Rock icon Jim Kerr reckoned there was as much likelihood of him becoming the first Scotchman to orbit the moon when he first reached for the stars in the late 1970s.
So he finds it hard to believe Simple Minds are still Alive and Kicking exactly 45 years now.
Jim and a bunch of schoolmates had formed their first short-lived punk outfit Johnny & The Self Abusers in early 1977, with them then morphing into Simple Minds the following year.
Does Jim find himself going for trips down memory lane these days, considering the fact that the band is fast approaching the half-century landmark?
“I think about them a lot actually. There’s been long periods of my life were I really didn’t enjoy looking back,” he told me, pausing to laugh, “because everything seemed to be in front of you.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy it, but I never made time for it.
“But obviously as the band goes on, people want to know the beginning of the story.
“And even though I no longer live in Glasgow, when I am back there, the family home is only minutes from where I went to school – so every day driving past that you would think about your pals.
“And our band essentially was a school band. Of the first line-up of Simple Minds, I think four of the guys were in the same class.”
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions drummer Stephen Irvine was also at school with them.
Stephen roared laughing when he recently told me that he’d unwisely turned down the opportunity to join Jim’s first band because he wasn’t into the same type of music at the time, such as The Ramones.
“I have to say, it’s been a sort of a remarkable school for the amount of bands considering no one can remember having a music lesson or music teacher,” Jim added.
“The guy in Travis was there. Some of Texas came out of that school. Obviously Stevie with Lloyd Cole. We liked Stevie. And Simple Minds.”
Even the future manager of Hue & Cry was in school with them too. While Simple Minds’ first drummer Brian McGee would later join German synth-pop outfit Propaganda.
“It’s quite a story in itself. And, again, there’s some pride in that,” Jim continued.
“So the answer to your question is: yes, I do think about the origin of the band.
“I think about how unlikely it all was, because we, Simple Minds anyway, had never even met anyone who had been in a band, or wrote their own songs – never mind made a record. It wasn’t done then. This was, of course, pre punk.
“You had as much chance of making that your reality as you did being an astronaut.”
It’s even more astonishing how Jim was able to put himself front and centre considering he grew up with a stutter.
“Actually, in some of the earlier Simple Minds interviews it’s still quite obvious,” Jim explained.
“As a young kid at primary school it was really bad.
“God forbid, I’m not going to go into any of this thing of, ‘I was bullied’, or anything like that…”
He chuckled again before adding: “Because at school in Glasgow, no matter if you had freckles you got stick; if you had glasses you got stick; if you had red hair you got stick.
“So, of course, I got stick.
“As a result of having the stammer, I didn’t really speak much at all – unless I was really safe with the people around me for the obvious reasons: you got stick, or embarrassed, or shy, or whatever.
“Of course, that was a handicap. But I’m starting to think now that the roots of what I do and what I’ve become are in that.
“Because in not speaking much you paid a lot of attention; you listened a lot more to what was said. You weren’t at ease speaking. So, you were maybe studying the body language of someone.
“And then also, because I didn’t speak, one of the things I liked to do was write little stories, that was my way of communicating. There was a loud voice in my head.
“And I think it was that voice that – fast forward all those years later – lead to writing songs and lead to having a vibrant imagination, because you spent time on your own. So all of that, I think, has been a benefit.”
Jim added: “But you’re quite right the idea of being shy and not wanting to speak and then throwing yourself not only into a band, but in the frontline – it doesn’t add up, logically.
“But somewhere deep down, I think it quite happens a lot: where people that throw themselves into public life are somehow striking out a previous inhibition.”
How was Jim able to transform himself from a shy teen with a stutter into such a charismatic performer?
“Well, the confidence comes from the music,” he explained.
“I mean, I’m the biggest fan of the music. I don’t need to feel arrogant saying that because I don’t write the music! So it’s not like I’m blowing my own trumpet. I love the music. The power of the music fills me up (with confidence).
“It’s still me, but it’s a version of me that is not there off stage. Or, feels the need to be off stage!” He paused again to laugh. “So that power comes from the music.”
Reflecting back on the 1980s-90s when Simple Minds were one of the biggest bands on the planet, Jim modestly reflected: “It was tremendously exciting.
“When we started out, we imagined we’d be an art rock band, a cult band.
“And for the first four or five albums that was the way it was going and the way things were looking.
“But our forte was playing live and we started to get a real following…”
It all made Jim feel it was only going to be a matter of time before Simple Minds “would end up having hits”.
“And then these other huge pieces of fortune came into play,” he continued, “things that you could never imagine.
“Live Aid would come along and ask us to play in Philadelphia, or this guy who’s writing a movie called The Breakfast Club has got a song (Don’t You Forget About Me) and he wanted Simple Minds involved.
“You can’t countenance for all of the hands of fate.
“And before we knew it, along with our contemporaries, we became one of the noted bands of our generation.”
Jim mentioned their strong point was playing in front of an audience.
Yet Simple Minds didn’t commercially release that many live albums during the height of their career.
It goes without saying that Live in the City Of Lights, which was a number one hit album on its releases in 1987 was one of the best records of that decade – full stop.
“You’re right. I think what happened was, we were a bit late. We could’ve had a live album out earlier,” he said.
“For a band, very much a live band, we always had new versions of songs and there was a great vibe – and it would’ve worked earlier.”
Everybody just thought back then that “a live album was something you put out” between a lull in studio albums.
“But the problem was, we were so prolific with the studio albums,” he went on.
“I think in the first four years we’d made five albums and yet toured constantly.”
Simple Minds’ Wikipedia page will tell you there have technically been seven live albums in total, including the superb Acoustic in Concert (2017).
But part from the Live in the City of Angels in 2019, which proves that Jim and (Electric) Co are still very much on top of their game, the majority of the other live releases have been mostly compilations, or fans only limited edition releases via their website, etc.
Live in the City of Lights is still hands down their best live album, but there was no guarantees it was going to become such a watershed moment.
“The first night was just full of gremlins. But that’s why we did the first night,” Jim recalled about some “technical problem” when they performed the first of two nights at Le Zenith in Paris during the summer of 1986.
“It upped the ante the next night. The second night thankfully went like a dream. It went great.
“I think it’s a lasting testimony to that period in the band’s career. It’s got a great vibe.”
It’s been three long years since I last interviewed Jim when he was promoting the Live in the City of Angels double album.
But he was still able to recall chatting with me about his first three family holidays in row as a child being in Bray.
“To my parents it was a pilgrimage – you had to go to Ireland,” he told me the other day.
Jim’s father used to tell him, “You’ve got to see Dublin.”
“We weren’t any fake Paddies. We were ‘Glasgow’. But Ireland was a cornerstone of something and it will continue to be. It was great to, later in life, spend time there,” he said.
Jim lived in Dublin for several years in the early 1990s, as did the band’s guitarist Charlie Burchill.
“I was with Charlie’s son the other day and he’s showing me his Irish passport,” Jim said.
“They were born and bred in Ireland for the first ten years of their lives.”
Jim would’ve jumped at the chance to get an Irish passport himself, saying, “It would have been an honour.”
Unfortunately, Jim didn’t qualify for one under the Granny Rule. As he told me during our last chat, “There’s Irish roots in the family on both sides. My dad’s grandfather – listen to me, I’m sounding like one of those Americans now! – had a cobbler shop in Dublin.”
Those big Irish concerts in ’83, ’86, and ’89 – to paraphrase the lyrics on New Gold Dream – are obviously the big stand out moments.
They’d played with U2 and Eurythmics at the Phoenix Park in 1983, Croke Park in 1986 and then there was the memorable RDS concert in 1989.
But Jim also has very fond memories of “the first ones” too, like their 1981 gig at Dublin’s legendary SFX venue, which was knocked down to make way for apartments in the noughties.
“And then of course with the band, it goes without saying, those first visits over to play in Ireland were genuinely some of the most magical nights for us – ever,” he said.
“When was we turned up at St Francis Xavier Hall, we didn’t know what was going on. I think we’d done three nights there – it was just jumping. And this was just as the first few records were coming.
“And then going to Galway and going to Cork. And the bond, you know, we’d never played there but it instantly had a feeling of home.
“So those things don’t leave you. And I’ve got to add Belfast to that as well of course. Jeez, I mean Belfast was really something.”
Jim laughed when I asked him about Simple Mind’s album New Gold Dream being an obvious influence on U2’s Unforgettable Fire album.
“Well, I’m not going to fall into that f*****g trap pal. That’s for them to say, not me,” he said modestly, laughing again.
“But the guys have been very generous and they’ve mentioned New Gold Dream.”
In fact, only two years ago Bono stated: “Without the (Simple Minds) album, I don’t believe there would have been an Unforgettable Fire or a Joshua Tree.”
Simple Minds’ immediate follow-up albums Sparkle in the Rain (1984) and Once Upon A Time (1985) were also hugely seminal records, too.
Jim added about U2: “They’ve been very generous. The last gig I went to, they were playing New Gold Dream before they went on stage, which was beautiful.”
In our last interview Jim told me about his time living in Ireland, saying: “Unfortunately, it wasn’t the greatest time in my life at that time. So, I don’t really think I made the most of it.”
Asking him to further expand on that statement he told me now: “It’s fairly easy to explain. The move to Ireland, at the time, I was married to Patsy (Kensit) and we had the kid and we were looking to have more.
“And we thought then, ‘Ireland, that would be a great place to bring the kids up’.
“So, you know, that would have been (going) down that path.
“But, low and behold, it didn’t work out. And, from that point of view, that’s why I say it wasn’t the best time, because that was tough to go through, as anyone who goes through a split knows. So it was more to do with that.”
Nevertheless, Jim still has the “greatest memories” of Ireland, he insisted.
And he is now looking forward to returning to our shores for a gig at Dublin’s 3Arena in April and then returning for a gig in Belfast next August.
“No matter what you did in your walk of life, people have suffered badly these two years,” he concluded.
“We’ve missed being together; we’ve missed the band; we’ve missed our crew. We’ve missed all that interaction. That’s being the biggest part of our lives. It’s not just the concerts – although they’re the central part.
“And so, yeah, we’re dying to go and play anywhere, but in particular those places, like Dublin and Belfast, that have encouraged us so much through the years and played a part in our story.”
- Simple Minds play at Dublin’s 3Arena on Sunday, April 17 with tickets priced from €50.20 available from www.3arena.ie
