Listen to an exclusive phone interview I conducted with Duran Duran bassist John Taylor a few weeks ago. For those of you that need a little refresher, John is pictured on the far right in the photo above.
John and I talked at length about the group's new line up, their fantastic new album "Red Carpet Massacre," the collaboration with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, the importance of fashion and visual presentation, gay fans, Britney Spears and much more.
In more than thirty minutes, we covered quite a lot of ground. Animated and candid, John shared a lot of information about the process behind "Red Carpet Massacre." Noteworthy are his comments about the learning curve working with Timbaland to make it a true Duran Duran effort and not a Simon Le Bon show. He also spoke openly about his ongoing drive to be commercially successful and how he deals with getting older in an intensely competitive music market in which celebrities are constantly under scrutiny.
If you have not heard "Red Carpet Massacre" yet, you can stream the entire album on AOL. It serves up a truly fresh and contemporary sound that they put together with the help of Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Nate "Danja" Hills who helped them tool a new sonic architecture. Click here to download "Red Carpet Massacre" on iTunes.
It was pretty amazing to talk to John who is a childhood idol of mine. Duran Duran really started my passion for music. "The Reflex" was the first single I bought and their concert at Rotterdam Ahoy in 1987 was the first pop concert I ever went to. A very special thanks to Abe and Sharon for arranging the call with John.
(Download the MP3 of the interview here. If you share the MP3, please credit ArjanWrites.com and do not alter the recording in any way. Brief illustrative bits of "Nite-Runner," "Falling Down" and "Skin Divers" are courtesy of SonyBMG/Epic Records.)
