Nick Rhodes - Brief Article - Interview

Interview, August, 2000 by Trey Parker

THE KING OF POTTY-MOUTHED HUMOR GETS THE DIRT ON DURAN DURAN'S POP TRASH

THEY PARKER: Hey, Nick. I'm calling from Hawaii. I brought your new album, Pop Trash, with me, and everyone loves it.

NICK RHODES: Well, thank God for that. So let's talk about flowers and gardens and laughing velociraptors. [both laugh] How's Hawaii?

TP: Oh, it's great. I always come here, and within a day I feel like I've been here a month. How long did it take to make the new album?

NR: Well, kinda six months during an eighteen-month period, because Simon's so lazy, you know; we get a song done and he thinks he can go on holiday. One of the first things we finished was "Someone Else Not Me," and we figured we couldn't let the standard drop on the other songs 'cause it'd just spoil it. I loathe when you hear something on the radio and you bring it home and that's the only good track.

TP: Right. Did you guys ever go away to record an album before?

NR: Yeah, the third album was probably the most expensive album ever. We started off in the south of France in the Rolling Stones' mobile studio, then moved to England, went to Monserrat, and ended up having to go to Australia to finish it. It's actually a dreadful way to make a record, but that was the 1980s, bless them.

TP: This is the band's twentieth anniversary?

NR: Yeah, technically, I suppose. The first album came out in 1980.

TP: Wow. I think it was 1984 when everyone around me first heard of you.

NR: That was a pretty good year for us, it's fair to say. Looking at the music scene now, I feel like it's desperately in need of the next movement. But I don't know where it's gonna come from. I can't figure out where all these boy bands come from.

TP: The earliest one I can think of is New Kids on the Block.

NR: Boy, they've got a lot to answer for, huh?

TP: Oh yeah. I can't think of what music has really defined the '90s. I really think you guys defined the '80s.

NR: Well, in the '90s, obviously, there was grunge. I think Nirvana were very important. And then house music. Although it really did start sort of in the mid-'80s, I think house was the predominant force in music in the '90s. And rap, and all the mutations of it.

TP: Do you ever wonder if each album will be your last?

NR: It's gone through my mind many times, but then we end up getting together and playing around for a while and usually something happens--there's a spark, and we end up with a piece of music that we all like enough to want to finish.

TP: How long are you on tour for?

NR: Until September 3rd in America. We're playing a lot of new stuff, so I always like to gauge the reaction of the audience. If you get a bad one, you just shut it down really quickly--"No, we're never playing that ever again." It'll be interesting for us because of this new record company. We sold our soul to the mouse with the big ears and the sharp teeth.

TP: Is there a theme to this new album?

NR: If there's anything that runs through this album, it's probably about the various stages of deterioration of the human condition. [both laugh] Well, Trey, I think I should let you get back to your sunshine and the surfing velociraptors.

TP: Well, let me know when you're gonna be in New York.

NR: Yeah, we'll hook up and cause some trouble.

TP: Yeah definitely. Burn something down.

Trey Parker is the co-creator of South Park. Boys on film: Duran