Sneaky Performance As Major Rock Band Film In Paisley
It started off as there first visit in 1977 at the Silver Thread hotel in Paisley with Johnny and the Self Abusers in one of there earliest gigs, a few years later it was at the Bungalow Bar in Renfrew Road in Paisley that the band was now known as Simple Minds.
After forty years Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill made the return trip to Paisley last night (06.10.22) with a few band members, the ones spotted were Sarah Brown, Gordon Goudie, Ged Grimes and Bernice Scott in what was supposed to be a covert operation to film footage for there new album being released on 21st October entitled Direction of the Heart after being in the studio rehearsing for three days in the lead up to the Abbey performance.
It was on Wednesday that hoists, lighting and other machinery could be seen at Paisley Abbey and later on Wednesday night eight massive beams of light shone through the windows just before midnight enlightening the splendour of Paisley Abbey and its magnificent stained glass windows.
On Thursday evening at 5pm it was two black stage hire vans that appeared into the rear car park of Paisley Abbey and for Jim , Charlie and the other band members to appear from the side door of the van.
The band played out numerous songs from there forthcoming album as we sat at the front doors of the Abbey in the sparkle of the rain ( well it was actually a storm ! ) in an almost hauntingly sound that sounded through the Abbey and would have even left the founding monks of Paisley Abbey being melomaniacs.
During a break we had the chance to catch up with Gordon Goudie who reminisced about the early days of the Paisley music scene with fond memories of the Bungalow Bar.
The filming came to a end just after 9.30pm.
Paisley Photographs 