Forty years on from their debut album, the new romantics have teamed with Giorgio Moroder and Graham Coxon for a new LP. They discuss their wild heyday, ageing with grace – and which vaccine they would rather have
“It’s hard to believe that this was the last place Ziggy Stardust ever stood,” says Nick Rhodes, keyboardist and founding member of Duran Duran, striding to the point, front and centre stage at Hammersmith Apollo, where David Bowie laid his beloved persona to rest. We look out across the hundreds of empty seats. A pigeon flutters around the rafters.
It is Tuesday afternoon, and as we wait for his fellow band members to arrive, Rhodes and I make our way up to the empty backstage bar. He is in black suit, T-shirt, trainers, carrying a faint whiff of eyeliner, and makes for amiable company. As we walk, he notes the tour posters that line the venue walls, shares tales of Kate Bush and Kylie and Lou Reed, and divulges his unexpected preference regarding Covid vaccinations. “Normally, I like very modern things,” he says, with a nod towards the more recently approved Johnson & Johnson and Moderna jabs. “But with the vaccine, I wanted the AstraZeneca, because it’s old school.”
