The video for the title track of the band’s 16th studio album is available now
Duran Duran has revealed the official music video for their latest track and album namesake Danse Macabre. With creative director Linc Gasking at the helm, this stunning new clip showcases cutting-edge, AI-driven techniques, some of which were only launched as recently as last weekend. The culmination is a 3D animated masterpiece that, in previous times, would have demanded an entire team, over a year and a substantial budget to produce.
“I like the idea that if you can imagine something you can make it come to life, well at least in animated form… With the ‘Danse Macabre’ video we did exactly that. We began by deciding who would be on the ultimate Halloween party guest list, then a selection of witches, mythical beasts, vampires and demons were rapidly developed, using the latest AI animation techniques. I was truly astonished when I first started to see the results. It was something that would have previously taken a team months in an animation studio, but it was all happening almost instantly in front of our eyes,” keyboardist Nick Rhodes reveals. “Over a period of a few days we created a whole new universe populated with beautifully strange inhabitants to celebrate the release of Danse Macabre, with a gothic dream.”
The band recently announced their highly anticipated 16th studio album, Danse Macabre. The record is due just in time for Halloween on October 27th on Tape Modern via BMG.
Catalyzed by one special live performance that Duran Duran filmed in Las Vegas on October 31st of last year, Danse Macabre is the soundtrack to their ultimate Halloween party. Across 13 tracks the band unearthed bright melodies from the darkness, threading together new songs, themed covers, and newly reimagined versions of their own ‘spooky’ classics.
The title track is the first of three new songs from this full-length. Anxious percussion sets the tempo against a distorted, growling synthesizer as Simon Le Bon’s swaggering verses give way to a handclap-laden and hypnotic hook. Teaming with producer Mr. Hudson, channeling the chemistry they unlocked together on the Paper Gods album, the song also features former band-mate Warren Cuccurullo on guitar in his first collaboration with the band since 2001.
Fans can also look forward to Duran Duran’s Halloween covers of Billie Eilish’s “Bury A Friend,” Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” featuring Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin, The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” the Rick James-inspired “Super Lonely Freak,” Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound,” Cerrone’s “Supernature” and The Specials’ “Ghost Town.”
As well as Warren Cuccurullo, the album includes more special collaborations with former Duran Duran band member Andy Taylor, producer, guitarist and composer Nile Rodgers, Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin, and producers Josh Blair and Mr Hudson.
Andy Taylor originally joined Duran Duran in 1980, co-writing and playing guitar on their first three studio albums: Duran Duran (1981), Rio (1982), and Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983), before leaving the group to pursue a solo career. 16 years later he returned for 2004’s Astronaut (2004), before parting company once again with the other four original members in 2006.
The origin of Danse Macabre begins in Las Vegas, October 31, 2022. Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor donned full fancy dress, cast a horde of ghouls on a stage complete with 20-foot-high skeletons, tombstones, cobwebs and coffins. The set included a parade of rarities and special covers – Duran Duran’s first live performance of “Secret Oktober” since 2011, their first of “Love Voodoo” since 2017, and first of “Nightboat” since 2005. Covers of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound,” Cerrone’s “Supernature” and The Specials’ “Ghost Town” were also debuted in what has gone down in Duran Duran history as a Halloween show for the ages. The band and their audience had so much fun that they decided to put the set to tape, creating a worldwide Halloween event for all Duran Duran fans to enjoy.
Danse Macabre follows a wave of landmark achievements for Duran Duran. Their 2022 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame marked yet another career peak with the year already having seen the band headline London’s Hyde Park, perform at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, close the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in their home town of Birmingham, and a headline tour across North America which included sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden and three nights at the Hollywood Bowl.
