Former The Magic Gang frontman Jack Kaye has spoken to NME about launching his solo career with debut single ‘Dora’, as well as the band’s split, and the lessons learned about finding “happiness and contentment” in a challenging landscape for alternative and independent artists.
Two years after The Magic Gang played their final show, bowing out after 11 years and two studio albums with an emotional farewell at London’s Roundhouse, vocalist and guitarist Kaye marked his return under his own name. The familiarly hooky and melodically-minded ‘Dora’, bolstered by backing vocals from singer Asya Fairchild, tells the story of “a guy who’s not treating a girl so brilliantly, and is plastering his behaviour on social media in a slightly absurd way,” explained Kaye.
“There’s a lightheartedness to it and it’s fun. I think it’s good to have a bit of humour in there.”
A track that “had been around for a while”, it dates back to the beginning of Kaye’s solo writing two or three years ago, when he began to consider writing for himself as the band went into what he described as “a slow decline”.
“It was a slow breakdown of creative communication, I would say. So by the time someone finally said, ‘Let’s just stop this for now’, it was a long time coming and a bit of a relief to be honest,” he continued of The Magic Gang’s split. “When the band was pulling in different directions, it started to feel like people began writing for themselves a bit more, and I let myself start writing things that were purely to my tastes.
“There was a point where I started writing songs and I would ask my girlfriend to sing on the demos. The minute I started getting that other element – almost like duet vocals – it started to feel more like me and less like what I’d been before.”
The music video for ‘Dora’ sees Kaye quite literally stepping back into the ring, and training at a boxing gym. The analogy, he noted, was an accidental one.
“I’ve got a weird obsession with boxing,” he told us. “My brother was an amateur boxer and we used to go around the country and watch him. I always think that proper old-school amateur boxing gyms look amazing. They’re a bit like laundrettes or old barber shops. I’ve always wanted to shoot something in one, and then I think the subconscious thing of getting back in the ring crept into it.”
Check out the rest of NME’s interview with Kaye below, where he dug further into what’s to come for the solo project, plus his views on the difficulties of diplomacy in bands and how he’s found his voice now more than ever.
NME: Hi Jack! We heard you played your first solo show at The Great Escape athis month. How was it getting back in the mix?
Jack Kaye: “It was a low-key one. I had to get back on the horse in a relatively low pressure scenario so it wasn’t something that I was broadcasting; it was just me getting back into the swing of things. I played a couple of gigs the year before last under the name Go Easy while I was in the process of figuring things out and writing the songs, but this was the first one as Jack Kaye. And it felt like the first one where I felt genuine and comfortable on stage and really enjoyed myself.”
Now that you’re front and centre, have you been thinking about the sort of frontman persona you want to embody?
“Previously, I definitely did. But I feel like I’ve let that go now because I overcooked it in my head before. When we were in The Magic Gang, I always had a secret fantasy about not having a guitar on me, moving around a bit more and being a bit more performance-y. But we were such a pack and we had such a look and a sound that I never felt like I wanted to steer it too much in my own direction because I was conscious that it was such a collaborative thing.”
But now in the video for ‘Dora’ you’re acting, you’re dancing…
“Yeah, I think there was a time after the band split when I was like, ‘OK, maybe I should try and come out of my shell as a frontman a bit more’ and the songs I was writing kind of lent towards the kind of music you might dance to on stage a bit. Then I felt like I was overthinking it so I sort of let it go. I genuinely didn’t even know I was dancing in this video until I watched it back and was like, ‘Oh my god!.’ And some of it isn’t bad, in its own weird way!”
What else have you been up to in the couple of years since we last saw you?
“I’ve had a baby! There have been some really unexpected, lovely moments where I’ll sit down with the guitar and play songs to her and she seems to really enjoy it. It’s like a trial run. If she gets bored, I’m like, ‘OK, you’re boring a baby….’ That’s when you know that you need to engage more or do something different.”
In The Magic Gang’s break-up announcement there was mention of the efforts to “honour each other’s ideas” – how hard was that diplomacy?
“It’s tough. It’s not always the best ingredient for a band, if I’m totally honest. Someone once said to me, ‘A camel is a racehorse designed by committee’ and I think that’s a really good analogy when it comes to being in a band sometimes. I think it just got to a point where everyone was pulling in slightly different directions.”
Your former bandmates Angus Taylor and Paeris Giles feature on some of your new music – how was it now being ‘the boss’ of the operation?
“It took me a long time to get my head around being the person that has to call the shots. Someone would ask a question and I’d look around and realise that no one was going to answer it apart from me. It was such a strange transition to be that person, but I feel like the confidence is there a bit more now. I think I’ve let go of a lot of the self-judgment and I’ve embraced the cringe. I’m trying to think less.”
What’s been on your playlist while you’ve been writing this music?
“There’s a song by Dr. Dog called ‘Do The Trick,’ which I listen to on repeat. I think they’re really underrated. I was listening to The Replacements. I was listening to loads of Elliott Smith, which is a pillar of my taste. I was listening to Cate Le Bon, Angel Olsen, Waxahatchee, Wilco as well.”
Artists that are largely a lot more introspective than what we can hear on ‘Dora’…
“There’s more to come in this body of work that’s more introspective and not as upbeat and happy. There’s a bit more navel-gazing going on. Misery is on the way!”
What lessons have you learned along the way that you want to remember, second time around?
“When we started out I had too many expectations about what it was going to be like to be in a band, and I had these little milestones in my head that were very important to me and completely distracted me from enjoying the moment. And then, when you reach those milestones – you get signed, or you sell out a venue or get playlisted on radio – it’s brilliant and it feels great, but it doesn’t change anything. You still wake up the next day and life goes on.
“It was financially tough as well. I remember when we got signed, I was still working in a call centre and was like, ‘Hang on a minute’. There was never any moment in that band where I felt like I’d arrived. It was all amazing, but it was always [waiting for] the next step.”
What advice would you give young bands starting out in the industry now?
“You have to be really resourceful and think about what it is that you can offer outside of just your artist project – whether that’s producing or co-writing for other people. Try to carve a life for yourself that is going to enable you to do the thing that you love without that necessarily being your only or main source of income. It’s a bit old-fashioned to think the only version of success is being absolutely huge and earning lots of money. Success is about leading a day-to-day life that is as close to happiness, or contentment, as you can get I think.”
What are the ambitions for this solo project?
“I want to give it everything, but I also want to enjoy it. I’m going to try and not take it all quite so seriously this time. I’m really happy with this music. A lot of love went into this batch of songs and it wasn’t just done overnight. This is the best of the last couple of years of working really hard and I can’t wait for people to hear it.”
‘Dora’ by Jack Kaye is out now. He headlines London’s The George Tavern on Wednesday September 9.