Second Helpings - Jake Shears

It’s summer 2023 and ahead of the release of his epic new album 'Last Man Dancing’ we had the delicious Jake Shears joining us for a spot of dinner. Mum served up turbot and samphire for main with poached pears for pud. Jake told us all about the various places he lived while growing up - including the island his family moved to off the coast of Seattle where it's inhabited by foot long Banana Slugs (Google it, they’re gross!) - the beautiful and moving story of his best friend who inspired the hit song ‘Mary’ and drinking the mysterious ‘magic tonic’ purple drinks with the locals on Bourbon Street in his second home of New Orleans - a must do apparently! Jake we absolutely LOVE your fabulous new album can’t wait to have you round for Friday night chicken soup again soon! Jake also has a brilliant podcast called Queer The Music which celebrates LGBTQ+ anthems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:05Speaker 02

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• 2:01Speaker 03

  This December, the magic of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol returns to Virginia Repertory Theatre in downtown Richmond. Experience the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge as he's visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, and rediscover the joy and true meaning of the holiday season. Performances run November 18 through December 27. Tickets on sale now at virginia rep dot org or by calling 804 282 2620.

• 2:37Jessie Ware?

  Hello and welcome to Second Helpings. I am Jessie Ware and I'm here with Mum.

• 2:41Speaker 05

  Hi.

• 2:41Jessie Ware?

  And we are serving up some of our wonderful guests from years gone by on the podcast.

• 2:47Speaker 05

  Well, this person's having a bit of a moment at the minute because Cississis has reformed and have had an arena tour all over the world, it seems to me, from Europe to America. Are they still touring in America now?

• 3:03Jessie Ware?

  Just like co-headline tour with Cashier, yeah.

• 3:05Speaker 05

  And they had probably the best Glastonbury set people have seen. They crashed the internet and the streaming for the BBC. And also, I heard that people, two hours before their set, people couldn't get into the woods area, stage area, because it was just overwhelmed with people.

• 3:27Jessie Ware?

  It was very, very exciting.

• 3:29Speaker 05

  And you performed with them?

• 3:30Jessie Ware?

  I was very lucky to. And he has his brilliant podcast, Queer the Music, with season three starting in the autumn. Jake Shears came over to my house, but Mum schlepped over the food. I must have been working, apologies.

• 3:42Speaker 05

  Music on wheels.

• 3:43Jessie Ware?

  You served up a deliciously healthy turbot and samphire for the main and with poached pears for pudding. Jake had a new album out at the time. It's called Last Man Dancing. This was recorded at the end of May in 2023. Here he is, Jake Shears, on Second Helpings.

• 4:15Jessie Ware?

  So Jake Shears has just said goodnight to my children, told my son how much he loves Groot and Spider-Man. My mum is preparing the mains. How are you Jake?

• 4:25Speaker 06

  I'm great.

• 4:26Jessie Ware?

  You are? You really are?

• 4:28Speaker 06

  I'm good, yeah, I'm really, I'm very happy.

• 4:29Jessie Ware?

  I feel like you're an optimistic, positive person.

• 4:32Speaker 06

  I am, I mean, I try to be, see, you know, I have dark days sometimes, you know, where I get a little overwhelmed by things. And, you know, but most of the time I try to, yeah, I try to look at the bright side of things, I try, you know.

• 4:47Jessie Ware?

  You're, you're in the right camp with fascination. We've both got the same management.

• 4:50Speaker 06

  We do.

• 4:50Jessie Ware?

  And they are very positive, aren't they?

• 4:52Speaker 06

  Yes, but I also have, I love deeply, deeply cynical people.

• 4:55Jessie Ware?

  Do you? Is that why you live in London?

• 4:58Speaker 06

  Is that why I live in London?

• 4:59Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 5:00Speaker 06

  I mean, do you feel like the city is full of-

• 5:02Jessie Ware?

  Do you think New York or London is more cynical?

• 5:05Speaker 06

  Uh, I don't, I've not, I don't feel like I know enough people in London yet to even answer that.

• 5:09Jessie Ware?

  Is it quite a new thing for you to live here?

• 5:11Speaker 06

  It is. I've been here for one year. I just kind of hit my, my, my one year mark.

• 5:14Jessie Ware?

  Happy anniversary.

• 5:15Speaker 06

  Thank you. It's been, it's been great. I really enjoy it. I still feel like I haven't penetrated the city.

• 5:22Jessie Ware?

  In what way, Jake?

• 5:23Speaker 06

  Just, in all ways.

• 5:27Speaker 05

  You, you were with Zachary Quinto, or you wanted him to go to that disco?

• 5:33Jessie Ware?

  What?

• 5:34Speaker 05

  The disco, and he loves London.

• 5:37Jessie Ware?

  No, he wanted to go to the night that we saw each other at Body Music.

• 5:43Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 5:44Jessie Ware?

  But he was performing.

• 5:45Speaker 05

  Yeah, but he was talking about how much he loved London and he could live here.

• 5:50Speaker 06

  Yeah, I could see that. I love Zachary. He, they ended up over at my house later that night.

• 5:55Jessie Ware?

  Oh, did they?

• 5:55Speaker 06

  Yeah, we went, after we went to the, because you and I went to this rave, Annie brother.

• 6:00Jessie Ware?

  Yes.

• 6:00Speaker 06

  And, which was super fun.

• 6:02Jessie Ware?

  Yes.

• 6:03Speaker 06

  And then-

• 6:04Jessie Ware?

  You went and did a DJ set at your house or something?

• 6:06Speaker 06

  I did.

• 6:07Jessie Ware?

  Is this what happens on a Jake Shear? Like, is that what happens? Everyone comes to your house and you do a DJ set?

• 6:12Speaker 06

  That's my favorite.

• 6:13Jessie Ware?

  That's so fun.

• 6:14Speaker 06

  That's my favorite thing to do.

• 6:15Jessie Ware?

  Are there nibbles or drinks? I did get invited, but I had children to look after.

• 6:22Jessie Ware?

  Um, but do you, um, yeah, do you provide nibbles and drinks? Or is it just the music?

• 6:27Speaker 06

  So, you know, there's a lot of digging through the cabinets and seeing what's around. I'm such a bachelor. I'm like, you know, I'm, I'm very much like a, uh, that kind, you know, I

• 6:36Speaker 05

  I come and adopt you and come and fill your cupboards for you and bring chicken soup when you need it.

• 6:41Speaker 06

  I would love that. That's my favorite.

• 6:43Speaker 05

  Is it?

• 6:43Speaker 06

  It's my favorite. I eat a lot of chicken soup whenever I can, whenever I have access to good chicken soup.

• 6:48Jessie Ware?

  Where's your favorite chicken soup?

• 6:50Speaker 06

  There's this place, I don't know if it's like janky or if it's some chain or whatever, but I found Coquette?

• 6:57Jessie Ware?

  Coquette?

• 6:57Speaker 06

  Coquette?

• 6:58Jessie Ware?

  Coquette?

• 6:59Speaker 05

  Where is it?

• 7:01Speaker 06

  Co- uh.

• 7:01Jessie Ware?

  And you get a good chicken soup on it?

• 7:03Speaker 06

  I can look up.

• 7:03Jessie Ware?

  Are you like the king of Deliveroo, Jake?

• 7:05Speaker 06

  I have been and I'm really trying.

• 7:09Speaker 06

  Trying to curb that.

• 7:10Speaker 05

  But it's not kosher chicken soup with nuts and balls?

• 7:13Speaker 06

  I did, yeah, no, I don't think so. But I, I do, yeah, I do like having people over. I love hosting, but my hosting is much more late night.

• 7:22Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 7:23Speaker 06

  I like having people over. I love, uh, sort of an unexpected, uh, evening where everybody's just hanging out and dancing and.

• 7:31Jessie Ware?

  So you're not gonna be the one that's bright and early at Columbia Road Flower Market and you're putting on a brunch for everyone?

• 7:37Speaker 06

  If you see me, uh, if you see me out at Columbia Road Flower Market at like

• 7:41Jessie Ware?

  You haven't gone to sleep?

• 7:42Speaker 06

  Eight in the morning. I haven't gone, nine AM. It's, it, and it is brutal out there. If like, it's, if you've had a night and you're walk out there.

• 7:51Speaker 05

  Do you live near Columbia Road?

• 7:53Speaker 06

  Right, right off of it. But the door that I have, I'm, I won't say exactly where it is, but the, the, the gate that, I'm sort of in a muse and the gate that opens up. It really is, I feel like on Sundays, when you open it up, it's like you're walking out on like a stage set.

• 8:08Speaker 05

  So it's like being a Notting Hill or something.

• 8:10Speaker 06

  Everyone like, you know, will, so if I, if I've, if I've had a big one and I'm walking out at like nine AM.

• 8:18Jessie Ware?

  Pull your brim right down.

• 8:19Speaker 06

  Oh, it's rough. Yeah.

• 8:20Jessie Ware?

  Have you got any favorite spots that you go to? Are you a big, uh, patisserie person? Or are you kind of, cause you've got some, you've got Lily Vanilli right there.

• 8:28Speaker 06

  I love Lily Vanilli. I, I have a lot of their cupcakes. They do a great sausage roll.

• 8:34Speaker 05

  Oh, do they?

• 8:34Speaker 06

  They do. On Sundays, the people that work there are very nice. I get a wonderful four-shot cappuccino.

• 8:40Jessie Ware?

  Four shots?

• 8:41Speaker 06

  I do two usually every morning.

• 8:45Speaker 06

  Two, no, two four-shot cappuccinos.

• 8:47Jessie Ware?

  What's that called in the States? Is it called like a red eye?

• 8:50Speaker 06

  I don't know. A quad, I think a red eye is when you've got a, uh, I think red eye is when you've got espresso and coffee. If I'm not mistaken.

• 9:01Speaker 05

  I only have two shots a day.

• 9:04Speaker 06

  Do you feel it when you have it?

• 9:05Speaker 05

  I feel it if I don't have it.

• 9:07Jessie Ware?

  So you have eight shots of coffee in the morning?

• 9:10Speaker 06

  Yeah, and then I have like my little like Nespresso machine. The, and then I have like the little kind of instant things that I drink. But it doesn't really, and it's funny.

• 9:20Speaker 05

  Would you say you love coffee, Jack?

• 9:22Speaker 06

  I do, I really do.

• 9:23Speaker 05

  Should be in Greece.

• 9:25Jessie Ware?

  Why?

• 9:25Speaker 05

  Cause I love coffee, I love Greece, but it's not.

• 9:28Speaker 06

  I like it strong. I like it to have like some kick. There's nothing worse than just like when things get watered down. Or like if you're ordering Americano and like they just, you know, fill it up with hot water and just water it. I watered down coffee like makes me sick to my stomach.

• 9:42Speaker 05

  Maybe Italy, a little espresso in the morning.

• 9:44Jessie Ware?

  But yeah, would you be, yeah, would you?

• 9:47Speaker 06

  Like my men.

• 9:49Jessie Ware?

  But would you have it as a cappuccino or do you, would you be that person that's sipping an espresso?

• 9:54Speaker 06

  I can totally do an espresso, but I do a cappuccino because it's just a little easier as far as like getting the milk in there without having to like direct around too much. And if it's four shots, then you know it's gonna be strong enough. You know, I know it's not gonna be some wimpy.

• 10:09Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, no shit.

• 10:10Speaker 05

  So where's your favorite place for coffee?

• 10:13Speaker 06

  Uh.

• 10:14Jessie Ware?

  The people that allow you to order a four-shot, which I'm wondering.

• 10:17Speaker 05

  How much does that, do they charge you per shot?

• 10:20Speaker 06

  They do, I think.

• 10:21Speaker 05

  Or do they just kind of slip it in?

• 10:24Speaker 06

  You know, every once in a while they'll slip it to me, my, my, my favorite little spot, which is, I mean, I, I don't know if this is, I, I love, I'm just always go to the Pavilion on Columbia Road. It's really sweet and get my eggs there and stuff.

• 10:35Jessie Ware?

  You have the doll.

• 10:37Speaker 06

  Yeah, it's delicious, but I'll tell you. So I live in New Orleans part time. I have a house in New Orleans.

• 10:43Jessie Ware?

  How did you fall in love with that place then?

• 10:45Speaker 06

  I, when Scissor Sisters first started sort of touring around, I got off the bus.

• 10:51Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 10:51Speaker 06

  And started wandering around the quarter that morning. The French Quarter is, is just so special. It's this big, uh, sort of grid, uh, that's not changed in 200 years. You know, it's one of the oldest parts of the States, in the United States, you know, they tear everything down, everything. It just doesn't exist like that in the States.

• 11:08Jessie Ware?

  But not in New Orleans?

• 11:09Speaker 06

  Not in New Orleans.

• 11:10Jessie Ware?

  You need to say New Orleans, not New Orleans as well. It's really important.

• 11:13Speaker 06

  It depends on, it depends on what you're ramming it with.

• 11:16Jessie Ware?

  Really?

• 11:16Speaker 06

  I thought, well, it was about, you know, I'll sing, uh, I, I, I'll, I'll, I'll put it in songs a lot and, you know.

• 11:23Jessie Ware?

  You've changed it.

• 11:24Speaker 06

  In Take Your Mama, I refer to it as New Orleans.

• 11:27Jessie Ware?

  Okay, fine. Okay.

• 11:29Speaker 06

  Depends on how you sing it.

• 11:30Jessie Ware?

  Do you have a ha- do you have a house then?

• 11:32Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 11:33Jessie Ware?

  I'm so jealous.

• 11:35Speaker 06

  I've got a beautiful house.

• 11:36Jessie Ware?

  One of those beautiful houses.

• 11:37Speaker 06

  It's a double shotgun cottage, so it's just like one of those with like doors on each side if you're facing it.

• 11:44Jessie Ware?

  I'm so jealous.

• 11:45Speaker 06

  And it's not like too fancy or anything, but I've like made it so cozy and, and nice to hang out. I've got a huge library in it.

• 11:54Jessie Ware?

  Do you go there a lot?

• 11:56Speaker 06

  I've not been able to see this last year, but I mean, yeah, I lived it. I, I lived part of my life there. I've been living there part time for better part of a decade.

• 12:03Jessie Ware?

  So it was New York, New Orleans?

• 12:07Speaker 06

  It was New York, it was New York to then Los Angeles. Then I started splitting Los Angeles with New Orleans.

• 12:15Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 12:15Speaker 06

  Now I'm saying New Orleans.

• 12:17Jessie Ware?

  Okay, fine.

• 12:19Speaker 06

  NOLA, we also call it, to LA to New Orleans. And then, and then I sold my house in LA and then I was just kind of like floating. And then I, I was like, I, I ended up buying a house in New Orleans. I had a little condo there.

• 12:30Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 12:31Speaker 06

  And right when I bought my house, COVID just started happening.

• 12:36Jessie Ware?

  So you were there for COVID?

• 12:38Speaker 06

  I was there for, I, I had just started work on this house. So I had to go to my parents with my boyfriend in Virginia.

• 12:48Jessie Ware?

  How was that?

• 12:49Speaker 06

  Well, it was great because I just bought them a house.

• 12:53Jessie Ware?

  Wow.

• 12:53Speaker 06

  To get them off of their farm. They had this, this horse farm. And my dad's ninety-four now, my mom's seventy-four and, and like, you know, it was just like too much of a handful. It's like, this big ass farm that they'd had for like twenty years.

• 13:08Jessie Ware?

  Where was this farm?

• 13:09Speaker 06

  It's on the Virginia Tennessee border. So it's in, it's in Bristol, Virginia, Tennessee, which is the, it's the birthplace of country music. It's where the first country record was cut. And so I got them a place to coax them off of the farm, which eventually, it took a long time, but eventually they moved into this house. So it's basically like, if I get you a really sweet house, fifteen minutes away from the farm, at your leisure, we can get in there.

• 13:33Jessie Ware?

  So did you grow up on a farm?

• 13:35Speaker 06

  I did not grow up on a farm. I grew up, I was born in Arizona. And when we were eight, we moved to a, a, an island in the Pacific Northwest, like a couple hours out of Seattle.

• 13:46Jessie Ware?

  Oh, wow.

• 13:47Speaker 06

  Like a two-hour ferry ride and like an hour drive. So it was like a big deal to go. We called it going off island.

• 13:51Jessie Ware?

  So is that like kind of the equivalent of our like Isle of Wight or something like that?

• 13:55Speaker 06

  Probably, yeah. I think that's, that's probably a good comparison.

• 13:58Jessie Ware?

  So then?

• 14:00Speaker 06

  It's a tiny little place, but it was beautiful. And we had, uh, we had, we had twenty acres on the water. Like we lived on the ocean and, uh, had orcas, you know, going by every day. And it wasn't like, back then, the island wasn't like super fancy or anything. It wasn't bougie.

• 14:18Jessie Ware?

  Is it bougie now?

• 14:19Speaker 06

  Oh, my God, like around the millennium, like, you know, sort of Microsoft, when Microsoft exploded, all the big Microsoft billionaires basically discovered it and like, started building gigantic garish houses everywhere and, and I do feel like the place lost a little bit of its soul over the years.

• 14:37Jessie Ware?

  So, so what were you growing up eating? If you were by the ocean, were you eating loads of fish?

• 14:43Speaker 06

  Everyone would, you know, we would do crabs, uh, and we would pull crabs. We had a, a boat that we would, you know, get, you know, put crab traps out, um, which I liked, all right. But we also had mussels that we could just pick right there. Um, but I was scared of mussels. I only learned to like mussels way later. I mean, usually I kind of like, have always been a little bit skittish about things without backbones.

• 15:09Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 15:09Speaker 06

  And like eating, that's what I put on, I was like, usually not things without backbones, but. Mussels, I've really learned to like, love the broth. And I think they're delicious, and especially like down in in New Orleans. Oysters are something that I really have a tough time with and I I I'm trying.

• 15:25Speaker 05

  Don't try.

• 15:26Jessie Ware?

  Mum's like, don't bother.

• 15:27Speaker 06

  Uh, do you, what do you think?

• 15:29Speaker 05

  Hate them.

• 15:29Speaker 06

  You hate them?

• 15:30Speaker 05

  It's like eating snot.

• 15:32Speaker 06

  It feels, the texture of it.

• 15:34Speaker 05

  It's snot.

• 15:34Speaker 06

  Is, I grew up with with a phobia of slugs and.

• 15:38Jessie Ware?

  Oh, okay, well.

• 15:39Speaker 06

  Snails and we had banana slugs on the ovens.

• 15:40Jessie Ware?

  A phobia?

• 15:41Speaker 06

  Yes, we had worms basically that grew up to like a foot long and that would like be crawling everywhere.

• 15:47Jessie Ware?

  What?

• 15:47Speaker 06

  I, it was horrific.

• 15:50Jessie Ware?

  What?

• 15:50Speaker 06

  Yeah, look up like a banana slug.

• 15:52Jessie Ware?

  A banana slug?

• 15:53Speaker 06

  Yeah, they're big and gr- and they're kind of, now that I look back on it, I'm like, actually, they're kind of sweet and I was just being. You know, I I was really being a.

• 16:02Jessie Ware?

  They're disgusting.

• 16:04Speaker 06

  And they can, they can grow up to a foot long.

• 16:06Jessie Ware?

  Oh.

• 16:06Speaker 06

  Those, that, those are the ones, those, those are the ones, they're like a, they're, they're kind of a, what color green is that? Kind of like an ol- like a olive green?

• 16:15Jessie Ware?

  It's like, one of those chilies you get in the fancy places, with gas martini, that looks delicious.

• 16:21Speaker 05

  And then I'll get the other one, watch you, watch you. But I don't want dinner lady problems.

• 16:27Speaker 06

  It looks wildly delicious, my god.

• 16:31Speaker 05

  I hope so.

• 16:41Jessie Ware?

  So, mum has just made dinner.

• 16:44Speaker 06

  This is crazy, I just had my first bite of it. It's delicious.

• 16:49Speaker 05

  It's too much fat.

• 16:50Jessie Ware?

  Too much fat?

• 16:51Speaker 05

  It would be okay if it was in my own kitchen.

• 16:54Speaker 06

  Wait, what about the potatoes?

• 16:55Speaker 05

  Do you like those?

• 16:56Speaker 06

  They're so good.

• 16:57Speaker 05

  Good.

• 16:58Speaker 06

  And the fish is so good.

• 16:59Speaker 05

  The fish should be good.

• 17:01Speaker 06

  So I'm about to try, so what did you, what, wha- wha- what is the, the green? I thought there were green beans when they came to the table, but.

• 17:07Speaker 05

  Sanfart seaweed.

• 17:08Speaker 06

  Let's see.

• 17:11Speaker 06

  Mmm.

• 17:11Speaker 05

  Your nutritionist will be so thrilled.

• 17:16Speaker 06

  I've never had anything like this.

• 17:18Jessie Ware?

  Neither have I.

• 17:20Speaker 06

  That's delicious. This stuff is really cool. I love the texture of it.

• 17:25Jessie Ware?

  I was imagining you with shucking your oysters on the island, eating samphire. No? Did you ever have samphire?

• 17:32Speaker 06

  No, I, I, this is the first time I've ever had this particular vegetable. This is so good.

• 17:38Jessie Ware?

  Are you sure?

• 17:39Speaker 06

  I love it.

• 17:40Jessie Ware?

  It's very nutritious.

• 17:41Speaker 06

  I'm telling you, to have a home-cooked meal like this is so special and so rare in my life.

• 17:50Jessie Ware?

  Darling, you can come and read.

• 17:52Speaker 06

  I, I treasure this. Like this is.

• 17:54Jessie Ware?

  But so many people would like, I'm sure, Jake, lots of people would like to cook through a home-cooked meal.

• 18:00Speaker 06

  Wait, what? Tell me what? I just, there's another vegetable in here. What is it?

• 18:03Jessie Ware?

  Fennel.

• 18:04Speaker 06

  Fennel.

• 18:05Jessie Ware?

  Do you like fennel?

• 18:06Speaker 06

  Love it. I mean, it tastes great. I don't really know what it is.

• 18:09Jessie Ware?

  What's this? Oh, Mary. That's the tattoo Mary.

• 18:11Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 18:12Jessie Ware?

  And after your song?

• 18:15Speaker 06

  After my friend. Yeah, it's about a real person.

• 18:17Jessie Ware?

  Oh, I didn't know that.

• 18:18Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 18:19Jessie Ware?

  Tell me about eating out with Mary.

• 18:24Speaker 06

  About eating out with Mary? Oh my god. So we, so Mary, I met on a phone line when I was fifteen years old. I was in Arizona. I'd just come out. We met on like a party line. This is like pre-internet. And where there's some, this kid at school gave me this phone number.

• 18:39Jessie Ware?

  You're now in Arizona?

• 18:40Speaker 06

  Yeah, I went back. I moved in with my art teacher from junior high. It's such a convoluted, crazy story.

• 18:45Jessie Ware?

  Jake, I can't keep up.

• 18:46Speaker 06

  No, I know. There's, there's, I wrote a whole book about it. That it's, it's a very, you know, I ended up back down in Arizona, like on my own. My parents let me leave the house at fifteen and moved in with an art teacher of mine. It's like, No, no, no, no, no. She was a beautiful Christian woman who's still like my sister, Jennifer Labere. Moved in with her husband. She was having a baby and like lived with her and her husband and, and this baby. And was also kind of getting away with murder. I came out at school. But anyways, I got this phone number and started calling it and it was this party line. Uh, it was like, kind of like an internet chatroom, but it was, but on the phone. And I met this woman who went by the name Deja, I went by the name Barbie's Nightmare.

• 19:29Speaker 05

  Like in This Is Us.

• 19:32Jessie Ware?

  It was a Deja and This Is Us, a TV show.

• 19:35Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 19:36Jessie Ware?

  But you were Barbie's Nightmare.

• 19:40Speaker 06

  Uh, I was Barbie's Nightmare, she was Deja, and then we, uh, you know, it was, it was interesting because I, she was twenty-one and, and bef- we decided to meet up and she said to me before we did, we had a phone conversation, she's like, there's something I haven't told you. I'm, I've have a, a weight issue that I've had all my life. And she was a, a really, really big woman and had a lot of shame about it and, uh, you know, I think being in public was really hard for her. She had developed kind of an agoraphobia.

• 20:15Jessie Ware?

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:16Speaker 06

  What's that? Uh, like not wanting to go out.

• 20:18Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 20:19Speaker 06

  Out, uh, you know, out in, out into public. People would be very cruel. Um, and it sort of opened my eyes to the cruelty of, of people.

• 20:31Jessie Ware?

  Uh-huh.

• 20:31Speaker 06

  And we would go to, so we met up, I remember our first date was at a restaurant called Fuzy. It's like kind of bad Italian, sort of off of a, sort of in a parking lot of a mall, I think. Uh, and we just hit it off and we had a great, we had such a great time.

• 20:50Speaker 05

  Finish that drop and then it's a different one.

• 20:53Jessie Ware?

  It's a different one. And she's still your friend?

• 20:56Speaker 06

  I mean, it's a sad story.

• 20:58Jessie Ware?

  I know.

• 20:59Speaker 06

  It's a sad story. No, but I'll talk about it. It's, it's, uh, we were, you know, she became my best friend and, you know, she, I was fifteen, she was twenty-one and we developed this gorgeous friendship and she ended up, uh, I went back to Seattle and then moved to New York. She loved Seattle, visiting me, so she moved up to Seattle. And I'd moved to New York and we, you know, I had a, I had a phone, uh, a landline that only she had the number in my apartment. So when, when that phone went off, it was basically her. We talked every day.

• 21:33Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 21:34Speaker 06

  And.

• 21:36Speaker 06

  I was making the first Scissors record and she got really upset at a certain point and she was like, "You are,

• 21:44Speaker 06

  you know, you're, you're, you're living this glamorous life. You don't, you know, you, your life is so fabulous now. Why, why, why are you even my friend?" And I went and I wrote the song "Mary" uh, on the first record. And I-

• 21:59Jessie Ware?

  Did you hear it?

• 22:00Speaker 06

  Uh, yeah, I put it on a CD and, and, and sent it to her. And basically this song was me saying-

• 22:05Jessie Ware?

  It's a beautiful record.

• 22:06Speaker 06

  It was me saying like, like, "Don't ever say that you're not my best friend." You know, like, "You can never say that again." Like, "We're never having that discussion again." That's what that song was about. And, yeah. And then it went on from there, are you right?

• 22:20Jessie Ware?

  Where is she now?

• 22:21Speaker 06

  She, so, uh, when, she loved this song. And so, when, when it came out, basically she and I made a deal that she really wanted gastric bypass surgery. So,

• 22:38Speaker 06

  we made a, uh, yeah, if, if the song ever made any money, I was gonna get you this, this operation. And, uh, the song, you know, the album was such a success. She came over to London. We had a great time. She came to shows. We were all at the hall together and, you know, got to, you know, show her such a good time. And, you know, she went in and had the surgery and it, it, and, yeah, she passed away.

• 23:03Jessie Ware?

  No!

• 23:04Speaker 06

  Yeah. It's a very sad story. But, you know, our friendship was, was incredible and it just, it, it just shows you like what, life is so strange, you know, these weird like, paths that, that happen and you'd never know when you meet somebody what that relationship is gonna be and how you can, you know, how, how people affect one another and how, you know, it's that sort of like, the, the, the wings of a butterfly causes a, you know, a monsoon on the other side of, of the world. It's, it's kind of like that. And- You know, I she she was so funny and she we we loved like a diner.

• 23:45Speaker 06

  To answer your question, we loved a diner, uh, and we would go out late and we would.

• 23:53Speaker 05

  What's your what's your food that you choose to dine?

• 23:55Speaker 06

  Oh, we'd eat like grilled cheese sandwiches and. Yeah, and fries and um, and we just we just had so much fun together. She really was. Uh, you know, an amazing person.

• 24:07Speaker 05

  That's such a tragic story.

• 24:09Speaker 06

  But I'm so I feel so fortunate to have, you know, shared. You know, of of I've I've gotten to have her in my life and and to, you know, that we we were there for each other. You know, and such a strange pair. I was a fifteen year old like weird gay boy. She was this twenty one year old woman, you know what I mean? Like. We were an odd couple. And uh, but just found this like amazing common ground and you know, we were in each other's lives for for just over ten years. You know, it was amazing before. Before, is this this is this the saddest table manners?

• 24:46Speaker 06

  No, before before she went and had the surgery. She told me, I'll never forget the conversation. She said, I just want you to know that this is my decision. And if anything happens, you need to know that this is my decision. For her to have the foresight for that. You know, like, I don't think if she if we'd not had that conversation, like, I don't know if I could have. Lived with myself, you know, and and when she said that, I thought it was so ridiculous. I was just like, that is just do I'd like, shut up. Like, what are you talking about?

• 25:18Speaker 05

  Like, any surgery has a a a risk, isn't it?

• 25:24Speaker 06

  And but I'm thankful that we had that, you know, that conversation and I'm thankful that there's this song.

• 25:31Speaker 06

  That I get the that I get that I get to get up, you know, I just did it on Radio Two recently and it surprised everybody. I was like, I just want if there's this orchestra and I want to get up and sing.

• 25:41Speaker 06

  And and just even in that moment, you know, it's just like, it's so special that like, there's this. I can sort of pay her tribute, you know, a lot on, you know, in a concert or. There's this, there's this song that's still there and I think will live on for a long time, you know, and it's about a real thing. It's about a real person. It's not. You know, it's not some made up story. It's it's all real.

• 26:05Jessie Ware?

  Oh Jake, thank you for sharing that.

• 26:07Speaker 06

  I know, it's it's.

• 26:09Jessie Ware?

  Nice.

• 26:10Speaker 06

  This has to repeat it too. Also, I think it's like, there's something beautiful about it too, you know? This life is short. And friendships are dear and family is dear and you just, you can't take any of it for granted.

• 26:24Jessie Ware?

  Jesse.

• 26:33Speaker 05

  Can I just talk about food?

• 26:35Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 26:37Speaker 05

  New Orleans.

• 26:37Speaker 06

  Yes, I mean, talk about food.

• 26:39Speaker 05

  There is particularly special, I think.

• 26:42Jessie Ware?

  Benet.

• 26:43Speaker 05

  So we had.

• 26:44Speaker 06

  Benyes.

• 26:45Jessie Ware?

  Benyes.

• 26:45Speaker 05

  So we had Randy Jackson, who comes from New Orleans.

• 26:49Jessie Ware?

  Is he?

• 26:50Speaker 05

  Yeah. You remember nothing. And he talked about that bean thing that his grandma used to make with green beans. And he says the food is really special.

• 27:02Speaker 06

  Like a bean casserole or something?

• 27:04Speaker 05

  He said the food is really special in New Orleans.

• 27:07Speaker 06

  The food, it's one of the food capitals of the world.

• 27:11Speaker 05

  Have you been?

• 27:12Jessie Ware?

  Been. I played to pretty much nobody, but I ate well.

• 27:16Speaker 06

  Where?

• 27:17Jessie Ware?

  I think I was in the House of Blues.

• 27:19Speaker 06

  Yep, mhm. I'd say go back now.

• 27:21Jessie Ware?

  Do you think?

• 27:22Speaker 06

  Mhm.

• 27:23Jessie Ware?

  Maybe, yeah.

• 27:24Speaker 06

  Yeah, no, I think people would be very excited.

• 27:25Jessie Ware?

  Thanks Jake, you're just so cute and nice. Um, okay, so tell me.

• 27:29Speaker 06

  But wait, really quick, before we go, before we go on, I wanna say the New Orleans food. So when I first moved down there.

• 27:35Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 27:36Speaker 06

  I just wasn't thinking about it, but the food was so good and I was going out to eat all this time. And I remember pretty early on, I went to this place called Okra was the name of it. And I had this incredible dinner and I just kept eating and.

• 27:56Speaker 06

  Have, you know, I just had a couple of drinks, but I just ate so much and the food is so rich. I remember I got home. And I was like, I have, I have, I had, it was the only time I've ever like, I was like, I've got a barf.

• 28:17Speaker 06

  And you know, but it's like, the food is that good that you have to like, watch out for like, because you could just, you can. It's it's some of the best, but it's very rich.

• 28:28Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 28:28Speaker 06

  Very, very rich.

• 28:29Jessie Ware?

  So where do you get your po boy from when you're there?

• 28:32Speaker 06

  Can I tell you something funny?

• 28:33Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 28:34Speaker 06

  I've never had one. It's one of the main thing, a po boy is like a, it's a, it's like a giant piece of bread. That is filled with like, you can put shrimp and all these. You know, all these different fillings into it. It's kind of like New Orleans's version of a, of a submarine sandwich.

• 28:55Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 28:56Speaker 06

  Um, but I've, they look so overwhelming.

• 29:02Speaker 05

  That you need to share with three people.

• 29:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, I've never had one and it looks so messy. Um, but I have, I do eat sweetbreads there a lot.

• 29:12Speaker 06

  Which I never thought I would be into.

• 29:14Speaker 05

  No, I don't think.

• 29:15Jessie Ware?

  And are you now?

• 29:16Speaker 06

  I love them.

• 29:17Jessie Ware?

  How do you eat them?

• 29:19Speaker 06

  They they just fry, I mean, you would, you would, you would love them. They're so tasty.

• 29:24Jessie Ware?

  I kind of trust that you may, if he doesn't like an oyster, but he likes a sweet bread, we've got to give it a go, mom.

• 29:29Speaker 05

  You've got to know where they come from, darling.

• 29:31Jessie Ware?

  Where are they from?

• 29:32Speaker 05

  The innards of the, the, it's the lining, a sweetbread is the lining of the cow's stomach.

• 29:39Jessie Ware?

  I don't think it is.

• 29:40Speaker 05

  It is, yeah.

• 29:42Speaker 06

  I think it's brains.

• 29:44Speaker 05

  Oh, there's brains as well, that's another one.

• 29:47Jessie Ware?

  Brains too much.

• 29:48Speaker 05

  Well, I ain't gonna eat brains.

• 29:49Jessie Ware?

  You thought it was what? Oh, gosh.

• 29:52Speaker 05

  Oh, my god, I thought it was the stomach lining.

• 29:54Speaker 06

  But it's so.

• 29:54Speaker 05

  Or is that try?

• 29:55Speaker 06

  It's very tasty. You would, I'm telling you, you would love it. I.

• 29:59Jessie Ware?

  It's a gland of soul.

• 30:00Speaker 06

  It's one of those things where I was like, I would never eat that. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna try that. And I was like, they could serve this. At McDonald's.

• 30:06Speaker 05

  But what about the spicing is really clever in in New Orleans, isn't it?

• 30:12Speaker 06

  So many spices, there's just like loads of like you get like gumbo's and like jambalayas. Like, yeah, it's Cajun food, it's very spicy.

• 30:21Jessie Ware?

  I was drinking the Mardi Gras like.

• 30:23Speaker 06

  People drink there. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a drink in town.

• 30:26Speaker 05

  What do they drink?

• 30:28Speaker 06

  Anything, anything and like sugary, you know, these like sort of hurricane. We have a special drink there. We have a very special drink called Purple Drink. Which is sold at the, it's at the oldest bar, I think, in the States. It's called the Feet's Blacksmith Shop. And it's on the far end of Bourbon Street and.

• 30:51Speaker 05

  Bourbon Street, there's a.

• 30:53Speaker 06

  And if you stand across the street from it, I mean, it looks like the place is sort of sinking into the ground.

• 30:59Speaker 06

  And they do a, it's like a daiquiri, it's a dark purple daiquiri. It's not sweet.

• 31:07Speaker 06

  It's a distant grape. And no one really knows what's in it. It's very cold. And it it it's just like a tonic, basically, that we have on Sundays.

• 31:21Speaker 06

  If you have one, if you're not feeling good on a Sunday morning.

• 31:24Speaker 05

  Have a purple drink.

• 31:24Speaker 06

  You have a purple drink and and it's it's the main local drink there.

• 31:28Jessie Ware?

  I love that.

• 31:29Speaker 06

  The tourists drink these big hand grenades and stuff, but the locals drink purple drinks and it really is a magic. That's the only way I could describe it, it's sort of like our magic tonic.

• 31:39Speaker 05

  How's the coffee there, Jake?

• 31:41Speaker 06

  I was gonna talk about that earlier, I was.

• 31:44Speaker 05

  Because I think I know about.

• 31:45Speaker 06

  When we were talking about, it's it's an incredible coffee place. There's a little market that every morning I get up and. Go and have a, it's called a coast roast, it's local coffee. And I go and I get a a big iced cold brew, which they haven't really figured out how to do over here. They don't and and there every morning I will get, I'm telling you.

• 32:12Speaker 05

  So is it without milk?

• 32:14Jessie Ware?

  It's like nitrate like.

• 32:15Speaker 05

  No, it's like a frappe in Greece.

• 32:17Jessie Ware?

  No, it's fucking not, Mum. That's all, I love that you're. To me about good coffee.

• 32:27Speaker 05

  Lensblaining.

• 32:29Speaker 06

  That's good.

• 32:30Jessie Ware?

  Nescafe, Mum.

• 32:34Speaker 05

  But it's very strong.

• 32:36Speaker 06

  It's very strong. I mean, I like to put like straight up cream in it, like just like a little bit of cream and like and then some like dark, dark chocolate syrup.

• 32:42Speaker 05

  Their cream isn't like what we have, darling.

• 32:45Jessie Ware?

  It's like a mocha.

• 32:46Speaker 06

  Yeah, like a, yes. I mean, and that, and I have that basically every morning there and it's, and it really will get you. Talk about getting revved up.

• 32:55Jessie Ware?

  You need to bring this over here.

• 32:57Speaker 06

  I just don't understand why. Well, first of all, like people, no one over here likes ice.

• 33:02Jessie Ware?

  No, everyone in America loves ice.

• 33:05Speaker 06

  Yes, yes, we do. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

• 33:08Speaker 05

  We hate ice.

• 33:09Speaker 06

  I, why, I don't understand. Tell me why you hate ice.

• 33:12Jessie Ware?

  I don't hate it, but I find it really unnecessary in the ice water.

• 33:13Speaker 05

  I don't, I don't, when it's annoying and unnecessary. In fact, if people offer me a drink, I say, don't put ice in, please.

• 33:21Speaker 06

  Really?

• 33:22Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 33:24Speaker 06

  I, I just don't, when there's like one cube sort of floating in the top of something, you know what I mean? You get like a whole thing. I like my cocktails to be strong.

• 33:31Speaker 05

  What's your best cocktail?

• 33:33Speaker 06

  I love a mezcal Negroni.

• 33:35Speaker 05

  Oh, God.

• 33:36Jessie Ware?

  I've never had one of them.

• 33:37Speaker 05

  You're hardcore, Jake.

• 33:39Speaker 06

  I am pretty hard. That is, I, you know what? I think you might have just some, I, I am, you could describe me as a hardcore person. I'm pretty like.

• 33:47Jessie Ware?

  You look good for it though, babe.

• 33:48Speaker 06

  Thanks. When I say hardcore, I, I, I, I'm not even referring to substances or anything. I just definitely, whatever in life.

• 33:56Speaker 05

  You like to party?

• 33:57Speaker 06

  Well, I just live life to its fullest. And it's not even in a party way, just in a, I, I love, you know, I love life and I, I, I try as best as I can to.

• 34:08Jessie Ware?

  Did that, did that ever get too much in the Scissor Sister days? Like where you lived life to the fullest and it kind of. Was problematic?

• 34:17Speaker 06

  The opposite.

• 34:18Jessie Ware?

  Oh, really?

• 34:18Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm. We were like a nunnery. Like.

• 34:24Jessie Ware?

  This is your rebellion?

• 34:26Speaker 06

  Oh my god, like when after like after our last album, after the fourth record, like I went my LA years when I went to LA. Those were like I sort of, that was my time of.

• 34:37Jessie Ware?

  Celebrate.

• 34:39Speaker 06

  No, not celebrate.

• 34:40Jessie Ware?

  Oh, yeah.

• 34:40Speaker 06

  Just like going off the rails or whatever.

• 34:42Jessie Ware?

  Really?

• 34:42Speaker 06

  Yeah, when we were in the band, I mean, we, you know, I think when you're working so hard, it's you and I, you know, in this business and we love it. You can't, if you're in the thick of it, you have to really be on top of it and be focused. And and Scissor Sisters would never have happened if if if that's what I was doing.

• 35:05Jessie Ware?

  I mean, it was such a huge thing, the whole, I mean, it was, you were huge.

• 35:13Speaker 06

  Yeah, I got, I mean, there was, there was some pretty bonkers moments.

• 35:17Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 35:17Speaker 06

  It's weird. It's like such a, it's a, it's a sweet thing to look back on. Sometimes it's like, whoa, that actually, that happened.

• 35:23Jessie Ware?

  Is it, are you enjoying being, I mean, you've been, are you enjoying being a solo artist?

• 35:28Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 35:28Jessie Ware?

  Is it scary not having anyone else to kind of, is it scary having your name up there or is it okay?

• 35:34Speaker 06

  It's, I mean, for me, it's, it's fine. I, yeah, I can, I can, I can definitely swing it. Um, I am so happy that all of that happened when it did in the timeline of the world. I don't think I would ever want to go through anything like that in this moment.

• 35:51Jessie Ware?

  Uh huh.

• 35:52Speaker 06

  I'm not interested in anything like that in this sort of moment in time with how everything operates. Um, and so I'm thankful that like I lived in it, that I was successful in a time where we were like selling CDs.

• 36:07Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 36:07Speaker 06

  You know, and it's, it's so cool. It's old school.

• 36:10Speaker 05

  The name come from Scissor Sisters? Is it because you're?

• 36:14Speaker 05

  Oh, no, because it's, I thought because his name, I don't know. No, because his name is Shears.

• 36:21Speaker 06

  You're absolutely, yeah.

• 36:23Speaker 05

  I thought shears are scissors.

• 36:25Speaker 06

  It, they are.

• 36:27Speaker 05

  Okay, you're laughing at me, Jessie, and that's not fair.

• 36:30Jessie Ware?

  Mom, do you know what Scissor Sisters means?

• 36:34Speaker 05

  Oh, that?

• 36:35Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 36:35Speaker 06

  Bumping.

• 36:37Speaker 05

  Oh, I didn't know that.

• 36:39Speaker 06

  You know.

• 36:40Speaker 05

  Well, it's a good job I didn't, I wanted to bought the record probably.

• 36:53Speaker 07

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• 38:21Speaker 02

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• 39:54Jessie Ware?

  I'm interested to hear what your last supper is, Jake, because like you've eaten all over the world. You have lived in so many places that are so different.

• 40:04Speaker 05

  Jake, you don't have to finish it.

• 40:05Speaker 06

  It's been delicious. I think I just did. I think I just took the last bite.

• 40:08Speaker 05

  Just you've got to beat cream up, darling.

• 40:10Jessie Ware?

  Anyway, last supper.

• 40:12Speaker 06

  Uh, I just have my, like, I love comforting food.

• 40:16Jessie Ware?

  Mm-hmm.

• 40:17Speaker 06

  And I would, my last supper would be like my, the thing, the only thing that I cook, which.

• 40:25Jessie Ware?

  What is it?

• 40:26Speaker 06

  It's like, I make.

• 40:27Jessie Ware?

  You don't have to, oh, is this your, because it's very good.

• 40:30Speaker 06

  I just love it. It's my favorite.

• 40:31Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 40:32Speaker 06

  I make just very suburban American gringo tacos.

• 40:39Speaker 05

  Oh, my God. I can't make a taco.

• 40:41Jessie Ware?

  Like old El Paso, like fajitas?

• 40:44Speaker 06

  I'll use El Paso refried beans.

• 40:47Jessie Ware?

  Okay, I like that.

• 40:48Speaker 06

  And chopped up black olives and shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese.

• 40:55Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 40:56Speaker 06

  And then do like kind of a beef, you know, fry some beef up with, with like some, some sort of store bought taco seasoning.

• 41:04Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 41:05Speaker 06

  Um.

• 41:06Speaker 05

  So you like beef?

• 41:07Speaker 06

  Beef, but like the the real like old school.

• 41:09Speaker 05

  I thought you were gonna go like, I don't know, I thought you were gonna go like Frenchman street. No, I've had. Ben Yehs.

• 41:15Speaker 06

  No, this is my favorite meal and and and uh iceberg lettuce chopped up. So you get you get all that out and then you take the the corn tortillas, I fill a thing up with vegetable oil. And I fry the tortillas.

• 41:28Speaker 05

  Oh my god.

• 41:29Speaker 06

  And all of that together is just to me, it's the tastiest thing. It's heaven. I love it because I can do it at a party. I bring a lot of, you can have a lot of people over.

• 41:40Speaker 05

  Quite fatty, so.

• 41:42Speaker 06

  Uh, I'll get like, you know.

• 41:43Speaker 05

  He's frying his tortillas for god's sake.

• 41:46Speaker 06

  In like vegetable oil.

• 41:47Speaker 05

  Baked ones.

• 41:48Speaker 06

  Isn't vegetable oil okay?

• 41:49Speaker 05

  No.

• 41:49Speaker 06

  It's made out of vegetables.

• 41:51Speaker 05

  People over, you'll cook this.

• 41:52Speaker 06

  I'll do like fifteen people, ten to fifteen people and everyone hangs out.

• 41:57Speaker 05

  And they help themselves.

• 41:59Speaker 06

  Yeah, and and then I just I just stand at the thing, make it all, and then I just fry the tortillas and.

• 42:04Speaker 05

  And that makes you happy.

• 42:05Speaker 06

  It makes me really happy.

• 42:06Speaker 05

  Taco shells. It doesn't.

• 42:08Speaker 06

  That's what that that's the secret of this this thing.

• 42:11Speaker 05

  So when you do your tortillas and you fry them.

• 42:14Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 42:14Speaker 05

  Do they go crispy and hard?

• 42:16Speaker 06

  They do, but yeah, I do them just at the right. It's a mixture of crispy and and chewy.

• 42:23Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 42:23Speaker 06

  So it's like, it it just, it's almost like a.

• 42:27Speaker 06

  A cookie or there's it it just the texture that you get from it and because people are so used to. Getting this the store bought shells, right? And so when you when you fry up the shells with good corn tortillas. It just makes it taste so delicious.

• 42:41Speaker 05

  Is that how taco shells are made? Fried tortillas?

• 42:45Speaker 06

  Uh, authentic tacos, I know like well in like California are just, they don't even, they'll heat the tortillas, but they don't necessarily fry them. My version is very, it's it's not, it's not authentic in any way whatsoever.

• 42:58Speaker 05

  Tortillas.

• 42:59Speaker 06

  They're like, they're they're little.

• 43:01Speaker 05

  Little, small ones.

• 43:03Speaker 06

  They're small, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 43:04Speaker 05

  Those from?

• 43:05Speaker 06

  I've found them.

• 43:06Speaker 05

  Mexico, mum, and like.

• 43:07Speaker 06

  But I found it.

• 43:08Speaker 05

  No, here.

• 43:08Speaker 06

  I I have, I do see them here every once in a while. You can, I did on my. On my birthday this last year, I made a batch of them and yeah, it's just one of my favorite things to make. I like it because it's like sort of what, you know, what we're doing now.

• 43:23Speaker 05

  Super tasty.

• 43:24Speaker 06

  Yeah, and you also, it's just like a community, you hang out with everybody and, and you know, it's, it's easy and. It's my, that's my favorite meal and I think if I was to have a last supper, that would be.

• 43:35Speaker 05

  So you, would you have a starter before that?

• 43:39Speaker 06

  Got a start, a, a, a starter.

• 43:41Speaker 05

  Jesse, maybe put the pears in a bowl, darling, or serve one up in each bowl.

• 43:48Speaker 06

  I'd go straight for the, I'd go straight for the torte. We've, I, I'd make some really good guac.

• 43:55Speaker 05

  Oh.

• 43:55Speaker 06

  Some great guac that you could eventually put on the, on the tacos.

• 43:58Speaker 05

  What's your secret?

• 44:00Speaker 06

  I don't have one. I always have somebody there that actually does the guac.

• 44:05Speaker 05

  Do you, and what about dessert?

• 44:10Speaker 06

  This is brutal, this is just, yeah, this is just like brutal. This is all very embarrassing.

• 44:16Speaker 05

  Jeff, the, I want to tell you something. I make very, quite nice desserts sometimes, don't I, Alice? Jesse's on a diet and she said, Jake, well, oh, that's a pretty bowl.

• 44:26Jessie Ware?

  I knew that we were both looking after ourselves.

• 44:28Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 44:29Jessie Ware?

  So I thought about us and our disease and we're going quietly light tonight.

• 44:33Speaker 06

  Great.

• 44:34Jessie Ware?

  Is that okay?

• 44:35Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 44:35Speaker 05

  It's a poached pear.

• 44:37Speaker 06

  Yeah, I, I.

• 44:38Speaker 05

  He doesn't like pears.

• 44:39Speaker 06

  I love pear, I love pears.

• 44:41Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 44:42Speaker 06

  Yeah, I, I guess my favorite, my favorite dessert. If I was going to, if I could transport it into my house, would be a churro from Disneyland.

• 44:53Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. What, what, dipping with, with chocolate?

• 44:58Speaker 06

  They do these, no, not with, they do just like a sugar.

• 45:00Speaker 05

  Sugary.

• 45:01Speaker 06

  A sugary churro from Disneyland that they usually sell like right off of the main in front of the, what's that?

• 45:07Speaker 05

  Why Disneyland?

• 45:09Speaker 06

  It's the happiest damn place on earth and it really is. It, look at that, yeah, it's on my arm. It is. I love Disneyland so much.

• 45:16Speaker 05

  Stay for the parade?

• 45:18Speaker 06

  I do, yeah. I just, I just went, um, to Disneyland this last January. I just went to Disneyland Paris and stayed for a couple of days. I had a great time.

• 45:29Speaker 05

  Oh my god, you're not putting them on the table like that.

• 45:31Jessie Ware?

  No, I fucking know.

• 45:32Speaker 05

  Just pour them into that, Jesse.

• 45:35Speaker 06

  It's gonna be so good. We love you, Jesse.

• 45:38Speaker 05

  And I would have made you something really delicious, but she said this.

• 45:41Speaker 06

  Oh, wow.

• 45:42Jessie Ware?

  He's like, he's happy.

• 45:44Speaker 05

  You're happy?

• 45:44Speaker 06

  I'm very-

• 45:45Speaker 05

  He probably is, and he probably wanted chocolate pudding.

• 45:47Speaker 06

  I'm so happy.

• 45:49Speaker 05

  Or what's that banana cream pie that everyone loves in the States?

• 45:52Speaker 06

  I do like a coconut cream pie, a lot. I like a coconut cream pie and I like a key lime pie, a lot.

• 45:58Speaker 05

  I like a key lime pie.

• 45:59Speaker 06

  Oh my god.

• 46:00Speaker 05

  But I've never made coconut pie.

• 46:02Speaker 06

  Coconut cream is like, mm.

• 46:04Speaker 05

  Have you got a good recipe?

• 46:06Speaker 06

  I can't cook worth a, worth two shits.

• 46:08Speaker 05

  So when, when all your people come for tacos?

• 46:11Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 46:12Speaker 05

  Do they get a dessert?

• 46:14Speaker 06

  Um, usually, I would just use my ice cream, probably, yeah. Oh, wow.

• 46:19Jessie Ware?

  It's just cream, that's-

• 46:20Speaker 06

  Is it like a mascarpone?

• 46:21Jessie Ware?

  No, it's just got a bit of icing, sugar, and it's all chocolatey cream.

• 46:25Speaker 06

  That looks good, it's like sculptural.

• 46:27Jessie Ware?

  We haven't even got on to Tammy Faye yet, this is like-

• 46:30Speaker 05

  Oh my god.

• 46:30Jessie Ware?

  How much time we're having, we're not even like on Tammy Faye.

• 46:34Speaker 06

  Um, I-

• 46:35Jessie Ware?

  Can we talk about that?

• 46:37Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 46:38Jessie Ware?

  Congratulations for your Olivier's.

• 46:40Speaker 06

  They, they're, you know, they're, they're, they're actors won, you know, uh, you know, Katie Brabham, Zevan Varla won Olivier's-

• 46:47Jessie Ware?

  Because you, you know, helped them. It's your baby.

• 46:51Speaker 06

  They, they, they were, they were amazing, and yeah, no, Tammy Faye was like one of the joys of my life. It looks like it's gonna, I mean, I can't-

• 47:00Speaker 05

  Is it gonna move?

• 47:01Speaker 06

  It's gonna-

• 47:02Speaker 05

  Because I missed it.

• 47:03Speaker 06

  I do have some, yeah, there's, there's, there is some news coming down the pipeline pretty soon.

• 47:07Speaker 05

  How was it working with Elton?

• 47:09Speaker 06

  Um, I'm, I mean, I made the memories that I have of us making all these songs. It's just so special and the fact that he asked me to do it with him. And the fact that we have this body of work together, you know, we've got this like show that we've made together. Yeah, they're memories that I'm gonna cherish. Forever.

• 47:29Speaker 05

  That's quite a feat to create a musical.

• 47:33Speaker 06

  It's my second, I mean, you know, I did Tales, I adapted Tales of the City into a musical.

• 47:37Speaker 05

  When?

• 47:37Speaker 06

  It ran in San Francisco, two thousand and ten.

• 47:39Speaker 05

  No, it was not.

• 47:40Speaker 06

  It never came over here. I do feel like it, it could have a life someday.

• 47:45Speaker 05

  So I, I'd seen a theater thing, Tales of the City at the National, and then they did a kind of television thing with, what's it, Linny?

• 47:55Speaker 06

  Laura Linny, Olivia Biedekakis.

• 47:57Speaker 05

  I really, really enjoyed it.

• 47:59Speaker 06

  It's, I love Tales of the City so much.

• 48:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's wonderful.

• 48:02Speaker 06

  So, but yeah, I wanna keep doing, I wanna keep doing them. For, I, I just, they take forever. They're full of heartbreak. You never know what's gonna happen. You could work on them all your life and you never, you just, you never know. But when you see the curtain go up and the lights go down.

• 48:21Speaker 05

  Why they not bring it to the West End here? It was a huge sellout.

• 48:27Speaker 06

  They will. Jimmy Faye will ride again in London. I can tell you that.

• 48:30Speaker 05

  How many times did you go?

• 48:32Speaker 06

  Me? I went.

• 48:34Speaker 05

  Every night?

• 48:35Speaker 06

  All the time. And when it closed, there was like a kind of relief a bit. It ran for six weeks. I kinda couldn't stay away from it. I loved being in there.

• 48:47Speaker 05

  I love the Almeida.

• 48:48Speaker 06

  I love the Almeida.

• 48:49Speaker 05

  It's such a great.

• 48:50Speaker 06

  And watching Katie Braven, like, just, and, and the cast, everyone just tear it up. My mom came for the opening. Yeah, my mom and, and, you know, Auntie Gabby, a family friend. And like, I remember when they, I, I had never been so exhausted in my life. I remember I sat down on the couch. I was so tired that I, I, I just remember, I, my body ached, just laying on the couch. I was so tired. That was after we opened. And then.

• 49:22Speaker 05

  But exhilarating.

• 49:23Speaker 06

  Exhilarating. I, I, I love, I love doing that.

• 49:26Speaker 05

  Would you do any, um, theater yourself?

• 49:29Speaker 06

  I've done Kinky Boots on Broadway.

• 49:31Speaker 05

  Of course, but, but would you do any more?

• 49:34Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 49:36Speaker 05

  Jesse, you.

• 49:36Speaker 06

  I can't, I can't.

• 49:37Jessie Ware?

  You can't speak about anything.

• 49:38Speaker 06

  I can't, I can't. And I can't wait to do some more theater. I'm very excited to do more theater.

• 49:45Jessie Ware?

  So the record comes out, you're probably gonna do some more theater, you're probably gonna write a new musical. You're gonna go back to New Orleans for a bit, you're.

• 49:54Speaker 06

  Just for the win, I just want December, January, February in New Orleans.

• 49:58Jessie Ware?

  That's such a great life.

• 50:00Speaker 06

  January, February, March in New Orleans. I just need like winters, I'll work here and I can go chill out there when it gets.

• 50:07Jessie Ware?

  Oh, sounds like a good balance, Jake.

• 50:09Speaker 06

  I think so. I think so. I do like warmer weather and yeah. And I like to be down there. So it's trying to set it up. I still feel like I'm a, I'm. I've been dating and it's been, it's been great. I, you know, who knows what's gonna happen like in that side of things, but it's like. I really would love to set up, uh, you know, I, I'm in here and I look around and I see a home, you know, and like. A family and that's just like really what I want.

• 50:39Jessie Ware?

  I think you'll get it, Jake. I think you'll get it. You deserve it.

• 50:44Speaker 06

  I'm so emo.

• 50:45Jessie Ware?

  Oh, Jake, don't you make me cry now. Oh.

• 50:50Speaker 06

  No, but I do like, that's it, it's, it's very special.

• 50:54Speaker 05

  It's not all this crap.

• 51:00Jessie Ware?

  Oh, Jake Cheers, you are like an absolute diamond. You tell a brilliant tale. And also like you're vulnerable and wonderful and talented and I just can't wait for everyone to hear the record, which is amazing. By the way, we haven't even talked about. You have Kylie Minogue on it, Big Frida, you kill it. It goes from this.

• 51:22Speaker 06

  Jane Fonda.

• 51:23Jessie Ware?

  Fuck off.

• 51:24Speaker 06

  Jane Fonda, yeah, she, she's got a big moment in it. Yeah.

• 51:28Jessie Ware?

  You're doing all right, aren't you, Jake?

• 51:30Speaker 06

  Life is good. Life is good. I'm very lucky and I have, I have a great time. You know, it's not perfect, but it's, it's like it could, it couldn't be any better.

• 51:40Jessie Ware?

  Well, I'm just best of luck with it.

• 51:42Speaker 06

  Last of all, I just wanna thank you for such an amazing dinner and it's just such a pleasure meeting you and such a pleasure getting to hang out with you.

• 51:48Jessie Ware?

  I love seeing you.

• 51:49Speaker 06

  Likewise, likewise, and hopefully we'll get to do some more.

• 51:53Speaker 05

  You can come for dinner when we're not.

• 51:54Speaker 06

  I would love that. I would love to just like come hang out and like, you know, sit on the sofa and.

• 52:01Jessie Ware?

  You know what, if you ever need a bit of chicken soup after a big, long week, you need to just call Lenny.

• 52:08Speaker 05

  And I'll Uber it.

• 52:10Jessie Ware?

  That's what she does. She'll do an emergency chicken soup if you need that, Jake.

• 52:13Speaker 06

  Thank you, but I would need a little bit of you too.

• 52:15Jessie Ware?

  Okay, I'll bring it in.

• 52:16Speaker 06

  I would need a little bit, I would need a little bit of, I would need some hang with you as well.

• 52:34Speaker 05

  I loved hearing about the food in New Orleans, how he grew up, his very traditional family for a very untraditional man.

• 52:42Jessie Ware?

  And I loved hearing about his best friend Mary.

• 52:44Speaker 05

  Mary's wonderful.

• 52:45Jessie Ware?

  That song is so beautiful.

• 52:47Speaker 05

  Well, it's even more special now I know the story behind it, really.

• 52:51Jessie Ware?

  Scissor Sisters, can't wait for new music from you. Yes, please. And Jake Shears, I really want to see you on stage again too. Since then, had he done cabaret at that point? He hadn't done cabaret. That was so good.

• 53:02Speaker 05

  I think he just found out that he might be starring in it.

• 53:06Jessie Ware?

  We'll see you next week for the last Table Runners second album.

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• 54:38Speaker 02

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