Post by Deleted on May 14, 2008 5:46:56 GMT -5
'Rocking the house': Duran Duran taking cues from younger generation
www.mlive.com/music/index.ssf/2008/05/rocking_the_house_duran_duran.html
Since its inception, Duran Duran has sold more than 70 million albums, recorded countless hit records, received numerous accolades and has been presented with five lifetime achievement awards. But after 30 years in the business, Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon said he finally feels he's hit the pinnacle of his career.
"We have been rocking the house," LeBon said about his band's current world tour, which hits Detroit's Masonic Temple Theatre on Thursday. "The energy that's coming off this crowd is unbelievable. I haven't seen this in 25 years. It's amazing.
"We seem to have moved into a different phase of our career. We had the reunion. But this time, we're coming like a real classic band. They do come to hear 'Ordinary World,' and they do come to hear 'The Reflex' and 'Hungry Like the Wolf,' but it's almost like being in the Rolling Stones."
Duran Duran -- which also includes keyboardist Nick Rhodes, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Taylor -- is touring in support of its 12th album, "Red Carpet Massacre," a collection produced by Grammy-winning pop star Justin Timberlake and knob turners Timbaland and Nate "Danja" Hills.
In an interview with The Flint Journal while he was vacationing in Central America, LeBon said Timberlake was "very easy" to work with.
"He's just a lovely, lovely guy to work with. He's very funny. Just a charming man. He tells the worst jokes on the planet. But he's a singer. He really knows what it's like to be a singer. We actually did things really quickly," he said.
"He brought a certain hip or 'currentcy' -- he's current. That's part of what he brought to the band. A little bit of his fairy dust."
Timberlake isn't the only "current" artist from whom LeBon is pulling inspiration. Green Day, he explained, plays a key role in this tour.
"Funny, last year we played the Roskilde Festival (in Denmark), and we played with Green Day," he said. "We watched what they did and how they worked the crowd. We learned an awful lot from them. We've been kind of practicing our own version of that with this tour, particularly for big outdoor shows. When you have an enormous crowd, there's a certain way you work with them."
It seems to be working. According to LeBon, the older hits are doing just as well as newer songs such as "Night-Runner," "Skin Divers" and "Tempted," in concert.
"'Come Undone' and 'Ordinary World' are mega," he said. "'Girls on Film' is one of the absolute high points of the show. 'Hungry Like the Wolf' gets them rockin' right at the beginning. 'Planet Earth' gets them singing. 'The Reflex' get them dancing. 'Notorious' gets them crazy. That's what the show's like. 'Ordinary World' gets them into rock heaven. Then we've got a whole bunch of new songs in the show that are going down really well."
www.mlive.com/music/index.ssf/2008/05/rocking_the_house_duran_duran.html
Since its inception, Duran Duran has sold more than 70 million albums, recorded countless hit records, received numerous accolades and has been presented with five lifetime achievement awards. But after 30 years in the business, Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon said he finally feels he's hit the pinnacle of his career.
"We have been rocking the house," LeBon said about his band's current world tour, which hits Detroit's Masonic Temple Theatre on Thursday. "The energy that's coming off this crowd is unbelievable. I haven't seen this in 25 years. It's amazing.
"We seem to have moved into a different phase of our career. We had the reunion. But this time, we're coming like a real classic band. They do come to hear 'Ordinary World,' and they do come to hear 'The Reflex' and 'Hungry Like the Wolf,' but it's almost like being in the Rolling Stones."
Duran Duran -- which also includes keyboardist Nick Rhodes, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Taylor -- is touring in support of its 12th album, "Red Carpet Massacre," a collection produced by Grammy-winning pop star Justin Timberlake and knob turners Timbaland and Nate "Danja" Hills.
In an interview with The Flint Journal while he was vacationing in Central America, LeBon said Timberlake was "very easy" to work with.
"He's just a lovely, lovely guy to work with. He's very funny. Just a charming man. He tells the worst jokes on the planet. But he's a singer. He really knows what it's like to be a singer. We actually did things really quickly," he said.
"He brought a certain hip or 'currentcy' -- he's current. That's part of what he brought to the band. A little bit of his fairy dust."
Timberlake isn't the only "current" artist from whom LeBon is pulling inspiration. Green Day, he explained, plays a key role in this tour.
"Funny, last year we played the Roskilde Festival (in Denmark), and we played with Green Day," he said. "We watched what they did and how they worked the crowd. We learned an awful lot from them. We've been kind of practicing our own version of that with this tour, particularly for big outdoor shows. When you have an enormous crowd, there's a certain way you work with them."
It seems to be working. According to LeBon, the older hits are doing just as well as newer songs such as "Night-Runner," "Skin Divers" and "Tempted," in concert.
"'Come Undone' and 'Ordinary World' are mega," he said. "'Girls on Film' is one of the absolute high points of the show. 'Hungry Like the Wolf' gets them rockin' right at the beginning. 'Planet Earth' gets them singing. 'The Reflex' get them dancing. 'Notorious' gets them crazy. That's what the show's like. 'Ordinary World' gets them into rock heaven. Then we've got a whole bunch of new songs in the show that are going down really well."