Duran Duran: After 30 years, still hungry like a wolf

WHEN Duran Duran first played Liverpool, it was all leg-warmers, backcomb your hair and revel in a bit of 80s nostalgia.

But while other acts from the same era might spend their careers reliving the past, Duran Duran are determined to make what they do relevant to a modern audience.

They were the most commercially successful of the New Romantic bands, and leaders in the MTV-driven second British invasion of America, and now they’re working with the hottest producer in the world on new material that already sounds like a classic.

In fact, Mark Ronson is such an avid fan of Duran Duran that he asked if he could work with them on what he describes as “the imaginary follow-up to Rio”.

“One of the things I like about this record,” says Simon Le Bon, “is that it’s unselfconsciously pop, it’s catchy without trying to be. To me, this sounds like an alternative album – and that’s what we were successful for in the first place. Mark just said, ‘Relax, and you’ll find it’.”

So when they play the Echo Arena in May, there will be a fair amount of new songs taking pride of place among the classics.

“It’s not like any old new album, where people go to the bar when you play the tracks they don’t know,” laughs Simon.

“This album stands on its own. A lot of that is down to Mark, but it’s also down to us feeling more confident, and to us going back to what we did at the beginning.”

Nick Rhodes is in no doubt about the importance of Mark’s contribution. “He revitalised us,” says Nick.