May 01, 2008, 3:30 PM ET

Gary Graff, Detroit
Duran Duran and hot producer Mark Ronson will join forces on July 2 at Paris' La Cigale for a special concert collaboration.
Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes tells Billboard.com that the group and Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Christina Aguilera) will work on "a piece" for the Smirnoff Experience show that will incorporate songs from the group's latest album, "Red Carpet Massacre," and some of its older favorites, along with Ronson's "Version."
"He's going to do some remixing with them," Rhodes explains. "We're gonna remix in the studio first and see where we get to, then we're going to deconstruct them again and play them together, the different versions of these songs.
"It's very exciting. We can't what to see where it leads to."
Rhodes says Ronson and Duran Duran have only spoken on the telephone so far. "We've discussed ideas, which songs we might do, what he might want to do with certain things," Rhodes notes. "I think he's very, very talented, and I really am thrilled with the idea."
The Ronson hook-up is just one of several projects on Duran Duran's plate at the moment. The group just started the North American leg of its "Red Carpet Massacre" tour, which includes a 20-minute mid-show "electro" section on which the four founding members -- Rhodes, frontman Simon Le Bon, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor -- play several songs on synthesizer only.A Duran Duran photo book is also in the offing, according to Rhodes. "We've got a lot of great stuff in our archives from over the years, and I think it's time we put something out," he says.
The group also plans to launch a new game at its web site, in which Rhodes says users will be able to create an avatar that can travel around "a virtual world...wandering around these amazing digital structures." It's expected to go up within the new few months.
And further on the horizon Rhodes says the group hopes to release "Reportage," the album it scrapped in favor of "Red Carpet Massacre" that features the last work original guitarist Andy Taylor did with the band. "We want it to come out one day," the keyboardist says. "It's a really interesting record...more of an edgy, indie rock album, obviously going back to our earlier roots. There are a lot of songs I'm very proud of that I'd like people to hear."
Courtesy Billboard