{"product_id":"kerr-jim-charlie-burchill-graeme-thomson-our-secrets-are-the-same-friendship-fame-at-the-heart-of-simple-minds","title":"Kerr, Jim, Charlie Burchill \u0026 Graeme Thomson - Our Secrets Are The Same: Friendship \u0026 Fame At The Heart Of Simple Minds","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe long-awaited memoir from Simple Minds' founder members and lifelong\u003cbr\u003ecollaborators, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'Easter 1977. Southside Glasgow. Eleven o'clock on a Sunday morning. Charlie and I have\u003cbr\u003efound our John the Baptist in a converted bungalow across the road from our alma mater,\u003cbr\u003eHolyrood Secondary School.\u003cbr\u003eOutside, old grannies and kids are coming back from Mass.\u003cbr\u003eInside, the windows are shaking.\u003cbr\u003eDestiny is calling.\u003cbr\u003eWe are seventeen and ready for something. Anything.'\u003cbr\u003eA candid, moving and kinetic story of self-realisation through the power of music, Our\u003cbr\u003eSecrets Are The Same is the remarkable joint memoir by Simple Minds' founder\u003cbr\u003emembers, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. It not only reveals the inner workings of one of\u003cbr\u003ethe most innovative and successful British bands of the past half-century, but the deeply\u003cbr\u003epersonal tale of an extraordinary friendship which powered teenage dreams into visionary\u003cbr\u003eaction.\u003cbr\u003eJim and Charlie first met at the age of eight, when their families moved to the same\u003cbr\u003ehousing estate in Toryglen, on Glasgow's southside. More than fifty years later, they live\u003cbr\u003eon the same street in Taormina, Sicily. In the decades between, their lives have been\u003cbr\u003euniquely and intimately entwined.\u003cbr\u003eTogether they embarked upon the ultimate adventure: forming a rock band from ground\u003cbr\u003ezero and ascending to the most elevated heights, while at times negotiating the inevitable\u003cbr\u003efalls from grace a prolonged career in music entails.\u003cbr\u003eWhat did they discover?\u003cbr\u003eThat life is not so much about finding yourself as creating yourself. That you can indeed\u003cbr\u003etranscend whatever circumstances in which you were born. That dreaming is necessary\u003cbr\u003ebut not enough; at some point you have to rise up and forcefully bend fantasy into reality.\u003cbr\u003eAnd in doing so, it helps immeasurably to find a soulmate who believes in the cause as\u003cbr\u003efervently as you.\u003cbr\u003eFor both Jim and Charlie, the group they formed in 1977 became a personal crusade; a\u003cbr\u003emeans of making something from nothing. Simple Minds are renowned worldwide for their\u003cbr\u003estring of hits and powerhouse live shows. For its two principals, however, the band\u003cbr\u003ebecame a way of being. Making music offered a passport to numerous experiences once\u003cbr\u003eunimaginable to two kids from Toryglen.\u003cbr\u003eTheir remarkable story traces the arc of working-class aspiration, social change, chemical\u003cbr\u003eawakenings, cultural infiltration, unwavering drive and thrilling creative fusion. Along the\u003cbr\u003eway, there are brushes with David Bowie, Bob Dylan, U2 and Nelson Mandela. Breakfast\u003cbr\u003ewith Alice Cooper. Dinner with Lou Reed. And a few scrapes with the boys in blue:\u003cbr\u003e'The police approached me and Jim. They said they'd had a report that two people had\u003cbr\u003ebroken into the record store and taken some albums. That was merely a pretext. The\u003cbr\u003etruth was they just didn't like the look of us.\u003cbr\u003eThe policeman said: 'Right, what do you two do?'\u003cbr\u003e'We're rock stars,' says Jim.\u003cbr\u003e'What band are you in?'\u003cbr\u003e'Simple Minds.'\u003cbr\u003e'Never heard of you.'\u003cbr\u003e'That's cos we don't make music for cops . . .'\u003cbr\u003eIt was worth a night in the cells, that line.'\u003cbr\u003eExploring key songs, places, years and events in the Simple Minds story, and told in the\u003cbr\u003edistinct voices of both men, Our Secrets Are The Same explores a bond which has\u003cbr\u003eencompassed stratospheric highs and humbling lows, marriages and divorces, fatherhood,\u003cbr\u003efickle fame, tricky inter-band dynamics, the occasional explosive bust up, and a ruthless\u003cbr\u003estreak to rival the Sicilian Mafia.\u003cbr\u003e'We came from a place where you had to fight for your dreams; a tough existence\u003cbr\u003einstilled a certain grittiness. Barely eighteen years old, we were already recognising that\u003cbr\u003ethe band was by now the most precious thing in our lives, and that the risk of appearing\u003cbr\u003eto be tough-minded bastards from time to time was already an unspoken necessity. It\u003cbr\u003ewas just part and parcel of what we were convinced was required in order to do what was\u003cbr\u003eright for Simple Minds.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough the numerous occasions when their private and professional lives have been\u003cbr\u003ethrown into flux, Jim and Charlie have always known they have one thing they could rely\u003cbr\u003eon unconditionally: each other.\u003cbr\u003eTheir connection is grounded in shared experiences and a set of values and codes so\u003cbr\u003edeeply ingrained they don't need to be spoken. For Our Secrets Are The Same is not just\u003cbr\u003ethe story of two rock stars, but of two sons, brothers, partners and parents who have\u003cbr\u003enever forgotten where they come from. Two men who have remained deeply bonded to\u003cbr\u003etheir roots and each other, while fulfilling a teenage dream to form a world-class live band\u003cbr\u003eand take their music around the globe.\u003cbr\u003eFascinating and funny, evocative and inspiring, this unforgettable memoir captures a\u003cbr\u003eunique journey through life and music, and a friendship like no other.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Constable","offers":[{"title":"Paperback Book","offer_id":51334726680854,"sku":"RMX-68389","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited *Signed by Jim and Charlie * Hardback Book - final copies have sleeve creases","offer_id":50163607896342,"sku":"RMX-48733","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Unsigned Hardback Book","offer_id":50155636621590,"sku":"RMX-48450","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0839\/7750\/2998\/files\/7e45a3ba6161ee355f4842643db9f8d3_a9ce62c0-2312-4901-aa04-915bbd031eeb.jpg?v=1750877563","url":"https:\/\/resident-music-uk.myshopify.com\/products\/kerr-jim-charlie-burchill-graeme-thomson-our-secrets-are-the-same-friendship-fame-at-the-heart-of-simple-minds","provider":"Resident Music UK","version":"1.0","type":"link"}