DURAN DURAN
Red Carpet Massacre, the new studio album.
Released on Epic, November 13, 2007
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Duran Duran�s Red Carpet Massacre marks an all time creative high in the band�s illustrious 29-year career. Like all good things, it came to those who waited.

By May 2006, after a two-year tour in support of their previous album Astronaut, Duran Duran had completed 14 songs for a record provisionally titled �Reportage.� But according to singer Simon LeBon �When we sat down and listened to what we had done on our own, we didn�t feel we had a lead track, so we got in touch with Timbaland, who was the only producer out there that we knew we all liked.� America�s most pop savvy producer was more than happy to help and a session was duly set up at the Manhattan Center Studios in New York in September of the same year.

What none of the band realized prior to taking off in this new direction, however, was that one of their biggest fans, Justin Timberlake, was also keen to get involved in the project, so when they arrived in the US he made room in the middle of his album release campaign to spend time in the studio with them.

But as if this new collaboration wasn�t enough to really change things up, in the midst of all this, guitarist Andy Taylor split with the band, and with his departure the remaining four band members opted to change tack and start over completely.

�It was a real revelation working with producers that just understood
the �groove factor�,� enthuses keyboardist Nick Rhodes �And this really brought back the heart and the spirit of Duran Duran. They�re an extraordinary team,� he continues. �They have a fantastic chemistry in the studio.�

�With these guys on board it was as if Duran Duran had been taken and surrounded in chrome,� adds bassist John Taylor.

�In the past we always went to the big cities to work with the people that were having hit records on the dance floor,� explains drummer Roger Taylor. �When we got to New York last year we found that inspiration again.�

With three glorious tracks under their belt (Nite-Runner, Skin Divers and Zoom In), the new Duran left US shores and returned to the UK where they proceeded to make an album that sounded quite different to �Reportage� with a new production team headed by Timbaland�s right hand man Nate �Danja� Hills and long-time Timbaland collaborator Jimmy Douglass.

According to drummer Roger Taylor; �the first time we met Timbaland we were very impressed with this guy sitting in the corner, Nate Hills. Not only was he one of the most incredible beat guys we�d ever come across, he was also a great musician � which filled the gap that might otherwise have been left with Andy gone. So after the initial sessions in New York, we basically kidnapped him and took him to London. He�s got so many ideas. Talent in bucket loads.�

Most of Red Carpet Massacre was recorded in three sessions: the first with Timbaland, with a guest spot from Timberlake, at the Manhattan Center Studios in New York; the second phase on the band�s home turf, Sphere Studios in Wandsworth, London over Christmas 2006, presided over by Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass. And the final burst at Metropolis Studios in West London, produced by Hills and Douglass in early �07.

And that would have been that, had it not been for a chance meeting in Birmingham in the Spring when Simon LeBon hooked up again with Justin Timberlake during his UK tour. �Justin asked to hear everything we�d recorded and at the end he said, �I think you need an Ordinary World to round things out.�� Duran�s 1992 smash, Timberlake revealed, had been his favorite song when he was a pop crazed 14 year old. And as LeBon remarks, with powerful understatement: �What goes around, comes around.�

A few days later when Justin�s tour touched down in Manchester, England, Duran Duran and Timberlake got together in Blueprint studio and spent 36 hours writing and recording Falling Down � a tune destined to rank as one of the finest pop songs of the early 21st century and now the first single from their upcoming release.

Marking one of Timberlake�s first solo productions, this �tempo-ballad� as Justin describes it is �very Duran Duran. He (Simon) wrote some very melancholic/inspirational/cryptic lyrics that are beautiful,� explains Justin. �I think it�s certainly one of the best lyrics that Simon�s written for a very long time,� concurs Nick.

Its parent album Red Carpet Massacre is consistently bold and adventurous. �We had to let go of most of our old ideas of what it means to be a band making this,� notes bassist John Taylor, a point which is expanded by Nick Rhodes:

�Most of our producers this time had never worked with a band before, and we�d never worked without a guitarist.� �We really had to put our egos aside,� adds Roger Taylor. �We�ve always been very self-contained in the past.�

All four band members agree that they have never worked so hard and fast on any album as they did on Red Carpet Massacre. The results, however, speak for themselves. A stellar album that is daring and contemporary and yet quintessentially Duran Duran.

�By the time we get to finish an album,� explains John. �It always feels to me like �wow�... there�s a book in there. This is another massive chapter in the band�s history. We�ve made a record that we all feel really good about.�