With Simple Minds still active after 30 years, frontman Jim Kerr will release his first-ever solo album this May under the name Lostboy! AKA, and is set to debut his new material — and dig into Simple Minds’ back catalog — with a trio of intimate U.K. club dates this spring before embarking on a full tour.
Due out May 17 in the U.K. and preceded by the single “Shadowlands,” Lostboy! AKA finds Kerr working without his Simple Minds partner Charlie Burchill for the first time. Instead, the singer enlisted the help of co-writer and producer Jez Coad, who previously worked with the band, producing Simple Minds’ Black & White 050505
On the Lostboy website, Kerr writes that the new project doesn’t mean an end to his longtime band: “I can easily imagine taking this new relationship much further in parallel with the continuing great story of Simple Minds.” (Read Kerr’s full statement and hear two mixes of the Lostboy! AKA track “Refugee” below.)
In an interview published today in the Daily Record, Kerr discusses his solo effort:
“The character of Lostboy! AKA is not that dissimilar to who I was from the ages of 17 to 23 years old. Until now, I never felt the need to make a solo record. I had more than enough to do with Simple Minds. But in the last few years I’ve written more than I ever did and some of the songs didn’t feel like I was in Simple Minds mode.”
Kerr will debut the Lostboy! material — a sample of which can be heard at lostboyaka.com — with late-May concerts in Aberdeen, Glasgow and London (see full tour dates below). He also writes on Twitter that more Lostboy! AKA dates are “coming very soon.” In the Daily Record interview, he reveals plans “to play some very rare Simple Minds tracks the band would not normally include in our set from our 1979 debut album, Life in a Day.
As for Simple Minds, who released Graffiti Soul
See Lostboy! AKA tour dates and hear “Refugee” after the jump…
Lostboy! AKA tour dates:
May 21: The Warehouse, Aberdeen, UK
May 22: King Tut’s, Glasgow, UK
May 23: Borderline, London, UK
Simple Minds tour dates:
March 25: Lyric Theatre, Sydney, Australia
March 28: Grand Prix, Melbourne Australia
March 30: Civic Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
June 5: Rock Festival, Esbjerg, Denmark
July 9: Stavern Festival, Stavern, Norway
July 10: Bergen Festival, Bergen, Norway
Audio: Lostboy! AKA, “Refugee” (album version)
Audio: Lostboy! AKA, “Refugee” (Simon Hayward remix)
Jim Kerr’s statement on lostboyaka.com:
LOSTBOY! AKA
“Somehow I had tuned into the boy that I used to be, the passionate kid that I had left behind, and mysterious as that all was, there was no denying how thrilled I was to be reconnecting with the energetic outlook and liberating values at the core of that distantly familiar character. Rapidly I then began considering what kind of songs could be created if I could immerse myself “now” in engaging fully with that young ghost. LOSTBOY AKA! is the result of that curiosity, and I am exhilarated by it. No mere dance with the past — thanks to the vision of co-writer and producer Jez Coad — much of these songs feel to me that they could be signals from tomorrow. It’s only a first step, but I can easily imagine taking this new relationship much further in parallel with the continuing great story of Simple Minds.”
Jim Kerr
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Video: Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ tribute to John Hughes
- Video: Simple Minds and OMD perform Kraftwerk’s ‘Neon Lights’ together
- Simple Minds, OMD to cover Kraftwerk’s ‘Neon Lights’ on upcoming tour of the UK
- Simple Minds to play ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ in memory of John Hughes
- New releases: Faith No More best-of, new CD from Simple Minds
- Simple Minds release 16th album ‘Graffiti Soul,’ bonus covers disc
What’s up with Simple Minds decision to not tour North America? Has Jim ever explained why they continually pass up America on tour?
A very ordinary song, not quite the leap forward or the leftfield for a solo project.
Perhaps this song is above the intellect of americans and can only be appreciateted by the south glasgow,mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
It’s cause promotors do not invite Simple Minds to play. Simple as that.
J’adore…………. Et ca fait 30 ans que ca dure
yeah i see where Jim is coming from here i get flashes of Minds in their underground era BUT if Jim truly wants to capture that time then he needs to get together with the guys who made that happpen ie MacNeil, Forbes, Burchill am i right or am i right?
Why to much euro beat for my taste…
What a great album, he is a really talented guy, call it play it safe, but really I think he hits the nail on the head every time. If you like a certain sound of thoughtful rock.