The Essence of an Evolution: Duran Duran

With the return of mountainous shoulders and diaphanous metallics to runways, maximalism— namely era-defining of the 80s, is inarguably back. Yet, Duran Duran never left. First formed in 1978 as the house band of childhood best friends Nick Rhodes and John Taylor, the soon-to-be foursome was dubbed after Barbarella’s Dr. Durand Durand, an aptly-sultry, psychedelic piece in which to cement their nomenclature, forecasting the decades of otherworldly innovation to follow. Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and John Taylor—the band’s steadfast three— blazed through charts and glossies in their most glamorous aughts, ensuring English pop-rock iconography permeates culture inescapably today. And, in an age where escape is what most even briefly seek, Duran Duran has re-arrived to the scene with an answer to such a siren call. In collaboration with lauded perfume house Xerjoff and through the guidance of founder Sergio Momo, Le Bon and Rhodes spearheaded the task of seeking the band’s essence, communicated in two distinct Duran Duran perfumes. The scents reside in a split consciousness, representative of Duran Duran’s multifaceted sound and rooted in its common pursuit of the extraordinary. The blazing NeoRio bottles the playful seduction of their seventh hit for which the fragrance is named, while Black Moonlight toys with the sense of deepened mysticism in many of the troupe’s tracks. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes sits down with Reserved to discuss Duran Duran’s indelible mark on the past forty years of popular culture, their appetite for expansion into enticing new industries, and their essential emphasis on looking only forward.

What inspired the band to create a fragrance? What brought about this collaboration?

We have always enjoyed the different industries around us: art, photography, fashion, cinema, and beauty. Xerjoff approached us with the opportunity of doing a fragrance together. Sergio, who owns Xerjoff, is a big music fan. When we started to explore this collaboration, we were blown away by how remarkable his fragrances were. It became enormously appealing to add a scent to Duran Duran. We have worked with sound and visuals throughout our careers to tempt people, to excite them and get them involved with projects, whether it’s albums and songs or live shows. We thought it would be fun to approach this as a Duran Duran project. We’ve made pieces of art together and curated things. This was different, because we were creating something new, something we did not know much about. Learning from Sergio is a masterclass in perfumery. I would never have even started to imagine the amount of detail and work that goes into creating a scent. It is fascinating.

We discussed smells we were drawn to, which varied from newly-published books to freshly cut grass to petrol. A hint of petrol when you first smell it is exciting and vibrant. We started to realize how diverse this universe of perfume is. Simon and I led the project on behalf of the band. Everyone was involved, but we drove the ship. We were pulling in different directions, the same way we do when we write songs, which eventually led to us splitting the atom into two fragrances. One we considered to be a dark, mysterious one. The other, a brighter, more colorful, dayglow scent. It mirrored most projects we do with the band. We often toy with the yin and yang. It’s the way life is. We all hope to have brightness and happiness most days, and then you get miserable news. It’s the balance of that. I can’t say with the perfumes, we tried to make anything miserable. We did want something sexier, though, to lead people into a darker realm.

How did the perfumery process compare to music composition, or creation in the various endeavors in which Duran Duran has collaborated?

Sergio loves music and we love perfume. There was a willingness between both sides to learn from each other different aspects of the way things are done. Sergio mentioned one day he’s never made a perfume like this before. The nature of Duran Duran is to start with absolutely nothing, a blank sheet, and build from there, trying to understand how we can do the best we can possibly do with what we have got. That leads us to some very interesting places. The event that we held to launch the perfume was completely unique. It was an immersive evening where all the band were involved in different capacities. Simon was in a room writing lyrics, John performed live on his bass in another. I took photographs of every guest at the event as they came through, Roger DJ’d. Something special is always born of our collective talents coalescing.

When we’re making music, different influences seep in. We refer back to the greats growing up: David Bowie, Lou Reed, Roxy Music are very much part of our lexicon. On the other hand, Simon does a radio show and he finds the most amazing new music by young artists. He’ll come into the studio and say ‘Check this out’. Maybe I’d been to a museum in London and been inspired by paintings or photography I’ve seen. John might have come in from LA, carrying with him something he heard at an event. Together, we add this to our recipe and stir it around. I may read a headline in the newspaper and shape it into the title of a song. The same goes for the formulation of this perfume. Sergio cast a surrealist approach to the process, as well. We’d wonder, ‘What does it smell like the first time you go into a club that’s just opened? You’re walking down the corridor. It’s dimly lit. It’s mostly red velvet. When you open those doors, what does that feel like? What does that smell like?’ Sergio was able to deliver, ‘OK, these are scents that transport you to a Gothic maze outside of a stately home in Britain in the summer.’ That is part of what goes into Duran Duran every day is abstraction and surrealism. Dreams. David Lynch, who very sadly passed away, he was a great influence on us— that underbelly and that dreamworld, lurking around. That was always a great inspiration.

For other artists, it may not be appealing. They may say, ‘We’re not interested in creating a perfume’. For us, we are fascinated with the creative process. I’d love to do a fashion line one day, as a new way of looking at things. I’d love to photograph a campaign for a big brand, or to take control of graphic designing on a project. Those things are exciting to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s not your key skill if you have a vision of how things should be and you work with great people.

Duran Duran has succeeded amongst audiences for four decades, when most bands are lucky to make it through a single one together. What is next for the band? How has Duran Duran managed to continue creating together for all of these years?

For once in our lives, we’re working on a retrospective project. It’s something we did twenty years ago with our guitarist, Andy Taylor. It’s the last recordings we made with him the second time we became a four-piece band. Before that, we were working on an album called Reportage. When Andy left, we decided to completely switch directions. We made an album with Justin Timerlake and Timbaland called Red Carpet Massacre, and Reportage was shelved. A couple years ago, the idea came up that maybe we should finish it. We took it out of the vault and Andy is keen to complete it. We have a song with Niall Rodgers from a few years ago, during the ‘Black Moonlight’ sessions— the song, rather than the perfume. There’s an unfinished song from that time that is also going to come out. On top of that, there is the European tour this summer, which will be our longest European tour in quite some years, taking on many of the territories we haven’t visited in quite some time. We would have liked to visit even more. We’re doing a show for amFAR in the South of France for their AIDS charity, as well.

We try not to make things too routine, but I do think for some people it is. We like to see how we can approach things slightly differently— changing around the set list to keep us on our toes, playing songs we haven’t played. Granted, we haven’t played Europe properly in so long, so we do owe them the show we have been taking around the past few years. But, it will be as ever a different production and different attitude. It will unravel by the day.

NeoRio and Black Moonlight are unisex. Was this intentional in the conceptualization of the scents?

Entirely intentional (gender neutral fragrance). Duran Duran, day one, has always been for everybody. Every gender, every possibility there is out there, and the unity that that should bring to people. For us, we never would have considered it a different way. Growing up, my teens through my twenties, I often wore what were certainly thought of as female perfumes at the time. I didn’t think twice about it. ‘Oh that smells nice. Does it smell good on me? Yes, it does! Ok, I’m going to wear that.’ I think that is one of the great beauties of the fragrance world. You should do what makes you feel good, absolutely no matter what thoughts you may have about ‘Oh that’s too feminine’ or ‘That’s too masculine’. We do not distinguish. It is whatever you feel like.

Duran Duran’s message has always been one of unity through individualism. While the band’s lyrics have never been highly politicized, they speak to an ideal consciousness of fellowship in humanity, of freedom in difference. How does writing relevant to today’s landscape differ from messaging four decades prior?

I always like to talk about current things, of course. The fact that at the moment we’re in the middle of an album we began twenty years ago— we always look forward, never back— that is a strange adventure for us. In a funny way, we all looked at each other and agreed it still feels very new. The lyrics, many of them are more political than we would usually consider. That was at a time when there was warfare. It’s funny how the lyrics are even more relevant today than they were when we were writing them. There is a certain astonishment on our behalf about it, and a sadness. Looking at the state of the world today, I would hope that everyone would look in the mirror and admit it’s a pretty sad state on many, many, many levels. I hate to see the loss of any human life, and particularly over senseless greed. I, like any sane person, would like to see an end to it as soon as possible. When we realize that, actually, we were thinking the same things twenty years ago about different wars it was quite a wake-up call.

Other than that, it is great to find ourselves in such a buoyant frame of mind, now more than four decades into Duran Duran. We all thought it might last a couple of years, and here we are, getting excited about going out to play more shows, releasing more albums. We are a good unit together. People often ask, ‘Why do you still work with each other?’ The answer is because we are a very strong unit together. We know what our strengths are. When each one of us is doing what we are best at, we all excel. After this amount of time together, we know how to get things right. We can nail the balance and thrill the audience. That is why we are still here together, looking forward to the next phase.

Written by Delaney Willet.

Photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth.