Post by nooks on Jul 31, 2009 14:45:24 GMT -5
BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com
September 14, 2008
Andy Taylor was never one to hold his tongue during his time as Duran Duran's guitarist. So when he left the British band in 2006, after heated disagreements about the recording and writing of what would become the band's recent "Red Carpet Massacre" album, Taylor figured writing a book about his experiences in one of the 1980s' biggest band would be a good idea.
In "Wild Boy" (Grand Central, $26.99), Taylor talks matter-of-factly about his 25 years off-and-on in Duran Duran - from the heady days when the group was redefining music and promotion with big-production videos "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" to the successful 2003 reunion. He also catalogs all the excesses that accompanied their rock stardom, including the drugs and the infighting that eventually led to his exit.
From his home in Ibiza, Spain, Taylor recently talked about "Wild Boy" and how much harder it is for today's celebrities to get as wild as Duran Duran once did.
What made you want to write this book?
When you've never done something before, it looks alluring. But I didn't have a clue of what I was doing. After the dust-up with Duran, I was talking with a friend of mine and wondering, "Well, what do I do now?" He said, "Write a book, you idiot. You like to stay at home anyway."
I figured there was the drama of the whole thing and of history repeating itself. I'm nearly 50 years old, so when what happened happens, you can take a full stop behind everything to look at it. It is a good way to kind of explain just what you feel.
So what did you find? Anything you didn't expect?
I looked at all of the press, everything in the public domain about the band, and found that there was a lot of telling of the center of the story, but not the front and back. That's what I wanted to tell, and I wanted to straighten a few things out. One thing I found was that while the media was tough in the '80s, we got away with a lot of things that you can't get away with now. If we had that kind of media back then, we might never had made it. Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears - we did the same things as them. Back then, we never appeared bad, but we didn't have the 24-hour intrusiveness.
Have you heard anything from the band about the book?
Other than headed note paper from lawyers? No.
Do you think you'll all be able to put things behind you and reunite Duran Duran again?
It'd be very difficult to go back. The second time around was so great. We got to play Madison Square Garden again and the Budokan in Tokyo. We made another record. I have a family now and they were a really young family five years ago, so they never knew what I did. They were like, "Bloody hell, Dad, so this is what you do when you're not on the couch smoking pot!"
It would become a question of, how would you motivate yourself? Robert Plant really put it best. He had just bought a house here in Ibiza and we were having lunch after the big Led Zeppelin reunion and there was all that speculation and he told me, "I'm not gonna do a tour." He said, "The only way I'd do it now is if they would have a gig on Mount Sinai and the Israelis and the Palestinians would all come and have a big party."
It's kind of how I feel. It would have to be a reunion with some consequence, something that wasn't just self-interest. Maybe some opportunity will come along that will be that exciting. Never say never.
September 14, 2008
Andy Taylor was never one to hold his tongue during his time as Duran Duran's guitarist. So when he left the British band in 2006, after heated disagreements about the recording and writing of what would become the band's recent "Red Carpet Massacre" album, Taylor figured writing a book about his experiences in one of the 1980s' biggest band would be a good idea.
In "Wild Boy" (Grand Central, $26.99), Taylor talks matter-of-factly about his 25 years off-and-on in Duran Duran - from the heady days when the group was redefining music and promotion with big-production videos "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio" to the successful 2003 reunion. He also catalogs all the excesses that accompanied their rock stardom, including the drugs and the infighting that eventually led to his exit.
From his home in Ibiza, Spain, Taylor recently talked about "Wild Boy" and how much harder it is for today's celebrities to get as wild as Duran Duran once did.
What made you want to write this book?
When you've never done something before, it looks alluring. But I didn't have a clue of what I was doing. After the dust-up with Duran, I was talking with a friend of mine and wondering, "Well, what do I do now?" He said, "Write a book, you idiot. You like to stay at home anyway."
I figured there was the drama of the whole thing and of history repeating itself. I'm nearly 50 years old, so when what happened happens, you can take a full stop behind everything to look at it. It is a good way to kind of explain just what you feel.
So what did you find? Anything you didn't expect?
I looked at all of the press, everything in the public domain about the band, and found that there was a lot of telling of the center of the story, but not the front and back. That's what I wanted to tell, and I wanted to straighten a few things out. One thing I found was that while the media was tough in the '80s, we got away with a lot of things that you can't get away with now. If we had that kind of media back then, we might never had made it. Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears - we did the same things as them. Back then, we never appeared bad, but we didn't have the 24-hour intrusiveness.
Have you heard anything from the band about the book?
Other than headed note paper from lawyers? No.
Do you think you'll all be able to put things behind you and reunite Duran Duran again?
It'd be very difficult to go back. The second time around was so great. We got to play Madison Square Garden again and the Budokan in Tokyo. We made another record. I have a family now and they were a really young family five years ago, so they never knew what I did. They were like, "Bloody hell, Dad, so this is what you do when you're not on the couch smoking pot!"
It would become a question of, how would you motivate yourself? Robert Plant really put it best. He had just bought a house here in Ibiza and we were having lunch after the big Led Zeppelin reunion and there was all that speculation and he told me, "I'm not gonna do a tour." He said, "The only way I'd do it now is if they would have a gig on Mount Sinai and the Israelis and the Palestinians would all come and have a big party."
It's kind of how I feel. It would have to be a reunion with some consequence, something that wasn't just self-interest. Maybe some opportunity will come along that will be that exciting. Never say never.