Duran Duran moving along on new album

Veteran British pop-rock outfit Duran Duran has no desire to slow down.

Despite cruising well past their 25th anniversary as a recording entity, the members of the quintet are raring to hit the road again. Speaking from his villa in France, keyboardist Nick Rhodes told Billboard.com that the band will give total support to its forthcoming album, due in February or March via Epic.

"For us we found that since we got back together, not only have the live shows been a great joy for us, but since we notched up another 50 or 60 under our belt, we got back to the stage where it was really a well-oiled machine again," Rhodes says.

"If you don't play live for six months, nine months or a year even, you lose your efficiency," he said. "We promised ourselves that we would keep trying to play shows even when we hadn't got new things to promote."

The only live dates on tap so far are a September 23 show in Warsaw, Poland, an October 29 appearance at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans and November 11 at the Bang! Festival in Miami.

In November and December, Duran Duran will apply the finishing touches to the as-yet-untitled new album, which is the follow-up to 2004's Astronaut.

"We have got a couple which definitely sound like contenders (for singles) so far, but I like to get everything finished so that we can take an objective view," Rhodes said. "I listened to Marvin Gaye recently. It made me realise how beautiful some songs from that period can be. It gave me a few ideas, that's for sure."

In the meantime, online gamers will get the chance to catch the band in cyberspace. Beginning in September, each Duran Duran member will immerse his character, or avatar, in the Second Life virtual world, making them the first major band to do so. "When I first saw the Second Life site," Rhodes said, "It was a real epiphany for me."

The group aims to perform its first virtual concert on the site in the coming months.

source:AP

Posted by emomixtape at August 21, 2006 7:44 AM
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