By Elise Davidson
"Hey, making music's the easy bit; it's the rest of the crap that goes with it," says Jamiroquai frontman Jason Kay.
He is seven albums into a then-record eight-album deal he signed with Sony (now Sony BMG) when he was 22.
"I'd like to get out of [the record deal], to be honest," the 35-year-old says. "They want a greatest hits [album], I'll give it to them and then f--- them off. I'm tired of them. It's 18 per cent music what we do these days and it's bloody 82 per cent marketing bullshit.
"They're the kind of people who should be running Shell. They know f--- all about music.
"You know, all these smart-f---ing-arse cookies that come around making out like they know about what you do, like, 'I think you should do this and we think you should do that, and we think you should edit the video like this,' and it's like, 'What on earth would you know about making music?'"
It doesn't sound like he feels like he got a good deal.
"Oh, screw them, they can screw themselves. I'm getting rid of them and they know it, they know it. 2006, my lovely, they're out of the f---ing picture. 'Take your greatest hits, stick it up your f---ing arse and then I shall carry on doing what I f---ing do.' Next time I do an album, I'm gonna put it up on the internet for five f---ing dollars."
The English bloke with the crazy hats isn't in a good mood. He has just flown from the US to Japan, where he will play his next gig in four hours. He says he's tired and "jetlagged out of my mind". After Japan, the band will come to Australia for the final shows of the worldwide Dynamite tour.
Much has changed since Jamiroquai last played here, to sell-out shows, in 2002. Toby Smith, Kay's co-writer and keyboard player for more than 10 years, left the band, which may explain the four-year gap between 2001 album A Funk Odyssey and this year's Dynamite. Does Kay see himself as the driving force behind Jamiroquai's success?
"You know what, sweetie," he says, "I don't really know how I see myself at the moment, to be honest. Am I the boss, is that what you're saying? Then yeah, I am."
Another reason for the long break was that Kay spent some of that time kicking his cocaine habit. He is "a year and 11 months clean", having decided a day before his 33rd birthday to give it up. Did he find quitting hard?
"Well, no. I just stopped because I had to stop, because it was a crap drug. It hurts the people around you ..." he trails off, then pauses.
"There was a time when everyone in the band did it, and then you suddenly realise that you're the only one in the band who does it any more. And it's no good, it's a crap drug and people who are on it are very boring, and I used to be very boring.
"And I'm still boring," he says dejectedly, but manages a laugh.
This is the bloke behind hits that have sold 20 million albums, including Virtual Insanity from the band's breakthrough album Travelling Without Moving (1996), and a string of other catchy singles including Love Foolosophy and Little L, from A Funk Odyssey.
Kay may be feeling jaded, but the formula one fanatic still has his cars and his licence ... just. He has lost it four times for speeding on the streets of London.
He says the next time he gets caught speeding he'll end up in prison. Does he really think that the English would lock him up?
"Yep, they would, they'd make an example out of me. But, they're English scumbags, so f--- 'em. I say, get out there, hit those Australian highways and floor the bastard."
Jamiroquai, December 3, gates open 4pm, Parade Grounds, Centennial Park, 136 100, $89.90. The December 2 gig has been cancelled.