[Audio: Let The Day Begin (includes time-lapse shots of central London, Battersea, and the band at various photo sessions)]

[Audio: Big Music (includes time-lapse shots of the Honest Town video shoot)]

AG: "Here we are in North London, Islington shooting the video for the new Simple Minds' song Honest Town. Here we go, look at all this, industrial landscape behind me. We've been here since very early in the morning and these video people are working us very hard indeed."

JK: "The video came about really... we wanted to nominally introduce the new song and the new band line-up for next year as well. So we were looking for someone who had been particularly shooting live stuff and the director that's doing this – his name is Giorgio Testi – is from Rome."

GT: "I'm Giorgio Testi, director, from the production company Pulse Films. We are here today filming the music video for Simple Minds' Honest Town. On top of that we are also delivering three more segments for three new songs: Human, Let The Day Begin and Midnight Walking."

JK: "He seems to have a different way of shooting the live set up. We'd since seen a few of the other things he'd done and felt that because we had a relationship there that he would be good. So during this tour we had the chance to have a chat with him in Rome and while we were there he showed us a few different locations including the one we're currently in, in North London. He had almost a little diagram and various little demos of what it would look like."

GT: "With the venue, I've been looking for a location with some kind of industrial feel. London can offer millions of options. Too many times I've seen the same location used over and over on music videos and other live shows so we tried to find something that – in a way – could look unique in this genre of filming. And it kind of offers different options: so upstairs we set up a completely different scenario this morning, and this afternoon we are filming here which is great from a lighting perspective because you get all these boxes around. It offers a variation of possibilities, normally other venues or locations don't do."

GG: "Video shoots are normally pretty tedious for the band to be honest, because you have basically hang around a lot and you're waiting for the camera angles to be right and the lighting to be right. I did a video once way back in the 1980s where we had to learn a song backwards and then the whole thing was filmed and reversed – that was a bit of a challenge. It's like making a movie – you don't see the finished result until the end and so everyone's got to get into the swing of things and perform for the whole day basically."

CB: "It's just a lot of repetition, so it's hard to enjoy that. The great thing is after this when you start to see it coming together. You get a buzz from that. And then you never watch it again for the rest of your life because you can't stand looking at yourself! [laughs]"

JK: "When you're making a video it's really about the other side of the camera. It's a huge leap of faith and it's a lot less pressurised now because those days in the past – they were so expensive – one video clip in those heady MTV days could be as much as a whole album budget. And if it wasn't right you were normally stuck with it or in our case sometimes you had to dump the whole thing and go again."

GT: "The simple idea of the video is to capture a cinematic performance of the band so we went for a classic anamorphic look and we've got a dolly track, tracking around three hundred and sixty degrees, to deliver these observational points of view on the band."

JK: "Obviously YouTube has replaced MTV and all that – which was the era we obviously grew up with – I suppose it's a viral thing now. A video can be anything – as you've found out with some of the things you've shot with us – some of the things shot with an iPhone - sometimes you get something that's amazing. Some of the stuff the fans do and put up through the years has been incredible. But it's still good to have something that shows the band where we are now. We will always veer towards playing live or setting up to look like we're playing live because that's what we're most comfortable with. But I've only seen a little bit of this and the atmosphere feels great – I was watching Charlie there and with our experience we can just plug into it. And even if we haven't done one for one or two years we can just plug in and everyone's right there. Watching Mel playing – you can see that he still gives his all. And he's a great look. So why would you not want to capture that?"

GT: "The good thing today is that they know how to perform , so it's all about art, making ensure the lights and the camera and the movement are great. So far, so good, we've got two extra hours to finish the whole programme."

GG: "We're doing various different cut-a-ways. We've filmed the main song with everyone quite a few times now and now we're going into individuals - so we've now got a close-up of Mel hammering away on his drumkit and so they'll do a few takes with him, and then they'll do a few takes with Charlie, a couple of takes with me, it's just so they've got options for the edit."

GG: "Catherine – we just met last weekend when she came to a gig at Alnwick Castle. I'd listened to some of her own music and I'm kind of aware of some of her stuff as well – she has a fantastic voice and plays various different instruments so it's going to be a welcome addition to the set-up."

CB: "I've got a couple of guitars I would use live anyway. I've got a beautiful old white folk back there which I would always use and it's nice, it's lovely. And that's the great thing. At least in the tedious hours of hanging around, you can play."

GT: "This is probably one of the moments in my career where I feel privileged as I feel that I'm ticking a massive box today working for a band I grew up listening to. In particular – funnily enough for me – working with Mel Gaynor is kind of surreal because I grew up playing drums and I wanted to be a drummer and Mel Gaynor has always been top of the list of drummers for me. So I must've spent hours and hours studying his drumming and trying to repeat everything he was doing. So being on set with them today and talking about – and telling him how he should approach his songs – was a little bit surreal because I'm like 'I shouldn't be doing that. He's a legend.'"

JK: "Andy with a suit? I think he looks great. We give him a bit of stick that he looks like an Italian Maitre D but I think he looks great like that. The look of the band just now – there's so many different characters – it's not like there are two people in the band who look the same – I don't think so. And Ged is such a strong character on stage. And Sarah Brown – it goes without saying – she's always like an art installation and when she opens her mouth to sing then it's something else altogether. But I think great bands should be a composite – there should be great individual characters or memorable individual characters – a bit like The Bash Street Kids really."

[Audio: Honest Town]

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