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"This week has seen Dave and Stephen in the Rochdale Recording Studio, and I was fortunate enough to meet up with the guys last night. As well, as practicing over 20 songs , the guys got the opportunity to chat to a few of you in Mick's Chat Room, and I was a little worried that it was going to prove difficult to persuade Stephen to drop the mouse and pick up the microphone at one point! However, if you ever want to dangle a carrot in front of these guys, a can of lager will do the job. For over 2 hours, the guys blasted Simple Minds covers dating back to over 20 years ago."

"Like many, I was encouraged by the groups performance in London. However, there's a different meaning to them nowadays, and if you get the chance to see them, I am sure you will agree. Stephen's vocals are more defined, and his real personality comes out in the demos. I was lucky enough to work with Dave Kelly prior to the London gig, and I was interested in his progress to date. He blew my mind last night. Thorsten was absent last night, understandably due to living in Germany - however, from speaking to the rest of the band last night - they are so much looking forward to working with him again - the confidence and enthusiasm for playing live gigs is currently huge within the band and its a dream come true for everyone involved."

"For those of you wanting to view the official BFTT Wap Site, you can go to wappy.to/bftt (WAP devices only). The design for the official web site has already started and will be complete later in the Autumn."

"For some of you thinking of travelling to Dortmund for the gig in December, you may be worried about the cost of it all. Pretty soon, we will have prices for a hotel very close to the venue, and we will be posting out ticket information ASAP. We are aiming to get bulk discount for Hotel accommodation costs soon. Tickets for the venue are likely to be about £5. Hamm, I a reliably informed, is a lovely town and at its best in the weeks before Christmas."

"Also, for those put-off by the cost of flying to Germany from the UK, why not visit www.buzzaway.com for very cheap flights to Dusseldorf. (the closest airport to the gig) Flights are from London. Other flight information will be posted soon."

"If you are serious about going the gig (regardless of what country you are coming from) can you send me a quick email, so I can start to plan for tickets, etc."

Steve Robinson

Those who don't have WAP enabled devices can view the WAP site using a standard browser at http://wapsilon.com/?t=t;f=1::http://wappy.to/bftt/#index.

Tribute band Band For The Tribes will be performing in Germany at the end of this year. After catching their performance at the Simple Minds convention last year, I can highly recommend them.

They'll be playing at The Hoppegarden in Hamm (near Dortmund) on the 9th December. Ticket information and travel/accomodation details will be posted soon - either here or on the band's new web site, which is currently under construction.

They've recently taken on Stephen Robinson at their manager. "I will be working with rest of the group to ensure that the event (and others to come !!) is well promoted and publicised to the best of our ability."

It's simply the best lifestyle Mamma Mia Sicily has beckoned for some years now and recently I've spent many weeks songwriting and recording on what I consider to be one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean. But the art of getting there and back is not always plain sailing - or flying. Imagine the scene: a sweltering Catania airport and hell breaks loose as the air traffic control computers go down with all departures suspended until further notice. This is a scenario I've witnessed frequently, experience teaching me that complaining achieves zilch. Instead, I stand back, finding it impossible not to collapse with laughter at the spectacle before me on the concourse. Among the screaming and jostling it was possible to witness sights such as a livid Franciscan brother with gnashing teeth, and a guy with a goose under his arm who was determined to take on anybody in his way. Happy family Back in London and as a belated birthday treat I was taken by my ex-wife Chrissie Hynde and my two teenage daughters to a night at the theatre followed by supper at the famous Ivy restaurant. The play was good, and the restaurant surpassed itself. The highlight for me, however, was the company of these three opinionated females - all have a highly developed sense of humour and a merciless talent for mimicry, which was very much on display. Chrissie is a great mother who more than covered for me during my endless absences touring the world. I am ecstatic that, despite our divorce, we have remained close friends. Kick off The football season is well under way and, like many others in this nation, my eight-year-old, James, is full of optimism for the fortunes of his team. I, however, feel strangely nonplussed as this season kicks off. After thoroughly enjoying so much of the recent Euro 2000 competition, the bog-standard fare of the Scottish Premier League cannot quite get me excited. Or could it be that, in reality, I am not ready to stomach yet another emotional pounding as my favourite underachievers - that's Celtic to the uninitiated - capitulate to the Rangers mean machine. Nevertheless a few tricks from the dreadlocked deity and I am sure I will be as committed to the cause as ever. Turning Japanese Over the last two weeks I have been immersed in a new business project, investing in and helping to launch OKO, the new conveyer-belt style Japanese restaurant, aptly situated in Glasgow's super trendy Merchant City. As a bit of a sushi enthusiast, from my days touring the more exotic corners of the globe, I have been delighted at how the city has accepted Japanese cuisine. I am also overwhelmed by the goodwill shown by all those who have been "exposed" to this exciting new concept. Just the other day a taxi driver taking me home raved about his visit. I asked him how it rated on a scale of one to 10. "We're going back later this week," he enthused. I reckoned that merited at least a nine. Now for OKO2 - Watch out Edinburgh. Country house Spent a rare day on the Perthshire estate I want to call home, but sadly I've decided to sell. I've been able to spend very little time there over the last couple of years, a regrettable situation that probably reflects the number of professional commitments I've undertaken. Today was spent hiking and fishing with my son. This evening I cooked, which always gives me pleasure. Tonight's fare was something approaching a Thai style prawn stir fry. Well that's what I told the guests. The band played on Spent an hour today on the telephone chatting with my best friend and songwriting partner Charlie Burchill, who lives in Dublin. Charlie is the guitar player with Simple Minds. We have done a lot of growing up together since we first met playing in the street as eight-year-olds. We began making music together at 14 and are now about to make more at 40, purely because we love it . Who wouldn't? Well actually many don't, or can't handle it, or get fed up and miss home. Charlie and I could never understand why many in our business act as though having a successful music career was something of a burden. Not us. You see, we fancy ourselves as the Real Deal, a real live band that performed world wide in the 1970s, 80s, 90s and are getting ready to play through this decade. There you go, is that enough bad news? Jim Kerr, front man for the rock band Simple Minds, is an enthusiastic supporter of Scottish young entrepreneurs (C) Sunday Times Scottish Section: 27th August 2000

It's been two weeks since the last update on this web site. Not for lack of enthusiasm nor lack of support - very simply, it's a lack of news.

Reports from various EMI subsidiaries paint a very confused picture. Dates range from October through to November for an album which is definitely still 'TBA'. Nothing absolute from the record company then. In fact, it looks like nothing's been decided for this album at all. Plus Chrysalis are busy anyway, currently pushing Robbie William's new album.

Additionally the only viable release date is October. Unfortunately, if this was the case, news of a single (last heard to be either Space or Jeweler To The Stars) would have been confirmed by now, with the odd promo circulating. Nothing is happening.

If the album was released in November or December, it would get lost in the Christmas glut of box sets and compilation albums (a similar fate occurred to Real To Real Cacophony.) So these dates should be ruled out.

Given Jim's desire for the album to get the best push possible, it looks like a release in 2000 has been ruled out. The next set of potential release dates would be January/February 2001. Then again, Jim hints in Todd's interview that they're looking into alternatives: "...you know we really have to make sure that the record company is set up to promote the record on a worldwide scale and if not then maybe we're going to have to go somewhere else." If that's the case, it may be further delayed.

There was disappointment with the promotion and sales of Néapolis. It looks like Jim's ensuring that the same fate doesn't occur to Our Secrets Are The Same. If that means waiting longer, then that's the way it's going to be.

Blow Up, the Simple Minds tribute band from Italy, played on the 11th August.

"It's been a fantastic gig with about 500 people clapping their hands and enjoying "our" music, really great! A large stage (60 square meters) with a white cathedral at the back and a 3000 watt P.A., nice lights and a very special guest, our friend Gianluca G. from Chiasso singing "New Gold Dream" (Summertime in Glasgow's version) and "Waterfront" '95 with "Roadhouse Blues" at the beginning.

There were pure Simple Minds fans as Luca Ruffini (Lachi) and his girlfriend from Rome, Cristina Canciani (LE MENTI fan club) from Florence, Lele Merlini and his friends from Bari, and 30 people from France and Croatia there for the Jubilee 2000.

What else can I say? We played 1 hour, we started with a short instrumental track I recorded the day before, then Real Life, See the lights, Changeling, Someone Somewhere In Summertime, Book Of Brilliant Things '86, New Gold Dream, Waterfront, Don't You (Forget About Me), All The Things She Said, East At Easter, Alive And Kikcing (Mandela Day version) and Sanctify Youself. We really enjoyed ourselves. - Mimmo.

Their next gig is planned for the 11th November in Florence.

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Stéphane Lemaire is selling a large collection of Simple Minds items - this includes the Themes Volumes and various bootlegs. You can find Stéphane's list at http://perso.club-internet.fr/stef_val/collectors

Collectors should also check out Clive Johnson's list of items - he's updated it recently.

These, and previous set-sales and auctions, can be found in the marketplace.

Those who follow the events on the Italian web site for Le Menti will be familiar with Blow Up, a Simple Minds tribue band from Italy. Band For The Tribes are not alone!

"Simple Minds fans from all over the world, there are 6 mad guys spending their spare time and money playing Simple Minds. Their name is Blow Up and they are a SM coverband since 1989!"

"Every day a lot of Simple Minds fans aske me the instructions for downloading our MP3s, and I'm really glad every one is positively impressed by our performance. I mean, these little things are very important for us, because we don't play for earning money, nor for getting famous: ours is a real tribute to the band we love the most, it's a sign of love." - Mimmo

To download their songs:

1. Go to www.freedrive.com

2. Give 'sunday74' as the membername and 'sociolinguistica' as the password.

3. Click on 'my folder', then 'Blow Up Live Imola' folder, then 'BlowAlive' folder.

4. There are now four songs listed. (Street Fighting Years, Someone Somewhere In Summertime, New Gold Dream and Alive And Kicking

Their next gig is tomorrow (11th August). "My band will play... a 1 hour set-list. We're gonna play for the first time such songs like Real Life, Changeling, All The Things She Said, See the Lights and so on... (Oh sorry, I forgot Theme For Great Cities!). Our Italian friends for Le Menti will be present and for us it will be like playing in a Stadium crowded with thousands of people!" - Mimmo.

Another gig is planned in November. Le Menti are organising a Simple Minds convention in Florence on the 11th November and Blow Up will be playing a two hour live performance.

For more information:
Blow Up's web page: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/6742/blowup.htm
Lachi's site: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/6742/

The final part of Todd's interview with Jim has now been uploaded. You can read the entire interview here.

"Again, what can I say? Keep the faith! We have no intention of giving up ourselves - we've got so much music to bring." Jim Kerr

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Those following Derek's managerial career with Angela Capel will be interested on this feature about the singer. (Derek does get mentioned!)

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Does anyone have a copy of Summertime At The Top? Jim appeared on this show on the 18th July discussing OKO (see news from the 19th July.) If so, can you get in touch?

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Liam Gallagher started Oasis' concert at Wembley Stadium, also the venue's penultimate concert, with the following drunken announcement:

"If you think I'm over the moon to be here you're fucking tripping. 'Cause this [place] is for Bob Geldof, this is for fucking Simple Minds. This is for all these other fucking idiots who started ...

But I am glad you made it.

Fucking Live Aid. I bet you wish it was fucking free and all"

All hail Robbie Williams (who has renewed his feud with Gallagher, and thinks he needs a slap).

And the third part of Todd's interview with Jim is now up. Topics this time include politics, web sites and box sets.

The interview is here.

The second part of Todd's interview with Jim has now been uploaded. The album's line-up, possible US release, and the ideas of a tour with U2 are discussed.

The interview is here.

Jim appeared on Scottish TV yesterday, on a mid-morning magazine show called Summertime At The Top. Topics included his support of Celtic (a big supporter but no longer interested in any financial involvement), the OKO venture, and finally Simple Minds.

Jim confirmed that the band was still his main priority and a tour is being planned for next year. Unfortunately there wasn't any news of the Secrets... album.

The first part of the interview between Todd Richards and Jim has now been transcribed and can be found here.

The album's title is confirmed, and Jim outlines the reason for the delay of the album's release. As Jim says, the band feel "super-creative" and are working on new material, but there's the danger that the second new album may be finished by the time the Secrets... album gets its release: "...another new album but if you're a fan I suppose the more the merrier!"

Unfortunately, Jim doesn't seem sure of the proposed October release date - the last paragraph of the interview is very telling.

The rest of the interview will be published soon.

Further to the most recent proposed release date for Our Secrets Are The Same (which was October 9th) the album has started to appear in release schedules. For instance, on-line retailers, Van Leest Compact Discs from The Netherlands, have the album listed for the 10th October.

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A brief summary and pictures of the meet on London can be found here. Did Mick MacNeil show up? Well, he certainly called!

Jim has recently opened his sushi resturant, OKO, in Glasgow.

Whilst the press was quick to list the celebrities at the opening night, the best review of the evening was written by Mick MacNeil on his message board. Charlie, Mick and Derek were there, although Mick mentioned that they didn't talk about getting back together.

Other press reviews of the event (if still on-line, but no Simple Minds content) are:
The Evening Times
The Scotsman

A couple of the reports introduce Jim as 'the former singer' of Simple Minds, which is somewhat alarming. However, it could just reflect the fact that the band's been out of the public eye for a couple of years, and Jim's spent his time in the headlines connected with Celtic, e-commerce and resturants.

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Whilst surfing the Internet, I discovered the following reviews of the band's last two albums, which I found interesting:
Good News From The Next World review.
Néapolis review.

Jim appeared in yesterday's Daily Record, an interview that was supposed to feature the opening of his resturant (persumably OKO) but instead concentrated on the recent news that Patsy Kensit had separated from Liam Gallagher.

However, there was some news of interest for Minds fans:

"His band Simple Minds celebrate their 25th anniversary next year, and Jim admits that he has been very fortunate. He said: "Really, there have been very few lows in the past 25 years. Getting the cheque was nice, of course, but the experience of being able to make your life in music is an incredible thing."

He added: "We have to plan an event for our anniversary next year. "There's an opportunity here, if only to work on a back catalogue ... a covers record of bands who influenced us - artists like Roxy Music, Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley. Even The Pretenders! It's something we want to celebrate."

As Simple Minds formed in 1978, someone's maths is slightly out (since the 25th anniversary would be in 2003.) But the covers record idea ties in with either the proposed 25th anniversary box set or, more likely, the mysterious double album (which was suggested for later this year, but has probably been pushed into 2001 by the delay of Our Secrets Are The Same. That's if it appears at all, it was always only a possibility.)

The full interview (if it's still there) can be found here

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The London meet-up takes place tomorrow. I'll be attending in the morning and will be posting up some pictures here over the weekend.

All Bar One
48 Leciester Square, W1
Saturday, July 15, 2000

Meet at 10:00 AM

A map of the area can be found here.

The playlist for Some Sweet Day 2000 is now online. It can be found linked to the online flyer for the event.

Todd's also included the online version of the playlist as well (this was the show that was broadcast over the Internet the following Saturday). Apparently playing Jim's interview four or five times sucked up a lot of time!

A full transcription of Jim's interview is being worked on.

Jim's been interviewed by Todd Richards for Some Sweet Day 2000.

I've just been interviewed by Todd, and he's shared some of the details.

The new album is called Our Secrets Are The Same, the working title that Jim revealed over a year ago. Plans are also starting for a Virgin Simple Minds box set to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the band - this is the same box set that Jim mentioned in the previous Some Sweet Day interview. Don't expect that until 2002, but unreleased demos and rare mixes were mentioned.

(Don't confuse this with the double album mentioned in Travelling Man #3 which is a different project.)

A full transcription will be uploaded here as soon as possible.

Jim's latest venture adventure was reported in the Glaswegian press last week. Here's an excerpt from the Metro Life center pages.

(Warning: those of a nervous non-Simple Minds disposition should just scroll down to the Some Sweet Day 2000 section.)

Fishy Suppers

"Glaswegians are becoming very cosmopolitan people and I am convinved the city can lead the way in food as it has done with fasion and music," was the enterprising statement Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr made when he unveiled his sushi production company and restaurant OKO.

Developed in partnership with Stephen Ellis of establised sushi eatery Fusion, OKO will open in two weeks' time, and they hope to open another half-dozen in the coming year.

With drinks served by robots and food delivered by a futuristic self-service conveyor belt system, it should be as impressive as any restaurant that Kerr's globe-trotting career has taken him to, and he admits his decision to open a sushi resaurant reflects his personal taste in food.

"Through travelling with the band I have tried many kinds of world food and sushi is one of my favourites," he says.

Clearly, Kerr is not alone in his belief, with Sainbury's recently reporting that sushi now outsells its four most popular sandwiches combined....

(The rest of the article is concerted about sushi and other Scottish resturants offering Japanese fare. The address of OKO is 68 Ingram St, Glasgow.)

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Of far more interest is Some Sweet Day 2000 which is taking place this week.

"..all is going according to plan for Some Sweet Day 2000 on Thursday July 6th. I have spoken to Simple Minds Limited and it is expected that Jim Kerr will again be our guest (over the phone) for the event.

Saturday July 8th I will be online from the RRHOF&M studios that uses Microsoft Media Player. Anyone wishing to listen in can find the link at the online flyer (www.rrhofm-radio.com). I will rebroadcast any interiews that happen on the 6th.

Aaron and I are looking forward to another successful day of SM music."
Todd Richards

The online flyer for this years Some Sweet Day 2000 can be found at www.runninglate.freeservers.com/marathons/sm. I hope to get a transcript of the interview up on the web site as soon as possible.

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Work is progressing steadily on the new web site. At the moment, I'm devoting most of my spare time to the creation of the site's contents and graphics - it won't just be a new pretty version of this site. Expect much more.

The graphic on the right shows the new background graphics for the Life In A Day sections.

As news comes in over the next couple of months, it will be uploaded here. But the rest of this site won't be updated again - until it's all replaced by the new Dream Giver. I'm currently working towards a September release date.