Andy Taylor says the reason he quit Duran Duran was “creative, not personal”.
The new wave group’s former guitarist has admitted it “bugged” him that the band brought in other people for the 2007 Timbaland-produced album ‘Red Carpet Massacre’, and as well as the creative difference, Andy wasn’t willing to put the band first all the time.
Speaking to Classic Pop magazine, Andy explained: “I couldn’t do the Timbaland album, because it just didn’t move me.
“I was saying to the others, ‘Why do we need this?’
There’s so much talent in that band, I never felt the need to bring other people in to write with Duran. It bugged me.
“It wasn’t about getting my own way.
But if the force is against you, it’s difficult.
When you’re older, band rules can become very difficult. The band rule was:
‘The band comes first and I thought, ‘No.’
“The general feeling was, ‘You should come with us over here’ and I just couldn’t. I don’t know what it is with me that means I just can’t do that. It felt like someone shutting an elevator door on me that I couldn’t get past. There has to be a balance, and I couldn’t feel it. I had the same feeling as I had when I left during ‘Notorious’: ‘I’m going to miss all this… again.’”
The 62-year-old musician was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer eight years ago and was too ill to attend the band’s Rock and Roll Hall Fame induction ceremony last year.
However, he has teamed up with his old bandmates – Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes – on a new spooktacular album inspired by a pair of Halloween-themed shows in Las Vegas last year, where they donned ghoulish outfits and performed covers of ‘Spellbound’ by Siouxsie And The Banshees, ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials and ‘Super Freak’ by Rick James.
Praising his bandmates, he gushed: “Simon is in great voice on the album.”
He continued: “It’s a fun record.
“I just loved playing with them again. We probably didn’t understand it when we were young, but we know what we’re about now. John’s bass playing is tight as f***: him and Roger are one proper rhythm section. Having the original rhythm section is a big thing for a band. Not to criticise anyone else, but when me, John and Roger play together, there’s nothing quite on a par with it. I’ve found that again on the new record. It was: ‘Yes, that’s my place!’ so quickly.”
Andy insists there is “no animosity” between them, insisting any bickering was “pointless” in the grand scheme of things.
He said: “We’ve been through some crazy s*** together.
I’ve thought a lot about what happened when we were youngsters. All of it comes back, including why I left.
“You re-evaluate it and realise that perpetuating arguments over petty things is pointless, because the only person you’re really falling out with is yourself.
“A band is an entity, it’s not about one person. Duran Duran is a living entity.
When you think about its journey, the bad bits are amplified too often. When the dust settled, there was no animosity there. It was creative, not personal. We’re Pink Floyd in reverse.”