{"id":35473,"date":"2018-05-01T08:26:07","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T07:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=35473"},"modified":"2019-04-23T22:35:37","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T21:35:37","slug":"old-romantics-early-duran-demos-reveal-edgier-sound-under-leadership-of-former-frontman-and-songsmith-andy-wickett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2018\/05\/old-romantics-early-duran-demos-reveal-edgier-sound-under-leadership-of-former-frontman-and-songsmith-andy-wickett\/","title":{"rendered":"OLD ROMANTICS – Early Duran Demos Reveal Edgier Sound Under Leadership Of Former Frontman And Songsmith Andy Wickett"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Andy Wickett (right) with, from top, Roger Taylor, John Taylor and Nick Rhodes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The history of popular music is littered with performers who quit, or more often, were ousted, from bands just as they were on the cusp of fame.<\/h4>\n

Pete Best <\/strong>is the classic industry archetype having been usurped from\u00a0<\/strong>a certain Liverpool band’s\u00a0<\/strong>drum stool by\u00a0Ringo Starr<\/strong>, just a year before the outbreak of Beatlemania.<\/h4>\n

Best’s grunge counterpart\u00a0Jason Everman<\/strong> had the misfortune to leave two bands before they made it big,\u00a0Soundgarden<\/strong> and\u00a0Nirvana<\/strong>, while other notable examples include original\u00a0Guns n’ Roses\u00a0<\/strong>guitarist\u00a0Tracii Guns<\/strong>\u00a0(replaced by some bloke called\u00a0Slash<\/strong>)\u00a0<\/strong>and bassist\u00a0Pete Garner\u00a0<\/strong>who walked out on The<\/strong> Stone Roses<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But of all rock’s nearly men and women, the case of\u00a0Andy Wickett<\/strong> is perhaps the most extraordinary.<\/p>\n

For not only did he quit\u00a0Duran Duran<\/strong>, just as they were on the brink of worldwide megastardom, he also sold the rights to his songs to the band for the princely sum of just \u00a3600 and then gave singing lessons to his replacement, one Simon Le Bon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Now the release of early demos by Cleopatra Records<\/strong> have shed new light on Wickett’s history with Duran and the songwriting thrust he provided for two of their biggest hits\u00a0Girls On Film<\/strong><\/em> and\u00a0Rio<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Still active with his band World Service<\/strong>, the Midlands music stalwart tells Matt<\/strong>\u00a0Catchpole <\/strong>about his time with Duran and the inspiration behind those early songs.<\/p>\n

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The embryonic Duran Duran had already parted with one singer\u00a0Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy\u00a0<\/strong>before\u00a0Wickett <\/strong>came on board.<\/p>\n

Duffy, who Wickett credits with a “deeper and more intellectual” singing style than Le Bon, would go on to have success both with\u00a0The Lilac Time<\/strong> and as a solo artist.<\/p>\n

However, while massive fame was to elude him, back then Wickett was the established performer, looked up to by Duran’s John<\/strong> Taylor<\/strong>\u00a0and Nick Rhodes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Both were fans of Wickett’s band\u00a0TV Eye<\/strong> and regularly attended rehearsals, along with gigs at venues like Barbarellas\u00a0<\/strong>and Rebecca’s\u00a0<\/strong>in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Wickett remembers they were not exactly the teen heartthrobs and harbingers of New\u00a0Romantic <\/strong>cool they were to become.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Nick Rhodes was called Nick Bates. His dad had a toyshop called Bates\u2019s Toys and he used to buy Nick\u00a0expensive keyboards.\u00a0John Taylor was called Nigel. He was a bit geeky back then. He wore glasses.\u00a0I liked Roger the best. I got him into the band. He was a really nice guy.”<\/p>\n

When Wickett left TV Eye, ironically replaced by Duffy, Rhodes and John Taylor invited him to front Duran Duran and he immediately began writing songs for the group.<\/p>\n

Known by his alter ego\u00a0Fane<\/strong>\u00a0– “It had a nice ring to it. I took it from a make of loudspeaker” – Wickett proved a charismatic frontman and the band began to garner serious record company interest.<\/p>\n

The demos released by Cleopatra were recorded in 1979 at\u00a0Bob Lamb Studio\u00a0<\/strong>(home of\u00a0UB40<\/strong>) in Moseley, Birmingham.<\/p>\n

The four songs feature Wickett on lead vocals along with John Taylor on bass, namesake Roger on drums and Nick Rhodes on keyboards.<\/p>\n

Guitarist Andy, the third Taylor to join the group, would not arrive until the following year, but he acknowledges in his autobiography Wickett’s role in the writing of Girls On Film<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wickett says the song was composed while he was working on the night shift, watching the chocolates go by on a conveyor belt at the Cadbury’s factory in Bournville.<\/p>\n

Though the single’s erotic video suggests the song was about the relationship between photographers and their models, Wickett says the lyrics were actually inspired by stars of old black and white movies.<\/p>\n

“I was thinking of films like Sunset Boulevard<\/strong><\/em> and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/em>Judy Garland<\/strong> and her heroin addiction – the dark underbelly of fame and fortune.”<\/p>\n

As you can hear below, the demo is a dirtier, more punk-funk sounding tune than the more polished pop single with Le Bon’s vocals, which reached No 5 in the UK charts – Duran’s first Top 10 hit.<\/p>\n

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