L.A. Press Conference

Q: Were you all disappointed the way the Grammy nominations came out this year?
(Andy) What Grammy nominations?
(Nick) For the videos? No, I don't think so… we're still a young band, we've only been together for three years and if you get everything that quick then there's nothing to look forward to. I'm really pleased that we got nominated for two.
(John) I'm not altogether too sure, whether it's a very good judge of what's good about us anyway. We won 6 Grammy's last year, I don't know whether that's anything to do with what we're all about.

Q: Are you disappointed in not being able to arrive and attend the Grammy Awards?
(Andy) Well, we're touring, so we've got a gig that night.
(Simon) Getting on stage for your own show is a lot more fun than going on stage for someone else.
(John) It's a shame, the equivalent of the Grammy's in England, we've just won Best Group and Best Album Of The Year, and we can't be there for that either, so, that's our home country.

Q: The English record buying public is very fickle. Is Duran Duran as popular there today as they've become here in America?
(Nick) Yeah, I think so. We just did a tour of England before we came to America which was incredibly successful. The biggest tour we've done there. The record became very successful - Seven And The Ragged Tiger was out and all the other albums in England as well.

Q: Is it true English audiences are a lot more fickle?
(Nick) They are, yeah. Apart from the audience, the English press is even more fickle. It's a very strange place.
(Simon) I think with a lot of kids as well they tend to feel that they're into one kind of thing and they can only do for one kind of music which is their cult status - whether it's punk or skinhead or modern music or soul - and they change to another fashion and maybe change their musical tastes as well, whereas here people are much less inhibited.
(John) Much more integrated, They can go to a Def Leopard concert one night and Duran Duran the next. In England that would be unheard of.

Q: What about the teen participation in your Duran Duran fan club? Do you sponsor Win a Date With Simon LeBon…
(Nick) No, no the fan club is to provide information for anybody who wants it about the band and in it there are certain privileges that come through it, particularly in England. We did something with the tickets last time whereby they could get tickets quicker and they get different offers for little things on the band.

Q: There is a strong appeal to 14-year-olds, 15 year olds…
(Nick) You'd be surprised. There are a lot of different people in the fan club and obviously there's a lot of girls in it, but I mean there's also a lot of older people in the fan club.
(Roger) We got 30-year-old housewives, guys and plenty of others.

Q: Do you deal directly with your fan club or do you have someone to deal with everything?
(Nick) Obviously, while we're away we can't participate directly with it every day, because it's based in Birmingham, England, but we do, we write things for the letters and pass them through. We see a lot of the managers, especially when we're in England.
(Simon) Especially the rude ones.

Q: Simon, did you know what you wanted to do with your life before you joined Duran Duran?
(Simon) No, I didn't.
(Andy) He wanted to be an actor!
(Simon) No, I mean, this is good fun, this is, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we'll stick with it while it's still fun and as soon as it becomes boring we'll stop.

Q: Why did you change producers on your last album, weren't you happy with the results?
(Nick) Yeah, we were very happy with the results. I think we just changed producers because we've done two albums with Collin Thurston that we were very happy with, but it was time for a change, you can only go so far with one person. Alex and Ian Little were two people that we found became very much a part of that team for that album and they're both very talented.