Jim’s Diary

Looking back on it all now, I can say easily that I feel a whole lot better about the state of things within Simple Minds at the close of this decade than I did at the start. In fact glancing back ten years ago from now,...

It was a beautiful day in May as I recall. Some of us had taken a rather lengthy walk around the surrounding lake thus leaving only a few minutes to grab our things from the hotel before heading directly to the festival site where we...

I had a bit of a chuckle last week when a couple of major newspaper UK reviewers felt the need to promote the notion that the Simple Minds “comeback “ had fallen short of some sort of target, imaginary or otherwise. Of course the first...

Twenty years ago Charlie Burchill and I limped back from our world tour with Simple Minds. Our latest Street Fighting Year’s album had been recognised favourably in many parts of the world as the brave effort that it was. Many other places however did not...

Farewell and thank you to Scandinavia! So enjoyable, the welcome and encouragement that came our way was most appreciated. The sun even shone for most of the time, surprising us as we imagined that the glorious days spent in San Sebastian would have been its...

Football just like politics is all round us at the moment and particularly as we travel thru Europe in these darkened November days. All of which makes us feel totally at home given that having grown up in Glasgow - football and politics were always...

Up and running, finally we got off a more than good start to our current European Graffiti Soul tour that began last Tuesday in Vienna. As a band that enjoys playing live more than anything else, it will go without saying that we are delighted to...

They were called Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark back then and I recall being startled by them on first hearing. It turns out that John Peel was frequently playing them on his late night BBC Radio show, the same show that gave a break to...

Listening to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Sun is shining, sky is azure, coffee is strong, and the combination of it all is intoxicating in the best way. I witnessed some great new music come together this week and that has me feeling ecstatic. My energy...

“When you first start out you’re always striving for perfection and then after some years reality sets in and you realise that you’re not going to get it. One of the things that’s so fascinating about an art form is that it may be good,...

It was water, water, everywhere, but suddenly the black rain gave way after about ten days. The familiar streets that so long glistened like patent leather boots then started to dry up as the September sun appeared and just in time too, as everyone was...