Soooo I went to see Jake Shears last week at Concorde2 in Brighton (huge Scissor Sisters fan - his new solo stuff is great too) and as you can all imagine I totally lost my shit when Patrick walked out and sat down at the drums! My already huge excitement for the show immediately doubled!
I saw him outside after the show and he thanked us all for coming, I was too shy to approach him properly but did chat with Jake for a while, he's apparently a huge Jacket fan himself! Great guy, really friendly and warm towards fans!
Sorry if this is old news, I would have posted sooner but I've just been away for the weekend attending another gig up north (I went to see James who are fcking great!)
The guitar player with the long black hair is Craig Pfunder (VHS or Beta) from Louisville. He's big friends with MMJ and has collaborated with them many times. He was part of the house band for the Tom Petty Celebration Tribute I went to see at Headliners last year. Here's a link to a photo of this band on Craig's Instagram page. He's got a couple of him with Patrick and one with Tom and all the others who did the Tom Petty Tribute at this summer's Bonnaroo.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjPciTahEOt/?taken-by=vhsorbeta
Some familiar names in the album credits, too...
https://www.discogs.com/Jake-Shears-Jake-Shears/release/12382106
Credits
Accordion – Lance Horne (tracks: A1)
Arranged By [Brass & Winds Arrangements] – Lance Horne (tracks: A1, A2, A6, B1-B3, B5)
Arranged By [String Arrangements] – Christian Hebel (tracks: A1, A3-A6, B1-B5), Lance Horne (tracks: A1, A3-A6, B1-B5)
Banjo, Guitar [12-String Guitar] – Craig Pfunder (tracks: A4)
Bass – Jon Hume (tracks: A2, B3, B5), Michael Libramento (tracks: A1-A6, B1, B2, B4)
Clarinet – Bo Koster (tracks: A2, A6)
Clavinet – Jon Hume (tracks: A1, B3)
Co-producer – Jon Hume (tracks: A2, B3)
Design [Logo Design] – Chandelier (5)
Design, Layout – Jack Crossing
Drum Programming – Jon Hume (tracks: A1)
Drums – Dave Givan
Drums [Additional Drums] – Kevin Ratterman (tracks: B2)
Electric Piano [Wurlitzer] – Mr Hudson (tracks: A1)
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Anne Gauthier, Matt Aguiluz (tracks: A1, A3, A6, B1-B3, B5), Rick G Nelson* (tracks: A1, A3, A6, B1-B3, B5)
Glockenspiel – Kevin Ratterman (tracks: A5)
Guitar – Carl Broemel (tracks: B2), Craig Pfunder, Jon Hume (tracks: A1, A2, A5, A6, B3, B5), Kevin Ratterman (tracks: B4), Mr Hudson (tracks: B3), Seth Kaufman* (tracks: A1-A6, B1-B5)
Horns – Ben Jaffe (3) (tracks: A6, B1, B2), Branden Lewis (tracks: A6, B1, B2), Charlie Gabriel (tracks: A6, B1, B2), Clint Maedgen (tracks: A6, B1, B2), Ronell Johnson (tracks: A6, B1, B2)
Horns [Additional Horns] – Brad Walker (5) (tracks: A1, A3, A6, B1, B3, B5), Jon Ramm, Scott Frock
Mastered By – Joe LaPorta
Mixed By – Andrew Dawson
Pedal Steel Guitar – Carl Broemel (tracks: A5, B4)
Photography By [All Other Photos] – Raphael Chatelain
Photography By [Gatefold Photo] – Jason Derek North
Piano – Bo Koster (tracks: A2, B1, B2, B4), Jon Hume (tracks: B3, B5), Lance Horne (tracks: A1, A3-A5, B1, B4), Mr Hudson (tracks: A1, B5)
Producer [Additional Production] – Jon Hume (tracks: A1, B5)
Producer, Engineer – Kevin Ratterman
Saxophone [Saxophone Solo] – Clint Maedgen (tracks: B1)
Strings – Christian Hebel (tracks: A1, A3-A6, B1-B5), Eleanor Norton (tracks: A1, A3-A6, B1-B5), Evan Vicic (tracks: A1, A3-A6, B1-B5), Laura de St. Croix* (tracks: A1, A3-A6, B1-B5), Scott Moore (5) (tracks: A1, A3-A6, B1-B5)
Synth – Bo Koster (tracks: A4, A5, B1, B2, B4), Jon Hume (tracks: B5), Kevin Ratterman (tracks: A6), Lance Horne (tracks: A2)
Vocals – Jason Sellards
Xylophone – Jon Hume (tracks: A5)
That's awesome! I had no idea what the album was going to sound like or who was involved. Being that the show was the week following the release I neglected to listen to it or do much research beforehand intentionally. I think part of me was worried it wouldn't live up to Scissor Sister standards (it does!) but I also wanted to hear it for the first time in a live setting. Sometimes it's nice to be surprised and this has definitely been one of those instances!
I had somehow never heard a single thing of Jake Shears (or the Scissor Sisters) up until now. Was a little taken aback at the album at first -- Jake's certainly got a unique style -- but now I'm hooked! This album is fantastic. It's joyous and catchy, funny and funky and also has some of the most intricately layered production I've heard in ages. These shows are going to be feel-good dance parties for sure. I'm in!
The live show was great, very camp and fun! Jake is a true showman and the band are really tight! I definitely recommend everyone go if you can!
My only issue now is that it's got me itching more than ever for a Scissor Sisters reunion! (They've been on a "break" since 2012)