Late last year, Jim Kerr wrote what he thought was one of the best ballads of his life. He’d turned 60 in July, and wanted to write about the wisdom he’d acquired along the way. “I’m not going to write a song about turning 60,” admits Jim. “But, let’s just say, I considered the challenge of writing about getting older.” Jim and guitarist/ keyboardist Charlie Burchill, friends since they were eight-year-olds in Glasgow, created “a softer idea” than usual: “Maybe it was Christmas coming on and me getting sentimental,” as Jim puts it. “It’s the kind of song that, if Neil Young did it, people would say, ‘That’s amazing! The guy is so honest, he’s writing from the heart.’ I played it to a couple of people, who went, ‘Oh wow! That’s really sweet.’”

Despite this early positivity, the ballad is definitely not getting released – because Simple Minds’ manager vetoed it immediately. “He heard it and said, ‘Fucking no. You’re not that old. Leave it out – you’re not fucking Clive Dunn!’” Jim laughs casually, utterly unconcerned at his idea being squashed so brutally. Simple Minds may have sold more than 60 million albums, but if they get compared to the Dad’s Army actor who sang Grandad…? So long as it’s a funny story, Jim Kerr would rather tell that than be earnest about his band’s reputation.

BACK IN THE BIG TIME

In 2020, Jim and his lifelong double-act partner can afford to be relaxed. Starting with Simple Minds’ 16th album Big Music six years ago, the band have been on top again, back to the experimental force when they rampaged out of Scotland in the late 70s, able now to commandeer arenas again. 2018’s adventurous Walk Between Worlds reached No.4 in the UK, returning Simple Minds to the Top Five for the first time since Good News From The Next World 23 years earlier. “A renewed confidence came with Big Music,” Jim acknowledges. “We thought we’d made a good record, but the reaction from the public was equally important. It’s propelled us ever since. The momentum these past few years, it feels great.”

Even in conversation, Jim is a natural showman, an expansive talker with a great eye for a yarn. He’s also a champion swearer, knowing exactly when to drop the F-bomb for comic effect. Charlie is quieter, but then most people are next to Jim Kerr. The other surviving founder Simple Mind, Burchill is more of a dreamer than his bullish pal. “We’re very different people,” he admits. “But Jim and I have always had a strange bond artistically. If we haven’t seen each other for a couple of months, the chances are we’ll have been watching the same movies and TV shows and read the same books. It’s just weird, how we’re drawn to the same ideas.”

Charlie Burchill and Jim Kerr, 2020. “We still amaze each other”

© Dean Chalkley

Street Fighting Years was recorded during a period of personnel changes for Simple Minds

© Guido Harari

According to Jim Kerr, the next Simple Minds studio album will be released in late 2021

© Dean Chalkley

Currently, that kinship means Simple Minds are heading back to the dancefloor. For three albums from 1980’s Empires And Dance through Sons And Fascinations/Sister Feelings Call to New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84), Simple Minds were at the vanguard of synthesiser experimentation. They never lost their desire but, once Waterfront made Simple Minds more radio-friendly, their sound certainly became more streamlined. Jim explains: “I said to Charlie when we started thinking about the next record, ‘I think it’d be good for Simple Minds to have a more dancey feel again.’ I meant that in terms of Simple Minds’ dance music: songs like I Travel and Love Song, with those kind of funk basslines running through them.”