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Jim sort of feels of its time again to us. It actually feels fresh, even though we’ ve played a lot of the songs. There are three or four songs on the album that we hadn’ t been playing. They feel new again.
IE: Like“ Oh Jungleland” and“ Come a Long Way?” JK: We started to play“ Come a Long Way” at the tail end of last year. It sounded good. Now it sounds great. We played“ I WishYou Were Here” for the first time in LatinAmerica two weeks ago,
“ Let’ s start with a sprint.” It worked well. IE: The last verse of“ Ghost Dancing” describes a couple who take dire action. I assume that image was drawn from contemporary news. JK: Yeah, it was a CNN event. It was the first of these suicide bombers that I ever heard of. We were touring back in those days, and the only thing I saw was CNN. It all bled into the songs.
IE: I wondered whether [ bassist ] Derek Forbes ever hinted to that he wished he’ d played one more gig with Simple Minds? [ Forbes’ exit occurred after the recording of“ Don’ t You( Forget About Me)” and before Live Aid.] JK: The irony is that we all enjoyed it, but with Derek’ s nature, he would’ ve enjoyed that more than anyone. I don’ t feel good about that.
IE: On the other hand, what an incredible first gig that must have been for John Giblin. JK: Well, yes, absolutely. And not taking away from anyone; they’ re different people, but John John was a good seven, eight years older and more experienced than us. He had played with [ Peter ] Gabriel and all this stuff. Having John
10 illinoisentertainer. com july 2025 and it’ s sounding good. We don’ t play them all on the same night, so it’ s not like“ here is the album.” But throughout these weeks ahead, we will revolve those songs. It’ ll either be“ Oh Jungleland” or“ Ghost Dancing.” It’ ll either be“ Come a Long Way” or“ I Wish You Were Here,” that kind of a thing.
IE:“ Ghost Dancing” was debuted at Live Aid in Philadelphia. That event was the biggest thing in the world to me in 1985. JK: Yeah, of course.
IE: When you opened with that song, I was mesmerized! JK: We’ ve been playing that, but we should probably play it a bit more on the grounds of what you’ ve just said. Even the language of that song,“ Cities, buildings falling down” … I don’ t know if it’ s come round again or it’ s just timeless. Some songs you play from the past, and there might be elements that make you feel,“ This is a jacket that doesn’ t fit anymore.” But these songs have tremendous energy as well. Even if you came to the gig and didn’ t know“ Ghost Dancing,” I think you would still be swept up in it.
IE: How did you choose“ Ghost Dancing” to open your Live Aid set? JK: That was the first time we’ d played in front of a huge crowd in America and we figured,“ Whatever we play, there’ ll be a lot of people who don’ t know it, so why don’ t we just debut this song here?” Today, you would have managers and agents and everyone all around you saying,“ Don’ t start with a new song.” But we thought, no, what crowds really react to is energy. That song has it in abundance. We thought,
Simple Minds, 2014
with us that day maybe even gave us more confidence. He was never a leader in the band, but he was certainly a big brother.
IE: Tell me about the strength of your current band. [ Drummer ] Cherisse Osei has been with you for at least eight years, and your other bandmates have been with you and Charlie [ Burchill, founding guitarist ] for even longer. JK: We’ re so fortunate. Anyone who’ s been on stage with Simple Minds has brought so much to it. Cherisse is really something else. She’ s not only a brilliant performer and amazing drummer, but she can look to Charlie and I and say,“ You’ re doing that wrong.” And we go,“ What do you mean? We wrote it!” She’ ll really pull you up on stuff. She’ s got young energy, young enthusiasm. They’ re all stars in their own right, really. When you see the band onstage, the first thing is important. You’ ve got to be a great band. We need that cohesion. It’ s almost like a theatrical ensemble.
Sometimes we play festivals, and I see bands from back in the day. There’ ll be four or five, how can I say this … jowly guys [ laughs ] who are doing their thing and that’ s it. We’ re trying to put on something a bit more theatrical. You need these characters. You could say that the live thing is the only game in town now, because let’ s be honest, artists of our generation are not going to get much of a look in with rock records. Albeit, we’ re halfway through a new record now. We still love to do it.
But you’ ve really got to make the impact live. Especially with the price of concert tickets, our generation wants to feel they’ re getting something a bit spectacular, I dare say. That’ s been behind our attitude of putting together the kind