JAKE SHEARS
As he releases his long-awaited solo album, the Scissor Sisters frontman opens up about finding his feet alone, his battles with anxiety and depression, and his place in queer history.
“One of the things I love about New Orleans is that I live three blocks away from this 24-hour leather bar called The Phoenix. It’s got a dark room upstairs and a neighbourhood bar downstairs. It’s the most fun place to hang out,” Jake informs us with a smirk. “They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!”
We’re discussing the commodification of queer culture, and the inevitable loss of edge that comes with it, when the former Scissor Sisters frontman shares the details of his favourite local hangout with us. “I think there are elements of gay life that are slowly disappearing,” he muses. But while the LGBTQ community is certainly becoming more and more enveloped by the glossy sheen of the mainstream, Jake doesn’t see that as a bad thing.
“Everything changes,” he says. “Our culture changes, but I don’t think it’s getting watered down, I think it’s turning into more of a spirit. When you go to big Pride events now, I feel like you’re celebrating a certain mindset of freedom more than you are specific sexualities. Pride is loving whoever you are, whoever you may be, and I think it’s becoming way more inclusive and that’s a great thing. I don’t think it’s being watered down, I think the definitions are changing.”
While the mid-00s may have been an excellent era for music fans – “you had Franz Ferdinand, Le Tigre, and Amy Winehouse, it was a really special time,” Jake recalls – the lack of openly LGBTQ artists is jarring, especially when compared to today’s stellar lineup of out-and-proud talent breaking into the mainstream. The Scissor Sisters were an anomaly among the largely hetero-dominated landscape at the time, with unapologetically queer sensibilities and a string of outrageously camp hits that dominated radio. “I always hoped that we were having some sort of impact on pop culture, and on young people, and I feel like there was,” he says, curled up in an armchair at The Dorchester. “I’m really proud of that, and it’s so nice now to see younger queer artists of all kinds and all different genres of music rising up and exploding. You’ve got Sam Smith making pop, you’ve got Sophie making all this crazy music, you’ve got Arca, Perfume Genius, Shamir, Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear – there’s lots of different styles happening. It’s not just one thing.”
In 2012, following four studio albums and a whole lot of kiki’ing, the Scissor Sisters announced an indefinite hiatus during a concert at The Roundhouse in Camden. It’s the news every fandom dreads, but for Jake it was the only clear way forward.
“I felt like we had so much fun making Magic Hour, and Let’s Have A Kiki happened – which in America just blew up – and I was just very happy with everything. But I didn’t really know what else to say after that album. I felt like we’d done everything. I don’t wanna make records just for the sake of making records. That whole time with the Scissors I was always trying to reach for something, and still after every record I wasn’t satisfied, and I still had ambitions with it, but after Magic Hour I just didn’t feel any drive. I personally felt like I’d said everything I wanted to say through that filter.
“So then I left New York and moved to Los Angeles, which was a very strange transition. I think I underestimated what it would feel like to change coasts, especially after being in New York for almost 15 years. I love life in LA now, but it’s definitely a tough transition. I also underestimated how tough that transition would be on my relationship with my partner – it did not survive.”
Has that breakup influenced his art? “Absolutely,” Jake confirms. “I was devastated. We’d been together since 2004, so he’d been with me through all of it. We had so many memories and shared experiences and it’s really just the saddest thing to say goodbye to that person. It really feels like you’re losing a huge part of your life – which I was. He’s an amazing man, and it’s always gonna hurt. It’s always gonna be there with me.”
Though Jake affirms the end of his long-term relationship with filmmaker Chris Moukarbel was “the right thing to do” at the time, it left him at a crossroads in life. With the Scissor Sisters on an indefinite hiatus, some brief musical theatre work in the rear view mirror, and an empty schedule looming, there was nothing left to do but pack up and start fresh. “I really had nothing ahead of me,” he says. “I had nothing going on, I was breaking up with my partner, so I decided to leave and just go to New Orleans on my own.”
With that upheaval, we arrive at the raison d’être of our interview: Jake’s self-titled debut solo studio album. It’s a triumphant return for the king of camp, blending the avant-garde magic of the Scissor Sisters’ glory days with his own deeply personal lyrics. On Big Bushy Mustache, Jake shares his longing for a “porn star handlebar” on his upper lip, while Sad Song Backwards sees him recall taking “double fistfuls of prozac” after a failed relationship over unnervingly bouncy production. It’s ridiculous, but in the best way possible – and it’s entirely the product of his own mind.
“This is my dream,” he says. “I think I’ve been trying to make this record for my whole life, but I just don’t think I was old enough, and I don’t think
I had enough experience under my belt. I didn’t want to put anything out until it was something I was totally, completely in love with. It’s just been a total labour of love. I wanted it to sound exactly as it sounds now. And it’s all my own money! So I have to completely stand behind it.”
Is he happy that the record is finally out? “Something about letting this album out into the world was really sad, just because I really didn’t wanna let it go,” he confesses. “I mean, I did and I didn’t, but it was tough for me. It feels like it’s been such a big part of my identity, and to let it go is hard.”
Despite the immense popularity of the Scissor Sisters – including four top five albums on the UK charts and three Brit Award wins – Jake says he doesn’t feel any pressure for the record to match that level of success. “I think you can really hear that on the album. I didn’t have to run anything by anybody, there was no record label, there was no full-time bandmates, it was just me knowing what I wanted to do. No one was expecting this record, and no one was particularly waiting for this record, so I don’t feel a lot of pressure. I feel more pressure about what I’m going to wear on stage, but you know life is pretty good when that’s all you’re losing sleep over!”
Life may be pretty good for the musician now, but things haven’t always been so smooth. Like many in the LGBTQ community, Jake has struled with mental health issues for much of his life. It’s something he’s happy to speak openly about in an attempt to break the stigma that still surrounds the issue – especially among men.
“As out-and-proud and independently-minded as I like to think I am, I have felt pressure to conform in all kinds of ways,” he explains. “I’ve had major body image issues for the last 10 years. Like, what the fuck? Why do I strule with that? I think about it all the time, and I feel like I’m in a better place with it now, but it’s definitely something I’ve struled with. I’m super excited to go into my 40s, but I do feel like I have to reassess what it all means and I’ve been thinking a lot about that.
“When it comes to mental health issues, I’m always going to strule with depression, it’s something I know I’m going to have for the rest of my life. But I have really learned how to manage it. I can look inside now and say, ‘What is not making me happy? What is giving me anxiety?’ And then face it and change it. That’s how this whole record was made. I wanted to get back to this place where I’m putting out music I love and getting to perform on stage. Getting to be creative makes me really happy.”
Even in this new age of acceptance, young LGBTQ people are disproportionately affected by mental health problems like depression and anxiety, they’re more likely to end up homeless, and they’re also more likely to self-harm or attempt suicide. “I’m sure there are whole books written about it,” Jake premeditates, before sharing his belief that the constant connectivity and infinite possibilities provided by the internet and social media is only heightening the problem.
“I think it’s still a hard world out there for any young queer person, and I wouldn’t wanna face what they face,” he admits. “I’m just looking at your phone right now because that’s what I’m talking about. You come from a completely different generation that’s had this whole other thing that you’ve grown up with in your life, and I don’t envy you. There are certain aspects of technology that have made it harder for young people, and young queer people in particular. On the other hand, it also connects people! But I think it over-connects people. We should not be connecting this much – at least not in this way.”
With a six year gap between the Scissor Sisters’ last record and Jake’s solo album – a lifetime in the pop music landscape – we’re left wondering if it will take just as long for his next project to arrive. “Right now, I’m thinking as far ahead as exactly one year from now,” he relays, ”so I’m just thinking about this whole next year, and I just want to stay incredibly busy. I believe in this album, and I really want to be able to perform it as much as I possibly can, and do as much as I possibly can, you know?”
So far, the record has succeeded in its goal: Jake’s happy with it, the fans love it, and the critics have been kind, with a string of positive reviews already to the album’s name. “The response has been so overwhelming, and just in a matter of days all of these opportunities are coming along, it’s awesome,” he says. “This next year is about this record. I want to murder the festival season next summer and get to a place where I can just go out and knock people’s socks off. I’m sure I’m gonna end up with ideas in that time, but it’s just been so nice to make this album.”
He may be focused on his freshly-pressed record right now – and rightly so – but a sophomore effort isn’t quite off the table. “Maybe it will be another six years, but I know that no matter what, when it comes to making my next record, it’s going to be something amazing,” he smiles. “I feel like I’ve learned how to get to that point. I think time doesn’t necessarily matter so much. I’ve learned over the years that you’ve gotta put out good stuff.”