SIMPLE Minds have released a one-off single to mark the anniversary of their first-ever performance.

Released today, Act of Love commemorates the Scottish rock band's first show 44 years ago at Glasgow's Satellite City on January 17, 1978.

The track has been mixed by Alan Moulder (Artic Monkeys, The Killers) and is a reimagining of one of the first songs written by Jim Keer and guitarist Charlie Burchill. 

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The song speaks of where the band has been and where they're heading and honours the passion and belief which brought the band to life. 

Jim Kerr said: "Over the years people have asked: When did you think Simple Minds had the potential to make it?

"My stock answer was always, 'Oh, we didn’t really think about that'.

"But I realise now that I wasn’t telling the truth.

"I believed we had something special as soon as I heard Charlie play the riff on Act Of Love."

While recording their next album in Hamburg during 2021 and 2021, the band returned to Act of Love. 

Kerr said: "We tinkered around with it. 

"When we listened to the original demo, we loved its spirit and its general form, but it sounded like a youth club band song.

"How could we do that now, adding extra pieces without losing the essence?

"I was thinking about the excitement of what we were setting out to do.

"We would rehearse in the afternoon in a derelict building in the Gorbals and I’d walk past Govanhill Library, thinking about the idea of the muse: a voice within that will appear and provide inspiration.

"That’s what the song was about originally.

"Now I’m looking back, reflecting on how the belief was real.

"When Charlie played that riff, it made me think we could do this.

"From that belief becomes your attitude, your body language, the whole culture of the band."

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A bridge between their past and future, Act of Love is a reassertion of faith and has become a "rallying cry" for fans who have waited two years for the world tour to recommence and it was cut short in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. 

Kerr added: "What a thing: merging the very first Simple Minds song and where we are now.

"There’s a story there.

"I think we’ve managed to tell it well."

Simple Minds will be performing at the Glasgow Ovo Hydro on April 6.