upfront


Q&A


Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr o  years of hih standards and riffs by the pound


Glaswegian arena rock stalwarts Simple Minds may not have been able to override a pandemic, bt theyre a elloiled machie, ad exactly two years after they were initially due to play ardiff, its fially haei. Thats Carl Marsh’s cue to have a chat with frontman Jim Kerr.


 aary of this year, yo fially released the track Act Of Love  a mere  years after it as ritte, i  hy so long?


It was an error! I mean, a naive error, but it wasn’t until 18 months later that we got a recording contract, and we were all ush with energy and creativity and had all these new songs on the horizon, so we just put it on the back burner. Then we had a [COVID-induced] break from everything, and wanted to come back with a record that reminded us of day one of Simple Minds, with a few updated lyrics to the track.


re there other imle Mids sos that yove arked for nearly as long before releasing them? I’m not sure that many warrant the same kind of respect we gave to Act Of Love. The whole thing with that song is that I just loved that riff. I thought that was a cracking guitar sound. But, unfortunately, you don’t get many of them to the pound these days!


On the new album, to give you an example, there are two or three songs where we’re going, “when did the idea for that song come about?” – we’d think it was fairly recent, when in fact it’d be from about a decade or longer ago. Songs also find their time. They are like pules, and sometimes


you don’t find the missing piece. ou’ll be thinking this is great, but something’s wrong, and you don’t know what it is. So, basically, there is always a lot of work on the shelf, and it’s really strange how certain songs find their way and others less so.


f it asses yors ad itarist harlie rchills test, its clearly ticked all of the boxes. Simple Minds songs, in terms of arrangement and production, have always been about the whole package from lead vocals to keyboards, with nothing taking centre stage. eah, I think we’re old school in that sense. The people who inuenced us were about the whole package, for the most part. David Bowie would always have brilliant guitar players and backing singers. Roxy Music, likewise.


So, as you can expect, our lineup has changed – we’ve been going for 45 years. But, with whoever comes in, we always look for the kind of people that are – how can I say? – stellar within their own position. [Laughs] It’s corny to use football analogies, but still: you want a brilliant centre-half, a brilliant attacker, a brilliant left-back, etc... everyone in their position. We don’t have any people who are, you know… we usually have standards. I think that’s how we like the music to feel and appear.


 liked the football aaloy as m a fa myself   ko yore a eltic fa. m toke ity, for my sis  yove ot


to sort the team here yo ere bor, havet yo Yeah, good for you. I can’t be doing with those people that support Man United and have never been to Manchester! There are even people in Aberdeen that are supporting Barcelona!


Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Thurs 14 Apr. Tickets:   VIP. Info: motorpointarenacardiff.co.uk


24


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64