...AND THEN CAME ARCADIA

...AND THEN CAME ARCADIA

FEATURES

Liz Derringer

When John Taylor and Andy Taylor— certainly two of entertainment's most endearing Taylors since Opie and (Wait a minute!) Andy—formed the highlysuccessful Power Station last year, there was every reason to fear (or hope, depending on your point of view) that Duran Duran were defunct. With the remaining Durames opting for their own spin-off, ArWmaia, the fears and hopes persisted. Here, Nick Rhodes—the Duran keyboardist what initiated the Arcadia project—renders tftgse fears and hopes moot, explains the whys and wherefores of Arcadia, and dj&cusses the imminent return of Duran Duran.

What were the main differences between working with Duran Duran and Arcadia?

What I�ve triecy do with this project, right from the start, was to not have too many baundaries—and not to be tied in by too many preconceptions that may be there. Duran Duran has always been great, and I�ve always been happy with everything we�ve done. But it�s a very different format. It�s like you work within those boundaries—-and it�s nice to have them there, because the feeling of camaraderie between the five of us is that we can make it work. Each time somebody adds a new part to a song, you want your part to work with that part, and it�s^ery much a group thing, you are wonting as a team. Whereas with Arcadia it was two of us who had written songs, and it was this big blank sheet of paper. And where usually five people work on it, there was just two of us. Simon had his pencil and paper for his lyrics, and I was left with all these keyboards around me and odd guitars and things lying around, just to fill the whole thing musically. And that was a real challenge.

Where do you suppose your artistic tendencies come from?

I don�t know. Ever since I was a kid I always believed that everything should be original. I always liked things that are unusual—whether it be the look of a telephone or a place, a light fitting, some clothes or whatever.

Were your parents artistic?

Yeah, but not specifically. They don�t have artistic jobs, but they have always been interested in things. They�ve always encouraged me to do what I wanted, and not be stifled by other people�s opinions. Did you ever think you would do what you're doing?

When I was about 16, I decided I wanted to do this.

Is that when you met John Taylor?

No, no. I�ve known John since I was nine years old.

You really came out of nowhere and did what you did. You seem to be an inspiration to other people.

I hope so, I really hope so. You never know whether you could do anything until you try, it�s really true. We worked really hard, and we were always honest with ourselves and, above all, with other people. But, you know, we knew that we were building slowly and surely, and to a lot of people it seems like an overnight success, but it actually took a long time. We�ve been together as Duran Duran for seven years. To me, it still seems like yesterday. I still feel that we are very new, and it�s always important to keep that vibrancy and vitality that young groups have. I think one of the major reasons I wanted to do this Arcadia project—and why John and Andy wanted to do Power Station—was because we felt after five years of living together out of each other�s pockets and achieving so much, it was necessary to make some sort of breakdown within the format. Something to get back a little bit of that naivete, and maybe a little bit of that danger. I never want to learn too much about music, because then when I make a mistake I�ll go, �No, that�s wrong, I can�t do that.� Whereas if I make a mistake now, I usually go, �Oh, that sounds really good.� Even though it might be a demolished ninth, it still sounds great! (Laughs)

Do you live in England?

Yeah, I used to live between London and Paris most of the time.

Is your wife, Julie, here in New York now?

Yeah, she travels with me quite a lot. We�d never get to see each other, otherwise. —

�I never want to learn too much about music.� —Nick Rhodes

You speak out against drugs, don't you?

All the time. I�ve just seen too many people around that I really like an awful lot get screwed up by taking hard drugs. I don�t take anything anymore. I even stopped smoking cigarettes.

I�d say to anybody, quite simply, �don�t take them.� They�re not even worth it. It�s just a waste of time, a waste of energy and a waste of life. I hope that does influence people. I�m not much of a preacher, and I believe that people should have freedom; and that they should be individuals and do what they choose, but the one thing that I would preach about it that because I�ve just seen it. I�ve seen it destroy so many people, it�s a proven thing, it�s disastrous and fatal sometimes. As we speak, there are a bunch of kids downstairs waiting for you to come out. Do you have problems with that?

Not really, they�re real sweet. All they want is a photograph or an autograph. It just means that I�ve got to leave five minutes before I meant to leave. A lot of people say it must' be so terrible, so suffocating, and claustrophobic. The kids just really want to say hi. It�s not a problem to stop for two minutes and say hi to somebody who probably owns most of the records we�ve ever made.

I suppose people sometimes mistake you as pretentious because of your style, and because you wear makeup. People say you haven�t been out in six years without makeup—is that true?

That�s garbage. I think people find it a little hard to accept that maybe I like nice clothes and I like putting on makeup. What made you start wearing it?

I don�t know, it just sort of happened. I suppose some of it is rooted in the glam rock thing from England in the �70s when I was growing up, with David Bowie and Roxy Music. But, I think more so, it�s just a personal preference. People always say, �Why do you wear makeup?� I say, �Because I want to.� It�s certainly not because I don�t want to! It�s me, it�s not such a big deal. I think people still occasionally turn around and look at me like I�m some sort of alien, because I�m a male and I wear makeup.

Sometimes first appearances give false impressions.

You shouldn t judge a package by its wrappings. I guess it�s one of the reasons I do like it. People who can�t cope with the initial look of something should steer away—because if there�s one thing I can�t bear, it�s narrow-mindedness. It�s been the same way with the music all along. There�s been these critics that have said, �Duran Duran, they wear fancy clothes so they can�t be taken seriously.� But I�ve said, �I like clothes, because I�m being honest.� They can say all they want, because I�ve got a Jean-Paul Gautier suit, and to me it makes no difference whatsoever. I think by me being straightforward like that, I don�t have anything to hide. Sometimes people make me feel like I should be wearing jeans and t-shirts on stage, and then sort of sneak out and put on a designer coat afterwards. They think I should be guilty about it, but I�m not.

People say a lot of unwarranted things.

That�s what�s so interesting about speaking to people. I guess that�s why I don�t mind doing interviews. Every single one of us have a different point of view—a different attitude, a different thing to say.

I think so many people are suppressed by a mass attitude, �You should only wear this, and you should only do that, and you should only mix with these people.� This whole sort of social structure is such a load of rubbish, as far as I�m concerned. Everybody�s human, and they should all be treated with the same respect. What I was saying about narrowmindedness before: I find the most interesting point of all is, like, the truck driver that may come on tour with us. First he doesn�t talk to us, and suddenly he�s great, we have great conversations. It�s funny how people will turn around.

It's hard not to have preconceived notions sometimes.

We�ve never really preached to people. We don�t have these heavy social or political lyrics, but we�ve always suggested things and gave people ideas. We put forward points of view. We don�t say, �vote with us.� It�s never really been like that. I�m happy, because ultimately they have to make their own decisions. But it�s nice to be in a position where you can pretend thing to people and receive people�s reactions.

Everybody's waiting to hear the Arcadia album.

I�m excited about it. I think that musically it�s broken down a lot of barriers that were there before. I don�t think it�s necessarily any better than Duran Duran, it�s just very different. I�m interested to see people�s reactions.

Will you tour with Arcadia?

Not yet. We�re due to start a Duran Duran project early in 1986.

You�ve said the most important thing is to keep Duran Duran going.

Absolutely. That�s what this is all about, and that�s what it�s done. We�re all still the best of friends. I went to see a Power Station show, and John�s been listening to some of the stuff we�re doing.

How did you like Power Station?

I liked them. I thought they were very powerful! It�s a great name for them, it summed it all up. I thought Michael Des Barres was in a very hard position, but I thought he did admirably well.

So, Duran will tour and record soon?

Yes—that�s what I really love about Duran Duran. Ultimately, we are a pop group and we write really good pop songs. It�s all very well that Power Station�s doing heavy rock disco and Arcadia�s doing the more atmospheric, avante-garde thing. But ultimately the thing that�s in the middle of the two of them is a very special format. It�s like classical music, and symphonies. What I like about the Arcadia album is that it fits together as a whole. People who listen to it say it goes from start to finish. It�s not like a Duran Duran album, a collection of great pop songs. This is much more a mood that runs throughout, s

LeBon Mots On Arcadia

Simon LeBon has a few things to say about Arcadia, Duran Duran, the Power Station and, yes, even God himself. Herein are a few succinct quotes from the lead singer:

�We liked the sound of �Arcadia,� and the kind of mystique that surrounds it—a sort of lost utopia. It just sounds as if it fits with the music we�re doing, which is slightly ethnic, quite easterngypsyish sounding.�

��Election Day� is the,.most Duranish, the most obscureisong, lyrically, on the album. By that I mean: you�re not quite sure what it�s about. Impressionist, really.�

�It�s true we started Arcadia because of the Power Station, though we didn�t do it as a form of competition. We just simply had time on our hands. As soon as they did that, we had to do something, whether it was go on holiday or carry on working. I personally was going on holiday, but Nick found it very easy to persuade me to do this.�

�When Nick and I went into an Arcadia session, we decided to drop all kinds of preconceptions. We just tried to work purely with sound, tried to find out what kind of music we wanted to follow. We actually let the music lead us, and we followed it.�

. �I don�t believe in God, and I don�t believe in the Devil— certainly not in the little old man with a gray beard who sits in a chair, and the chap down below with a goatee beard and horns. That is superstition to me. I do believe people have a dark side to their nature. It�s not particularly a destructive side, just a secret, hidden magic side—a subconscious.�