How this site came to be.
2006: I am getting into Spotify, exploring new musical horizons and rekindling old flames. Simple Minds are among those “old flames”. Having said that, I was only ever a “fair weather” fan. One that just on the odd occasion listened to compilation “best of” albums. One time doing this, I found myself thinking “Simple Minds are just so great. Why have I not explored their music more? Why do I just keep sticking to ‘the hits’? This has GOT to change!” And so, I gave Life In A Day a couple of listens, and although there was a few songs I liked, I wasn’t really bowled over. That was that.
The odd listen to a compilation album through the years continued.
2014: July. I am having one of those Minds ‘hits fix’ sessions when I start thinking “That time I tried listening to their back catalogue…a shame it didn’t gel. I’m sure I probably just didn’t give them enough of a chance. I mean, heck, I listened to ONE album, and that was it! Think about it. You owned a copy of Once Upon A Time back in the day. You know you like ONE whole album of theirs. Let’s give this thing a try again.”
And so, I try again. Life In A Day…at first still…meh…but unlike before, this time I thought “Yeah, I hear something. It’s not setting my world on fire…but there’s a spark of something.” And I moved on to listen to Real To Real Cacophony. And I heard a BIGGER spark of something. On again, still listening to these two, but moving on to Empires And Dance. And that was it! That’s what needed to happen! For me to reach EAD. I was completely won over.
I then started to look for old footage – to view old gigs and/or TV performances. I wanted to see visuals. How they looked together. How they performed. The first few clips I watched was the Hurrah’s Club in New York – recorded for Old Grey Whistle Test on the BBC. I was astounded by how tight they were – and floored by Jim. I watched slack-jawed and awestruck. “THIS was how Jim Kerr used to be? Holy cow dung!” The first ignition of infatuation started from those clips.
The rest is pretty much history. And a good chunk of the past four or more years have been played out via this blog. The collecting of music in various formats, particularly more rarified stuff and in particular vinyl, memorabilia – in the form of magazine – whole and article clippings, books, photos, badges, clothing, etc. The beginnings and expansion of the fan art and my artistic pursuits beyond Simple Minds. The concerts and the growing love of live music and “gigging”. I’ve been to (as of the time of writing) 21 Simple Minds gigs with hopefully many more to come.
The blog is my own personal form of expression. Done semi-professionally, it is run solely by me. And it is not monetised. Anything that I may recommend here comes with a personal endorsement and not via product placement or kickbacks. It is my personal space, but I try to provide loads of info on SM both past and present. Sharing articles through my memorabilia collecting that I feel may be of interest, as well as reviews (not only of SM gigs, but of all gigs I attended), info of side projects by band members as well as relevant info on acts linked musically to Simple Minds.
My own art features as well. Mostly Simple Minds and Jim Kerr oriented, but I do also paint and draw.
The site is quite a mishmash of things. It doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. I try to have fun with it. I am prone to swear and of course there is a high emphasis on Simple Minds – and there is that sub-header on the blog that states “may contain a heavy dose of Jim Kerr” – it certainly does that!
Thank you for visiting and reading. I hope you find the site both informative and entertaining.
Priptona
January, 2019