Jamiroquai: What Gives?

Jamiroquai play Vibes On A Summers Day at the Riverstage on February 1.

Love him or hate him, Jamiroquai's Jay Kay cannot help but be compelling. His several public persona's range from sweet funk harmoniser, to bad boy for love... you could almost call him the Robbie Williams of the chill set with his penchant for busty blondes and fast cars. But Jay Kay maintains that the persona is just front. That deep down, he is simply a sweet guy with an ear for a good tune.

"Somebody called me the last of the rock stars, with the big house and the cars and the birds and all the rest of it, which I cannot deny. It was always part of the appeal of being in music,” he explained recently.

"I remember watching 'The Stones In The Park' film on a battered black and white portable TV when I was about 20, and thinking, Cor I want some of that. And then the funniest thing is to find yourself supporting the Stones in Las Vegas and thinking, this is really weird. But I have this feeling that I really want to give my mum a grandchild and then I can feel that my job on earth is done."

And then, like a personal ad gone awry, Jay Kay launches into what he really, REALLY wants.

"I'd just like to meet a really nice girl... I'm actually quite a simple boring old soul. I just like waking up in the morning in my camper van, putting my boots on, having a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea, then going off out to some mountain and sitting on top of it watching the sun set."

Shucks.

It's no wonder the man's feeling a lil mellow. Another album, the accurately titled Funk Odyssey, a new hit single in You Give Me Something and another track about to be released and a world tour... all just after breaking up with his main squeeze, Brit TV host and goodtime gal Denise Van Outen.

"It was an amicable split. I instigated the ending because I didn't feel I was loved enough," he says before reciting some lyrics from his track Little L. "When you don't give enough love, then I'll love you with a little L... I wrote the song in the middle of the relationship. At the same time, it's an honest album and you get some honest thoughts on it."

He's right, you know. A more thoughtful Jay Kay seems to crop up on the latest Jamiroquai album, an album of laments and mantra's from a man trying to find his place in the world.

"With this one, I'm closing the book on the other albums, you know? I wanted to venture out into electronica a little bit more and discover what I could do when I sang a bit differently. Instead of pumping it out all of the time, I sang a bit more gently and used some vocal effects. That's very rare for me, since I've always left my vocals dry."

Jay goes on to explain the depth behind some of his lyrics

"Well, Black Crow is about the Kosovo war. About the ones who sat and celebrated in Belgrade over the fact that they won and the cost of killed children and women. I thought about those queues with starving people and wondered how it would look from the above. But the message isn't anything I think so much of; I'm not Bob Dylan. Corner Of The Earth, Picture Of My Life, and Main Vein that maybe has a deeper thought... the last one is, by the way, about journalists."

Coming from a man known for cancelling interviews at the drop of a hat, what does the silly-hatted-one think of the humble scribe?

"They're fucking bastards. A permanent source for inspiration. Main Vein is my view of the thing, and how it's to be explored in public."

Fair enough.

"Ever since September 11 I've thought about things an awful lot," he reveals. "And it took me a good month to get back onto track. I've found it hard to come to terms with... at the moment I'm finding the music business quite a struggle. The emphasis at the minute is very much on your Pop Idols and this kind of thing... it's a very draining time. You seem to do the same TV shows, promoting one single then the next single... the music business is losing its magic at the moment for me. I suppose after ten years it's almost to be expected. Like any job it gets you down, regardless of what it looks like to everyone from the outside. Like everything else, if you don't take a step back you can't see where you're going to go next, and I do see this current album as the last one I'll do without having children."

As a final missive, Jay Kay speculates on where he sees his life unfolding

"I could sit happily in some Scottish crofters cottage - I don't need some big flash house in the south of France - with the rocks below, with the wind and the waves, a proper storm blowing, and I'd just huddle up in there, keep my fire going and cook some fresh fish... that's all I want really."