Duran Duran have announced a new Halloween-themed album which will see them cover Billie Eilish, Talking Heads and more.
‘Danse Macabre’ will be released on October 27 and feature a mix of new original songs, reworkings of songs from the band’s catalogue and covers.
Alongside versions of Eilish’s ‘Bury A Friend’ and Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer’ (featuring Måneskin bassist Victoria De Angelis), they will also share versions of The Rolling Stones‘ ‘Paint It Black’, The Specials‘ ‘Ghost Town’, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ ‘Spellbound’ and Cerrone’s ‘Supernature’.
To announce the album, the band have shared its title track, one of three original new songs for the project.
Keyboardist Nick Rhodes said: “The song ‘Danse Macabre’ celebrates the joy and madness of Halloween. It is the title track of our forthcoming album, which gathers together an unusual mix of cover versions, reworked Duran Duran songs and several new compositions. The idea was born out of a show we played in Las Vegas on October 31st, 2022.
“We had decided to seize the moment to create a unique, special event…the temptation of using glorious gothic visuals set to a dark soundtrack of horror and humour was simply irresistible.”
He added: “That evening inspired us to explore further and to make an album, using Halloween as the key theme. The record metamorphosed through a pure, organic process, and not only was it made faster than anything since our debut album, it has also resulted in something none of us could have ever predicted.
“Emotion, mood, style and attitude have always been at the heart of Duran Duran’s DNA, we search for light in the darkness and darkness in the light, and I feel we have somehow managed to capture the essence of all of that in this project.”
See the artwork and tracklist for ‘Danse Macabre’ below.
1. ‘Nightboat’
2. ‘Black Moonlight’
3. ‘Love Voudou’
4. ‘Bury A Friend’
5. ‘Supernature’
6. ‘Danse Macabre’
7. ‘Secret Oktober 31st’
8. ‘Ghost Town’
9. ‘Paint It Black’
10. ‘Super Lonely Freak’
11. ‘Spellbound’
12. ‘Psycho Killer’ (feat. Victoria De Angelis)
13. ‘Confession In The Afterlife’
Elsewhere, Andy Taylor has revealed that the reason he quit Duran Duran was due to “creative” reasons, and was “not personal”.
Taylor played with Duran Duran on-and-off between 1980 and 2006, and was set to reunite with them last year when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, but a setback in his treatment for stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer forced him to miss the occasion.
The post Duran Duran to cover Billie Eilish, Talking Heads on new Halloween-themed album ‘Danse Macabre’ appeared first on NME.
