- 4/22/2025
SIMON LE BON INTERVIEW 3-25-22
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😹
FunTranscript
00:00Hello, is that Carla?
00:02It is.
00:03Simon Le Bon, what a flippin' honor to finally talk to you after all these years.
00:11Absolutely, me too.
00:13Yes, I'm sure I was on your list, Simon.
00:17Absolutely.
00:18I said one day I'll be talking to Carla Rae in Las Vergas.
00:24Well, listen, we are really, really excited.
00:27Tickets go on sale today, of course.
00:30For Future Past.
00:31You guys are coming back to Las Vegas September 1st and 3rd.
00:35I don't know if you've seen the theater that you guys are working in, the Encore Theater at Wynn.
00:40It is spectacular.
00:44Yeah, we've not been there before, and I'm looking forward to it so much.
00:50It's beautiful.
00:52You guys are going to have a ball.
00:54I have to talk to you a little bit about this new album, because you guys, I mean, I don't want to say you went in a different direction, but you pulled in some other big guns to have some fun with Duran Duran.
01:08I know that Mark Ronson is a part of this album.
01:11Giorgio Moroder.
01:14Yeah.
01:18Tovlo, also?
01:20Yes, yes.
01:22We're very excited about the way the album turned out.
01:25Errol Alcan, who's the main producer of the album, he was very much part of everybody who came along to it.
01:36So, we, Giorgio Moroder, somebody we wanted to work with for years and years and years, and finally we got the chance to do it on this album.
01:47Mark, well, we always try and do something with Mark, because he's with such, he's an important part of our path, too.
01:53And then we got Graham Coxon, the extraordinary, innovative guitarist, lead guitarist from the English band Blur.
02:05He's really important.
02:07He's a very important part of the sound.
02:08He made the whole album, he made us all work harder, actually, which is always a good thing.
02:15Tovlo is, as you know, a wonderful Swedish pop artist.
02:20Yeah.
02:20And we sent the album to her, and said, do you fancy any of these tracks?
02:25And she goes, I want to do Give It All Up.
02:27And my initial reaction was, oh, no, not that one.
02:30It was completely done.
02:32I don't want to share that vocal.
02:34I don't want to share that vocal with anybody.
02:36But we decided, we got the track, we got the demo sent back from her, and what she did was so magnificent.
02:44I actually ended up writing an extra verse for myself to sing, actually.
02:49Because of what she had done was so good.
02:53That is very...
02:53And then we had the, we've got the extraordinarily pianist, Mike Garsten.
03:00Wow.
03:00The sound of the album, Aladdin Sane, by David Bowie in the 70s.
03:05And so happened to do a track with him on this.
03:07And then there are two artists who I discovered in my, in my kind of radio travels, for my radio show, which is called Woosh.
03:17Right.
03:17I did, I was listening to new tracks, and I found, I found an artist called Ivorian Doll, who's an English rapper.
03:26And one, she's what's called a drill artist.
03:29And we got her on there.
03:31And also, the all-girl Japanese punk band Chai.
03:35Yeah.
03:36Amazing.
03:38Amazing.
03:39You guys pulled in a lot of people.
03:42Here's the thing, and I want to go back just a little bit.
03:45You guys have always, you know, you've always had a, I don't know how to explain, you've always had a feel, that's for sure.
03:53But your sound has changed a little bit over the years.
03:57And I mean, you know, there was the 80s, Duran Duran, in the 90s, when, let's see, music changed a whole lot with your, your Nirvanas and, and, and Pearl Jam.
04:07You guys were still at the top of the charts.
04:10And, which, by the way, the wedding album, one of my favorite albums, I still love that album.
04:14That, to me, was when I heard a very, a different sound for Duran Duran.
04:20And you guys have always been able to do it.
04:23Well, we, we, first and foremost, we are music lovers.
04:29Um, and that's the most important thing.
04:32So, so, so, and we're not frightened of, of trying new things out.
04:35You know, when I hear something by a new artist who does something different, I always think, wow, I wonder if we could do something like that.
04:43I find new, new ideas very inspiring.
04:46Um, and none of us want to make the same record twice.
04:49Right.
04:49Because we know it's, it's not, it's not really possible.
04:53Um, and we like to move on.
04:56We, we want to see, we want to see the variety of what, of what we can do with Duran Duran, not just stick to one thing.
05:03And so, and I think, actually, I think the new album, Future Past, is a really good, um, demonstration of that ethic.
05:13Yeah, it definitely is.
05:15It's, it's such a cool album.
05:17By the way, if our listeners have not heard it, listen to it, buy it.
05:21It is so good.
05:22It's very different.
05:24You say that, Simon.
05:25So who are you listening to?
05:27What new artists are you listening to?
05:29Um, well, there's a girl called Sinead O'Brien, who's an Irish spoken word artist.
05:38I'm really, really very hot on her.
05:43Um, I just, there's a Texan artist I just heard called Alison Pontier.
05:48Okay.
05:48Um, I think that's how she pronounced it.
05:50Mm-hmm.
05:50Alison Pontier.
05:52She's, she's got a, she's got a great track out now.
05:55What is it called?
05:56Oh, I've forgotten the name of it, but I've got it on my next radio show.
06:00Um, Irish bands like, um, Fontaine's DC, um, um, The Sprint.
06:09Okay.
06:09Um, The Clockworks.
06:11There's so many, there's so much new stuff coming out.
06:14Yeah.
06:14I love, you know, I like alternative R&B as well.
06:17Um, Sonny Cologne, um, Demi, Demi Moore.
06:22Okay.
06:22Fans like, you know, artists like that.
06:23I just, just played a track by somebody called Danielle Ponda.
06:29She's a great soul singer, a fantastic soul singer.
06:33You should, you should check her out.
06:34I'm going to now.
06:35That's amazing.
06:36That's very cool.
06:37I, and I want to ask you this as well.
06:39And I, listen, I know you, you're obligated to say future past, but what, what's your favorite
06:45Duran Duran album?
06:49Well, apart from the new one, because it's not a question of obligation.
06:53Right.
06:53Uh, Carla.
06:55It's, it's the fact that, it's the fact that that's what we've been working on and we're
06:59excited about it and it's new.
07:02So obviously we love that.
07:04Right.
07:04Um, to pick another one, I mean, it's difficult.
07:08The wedding album, as you say, was, was a departure and extraordinary and it had, and
07:13it had songs of great depth on it, but, um, that, that you didn't, it was, it was more
07:19sophisticated.
07:20Right.
07:21Than, than earlier Duran records.
07:23But then, you know, Notorious is a funk album and I love funk.
07:27Oh yeah.
07:27Yeah.
07:28Yes.
07:28And Rio, Rio was a wonderful album, I think.
07:33Rio, it's a, it's a pop album, a great pop album, a great second album for a band.
07:39It's very difficult for me to choose one.
07:41The first album, everyone, everyone's got something that I love about it.
07:45Right.
07:45They're like babies.
07:46They're like your kids.
07:48Yeah, they are.
07:49You shouldn't, and you shouldn't really have a favorite.
07:51Right.
07:52I don't think it's not nice for the other kids.
07:54Talking with Simon LeBond, of course, Duran Duran coming back to Las Vegas, September
07:591st and 3rd.
08:01I do have to ask you, Simon, I know it had been, what about, was it five or six years between
08:07albums?
08:09I'm assuming you guys were working on this, you know, during the, the pandemic, which
08:14I've heard artists say was, was not the best time and also the best time to be working
08:22on new music.
08:23Well, let's talk about that.
08:24We, we, we started the album, we started Future Past in 2018, in, in November, 2018.
08:30Wow.
08:31And, um, by the beginning of 2020, we thought we would have it finished in time to, for
08:39a summer release.
08:40Um, but then the pandemic hit and the world changed.
08:45And we all tried to make the most of it, um, in our, in our private lives.
08:52And I think we didn't, all of us, we just stopped making music.
08:56We stopped thinking about the record for the first year.
08:59But then towards the end of, of, I suppose, towards the end of 2020, we started thinking,
09:06we need to finish this thing.
09:07So we started, we reconvened and we went back into the studio and we found in that, that,
09:13that, in that intervening time, something had happened.
09:16It was almost as though before the pandemic, we were driving on, we were driving on a road
09:22in, in, in darkness with the headlights on and all you could see was the road in front of you
09:26and the trees either side.
09:28But then when we came back, the day had broken, you could see the road in front of you, the
09:33trees either side, but you could see the countryside all around you and you could see where the road
09:37was going.
09:39And it was so much easier.
09:40We did as much work in four months, uh, at the end of the album, as we did in the preceding
09:4615 months of work, um, we had this incredible, uh, work spurt and so many songs were changed.
09:53So many lyrics happened so many, um, you know, we changed the keys of things.
09:57We changed the tempo of things.
09:59We changed, we scrapped some songs and we wrote some new songs as well.
10:03It was in the most incredible creative period that we had.
10:07I'm glad to hear that.
10:08I'm very glad to hear that.
10:09It def, well, I mean, listen, the whole world changed and, and, you know, out of that comes
10:15some amazing, uh, I don't know, lyrics, uh, uh, art, all of that.
10:21We're here now.
10:22We are here now.
10:23Yeah.
10:23That's the most important thing.
10:24We're, we're, you know, you, you and I, we're still here now.
10:27You know, it's, it's not the same as it was before, but this is what we've got and we're
10:31alive and it's, and it's, you know, and we, we have to try as hard as we can to make it
10:36the best possible world that we can.
10:38You know, and I, I can't let this, uh, this time talking to you pass without congratulating
10:43you on, on being rock and roll hall of fame nominees.
10:46You guys, listen, you've been at the top of the list.
10:49I know that means a lot to some.
10:51It doesn't mean as much to others, but it, you know, it is a big deal in the grand scheme
10:55of things.
10:55And, uh, you know, let me tell you, as soon as you get nominated, it means an awful loss.
11:01Yes.
11:03Yes.
11:04That is exactly true.
11:06Simon.
11:06Listen, I hope it happens.
11:08I check this every day.
11:10We talk about it a lot.
11:11You guys are a staple in our library.
11:14That's for sure.
11:15We play a lot of Duran Duran.
11:17I'm looking so forward to seeing you guys again.
11:20It's been a very, very long time.
11:23Duran Duran, September 1st and 3rd at the Encore Theater at Wynn.
11:29Simon Le Bon, I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to finally talk to you.
11:33I, uh, you were a part of, you were a part of my growing up.
11:37That's for sure.
11:38For my, my, uh, my college years.
11:41I, uh, I have a lot of memories with you.
11:46Yes.
11:47And I do too with you.
11:50We can't wait to be standing.
11:52We can't wait to be standing on stage in front of you.
11:55Well, tickets go on sale today, so everybody, you know what?
12:00That clock ticks over.
12:02Get tickets.
12:02They're going to go fast.
12:03Simon Le Bon, Duran Duran.
12:05They are.
12:06A pleasure.
12:07Thank you so much, Simon.
12:10Thanks very much.
12:11We'll see you in September.
12:13You got it.
12:14Have a great day.
12:14All right.
12:16Whoosh.
12:17Whoosh.
12:18Whoosh.
12:18Whoosh.
12:25Whoosh.
12:26Whoosh.
12:27Whoosh.
12:27You
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