Tough questions from Duran Duran's Warren Cuccurullo
Guitar Player, July 1993

(Interview) Chuck Crisafulli.

"Are you kicking ass, or are you a lazy wimp?" That crucial question is the basis of guitarist Warren Cuccurullo's work ethic. "You have your idols, and you always try to get up to their standards. Frank Zappa and Bowie and Prince give me the stuff I measure myself against."

In fact, Cuccurullo's first major job was as a second pair of hands for Zappa in the Joe's Garage bands. That gig was followed by a plunge into radio-friendly new wave with drummer Terry Bozzio's Missing Persons during the early '80s. But since '86, Cuccurullo has found steady employment adding his crafty touches to Duran Duran's techno-pop.

These days, the group is out to prove that there's a serious musical pulse behind the old heartthrob image. Cuccurullo and bandmates--Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, and John Taylor--are currently touring in support of an eponymous Capitol release, and they're packing houses with, of all things, an acoustic lineup. "I use a Gibson Chet Atkins, and John plays a Yamaha plug-in acoustic bass," says Cuccurullo. "Nick plays some synths, but no sequencers, and we've got a cello and two violins. I adapted and arranged our material for this ensemble, and it's the most musically fulfilled I've ever been."

The inspiration came from Rio--the city, not the album. "I'm an electronic guitarist from head to toe, with the biggest Bradshaw rack in existence, but in the last five years I've discovered Brazilian music, and it hits me hard in the heart," Cuccurullo explains. "With guitar and a simple melody in the hands of someone like Milton Nascimento, every song becomes a music lesson. Working with him on [the new album's] 'Breath After Breath' was a dream come true, just like when I got to work with Frank."

Cuccurullo reports that the band's acoustic shows don't skimp on entertainment value. "We hadn't performed live in almost five years, and now we're dying to get onstage every night. It's semi-acoustic, really. We play like a rock band, dressed to the tits, running around sweating. It's a blast. There just aren't any power chords."

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