This is an interview with Simon from a recent Elle (UK).

Rock of ages
With Duran Duran's noisy new album out soon, Danny Scott chats to old romantic Simon LeBon

Danny: There's only you and Nick Rhodes left from the original line-up. Weren't you tempted to just jack it all in? You certainly don't need the cash...

Simon: No, we've still got music in us. I remember when I used to go and see bands when I was about 17 - The Stranglers, Generation X, The Damned. I used to get this incredible buzz from the music. I still feel the same way - it's a physical and emotional thrill. That's what drives us on.

Danny: How's life in Putney?

Simon: I like Putney and I like Britain. If I moved to the States, I'd probably end up going down the Rod Stewart road. For reasons of maintaining my personal integrity, I prefer to stay here. It means I can hang on to my fuckin' sanity.

Danny: Duran Duran used to be absolutely mega-bloody-huge in the States, didn't they?

Simon: Yeah. Things have changed slightly. The last album didn't do so well. Having said that, we are rehearsing for our first tour in ages and it will start over there.

Danny: It's a long way from those early New Romantic days.

Simon: I wasn't really a New Romantic.

Danny: Yeah right, and Yasmin goes to bed in rollers and a nylon vest!

Simon: It's true. I was more into the punk look - brothel creepers and leopard skin trousers. The New Romantic thing came about because I wrote the line in Planet Earth: 'Like some New Romantic looking for the TV sound'. It was just a phrase Robert Elms had used for this new kind of music. Little did I know it would become a minor cultural phenomenon.

Danny: Given the choice, wouldn't you have preferred the '70s or the '90s as the decade of Duran? They seem intrinsically more interesting than the '80s.

Simon: No. Our music was in tune with those times. It's not often that that happens.

Danny: You reportedly disappeared to Thailand recently because you'd been snapped with some young 'boiler'.

Simon: No, that's a load of rubbish.

Danny: What really happened then?

Simon: Nothing.

Danny: C'mon!

Simon: It was nothing.

Danny: How do people normally react when they see you out?

Simon: I usually manage to give off the right signals - sort of 'I'm not very interesting, don't bother with me'. I'm not aggressive, I just let them know there are people far more famous than me to look at.

Danny: Do you and Yasmin ever do the shopping together?

Simon: Yeah of course we do.

Danny: Just like a normal couple, eh?

Simon: Yeah.

Danny: How much is a pint of milk?

Simon: Er...we get it by the litre. It costs about the same as petrol, doesn't it? No, no it's cheaper than petrol. About 30p.

"Electric Bararella", Duran Duran's new single, is released in early February, followed later that month by the album Medazzaland.