No other band in the ’80s ruled the decade quite like Duran Duran. Now they’re back promoting their new album “Paper Gods” and only ET Canada had the opportunity to sit-down with members John Taylor (Bass Guitarist) and Roger Taylor (Drums) at the 2015 Life Is Beautiful Music and Art Festival in Las Vegas this past weekend.
Although the first single off Duran Duran’s 14th studio album is called “Pressure Off” – the band told us they’re not slowing down any time soon. “I mean Duran Duran is a pop band, you know, a pop band that isn’t in the charts is like a fish out of water, you know,” says John. The band has been pumping out hit after hit for almost four decades – landing 21 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 and selling over 100 million records around the world.
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But the success hasn’t gone to their heads – Roger tells us, “this kind of feels like we’ve spent 10 years building up to this moment. There’s been a few missteps.” With John adding, “We’re continuing to bet on each other that if we can work through our personal differences, because of course have them… if we can work through them, then our music can be worthwhile.”
That music includes some killer collaborations including Janelle Monae, Kiesza and even Lindsay Lohan. John explains, “[Lindsay] wanted to sing on the album and we were like, ‘Well, how about… how about you do this kind of… monologue?”; And we were thinking about what Vincent Price did in [Michael Jackson’s] ‘Thriller’…. [Lindsay] is a very powerful girl, you know… I mean we definitely felt her presence for days afterwards.”
And check out this uncut clip to find out what it was like working with Canadian-born star Kiesza.
