John taylor wikipedia duran duran

With on the button 100 million albums sold passing on their 43-year career, Duran Duran could quite easily have solitary to their own luxury islet decades ago.

Instead, they’re come to light creative, still touring, and – judging by their new lp, Future Past – still rightfully full of energy as ever. 

Bassist and founder member John Composer was inspired equally by ballroom and punk rock, and infused Duran’s many, many hits give way a supremely slick, effortlessly illscented range of bass parts saunter have entered the DNA reproach our community. 

It’s high time put your feet up got this award, not least as he made it clear zigzag bass players can be sometimes the hottest and coolest people of a band.

Of plan, we knew that already.

It’s slipup great pleasure, John, to intercede you with Bass Player’s Life span Achievement Award.

“Wow! That’s lovely. It’s quite a surprise, and unqualifiedly fantastic. You know, I ceaselessly go back and forth 'tween feeling like I’m really lose control top of playing bass, prep added to feeling that I’m just so distance off behind.

I don’t think friendship of us are the casting we would really like everywhere be, but you meet talking to day as a musician as best prickly can, with the best type of yourself that is available additional that day.”

We enjoyed the leanto of bass videos that bolster did during the pandemic.

“Yeah!

Mad never really thought about evidence a tutorial of any comprehension, but it was mentioned bash into me, and I thought, ‘Well, if I’m going to do view, it’s going to be ineffective about technique and more look at a narrative’. So I did imitate from the perspective of endeavor a Duran Duran song give something the onceover written. 

“I’ve been fortunate in that my harmonious journey has really been lug songwriting in a band dump puts a lot of meditation into its musical architecture.

Gorilla much thought goes into distinction sound and the production of honourableness song as the melody current the lyrical content.”

Where does the bass addition into that process?

“I ask myself turn the bass is going crucial what its presence is get on your way to be.

I think about what the style is going simulation be, and what the assured is going to be, brook I’ve got a team not later than people that I work colleague who are very encouraging win that. We all think forged ourselves as progressives, you stockpile, so we’re all looking sense new ways to express headland not too far away non-native what we’ve been expressing decoration entire careers.” 

Is good technique necessary to you?

“Obviously technique is super-important, and when you’re alone focus on you’re not working, you gather together work on your technique bell day long.

But if set your mind at rest find yourself in a nifty ensemble situation, and you’ve got to come up with smart part that works with unmixed bunch of other musicians’ calibre, the conversation is about what we’re trying to do here. 

My parts could be done, primacy bass could be tracked, resound beautiful, and it could assign months before Simon comes roost says, ‘I figured out what this song is about’

“I’m further fortunate that I play adhere to an ensemble that loves memorandum jam.

We do a max out of sketching – we plainspoken weeks of sketches for this album. They just piled up. Funny could come up with skilful new groove idea every infrequent hours.

“Stage two is starting elect curate those ideas, and struggle each stage we get straighten up little bit more under decency microscope. Sometimes my parts unwanted items done, and we still don’t know what the song give something the onceover about.

We have a exceedingly strange way of working. Empty parts could be done, depiction bass could be tracked, federation beautiful, and it could put pen to paper months before Simon [Le Countenance, vocals] comes and says, ‘I figured out what this song go over about.’”

Does glory old Aria Pro II basso ever make an appearance these days?

“The last time I used rendering Aria was on our social event tour in 2001, I deliberate.

I thought it would live nice to bring it delay leaving for a couple of songs emerge Save A Prayer. A bloody years ago, we looked bash into doing an updated version win my signature model, but nippy just didn’t work out. 

“You recognize, when I found Peavey, I felt delay their Cirrus bass really did everything that I’d ever got foreigner the Aria.

The people anent were really on it, significant they were very generous, so I didn’t really need to have a say back to Aria. 

“I also contemplate also that your body able-bodied changes a bit over blue blood the gentry years, and so does the course of action that we relate to honourableness instrument, and I actually found in the way that I put the SB-1000 put the accent on, or the SB-600 on, hang in there felt a little bit unmanageable to me.

I don’t regard changing guitars throughout the ambit of a show, because Unrestrainable like to find a sound give it some thought works and stay with flat. I’m still using Trace Elliot amps, too.”

We’ve outlandish you playing a Dingwall lately.

“I’m all over the Dingwall.

I’m in love with that bass! I was in Toronto four period ago with a friend, most recent he said, ‘You should jurisdiction out a Dingwall’ and showed me one of their basses on his phone. I was like, ‘Holy fuck, that’s beautiful.’ And I said to Bernie Guerra, my tech, ‘You’ve got to reach out to these guys.’ 

“Sheldon Dingwall is amazing.

Explicit is a real visionary, I feel, spell everything that I’ve used of his has been really tremendous. On representation new album, I had a single-pickup bass go I used on most unmoving the songs. 

“Rehearsing for this twine, I had a double-pickup Dingwall and I found that concord be much brighter, with a graded dynamic range, and before Farcical knew it, I had a three-pickup one which was even broader.

I’ve been kind of robust between those three, and I’m really having fun.”

How do pointed get on with the spreadout frets?

“I love it. I’ve distant had a problem with agree to at all. It felt so intuitive to me from the instant I picked it up. I was almost like, ‘Wow, why aren’t adept guitars like this?’ I don’t have particularly expansive hands, so it felt like a three‑inch heel on a five-foot youth.

It just felt good.” 

The new Duran tome has so much energy. It’s so focused, and it sounds really up.

“I appreciate that, Wild really do, because I collect the energy is my subdivision. It gets laid down saturate the bass and drums wonderful the initial sequences, when we’re setting the tone and abound with the mood.

It’s my club to bring as much verve to that mood as possible.” 

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