THERE are moments when, as a dad, you are so uncool, so square, it’s unbelievable.

Guitarist Charlie Burchill from Simple Minds had one of these moments with his own kids.

As they were growing up, Simple Minds were rocketing to stardom, playing stadiums around the world and having hit after hit.

But his kids didn’t want to know.

Then one day, when they went to university, they heard Don’t You (Forget About Me) being played on the radio and suddenly, as Charlie said, ‘it changed the game’ immediately their ‘old dad’ was cool.

Simple Minds as a group have always tried to be relevant, always aimed to be ‘alive and kicking’.

But at its heart, the main glue which held the group together no matter how many band members left are boyhood pals, Charlie Burchill and Jim Kerr.

They have been with the group since its humble beginnings, through a rise to stardom throughout the 1980s/1990s and into a revival in 2000s.

Charlie said: “We have known each other form a very young age.

“We were together as friends and family and we met through our love of music.

“As characters we are very different. I could never write lyrics like Jim and he could not play a guitar like me.

“We just get down to the job we are doing, which is making music.”

Simple Minds’ hits include Don’t You (Forget About Me), Alive and Kicking, Belfast Child, All The Things She Said, Sanctify Yourself, Waterfront and Love Song, to name a few.

They were also one of the groups to be part of Live Aid in 1985, when they played Philadelphia.

When you look at Simple Minds’ career as a whole, and they have been going over 40 years, it makes you wonder if they are cooler than you think.

What did Charlie think of this thought?

He said: “Yeah I don’t really know, that is an interesting point of view.

“It is hard to say as we were focused on our careers.

“Like a lot of people, a lot of musicians, we have always tried to be current.

“I think the coolest thing we have done has been to change our sound with every album we have made.

“We never sat back and repeated things. We always like to do something different.

“Our last album (Walk Between Worlds) was critically very well received.”

Music was important to Charlie long before Simple Minds.

Among the albums he has listed as being important to him include Late Night Movies All Night Brainstorms by Doctors of Madness, New York by Lou Reed, Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan, Horses by Patti Smith and For the Rose, Joni Mitchell.

“My interest in music came form my brothers as they were both older than me. One was four years older and the other was eight years older,” he said.

“One was into Neil Young and Joni Mitchell while we all loved The Doors and Bowie.

“The first album I ever got was The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie and this was before any of Ziggy Stardust.

“I was also a huge Bob Dylan fan and listening to Joni Mitchell’s guitar playing, it was like ‘wow’.”

In September, Simple Minds will be in Taunton.

They will be at Taunton Racecourse where they will be appearing on Sunday, September 2, with The Pretenders and special guest KT Tunstall.

Charlie said: “I am looking forward to coming to the West Country as it is so beautiful.

“There is a buzz when you do a live gig.

“It is very defiantly different, no two gigs are the same.

“It doesn’t matter if you turn up tired and thinking ‘oh no I don’t want to go on’.

“When you step on stage it all goes away. It transforms you.

“You don’t need to go to the bathroom, something else is happening.

“There is a different feeling and there is a huge adrenaline rush.

“I did meet a dad and his son who were both German at a gig and asked the lad, who must have been 10 years old, if he liked Simple Minds.

“He said yes, he loved the band and liked Scottish people as they were rough.”

Simple Minds will be at Taunton Racecourse on Sunday, September 2, as part of GRANDSLAM 2018.

The line-up also features The Pretenders and KT Tunstall.

Tickets are priced from £37.50 plus booking fee (bronze general admission), £45 plus booking fee (silver enclosure) and £60, plus booking fee (golden circle).

For more details and to buy tickets, log on to tauntonracecourse.co.uk