DURAN DURAN

JOHN EARLS

WHAT BEGAN AS A KNOCKABOUT WAY TO TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF BEING INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME HAS BECOME DURAN DURAN’S QUICKEST ALBUM SINCE THEIR DEBUT. FAR MORE THAN A SIMPLE HALLOWEEN-THEMED COVERS RECORD, DANSE MACABRE ALSO REINVENTS OLD DURAN FAVOURITES AND HAS THREE STUNNING NEW TUNES, TOO. IN THE EXCLUSIVE STORY BEHIND STUDIO LP 16, THE BAND TELL CLASSIC POP: “TYPICALLY, WE LABOUR OVER ALBUMS. THIS FELL INTO PLACE VERY EASILY.”

Graveyard shift: Duran Duran’s spookily-themed 16th studio album sees the band covering artists such as Billie Eilish, The Rolling Stones, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Rick James and Talking Heads

© Stephanie Pistel

It’s nearly midnight on a Sunday evening and Simon Le Bon is doing an impression of a foghorn. “HARRNK. HARRRRNNNKKK!” No, he’s not reviving an ancient beef with Tony ‘Foghorn’ Hadley of Spandau Ballet. Go to your room for even thinking such slurs. Instead, Simon is gleefully trying to recapture the noise of the sinister rhythm that drives the title track of Duran Duran’s new album.

If it sounds like an ancient aquatic blast from the depths of the sea underpins Danse Macabre, that’s because that’s precisely what it is. “It’s the old foghorn at Whitby,” burbles Le Bon happily. He’s one of life’s great enthusiasts, Simon Le Bon. When he’s describing any of his passions, whether it’s obscure new prog-rock bands or vintage maritime sea defences, he speaks at 100mph and would love you to join in. “We found a recording in the BBC archives of the foghorn, which is called the Hawsker Mad Bull. It looks like a house, and it’s got enormous trumpets either side of it that bend round to face the sea. Go and have a look at a photo, you’ll love it. That’s what the foghorn sound is on Danse Macabre. HARRNK. HARRRRNNNKK!”

Danse Macabre features guest appearances from Chic legend Nile Rodgers, Måneskin’s Victoria De Angelis and Mr. Hudson

SÉANCE MACABRE

The wild cover art of Danse Macabre depicts a séance in London in the late 1940s, with a primitive version of Photoshop showing one of the participants being possessed. Nick Rhodes bought the photo in question at auction, after a friend spotted it in an auction catalogue. “Most of the auction lot was of undeveloped negatives,” explains Nick. “That was very intriguing in itself: what else is on there?

“A lot of the photos were on glass plates, including the cover shot. Looking at the auction catalogue, I immediately thought: ‘That would make a great cover.’ The whole series of photos is extraordinary – I’d love to make a book of them one day. The levels the photographers went to in trying to make the fakery look convincing is just remarkable. There’s something so authentic about that fakery, weirdly: if you tried to recreate it now, it wouldn’t feel the same.”

Danse Macabre is from a list of Halloween-related titles Nick scribbled down. “It was always my favourite,” he smiles. “There’s something about the ‘s’ in Danse that I love. John wasn’t convinced at first, but he called me a few weeks later to say that he liked it, too.”

What were the other titles on Nick’s shortlist? “One was Memento Mori. This was several months before Depeche Mode announced it as their album title. It’s a great title, an amazing Latin phrase. Depeche were obviously thinking in the same direction. They couldn’t have seen my shortlist. At least, I don’t think they did!”

Alongside his infectious determination to sweep you up into sharing his enthusiasms, Simon Le Bon is one of the most downright onomatopoeic people Classic Pop has ever met. Most international pop icons would rather be thrashed with twigs than sing, away from the comfort of the stage. Anyone lucky enough to interview Simon could flog a one-off album for a fortune on the shadier side of online collector sites, based on whatever he happens to sing in interviews that day. Today? Canned Heat, Dusty Springfield, Billie Eilish and The Beatles. In addition to songs, he’ll happily explain himself by all manner of percussive effects to his interviewers. “The Hawsker Mad Bull foghorn isn’t used now,” he sighs. “That’s sad, but at least we’ve put it on a record for posterity. We’ve paid for its use, it’s all legit.”

Even by his standards, Le Bon is full of enthusiasm and mischief as he chats to CP. He and wife Yasmin have just checked into their hotel in Toronto, the night before Duran’s show at the city’s Scotiabank Arena. We speak to Roger Taylor over Zoom from his hotel in Washington DC, with Nick Rhodes and John Taylor joining us the day before a show in Boston. John is waiting to meet a friend to go round Boston’s John F Kennedy Library. Nick? “I’m going to visit a statue of Edgar Allan Poe after I’ve spoken to you.” Because of course that’s what Nick Rhodes does after an interview. Synth-pop’s ongoing human art project would hardly be “Maybe grabbing some lunch,” now would he?