It has been six or so weeks since Toby, Jake Shears’s beloved 15-and-a-half-year-old border terrier, died. “It has been a rough time,” Shears says from his new London pad. (After prolonged stints in LA and New York, home, for the foreseeable, is England.) “We moved here together, and now there’s a big hole in my life. Toby’s death made me realise how much of a balm he was: if I was stressed, sticking my face in his fur always made me feel better.”
Work has helped this Scissor Sister turned solo singer through the grief. There is plenty to distract him. His new album, Last Man Dancing, has just been released; there’s a new podcast incoming, too. Plus two original musicals at different stages of development, DJ gigs, a weekly radio show, and that book he really keeps meaning to finish writing. “All that takes up space,” Shears assures me, “but I still spend time thinking about Toby. I light a candle for him every night; I sleep with his bear in my bed. I can’t believe he’s gone, to be honest.”
