Jake Shears on his disco return and recruiting Jane Fonda for one of the wildest songs of the summer
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When Jake Shears first moved to New York in 1999, he sought work dancing in the city's gay bars. As the frontman of Scissor Sisters, the beloved queer glam-rock-disco band behind hits like "Filthy/Gorgeous" and "Let's Have a Kiki," he spent nearly a decade showing off his moves on stage for millions of fans. Now, as he prepares to release his second solo album, Last Man Dancing, he's tearing it up once more.
"I just love dance music," he tells EW over Zoom from Birmingham, England, where he is currently supporting Duran Duran on tour. "There are some Friday nights where, if I don't really have anybody to hang out with, I'll just be at home and I'll DJ for myself. And I love it. Dance music's always given me a lot."
It's fitting that Shears is currently in the U.K. Back in 2004, the country was the first place to truly embrace Scissor Sisters (the group's self-titled debut album has sold nearly three million copies there), and throughout the '00s they were a mainstay on the summer festival circuit. When they announced their hiatus in 2012, Shears moved to L.A. with his partner at the time. In 2015, when their relationship ended, he relocated to New Orleans, where he bought a shotgun house near the Mississippi River. While there, he crafted his eponymous solo record, a collection of lush honky-tonk foot stompers and scuzzy '70s throwbacks brimming with heartache. It was, he says now, "one of the most emotional things I'd ever made. I was writing myself out of a hole."
But Shears is an artist with itchy feet, constantly scoping out the next project. That, it turned out, would be a stage musical about the late evangelist and entertainer Tammy Faye, which he wrote in collaboration with Elton John and British playwright James Graham. Ahead of its opening in 2022 in the U.K., Shears again relocated, heading to East London, where he has been living for the past few years.
It's during this time that he started working on Last Man Dancing. A throbbing party record from start to finish, it takes the form of a night out. Opening with the kaleidoscopic disco swinger "Too Much Music," the album slowly morphs throughout its 12-track run, becoming harder and more propulsive, taking you from Studio 54 to the sweaty, strobe-lit warehouse raves of the '90s. Joining him for the ride are a coterie of guests, including pop royalty Kylie Minogue, bounce music star Big Freedia, Amber Martin, Iggy Pop, and Hollywood legend Jane Fonda.
Shears spoke to EW about how his collaboration with Fonda came about, his return to the dance floor, his unreleased songs with Minogue, and the possibility of a Scissor Sisters 20th-anniversary reunion.
Damon Baker Jake Shears
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did you want to play in the disco sandbox again?
JAKE SHEARS: It was just time. I think I've always found a certain solace in dance music, on the dance floor. I had a couple of songs in my back pocket that just needed a home, and so I started to build the record around them. I'm a prog-rock head, and I had this fantasy of having pop songs and then a second side which takes you on a journey. My dream was to have a sonic fantasia, like a dance vortex that goes off, where I'm not necessarily singing over the whole thing. It's something I've always dreamed of doing.
The album is named after the song "Last Man Dancing" which has all these echoes of songs from throughout your career. How self-referential do you allow yourself to be?
That song definitely harkens back to "I Don't Feel Like Dancing." I've got my styles that I love to write in, and while I love to experiment, it's all still me. All those disparate influences are still uniquely my own. There's also "Really Big Deal," which was the last song I wrote for the record. I hadn't written anything with that kind of humor and attitude in a really long time. It was fun.
You sing, "I'm gonna be the last man dancing. I'll carry on even when the party's over." Have you been considering your own mortality?
In a certain way, I always do. My goal in life is to always keep working. I'm at 20 years in this industry now and that feels like a big milestone for me. And I want to do 20 more. You know, I don't do this for the money. I mean, money is nice, but there are plenty of years where I don't get paid for doing this. It's hard to make money in this business now. I'm fortunate that it's not necessarily a problem. I don't make records for the money; I do it because I love making them. And that passion is stronger than it's ever been.
You've worked with Kylie Minogue again on "Voices." Why do you think you are so creatively simpatico?
We've always gotten along. I think she has one of the greatest voices. She's up there with Dolly Parton and Kate Bush, two of my favorite singers. I love using her voice as a color. And she has always humored me when we're in the studio together. We've done some weird stuff that nobody's ever going to hear, probably. But she's always down to take that ride with me.
She's not the only icon on this record. How did you get Jane Fonda involved on the track "Radio Eyes"?
I met Jane over a decade ago and we became friends. She would come to Scissors concerts, and when I was living in L.A. she would throw these incredible parties at her house one Thursday a month. They were so much fun. I took Kylie to one of them, actually. It would be 25 or 30 of the wildest assortments of people you can imagine. Then, when I was working on a little movie project with Luke Gilford called The Future of Flesh, I asked her to do a voiceover for it, which she did.
While I was making the second half of this record, I thought that it really needed something like I did with Jane on that project, and so I went back to the raw takes and pieced something new together. And then I was like, "Oh God, I hope she will let me use it." I just shot her an email and said, "I've put you on a techno record, are you down?" She seemed delighted.
Jane Fonda has had a chameleonic career. What do you think is behind her enduring spirit?
Oh my God. It's so amazing to see her now where she's at. When I was growing up, she had retired from acting for over a decade. I was devastated because as a kid I was obsessed with her. I even found an old poem I wrote when I was 11 basically begging Jane Fonda to come back to movies. When Monster-in-Law came out [in 2005], I was there on opening night. I was so happy she was doing movies again. But also her activism. Wow. She's done so much and she cares. She's brilliant. She's interested. She's curious. I think we need more people like that in the world.
Damon Baker Jake Shears
Next year marks 20 years since the first Scissor Sisters album. At that time, what pressure did you feel as an out gay pop star who was breaking the glass closet?
It was such a different time. There wasn't social media, really. I don't think we were as conscious as one would be now, where you have this reflection of yourself constantly through your phone. It made us less self-conscious. I would never want to go through a moment like that in this day and age, especially as a 24-year-old. Imagining it gives me shivers.
Please tell us that Scissor Sisters will reunite to celebrate the anniversary.
Oh, I don't know. I'm not opposed to it. It would be really fun. I know it would make a lot of people happy.
Last Man Dancing is out June 2.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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