SmartLess - "Simon Le Bon"

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

Put on your smokey-eye and come out from behind the soda machine, because we’ve got a le-bona-fide rock star on our hands this week, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran. And y’heard it here first: “It’s not fear… it’s adrenaline. It’s just your mind and your body preparing you to do something extraordinary. And you will do something extraordinary.” -Simon Le BonPlease support us by supporting our sponsors.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

music music music You know that often, often, when I'm driving on Sunday night to our Sunday night dinner that we all do together with our fans and stuff, I'll rock out to Duran Duran. I'll rock out to hungry like the wolf. You have to film that next time. As I'm driving through the hills, it makes me feel good.

That's why you always walk in with a glow stick between your teeth. That's why I'm always wearing like pastels under a blazer with shoulder pads. That's why you walk in with two hookers on either side of you. By the way, speaking of walk, I am my hamstring. I'm having major hamstring issues. Yeah, when did this start and why? I don't know. I think it's, I hate to say, I think it's golf related.

It's a golf injury. That's up here with a sleeping injury. Well, Jason, you had your back golf injury last week. Right. But I usually hurt my back doing things like tying my shoes or tallying off after a shower. We've come to that year. Tallying somebody off after a shower? Or just myself.

Oh, okay. I don't know. Because I'm a little wet right now if you want to just drive me up for like, wait, Jay, how long do you have? Wait a second. We're going to clip that for sure. I'm a little wet right now. Well, I meant from the shower, from the shower, water.

So Jason, how long do you have to stop playing golf for your back to get better? It's been a week and today I'm going to break the mold. It's been a week back. Week back. It's raining. No, it stopped. Take a look. I have a window in my room.

No, it's going to be a shit day. You're going to have a terrible day and you're going to re-break your back. It's my prediction. I'm doing prediction, but the hamstrings suck. How do you hurt your hamstrings playing golf? You know what? It's been a nagging thing that's been kind of, I've had it sort of strained a few times over the last two years.

Is it a disc thing in your back that goes down to your... I don't think so. I think it's an actual just hamstring thing and I think that's probably a non-properly stretching thing and I do a lot of, I do that hill. If we were smart, if we were smart, the three of us being of a certain age, right, more than 50, we would do the thing that we hate, which is yoga. If we did yoga, we would have such a more pleasant aging process. I think.

I used to, one of the best, but it's the same as yoga a little bit, but Pilates. I did Pilates about 10 years ago for about six months. In addition to the regular sort of working out, I did that, I was stacking, before stacking was the thing, I was stacking. It was great. I felt so much better doing that. I know, but it takes a lot of discipline to... And also, I can't stand sweating because I'm stretching.

It's like being stuck in a hot car with windows that won't come down and a door lock that is broken. It's like, can I, with no sweating, I want to be doing something active. I feel the same, I feel the same way. Except not when you're in the sauna, you're sweating and you're not active. That's true. That's the sort of a contradiction that for some reason I'm okay with because it's just. But like if you're moving furniture or doing like a strenuous activity or something, you're

sweating, I get really irritable fast. Yes. Yeah. I always feel like, and this is going to be controversial, but oftentimes it reminds me of like when I'm in England and it's cool out and I feel like everywhere inside is very stuffy and hot. I always feel like I'm wearing a jacket and then I'm inside and I'm just, and it's stuffy inside.

How about in Europe, if you look at Jason's face. Every time you're in England, what foot do you work for the government, what are you talking about? What are you in England? I spent a lot of time in England. How about, wait, how about when you're in England or Europe or whatever and you ask for a Coca-Cola, they don't give you ice and it's like 110 out. I don't know how they've never experimented with how things taste better with ice, carbonated

beverages. It's true. I used to put ice in my beer. You've never experimented with it. I mean like it's indisputable that a room temperature Coca-Cola tastes world's worst. I was in a restaurant once and it was in Italy and it was quite warm out and I said, can I get a Coke and the guy brought me a warm Coke and I looked at him and I said, do you want me to barf?

I mean, hey guy, I don't understand it. But anyway, I don't know, anyway, it's a long way from there from my hamstring, but I do have it wrapped right now. Did you go to the doctor? No, doctor. You wrapped it yourself? Yeah. Well, yeah, I wrapped it myself.

Yeah, it is. He wraps. I didn't have some. I want to wrap it now. My name is Will. My name is Will with a W before the XYZ and after the TNU. You know? Oh, wait.

Hang on a sec, Sean. I think what we've just stumbled on here is a wrap that Will has always had since he was a kid. And there's probably music that goes with it. Oh my God. Now, would you like us to do the beat? My name is Will with a W before the XYZ after the TNU. You hear my deaf rhyme.

It's coming prime time. No. How many times have the boys heard that on the way to school? What do you mean, write it? I just said it. He grabs the microphone, too, like he's shaking a hand. But you put effort into that. No, I didn't.

No, no, no. I think I wrote. I said it out loud once in the car, and then I just said it to my students, like a dumbest freestyle of all time. At some point, Sean, we're going to get into your pop career, but somebody's got to. Somebody's definitely got to, but I'm too hamstrung to do it. I tell you who's not hamstrung. I tell you who's not hamstrung.

This is a segue. This is a really good segue. I feel like my segues are getting worse. I was going to say better, but now I think about it, this seems like they're worse. You know, I'm not hamstrung by the talent of our guest, and neither is he. This person is kind of known for his voice. In a way, and he's been known for his voice for so long in so many iconic ways. This is one of my bucket list guests who I have not stopped talking about and quoting

and singing and listening to and type for years and years and years. I've bored you guys with it, and I've just always wanted to know they played. He has played such a huge part in my musical experience throughout my life in so many different ways and different incarnations. Boney Vare. Again, one of our guests who, once I start to list things off, you're just going to immediately know who it is, even though you guys already heard. He has done it all.

He's an Englishman who, along with his buddies, Nick Rhodes and John Taylor, decided to create a little band called Duran Duran at Simon Le Bon. What? Will, how do you do it, Will? Oh, my God. Oh, that's so cool. Come on, you fellas. Nice to meet you.

Now, Simon, how do you know Will Arnett? Will, how do you know Simon? I mean, I know you're a fan of Simon. That's a great question. It's completely irrelevant because we don't know each other. That's right. They just, I just got a call from the production company offering me a huge, obscene amount of money to do your podcast.

How come they pay me that much? How can they possibly make a treat? It's out of my own pocket. I went, I went out of my own pocket for this. I, Simon, I've been trying to get you on the podcast since we started. I've, we've had to cut out clips of your music just because of publishing and royalties reasons. I would constantly come on to the show playing Duran Duran.

I'm such a massive fan. We all are massive fans. Yeah, huge. It's such an honor to have you. I've seen you in concert like two or three times and it just blows me away every time. So Simon Le Bon. We're coming back. You know, we're back on tour in America this year.

Well, don't, don't push it. You've got it. I'm not trying to flog it to you. I'm coming. I'll come. Are you playing at the Tabasco Theater? Are we? No, that's where Sean is.

Do you mean I've got to look at my itinerary? No, no, no. We, Sean is playing at the Belasco Theater. His new play, Good Night Oscar, opens in April at the Belasco Theater. Oh, the Belasco. Oh, the Belasco. Not the Tabasco. On Broadway.

Which Jason was just being cheeky, as you might say. We have played at the Belasco. Have you? And New York? And also, and it's next door to the Mayan, isn't it? I've never been there. I leave in a week. I think it's next door.

We've played at both the Belasco and the Mayan Theater downtown LA or is it downtown or is it sort of? No, this is in New York. Are we played at the other Belasco? Right. Yeah. The Annex. The Bolasco too.

Okay. The Bolasco too. You've played everywhere. You have a new record and you guys are going on tour last year and you did some dates at, did you do four shows at the Hollywood Bowl? Am I right about that? We did three. Three.

Three amazing shows. The first one, it was absolutely pissing with rain. Really? Oh, really? And it was, but rain shows are always special ones. But in Los Angeles, rain falls like chemicals from the sky for people in Los Angeles. Everybody scurries. Everybody runs around with their tongue sticking out.

People just don't know what to do with it. I always say that rain in LA is a chance for all the people on the west side to get out their fancy all-weather clothing. Get to accessorize. It starts to drizzle and people have their great boots and their fucking hoodie and coat. And the safari vehicle and the snow tires. Just to make it to Trader Joe's. The safari vehicle with the snow tires on the chains come out and a rhubar on the front.

So, Simon, we, and we're going to get into how you guys became what you became and who you became in terms of, you know, musically and what an influence you are. But I kind of want to, I want to get back to the start because I know so little about it. I want to know, first of all, it's just so thrilling, it's such an unbelievable thrill. You started as an actor. You went to drama school. Is that right?

Well, I started as an acting student, as a student actor. Yeah. I mean, I had a few roles. I did a few things. I was more of an advert kid, you know, I did like personal adverts. That's like washing powder. I did a few commercials and I did a run at a theater in the West End when I was a teenager. Yeah, but I was an aspiring actor and I went to, I went to university and I studied acting.

That's so crazy. I never knew that. And at the same time, I met a bunch of guys called Gerand Gerand who were looking for, wait for it, a lead singer. Yeah. And I had had, I had had my own punk band. Well, me and my three mates, we'd had a punk band. Back in Pinner, the little suburban town that I grew up in.

Yeah. And, and I fitted right into Gerand Gerand and that was the end of- Well, how did you know you could sing? Like, how did you audition for it? Well, because I was always a singer. Oh, you were always a singer too? Yeah, I was, I was singing from, from the cradle. I sang in church choir.

I used to do singing competitions. I got a guitar and I started to talk myself to play guitar. Well, actually, no, Mr. Shuri, the folk, the folk guitarist who gave 10 lessons at the school I went to taught me how to play guitar. And I learned the rest of it. I learned to play slow down, you move too fast, you got to make the morning last just kicking down the cobblestone, looking for fun and feeling groovy. That's the reach right there.

If you can hit that, then you can pick the right. You're one of those few singers too, because of the training and stuff. And I said this to another friend of mine, a friend of mine that sings, you have the proper training to know how to use it so you can tour and you can do night after night and you can sing properly, as they say, where other people who don't scream lose their voice and they don't know how to take care of it. Isn't that true? Well, I make no mistake.

I used to go out on tour and scream and lose my voice. I think we all did, a lot of us did in the early days, mainly because, because we didn't have ear monitors, so we were competing with the guitar. You can only turn the vocal monitors up so loud before they start feeding back. So there's a point at which you can't amplify the voice on the stage any higher. And of course, the guitar can just get louder and louder and louder and louder until the only way you can hear yourself singing is if you shriek your head off. We were also, also don't forget, in a lot of places, we were competing with, you know,

tens of thousands of screaming teenagers, many of them female, with very loud, high voices. And one in the way back. And then they're shy. And one bloke. That was you, was it? And one young... I bet you had a great time.

With a smoky eye. Yeah. He was ready. We just come from behind the soda machine, from a make-out session with another guy. But wait. So Simon, by the way, were you always like... It's true, by the way. He was true.

Were you giving sort of shitty glances over to the guy who was an Andy Taylor on guitar at that point? Were you kind of like, hey, man, tone it down or...? Yeah, well, I mean, I knew that it wouldn't make any difference what I said to him. So, honestly, you know... I love learning what the ear monitor is for. Because I feel like that's a recent thing, those ones that are formed right to your ear, like that's over the last, like, 10 years.

Well, the first time, no, they're older than that. You'd be surprised. The first time we went on tour and I had ear monitors was 1993. 1993? 1993. So we've had them for 30 years. When you first got it, were you like, oh, man, this is... Yeah.

Yeah. It was extraordinary. I could turn the guitar down, so there was nothing at all in my ears. And then, of course, you know, if you take all the other instruments out, you sing out of tune, so that's no good. But I found, you know, you've learned to make a really good balance of the things that are in your head. And it works.

And it is much easier to save your voice. What's more satisfying when a huge crowd starts singing the words that you're singing, like they know the song, they love the song, or when they're completely silent and they're just totally engaged and you have them in the palm of your hand and they're listening to you doing your great singing. Like, I've always wondered that. Well, the way you put it makes it sound a little egotistical. Me listening.

You can listen to my great singing. This is a safe zone. This is a safe zone. So it's not really like that. But what they do, really, is that they sing along with the big old favourite songs, songs like Hungry Like the Wolf, Planet Earth, Come Undone, Every World. And the list does go on. It does, man.

They sing along with those ones. But when we play new music, especially sort of like the new ballads and things, so off our latest album, which by the way is entitled Future Past, that's when they listen because they're not so familiar with the songs. So you get that chance with the new album, with the new material, you get that chance to just for them to hear it the way you want them to hear it. And we will be right back. Startless listener, we get support from Zip Recruiter.

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That's S-T-O-R-Y-W-O-R-T-H.com slash smartless to save $10 on your first purchase, storyworth.com slash smartless. And now, back to the show. Can I ask a dumb question? Duran Duran means what? Well, it's like Smith Smith. Duran is the most, is the most common name in France. Well, it's the second most common name, actually, because the most common one is Dupont.

But we didn't like the sound of Dupont-Dupont. Right. Duran, Duran, Duran, I'm looking for Duran, Duran from Planet Earth. So you... That was Jane Fonda. I'm looking for Duran, Duran from Planet Earth. Duran, Duran from Planet Earth. Yes, Duran, Duran from Planet Earth.

From which we got the band name and the name of our first single. Gotcha. Huh. And the name of your first record, Duran, Duran, obviously, and your... was Planet Earth the first single from... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We didn't... I didn't actually take that from the Rajivadeem film, Barbaraella. You did not. No, it was only afterwards when we watched the film again that we realized that the title of our first single was in it. It was a wonderful coincidence. Mm-hmm. Yeah, because that's the character's name in the film, right?

So Milo O'Shea played a character called Duran, Duran, and he had done... He'd done a bit of a... He was a scientist, but he'd done a naughty bunk with some kind of pleasure machine. And also this deadly weapon called the positronic ray. Anyway, this old pervert back on the Earth Foundation got the youngest, most attractive astronaut, which is Jane Fonda, as Barbaraella, to go out and find it. I've kind of seen this movie. I've heard about it for years.

It's a wonderful film. If you haven't watched it recently, watch it. What's the name of the movie? Barbaraella. It's called Barbaraella. Yeah. You've heard of it, right, Sean? It's a very famous film.

Yeah, of course. And then Kamie Anderson remade it, I think. Did she really? Did she? I don't know. Maybe I got that wrong. Maybe it was a different girl's name. Chances are high.

Chances are high that Sean just likes to throw things out there. So Simon, so you do it so... And the character's name was Drendd Drendd, right? If I'm not mistaken, with the D on the other hand? Is it? I think so. But anyway, which gives you even more... Disappointments.

No, no, I'm sorry to... Oh, my gosh. Oh, well, you know, you know, because John and Nick were sitting there, sir, in their Birmingham living room watching the movie, and all they could hear was Duran Duran, sir. Right. So that was the name of the band at the time. So you guys formed Duran Duran, Planet Earth, a big hit. And then if I'm not mistaken, was Girls on Film also on that first record?

I think it was. Yeah. Yeah, it was. Yeah. And you guys, that was one of... That video, and I don't know if you guys remember, that video was like really too hot for American audiences. Oh, yeah.

Yes, I remember that. Right? Walk us through that. What we did was we made two versions of that video. And it was Kevin Godley and Lowell Cream were the video directors. We made one version, which was quite tame, and you could put it on MTV during sort of, you know, sort of family hours. And then the other version, the night version, which it was a longer video, and we actually

wrote an extended piece of music for it. That was... You could only see that on video jukeboxes. Oh, wow. In America, video jukeboxes, in nightclubs around the United States. And speaking of which, night versions, you guys actually, and I found this out just, you guys went and remixed all your own songs and did night versions so that they...am I right about that?

No, we didn't remix them. We re-recorded them. So we actually recorded longer versions. We didn't just cut and paste the...which you couldn't do that anyway. Right. Because it was all on tape, it was all on magnetic tape. We didn't try to kind of copy anything and stick it on later. We wrote 12-minute versions of the song, of all the songs that we did night versions

of. So that it would lend itself better to sort of dance clubs and whatnot, as opposed to... Yeah, because that was the only way we could do it. That was the only way we knew how to make long versions, 12-inch records, was to go back in and record them as 12-inches. Isn't that amazing? And so they have this whole, you can go and you can look it up and they've got all the release of all these night versions of these extended versions that I did not know that

you re-wrote and re-recorded, which is pretty heavy lifting. I know, but it was...that was just the job that was...the job that there was to do. And if you listen to the girls on film version, the girls on film night version, it has a completely different last verse. Oh, really? Yeah, it goes...how's it go? God. Take one last glimpse into the night, I'm touching close, I'm holding right, shudders

in a whisper, I'm coming closer, take me high till I'm shooting a star. Oh, wow. And it was more like...sharing a star! That's the backup section. Sorry, Mum, am I going on a bit too long? Did you...did you...I've always wanted to know, whose laugh is at the beginning of Hungry Like The Wolf, which is one of my favourite intros to a song ever? Yeah, that actually was...it was a girlfriend, her name was Cheryl, she was my girlfriend,

and then funny things that happened in this life, she became Nick's girlfriend. No way. No way. What happened? I would imagine that's not the only time that happened, you guys have been together for quite some time. Really? Okay, we're going to move right along now.

Speaking of being together for a long, long time, you guys have been making music for so long and been relevant for so long and been able to do what it is you want to do for so long for such a great big audience. What is the process of staying true to where you guys want to go, changing your musical sound and having that kind of progress, and then also trying to stay as aware of and is in touch with as possible what the changing of music is in popular music, you know, like there was a time when it was all the music...the instruments were plugged in and then they were not plugged in and then there was more like, you know, how does that go?

Or do you guys just make music for you and hope it catches on? I think you've got to...there's a couple of ground rules here. Number one is you can't follow trends. You can't be following a trend as your major kind of writing inspiration. That cannot be your major inspiration. You have to make music that you like, that you enjoy, otherwise there will be no passion in it and people can hear, they can hear the difference between something that you really mean and something that you're just going through the motions with.

And I...but also I think you've got to be aware of where music is at the moment, I mean, and I think...and we all are, and we always have been. We...you know, there's stuff that we did in the 1980s, we never dream of doing now because it just wouldn't be relevant to us now. What do you do when your taste in where things have gone is not aligned with your band mates? What is that kind of creative negotiation like, was you guys are starting to work out a new song? Well, you know, there has been times when somebody's gone in the studio, laid down some

parts and somebody's come in after them and laid down completely contradicting parts that don't work with the ones that went down before. The strong usually survives. The... That'd be the strong music or the strong personality? Yeah, the strong...the strong...oh, the music, definitely the music. And what are the politics of that like, like sort of navigating that within the band? Well, nobody's got any...no, there's nobody who's more...whose opinion is more important

than anybody else's. Yeah, you have. You know, we don't have... It's got to be hard though. And, you know, when you went off and did...went solo on projects, I've always wondered, what is that dynamic? How do you have that conversation like, guys, I love you, but I'm going to go do this for a second.

Do they have any animosity here? Well, none of us have really gone solo. Oh, I thought you had solo stuff. No, not really. I mean, I've done a couple of...I've done a couple of things. Nick and I did the Arcadia project. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. John and Andy did the Power Station project.

Power Station. That's right, Power Station. And Roger, God bless him, he did drums on both projects. Oh, wow, okay. So he was a...he's the only guy who was in both Power Station and Arcadia. Yeah, I love both. By the way, the fact that you guys weren't named the Taylors is incredible, considering there...it's Roger, Andy and John.

Taylor Taylor. Yeah. All unrelated. Unrelated, yeah. That is my Taylor Taylor. Yeah. So you guys do...you guys do...you and Nick do the Arcadia thing. Those guys go and do Power Station.

And then that...and then sort of five years later, you guys...you do the wedding album? Is that right? No. It wasn't quite like that. So in the last...we did...we did Seven O'Ragga Tiger, went on tour throughout sort of 84. And we...then we got back together and we did View to a Kill. Oh, yes. Yeah.

And that was the last recording that the original five members made before the hiatus and the Power Station and Arcadia. Then Power Station and Arcadia happened. And then we got back together, but in the Getting Back Together, it turned out that ultimately we would only have...well, not ultimately. But when we tried to get back together to reconvene the original Joanne Joanne, we weren't able to get Andy Taylor back in the band, really, and definitely weren't able to get Roger Taylor back.

So Andy was kind of in it and kind of out of it. Roger was definitely out of it. And sort of after a while, we realized that it would be, you know, it'd be me and Nick and John. Andy wasn't going to be a guitarist and Roger was not going to be our drummer. So we looked for other guys to work with. And quite happily, we really kind of developed our friendship and working relationship with Niall Rogers at that time.

And that's when we kind of had the Notorious album. That's when that's what that was what made that. Is there a story you can share that you're comfortable sharing about why those two guys weren't able to come back in that new incarnation? Well, yeah, sure, Roger, he really had his he it all became a bit too much for Roger. I don't know the I don't know the exact term for the the sort of the psychological problem that he was having, you know, it wasn't a nervous breakdown. It was it was but it something happened to him and it and the anxiety was too much for

him. And he wasn't able to carry on with the band. And Andy just wanted to be a rock and roller. And he just didn't think that Gerand Gerand was the right vehicle for the kind of music he wanted to make at that time. You know, he went off and he recorded the band Thunder. And he did he did some of his own rock records, heavy sort of American style rock record. Whereas we wanted to be Gerand, the rest of us wanted to be Gerand Gerand.

Yeah. Yeah, I have a question about touring like because I think people when people go see a live show, they're, you know, and they go nuts for you guys. And then the show's over, they go home and they're like, what an incredible show. Not realizing you have to do it night after night after night after night or sometimes with just a little break in between. What do you do to get ready for a tour because I can't imagine how grueling that is on your voice on your body on your sleep schedule and like the food that you have to like you

just have to maintain all of that. And second part is, you know, I live for horrific live stories like what's the worst that a fan did, like, did they rush to stage and something happened or I love those kinds of stories if you're having. Right. Just let me just try and just put two in there. Just go ahead and take the first one and let's do the first one, which is with the first part of that question was, was what do you have to do to kind of get ready for a tour?

Yeah. Well, we rehearse, but I think, but you know, we made like physically and mentally. Yeah, well, physically, we try not to leave it too long between shows. So we had a before we had, even though it was a little one, we had a performance at New Year in Times Square, and that kind of just keeps just keeps you nudging that nudging your personal fitness up. And we're ready. We're going back out again in April.

So we'll be rehearsing before that. And we'll all be physically capable of the job of doing the job, probably psychologically. I mean, just once you get to a certain kind of state in your career and you and you and you know that the heart, the more you try, the harder it is. So you need to just go up there and just do it and not and not and not try too hard. It's a bit like, you know, hitting a tennis ball or a golf ball or a cricket ball or even a baseball. Let's say, you know, it's that relaxed swing that has gives you the best results and performing

is a bit like that. You've got to be relaxed, but but but accurate. And to do that, you've got to be confident. You've got to really believe in yourself and believe that you can do it. And yeah, because you're going from just, you know, not running around the stage for a year or whatever to mounting a tour to all of a sudden, I have to run around the stage and you have to keep that endurance up. It's just got to be, I can't imagine.

You had to do it. I mean, you were on Broadway. You did it. Yeah. A couple of musicals. Yeah. And it's yeah. That's why I ask is because while I'm gearing up to do it again and it's, you know, mentally

just have to. Tabasco. Can I ask you a question? Do you suffer from nerves? Oh God. Yeah. So I have something for you. I have something for you.

This is my gift to you. It's my litany against nerves and it goes like this. It's not fear. It's adrenaline. It's just your mind and your body preparing you to do something extraordinary and you will do something extraordinary. Yeah. I love that.

Amen. God, if you're at home, record that and pay that back for yourself. I love that too. Honestly, it makes such a difference when you, when you, and you realize I'm not frightened. It's just the, it's just the butterflies. It's just the side effects of me sharpening up. Did you, did you, did you have those, but like when you guys, when you started, you released Duran Duran sort of in the early 80s, those first, I don't know, five years

of the 80s, 80 through 85, maybe the most in demand band in the world. It must have been like, you just rocket it up. All your records were, were, were top of the pops and you had so many singles and you're on tour all the time. Did you have time in that? Were you young enough to not be nervous and just to be fucking cocky and just, I mean, I was, I, I, I got nerves. I've been nervous with every single performance I've done, but I've learned to cope with it.

And I've always, and also when, when the music starts and you walk on stage, the nerves becomes, it's almost, it's more like that little shower that you go through on the way to the swimming pool. And the hygiene shower that, well, they spray you with sulfuric acid. That's what they do in this country. That it's, it's, you know, you walk through it. It's like a, it's like a shower bath that you walk through and you come out and you walk on stage and the music starts and the nerves just, you just, they just recede into the,

into the darker back part of your brain. And suddenly you're there with the music and the audience. And that's in a way that the importance of that overcomes all the rest of it. One of the other things that I would think that you would need and want is the, is the desire to be out there and to be playing the same set every night, could get monotonous, same thing with theater, right? Sean, were you doing the same material every night? How do you find the excitement to do it as good as, or if not better than last night?

It's a good question. It's a really good question. Are you, are you channeling into the audience? There's more to it. No, no. No, I think what it is, is, I think this, it's, so you have to, the audience is part of it, I think, because that's the audience is one time to see you on that tour. Maybe they won't come, they maybe they, maybe some of them will come back next tour, very,

a few of them will come and see more shows on that tour. But for most of the people in that room, it's their one time seeing Gerand Gerand maybe for two or three years, four years, five years. Maybe the only time in their lives they can see Gerand Gerand. And, and you just remember that they are, they deserve the best show they can get. And then you start to, then you, then you let the music, you just have to give yourself to the music. I've got another, another, I've got a little mantra before I go on stage as well.

And that is, let the songs do the work. I don't have to go out there and give a performance. I have to let the, I just have to serve the songs. And then everything else about the performance falls into place. And when you do that, and the music, the music has got a great way of putting you right in the moment. And you're not thinking about what you're going to go and have for dinner in a restaurant after the show.

And you're not thinking about what somebody said to you back in the, back in the hotel or something else. You become very much in the moment. And when you're in the moment, you can't be bored because every little thing that you're doing is so important that it's, you, you, you're, as I said, you're serving the songs, you're doing the best you can to, to deliver these really good songs in the best way they could be, could be present. I'm the opposite.

When I'm on stage and doing a play or a musical and it's, and it's performance, you know, 135, I'm completely thinking about what I'm having for dinner later. All right. I know it does happen. And it's, it's, that's the, we call that autopilot, right? Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

You just go on to auto. That's when it's time to move on. And there's no difference. How, how involved are you in another part of the shows that I always love in any rock show is, is the, is, is the show around it, the lighting, the stage work. Well, I was going to get to that, Jason. Do you know that these guys, I mean, Simon, you guys were one of the first acts to really incorporate the video aspect of the show, right?

You guys. We, we, we were the first act to use a video wall behind us. Wow. Yeah. Wow. We're very involved in it. We, we work with the, with the designer. We've got a fantastic guy called Vince who, he's an amazing designer, I mean, amazing

sets and lighting and he, he does that, but we're sitting with him on, in all the way up to the, the production rehearsals, looking at the stuff he's doing, because he's always redoing it and, and, and developing it. And the imagery, the actual images. Oh yeah. Absolutely. And that's, that's another thing. The synchronization of that with the music, with the, when you're going to go with the

upbeat or the outer, whatever the heck all that stuff is. Do you remember, do you remember the reflex that the video for that was like from a concert and used the, the video wall and then like the, and had that sort of that image of the wave. Yeah, Simon. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

The wave that came out of the video, at the top of the video screen and the one guy in the audience who got a bucket of water thrown in his face. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. But it worked. Yeah. It worked.

Yeah. And people, people came up to me, people were coming up to me in, in, in, you know, in, in the street or in shops. I'd be, I'd be, I'd go out to like record shops in Toronto and somebody comes say, hey, that, that screen, how did you make the water come out of the video screen? Because they were, they were so taken in by the effects that they really thought it was real. Yeah.

Of course they did. And of course now we watch it. So compared to modern CGI, it's, it's obviously very fake. That was me. I was the guy in Toronto. Oh, that was you. Yeah. Who came up to you.

I was living in Toronto. I thought I recognized you. Yeah. Yeah. And I kind of remember that so vividly. That video was so huge. And the other thing I want to know in that time, so you do all these great things and then walk me through a little bit getting the phone, the call from Bob Geldof to appear

because I played it a little bit in our intro. Oh, that's what you're playing. Yeah. And do they know it's Christmas? Yeah. One of my, I have tried to, I've bastardized what you do, but I love your solo at the beginning of that. It's so fucking good.

He has literally sung that a thousand times. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What, what, what was that like, that process of getting Bob calling you? I was at home and I got a phone call and Bob goes, Simon, did you see it last night? I said, well, Bob, he says, the African thing. I said, no, I didn't see it, Bob.

He says, it's terrible. He says in Africa, in Ethiopia, they're starving and dying. I want to, I want to, I want to do something about it. And I thought we could make a record. We could all make a record together. Would you be up for being on that record? I said, yeah, absolutely. And then, and then, and Bob later told me that he called two people.

He called me and he called Sting. And he reckoned that if he got the two of us on it, then everybody else would say yes to it. And this was, you know, you know, all planned. He had the, he had the whole thing planned. I went and did the demo. I went to a little studio. I can't remember where in London and work with Midge Ewer and Bob and did the demo. So when we all arrived at the studio, Sam West, I thought I was singing all of the verses.

Oh my God. What's that, what's that Bono guy doing here? I thought I'm singing that bit. Well, it's funny because it's you and Sting are singing and then, and then all of a sudden when they cut back, Bono's between you and Sting. Yes, that's right. Yes. And then you see like all my God, I remember at the time too, I was such a fan of the jam as well.

Paul Weller was just making the move to style council. And I was like, oh my God, fucking Simon Le Bon and Paul Weller and Bono and Sting. And they're all in the same frame. Nobody had ever seen anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was wild. Did you guys, did you feel in the moment how that it was really, could you, did you recognize in that moment, wow, this is something amazing?

Yeah, because no, no other time had all those, that variety and that number of hugely successful rock stars being in the same room together, doing something like that. Not even on, not even on Saturday morning TV shows. Yeah. You wanted to know, but I remember the story, the absolute worst thing that happened on stage. Yes. Yeah. Well, there's been a few, a few mishaps, but there was one.

No, I don't know if you know this, but I went commando for 20 years, mainly because I was not kept up to date on that. I'd mentioned throwing a pair of underpants behind the headboard of this hotel that all the bands you sustain and going back there two months later and finding them still there behind the bed. Oh my God. And I was telling this to another rock star and he says, oh my God, I'm shocked. I said, yeah, it's disgusting and he says, not that, you're a rock star.

Rock stars. Don't wear underwear. That was, that was in 1983. And I went commando for the next 20 years because of that. No way. Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, at some point in that while I was on stage in the, the Hoy Theatre in Rotterdam, you remember those, do you remember Madonna's pointy bra?

Sure, of course. With the like the cone thing on them. Well, he'd made the same sort of corresponding pants for guys with the kind of cones on the butt cheeks. And they had, and these two, instead of having one zip up the middle like normal trousers do, they had two zips, like one coming down from each hip, which meant they had a seam down the front. And so in between, right in between your legs was this kind of cross seam where all four bits of material joined up.

Anyway, I came running across to do my star jump in Hungry Like The Wolf where I jump off the rise and put my arms out like that. And I'd never worn these pants before. And the sweat on my knees kind of grabbed hold of the jeans material. I did the star and this seam in the middle of the crotch opened like a flower. And there's me and my junk flying towards the audience at velocity. And I'm thinking, holy shit. And all the girls are thinking, finally, this is what we've wanted forever.

The horror. And I hit the stage and I actually managed to kind of cover up my modesty or cover myself modestly as just as the first flash bulb went off. Oh, wow. Running backstage, grabbing a towel and coming back out. And I did. Yes, I did. We had these little bar towels, these kind of like tartan bar towels on the stage.

I shoved one of those down the front of my waistband. And then I was very, very coy and very fey. Oh, I'm totally naked under here, everybody. What? I guess what I've got under here. Sean, do you have any of your pops? You know, Simon, you don't know this, but Sean, at one point decided he was going to be a pop star and he wrote a bunch of pop songs.

Yes, I did. Yes. And Sean, you don't have any of those handy, do you? Are you serious? Oh my God. Sean, just sing just for Simon because he's one of the great rock stars of all time. I love this. Ready?

Well, the lyrics are, isn't it rough enough without feeling the torture of love? Wow. There's music that could go to there. When she was five years old, my daughter Tallulah came up with this one. Oh my fucking God, I don't know what to do anymore. And I have to say, I prefer my daughters. Yeah, I get it. I get it.

I get it. But that wasn't bad. I'm being... Well, I'm not singing. I'm not doing it. It's so embarrassing. These guys will hear it, but nobody anywhere ever has heard these songs. And now the world will.

And now the world's going to hear. Yeah. I'm honored. Simon, I know that we've kept you too long and you've got to go. Again, what an unbelievable thrill to have you, man. Yeah, this is amazing. It's so great to meet you. You're such a massive fan of everything you've done all the way along.

The best luck of the new album. We didn't even get to the... Future past? To the boat crash. We didn't even get to the... We didn't even get to that. We'll have to do that next time. The nautical disaster.

Come back and I'll tell you all about the boat disaster. If you want me back. I would love it. We would love it. We want you back repeatedly. Thank you. Part two. Part two with Simon Laban is coming somewhat sometime soon.

And we're going to talk about the nautical disaster. In the meantime, we've just enjoyed having you so much, man. Yeah. Thanks for stopping by. It's been a huge pleasure. Thank you, fellas. Thank you, Simon. See you soon.

Come and see us on tour. We're really good. Yeah, for sure. Bye. Bye-bye. We're really good. Sean, you know, again, as an aspiring pop star, can you imagine young Sean Hayes, who had written...

He's got a handful of songs written on the backs of what I'm guessing are napkins. It's so... These songs are so... By the way, I wrote these songs with Jordan Roseman, who's known as DJ Earworm now. No way. Yeah. Do you know DJ Earworm? Of course, you did that.

The mash-ups. All those mash-ups. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So I wrote all these songs with him. And... By the way, this is so bizarre. I sent these songs to Bennett and Rob last night just to have, like, right?

Just so we could... I could play them for you guys. I didn't know Simon Laban, obviously, was going to be on today. No, and I didn't know that you would send them to Bennett and Rob. I did not connect with them. Oh, really? This was not a setup. No.

Oh, I thought maybe you heard that. But I remember when you were saying that you had them, you called me after we talked about them one time and you said, I found all those songs. Can we just hear a little bit, please? Okay, so... So we'll play, like, a little bit of the song. No, this is terrible. Hang on.

Shut up. Listen to my chipmunk vibrato. Shh. Cause I wanted to sound like the Peshman. Oh, my god. It felt like a goat getting hammered. Wait a second. Wait a second.

Wait a second. Wait a minute. Here comes the drop. Here comes the drop. That's right. And you're in shorts with suspenders, no shirt. Leader Hosun. There's the drop. Oh my god, it's so 80s.

Glowstick in the teeth, and now we're dancing. You didn't want to be professional. You were trying to be Andy Bell. Let's be real. You were trying to be a racer. I was totally trying to be a racer. And we can cut that now. That sounds pretty great. What are you singing? The words are so bad.

It's like, I walk the road. I walk the road. Between my happiness and despair. Like what? How old were you when you were writing this? 20. There should be some sort of reward program for diehard smart listeners.

How many songs are there? There's two that are done. And then two that are kind of... They should be able to get those two songs. Now, if I could say to you... No, anyway, no fucking anyway. Hang on a second. How happy would you be if we dropped your tunes?

But we brought in, and here are some of the names who are going to come in and sing and we re-record them. You ready? It's going to be you, Andy Bell, obviously. Oh my god, I would fucking die. I would love that. He's like my hero. Andy Bell's the lead singer of Erasure. And also we're going to get... We're just talking about from Erasure the other...

Oh, Vince Clark. Vince Clark, one of the founding members of the Pesh Mode and who founded Erasure. And Yazz. And also Yazz with Alison Moyet. So we're going to get Vince Clark. We're going to get Andy Bell, so everybody from Erasure. We're going to get...

How are you going to get these people? Martin Gore. Dave Gahan. And we're going to have Simon, and we're going to have... What's his name? I'm from... Who actually did Band-Aid 2 when they did a second one in 1989. Jimmy Somerville was on that.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. I don't know all this. Because... Will is like showing me a side of his Canadian youth. Do you have one of those mopeds with the raccoon tail and everything? No, I was... I wrote around like I was in Quadrophenia, you know, with the long parka.

No, I didn't have that. I was a huge Smiths fan, obviously. Huge, yeah. We listened to the exact same music going up. I know, I know. That's crazy. Wait, so yeah, no, but it was... I'm so glad we didn't play that while Simon was on.

We waited till it's up. I mean, Simon Laban, when I remember seeing that video for like Hungry Like the Wolf and Rio, and he talks about nerves, he was so confident. That was the other thing. Everybody in the band was so confident and cool, and they were kind of doing...

They were wearing mascara in their things, and they were just kind of like... They were just like... It's also the start of MTV. It was really the first time our generation really got a look at rock stars and what they do and how they do it. But they weren't a boy band in the sense that...

No offense, but they were actual musicians, and they were actually really good and handsome. They weren't like a corporate transaction. No, those guys formed... I mean, they all kind of came together, put ads out in Melody Maker magazine, and they met each other and had a bar,

and they formed the band, and they worked at the bar. They really earned it and wrote all these great songs. But it's a testament that that's why they have longevity, I think, right? Because they're the real deal. I'd love to hear their new album and see how their musical styles have changed.

I mean, they had hit records, hit records, hit records, and they break up, do other things, and they come back, and then like 10 years later have another huge smash hit record in the middle 90s with the wedding album. They just keep doing it. Yeah, it's a testament. You're going to their show when they come here, yeah?

Oh, for sure. I didn't know that they were at the Hollywood Bowl last year, and somebody said to me like, well, you're definitely going to Duran Duran, right? I was like, what? Yeah, I'm going to that. I'm going to Depeche Mode in September. I was out of town. We're going to Depeche Mode together. Depeche Mode is playing in September?

I know every word. I love Depeche Mode. And one of my biggest regrets, we both know. I think I'm looking at one right now with that sweater. Just look at your hair. One of my biggest regrets. We both swung hard at that one show.

You can't get a softball by us. Go ahead, Will. I mean, Jesus Christ. Thank God I'm batting clean up in this crew, you know what I mean? We're so eager. In 1995, God, I might have messed up on the date. But it's so hurtful still to this day.

I had the ability to go see the Smiths play. One of their only shows they ever did in Canada. And I couldn't go because I had to leave with my family. And I was like, can we just, can I just stay an extra day to see them? They were playing at Canada's Wonderland outside of Toronto. Wow. And I couldn't go see them.

In 95? Yeah, 85. Go be with my family for the summer. And then, of course, in two years, they released The Queen is Dead, then they break up after that. Thanks, Jim. Thanks, Alex. But anyway, I want to stay in their present

because I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about buy guns. Buy guns. Buy guns. Buy. Smart. Smart. Smart.

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