Paul Berrow
manager 1980-1985

The Devils album made Italian Duran fan and TDGD reader Christian D’Antonio curious to know more about the early years of Duran Duran. He was fortunate enough to be able to contact Paul Berrows, Duran’s manager from 1980-1985 along with his brother Michael, and ask him a few questions.

Any thoughts or memories on the first day Nick and John came to the Rum Runner to ask for a rehearsal room? Was it January 1980?

We met them in 1979. On the 12^th December 1980 Tritec Music signed with EMI for distribution.

Had you already heard about the band at that point (since they were playing in Birmingham since ‘78)? Were you interested in managing a band at that point?

We were actively looking for a band to manage; that is why we let bands have rehearsal space above the Rum Runner. UB40 rehearsed at the Rum Runner and The Beat shot ‘Mirror In The Bathroom’ video there.

Was it just the nucleus of Nick, JT and Roger? I heard though you had an argument with the then-guitarist and singer and they decided to leave. Can you confirm this?

Yes that was the nucleus, as it turned out. There were no arguments with the guitarist... he just left a note to say he was leaving. The guitarist needed more time to improve and we did not have the time as finances were pressed.

When you reached the deal with DD, what basically happened was they just used the club as rehearsal and auction space. Is that all? It was many months before they actually played their first date. How did you spend that long amount of time?

Rehearsing

Was TRITEC a name already existing at that point? Where did it come from?

The manager at the R.R. came up with it. 3 facets of a diamond.

Do you remember thoughts and feelings about the Andy and Simon auditions? Can you confirm the band never played live before their arrival?

The band had already played live. (Duran’s first gig was in 1979, in the Nick, John, Stephen Duffy, Simon Colley line-up – ed.)

To my knowledge the period prior to July 16^th 1980 (their first gig in the ‘fab five’ line-up at the Rum Runner) was really contrived and nothing was casual; was it really conceived as the grand debut? Did you already have attention from the local press at that point? Was the gig a success?

The fashion of the time dictated that everything was an event.

All the bios have a gap in between the first gig and the Hazel O’Connor tour. What happened in that summer? Did they ever play in Edinburgh? I think you decided to go into a studio in London? Were there other dates? You Berrows, were you paying all the expenses?

Yes we were carrying very considerable expenses, especially doing the Hazel tour. (One of the Berrows mortgaged his house to pay for the support slot on the Hazel O’Connor tour – ed.)

There’s a lot of confusion about those first sessions in London. Did you intend to release a first single on your independent label? According to JT’s site, several copies were even pressed.

We were thinking about it but we really wanted a global deal to deliver the marketing ideas we had globally.

The support tour, how did they approach you? Were the band signed before the tour ended?

We approached Hazel’s management. The band were not signed, indeed we had been refused by several labels before the support tour.