ANDY TAYLOR: "I'VE GONE TOTALLY MAD!"

Cor. Who'd have believed it? Could Duran Duran's Andy Taylor really have changed from a fresh-faced Birmingham new romantic, with a ton of make-up and a tablecloth round his neck, to this "wild man of rock"? Indeed he could--this is apparently his "image" for his brand new solo career, about which Bitz knows, ahem, not very much at all. After all, members of Duran Duran hardly phone up the Bitz office every ten minutes, do they?

Brrrringg...Cripes!

"Haaaaalloo. It's Andy Taylor here..."

Andy Taylor? Of Duran Duran? Phoning all the way from the U.S. of "A"? Of course.

"I've done three songs for this film, American Anthem," Andy drawls. "'Take It Easy' (the American single which will probably come out here quite soon) and an instrumental song are in the film and the other one's just for the soundtrack--to pay the rent! I wrote 'Take It Easy' on a Saturday, recorded it on the Sunday and by Monday people were saying it should be a hit! That's rock'n'roll! That's what I wanted to do actually, a rock'n'roll song. Wait until the solo album! That'll be, as they say out here in L.A., awesome! I'm writing everything with Steve Jones (who used to be in the Sex Pistols), my friend and ally of several years. He's the best rhythm guitarist in the world."

Apart from that he's been adding "guitar licks" to a song called "Mad About You" by a singer called Belinda Carlisle (who used to be in the Go-Gos) and he recently produced Love and Money's almost-hit "Candybar Express"--even if they weren't too keen on the idea.

"I don't care," he says, "as long as I got paid, ha ha! I did enjoy making it--it's a good record and they have talent..."

And?

"...I would never," he sniggers wickedly, "work with them again in my life!"

Though he is planning loads of other things outside Duran Duran because, he says, he needs the variety. "The Power Station was halfway, but now I've gone totally mad! Imagine Nick talking to John," Andy hoots, mimicking Nick's artistic titter: "'Andy's gone nuts, he's recording tracks live'". And John would say, he adds in a slightly more gruff voice, "'That's alright, they're all nuts in California'".

Which is where Andy (tucked up in bed as he speaks--"I do all my best work in bed") is phoning from. "The only thing in California that's rubbed off on me is the decent food, the fresh food. You can grow any kind of plant here--loads of different fruits. There's a lot of fruitcakes as well, haw haw haw!"

Life is obviously rather more jolly in sunny Malibu than back at home in Britain.

"Yeah, the biggest problem," he sighs, "is the unemployment. My brother's been going round from job to job to job. One guy laid him off and said 'well, I had three choices and your brother can afford it'. And so they let my brother go."

That makes him angry, he says. But not half as angry as when Duran Duran were asked to play a concert in South Africa.

"They offered us four million dollars," he says. "We said 'no way'. I mean, everything people have said about Duran Duran would be true if we played Sun City."

And with those very sensible words, Bitz reckons it's time to hang up and get on with some work. Bye then...

"I thought," says Andy, "you'd ask me when the new Duran Duran album's going to be out."

Oh, alright then. When's the new Duran Duran album coming out?

"I don't know."

Very funny.

"We're working on it, though. I just got back from two weeks in Europe during Duran stuff, actually. Everything's well. The traumas are over and it's back to business." Though, he confirms, without Roger.

"I'm going to miss him," he sighs. "He fitted in so well because he was so steady--his character wasn't flash." And, he says, even if he wasn't the greatest drummer in the world, "that was Duran Duran--it tok five incompetent people to make one competent sound".

And, with those very sensible words, Bitz reckons...

'Andy Junior (his 22 month old son) is learning to talk--he's learnt things like pig, dog, cat and if you ask him 'what does your daddy do?' he says 'ROCK'N'ROLL!' He's a genius. It's scary to see how quick kids are. They know things, like which nanny's softer than the other. And if Daddy spanks you, go to Mummy. And everybody notices! Everybody says 'what have you been doing to that poor child?'! They know how to get a lot of attention like screaming and stuff. But I've got that one down to an art now. I just hang him upside down by his own legs."

And with those...

"His favourite thing in the morning to wake me up is to pour the remains of the tea, which is now cold, over me. He thinks this is funny! And then he jumps on my head and laughs and pulls my hair--he thinks he can ride my hair like he rides a horse. I can't wait to see him get Nick with that one--he's going to get all the dye in his hair all over the pillows..."

Click brrrr...