James guitarist Saul Davies: Seeing Simple Minds in the 80s changed my life

Ayr’s Pavilion Festival returns for its third year featuring an eclectic mix of music, with acts including Starsailor, Vistas, Annie Mac, Happy Mondays, Optimo, Harri and Jon Mancini. Saul Davies of the band James, who have a relationship with Glasgow that stretches back 40 years, sat down with me in the Liberty Suite at AC by Marriott Hotel near George Square. We chatted about the band’s numerous appearances at T in the Park, “it felt like we were always a part of that festival, and it was always a great set” and working on new music - James earned their first-ever Number One studio album last year with Yummy, their 18th record.

I asked Saul what Glasgow venues and bands come to mind when he thinks about Glasgow: “Our fortunes as a band, Barrowlands is really central, like it is for so many bands. It's been key to us as we've grown from obscurity to building a fanbase and stuff. So late eighties and into the nineties, whenever something happened, it always seemed to happen at the Barrowlands. One way or another. And we never really let ourselves down. Everybody says the same thing, right? Because the venue pushes you to do stuff, you are somewhere different. You're somewhere special. There are other venues around the country like that, but Barrowland is kind of the pinnacle of that, I would say. King Tut’s is another amazing venue.

Without Glasgow in Britain, obviously without Glasgow in Scotland, the Scottish music scene would not have been anywhere near what it has become and still is, I don't think. But the same goes for Glasgow's effect on the whole of the UK. It's like a beacon, isn't it. You've got Liverpool and Manchester to Glasgow, Sheffield. There is London maybe. I'm talking about guitar music.”

I say there was a connection in the 1990s when lots of bands from Liverpool and Manchester came up to Glasgow and made a connection, got a kickstart, “Well long may it continue despite the threats that there are to venues, and it's pretty poor, really” Saul says.

I suggest that it is encouraging that kids still want to pick up a guitar and get involved. “Football, rock and roll, and sex will always have appeal” Saul says.

Before I get the chance to ask about James, Saul starts talking about his favourite Glasgow bands: “I really like Walt Disco. Amazing. They are from a newer crop of artists. The other day, I was showing my daughter records from The Blue Nile. She didn’t know the band. I was thinking it was a shame I never saw them play and never will get to see them play.”

You couldn't put them in pigeonhole them at all. The music that comes has come out of Glasgow is so unbelievably diverse. I suppose it's a reflection of the struggles that people have had in Glasgow, generation after generation.”

A recent documentary about Simple Minds had triggered some memories for Saul - seeing the band perform in Manchester is one of the reasons he became a professional musician: “The documentarty was a brilliant and really welcome reminder of what an amazing band they are as well. It actually changed my life a little bit. I saw Simple Minds in 1986 when I went to university in Manchester and I thought it was amazing, it was one of the things that made me want to be a musician.

“I started playing violin when I was eight years old in Kippen near Stirling. That's where I was living up, in the hills. And somebody turned up in there our class one day and said, who wants to miss a math lesson? And every hand went up and they went, right, the catch is you have to learn to play violin. And everybody's hands came down except mind. And I went, I don’t really know what that means, but I'll have a shot. By the age of 13, I was the leader of the Stirling Youth Symphony Orchestra.

“I was a musician but it was just a hobby. Then in Manchester at uni, I saw some amazing things, the early eighties was an insane time to be a Manchester, Cypress Tavern and all of that stuff.

“I very specifically remember going to the Simple Minds gig on my own, and they played behind this gauze. It was so f***** cool. I was like, “these guys are gods”. Someone Somewhere (In Summertime), I think, is in the top 10 of the greatest songs ever written.

“That whole record, New Gold Dream, it couldn’t have come out of anywhere but Glasgow and it’s a soundtrack to this city.”

James, a stalwart of the summer festival season in Scotland, will be at Ayr’s Pavilion Festival on 2 May, tickets and full lineup here.

Simple Minds play Once Upon a Time at Bellahouston Park on 27 June.