13 Mar, 2009 Auto Recovery
At last after many busy months I finally got the chance to return a few days to Sicily, the place that I have looked on as a sort of home from home over the last decade almost.
It always happens but somehow this time on return I find the island more enchanting than ever with all the early colours of spring are to be found.
The volcano itself is snow capped yet spewing burning red lava trails that glow in the night like the best of Tokyo neon. There surely cannot be many situations where you can marvel at fire and ice simultaneously but then again this is a marvellous part of the world
It is weird for me that of all places it was Sicily that has become so central to my life story, particularly as I find it difficult to pinpoint why that should have come to pass, but in any event it certainly did. Maybe it was due to my keenness for the fascinating novel ‘The Leopard” by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa, or perhaps I was still entranced by my grandfathers description of a place in which he spent some of his military years. In any case I will always be thankful for that outcome, especially since it played a major part in what I consider the rejuvenation that has taken place within Simple Minds.
In that I should explain that a decade ago we were in truth running dangerously low on inspirational gas and if ever there was a period when drawing a veil over Simple Minds was being considered seriously as an option, it was most probably around then. It remained as so until that is I truly found a new type of energy within myself somehow arriving coincidentally within the first few weeks of my affair with Taormina.
It was then that I also rediscovered among many other things that I was in music not merely to forge a career and then ride it out. Oh no, it was something much bigger than that. In fact I saw that through my involvement in music I had been given a way to make sense of my life and to make it my entire purpose no mater what, including through highs and lows and whether anyone remained listening or not.
Danielle Tignino, a local songwriter and producer more than played a part in my creative rebirth. He hassled me non-stop into coming over to his little studio in those days when I was intent on resisting giving my heart back to songs. When I finally did succumb to Dan’s invitation, I found that within days together we had playfully knocked off a handful of tunes that were loaded with the strongest pop hooks. I also felt instantly that there was something strong emerging from me once again. That feeling alloyed with the recognition and soon constant nurturing of Martin Hanlin and Ged Malone meant that it became quite possible to start believing in it all once again.
Inevitably the wheel had turned and I had turned with it, the sudden movement of that was like waking from a coma that incorporated the heaviness that only those who have ever experienced a chronic crisis of confidence know about.
And so it is that the change in outlook that began back there at the start of this decade has for me led to where we are today with Simple Minds once again very much on top of their game.
The release of Graffiti Soul will in addition seal all proof of the magnitude of the leap that we have made from what I consider to be our darkest period. Meanwhile, playing once again in Taormina’s ancient Teatro Greco, as we now seem quite certain to do later on this summer, will undoubtedly remind me of the personal journey I have made over the last ten years.
Jim Kerr