by andrew stillman
Fans of Jake Shears may know him best from the pop rock band Scissor Sisters, where the music is a little more melancholy. The Sisters have been on an indefinite hiatus since 2017, but that hasn’t kept Shears from keeping busy. Now living in London, Shears recently did the “Tammy Faye” musical in October 2022 and is now gearing up to release his new album, Last Man Dancing.
A sonic ride from start to finish, Last Man Dancing takes listeners on a journey through the disco-inspired dance beats that took us through the 1970s and 1980s, and transitions into the more common music one can hear bumping from the nearest club.
“I wanted to make a dance record,” Shears told The RAGE Monthly. “I love it and I just felt like it was time to make a proper party record. And once I got going on it, this is like my first record without any sort of contemplative, like melancholy songs.”
Once he noticed the upbeat theme of the album, Shears made the decision to break it into the two parts — disco and house — because he always views each of his projects as a whole piece, rather than little bits sprinkled together.
“I was thinking a lot about Madonna’s Confessions on the Dance Floor, and how it’s sort of one continuous mix,” he said. “I just got to indulge myself.”
The record also sees a lot of famous names, including Kylie Minogue, Jane Fonda, Big Freedia and one of Shears’ closest friends, Amber Martin.
“I wanted to sort of build a home for this ‘Voices’ song [with Minogue], and getting a call to start writing stuff with Big Freedia in New Orleans was like a dream of mine because I think Freedia is amazing and an absolute icon. We ended up working on a bunch of stuff, but I wanted Freedia to do something a little bit different with their voice. I don’t know if Freedia has ever been on a track like this before.”
Outside of the famous names that share the song titles with him, Shears said the biggest collaborations came from behind the scenes with producers likes Michael Cheever, who goes by Le Chev, and Germany-based Boys Noize, of whom Shears joined at San Diego’s CRSSD festival and premiered some of the earlier drafts of the music from Last Man Dancing at Rich’s San Diego nightclub.
“Rich’s sound system is great,” he said. “I went out with Boys Noize and I played before him. It was so exhilarating to play it because I’ve never really made music that you could play in a club after midnight, you know? And there’s a lot on this record that you can really play in that environment, so it was really fun to be able to be a DJ.”
The fun of debuting his music and the people who helped make the album happen produced a passion project that all involved were proud to create. “I just wanted to work with people that I totally love and, you know, just have a good time, and all of these people made it happen,” Shears said. “I feel very, very strongly about that.”
With the upcoming album release, Shears is also gearing up for a UK tour that ended up having to open up more dates due to demand. All of the shows are already sold out, but those who are lucky enough to attend should prepare themselves for the upcoming spectacle.
“I’ve got a really great band right now,” Shears said. “And I’ll be joined by Amber Martin on stage, and I have an amazing drag queen saxophone player named Snow White Trash. I saw her play in London like a year ago, and she’s really delightful and fun. Shows for me are just like chaotic and fun, with maybe a bit of mayhem. I like to just share the stage with a lot of people and make it a party.”
Those familiar with any of Shears’ past music should also make sure they’re up-to-date with his current. “I’m not doing any sad songs or slow songs in these sets,” he said. “The whole thing is live, so we’ll see if I can do it because they’re all pretty banging songs and I just hope it doesn’t make everyone exhausted. I know people get exhausted sometimes just by watching me.”
As to the tracks on the album and what he’s most excited to perform, Shears said he’s a little partial toward the album opener, “Too Much Music.”
“It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” he said. “It’s very slick and epic, and very much me. I love it. When I was making and creating this record, I just, like, never got sick of it. I never got tired of hearing it and I just love how large that song is.”
Although unable to release any further details at the moment, Shears did say that his American fans can expect him to tour the USA as well.
“There are plans for it,” he said. “But another really exciting thing is going to be happening this fall that kind of puts me in a deep freeze for a little while. But I’m going to be doing stuff with this album for the next year or so, at least through summer 2024.”