SIMON
Event of the Year -
For Duran Duran, playing Lollapalooza, in particular, the show in Buenos Aires.
For England, Harry getting engaged to Meghan Markle.
For me, my mum passing away
Movie -
I didn’t see many movies this year. I quite enjoyed “Blade Runner 2049.” It was a visual feast. I missed “Dunkirk,” and that probably would have been my #1 film. I think I will love it.
Book(s) –
I really really enjoyed “The Essex Serpent” by Sarah Perry, that would be my top book of the year. I am also listening to Andy Weir’s “Artermis” as read by Rosaria Dawson.
TV Show(s) -
“Peaky Blinders” is so good. It’s fluff, but it is fantastic! All the acting is amazing, and it takes place in Birmingham, which I love. I love “Game of Thrones” too. I’ve seen “Stranger Things” seasons 1, it reminds me of “ET” and “Close Encounters”… I am looking forward to Season 2.
Music – I liked Leon Bridges “River,” I liked Harry Styles’ single “Sign of the Times,” I’ve been listening to the Rolling Stones’ blues album and getting into folk music as well. I like a band called Flyte and London Grammar has had a few good singles.
Favourite Duran Duran Moment –
See answer to question #1 (Lollapalooza)
Personal Highlight –
I am looking forward to some good news next year, but this was a hard year for me personally. I loved the tour we did, I loved Hawaii, South America was amazing, Japan…pretty much all the good things in my life have been on tour this year, all the sad things have been here. It was a tough year for this family.
Looking Forward to in 2018 –
Starting work on the next Duran Duran project, beginning of the band’s 40th-anniversary celebrations, and just starting a new year.
John
Event of the Year -
I think one of the most significant things that happened was when the Swedish Church removed gender identification out of their teachings. I thought that was extraordinary, especially in light of everything that has been said about sexual politics. It didn’t get a lot of attention in the media as I would have liked.
Movie -
I am an old English boy and so I did love “Dunkirk.” It moved me to tears, I loved “Blade Runner 2049,” another “boys” movie. I didn’t see a whole lot of movies, to be honest, and I haven’t seen many of the films being talked about in the Award season. I have a bit of catching up to do.
Book(s) –
"History of Wolves" by Emily Fridlund from Minnesota. It is her first book. It was amazing. I also read “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy book. I always like to have a few books on the go
TV Show(s) -
There were so many fantastic TV shows. To me, that’s where the creativity is right now. I thought that “Mindhunter,” was amazing, one of my favourites. “Godless” was amazing and “The Crown” was perfection on every level. Those are the three shows that left me speechless.
Music –
I have to go back, I haven’t heard anything recently that rocked me. I liked The Weeknd’s album, "Starboy," though it didn’t come out this year. He played at Lollapalooza in South America with us and it felt kinda new. I like Jay Z’s album too, but not a great year for me with music and contemporary music, but that’s probably my fault.
Favourite Duran Duran Moment –
From a touring point of view, the Buenos Aires Lollapalooza show was massive for us. Most of the shows we played this year were great. We went through a period where we were on the road, and Simon lost his mum, and she was all of our mum. Simon was just so brave and he brought those feelings to the stage every night. That was a difficult time, and we’re not really the kind of band that does that, and it inspired us. I felt most of the shows we played this year were kind of great – so sue me! Had a great time in Japan, hadn’t been there in a long time. Nile came out for that, which was above and beyond. And going to Japan, and bringing Atlanta with me, it was one of the best weeks of my life. If you have kids, you relate. I’ve been going to Japan since I was 21 but to get to go with her was like doing it for the first time all over again.
Personal Highlight –
I am so thrilled Zoe is now in the music business. She has a single that came out called "Rather Die," and a feature on the G-Eazy track “The Beautiful & Damned.” It has been a great year for me, personally. I have no complaints.
Looking Forward to in 2018 –
I have an open mind about 2018. The past few years, we have had a fairly well-defined idea of what we have been doing …. Mine and Nick’s musical is really starting to come together, and we’re quite excited about that. I am excited about getting back in to the studio with the band and creating new material. I really want to do that. We are talking about it, in a causally fluid kind of way, it’s going to happen, but I am not sure when.
NICK
Event of the Year -
I found most of the world events upsetting and depressing. I am hoping in 2018 our whole world will perhaps see a little more common sense.
Events I liked were museums and galleries, shows that I saw. Notably, the Royal Academy of the Arts had three interesting shows, all on at one time. 1) Matisse in the Studio 2) Jasper Johns “Something Resembling the Truth” 3) Dali / Duchamp exhibition, which was my favourite of the three. It made me realizes how great art was during that period.
We travelled a lot this year, so I got to go to a lot of museums this year….Both John and I saw the Edvard Munch exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It was a great show, beautifully put together, a real highlight.
I saw a Keith Haring exhibit in Milan, which showcased his work by juxtaposing it against other artists. Very cool presentation.
I saw “The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection” at the Tate Modern, which are photographs from Elton John’s personal collection that he has purchased over the years. They’re exquisite.
I also saw “Basquiat: Boom for Real” show in London at the Barbican, which was very special. It was beautifully done with context.
My big surprise of all the exhibitions we saw this year was when John and I went to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow to see a Retrospective from Chaim Soutine, a Russian born French artist.
Movie -
It’s moving toward Oscar season, but I haven’t seen that many contenders yet. I guess there will be some surprises over the next month or so. “Blade Runner 2049” I am a big fan of the original, it was a masterpiece of styling and movie making. The art direction in this was pretty flawless, the actors were fun to watch. The cinematography was so great. His name is Roger Deakins and he worked with us on the “Wild Boys.” I’d go and see it again.
I saw Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled” on the plane. Very subtle, very beautiful, with some strange turns. Very unusual, great acting.
“Dunkirk” looked amazing, and the sound design was really good on that. I am not a big fan of war movies, but sometimes you get one that’s really great..
I also saw a documentary called “Sex, Fashion & Disco” which was about Antonio Lopez, a fashion illustrator. Go and see it!
Book(s) –
I like picture books more than reading books! My favourite book this year was from a photographer called Stephen Gill called “Night Procession.” Strangest, beautiful, magical feeling to it. What he basically did was photograph animals at nighttime in the forest in Sweden. The results are unusual, unique, unpredictable and beautifully strange.
TV Show(s) -
I never have time to watch television, even though there is lots I’d like to see. The one series I want to see, that I will see this year, is "Twin Peaks." I was absolutely delighted to hear it was returning with David Lynch at the helm and most certainly will see it. I am almost embarrassed to say I haven’t seen it yet.
Music –
I often find myself completely dependent on John Taylor for my flow of modern music because John consumes more music than anyone I’ve ever met in my whole life. He is very kind to share the music he thinks I might like too. This year I felt abandoned by him (!), he hasn’t told me about anything much new, and so I found some things over the year myself and it was the year of the Dica.
I liked the SZA record, “Cntrl.” That album is really special. Kelela’s “Take Me Apart” is a really cool album. Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN” had an interesting sound to it. Arca is a more obscure one I suppose, it’s a wacky sounding record.
Favourite Duran Duran Moment –
Lollapalooza in South America. We hadn’t been there in a long time, and they’re just such a remarkable audience. All the Lollapalooza shows were high energy.
Hawaii was special. We ticked off another American state! We only have maybe 5 left.
We ended the tour in Tokyo and ended at the Budokan. I love to visit Japan, such a fabulous culture.
More recently we just performed in Miami for Sirius XM, and we did a show in a tiny venue at the Faena…we hadn’t played anywhere that small for a while!
Personal Highlight –
When we were in Tokyo, I stayed on for an extra week to do a documentary on Japanese photography. It has long been a fascination of mine, so I seized the opportunity to speak to some of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. It was a real treat to meet the people who have created imagery I’ve been looking at for many years and to understand more about their lives and their art. I did 25 interviews in a week – and Tokyo isn’t the easiest city to move around in traffic! It was uplifting and exhausting. I am really looking forward to that.
Looking Forward to in 2018 –
Sleeping!
Finishing the documentary I just mentioned.
And John and mine’s musical, which we’ve been working on and off for the past seven years, is nearly done. I am looking forward to completing it and trying to stage it. It has been a very different discipline and I’ve learned so much from it. I feel like we ended up with something that represents what we set out to do. We will see whether our crazy idea connects with anyone else.
Oh, and my day job! We have some shows planned, notably Dubai in February. Always good to have some shows on the horizon, but it will be a limited number of performances in 2018. We will also start some new recordings in the Studio…and we have a lot of things we are planning for the fortieth anniversary, which is officially 2020 but will start in 2019.
Roger
Event of the Year -
Brexit seems to be an ongoing thing in the UK… And of course, the royal engagement.
Movie
“Dunkirk.” I saw it in a great cinema with an incredible sound system. I loved it and thought it was amazing. I also saw the movie “Everything Everything” on the aeroplane and I liked it. I wasn’t expecting anything so I was pleasantly surprised.
Book(s)
I love biographies, I can devour them. Having known Steve Jones for a number of years, it was interesting to see his journey written down. It was warts and all. I picked it up and I just couldn’t put down his biography. It was a great book.
TV Show(s)
I am not a big television watcher, but I like a good series. I like “The Crown,” which is on Netflix, it goes right back to the early days of when Elizabeth became Queen. Someone recommended it to me and it was really good.
Music –
I love London Grammar, I love the xx. Those two are probably the best albums of last 10 years for me. I kept listening to Stevie Wonder this year, especially “Songs in the Key of Life.”
Favourite Duran Duran Moment –
There were so many of them. The one that jumps to mind first was the Electric Picnic in Ireland. An unexpected great gig. We hadn’t played in Ireland in awhile we didn’t really know what to expect. We arrived and saw Elbow play, then we went on stage, and it was an incredible night. The love from the audience was tangible.
Personal Highlight –
One of the most interesting things I did this year was my DNA test! I am 50% English, 26% Scandinavian, 12% Northern-West Europe (Germany/France), a bit of Irish, Scottish, Wales and 2% Jewish! I loved finding out where I came from.
Looking Forward to in 2018 –
New Duran Duran material is on the agenda again! Not sure what we are going to do, just want to see what happens and where it takes us. That’s always exciting for me.
