• It turns out the makeup artist was right… Nick Rhodes announced on BBC2 Radio this week that Duran Duran hope to digitally release their new album All You Need Is Now in December, with physical copies to be made available in the new year. Those in the UK can listen to the interview here, with Nick at 141min 50sec.

• Duran Duran have updated their social networking sites to reflect affiliation with their own TapeModern record label. Read more about this here.

• Simon Le Bon turned a gorgeous 52 years old this week, and Gimme a Wristband wishes a very happy birthday to our dearest Charlie. Don’t miss Simon’s answer to the Ask Katy question posted on his birthday, in which he goes into great detail about exactly what it sounds like when someone hurls a GPO 706 model table telephone at your head. WHOOOSH!
  

  Saffi and Benji of XIII and the Brave

• Simon also posted this sweet message on DuranDuran.com: “My lovely and talented daughter Saffron has been songwriting for a while. Now she’s only gone and recorded a song with her musical partner
  Benji the XIIIth; this one is written by him. They call themselves XIII and the Brave. They’ve been playing small gigs around the London area and may do a small tour slot soon supporting The Wild Mercury Sound.” You can have a listen to two of their songs here, including the beautifully autumnal The Wind (She Blows You Close).

• If you want to feel all tingly inside, click on the the photo below to listen to all of the snippets from All You Need Is Now collected thus far, all in one tidy file.

While no official announcement has been made, Duran Duran’s facebook and myspace profiles have been updated to reflect a record label: Tapemodern.

Tape Modern is an already existing label, set up as a joint venture by Stephen Duffy and Nick Rhodes in 2002 purely to release The Devils’ Dark Circles album. Since then it has also put out Riviera F’s single “International Lover” (in 2004, which Rhodes produced).

A Duran Duran single for release on December 14 through Universal Music Group has been in the record release database for a few weeks now, and for whatever it’s worth, UMG’s artist roster on wikepedia was updated recently to add Duran Duran. Given that Simon stated earlier this year that they would be releasing the next album themselves, it’s all starting to make sense. It looks to me like they will be self-releasing on their own label, TapeModern and distributing through Universal. Or, they could just be screwing with us.

About the ‘TapeModern’ name: In 1999, Stephen Duffy came across an old tape recording of a live Duran Duran gig from 1979. A short time later, Stephen and Nick decided to re-record some of those original, dark and artsy (pre-Simon Le Bon) songs, using vintage analog instruments – but modern production techniques – to recreate the early Duran Duran sound. TapeModern. Come to think of it… isn’t that what the band says they have done with this new album by bringing in all the original instruments to create that classic Duran sound in a modern way? However, the truth is the title is a play on words, mimicking Tate Modern, the major modern art wing of the Tate group of British art galleries, which opened its doors in 2000 and is alleged to be the most visited in the world.

Simon Le Bon, showing off his birthday beard yesterday in Rome

• The first quarter of the chat was spent discussing the weather. Simon is fond of autumn and the change of seasons. He does not feel threatened by the cold, and likes throwing snowballs and making snowmen. He may try skiing again this winter.
• Simon tells us that he enjoys spending time in the garden, performing a Kung Fu maneuver called the “horse dance,” wherein he holds a squatting position for approximately 30 minutes.
• Simon praised the packaging of the Notorious and Big Thing reissues (they rarely ever seem to get past the packaging, do they?), and he thinks that all of the Duran Duran material, including Thank You should be reissued. And then reissued again.
• Simon has been enjoying his work with Mark Ronson and the Business INTL.  He feels that he was able to make his part on the title track of the record his very own, and it was “really a lot of fun”. He really likes Someone to Love Me, the tune with Boy George, and has spoken with him about possibly doing something together in the future.
• There was a short discussion of George Michael’s “driving” problems. Simon says George is a great guy.
• Simon asks Katy if you can pick and eat elderberries. He has an elderberry tree, and would like a listener to tell him if it is safe to eat the berries or not.
• There was explanation of title of the new album, All You Need is Now. It has some existental qualities, meaning that the only moment that counts is right now, it also means not to give up even if you have been around for a while. The song is about knowing that you’re still around and proud of it. Simon likes that the title is a “slight mutilation” of a Beatles title.
• “All I can say regarding the release of the new album is keep your eyes and ears open around Christmas as there might be something coming around then, and I reckon before the new year.”
  
• Simon spoke briefly about the FENDI show during Paris Fashion Week. Basically, they couldn’t resist a free trip to Paris and had a lot of fun.
• Simon has a bit of a beard, he is trying it out to do some filming, so we will be seeing it. It’s still a bit “gappy”, but “soft and lovely.”  He says he hasn’t got food stuck in it yet.  He would like to have a Jesse James / Ned Kelley type of beard, complete with handlebar mustache. He has deemed it a “birthday beard.”
• “We’ve got a big year ahead of us… it’s going to to be a lot of fun!”

Recently, a makeup artist who frequently works with Duran Duran posted on her blog about how Simon Le Bon told her that the upcoming Duran Duran album All You Need Is Now ” will be out to download at the end of the year and on CD next year.” With fans eagerly anticipating the new music, this tiny scrap of sort-of-news has Duran chat forums all abuzz. As one poster put it, “next thing you know will be getting info from the cleaning lady in Wembley Arena.”  All of this interest shows that topic of exactly how the album will be released is very hot one indeed, and I feel that it is absolutely deserving of rampant, time-wasting speculation.

Duran Duran are currently without a record deal after “parting ways” with Sony following their last album, Red Carpet Massacre. Many saw this break as a blessing which would allow Duran Duran more creative freedom. After all, quite a few artists are making their way in the world without a standard distribution deal, which can actually drive artists into debt. With a deal like this, the record company pays for the recording and handles the manufacturing, distribution, press, and promotion. The artist gets their royalty percentage only after all those other costs are repaid, and the label owns the copyright to the recording forever. Even when such tasks as publicity and artwork are farmed out to smaller firms, the money — and the control — all funnel down to the label. When you really break it down, a standard record deal often isn’t such a good deal at all. Read more…

Simon Le Bon in India

• On Friday, Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes gave an interview to Peter Martin, a journalist specializing in music and film in the 1980s with Smash Hits, The Face, and Rolling Stone who now runs his own production company, Surreal Films. Roger and Nick were filmed individually, each providing their take on the soon-to-be-released Duran Duran album, All You Need is Now. Updates coming  soon on where and when the interview will air.

• If I’m going to sit through anyone’s vacation slides, I’m glad it can at least be the Le Bon’s. Simon has completed his whirlwind journey through India, and it was very thoughtful of him to share such detailed coverage through the blogs, videos, and photos which can all be found here. I’ll send a Gimme a Wristband t-shirt hot off the press to the first person who tells me the correct number of times Simon says, “oh wow” in all of his India videos.

Roger Taylor and Jake Phonique to DJ at Subtone in Cheltenham

• DJs Roger Taylor and Jake Phoniqe will be tearing up Cheltenham, UK  at the Subtone nightclub on Saturday night. There’s a competition for tickets on DDM, or dial +44 1242 575925 for table reservations and ticket info. The duo performed at a venue in Red Square in Moscow last night.

• According to Duran Duran’s makeup artist, (yeah, yeah…) the new album will be available for download at the end of the year and in hard copy after the first of the year, which at first glance doesn’t make a lot of sense. Watch for a Gimme a Wristband article about possible release scenarios to post in the next day or so. By the way, we haven’t forgotten about the Notorious: Revisited series. I promise it will be worth the wait.