METROPOLIS: Nile Rodgers Interview

The word ‘legend’ is being bandied around a lot in this Hot Press Metropolis Special, but it’s the only way to describe all the dance dons descending on Dublin 4 next month. Top of the pile in terms of hits penned – think ‘Le Freak’, ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘We Are Family’, ‘Like A Virgin’, ‘Upside Down’ and ‘Get Lucky’ for starters – is Nile Rodgers, who even though it’s only 9am, tells us he’s been up and at ‘em for a few hours.
“Good morning Stuart, it’s a beautiful day!” he says with almost indecent cheeriness. “I’ve been spending the morning working on a stage version of my life. As with the book I wrote four years ago, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story Of Family, Disco And Destiny, it deals with why and how I became a professional songwriter. When I first heard this new stuff called ‘disco’, it was almost as if I’d discovered the fountain of youth or the pot of gold! I was a hippy and so not that guy, but as Donna Summer’s ‘Love To Love You Baby’ came through the PA in a club I knew what had to be done.”
There are musical workaholics and then there’s Nile Rodgers, who survives on power naps, more often than not taken on one of the 200-plus planes he’s seen the inside of this year.
“Sleep? What’s that?” he laughs. “We’ve been working overtime on the new Chic record, for which there’s one last track to do. It involves a large collaboration and that all has to come together at the exact right time. We are an organic band, so everybody has to be in the room together. Trying to work out that schedule is ridiculous!”
While he doesn’t want to “jinx anything” by naming the people he has on stand-by for the grand album finale, Nile is eager to tell us about the musical pals he’s already lured into the Chic studio.
“We’ve got Elton John who is really, really fantastic. There are two versions of the song I did with him, the second of which he’s yet to hear. I recorded it originally in 4/4 and him and Janelle Monae did this great duet based on a band I used to love back in the freestyle house days, The Family Stand. I have Elton and Janelle singing an octave apart exactly together. They’re completely in sync, it’s amazing.
“I have to say I adore Janelle Monae. We played together on the Ellen show with Duran Duran and I was in heaven. She’s a pure joy and a super talent who came in and nailed her parts on the album. I just don’t know many people like her. We’ve Michael McDonald from the Doobie Brothers killing it on another track; he sounds like he’s 19 again! I wrote a song with an Irish lad, Declan Lennon, who goes by the name of Krystal Klear. He’s a DJ who I met down in Ibiza when Chic played the Hard Rock Hotel there.”
What about the U2 collaboration that was discussed last year when Nile hung out at Forbidden Fruit with co- presidents of the Irish Chic Fan Club, Bono and The Edge?
“It needs to happen for real, right?” Rodgers laughs. “U2 and their families have been to more Chic gigs – 10 or 11 at this stage – than anyone else I know.”
Who out of them would be the best dancer because, as we know, everybody loses their shit at a Chic show.
“Yes, they do! The Edge has some impressive moves. There’s so many children between them now that they bring the party with them. There was a proud moment in November 2013 when the guys performed ‘Get Lucky’ with me at the (RED) Auction After Party. Things got seriously funky that night! I was at the Madison Square Garden show recently where Jimmy Fallon and The Roots came out and played with U2 – it was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. At this stage they’re like brothers to me and I have to get them in the studio!”Someone else Mr. R is inordinately fond of is Lady Gaga who features on the reboot of ‘I Want Your Love’ that designer Tom Ford used to showcase his Spring/Summer 2016 collection.
“I love her!” Nile coos. “She is so nice, so introspective and so damned talented. It’s probably like when Bowie first came out into the world because in a way she’s walking art; the visuals are so strong. The first time we worked together she had this outrageous outfit on. I said, ‘Jesus Christ, you come to the studio looking like that?’ The girl doesn’t do jeans and t-shirts. She lives it like Dolly Parton who when we first met told me, ‘When I go out to get my newspaper I look like this.’ Gaga’s musical capabilities too are extraordinary. Then there’s the acting side of things – she’s been getting great reviews for American Horror Story and would make an amazing Bond villain.”
Mark Ronson told Hot Press that when his stepdad heard ‘Uptown Funk’ for the first time he went, “That’s so good it has to be Chic!”
“You’re kidding? Ah, that’s really sweet. I adore Mark; we’ve never had a bad day together which is good going when you consider I first met him when he was six. We worked together recently on the Duran Duran record and talked till we were hoarse about music. I’m hoping that schedules permitting Mark, myself and Giorgio Moroder can hang out at Metropolis. Giorgio and Chic performed together over the summer and had an absolute blast. You’ve got to respect the man who by writing ‘Love To Love You Baby’ and ‘I Feel Love’ changed the trajectory of dance music. Mark’s taken it in some interesting directions too!”