Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor left the band for the second time in 2006 during the recording sessions for the ‘Reportage’ album. The record never saw the light of day, but anticipation is building that we may finally see the ‘lost’ Duran record being released in the near future. As one door slammed shut for Andy Taylor, another one opened for Dominic ‘Dom’ Brown, an English session guitarist and solo artist.
Dom’s first official engagement with the band was standing in at a live show for an ill Andy Taylor in late 2004 before getting the gig full-time in 2006. Although never being an ‘official’ Duran Duran band member to this day, Dom co-wrote 13 of the 15 tracks on the widely acclaimed 2011 ‘All You Need is Now’ LP that was produced by Mark Ronson and four of the songs on the much loved ‘Paper Gods’ record from 2015. Dom has also released four solo albums and is the band leader in Uncovered – The Electric Rock Experience which features Duran’s backing vocalist Anna Ross.
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The band are enjoying its finest spell of success since the mid-1980s and ahead of some major summer gigs across in the UK, Ireland and Europe with Nile Rodgers, CLASH caught up with Dom from his recording studios in south west London, who recently celebrated 20 years in the group. We chatted about those early days in Duran Duran, auditioning in front of Liam Gallagher (and Liam’s Mum), playing Madison Square Garden and the late, great David Lynch.
I was curious to know about the initial reaction of fans towards Dom when they knew that Andy was no longer part of the band. All in all, it seemed to be a pretty smooth transition. “I was only aware of very positive feedback, right from the off. The band were encouraging about that, and I remember Wendy [Laister] in management saying to me that the fans really had taken to me and were happy. I’m sure there were hardcore Andy fans who may have been less happy, but that’s just the way it is, isn’t it? Quite a bit of pressure when you’re filling in or replacing a principal member of the band, it’s tricky, yeah.”
In terms of early influences, Dom’s introduction to the rock classics came from an unusual source. Brown explains, “I kind of fell in love with music before I had a guitar, around eleven years old. This is going back to when I was at primary school in Exeter. I had a PE teacher who was a bit of a hippie. He would listen to Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and particularly Pink Floyd. So, at the beginning of the lesson, he’d put a record on for us to warm up and loosen up to. He put on ‘Welcome to the Machine’ by Pink Floyd. I was totally transfixed and it just blew my mind. At that point I thought there’s something there, and it wasn’t a particularly guitar-heavy song.”
With all of this classic rock exposure, Dom would not have had Duran Duran on his radar at all. In fact, he had no clue that the Taylors in the band were completely unrelated. “I assumed they were brothers, or maybe that they were at least cousins or something”, he laughs. “I did listen to [Duran] because my sisters were fans. So, it was on in the background. I was very aware of it.
I think from all of those bands at the time they had more guitars in Duran than in the likes of Spandau [Ballet]. When you’re a kid, you see those MTV videos and it’s pretty mad. I was very aware of their status and their legacy. When I first got that call, I was like, yeah, let me think about it for three seconds here. It was a big moment for me, a life changing thing, really. It’s crazy to think it’s been my main gig for over 20 years now.”
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Over this time, Dom has built up a strong bond and friendship with bass player John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor from Duran, to the point where there could be a future side project that involves all three. “I’m always recording stuff on my phone and I’ve got a few ideas that I’ve been working on with John and Roger. It’s a very sort of slow progressing thing. I guess it could potentially be an album, but I just don’t know when we’ll get around to actually finishing it.”
“Every time we do a show, we have a warm up room where the three of us jam. If we come up with something that’s really grooving, I’ll record it on the phone. Then we listen back to it and ideas we like we further develop. This is how we kind of built it up. It’s like backstage recordings, it’s fun.”
Before he landed the Duran gig, Dom was still working his craft with a multitude of bands across various genres. One such opportunity was with Appleton, the duo that sisters Nicole and Natalie formed amidst an All Saints hiatus. In 2003, Nicole was in a relationship with Liam Gallagher. Liam seemed to have landed the job of vetting the potential Appleton guitarists, one of which included Dom.
He recalls, “Liam was literally sitting on a couch with his Mum, Peggy, about eight feet away from me. I had to learn four or five songs, wait my turn and go on. As soon as I started playing I got that warmth from him. I finished my audition and he got up to leave, turned around and said, “great job, you’re the man!” I went on to do some recording with Liam but unfortunately it never saw the light of day.”
Another collaborator’s name that came up in conversation with Dom was David Lynch, who had recently passed away at the time of this interview. In 2011 at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles, Lynch directed a special Duran performance that would be known as ‘Unstaged’ as part of the ‘All You Need is Now’ album promotion. I asked Dom about this interaction and about Lynch’s legacy as a creative brilliance.
“David was there at the Theatre and you were very aware of his presence. He had this little control room out the back where he would be doing his visual. Definitely a bit of an eccentric genius. I was a huge fan. He was a totally unique force of nature. His work was very abstract and inspiring, mind-boggling almost. It was also dark; you needed therapy after watching some of his movies [laughs]. He had this amazing way of tapping into dystopian ideas, and somehow bringing them into a form that was accessible and commercially successful.”
Despite co-writing a large chunk of the music on Duran Duran’s ‘All You Need is Now’ and ‘Paper Gods’, Dom stepped aside on 2021’s ‘Future Past’ for Blur guitarist Graham Coxon. He has mixed feelings about how that unfolded. “I was disappointed in a way, but I understood what their aim was. They wanted to raise the profile of the band by having somebody from a big band, like Graham. It’s just the way it worked out. Graham did a show with us, and we got on really well. It was great to play alongside him. He’s a very different style of player. What’s the word? it’s quite unhinged and edgy.”
Although Dom has recently played a sold-out, Hallowe’en-themed concert at the legendary Madison Square Gardens, one particular Duran gig was even more memorable. “For me, it has got to be Hyde Park in 2022. Purely because it’s my hometown and it was a sold out show to 70,000 people. The energy and the feeling of playing Hyde Park on a beautiful summer’s night with the sun just setting was amazing. It was the hottest day of the year. Nile [Rodgers] had just played and I remember just stepping out onto the stage and looking at that incredible scene!”
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In terms of Duran material, Dom picks out one particular Duran song that tops them all to play; ‘Ordinary World’. “it’s a beautiful song. It’s got the lovely original guitars from Warren [Cuccurollo] on there and it’s a deep emotional song. It really connects with people. I get to play my own little solo in the middle of it which I look forward to every night. It really builds. It’s an epic song.”
Although Dom was tight – lipped about any imminent Duran releases, the band’s journey doesn’t look to be ending any time soon with them having as much relevance and success as they’ve possibly ever had. “It certainly has that feel to it that they’ll be around for a long time to come. For the last three or four years, it’s almost back to what it was in the heyday. The band has said the last tour was one of the most successful tours since the 80s.”
“The thing I like about it is they’re still making music. They’re not just banging out old songs, maybe trying a twist on an old song or writing new material. They’re very driven, and they’re always passionate, which is good for me, it’s refreshing.”
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Words + Photos: Lee Campbell
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