13 July 2014 | Update | It's been awhile since the last webzine update but you know, considering how everything is istantly online on social networks, I will only update the site when there's enough stuff to share in terms of news, reports and pictures. I just hope you enjoy this new installment as much as the others.

Over the last months, bits of interesting news and informations have been posted here and there on the main duran duran sites, on various media and, not less important, on fanpages and forums.

The Duran-puzzle | Here we are to put together all the pieces of the Duran-puzzle, hopefully with the usual visual impact that has been, over the years, one of the main characteristics of duranasty.com.

The status of the band and the album's progress | This installment isn't only about Duran news and pics but, since I have had the pleasure to meet the guys in more than one occasion over this past winter and spring [last time a couple of days ago] the page is also coloured with bits of my personal meetings with the band.

The fan thing | These fan-reports focus mainly on the informative and interesting aspects of my meeting with the band. I asked quite a few questions -about different subjects- to the guys over the months... so hopefully the reports will help to create the full picture of a band that is about to complete their 14th albumI Hope you find entertaining and interesting this three pages installment .

Excited | We are all very excited about this new chapter of the Duran Duran history and we really can't wait to listen to the new album, surely out between the first and the second quarter of 2015. The recording is almost finished, the rhythm section's work has been done, Simon is currently working very hard on the vocals recording for 3/4 hours a day.

Today the band leaves Saint Petersburg where yesterday played live at the White Nights International Festival [some pics below], a show that has been also aired on russian TV and soon available on Youtube.
Fans who met the band in June reports: "last Monday [June 23] Simon literally said that if they get all together in the studio, they have less than one week of work to finish the the recordings."
From St Petersburg the guys will probably head to London where they will be adding some final touches and vocals to the recordings, then, later in the Summer, they are supposed to reconvene in the studio with the Masetro of funky, Nile Rodgers.

Once this phase is concluded, the album require post-production and mixing, a stage that might involve Nile Rodgers [more on this below] and surely Spike Stent [more on this below].

About the album release date, an insider reports: "Even if the album is finished this month there is a ton of promo work to be done, record deals to be negotiated, etc etc. I would guess Spring 2015 earliest."

Dear friends, enjoy this new installment! Hope you all have a great Summer! See you online at our facebook pages. Duranasty will come back in September/October with a new update!

"Caption this" Nick interrogates his fantastic skull shaped umbrella:
" Skull Skull in my hands, tell me, when get to the end?"

News | During a recent chat with Nick, he said the band will be in the studio up untill June and a little bit also in July, he also said they want to wrap the album this Summer.
The keeper of Duran Duran's flame said they could to do some more work in July if needed, but the writing/recording phase [except for some vocals] is basically completed.

News | During the same chat, Nick said that it would be nice to deliver to our ears some new Duran music [in the form of a new single maybe?] before the end of this year, and to be precise he actually mentioned the month of October.

News | Nick said that they 3 [three!!] contenders for the first single.
When I asked if it will be a ballad or something different, Nick told me that is an UP tempo for sure... he also added that the new album has 2 good ballads.

"Stent has become the ‘go to person’ for that magic touch that all musicians seek in a record"

Who Is Mark ‘Spike’ Stent? He is one of the worlds most sought-after mixer/producers.

A three-time Grammy recipient and with multiple nominations across various categories; most notably at the 2010 awards when he was nominated across four different genres: ‘Album of the Year’ with Lady Gaga, ‘Best Contemporary Rock Album’ with Muse [winner], ‘Best Electronic Dance’ with Goldfrapp and ‘Best Contemporary R&B Album’ with Usher – unequivocally ranking him as one of the most respected and in demand mixing engineers of our time.

Spike achieved international success through the stellar quality of his work, his reputation for world-class sounding mixes attracted an impressive resume of high profile acts including: Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Linkin Park, Madonna, U2, Bjork, Gwen Stefani, Depeche Mode, Muse, Lilly Allen, No Doubt, Usher, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, and Massive Attack to name but a few.

Spike resides mainly in Los Angeles due to the massive demand for his work coming from the US, he has embraced the transition from the UK although work still takes him back to his British roots.

News | I also asked about the producers involved in the album, "Mark is in three songs, and Mr Hudson in some others" and... with that typical Nick Rhodes smile "we've got a third person involved..."

When he mentioned the third person we still were not aware of Nile Rogers's involvement in the new album. We only guessed and hoped that the third person was him... Only days later the suspicion was confirmed by John who actually sent a tweet to Nile as he wanted to get in touch to plan a meeting...

News | Hungry of news I asked Nick "What else can you say about the album", "Well, those who have listened to the album said that is GRAND".

News | Last but not least I asked "Any idea when the album will be out?" "I think is gonna be out next year, around February/March" assures Nick.

With the album almost completed, the promotion plan is starting to move on and it's again all so exciting!

On June 26th the guys met top photographer Randall Slavin in South London to shoot an advertorial which, according to Sam, the make up-artist responsible for of the guys's make-up, is a collaboration between Fashion Rocks and Mazda.

Sam Cooper says in her blog:

I was in charge of the grooming for Duran Duran, I used mainly Bumble&Bumble hair products and Bioderma skin care. I also had Samantha Norman assisting me and working on Nico&Vinz, the guys all looked sharp and slick!

"I adore Duran Duran"

says Nile Rogers

Speaking at the Ivor Novello Awards in London on Thursday [22.05.14], Nile - who was honoured with the Special International Award for his incredible career at the ceremony, a prize handed to him by his friend Johnny Marr - revealed he is set to work with Duran Duran again!

The 61-year-old guitarist performed with the band's singer Simon Le Bon and George Clinton at the International Music Summit's Legends Dinner in Ibiza on May 21th where he was guest of honour and on the flight to the UK afterwards Nile and Simon discussed plans for their collaboration along with producer Mark Ronson.

The 'Good Times' hitmaker - who first worked with Duran Duran in 1984 on a remix of their hit single 'The Reflex' and then on their 1986 album 'Notorious' - said: ''On the plane Simon and I talked about working together and we're trying to figure out how our schedules can line-up so I can work on some of the Duran Duran stuff.

I do know, according to what Simon said to me, that they're going work around my schedule which is amazing. I adore Duran Duran.

''I gave Mark Ronson his first Walkman and he started bouncing on one foot and then the other and then started becoming a producer. ''Can you imagine me and Mark in the same room as Duran Duran? That's going to be cool. The love is going to be insane.''

The above pics were taken at the International Music Summit [IMS] in May 2014 in Ibiza.

Surprise Surprise! The highlight of the evening was the impromptu performance of four musical giants, at the IMS Legend’s Dinner in honour of Chic’s Nile Rodgers. Nile was joined on stage by Nona Hendryx best known for her collaboration with Patti LaBelle, Talking Heads, Bill Laswell, and Bootsy Collins. Also on stage Funkadelic and Parliament of Funks George Clinton was asked to take lead but the biggest surprise of the night was Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon flying out that night making an appearance, much to Nile’s shock and surprise. These 4 colossuses played renditions of Sister Sledge’s We are Family and Le Freak by Chic.

The sonic blue 1960’s Fender Stratocaster played by Nile on Stage was then donated to the IMS’s official charity The Hepatitis C Trust. The guitar was then signed by Nile, Simon Le Bon and George Clinton making it one of the most unique Fender Stratocaster’s in musical history.The Hepatitis C Trust is particularly close to Nile Rogers heart as both his parents had the the disease so he knows first-hand the harm the disease can cause.

This interview was published on Classic Pop magazine this year,
here an interesting excerpt.

It's important to note that since the beginning [before they even entered the studio] Nick expressed the intention to look back a little bit to the Notorious album with the new DD project [as he said to citegay.fr in late 2012]:

Behind these sentences we can actually see the reasons behind the upcoming involvement of Nile Rodgers in the album.

Nile's funky touch | We assume [at this stage of the process] the band need Nile's funky touch on some existing songs, just like he did on The Reflex for example, rather than writing new ones with him from zero.
That could happen too, you never know with these guys, but in it seems more logical, given that the album is already shaped and almost finished, that writing new songs might take more time.

His debut album with band The Library, in 2007, titled A Tale of Two Cities, features the single "Too Late, Too Late".
In 2008 Mr Hudson signed to Kanye West’s GOOD Music label and began work on his second album. He was also featured on West’s 2008 album, 808s & Heartbreak, as co-producer on the track "Street Lights" and featured vocals on "Paranoid".

Mr Hudson dropped the band moniker of The Library for his second album Straight No Chaser in 2009, spawning the Number 2 single "Supernova" featuring Kanye West.
In early 2010 Mr Hudson featured on Jay-Z’s top 10 single "Young Forever" from the album The Blueprint 3 & also features on the track "Why I Love You" from West & Jay-Z’s Watch The Throne album.

2011 and 2012 saw Mr Hudson set up his own studio and start writing & producing for other acts such as Josh Kumra, Wretch 32, Eliza Doolittle & Sway.

On 4 December 2013 saw Mr Hudson release a new track titled Move with Rankin shooting the video exclusively for Hunger TV., and also saw the release of Rebecca Ferguson’s album entitled Freedom with the track '‘Beautiful Design'’ which Mr Hudson co wrote & produced.

Since April 2014, Hudson has been spotted in a London studio with Duran Duran, currently working on their new album.

In May 2014 Mr Hudson released his latest single Step Into The Shadows featuring Idris Elba.

We've written three songs with Ben [said John in a recent katykafe] and I think they are amongst the best songs we've written on this album. He's sort of helping us, sort of tiding up a lot of other songs, because we have been working on these songs for over a year now, so as you come to the end, you sort of focus on which one is gonna make the cut in the mix, the final mix...
You kinda look at some sogs from 6 months ago and some songs from 6 weeks ago and you wanna make them sound as they are all part of one thought, as written and recorded all in a month, all with the same energy. [official picture Duran Duran and Mr Hudson duranduran.com]

We assume that some formats of the album, when will be released, [such as the japanese one or the deluxe versions] with the bonus tracks will probably have up to 15/16 songs.

That's pretty amazing and absolutely worth the wait!

Mr Hudson: "I'm very diplomatic.
I will always choose my battles.
And if someone wants to do something and I'm not really feeling it, I'll just let them run with it for a minute -
let them do it until they're bored or tired,
and then I'll step in.

Simon looks great recently... a protein rich diet and daily gym activity are the secrets of his great physical shape as he said to the fans.

According to Anna Ross, Duran Duran backing vocalist, on June 16 she recorded vocals with Simon on a song, she writes: "Had a really enjoyable session today doing vocals with Simon. Love the track!"

Sadly enough it won't be the beautiful lyric that Simon recited to a few fans back in November 2013. I recently asked if the song has made the final cut and unfortunaltely he said no.

I didn't bother Simon with album questions, Nick was already extremely kind to give us a feeling and some news so when I met Le Bon the chat were mostly about other subjects such as cars, motorbikes and regattas. He said that [back in May] he went to Goodwood festival and he really enjoyed a ride on a the new Porsche but most of all he loved the new Ferrari 458.

He also told me that he doesn't know for sure which regattas he will be able to do this year. A couple of days ago, when I met him he told me that he was supposed to come over to Sicily for a regatta this summer but he won't be able to do it as he has got some work to do in America. Back in May he said he might take part to the Voile de St Tropez in September and the Cannes regatta too but it all depends on the album developement.

Back in May, during the Kafe, Nick expressed all his enthusiasm about working with Mr Hudson, he said "We are working with Mr Hudson, we have done a couple of tracks with him already for the new Duran album and we're just completed the lyric of a ballad we had for almost a year now which is one of the key tracks on the album. We feel very satisfied about ourselves at the moment. Mr Hudson is great, he's full of energy, he's got great ideas, i think sometimes having someone in the room that shakes things up a little bit is important. He has a great musical ear, he has worked on some diverse things, so he actually fits in well, he's got a good musical knowledge.

Mark Ronson with Duran [and Nile Rogers] in the studio in July I I hope Mark [Roson] does something with us, he came to the studio a couple of weeks ago [late April/May], we went trough all the songs together, he was really pleased with were we are at, he's got a few ideas for some of the tracks, so we tried to pencil some time together sometime in July at the moment. obviously Mark has got a crazy schedule. So we're trying to make it all coincide. We don't know yet, but i think so, we'd all like to do it.

The earlier stuff | Mark was with us in the early stages, one of the early writing phases, two things have survived from those session, but not so much things that Mark has really worked on, actually there's one that he worked on that survived for sure.

New Duran-kids on the block!

Verona, Taormina?

No album this year, announces John at the
Bass show

During the Bass Show event back in March, during the Q&A held at the Olympia auditorium in London, John announced that the new Duran Duran album won't be released this year.

His words left the Duran fans quite surprised as it was a quite different statement from what they thought and surely a different point of view from the more optimistic statements given by Nick.

Many fans thought that John's statement was probably his personal view of things rather than the band's.

When I saw our blond founding member the day after John's public statement, he reassured the fans saying that the recordings will be finished by June.

When I saw John more recently I asked if there was a remote chance to get the album out this year but he said no, shaking his head. He was 100% sure that the album will be out in 2015.

I noticed that he doesn't like to talk about release dates as he say he's not on any kind of schedule, "You don't know with this band" he told me... "We might be in the studio all year said [ironically?!]!

I told him that we are quite excited about the Jack Frusciante collaboration, John just smiled. I suppose there's not much to comment about it at this stage, the guys have been working on the tracks with Frusciante using the internet.

The songs have been going back and forth but [we assume] they are still in a phase where the band itself doesn't know which track will actually made the final cut and used in the album.

"Even if I didn’t have a book out, I’d still be here.
I’m here because I want to support bass in the UK.
That’s what’s important."