More about: The Jaded Hearts Club

In October last year, The Jaded Hearts Club (comprised of lead vocalists Miles Kane and Nic Cester, bassist Matt Bellamy, guitarists Graham Coxon and Jamie Davis and drummer Sean Payne) released their first studio album together, You’ve Always Been Here. This record is, for the most part, full of old soul classics; a few lesser known cuts appear on there too, all reworked and spun in a way that only this alliance could. Ahead of their live album release at the end of this month, we spoke to Nic Cester to find out how the band originated and what’s in store for them this year.

This mix of musicians seemed somewhat random, we posed the ultimate question: how did they end up together? “Honestly it’s just the way the whole project ended up. It started in my brother's garage and there was a birthday party where he had a live karaoke situation. From there it just grew and they went on to play a couple of functions.” Nic told us he wasn’t originally a member of the band and that the whole thing was put together and is run by Davis, the only one without history of being in another band. “It’s grown naturally without any plan or agenda; Muse decided to have some time off and so Matt [Bellamy] suddenly had an abundance of free time. He wanted to almost step back from the enormity of Muse and do something completely different and unexpected: a bit more casual, without the pressure of having to write new material."

Nic continues: "it started as Beatles’ covers, just super easy as everyone already knows how to play them and there’s not much learning involved. When it did get a bit more serious, we then planned to shine a light on some lesser known songs, as well as some soul classics.”

Talking of Davis, he says “he’s the only one that doesn’t come from a band background and I think that works because there’s no room for anyone to step on each other’s egos; it’s all being run by one guy who’s from a different background to us. He’s still very much in the musical world, having worked [with Coxon] on their record label [Transcopic] but it was his idea.” Cester explains that Matt couldn’t be any further away from Muse with this new project, and that some of their fans had made comments stating they ‘hate’ the album. “I made reference to that because it was funny. Everyone’s from such different musical backgrounds; there are a lot of kids that are fans of Muse that don’t/won’t like this, but it’s fun. Fun with the way it was born and fun to be doing music again for the same reason we all began in the first place, many, many years ago.” 

What with the band members all coming from an array of different musical environments, it was interesting to find out how they decided who was going to do what on each track. “Some choices were kind of obvious. I came in late, but when I became a part of the band it opened up opportunities for the selection of songs to be expanded to fit my vocal range. Some are more suited to my style and some are more suited to Miles’, but again that’s what makes it great because there’s no competition between me and him as we’re both on different turf, there’s no stepping on each other’s toes.” Talking of stepping on each other’s toes, we wondered what it’s like to work together in such a large group. “Oh that’ll happen no doubt, but that’s what’s weird, because it really has just been fun for all of us. We haven’t really done too much together, in this formation we’ve only ever played one live show due to the pandemic so all those avenues have been closed, we can’t wait to get on stage and play these songs together.” 

Recording in a studio together and playing live on stage in front of a crowd of people are two completely different worlds though, right? “They are. And where we all obviously come from different bands, you never really know how it’s going to turn out until you try it. It seems to work - the alchemy - we all have basic things in common and so far it seems to be working really, really well. There was one time in L.A. when we were recording and everyone was there except for Miles, unfortunately, but that was fun. Most of us have known each other for many years yet never worked together and it’s really interesting from an artist’s perspective, seeing behind the curtains a little bit.”

Due to The Jaded Hearts Club being essentially a covers band at this point, we discuss if there’s room for original material to surface. “Everyone now is sort of like, ‘what if we do this for real? What would happen?’ and everyone’s so excited, but also a little bit apprehensive about bursting the pure fun of it all. We don’t want it to become a job! All of this is an escape from what we do normally, it’s still music but it’s just so pure, it’s the purity of it that I love. No ego, no agenda, it’s just for the hell of it.”

Nic also explains the challenge that comes with recreating songs like these. “I’m jumping into the shoes of some of the greatest singers in history, so it wasn’t easy. It was a little daunting but the challenge was pleasurable as well, it was great fun challenging myself to pull it off and I really enjoyed singing ‘I Put a Spell on You’ particularly. The guitar that Graham played on that was amazing. When you do a cover of something, especially when they’re classics or songs by super well known artists/singers, you don’t want to copy it exactly but you don’t want to stray too far and I think we found a good balance – I have to give credit to Matt for that, he’s used the full range of modern equipment without betraying the intent in the original songs.”

Despite there being no concrete plans for original material at present, the second covers album is definitely underway and recordings have already started, with confirmation that they’re aiming for a release towards the end of the year. With that and a tour looming as soon as Covid slings its hook, it’s looking like we’re in for a treat.

More about: The Jaded Hearts Club