Dandy Like The Wolf
Daily Record
by Vicky Davidson
May 1, 2003

The big 192 music interview : Eighties icons Duran Duran are back in fashion thanks to those Bohemian Warhols

WHO would have thought it - Duran Duran are being cited as the new musical heroes.

While last year the Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop were mined by bands like The Strokes, this year belongs to the Birmingham New Romantics.

American band The Faint have name-checked Simon Le Bon and Co and now The Dandy Warhols are jumping on the Wild Boys bandwagon.

Thanks to the £500,000 made from Bohemian Like You, which featured in a Vodafone ad campaign, the Indie guitar group can do what they want.

But it was no Reflex they ditched the guitar jingle that made them such a hit with Vodafone for their new album Welcome To The Monkey House.

They are huge Eighties fans and decided to dip their toes into electronica and called their teen heroes Duran Duran.

The band, who return to Scotland for their first show since last year's T In The Park with a gig at Carling Academy, Glasgow, on May 17, originally asked Duran Duran keyboard player Nick Rhodes to play on one track, but they got on so well he offered to hang around and help produce the album, and roped Simon Le Bon and their pal Nile Rogers - bassist with disco legends Chic - to do their bit as well.

Guitarist Pete Holstrom told 192 it was a huge thrill to work with their idols. Both Courtney (Taylor, Dandy Warhols frontman) and I grew up in the Eighties and we are big fans of numerous electronic bands.

"I was so star-struck when Nick came into the studio. It was great. The first time we met him, he took us to all sorts of private clubs and places in London, we felt so out of place, but I think he had a blast."

The group, from Portland, Oregon, hooked up with Nick through their A&R man, who is a good friend of Nick, and asked if he'd play keyboard on You Were The Last High, which is tipped to be a future single.

Pete said: "He put the most beautiful keyboard solo I've ever heard on this song. It's stunning - probably the best song we've ever done - so we went from that to see what else he could do.

"He was really easy to work with. It was an absolute joy. Fans will be able to pick out the obvious Duran Duran- sounding stuff on the songs and there will be no mistaking their influence with Simon Le Bon's vocal on the track Plan A."

The money they made from the hook-up with Vodafone paid off the debt of recording their first two albums and they had enough left over to build a studio, where they will record and also film videos.

Pete admitted the band are nervous about what the fans will think of their new sound.

He said: "It's a different-sounding record, so of course we are nervous about the reaction. I think some fans are going to be quite surprised.

"People's reaction might be `this sucks', but if they give it a few spins they will hear it's Dandy Warhols songs - it's just the instruments that have changed."

The first single, We Used To Be Friends, is out on Monday, with Welcome To The Monkey House out on May 12.