Гость
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Вот достаточно забавное радиоинтевью того периода. Оно частично разошлось на знаменитые цитаты Ника (типа по поводу того, что он шизофреник).
ARCADIA, THE POWER STATION AND THE FUTURE OF DURAN DURAN*Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor on Plus other burning issues like Rambo, yachting disasters, the letter 'w', geting married and being 'placid'. Peter Martin sits and listens.
'So here we are in the Presidential Suite of the Hilton Hotel with a panoramic view of London outside and we're sitting in the floor. I can see the headline now - 'What A Hippie!'' Well, I don't know about that, but Simon LeBon is certainly acting a bit strange today. One second he's darting around looking for the switch that works the electronic curtains, the next he's yelling out the door for more drinks to be brought in. He just can't keep still. But it's not surprising he's a mite fidgety. It was only five days ago that he nearly died on his capsized yacht Drum. Although he seems unperturbed when asked directly about it, he constantly refers to the incident at the end of unrelated statements, showing that deep down it's still very much on his mind. Like this for instance: What do you worry about? 'Drowning!' What would you really like to be able to learn to do? 'I would like to be able to fly. No not like 'hey, I wish I could just jump out of this 26 storey window and fly over Hyde Park.' I mean I'd like to fly helicopters and I fully intend to learn. Then I can go around saving people's lives like they saved mine.' So what exactly happened that day on Drum? 'It was totally a freak accident. The keel came off the yacht and we rolled right over, which just shouldn't happen. I was in the hull at the time, sleeping, so the first thing I had to do was find something to waer, some underpants. So I dived into some thermal underwear and we just waited for someone to come and rescue us. 'The cabin was nearly full of water by this point - up to our chests - and the remaining air was thick with petrol fumes and hydrogen chloride gas. My brother Jonathan just dived for the surface. But he could have easily got trapped in some rigging and drowned. But I don't blame him for going.' 'Eventually a frogman came to get us - there were about six in all down there. The diver took me some of the way outside, then pushed me up to the surface. He was in extreme danger too; anyone of us could have panicked and pulled his mask off. I just had one big breath and I could really feel it running out. I really felt I could die. I still had to make my own way through the rigging and all those ropes, and I could easily have got caught and drowned. But something screamed inside of me saying 'you've got to get out of this one, you've got to live.' And I just managed to pull through. It's notoften one stares into the ugly black sockets of the big skull, the big D, Death, but when you do it has a profound effect. Things like money,,,money and fame sink into...they just don't mean anything really, not next to that. And anyway Yasmin (Simon's girlfriend) would have killed me if I'd drowned!' Well, after that little brush with Davey Jones' Locker, you might imagine that Simon might consider becoming a land lubber. Not a bit of it. He insists that he's still going ahead with the Whitbread Round the World Race - much to the disapproval of those around him. 'Why are you going on this race, Charlie?' sighs Nick Rhodes later, in the hallway of the hotel. 'I don't want to make you superstitious, but you must take what happened on Sunday as some kind of an omen.' 'I am not superstitious and you can't make me,' states Simon, adamant. 'I am not trying to make you superstitious, I'm just trying to stop you from going on this race and killing yourself,' explains Nick. 'I'm going and that's it. This hasn't put me off. It was such a freak accident. I mean, if you want to talk about fate we went down just by the biggest heliport in Britain. It was fated that we live and it's fated that we go ahead with the race.' And that was Simon's last word on the matter. 'I just wish you wouldn't, that's all,' mumbles Nick, more than a bit concerned.
Apart from everything going black and swirly under the briny, Simon, along with Nick and Roger, has been hard at it in a studio in Paris working on Arcadia. The sinlge 'Election Day', comes out on September 23 and they're polishing the LP off at the Power Station studios in New York. So what's this muscial 'project' all about? 'Next to ocean racing, writing songs is the most interesting thing to do - especially with Nick and Roger who are very open-minded about music. It's taken six months to do and now we're going to spend six months promoting it. And then it's back to Duran Duran. 'Along with the Power Station, we are three separate entities: The Power Station are very rocky, Arcadia are more atmospheric and Duran Duran are a mixture of the two. I mean, goddamit, The Power Station LP's great to get up to in the morning, but in the evening when you want to chill out you would listen to Arcadia. But then again Duran have recently made some harder sounding records than The Power Station. 'Wild Boys' was harder than anything on their LP. I suppose that was creeping in, that tougher, American kind of sound. On our last American tour we were watching MTV and listening to Billy Idol and Van Halen. John and Andy got more in to all that, like 'hey, let's do the ultimate in rock'n'roll'. It was a real laugh. And afterwards they made a great LP. But I don't think we compare, we contrast.' While constanly doodling in a notebook, Simon describes a couple of Arcadia's songs. ''El Diablo' is a big fantasy thing, about selling your soul to the devila nd buying it back again. I haven't read the story of Faust but I have seen the film. And 'Election Day' - that's about a strong desire for freedom. That's what I'm looking for, really, freedom, but also a bit of security. I like my life, my lifestyle, and I want to be able to relax and enjoy it. But it's becoming increasingly difficult to find privacy.' Simon now starts playing with a knife, cleaning it on the v. expensive hotel sofa. 'No, I don't always carry a knife. I lost one on the yacht and I went out this morning and bought another. They can save your life, though. Keith Richards (Rolling Stones guitarist) told me never to be without one. You know, you've got to think about what might happen...' and he lays on the sofa, gently poking it with the knife. 'Look at the blade. It's got a locking device. A lovely piece of work.' Yasmin peeks her head round the door. He tells her it's okay to come in, she toddles over and they have a bit of a whisper. He asks if it's alright to leave the room for a minute. (I wonder what he'd have done if I'd said no?) Two minutes later he's back. So how long have you been seeing Yasmin? 'For some time now. I met her ages ago but we lost touch. How did we meet up again? A little pixie arranged it. But seriously, she's great. We have a great time together.' And with that we leave him to get on with it. Nick 'Can you think of a good word beginning with the letter W?' Oh. Erm...Wordsworth? No? Wisp? Suppose not. 'Waft, wodge...yuk! There isn't one, is there? We were talking about this the other day.' Pop stars! Don't you love them? So what's your favourite word today, Nick? 'Procrastination. There's been a lot of that going on here today.' You see, Nick, Simon and Roger have been having a real day of it today. They've just finished about a zillion interviews, all asking questions about the same things - the yacht (oops), 'are Duran Duran splitting up?' - all the usual stuff. So it's about time we had a nice chat. A bottle of wine's just been opened and he's taking his first sip (now sip, there's a nice word). What worries you, Nick? 'It's a very negative thing, worrying. It just makes you old.' Would you ever consider having a face lift? 'No.' So how would you like to turn out, in your old age? Like the artist Andy Warhol?
'What makes you say that?...Anyway, no. Do you know Norman Parkinson, the photographer? Well, anyway, he's lovely. He's still fantastically there, very intelligent and still totally into what he's doing. I'd kind of like to end up like that and for people to say 'now there goes a fine old chap'.' Apart from Arcadia and Duran Duran, Nick is still very active in the old polaroid department. He's doing a follow up to his book Interference, this time featuring a collection of portrait shots. 'Not necessarily famous people, just interesting ones, with interesting faces.' He's just been to see Beauty And The Beast and Orphee, two surrealist films by the French artist Cocteau, made back in the grainy '50s. 'They're quite unbelievable. He explored lots of different avenues in his lifetime - I think he's fascinating. Yes, I suppose I would also like to end up like him, to be remembered for being creative in lots of different areas.' Nick you see, has also written a 'rough script' (which he's been working on for 18 months) and is considering possibilities of turning it into a film, which he would also like to direct. 'It'll take ages to sort out but I'm determined to do it, someday. The script stems back to a phase I went through of writing everything down. Every thought, every idea, even every dream. I found that I was forcing myself to wake up in the middle of a dream just so I could write it all dowm. I got into a dreaful state about it. But lately I've been working so hard I haven't had the time to dream. Anyway, you wouldn't believe the thing I used to write. And no, I'm not going to tell you, because they're private. But there absolutely fascinating to go through months later - I can't remember writing most of them. I've stopped doing it now though.' So, Arcadia - what's so special about it? 'Everything,' at which Nick goes 'cut' and makes a snipping motion with his hand. 'I like one word answers. Right - new sentence. It's special because it's different, it's fresh, it's a new exploration. In some ways it's quite radical. We've tried to push it to an extreme, down a new avenue.' So how did it all start? 'We simply sat around and decided to write songs - Roger wasn't with us at this point, he was off in New York working on the Power Station LP. Eventually, between the three of us, we stretched ourselves and struggled to break down the barriers that exist in music.' His face lights up. 'There's this great story I heard. It's all about this composer who wrote a piece of music for the bassoon. But it contained one note that doesn't feature on the bassoon. So instead of giving up they designed a bassoon with the new note on it! I like that story, because then there was a vibrancy about music, a feeling of breaking new ground, and nowadays that feeling is hard to come by. But we've tried to overcome that.' So are you pleased with the way it's turned out? 'I think we've gone a long way in reaching our goals, but we certainly haven't reached the peak. Although I'd dread it if it happens, even though I know it never will, because then there will be nowhere left to go...except backwards.' In a couple of weeks Nick is going to see The Power Station play in New York. 'That'll be strange. I saw them play their couple of numbers at Live Aid, but I never had the chance to sit down in front of the stage and see John and Andy perform. It'll be really strange.' 'You know what?' he says, pulling rather a quizzical expression. 'I'm sure I'm a schizophrenic. The problem is I can't tell the difference between which one is which. Which one is the real me. Do you understand?' Not sure if I do, actually. 'The thing is, I'm a very relaxed person. I think I have good karma. I never need to panic. I hate it when people rush around me, screaming and shouting. It's the same as being nervous. It's just a waste. I try to eliminate all waste feelings. Obviously I have faults and anxieties like any normal person, but I always try to rationalise things. I am a rational person. I like my state of mind and I hope I can keep it like this. Placid is a good word.' I suppose getting married must have some kind of calming, settling down effect? 'Yes. I think Julieanne is an amazing person and I suppose between the two of us we have a very special relationship. I suppose you could even call it bizarre.' What's so bizarre about it? 'Now that'd be telling!' Roger 'I'm fed up with everyone saying I'm the boring, down-to-earth one.' Poor old Roger. There he is, never a hair out of place, sitting behind his drumkit with that slightly mean, moody look of his, trying his best to be a pop star and what do people do? Always go on about how he's the least exciting member of Duran Duran and ask him what's it like being married, that's what. But why? 'I don't really know.' Are you down-to-earth and that? 'Er, well, I suppose so.' So that's probably why you always get lumbered with that description. 'Yeah, probably. Doesn't stop me getting fed up with it though.' That aside, it is a not-very-well-known-fact that Roger is quite outspoken and has lots of very astute things to say about Duran. Like this, for instance: 'People are always writing letters to us, one saying they're in love with so and so, another saying they think the band are terrible. I just don't think you can take any of it seriously. I suppose that's where the 'oh Roger's so level-headed' business comes from. I mean, it's the biggest cliche in the book, but it's not so glamorous being in Duran Duran. People are always going on about that. It's all just very day-to-day for us. You know, it's not really that much fun being stuck on a plane for eight hours every other week. And you really do only see the inside of airports and hotel rooms. 'What I'd really like to do is take two years and just go around the world and properly see all these places. We've probably been around the world four or five times now, but I've never actually seen much of it. I'd love to see China, India, Russia - there's so many places. But' he half-sighs, half beams with pride, 'I'll probably be too busy to do it for ages yet. I'll get round to it someday, though.' What does he think of these 'offshoot-projects', especially being involved with both of them? 'There's always been this stigma around Duran Duran, mainly coming from narrow-minded people who would refuse to listen to our records simply because some of our fans scream at the concerts. But now, with The Power Station, and now Arcadia - and not forgetting the Bond theme and Live Aid - we appear to have broadened our audience.' But what about your diehard fans? They just seem to think that you're splitting up? 'I think if I was one of them I'd probably have thought the same. I was just the same as a kid over Roxy Music. When Bryan Ferry left to do some solo LP's I almost resented him, in case it split up my favourite band. But I think the projects are a good idea. We've been living out of one anothers pockets for about five years now and during that time you naturally build up frustrations. You wonder what it must be like working with other musicians and so on. And so, with these LP's, we've vented these frustrations and are much healthier for it. Duran Duran will benefit from it in the long run.' How would you describe the difference between Arcadia and The Pwer Station? 'The Power Station are so good because they're just straightforward, powerful rock music. Whereas Arcadia have refined the more esoteric, atmospheric elements of Duran Duran. When you combine the two elements you have a composite of Duran Duran.' Do you miss John and Andy? 'Yeah. Quite a lot actually. When we're all together, getting a bit serious, they - especially Andy - always used to come up with a wisecrack and break the atmosphere. Musically, as well, they always provide a friction. Roger went to see Rambo the other night, that film with Sylvester Stallone. 'It did $70 million or something in the first week in America. I had to go and see what all the fuss was about. It's wasn't bad, it was quite exciting, a bit over-the-top though. Like there's scenes where he's killing hundreds of people at once, whole villages. They even drop a naplam bomb right on him which destroys like 20 miles of villages and he gets out of it. Ridiculous. I wouldn't advise anyone to go and see it.' So where do Duran Duran live these days? 'Good question. We're always all over the place. We lived in Paris for a while, and last year we stayed in New York while we were doing The Power Station LP. I'm not to keen on it there. I don't think I'll ever move out of England. It's so hot and humid in New York. When you're here it just makes you appreciate simple things like...just being able to breathe fresh air and stuff. It's just good to be back.'
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