In our embryonic years, not yet 16 years old, and taking our first baby steps as a group. Charlie and I, along with fellow friends and school mates, Joe Donnelly, Tony Donald and Brian McGee, would carry our equipment over to the assembly room in St Brigids primary school in Toryglen, Glasgow, every Tuesday night.

Permanently excited, we'd plug in and unabashedly try to copy the sounds of whatever records we had been listening to that week. We were having the greatest fun in our lives at that point in time. More importantly, in doing so we were setting out on a study of how to play and write our very own songs by first learning how those amazing songs written by others actually worked?

The knowledge learned that came from succeeding in doing that, helped sprout wings that would eventually enable us to soar high as songwriters ourselves. And how about this for consistency? It was people like Bowie, Lou Reed, Steve Harley and The Doors that we covered in that dusty school hall way back in time - circa 1975.

It is people like Bowie, Steve Harley and The Doors that Simple Minds have covered within our live shows from the last few years - circa 2015 - 2018. Plus Ca Change?

Fast forward to the late 90's, Simple Minds had come to a point where discussions had taken place regarding calling time on our band. The notion of packing our bags and setting out on a new life entirely, one that no longer involved music had grown in allure, and I had become convinced that it might be the right path to take.

That never came to pass obviously. And as a new century came over the horizon, along with it came a renewed desire from within, to attempt the resurrection of our band. If that sounds too dramatic? Simple Minds had never entirely died after all? Simple Minds were undoubtedly flatlining at that time however, and therefore very close to the end.

So how did we get back on our feet? How did we once agin get active? How did we get the depleted confidence back? How to open and let the faith in ourselves - take over once again? There is no one single answer to all of that. Except to say, that we had to go back to the very beginning. Back to falling in love with writing and recording music.

Much overlooked within our story, cover albums never really do get taken that seriously after all? Except by people like me that is. I am always interested and most often delighted by the choices of covers that artists who I admire make. It was nevertheless the act of recording of Neon Lights that saved our ongoing creative lives. Without it, there would no present Simple Minds. Sick men back then. Working on that album became our first step to recovery. And nothing is possible without the first step. (Thanks to Gordie Goudie and Kevin Burleigh whose efforts helped us at the period take that step.)

Recorded over a couple of weeks in a small converted barn, somewhere out near Glasgow Airport. Making Neon Lights became much the equivalent (decades later) of setting up back in St Brigids school. It was through having fun again, and dallying around with the music of others, as we did on that album, that we managed to reboot our passion for further Simple Minds recordings.

So much fun that on completion we decided that the future of Simple Minds was a cause worth fighting for. Resultantly, a few day later we started recording on what was to become the songs for our next album of original material.

That album was called Cry. As in, the cry of something new being born. And we have neither stopped, or looked back since.

Jim,
8th December 2018