Post by Klingoncelt on Mar 9, 2014 5:54:16 GMT -5
Last month "Eightblack" from Mark's board finally got to claim the prize, here's the firsthand report:
Feb 12, 2014 at 11:27am
Yesterday I got my long awaited meeting with Duran Duran at Sphere studios.
Possibly the most sureal day of my life !
We met at the studio at 4pm. We were taken to the bar area downstairs to wait for the band. After a few minutes John and Roger came through to greet us. After a bit of small talk John asked 'is anybody hungry?' and he went off with Roger to get food, they returned a few minutes later with a selection of meats and cheese etc. We sat around a long table and got stuck in to the food. I asked John how was the album going, he said we are getting there, he said Simon was upstairs singing and would be down soon. I asked John about Mark Ronson, he said he is not involved at all, he was too busy, they are doing it all themselves. I asked Roger about touring this year, he said maybe towards the end of the year, but he did not fill me with confidence. They did not know when the album would be ready, they feel they are nearly done with writing but then it has to be mixed. John told us about recording with a choir in a near by church a few days ago, they were working on 3 songs with the choir, he said fairly slow songs, but anthems. Simon joined us, hair a mess as he goes to work on his old motorbike that was at the door of the studio. He said to John that he was changing the words to what he was singing, he then tucked into the food. John said he was living in the UK full time at present as the band was in full flow. After more chit chat Simon made us all a cup of tea. At this point Nick arrived, I asked Nick if he wanted a tea or coffee as I was Simons helper, Nick said he does not drink hot drinks, but has tried soup before ! I could not stop laughing. The guys then led us up stairs to the studio.
The studio is tiny, my front room is bigger !. I think it was studio 4 , it is the Duran room I was told. The engineer was at the desk. He played us parts of 2 songs, one was called Univeral, I asked Simon what the other song was called but he would not tell me, he said it may change and it would end up on the internet if he told me (I think he was getting sick of all my questions !). The songs were very Duran, quite slow, the choir sounded amazing. Nick said he wanted to get the choir all in black and video it, John said 'Gavin' recorded some footage the other day but it was not very good. There was a white board on the wall with song titles on , maybe 15 or so, I was dying to take a picture of it, but I think Simon would of stopped me (sorry I dont remember the other titles). The guys sat and talked quietly about a song that Simon was wanting to change the words too. We were then moved to another studio to do pictures and autographs etc.
In all I was with the band almost one and a half hours, there was me and my mate, two other ladies from Denmark who asked no music questions at all, and the lady from the literacy trust. It was just bizzare to sit and eat food with the band, help SLB make tea and too see the studio where they live. John was by far the most hospitable, Simon was keen to get back to sing more and was first to escape. But what an amazing day.
Read more: duranduranboard.proboards.com/thread/32432/studio-visit-yesterday#ixzz2vSgeAHps
A year after they started and they aren't done yet, and possibly won't be in 2014. 
Very slow anthems? Okay, I'm curious as to how that's going to work. At least they're planning videos - I just hope someone other than Nick does them. I also hope they don't try something stupid and outdated like the "Girl Panic" mess.