I was living on a kibbutz east of Haifa. The volunteer common space had a TV and we got one channel – one that showed great (or bad) 80’s movies from the U.S. In between films they would should random Indian promos (we were connected to some sort of India satellite network) and clips of music videos. One video caught my attention pretty quick because I was quite puzzled. Some dude with a weird hat was moving up a corridor while a bunch of other dudes were sliding down a wall the opposite way. This dude had some huge, funky hat on. Then furniture started moving and the dude was dancing around. First time I saw this I was like, “Who the hell is this?” I remember EVERYONE looking at me and being like, ‘It’s Jamiroquai.”

Jamirowho? Never heard of them in the States. I’ll be honest – the first few times catching the same minute of the Virtual Insanity video I just thought the dude was weird. Then suddenly it CLICKED. It was like someone turned on the ‘on switch.’ I was suddenly and completely enamored. It wasn’t just the great video. It was the dude’s voice. The lyrics. The music. One of my fellow travelers handed me a cassette of his newest album Travelling Without Moving. I was pretty much hooked from that day forward. When I came back to the States I had purchased the first three albums on CD fearing I would have never been able to get them in America.

I was wrong…and I’ve never been more glad to be wrong. The group broke out huge with Virtual Insanity and the Travelling Without Moving album. They went global and everyone knew the name Jamiroquai. No one was more happy about that fact than I. This meant that, hopefully, when my new favorite band had new releases I would be able to enjoy them.

It is almost impossible to talk about how this band has impacted my life. Not only has Jamiroquai’s music brought me joy but they opened me up to enjoy music from all walks of life. Musically I was pretty sheltered before I found Jamiroquai. Afterwards I was listening to music from all over the globe. Jamiroquai, to me, is not just a band. They are the band that made me appreciate music. They made me appreciate life.

We are on the eve of the band’s 8th album titled Automaton and the album is being hailed as a “comeback” album. In reality it is a long seven years since the band has released a new album, the longest wait ever between albums. In that time the music world has changed and the way we get our music has changed. It seems that some of the music on the album alludes to this digital world that has completely overtaken us.

As I sat in wait for the new album I slid over to Jamirotalk.net – a Jamiroquai fan message board that started in 2001 not long after the release of Jamiroquai’s album A Funk Odyssey. There still lies a very active community of Jamiroquai fans who come to the boards to talk about the past, present, and future of Jamiroquai. I was interested in learning about some of those fans, where they are in the world, how the band has affected them, and their hopes for Jamiroquai’s future. I know how much this band means to me. How do others around the world feel about this band that changed my life?

For boardmember Cosmic Mouse from Germany she remembers exactly where she was when she first heard the band, “My first Jamiroquai “contact” was in 1993 at my favorite club called Jolly Joker in my town Braunschweig. The first time I heard the song Too Young To Die I was like, “Oh, cool, what’s that?” When I asked a guy next to me which band it was, he supposed: “…It sounds like Stevie Wonder.” Every time I heard (the song) at this club, I jumped on the dance floor and boogied along, always (thinking) that were playing Stevie Wonder.”

She continues, “At the same time I have read in some magazines about this new band called Jamiroquai with its very talented frontman Jay Kay. I thought that I would have to go and check out this Emergency on Planet Earth album some day. I remember being fascinated about the Buffalo Man logo and the puristic design of the cover. It took some time to realize that my favorite song was from that band. After buying their debut album I became a big fan. I finally discovered the music, the sound, the feeling I have always been looking for. It was like finding the love of your live. I knew that I would never ever stop adoring this music.”

Tibor, AKA Budfox, from Hungary was also drawn in by Too Young To Die and the early videos from Jamiroquai’s debut album. “I saw the video,” he said. “That was a very strange video I thought. There is a young guy singing about death and environmental disaster. Then I saw the Blow Your Mind video on MTV and thought it another strange video. A completely different style. (Then) I saw the Emergency on Planet Earth video. It was a cool video (with) sci-fi and also environmental protection (themes).”

It was around this same time that John Doggett from France got into the band. In late 1993 he had heard Jamiroquai on the radio but finally put a name to a face when he saw the group performing on the television program Nulle Part Ailleurs. “It was the first time that I’d seen Jay Kay and the band. I was intrigued by the big hat and the colored clothes. Jay Kay replied pertinently to the questions, talking about the main theme of the first album and I found it very cool. He and the band played Too Young To Die. But I was not in love yet. It would happen a few months later when I saw the video for Blow Your Mind. The horns, the chords, the bass, the voice: it was a revelation! I immediately bought the Blow Your Mind single and, a couple of days later, the Emergency On Planet Earth album which I listened to every evening, after homework, with my two brothers.”

Eviltimeban had heard the Emergency of Planet Earth album but wasn’t anything more than a casual fan. In 1994, when Jamiroquai’s second album Return of the Space Cowboy was released the music still didn’t grab him, “Space Cowboy comes out, great song, resonates a little more with me. But it wasn’t really “cool” to like Jamiroquai at that point, certainly not in the face of the Oasis / Britpop movement. Half the Man came out and I remember me and friends making fun of the video.”

It wouldn’t be until the next year when the video for Light Years featuring the band snowboarding came out that would really grab his attention, “It coincided with my interest in snowboarding, not that I ever became a snowboarder, I just thought it was cool. I had cut my hair and started wearing baggy skater clothes instead of grunge clothes and this fit right in. I loved it. I thought they were my kind of dudes. I grew a goatee and bought some hats. My friend had a spare copy of Return of the Space Cowboy and he gave it to me. Then, in summer, they appeared on MTV playing the live version of Stillness In Time. That blew me away. A band of cool dudes, wearing the clothes I was wearing and wanted to wear, playing this amazing music.”

When I discovered the band I bought everything I could while living overseas because I had been worried about not being able to get Jamiroquai’s albums in the States. Jamirokaki, who hails from Basque County had the exact opposite experience when it came to the band. “A girlfriend of my older brother came back from a trip to the USA and brought home the Traveling Without Moving album for him. We listened to it and I instantly fell in love with the songs Virtual Insanity, Cosmic Girl, Alright and (the title track) Travelling Without Moving.”

For smellbob out in Los Angeles, California he didn’t know much about Jamiroquai before the famous video appeared. “Technically the first time I heard Jamiroquai, I was still in grade school and this is quite a while ago, way before discovering music on the internet was an option. We all had telephone line internet and hardly went on it,” he says. Dial up internet was a sign of the times back in 1996 and 1997 as was calling to request which music videos you wanted to see on television. “Some cousins and I were watching MTV in the San Fernando Valley at my Uncle and Aunt’s house and MTV had a programming block in which people in your area called in and voted for what video you wanted to see. People kept requesting Virtual Insanity over and over, and we all were mesmerized by the song and video. (We were) dancing and trying to emulate Jay on the sofas and walls and shit. I just fell in love with that sound.”

He continues, “Of course the ticker on the bottom says what song and artist it is, so I just wrote it down and went to the music store as I wanted the rest of the album. I went and got the cassette for Traveling Without Moving as that was the only album they had on the shelf. Their earlier two albums would be imports so that’s why they weren’t there. Until years later, I assumed Travelling Without Moving was their one and only album. The complicated part is that I just assumed they were, what we call in America, a one hit wonder group.”

Dye, who hails from Buenos Aires, remembers that moment where a video from the fourth album Synkronized would hook him, “I remember the Virtual Insanity video, and I clearly remember the Canned Heat video too during 1999. But one day they played Supersonic and it just blew my mind. Both the video and the song were something completely different that I’ve never seen or heard before. I was 13, so Synkronized was the first album I ever bought by myself. After that it didn’t take long to buy the rest of the albums.”

When I left for overseas my personal music tastes were early nineties rap and some classic rock. That all really changed once I heard Jamiroquai. It just wasn’t that the group’s music was amazing but it awoke something in me. It was an appreciation for music. I became not only into some of the music I had missed out in the States like the whole grunge scene but also all of the English groups I missed out on like Brand New Heavies and Incognito. I became a musical sponge. And just like kids who ran out to buy Adidas when they saw Run-DMC wearing them back in the 1980s, I started buying Adidas tops because that’s what was Jay Kay was wearing. I started buying Adidas sneakers including an awesome green neon pair that I still have to this day. It never, ever occurred to me that I wasn’t the only who was made to feel like this.

Dye points out that Jamiroquai, “…shaped me musically. There must’ve been some hereditary thing too because I knew much, much later that my dad used to hear Stevie Wonder, Bobby Womack and some other funk/soul stuff. It also changed the people around me. For many years, most of my friends and circle of people I knew were somehow tied to the band. A few love interests flourished because of Jamiroquai too.”

Jamirokaki notes, “(Jamiroquai) affected deeply in so many ways. My musical taste changed from mainly punk/rock/heavy/ska music to funk. Then it opened me the way to a big variety of music genres. It also influenced my clothing and, overall, Jamiroquai became the main icon in my life for many years.”

Acid Jazz wasn’t quite a movement in the States as it was in the UK and I was just like smellbob when my world was opened up to a bunch of other groups that I had never heard about before. “I would have never found out and gotten attached (to) Incognito, Brand New Heavies, Level 42, Swing Out Sister, Jazzanova, Atjazz, all these underrated ensembles similar to Jamiroquai, if it weren’t for Jamiroquai,” he notes.

Phunkynassau was turned on to a plethora of new artists because of the group, “Jamiroquai really got me hooked on soul, funk, disco, hiphop and jazz. Through their music I discovered so many great artists like Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, Gil Scott-Heron, Guru, Sly and the Family Stone, MC Solaar, Weldon Irvine, Johnny Hammond, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Since then I’ve become an avid record collector and concertgoer. Also of more contemporary artists, such as Quantic, Alice Russell, José James, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington and Kendrick Lamar.”

Eviltimeban can relate on how seeing what the band wore affected what he wanted to wear. “(The band affected me) in a number of ways – fashion mostly! Stuart Zender’s big jeans though I, like he, have consigned them to the past. And my love of bass playing – I played bass for several years in a non-rock band, and played a Warwick Streamer to boot! The first album’s message was also a big one at the time. This is when MTV used to be a little alternative, certainly MTV Europe was, and those kind of “free your mind” messages used to pop up all the time. It was a time when environmentalism was a big issue but it really needed a band to hang it’s message on. And Jamiroquai seemed to be that…until they stopped singing about that kind of stuff.”

Jamiroquai would not just affect what people listened to or what people wore. For Javis from Argentina the band meant something to him on a much more personal level, “By the end of 2006, a (person I loved) had an accident and it was a very rough time in my life. I got depressed and had to be medicated, but decided the best I could do was to continue with my life and move on. I remember how music, specifically Jamiroquai’s, helped me to distract and enjoy every day. I would spend hours listening to every album, every remix song, searching on internet for live bootlegs, comparing versions, etc. Spending time on that helped me a lot, and was a key factor for me to recover. I will always be thankful to Jay and the band for that.”

For Cosmic Mouse the band was more than just music. Like many of us it became about reading about the band online, connecting with different fans from around the world, and seeing the band as much as possible live. But her experiences brought her much closer than the casual fan has ever been, “The A Funk Odyssey tour started and I got tickets for the gig in Hamburg. This was when I found my way back to Jamiroquai. I accidentally got to the front row, since I was too early at the venue, had an amazing gig experience and was immediately hooked. Those laser beams, Jay’s hat, those moves, those grooves… right after the concert I was planning more concert trips, first Berlin and then London.”

She continues, “Simultaneously I discovered the online Jamiroquai world and I was talking to fans in forums who I (would meet) at future gigs. In 2002 I opened the doors to my own fan forums (Jamirotalk.net) and connected to many, many fans from all around the world. From now on going to gigs was even more special because we all felt like one big family – “the Jamily”. Every concert was one big fan-meeting in the front-row. We had gigs with people from 10 or more different countries in the first rows. What an exciting time! My dedication to the forum did cost me a lot of time and money, but I enjoyed it a lot. I wanted to offer a cozy little virtual world for all the Jamiroquai fans, and it is great to see that even today, in times of Facebook and Twitter, that people are still coming to Jamirotalk.net and discussing the newest stuff. I managed to contact the band members and did interviews with them for my site. This brought me closer to the band and even Jay, who recognized me at an after show party and thanked me personally for all my work. My craziest experience was winning a ticket for the Gig In The Sky – a world record breaking concert of Jamiroquai in a plane during a flight from Munich to Athens. That was very special and exclusive.”

For those casual fans who may not know what The Gig in the Sky concert was, it was a competition held by Sony that had 200 winners board a private jet to see Jamiroquai play live. Jamiroquai’s Buffalo Man logo was painted right on the exterior of the plane. When the plane reached 35,000 feet Jamiroquai “took the stage” and played five songs. The jet was a modified Boeing 757 that contained altered lighting, staging and space for the band. The band broke six records, including the highest and fastest concert, recording and gig in a plane. For those lucky fans who were there I can only imagine it was the experience of a lifetime.

The thing about Jamiroquai, as a group, is through the years they’ve changed not just personnel but entire musical styles as well. Each album can bring something entirely new, different, and exciting. From acid jazz to funk to electronica you never know what to expect from each release. If one song doesn’t appeal to you the next track might be something so completely different that it may completely floor it. I do believe it is part of the genius of the band and what makes them so entirely unlike most bands of the past twenty years. I wanted to find out from fans what were their favorite songs, their favorite albums, and why.

Mr. AZ pointed to two songs that can always lift his spirits. “Cosmic Girl and Canned Heat,” he notes. “I like both songs to just dance (to) and feel relaxed.”

Dye goes right back to the first album that hooked him, “Well because of nostalgic reasons, I have to say Synkronized is probably my favorite. Not because I think is their best album, but it is the most important one for me. It is the one I listened first. Canned Heat is an absolute joy and one of the best songs ever recorded. Manifest Destiny(from Return of the Space Cowboy) too.”

“My favorite album is Return of the Space Cowboy,” Jamirokaki notes. “It is just a perfect album, a masterpiece. Its entire mood is just fantastic and it doesn’t get old It’s timeless. I have a lot of songs that can be named as my favorite song, some of them because of the memories of my life that bring me, others (because of) the quality of the songs.” For his favorite songs it includes a hodgepodge of music from the first three albums that includes Space Cowboy, Stillness in Time, Mr. Moon, When you Gonna Learn, Blow Your Mind, High Times, Drifting Along, and Didjital Vibrations.

For Phunkynassau he also looks back to the group’s 1994 sophomore release as his favorite, “It’s a bit darker and more edgy than the other albums. Great vibe and flow throughout the album. In my opinion it’s a must have for all soul and jazz/funk lovers. (This is) closely followed by the LP-version of Emergency on Planet Earth, with those fabulous extended versions of When You Gonna Learn, Too Young To Die and If I Like It. My favorite song is a close call between Just Another Story, the extended version of Stillness in Time or the extended version of When You Gonna Learn. Probably the latter is my all time favorite, but they are all great jams and do really justice to the name Jamiroquai.”

John Doggett is another fan who loves to give the love to the Space Cowboy album, “My favorite albums are The Return Of The Space Cowboy and Synkronized. Both are important and precious to me. My favorite song is the single version of Space Cowboy. When I heard it for the first time on the TV, I knew that Jamiroquai will be the band of my life.”

Javis gives some love to the group’s amazing 2005 album, “My favorite album is Dynamite. I know is not particularly popular among the fans, but is the one that got released when I was discovering the band, it was my starting point. I love the diversity of the album, it has jazz, pop, funk and rock tunes, and I like how all of them have the “Jamiroquai signature.” As for his favorite song he points out one of the best from the Travelling Without Moving album, “My favorite song is Alright. It’s a simple straightforward funk song, but it’s so carefully produced and it’s so effective that I can’t help thinking it is pure genius!. I also think it’s a good representation of what Jamiroquai music is.”

For some fans picking one favorite album or one favorite song simply isn’t possible. Budfox loves Emergency On Planet Earth, Return of the Space Cowboy, and Travelling Without Moving equally and for good reason. “These are just perfect albums. Masterpieces,” he notes. “From the first 2 albums, many tracks (set an) entire mood (that) is just fantastic and doesn’t get old. They are timeless. I have a lot of songs that can be named as my favorite song, some of them because of the memories of my life that (the songs) bring me, others for the quality of the songs themselves.” These songs include many from throughout Jamiroquai’s career including Space Cowboy, Mr. Moon, Too Young To Die, Blow Your Mind, Cosmic Girl, Didjital Vibrations, White Knuckle Ride, Runaway, Twenty Zero One, Scam, Rock Dust Light Star, Love Foolosophy, and You Give Me Something.

Smellbob can easily pick out his most-liked album, “My favorite album is Travelling Without Moving.” The reason seems quite simple, “It is the first Jamiroquai album I heard, that’s why.” When it comes to favorite songs he prefers to name one from each of the albums thus far. Can you blame the guy?

“For Emergency on Planet Earth it’s Too Young To Die. I just love the message and the bridges. I had that song in my head all the time. It’s the perfect song to go to the beaches here in California and listen to.” On Return of the Space Cowboy he tends to favor, “Mr Moon. For some reason I just kept skipping this song at first, I don’t know why. It’s now one of my all time favorite Jamiroquai songs. The bridge is just amazing. I’m assuming Mr. Moon is a guy that women avoid because of how weird he looks or acts as he’s the “Moon” and he feels nobody can get to him.”

The rest of Smellbob’s choices are pretty classic. “For Travelling Without Moving (it’s) Virtual Insanity. Obvious choice. Jamiroquai’s most famous single in America and technically the first song I heard from them. On Synkronized it’s Canned Heat, because of Napoleon Dynamite. A Funk Odyssey is You Give Me Something. It was the song the reintroduced me to Jamiroquai by sheer accident. On Dynamite it’s Seven Days in Sunny June. Such a chill song and definitely my favorite of the Dynamite album. The High Times Singles Collection it’s Radio, because of the bisexuality part.” And with Rock Dust Light Star? “She’s a Fast Persuader. In my opinion along with Lifeline and Two Completely Different Things the only good songs on the album.”

Cosmic Mouse has a hard time with trying to figure out a favorite, “I don’t really have a favorite album. It depends on my mood which album I listen to. Just recently I (rediscovered) A Funk Odyssey. I really enjoy the old stuff, especially when they are playing them live. But I also like the newer songs. As long as there is the Jamiroquai vibe in the song, I can’t get enough of it. I appreciate the variety and diversity, it never gets boring.” She does have one song that goes above the rest, “My all-time favorite song is Stillness in Time. I just love that song. I feel so cozy when I listen to it, I forget time and space.”

As for me, when I came back from overseas I introduced everyone to Jamiroquai. And when I say “introduced” that means I played the albums over and over until people stopped hanging out with me or got into the group themselves. I remember running out to buy the Godzilla Soundtrack just to hear the latest Jamiroquai song and was not disappointed. Amongst groups like Ben Folds Five, The Wallflowers, and Rage Against the Machine the track Deeper Underground was the clear soundtrack standout. It’s also a damn shame that their 2000 entry to the Titan A.E. soundtrack, Everybody’s Going To The Moon, is so overlooked.

Most of the band’s releases bring me right back to a time in my life that I can remember like it was yesterday. When Synkronized came out in 1999 I was living in my very first (very crappy) apartment. I remember rolling down the windows of the VW Bug I had back then and just driving around, repeating between Canned Heat and Planet Home. Stu Zender had left the band and I couldn’t help think how sad, how brilliant, and how beautiful the song King For A Day was.

In 2001, right after the 9/11 tragedy, I was working full time in Army aviation where we were working over 12 hour days. But I do remember that A Funk Odyssey had just come out at the same exact time and I would listen to that album over and over. It got me through the many tough days. The album itself? Just amazing. Feels So Good, Little L, Love Foolosophy, Twenty Zero One, and Main Vain still remain brilliant. You Give Me Something? Just an incredible song.

In 2005 I was stationed at Ft. Gordon in Georgia when Dynamite came out. It instantly became my favorite Jamiroquai album of all time and I can play it front to back over and over again (only disliking one song). Hearing Seven Days in Sunny June for the first time literally blew my mind. It became my favorite Jamiroquai song of all time and I really doubt that, no matter what else the band releases, there will ever be a better song for me then that one. I totally thought I was hot shit riding around the base with the windows down on my Ford Escape BLASTING Feels Just Like It Should, Seven Days in Sunny June, and Electric Mistress. Many of my fellow officers were introduced to Jamiroquai that summer and if they ever think back about me I’m sure that’s the only thing they’ll remember about me.

The next few years after I left the Army I started entertainment reporting and was a DJ on the radio. Derrick McKenzie did a bumper for the radio show and I played that a thousand times over the air. The High Times single album was released and had two new great songs but completely puzzled me with the major lack of You Give Me Something. The wait for Rock Dust Light Star was long and even when it was released I had to order it from the UK (as the album wouldn’t be released in the States for another year and a half). It was my first time being disappointed by my favorite band as I was surprised they had left their Sony contact to do their own thing only to produce an album that I felt lacked some of that Jamiroquai energy. That’s not to say that songs like White Knuckle Ride, Blue Skies, and Lifeline weren’t rocking because they were beautiful. But for the first time my favorite song on an album, the BRILLIANT She’s a Fast Persuader, wasn’t released as a single. It was what it was but that didn’t stop me from listening to that song 9,812 times. I thought leaving That’s Not The Funk I Want and Smile off the album was a pretty silly decision, but that’s just me.

And then?

Then seven years went by. The band played shows here and there (never here in the States) and we heard Internet rumors that the newest Jamiroquai album was coming. Fans waited. And waited. And waited. And now? Automaton is almost here. Hailed as a “comeback album” the group released two outstanding singles with the title track Automaton and Cloud 9.

So what does Jamiroquai’s biggest fans want most from Automaton?

“That it’s “Jamiroquai now” and not “Jamiroquai then,” says Eviltimeban. “Because (the group) will never be what it was in the past. I like the new direction. Though it’s not really that new, it’s very much like A Funk Odyssey.”

“I’m simply glad to have a new album and listen to brand new tracks,” notes John Doggett. “Moreover, I’m happy because Jay (has) full creative control of the album. It will be his artistic vision. I can’t wait to hear it!”

Smellbob adds, “I’m gonna buy the album, I’m still gonna support the band. As it’s not released yet, aside from two tracks, I have to have an open and blank mind. I myself didn’t care for the title track Automaton, but other people did, and that’s all that matters. I love Cloud 9 so much, yet other people say it’s a boring and bland song. So there are clearly mixed reactions and it’s difficult. I hope that the album is overall good.”

“So far I am very happy with the new songs,” says Cosmic Mouse. “(At) first I was a bit surprised and confused about the song Automaton but meanwhile I really love it. Especially in combination with the video. It’s awesome and text, music, and pictures go very well together. Cloud 9 is a groovy feel-good-song. I can’t stop moving when I listen to it. I hope that the other songs will be rich in variety. I hope for great basslines, funky guitar riffs, funky beats and some brass.”

Budfox has very high hopes for the album while also realizing that a band needs to grow to keep to keep themselves relevant, especially in a career that has gone on for over twenty years. “The times change so Jamiroquai changes with the times. Daft Punk (has had some) great successes with their style. Now Jamiroquai could (bring new fans to their) concerts and the old fans will like this style, I am very sure.”

Phunkynassau’s perspective is you need to look to the past for what is coming in the future. “The spectacular success of Travelling Without Moving influenced the musical direction of Jamiroquai a lot,” he says. “The album has become the backbone of the band: as a blueprint for the next albums and every gig is centered around songs like Use The Force, High Times, Alright and the title song. Nothing wrong with that, because it has made Jamiroquai a household name.”

“But the downside is that the band is, in my opinion, less adventurous than I would like them to be,” he continues. “As Jay said this weekend on BBC Radio 2, he has some trouble to reinvent the sound of Jamiroquai. I think that’s true. I’m really glad to have heard the new songs, but they didn’t blow me away as in the early years. So my hopes for the new album are ‘realistic’. I’m glad they are still making music, because every album has some tunes I really like. But most of all, because it gives me a chance to see and hear them live.”

Dye has pretty high hopes for Automaton. “They have never done something I outright disliked, and changes in the sound are always welcome,” he says. “I like experimentation, I think it can lead to musical places otherwise they couldn’t have gotten to. It is no coincidence that articles refer to Jamiroquai as an acid jazz/funk/soul/disco/electronic/rock band. They can’t be classified. Their sound is unique. They can go to different musical routes but they always have a recognizable signature. That’s is not an easy thing to do. I see that in design and art too: it is very difficult to do different things but keeping a style that will make people still recognize the hand behind that work. Jay Kay has the ability to go from one genre to the other and still sound like Jamiroquai. A lot of people mistakenly refer to this as “their songs are always the same.” No. Their signature sound is probably the same, but not the songs. I don’t know any another band that can play Music of the Mind and then Stop Don’t Panic and then Smoke & Mirrors or even Automaton.”

We don’t know what the future brings for Jamiroquai post-Automaton but these fans remain hopeful for reunions, old songs, and new music alike.

“I would love the original line up (Zender / Smith / Wallis / Darren / Simon) to reunite for some “classic album” gigs,” says Eviltimeban. “And to hear the unreleased Symphonised album” This album had been scrapped and rerecorded/released as Synkronized once Stu Zender had left the band. “And any unreleased music from the Emergency on Planet Earth to Traveling Without Moving era,” he adds.

Cosmic Mouse also gives some love to former Jamiroquai member Wallis Buchanan. “For the future I would be happy if they’d bring back a didgeridoo in (some) way. Maybe in a new kind of style. A didgeridoo 2.0. maybe,” she says while also noting. “To be honest, I don’t really have any expectations. I like surprises and I have trust that I won’t be disappointed.”

John Doggett hopes that, “others albums will follow every 2-3 years. I hope (that Jamiroquai keeps) making music and touring.” Javis has a thought that I can certainly agree with, “For the future, I hope the band keeps releasing music as long as they can.”

I was blown away when I heard the Automaton single and I must have watched the video fifty times the first weekend it was released. I thought it so different yet so the same when it came to the band. It was distinctively Jamiroquai even with its Daft Punkish feel. When Cloud 9 dropped I was even more amazed. It was just a beautiful song and it brought my spirits right up. I had to wait seven years for a new Jamiroquai album. The wait is nearly over. With what I’ve heard so far it really makes that seven year wait very much worth it.

I had seen that band twice in 1997 during the Travelling Without Moving tour and, as it was right after I had discovered the band, I was probably the happiest guy on the planet. While the venue I saw them at (the Electric Factory in Philadelphia) isn’t my favorite venue it was still great seeing the band play to a PACKED house both times.

I did get to see them one more time since then in 2005 when they hit Atlantic City during their Dynamite tour. As I love the Dynamite album I couldn’t wait to see them play some of it live. The only song they actually played from Dynamite was Seven Days in Sunny June. As they were touring for the album it disappointed me but I figured they were trying to playing music that the Americans audiences might actually know. So I got over it. Some dude in the crowd yelled out he wanted the band to play Mr. Moon and they actually did, so that was cool. After the show we got free tickets to go see The Crystal Method so that made the night even more memorable.

My hopes for Jamiroquai’s future echoes what some of my fans have already said. I would love to see the group continue to make albums and I can only hope there are less years between the album releases. As I haven’t seen Jamiroquai live since 2005 I would love for them to come to America to do a few shows. New York City is right around the corner from me Jay, swing on by so I can get some Cloud 9 live. And my smallest wish is that I recently started collecting vinyl so I really want an Automaton vinyl album. Actually I probably need to acquire all of the band’s album on vinyl. Because let’s face it. Jamiroquai is the band that impacted my life the most and I will forever enjoy listening to their music.

Jamiroquai’s latest album Automaton hits stores and digital services nationwide on March 31, 2017.