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<\/p>\nJake Shears Takes Us Inside His New Orleans: INTERVIEW<\/b>
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Mark your calendars, because 2018 will be the year of Jake Shears. The Scissor Sisters frontman is not only taking Broadway by storm in a lead role in\u00a0Kinky Boots<\/em><\/a>, but he\u2019s also finished an upcoming memoir called Boys Keep Swinging<\/em><\/a> and his first solo album<\/a>. It\u2019s not surprising to see the multi-talented Shears showcasing his skills across so many projects. What\u2019s more unexpected is the place fueling this creative boon: New Orleans<\/a>.<\/p>\n For an artist whose career has been closely associated with the New York scene and the Scissor Sisters\u2019 early success across the pond, Shears says the Big Easy has been a huge influence on his work. Shears has spent recent years in the Crescent City and spoke with us about what makes New Orleans so special.<\/p>\n Find out how NOLA factors into his recent work and his favorite places around town in our interview below!<\/p>\n What inspired your initial move to New Orleans?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was at this crossroads in my life, and I always wanted to be there. When Scissor Sisters would perform down there, it was my favorite place to play. I would get off the bus in the morning and spend as much time as I could just hanging out and walking around. It was just a huge fantasy of mine \u2014 as I think it is for a lot of people who visit \u2014 to move there. It was two years ago that I just had this moment where I saw the opportunity to just go. So I bought a one-way ticket, I didn\u2019t know anybody, and I left. I rented a place for a few months from a buddy of mine and then just stayed. It felt like home to me. It feels like home to me more than anywhere else.<\/p>\n What is it about the city that resonates with you so much?<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you have three hours? (Laughs)<\/em> I could talk and talk and talk about it! First of all, there are no other people on Earth that are as wonderful as New Orleanians. I love the locals. The people down there are the most important thing about this city. It\u2019s such a brilliant town, because one of the biggest industries is tourism. So, there\u2019s this constant influx of new people. But with the locals, there\u2019s this love for visitors, for tourists. I\u2019ve never heard a local grouse about people visiting the city. I think there\u2019s just an incredible welcoming nature within the people of New Orleans that is unbeatable.<\/p>\n Also, the people are funny down there. Everyone\u2019s got such a great sense of humor. You can be anywhere from a streetcar stop to a Rite Aid, and people are just constantly making each other laugh. People talk to each other in public that don\u2019t know each other more than any other place I\u2019ve ever seen. It\u2019s just a lot of fun walking out your front door.<\/p>\n The people of the city are my favorite thing about it, and the second thing that I really love about town is that it\u2019s a music city. The city is built on music, it\u2019s built on jazz, and theres\u2019s music everywhere. I live<\/a> in the Marigny, I\u2019m right near Frenchmen Street. I just love that I can walk out of my apartment at any time of day and go hear some of the best musicians in the world. Being down there, the more you\u2019re there, the more you can tune into it. I highly recommend one of the great things about New Orleans, the local radio station WWOZ. I highly recommend everyone tune into whenever, they\u2019ve got an app. It\u2019s the local station there. It\u2019s mostly just New Orleans music, jazz and local music just 24 hours a day. It\u2019s pretty awesome.<\/p>\n The third thing that I really love about the city, and this kind of goes along with the people and its welcoming atmosphere, but it\u2019s a place where you\u2019re just allowed to be whoever you are. And you\u2019re encouraged to just be yourself. It\u2019s a very live<\/a> and let live<\/a> city in that way. It\u2019s funny, because when I\u2019m down there, I\u2019ve got a bunch of clothes in my apartment and whatnot, but it\u2019s one of the places where I can just throw on whatever\u2019s in front of me and just walk out my door, whether it\u2019s a pair of shorts and T-shirt or whether it\u2019s a naughty nurses uniform or whatever. I can put on anything. I could wear my pajamas and go down to Phoenix Bar and just hang out. It\u2019s place where your self-consciousness can just fall away.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n How has the city influenced the music you\u2019re making now?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always been super inspired by New Orleans music. I\u2019ve always been referencing it in my songs and albums since I\u2019ve started making music. But actually being there, it was such a great place to get work done, strangely enough. Since I\u2019ve moved down there I\u2019ve written and recorded an album, and I\u2019ve written a whole book. There\u2019s something about it where if you want to live<\/a> your wildest life, that\u2019s there.<\/p>\n But also it\u2019s a great place to turn off and squirrel yourself away and get work done. It\u2019s a great place to get work done. People don\u2019t believe me when I say that, but I get more work done down there than anywhere. It\u2019s because the surroundings are so beautiful, everything is so easy, everything\u2019s walkable. You can be really lazy down there, and it\u2019s the kind of place where you can get up and get everything done by 2 and then be having a cocktail at the Country Club by 2:30.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a studio right near my apartment called Marigny Studios that\u2019s where a ton of people record. Solange is always there recording. It\u2019s a great studio, and it\u2019s two blocks away from my place. So it was kind of the perfect set up where I could just schedule days there, have friends fly in to write and work with me, and also everyone wants to come to New Orleans. It\u2019s an easy way to get friends to come visit you.<\/p>\n Also, on Sundays all the second line parades happen. I recommend anybody going down to try to experience the big Sunday second line parade. They\u2019re just life affirming. They just get this massive community together that plays music and marches down the street for hours. It\u2019s exquisite.<\/p>\n What has your writing process been like on your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n I started two years ago. When I went down to New Orleans is when I really just started writing it. It\u2019s a memoir<\/a>. I just went down there and really started from scratch, just kind of vomiting pages and pages and pages. It\u2019s the first book I\u2019ve ever written, so, it was tougher than I thought it would be, but at the same time I\u2019m really happy that I\u2019ve had the kind of free space to do it in\u2026<\/p>\n Once I had a full draft of the book I was really able to start having a good time with it, making connections in it, linking things and creating a kind of arc for it. At first it was really messy. It was a really tough process \u2026 It\u2019s just been so exciting to finish it. I just got the galleys last night, and to actually finish something like that just felt really good. It made me realize that it\u2019s something I want to do again. With a book, it\u2019s something you just chip and chip and chip away at it, and then suddenly you have a book. It doesn\u2019t really happen overnight, but one day you just realize that it\u2019s all there.<\/p>\n What are your favorite places in New Orleans to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n As far as the book goes, in the mornings I would take my laptop and go to Press Street Station, which is in Marigny, it\u2019s right by the train tracks. It\u2019s an awesome place for breakfast. It\u2019s connected to the art school there. Their breakfast is flippin\u2019 amazing. My other place to write is Cafe Who Dat, which is right around the corner from my place. They have some insane corn cakes. I get a chicken fried steak there that\u2019s really scary good. It\u2019s dangerous, though. Finally, I got my kitchen set up and a truck so I could go buy groceries, which really helps the waistline, because I definitely gained a lot of weight.<\/p>\n Just for hangs, my favorite bar there is the Phoenix. It\u2019s right down the street from my place, it\u2019s open 24 hours. It\u2019s the kind of place that they don\u2019t make \u2018em like that anymore. It\u2019s like a neighborhood bar from the \u201870s or something, it\u2019s just amazing. I love the balcony at Good Friends, that\u2019s one of my favorite spots. I love 700 Club, as far as a gay<\/a> bar there that has a lot of locals. It\u2019s not sort of in the middle of the Bourbon Street gay<\/a> area, it\u2019s a little bit removed from that, which is nice.<\/p>\n The post Jake Shears Takes Us Inside His New Orleans: INTERVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/OTINO-LGBT-MG-300x250-v03.jpg?resize=300%2C250\")
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