It’s widely held that we live in an era when rock and pop artists need to keep in constant contact with their fanbase: that there’s so much music being released, you need to keep reminding people you exist. Anyone looking for an alternative theory might consider Jamie Treays. Every album he has released since his 2007 debut has made the Top 5, but his social media presence is minimal, he rarely gives interviews and his career has been pockmarked with longueurs during which nothing appears to happen at all. There was a five-year gap between his second album, Kings and Queens, and his third, Carry on the Grudge. The Theory of Whatever arrives six years after its predecessor, Trick, and boasts a cover photo of Treays, now 36, playing golf. He summed up his attitude during his recent packed and rapturously received headlining appearance on Glastonbury’s John Peel stage. “I don’t give a flying fuck any more,” he offered. “Thank you for coming to see us, but it really makes no difference to my life. I couldn’t give a fuck. I’d play to an empty room, I don’t care.”
