The stuff of dreams: Bands’ fortunes were intertwined

Ged Grimes’s former band, Danny Wilson, are best known for their 1988 UK number three hit single, Mary’s Prayer.

The band served as a launchpad for the career of his old school friend Gary Clark – who will be part of the line-up at the 3D Festival taking place to celebrate the opening of the V&A next weekend.

Ged said if it hadn’t been for Simple Minds going to Mexico next week and Gary being in New York this week, they might have performed together again for the occasion in Dundee. However, Ged revealed they had Simple Minds to thank for Danny Wilson’s success.

“Me and Gary were staying in a squat in London in 1982,” said Ged. “It was that thing where you had to go to London to be part of anything – you couldn’t get record companies coming up here.

“We were down on our luck and Simple Minds had released New Gold Dream, around 1982/83.

“I remember being really conscious of them being a Scottishbased band with Scottish management and it was such a pivotal record for me, not just musically but the fact those guys were Scottish – four albums down the line with Scottish management.

“We thought: ‘maybe we don’t need to be in London’. Then, shortly after that... we moved back to Dundee, regrouped, then the whole centre of the music business was changing, looking to the north and a new wave of Scottish bands coming through. So, ironically, Simple Minds were part of my decision to come back to Dundee because we were getting nowhere in London.”

Bassist Ged Grimes.