JK: Oh, we were Velvet Underground freaks. In the UK, they were pretty unknown, really. When we were growing up, they were one of the ultimate cult bands. They may only have sold 5,000 records in the UK, but probably everybody who bought that record went on to form a band. That's how influential they were. And the reason for that, although in fact their music, when you looked at it, the lyrics were incredibly deep, the songs themselves were only two or three chords. So, if you were starting a band, anyone can manage two or three chords.

JK: Of course, the thing about The Velvet Underground was, they had the feel. You either have the feel, or you don't. You could learn the chords to half a dozen of their songs in a day, so anyone starting a band, there you go. That would make you feel good.

JK: But apart from that, we loved the street poetry of Lou Reed. It was the other side. I know we were talking about optimism. Simple Minds worked in the light, but The Velvet Underground certainly worked in the dark. You need night as well as day, and their music was of the seamier side of life, although there was still tremendous heart in it

JK: So, yes, we loved Lou Reed and certainly that track. We saw him play it live in London, and just hearing that orchestral thing coming out, it just blew us away and I guess we wanted to emulate that.

Songfacts Interview
March 2018