Duran Duran have shared their latest single, ‘Black Moonlight’ which features Nile Rodgers and former bandmate Andy Taylor.
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‘Black Moonlight’ is the second of three original tracks the band have created for their upcoming Halloween-inspired, mostly covers album ‘Danse Macabre‘. The track sees them reunite with Rodgers, who is their longtime friend and frequent collaborator. The Chic co-founder previously produced Duran Duran’s 1986 LP ‘Notorious’. The track follows the album’s lead single of the same name.
Speaking about ‘Black Moonlight’ in a press release, keyboardist Nick Rhodes said: “Nile Rogers is a force of nature. When we get into a room, we start playing, and magic happens. Nile always says that CHIC is his first band, and Duran Duran is his second. Thematically, I personally prefer the moon to the sun. Simon took the idea and ran with it.”
The band’s frontman, Simon Le Bon, added: “‘Black Moonlight’ is this classic Duran Duran-Nile Rodgers collaboration. When Nile started playing his guitar in the studio, he really inspired everyone with his riff, and the song just kind of wrote itself.”
Former Duran Duran guitarist, Andy Taylor, is also featured on the track. He recently revealed that the reason he quit Duran Duran was due to “creative” reasons, and was “not personal”.
Taylor played with Duran Duran on-and-off between 1980 and 2006, and was set to reunite with them last year when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, but a setback in his treatment for stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer forced him to miss the occasion.
‘Danse Macabre’ is set for release on October 27 on Tape Modern via BMG. It will feature a mix of new original songs, reworkings of songs from the band’s catalogue and covers. Pre-order the LP here.
Some of the covers on the LP include Billie Eilish’s ‘Bury A Friend’, Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer’ (featuring Måneskin bassist Victoria De Angelis), The Rolling Stones‘ ‘Paint It Black’, The Specials‘ ‘Ghost Town’, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ ‘Spellbound’ and Cerrone’s ‘Supernature’.
Speaking of the album, Rhodes shared: “The idea was born out of a show we played in Las Vegas on October 31st, 2022. We had decided to seize the moment to create a unique, special event…the temptation of using glorious gothic visuals set to a dark soundtrack of horror and humour was simply irresistible.”
He continued:“That evening inspired us to explore further and to make an album, using Halloween as the key theme. The record metamorphosed through a pure, organic process, and not only was it made faster than anything since our debut album, it has also resulted in something none of us could have ever predicted.
“Emotion, mood, style and attitude have always been at the heart of Duran Duran’s DNA, we search for light in the darkness and darkness in the light, and I feel we have somehow managed to capture the essence of all of that in this project.”