Simply Red

SATELLITE OF LOVE: Forty-eight years ago today, on January 17, 1978, Simple Minds made their live debut at Glasgow’s Satellite City. Supporting the reggae headliners Steel Pulse, the original ...lineup—Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Brian McGee, Tony Donald, and Duncan Barnwell—delivered a lean, high-impact, minimal set.

The performance opened with 'Act of Love' and closed with 'Pleasantly Disturbed' flanking another Burchill/Kerr original 'Wasteland.' They also paid homage to their influences with a cover of Lou Reed’s "White Light/White Heat" and revisited their roots with "Pablo Picasso" by Johnny & The Self Abusers.

With a ticket price of £1:50, their debut success sparked a rapid ascent. With the same band line-up in place, Simple Minds soon secured further dates at The Third Eye Centre (see pic) and established legendary residencies at Glasgow’s Doune Castle and Mars Bar.

It was during these pub gigs that future Burchill/Kerr staples like 'Tonight,' 'Take Me to the Angels,' 'Caught in a Dream,' and "Chelsea Girl" began to form the backbone of their evolving live sound.

Pic: Peter McArthur

This month in 1995, Simple Minds released ‘She’s A River’ as the lead single from Good News from the Next World, reuniting with producer Keith Forsey for the first time since ‘Don’t You ...(Forget About Me)’.

This week in 1978, Simple Minds took the stage for the very first time at Satellite City in Glasgow. If you still have ticket stubs or photos from those early days, share them and tag us for a chance... to be featured on the band’s official channels 📸

Photos by Laurie Evans

The Southside Sanctuary: Where Simple Minds Began

When people discuss the embryonic beginnings of bands, they usually conjure the same cliché images: damp basements, dingy strip-lit ...rehearsal rooms etc. Those cold, concrete spaces would eventually come for Simple Minds—but that was all in the future. The original fuse had been lit much earlier, in a very different kind of room.

Surrounded by the gatefold sleeves of Roxy Music, The Doors, the New York Dolls, and David Bowie, the first seeds of the band were sown in Charlie Burchill’s bedroom in the southside of Glasgow. While the rest of the house moved to the domestic rhythm of a busy Burchill family—kettles whistling, doors clattering, the sound of chatter from adjoining rooms—Charlie and I were immune to it all, while hunched over guitars and scraps of paper, determinedly stitching together our first songs.

We had nothing then but borrowed records and cheap instruments. There was no recording equipment and no one else with us. Much like Morrisey and Marr, Robert Smith, Kate Bush, and many others, all of whom began building 'their universes' from inside tiny bedrooms - the feeling that something was taking root was undeniable.

Every time I had made my way to Charlie’s—two or three nights a week—he had something new waiting: a half-formed riff or a strange chord sequence he’d been turning over in his head. Each visit felt like turning a fresh page in a story we didn’t yet realize we were writing.

Fifty years later, we are still here and still writing songs. Our band, Simple Minds, remains still at the very core of who we are.

Jim Kerr

Pic. Charlie Burchill 1979: Paul Forrester

BRAVO BILLY! Billy Sloan went out in a blaze of glory last night, sounding every bit as vibrant as he did on his BBC Radio Scotland debut eleven years ago. To many, the station’s decision to end ...his run feels like a spectacular own goal. To me? I’ve a feeling we’ll hear his voice presenting again before long. Think, blink of an eye!

The highlight was the inclusion of The Velvet Underground’s What Goes On in last night’s playlist — instantly transporting me back to a Thursday evening in October 1979 listening to The Billy Sloan Show - back then on Radio Clyde.

There I was, sitting in a traffic jam, frustration rising, when that very song came blasting out of the car radio in its live version. Within seconds, my mood flipped from weary to elated. For all I know, that might have been the only time that gem ever surfaced on mainstream radio — until once again, last night. If Lou Reed was looking down, he’d have been smiling. Grateful too, like all of us who’ve benefited from Billy’s endless encouragement and support.

It always makes me wince, even if meant kindly, when Billy is described as Scotland’s very own John Peel.
Sloan’s taste and never-ending enthusiasm for all the good stuff in life, plus his instinct for the human connection makes him utterly his own — as unique and enduring as the glowing signage of Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom - his reputation today, like those famous lights, shining just as bright.

Jim Kerr

Search: The Velvet Underground - What Goes On (Live At The Matrix)

Thank you to each and every one of you for making this year one of the most successful in the band’s long history!

- Simple Minds HQ

Footage by @indietrent

Wishing a very happy birthday to the wonderful @cherissedrums!

Photo by @indietrent

"On Sunday, the solstice sun will rise at its latest and set at its earliest. From then on, the days will lengthen, returning us by stealth to those light-filled days of Spring and Summer... ...Before you know it? Simple Minds will soon be back doing what they do best!"

A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to Simple Minds fans worldwide!

Photo by @jamesmonkmanphotography

This month in 1985, Simple Minds’ two shows at The Ahoy in Rotterdam were recorded and filmed by The Tube, creating promotional concert footage for the forthcoming UK leg of the Once Upon A Time ...tour. #OnceUponATime40

‘Our Secrets Are The Same’, the joint memoir by Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill with @graemethomsonwriter, has been named a Rough Trade and Uncut Book of the Year 2025.

A huge thank you to... everyone who has picked up a copy and joined us at the book launch events in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London.

Order your copy of #OurSecretsAreTheSame via the link in bio.

40 years ago this month, Simple Minds continued their Once Upon a Time Tour across Europe, following the major commercial success of the album.

“Certain records when you’re asked to look... back, you get an instant emotion: some you have a little wince and there are others where the instant reaction is to bring a smile to your face, and I have that with Once Upon A Time. It was the album we wanted, it was the album we felt we needed. It was such a pleasure to do. When we actually got down to recording and working with Jimmy and Bob, it was summer in America and every day the stuff coming out of the speakers sounded great. When you look back now it’s only eight tracks so it’s probably the most compact record we made.” - Jim

Photos by @guidoharari

#OnceUponATime40