Jake Shears talks about life after the Scissor Sisters and why he’s decided to release a solo album
Read on as the musician reveals how the band 'hijacked' his life
MAKING his first solo album, Jake Shears says, gave him a freedom he had not felt since making the Scissor Sisters’ debut collection in 2004.
“No one was expecting this record,” he tells me down the phone from his home in New Orleans. “Which is nice because you’re not dealing with anyone’s expectations. Including your band, fans and your own expectations.”
It’s been six years since Scissor Sisters went on a hiatus after releasing their fourth album Magic Hour. In that time Shears took time out, moved cities and “re-discovered himself”.
He made a comeback with the Tony-winning Broadway show Kinky Boots, writing his memoir Boys Keep Swinging and his solo self-titled album.
He says: “I am a person who likes to stay busy with lots of different projects. I believe I am constantly trying to plant seeds and see which ones grow. After the band, it was just trying to figure out what to do next.”
When Scissor Sisters unofficially disbanded, Shears, 39, moved from New York to Los Angeles for a fresh start, before buying a “hideaway” in New Orleans.
“I split my time between here and LA,” he says. “New Orleans is a good place to just be off to myself for a minute. It’s very special, I adore it. You can be wild if you want to and you can be quiet if you want to.” Shears keeps in touch with his old bandmates.
He says: “There were no fallouts, or a bitter break-up, when Scissor Sisters went their separate ways.” It was just time to do something different, although it took a while to decide what.
“I really didn’t know where to go from the last record,” explains Shears. “This band had hijacked everyone’s life for ten years. “No one in the group thought they were going to be playing all over the world in this pop rock band — nobody.
“I always saw it happening, but I don’t think anyone else did. It came as a huge surprise. And it was time for everybody to go and have their own lives. Del (Marquis) got married to this guy and has built a home in Brooklyn. Ana (Matronic) has been working in radio and Babydaddy is my brother.”
Shears, whose real name is Jason Sellards, teams up with his Scissor Sisters songwriting partner Babydaddy (Scott Hoffman) on tracks S.O.B. and The Bruiser on his solo album.
Shears says: “Babydaddy and I had spent our entire adult lives together. He is my best friend and my main songwriting partner. We spent every day together and so when I moved to LA it felt like I was missing an arm.
“It was really hard without Scott so I’m so happy he’s on the album. We are so close and we wrote a couple of songs. We still talk all the time and I love him so much. He is definitely family.”
As well as Babydaddy, Shears worked with Mr Hudson, who has collaborated with Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Duran Duran. Mr Hudson — aka Ben Hudson McIldowie — features on the tracks Big Bushy Mustache, Clothes Off and Mississippi Delta (I’m Your Man).
“He is one of my favourite people on the planet,” says Shears.
“We have an incredible friendship. We met when I first moved to LA and we worked on songs for the movie The Greatest Showman. We bumped into each other at Crossfit and we started writing that night. He is incredibly talented and his emotional intelligence is through the roof.
“He is just one of those people you can always talk through anything with. He always makes me feel better about all of it. Shears says his song Good Friends was inspired by the new people he’s met in New Orleans, a place where he “didn’t know a soul” when he first arrived.
“You’ve got to have friends,” he says. “That makes all the difference.
“I find that with London, too. We started going over there in 2002 and it took a long time to find my really good friends in London. Now it is a different place to me because of that.”
The Bruiser is a song Shears wrote about another good ally — Queens of the Stone Age rocker Josh Homme.
“Josh is a special soul, I met him at T In The Park festival and I’ve been friends with him for ever. He’s like a brother to me and is so much fun. Josh and Brody (Homme’s wife Brody Dalle) are the best people you could ever meet.”
Shears cites The Bee Gees, Dolly Parton and The Velvet Underground as influences for his album, which is also dedicated to Sir Elton John.
He says: “Creep City is a good reintroduction as it’s a menacing party song. It’s got a Scissor Sisters thing going on. There are also dark moments.”
Some of the album was influenced by the end of his long relationship with filmmaker Chris Moukarbel. Shears says: “Sad Song Backwards is a funny song, but it is a heavy song about suicide.
“I hate to dwell on hard times. I was in a relationship for 11 years and you have to find yourself again. It’s about rediscovering who I am.” Shears is now enjoying being single after another relationship ended last year.
He says: “I had a wonderful boyfriend this last year who is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. But we are not together now and it killed me so I’ve really been keeping to myself this summer. Who knows what will happen?
“It is good to be happy with yourself. Entertaining yourself and singing to yourself when you are making dinner — it’s a good spot.” Shears made the album with producer Kevin Ratterman and members of US rock band My Morning Jacket.
“It was an absolute hoot,” he says. “It was a very different recording process from anything I’ve ever done before. We played as a live band and I love how it sounds. There are imperfections on there — it’s real.” Next month Shears embarks on a UK tour beginning at The Forum in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
“I can’t wait to get out there and play some shows,” says the singer. “England is the first place it blew up for Scissor Sisters and it’s no coincidence that I am launching this record and tour there. I love making records but I love performing foremost.
“I know people are going to love this record, but I just want to be able to perform it and play as many records as I can. If there is any nervousness, it is just that I want that to happen.
“It is fun for me because there is so much of the Scissor Sisters’ catalogue that I can play live and it goes great with this stuff. I love being able to play those songs too.” His memoir Boys Keep Swinging, which was released in March, was a dream come true for avid reader Shears.
“I am such a book fanatic,” he says.
“I love books so much and always wanted to write one. tried to write every week but I would get to Friday and just be completely emotionally depleted. I would go back, read what I wrote — and cry. It was not like I was looking around to cry at my own writing, but I would go back and get completely choked up.
“I undersold myself as far as, like, what emotional effect it would have on me. It did make me stop and think about things and re-evaluate certain situations. Going back to where people were horrible to me at school, I was forgiving but it made me realise what an a**hole I was,” he laughs.
“It really put into perspective my own complete insensitivity. I could be a real jerk. It is good to go back and see those things. And there is a lot of pain in the last third of the book, where I met my partner, but it was really lovely to go back and revisit those years of us falling in love.
“It was good for me, I think, to go back and see where it all started. The same thing with the band — it was good to revisit.”
As well as writing a second book, Shears is hoping to star in another Broadway show like Kinky Boots — which he says was “one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever had.”
It was also “one of the most daunting things I have ever done,” he adds.
"There was so much at stake. I just absolutely gave it my everything. It was immensely satisfying and I did about 100 shows. I miss it — I miss the people, the performances, the show. I loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat. It really inspired me in a lot of ways. I thought I was going to keel over by the time I finished.”
A self-confessed workaholic, Shears says he is excited about what the future holds with his solo career. But can he ever see a Scissor Sisters reunion?
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He says: “I would really love to do a Night Work 10th anniversary record (in 2020). There is also an entire record that we just scrapped and there are some amazing songs.
“I would love to put that stuff out in the next couple of years. It is a lot of fun and the fans will love it. As far as making a new Scissor Sisters record, I don’t know. Maybe when I finish my fourth Jake Shears record. I just love what I’m doing now but I would never write off another Scissors record.
"You just have to wait for that inspiration to come.”
- The album Jake Shears is released on August 10.