{"id":606428,"date":"2026-05-27T10:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/606428\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T10:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:35:13","slug":"the-magic-gangs-jack-kaye-talks-going-solo-ive-let-go-of-a-lot-of-the-self-judgment-and-ive-embraced-the-cringe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/606428\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magic Gang’s Jack Kaye talks going solo: “I’ve let go of a lot of the self-judgment and I’ve embraced the cringe”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former The Magic Gang<\/a> frontman Jack Kaye<\/a> has spoken to NME about launching his solo career with debut single \u2018Dora\u2019, as well as the band\u2019s split, and the lessons learned about finding \u201chappiness and contentment\u201d in a challenging landscape for alternative and independent artists.<\/p>\n

Two years after The Magic Gang played their final show<\/a>, bowing out after 11 years and two studio albums with an emotional farewell at London\u2019s Roundhouse, vocalist and guitarist Kaye marked his return under his own name. The familiarly hooky and melodically-minded \u2018Dora\u2019, bolstered by backing vocals from singer Asya Fairchild, tells the story of \u201ca guy who\u2019s not treating a girl so brilliantly, and is plastering his behaviour on social media in a slightly absurd way,\u201d explained Kaye.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lightheartedness to it and it\u2019s fun. I think it\u2019s good to have a bit of humour in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A track that \u201chad been around for a while\u201d, it dates back to the beginning of Kaye\u2019s solo writing two or three years ago, when he began to consider writing for himself as the band went into what he described as \u201ca slow decline\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a slow breakdown of creative communication, I would say. So by the time someone finally said, \u2018Let\u2019s just stop this for now\u2019, it was a long time coming and a bit of a relief to be honest,\u201d he continued of The Magic Gang\u2019s split. \u201cWhen 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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 \u2013 almost like duet vocals \u2013 it started to feel more like me and less like what I\u2019d been before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The music video for \u2018Dora\u2019 sees Kaye quite literally stepping back into the ring, and training at a boxing gym. The analogy, he noted, was an accidental one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a weird obsession with boxing,\u201d he told us. \u201cMy 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\u2019re a bit like laundrettes or old barber shops. I\u2019ve always wanted to shoot something in one, and then I think the subconscious thing of getting back in the ring crept into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out the rest of NME\u2019s interview with Kaye below, where he dug further into what\u2019s to come for the solo project, plus his views on the difficulties of diplomacy in bands and how he\u2019s found his voice now more than ever.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Magic Gang\u2019s Jack Kaye goes solo. Credit: Dan Kendall<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Jack Kaye: \u201cIt was a low-key one. I had to get back on the horse in a relatively low pressure scenario so it wasn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that you\u2019re front and centre, have you been thinking about the sort of frontman persona you want to embody?<\/p>\n

\u201cPreviously, I definitely did. But I feel like I\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now in the video for \u2018Dora\u2019 you\u2019re acting, you\u2019re dancing\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think there was a time after the band split when I was like, \u2018OK, maybe I should try and come out of my shell as a frontman a bit more\u2019 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\u2019t even know I was dancing in this video until I watched it back and was like, \u2018Oh my god!.\u2019 And some of it isn\u2019t bad, in its own weird way!\u201d<\/p>\n

What else have you been up to in the couple of years since we last saw you?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a baby! There have been some really unexpected, lovely moments where I\u2019ll sit down with the guitar and play songs to her and she seems to really enjoy it. It\u2019s like a trial run. If she gets bored, I\u2019m like, \u2018OK, you\u2019re boring a baby\u2026.\u2019 That\u2019s when you know that you need to engage more or do something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

In The Magic Gang\u2019s break-up announcement there was mention of the efforts to \u201chonour each other\u2019s ideas\u201d \u2013 how hard was that diplomacy?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough. It\u2019s not always the best ingredient for a band, if I\u2019m totally honest. Someone once said to me, \u2018A camel is a racehorse designed by committee\u2019 and I think that\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JackJack Kaye performing with The Magic Gang at All Points East Festival 2021 (Photo by Jim Dyson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Your former bandmates Angus Taylor and Paeris Giles feature on some of your new music \u2013 how was it now being \u2018the boss\u2019 of the operation?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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\u2019d 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\u2019ve let go of a lot of the self-judgment and I\u2019ve embraced the cringe. I\u2019m trying to think less.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been on your playlist while you\u2019ve been writing this music?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a song by Dr. Dog called \u2018Do The Trick,\u2019 which I listen to on repeat. I think they\u2019re really underrated. I was listening to The Replacements.<\/a> I was listening to loads of Elliott Smith<\/a>, which is a pillar of my taste. I was listening to Cate Le Bon<\/a>, Angel Olsen<\/a>, Waxahatchee<\/a>, Wilco<\/a> as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artists that are largely a lot more introspective than what we can hear on \u2018Dora\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more to come in this body of work that\u2019s more introspective and not as upbeat and happy. There\u2019s a bit more navel-gazing going on. Misery is on the way!\u201d<\/p>\n

What lessons have you learned along the way that you want to remember, second time around?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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 \u2013 you get signed, or you sell out a venue or get playlisted on radio \u2013 it\u2019s brilliant and it feels great, but it doesn\u2019t change anything. You still wake up the next day and life goes on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was financially tough as well. I remember when we got signed, I was still working in a call centre and was like, \u2018Hang on a minute\u2019. There was never any moment in that band where I felt like I\u2019d arrived. It was all amazing, but it was always [waiting for] the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What advice would you give young bands starting out in the industry now?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be really resourceful and think about what it is that you can offer outside of just your artist project \u2013 whether that\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are the ambitions for this solo project?<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to give it everything, but I also want to enjoy it. I\u2019m going to try and not take it all quite so seriously this time. I\u2019m really happy with this music. A lot of love went into this batch of songs and it wasn\u2019t just done overnight. This is the best of the last couple of years of working really hard and I can\u2019t wait for people to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Dora\u2019 by Jack Kaye is out now. He headlines London\u2019s The George Tavern on Wednesday September 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former The Magic Gang frontman Jack Kaye has spoken to NME about launching his solo career with debut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-606428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}