ROBERT PALMER : Music & Style

Seeing Andy talk so enthusiastically about Duran Duran, his blond manbun bouncing with glee, is wonderful. An enigma who's generally kept his counsel about being part of the world's biggest band in the 80s, Taylor explains of his attitude: "I avoid playing up to my red carpet alter-ego. I created that alter-ego and at one point it merged into my daily life. I created a monster, along with four other monsters. Duran was a hydra-headed monster, and I like to think I'm in recovery from the music business."

If Andy is level-headed now, that wasn't always the case. He knew Duran Duran were something special from the moment he came from Newcastle to Birmingham to audition for them in 1980. "There wasn't much actual song material," he smiles. "They had the chorus of Girls On Film and that was about it. But once we started jamming stuff, an attitude came out. I'd been around every musician in Newcastle, but something different was going on in Duran. Our early gear was a shitty amp and a distortion box I couldn't get some juice out of. But that juice, plus Nick and John's make-up and weird shoes, it was enough.

"I was never destined to work in the shipyards, as I wanted to be Mick Ronson. I wanted to be the guy wearing make-up, and the vibe of the Rum Runner helped Birmingham feel like another planet. Another band, Fashion, would hang out at the Rum Runner with us. They were really cool, too, and I thought: 'We don't have this in Newcastle!'

"The silver nail in my coffin for becoming a glamorous pop star was Duran's manager, Paul Berrow. He had a BMW, and in April 1980 owning a BMW was like owning a space shuttle. I realised: 'This is where I need to be!'

"If all that wasn't enough, there was the name. I was a fan of Barbarella, so when I answered the audition ad and was told 'We're called Duran Duran', I thought 'Yeah, clever.' Duran Duran is a name like Coca-Cola, it just rolls off the tongue.

"Led Zeppelin is a big name, Duran Duran is an arty and sexy name. Nick and John: one is Duran and the other is Duran, too. They were Duran and Duran. The band was their baby."

Despite being the newcomer, Andy was easily able to find his place in Duran. "I had a 100-watt Marshall amp," he chuckles. "A loud amplifier and I was in there. The Berrow brothers said that, without a guitarist, America would be out of reach. EMI said it, too, that they had more faith in Duran Duran than a lot of other synth acts because we had a guitarist.

"In America, our contemporaries were Prince, Michael Jackson and Van Halen. Two of the best guitarists in the world, while Jackson sang with some of the greats. The guitar was still huge in America."

The Power Station allowed Andy and John to home their rock side, a band even more successful in the States than back home in the UK, featuring Chic's Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson as well as Robert Palmer. "I love The Power Station album," says Taylor. "But when I listen to it, there's a little sadness. Tony, Bernard and Robert were all young when they died. I used to call it 'The Curse Of The Power Station' and then it happened to me.

"But that album also brings home what a great time it was. Duran Duran never planned any of it but when we got together it was like everyone had been waiting their whole life for that moment. As soon as we hit the go button, we were successful everywhere around the world. To this day, we've got the most successful Bond song. That's mental.

"When Some Like It Hot came out, that was No.2 while A View To A Kill was No.1. One thing I was sensible about in my mid-twenties was to realise: 'Kid, you ain't ever going to surpass this."

As stellar as life was, the accepted wisdom around Duran Duran is that their side projects hepled splinter the band. Was The Power Station's tour of the US as debauched as everyone claims? "I couldn't possibly comment," insists Andy, briefly clamming up. He reasons: "Duran have always been a class act. They don't try to sell themselves on debauchery. I love The Rolling Stones but, whenever you think about them now, what comes to mind first is the lifestyle. Duran have always aspired to have a touch of class. Despite my shit shoes, they've maintained that.

"What I will say about that Power Station tour is that, after the commercial success with the album, Robert dropped out. It was only meant to be a one-off album anyway so, without Robert, what was the point? There was no point to that tour, apart from 'Let's have a laugh.' I will say there's only bits of it that I can remember."

It was during The Power Station that Taylor began to have doubts about life in Duran. He remembers a drunken interview with Robert in Japan - "They had these sake machines on the street, and the interview was at 10am" - which was so chaotic that an EMI rep tore into the pair, accusing them of disrespecting their TV interviewer. Andy remembers: "The EMI guy was saying: 'Don't you care about your career?' I told him: 'What career? How do I get promoted?

"That was what I began to find frustrating. I was in my mid-twenties and was thinking: 'Where do I go from here?'

'But that's the point where the music industry should have stepped in to help.

"I'll take every bullet I deserve for leaving the band. But why is it always the members of a band who are at fault when it stops?

"In music, it's only ever the surface that gets reported. Duran were falling apart. Roger wasn't well. I was having doubts. All of the industry people who had dined out on Duran Duran from the very start? When it was time for them to be honourable, to stand up and help us, they weren't there."

If the reportage around Duran can be frustrating, Andy's illness has reaffirmed his belief in the power of music itself. He's never taken the creative side for granted and says now: "Music gives me a destination to aim for. This illness takes so many other things away, so the motivation of having music giving me something of worth in my life, it's invaluable."

Andy is having pioneering cancer treatment that he hopes will prolong his life by several years. As he explains: "I'm truly blessed to get this new treatment.

"There's a lot to it yet, but getting back on stage one day is a big marker for me.

"I've got more music to make and I'm going nowhere until  I get it done."

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Reportage To Make Headlines?

Having completed work on a brand new Duran Duran album, fans will be keen to know if Andy is willing to finish one he began with the band in between Astronaut and his aborted role in Red Carpet Massacre.

The story of Reportage, the album nearly finished with Beck producer Michael Patterson in 2005, has become an integral part of the band's folklore. It was intended to be a return to Duran's New Wave roots, before they decided at the last minute to make a more cutting-edge album with Timbaland.

For several years, Nick Rhodes has told Classic Pop that Reportage is 80% complete and will get released if Andy is willing to finish recording his guitar parts. Over to Andy. "We have to finish Reportage," he nods. "We have to stop talking about it and just do it. And I know we can do it.

"I love playing guitar. If working through that old material and playing guitar on it is what's needed to get those tracks together, that's good  for me. If there's a method to do that, let's just do it.

"If we can do it all remotely and we can get it right, great," he adds. "My creative brain is still really fluent, so if anyone wants an album finishing off? I'm your boy."

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John Earls (Classic Pop - 2023)