In a time before Duran Duran seduced the globe with instant pop polaroids including Girls On Film and Save A Prayer, they were an electro-pop act performing songs such as Lost Decade with a drum machine, clarinettist, tape recorder, guitar, synthesizers and vocals courtesy of Stephen Duffy. Formed in 1978 this was a fascinating period musically when the likes of David Bowie, Brian Eno and Kraftwerk signposted a future which after punk fell into the hands of a new, younger generation. The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Tubeway Army and Ultravox! (featuring the original frontman, John Foxx) were the pioneers, creating abstract, forward-looking electronic pop music out of technology, which had only just become affordable. An embryonic form of Duran Duran were also filled with the random possibilities suggested by the Sex Pistols and William Burroughs; Warhol and Guy Bourdin; the androgynous glamour of Amanda Lear and the sci-fi noises stuttering out of their newly acquired machinery.
The original Duran Duran line-up featured John Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Stephen Duffy and Simon Colley, their long-lost clarinettist. Duffy and Taylor met at art school where the latter already enjoyed some notoriety as a member of local band, Dada. After performing a gig with a synthesizer mounted on an ironing board Dada split and so began the short, transistorised history of early Duran Duran. A multi-media extravaganza featuring John Taylor's geography field trip slides swiftly followed their first gig at Birmingham Polytechnic. Stephen Duffy documented these performances on a cheap tape recorder, pocketed the tape and forgot about it.
Duffy left Duran Duran in 1979, (Kiss Me a top five hit six years later 'was actually written in 1979 - a good year for me') leaving the promised, futuristic land of techno-pop for others to explore.
The route back to Wagnerian electro-gloom began with a beautiful, reflective song Duffy wrote in 1995, entitled Barbarellas.
All it took was a chance meeting with Nick Rhodes at a Vivienne Westwood show in 1999 and The Devils were formed as a halo of flashbulbs illuminated the designer's Fellini-esque circus. The pair decided to go 'back to 1978 for two weeks', locking themselves away in a room with old analogue synthesizers and some original material from Duffy's tape.
On Dark Circles Nick Rhodes surrounds Stephen Duffy's icy-sharp pieces of miniaturised observation with clusters of synthetic noise courtesy. It's a brilliant combination, achieving simplicity through camouflaged craft and building lush atmospherics out of monastic drum machines and post-punk electronics. Bowie, Suicide, Talking Heads, Kraftwerk and The Normal are glimpsed through the smoked glass of tracks such as Memory Palaces and the title track, while Barbarellas oozes sweet melancholia. Although rooted in 1978, The Devils have converted their past into a widescreen format thanks to a rich, modern production, in the process fashioning some great pop moments such as Come Alive and Big Store.
Hey Thanks for the ADD! DIdn't know Nick & Stephen had done this until a friend pointed it out to me. Sounds great! Should get more airplay. Cheers Jason :)
Dear Devils Droids, Avitars and/or Robots: Thank you for being my friend! :) I love you Devils! Hey, there is a REALLY good picture of Nick on my page- I'm in it but really it's Nick you should look at because it's just the best picture in the world of him. Seriously. Kris
Happy new year to all Devils fans! I really wish these guys would get a second album out there, but I guess Nick is busy with that other band of his. =)
'Its Christmas time again The season of renewal Love, faith, charity And all that is beautiful Chimes greatly in to every heart Beating in celebrations Of Spirit, togetherness, and affirmation.'
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy, safe and prosperous New Year!
