Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears calls his excellent second solo album, Last Man Dancing, “a journey through the ultimate house party.” He’s not just saying that either, adding “The first half gives you those singalong moments that get everyone into it at the top of night. As the hours turn, you can go a little deeper and darker, more where the second half of the record goes. It’s inspired by all the over-the-top house parties I’ve thrown throughout my life. I was born to host, I love to DJ and my favorite hours of a party are from 4-6am. There’s nothing more luxurious than being as loud as you want in the early hours. Not everyone might make it to the end, but the last ones dancing are possibly rewarded with the most magical moments of the evening.”
This house party has some pretty amazing guests, too, including Kylie Minogue, Big Freedia, Le Chev, and Amber Martin, plus cameos from Iggy Pop (!) and Jane Fonda (!!). Last Man Dancing is also the best thing he’s done since the first Scissor Sisters album and you can listen below.
Jake was nice enough to tell us about some of the influences and inspirations behind the album, including Roisin Murphy, Madonna, Giorgio Moroder, John Hughes film Weird Science, and more. Read his list and commentary below.
JAKE SHEARS – INFLUENCES BEHIND ‘LAST MAN DANCING’
Roisin Murphy – Roisin Machine
It’s just one big spooky piece of rock solid jams. Full of what feel like endless grooves. It took me a minute but I was slowly seduced by its mystery. It inspired me to really think about a conceptual landscape for this album and what the overall narrative arc was going to be.
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Madonna – Confessions on a Dance Floor
Again, it’s a record that works best as one piece. Stuart Price, who I collaborated with on Night Work, I think is a genius. He and Madonna strap you in at the top and take you for a ride. I wanted LMD to have a sense of surprise, twists, chutes, ladders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsVYemJYBCo&pp=ygUwbWFkb25uYSBjb25mZXNzaW9ucyBvbiBhIGRhbmNlIGZsb29yIGZ1bGwgYWxidW0g
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Giorgio Moroder – The Neverending Story original soundtrack
It’s epic, analogue adventure music. There are a couple moments of fanfare on LMD, very inspired by Falcor, the good luck dragon. At the opening of the album and also following the climactic battle between humans and creatures from another world on “Radio Eyes”. Goodness prevails in the end. Though with “Diamonds Don’t Burn,” the final song, we’re off on a completely new adventure in a brand-new broken-down world.
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U2 – Zooropa
Bono is in preening glam mode here, my favorite version of him. I love the idea of playing different characters in songs. There are a total of 10 different characters including myself on LMD. I really was feeling the percussive experimentation and cohesion of Zooropa in recent years.
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EOB – Olympik
Edward O’Brien from Radiohead made this solo record that I fell in love with. It’s sort of what led me back to the early-90’s U2. Olympik was my most played song of 2021. I would just cruise around in my jeep with it blasting.
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Weird Science, the film, house party sequence in the third act
It really is the best house party sequence ever shot, everything really goes off the rails in a way that only the best ones can.
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Gaspard Auge (Justice) — Force Majuere
You don’t get better production than this. This song is so exhilarating and makes me feel like I’m watching some live show at Sea World in 1984. LMD has my first instrumental, “8-Ball,” something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m less interested in hearing myself sing on everything.
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Soulwax— From Deewee
There are definitely a couple nods to Soulwax on this album. I think their production is impeccable … And you can hear the absolute perfectionists they are on their tracks, drum sounds unparalleled.
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Frankie Valli – “Grease”
I really wanted the verses in “Too Much Music” to have the smooth buttery sound of “Grease.” I recorded the vocals on the track pretty soon after having covid, because I felt like it was giving my voice a texture I wouldn’t normally have.
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Jake Shears is in NYC this week and will be at Barnes & Noble 5th Ave on June 8 at noon where he’ll be signing copies of the album.