Jim Kerr
April 2010ZANI - Lostboy! AKA
Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr has been a long time favorite of mine. He was one of the first artists to raise his head above the parapet regarding Apartheid in South Africa. His lament to the troubles in Ulster, ‘Belfast Child’, was a haunting soundtrack to the troubles. Although part of the mainstream, Simple Minds always seemed to remain credible to my mind. I well remember songs like ‘Jungleland’ for their sheer raw power live. A Simple Minds gig, however big the stadium always felt like a personal affair. So it was with great interest that I checked out his new solo project!Jim Kerr himself explains that he had a yearning to go back to the beginning to create something new that did not rely on past glories. For me, it has the sound of early Simple Minds with a twist. Jim has kindly provided us a track by track breakdown of the album. This will give you far more of an insight both into the album and the man behind the music.
Refugee
The prototype Lostboy! AKA track, it was also the first track conceived and I knew instantly that it would be the perfect album opener. In many ways it has all the ingredients that I hoped Lostboy! AKA would encapsulate, especially so with its supercharged vitality. Refugee is the calling inviting everyone to come into the world of Lostboy! AKA
Shadowland
Within the remit Lostboy! AKA needed to prove that he could design excellent pop tracks done in his own way. Jez Coad’s “spaghetti western” guitars light up the backdrop as the vocal beckons you to release whatever you may be tired of hiding, whatever you are holding back.
She Fell In Love With Silence
Involves the shattered emotions of a victim of domestic abuse as she pauses to question how to make changes in life. Far from being overburdened with its subject SFILWS bounces along with a searing melody that delights and somehow projects the feeling that “the blows will stop.”
Return Of The King
Dedicated to fellow Scottish singer Billy Mackenzie who fronted the exceptional band The Associates. Billy was not only an amazing talent but like many of our generation he was enamored much by those great collaborative albums produced by Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Written as a tribute to Billy and al our generation.
Red Letter Day
Lostboy! AKA will spread his message most potently through playing live. This meant that I was often hunting down ideas that I envisaged had the force to knock down the walls of any venue, large or small. Red Letter Day displays the power of a great band in the studio. Recorded quickly and off the cuff, it also owes much of its feeling to the – set them up and knock them down – attitude that ran throughout the very brief recording period.
Remember Asia
Song lyrics can ring true or have something of the fantastical about them. Both even! If I told you that Remember Asia involves a character caught up in the panic of an earthquake warning, it would be normal of you to suppose that the story came to me second hand. Not so!
Bulletproof Heart
Written and released originally by Fingerprintz in 1980, out of respect I asked the composer if I could rewrite the verse, as I wanted to adapt them to my own vision. I love my hometown of Glasgow for many reasons including the fact that it made me. Sadly last year it was reported that the city now has the highest murder rate per capita in Europe. My angst over this is evident in the delivery of this song.
Lostboy
A postcard written to a long lost friend, recalling innocent days and a character that knew only fearless dreams. No ambition was ever too big and no adventure too scary for this friend. The lyrics track back to a particular late night conversation in a Times Square Café, where our pledges were made, as were vows that to this day I have never forgotten.
Nail Through My Heart
Despite the thundering cry from the heart chorus -NTMY is more musical cinescape than song. The range of atmospheres that we work from is already expansive throughout this debut album, but it is sure to grow even more as Lostboy! AKA moves with quickened pace into the future. Written in London, overlooking Hyde Park, on an afternoon when a storm took over the city, the music seems to portray an overwhelming calmness that begs to be broken.
Soloman Solohead
Out in the backwoods the mercenaries are gathering, preparing for high tech war. As ever oneindividual sticks out more than the others of this extreme group. He is SOLOMAN. More than 30 years ago Simple Minds wrote a real dark horse of a song called ‘Citizen’. In spirit, Soloman for sure is a distant cousin.
The Wait
Possibly the loneliest song that I have ever written, it concentrates on an inner dialogue flashing through the head of an Olympian runner as he steps up to the mark. “Winning is never all in life, and the race itself is the prize,” he tells himself as he crosses the line. And with that I also cross the line with a track that makes the most suitable ending to the debut album!
The album drops in the UK & Ireland on 16th May 2010 on earMUSIC, the international pop rock label of Edel Group, distributed by Absolute via Universal. The album will be released in 4 physical formats as well as digitally; a standard 11-track CD; 12” Vinyl; a limited edition CD featuring 3 bonus studio tracks, and a collector’s edition bundle which includes both the CD and a 7” vinyl single featuring covers of Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On” and The Verve’s “Lucky Man”.
Produced by Jez Coad (Simple Minds last 2 albums) and featuring Charlie Jones on bass (Robert Plant, Page & Plant, Goldfrapp) alongside long-time Simple Minds drummer Mel Gaynor, Lostboy! On the first few plays of this record I have been drawn back over and over again to “Return Of The King”. It’’s a fitting tribute to Billy.
Reproduced by Kind Permission of Mark Thorpe and Battery In Your Leg
Original Article From Battery In Your Leg
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