Fri. Oct. 28 

Duran Duran? Back with us in 2011, playing concerts. Really?
   They are indeed, and quickly sold out Royale in April. They're back at the Wang Citi Theatre Friday Oct. 28.  I talked to bassist John Taylor before their spring visits and he had a lot to share about Duran Duran, past and present.
    The stylish British new wave became an overnight sensation through its early ‘80s videos on MTV. In concert, they’ll mix classics like “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Girls on Film” and “A View to a Kill” with tunes from the new hit CD, “All You Need Is Now,” produced by hotshot Mark Ronson.
    When we talked, they played a well-received gig at the huge Coachella festival in California was still revved.
    “It was awesome, just one of those amazing things,” he says. “A career highlight. … It’s nice to still be having them.”
      Indeed, no one could have called this, three decades after their formation. There have various lineup changes, down periods, comebacks and breakups, but the core lineup, which reformed in 2001, is back stronger than ever.
    The band consists of Taylor, singer Simon Le Bon keyboardist Nick Rhodes and drummer Roger Taylor (no relation). The other unrelated Taylor, guitarist Andy, left in 2006, replaced by Dom Brown.
JSInk: Last month at a London concert Simon introduced “Ordinary World,” by saying, “We put this song out just when everyone thought we were finished in 1993. Well, 18 years on, all of the people who thought that can kiss my ass.”
Taylor: He did say that. But that’s not typical. We try to exercise humility at all times. We’ve been written off a few times.
And you’ve written yourself off a few times.
Ha! Touché. Success came very early to us. Our first three albums were hugely successful and then we began this humiliating downslide where we lost our audience incrementally.
You left the fold from 1997-2000, but came back when Simon wanted to put the “classic Fab Five” lineup back together. What made you think it would work in the 21st century?
I wasn’t thinking about the 21st century then. I was thinking about a reunion tour, which I thought would be fun. And I was thinking about the idea of an endless stream of session drummers since Roger left. The idea of getting back with those guys and playing the songs from the first three albums the way they’d been written was exciting. I wasn’t really thinking past that point. Nick was the one who said, “Hold on a second, we’re not just doing a reunion tour, we’re going to write and record a new album.” That was a whole other proposition entirely. It took us a long time to get to that.
The first two albums didn’t really hit. But this one has. Is it the Ronson factor?
Most definitely Ronson. He’s the producer who best understands the original ethos of Duran better than any of the other producers we’ve had since we got back together. Timbaland was a the top of his game when we worked with him, but his sense of what Duran Duran were was not in him. He didn’t have that understanding the way Mark did.
How do you define that original ethos?
There was something avant-garde and art-school about it that got hijacked by commercial success. We became this pinup band that was only concerned with how to write another hit. It’s very seductive and can really take you off the path. We’ve questioned our own abilities and our own style along the way and we’ve tried a number of different things. I think Mark got it right on this album - the art/commerce balance. He wanted us to get in touch with the style we all had in the early ‘80s before we became self-conscious. There are songs that scream ‘Pop song!’ at you and others that are never going be on the radio. Mark was actually the first to say, “I want it to be an imaginary follow-up to ‘Rio.’” We were like, "What an interesting thing to say." He said it posthumously, after the album was delivered. I thought it was a great sound bite.
What are the themes on “All You Need Is Now”?
I’m not quite sure what we’re trying to say, but there’s an inherent positivity in us that comes through. I think that we convey a sense of gratitude that we didn’t always have.
You guys have been fairly public about how cocaine – though you felt it once helped - contributed to the downfall.
I think drugs and alcohol helped me become the person that thought I needed to be. I was a very shy, sensitive guy and suddenly I’m on the cover of all these teen magazines, getting chased around everywhere and it was not what I had in mind at all. I don’t think any of us did and it put a lot of pressure on us. I would never want to go through the drama of those years again. Drugs and alcohol are such a big part of the music scene and I certainly did not appreciate the power of what I was dealing with. But I’m very fortunate that I got a second chance and could begin again. You’ve got to be eternally grateful when that happens. My phone book is filled with names of guys that aren’t with us anymore.
Your ‘80s teen girl fans were called Duranies. Still got ‘em?
There’s still that core. I hope that’s always going to be there. But I‘ve seen a real shift in the audience this year. It’s like there’s a massive shift towards males – it’s a lot more balanced than it’s ever been. It’s like guys have awoken to the band that have previously said, “We don’t give a fuck.’ You can feel that energy in the room when we’re playing now. That’s kind of strange and different.
Duran Duran played the Concert for Diana in 2007. Any thoughts about the upcoming royal marriage or the monarchy?
Um, I like the monarchy. I’ve had an n extraordinary life. I’m not looking to make huge changes in the system. What they represent – monarchy or republic - either way, somebody else is making the big decisions. I just want to write songs.

Tickets: $125-$45.

(This is an expanded version of a story that ran in the Boston Herald Sunday and is on www.bostonherald.com.)

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