80s icon talks drugs and girls

By ALISON MALONEY
Published: Today

NICK RHODES thinks DURAN DURAN is better off without ANDY TAYLOR.
The guitarist walked away from the reformed group in 2006 - and Nick has revealed it was relief for the remaining four members.

"That as the way it was meant to be," he said.

"Andy is an extraordinary guitarist, don't get me wrong, and the work he did with the band was as good as it gets.

"But we drifted apart.

"The four of us get on extremely well and it was very difficult with Andy. He has different issues from the rest of us, he wanted different things from his life and one has to respect that.

"Without Andy in the band we're more flexible and we can do lots of things that Andy didn't particularly like doing, which is OK.

"I'm not blaming him for anything. He made a choice and we wish him the best in whatever he's doing."

The popsters first split in 1985 but reformed in 2001 to bring out a new album and perform on a UK tour.

And keyboard player Nick says the second split was "pretty much history repeating itself," citing a "certain clash of ideals" with Andy.

He also spoke of the past drug problems which landed Andy and bandmate JOHN TAYLOR in rehab, saying he chose to steer clear himself.

"You make decisions about those things, without preaching about it," he said.

"I'd seen enough people taking stuff and I didn't think it was worth it. You feel good for half an hour and then it's a huge down.

"It's not something I wanted to get involved with. It was a personal decision."

Nick does admit to dabbling with one or two fans back in the 80s, when lead singer SIMON Le BON and he were teen pin-ups.

Asked if he was tempted by the female fans, he joked: "If they were wearing the right shoes, absolutely.

"We had quite a good time, it's fair to say."

Duran Duran are currently working on a new album with MARK RONSON and Nick is thrilled with the input from the young producer.

"He's very clever," he said. "He has a fantastic musical knowledge and understanding of arrangement and he's a big Duran Duran fan and knows everything we've ever done so he'll say, 'You know when you did that on the Notorious album, can we put a bit of that in?'

"He has got everybody's respect. We're having an amazing time in the studio, it's been pure joy."

And Mark will be appearing with the group at Lovebox this weekend, where Nick is promising to play hits spanning their entire 28-year career.

"It will be very uplifting," predicted Nick.

"We're very excited about Lovebox. We've never played a festival in London before and it's a very cool line-up, a lot of bands I really want to see.

"Mark is guesting with us in a very special part of the show, which is exciting.

"If the weather stays good we'll have a pretty good time, and if the weather doesn't stay good - we'll still have a pretty good time!"

Courtesy The Sun