Today, Simple Minds released their new single, ‘Your Name in Lights’, which is the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed, career-spanning documentary Everything Is Possible. The documentary will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Scotland channel from 10 December.
Written in collaboration with writer and producer Paul Statham, Simple Minds set out to match the film’s ambience whilst recapturing the innocent spirit of their early days; “when we were ‘wee boys’ playing around with our synthesisers,” says the band’s Jim Kerr, “proudly wearing our Kraftwerk and Brian Eno influences on our sleeve.”
The resultant track mirrors a style that Simple Minds previously produced on their 1979 Reel To Real Cacophony album, with an accompanying lyric which, as Kerr puts it, “conjures up a ‘Dreamer’s conversation with a distant Muse’ – that Muse being Aretha Franklin as sung by Sarah Brown.”
Listen to ‘Your Name in Lights’ – BELOW:
Made by Lonesome Pine Productions for Paramount+ and in partnership with BMG, Everything Is Possible was directed and produced by Joss Crowley. The film takes the viewer on an extraordinary journey from the band’s isolated beginnings in late 1970s Glasgow to their early groundbreaking and pioneering albums, through their stratospheric ascent in the mid-to-late 1980s, the subsequently challenging later years, and triumphant rebirth over the past decade.
Along the way the film features candid interviews with band members including Simple Minds’ founders, singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, as well as a cast of outstanding musicians, writers, actors and broadcasters: Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, Texas’ Sharleen Spiteri, Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof, The Specials and 2-Tone founder Jerry Dammers, Irvine Welsh, Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club), broadcasters Murial Gray and Mariella Frostrup, and album producers John Leckie, Peter Walsh, Trevor Horn and Jimmy Iovine.
The film’s overarching theme is the lifelong friendship at the core of the group, that of Kerr and Burchill. Forged at the top of a sand castle on a new housing scheme in 1967, this remarkable relationship has spanned seven decades, making it an integral part of Simple Minds’ exceptional story.
One of the greatest live bands of the past 40 years, Simple Minds recently completed the first part of their hugely successful Global Tour (their largest tour since 1985), playing to approximately one million people around the globe.
Next spring the band will undertake an extensive tour of Latin America, performing shows in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. These dates will be followed by a series of UK and Ireland summer shows, commencing with a very special one-off hometown show at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park on 27th June, where the band will perform their iconic 1985 album Once Upon A Time in its entirety to celebrate its 40th anniversary, along with a selection of their greatest hits. Special guests will include Future Islands, KT Tunstall and Hamish Hawk.
27th June Bellahouston, Glasgow
28th June Lincoln Castle
29th June Southampton Summer Sessions
1st July Trinity Summer Series, Dublin
3rd July Bedford Summer Sessions
6th July Lytham Festival, Lytham St. Annes *Already on sale
7th July Live At Piece Hall, Halifax
8th July Derby Summer Sessions
Throughout the rest of July, Simple Minds will play concerts across Europe, with more dates globally still to be announced.
Ticket link: https://www.simpleminds.com/tour/
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