say his marriage has broken up are true; it is simply not polite.yours respectfully, Simon Le Bon”Well that told Kevin didn't it? I'd not read that before so thanks. Why on earth would SLB find that offensive? I read nothing that could have been misinterpreted as offensive either. He's a conundrum that Simon Le Bon. Catch him on a good day and he will bend over backwards for you. If you say something he doesn't like, boy you'll know about it. What happened here is that Kevin hit a nerve. It's obviously true otherwise why get aggressive (which he obviously did even though he said he didn't want to come across as such)? I think his answer was pretty mean to be honest. I wonder if Kevin is still a fan? I remember reading that Q/A when it first came out and was like WOW - what a response!!! BHOOSH! Some of you commenting that this was uncharacteristic of Simon, too over the top, etc. Remember that this was 2001 - everything was running new with respects to fresh news on the return of thundergod Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor, and news was filtering thru the grapevine that wc was fired by a simple fax message sent from SLB and NR. So some tensions were running high. But I understand what Kevin was writing, I saw this incarnation of DD onm stage which featured no Taylors, and there was little to no interaction between Simon and the guitarist - so I get what he was trying to allude to here. Simon seemed to be on his own trying to entertain the crowd IMO. Did Kevin's question warrant an aggressive response from Simon? Perhaps not, but who knows what Simon was going thru at that time - considering what was going on around them at the time.
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trevgreg
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Post by trevgreg on Sept 8, 2017 8:15:46 GMT -5
I don’t remember the ‘fax’ story being alluded to until 2005, when Warren made that claim in the Malins biography which came out later that year. In fact, I don’t think Warren ever really alluded to any hurt feelings in particular until after the 2003 Vegas incident. We probably assumed there was some hurt feelings for obvious reasons, but he never really elaborated on that until the the reunions dates were happening. Otherwise, all he said at the time (2001) was that he sat down with Nick and Simon to discuss this, and then they worked out a deal for him to leave and get something out of it. Then of course, he played those Missing Persons dates until that reunion of sorts ended a short time later.
In terms of Kevin’s question and Simon’s response, I seemed to remember the question being a bit more direct than it was once I read it again, which surprised me. At the same time, I sort of get both sides to an extent… one side being a bit curious as to what’s going on, and then Simon’s perspective on being asked stuff like “…was that one of the big reasons in bidding farewell to Warren” and “Any other comments on this issue?” It’s possible that he read that and figured there couldn’t be a better way of showing “Hey, I don’t want to answer that” than being a bit more direct and impersonal than he might normally be.
Like Skinburn said, maybe it comes across as a bit aggressive in parts. But that might’ve been just a way of getting to the point and not going sentence after sentence about “Look, I’m sure you’re a nice person and everything… these are the four reasons why I can’t answer… etc. etc.” Saying something is “offensive” or “not polite” might be a bit hurtful if Kevin didn’t expect that, but to me, it probably could’ve been a lot worse. And in his defense, Simon does temper his response a bit in saying “I don’t wish to sound aggressive” and the “Respectfully yours” closing. I know from prior experience, I’ve used both or similar language in some messages where I was unhappy with the other person and expressing such, but wanted to maintain some civility to what I was trying to convey.
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