If he had his way, Jay Kay would have been a stunt man, not a multi-millionaire pop star.
But if he had fulfilled that dream, he might never have met Denise.

Before Phats & Small turned around, before any Stardust had been sprinkled, before we knew Armand, there was Jay Kay. Jay Kay, the showman. Jay Kay the 'front' behind Jamiroquai. The outspoken jazzamuffin frontman of nouveau funksters Jamiroquai has risen

from being crown prince of the acid jazz scene, to the king of the '90s with the acceleration of one of his famed Ferraris.

The man who is one half of the latest mega-celeb love coupling with missus Denise Van Outen has all the trappings of success,

yet still, he says, has the hunger - and when he invited Ministry to tea for a chat,

we realised why when we rolled up outside his 48 acre Buckinghamshire mansion. Large it Jay...

Ministry... That video for the single Canned Heat was pure Jamiroquai - you leaping all over the place.
But do you normally jump in on someone's shagging session?
Jason Kay... That was a real couple in the bed. Afterwardsthey tanked me and they both had big smiles on their faces.

As far as I was concerned they could have been up to anything and I wouldn't have noticed. You've got so many things to think

about when you shoot a video like that. The last think you think about is whether the couple behind you are having it or not.

You know, I always wanted to be a stuntman when I was kid.

Ministry... You've got the Aston Martin car - are you a bit or a Bond buff?
Jason Kay... I am a huuuuge Bond fan. Have been since I was a kid. I've always liked Aston Martins. I knew what an Aston Martin DB5 was before I could pretty much walk. Actually I also wanted to bid for the Lotus Esprit they used in the Spy Who Loved Me Too.

Ministry... Ever been offered a Bond theme to do though?
Jason Kay... I want to do a Bond film.We didn't have the time to do this one, but hopefully one day.
One of my abiding memories is my mum ['70s singing star Karen Kay] singing Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever just about

every fuckin' night. And I'd do our version with full-on strings, horns and with that epic sound. Wicked!

Ministry... Okay from Bond to blonde - how are things with Denise?
Jason Kay... I couldn't be happier at the moment. Denise and I are great friends; we get on so well with each other, it's as simple as that.

She may be Denise Van Outen and I may be Jay Kay but we are both basically, down-to-earth human beings. We do the same things that

other couples do - go to the shops, go out. Neither of us are much into all that showbiz lifestyle... I couldn't be happier.

Ministry... The album Synkronized has been released after much anticipation and a few false starts we hear...
Jason Kay... Yeah, we lost our bass player [Stuart Zender] from the line-up at the eleventh hour, as it were, just when we were

ready to bring the fourth album out. We recorded a completely new album which meant that we missed the initial schedule

and I admit that we were hard pressed to get the album finished in time, but we managed it and it was worth it...

Ministry... So you got rid of Stuart?
Jason Kay... Absolutely, I got rid of the bass player. Every member of this band is looked after well.
They fly Club Class, are well-paid, well-treated, no one can say otherwise. If anyone wants to do their own thing that is their prerogative.

I cannot force them to stay, but I can make decisions and do what I think is best for the rest of the band.

Ministry... Okay, to the album itself. Joints like Canned Heat and Black Capricorn Day are drenched in that whole '70s 'Superbad' sensibility.

It sounds like a new track for Jamiroquai...
Jason Kay... People have missed the point for a long time now about us.

I'm just a guy who wants to write a tune like Chic's Good Times or [Sly Stone's] Papa Was A Rollin' Stone.

Everyone seems to be into the disco sound now, but we've doing it for a long time now - without samplers and sequencers, I might add.

Ministry... So what's different with this album to the previous ones?
Jason Kay... The challenge was doing something that I think sounds better than anything we've ever done before. I think we've succeeded in creating the music that we love making - which is all we've ever done. With this album I wanted to get other people to remix our stuff.

It's that clash of styles that really interests me. I actually wanted to get Liam Howlett [of the Prodigy] to do his ting on Supersonic.

Ministry... That's that track with the real early '80s techno-disco sound...
Jason Kay... Actually, I think that particular track is a throwback to when I was 17 and I started taking acid.

In those days I used to cry on magic mushrooms. I used to shed a tear on the terrible state

of the world and then go out and have a wild nasty boogie jus to cheer myself up.

Ministry... Talking of illegal substances, you've always been a vocal advocate of legalisation of cannabis -

but have you more conformist as you've got older?

Jason Kay... No the other way around. The law can imprison a man for growing weed for medicinal purposes, to help ease the pain of his multiple sclerosis condition, while on the other hand they acquit a man who attacks a hostess on a plane or the Stephen Lawrence suspects.

It's a joke.

Ministry... So what's hot and what's not in the garden of earthly powers today?
Jason Kay... Personnaly, myself, nothing really beats some proper earthy yardweed - you can keep your skunk all day long.

For a number of reasons it's losing its touch for me now a bit... I'd prefer to have some really, lovely deep, dark,

moist tender Charis from India. Or Kashmin Hash at a Royal Temple Ball. I must go to one, one day.

Ministry... How about that other big passion in your life, fast cars [Jay's collection include four Ferraris,

two Mercedes and a host of BMWs, including a 1973 3.0SL Batmobile]?
Jason Kay... If I didn't have such a good woman, I'd safely say I was in love with my cars. No, only joking... I'm having just had a rally track

built in my grounds to satisfy my urges, but as far as going out on the road, I go fast only when it is appropriate to do so.

Ministry... Okay, you've always been into the spiritual side - there's a track on the album, Black Capricorn Day,

about your birthday on the last day of this millennium. Explain...
Jason Kay... Yeah, I'll be 30 for one day in this millennium and then I will live the rest of my life in the next one.

Synchronisation is the key to living.

Ministry... So do you believe in all these end of millenium Nostradamus pedictions?
Jason Kay... I think people need to pick up on Nostradamus to realise how precious life really is. This is the chap that did, after all, get other predictions pretty spot on. If I'm not mistaken, he predicted a war was due to happen in September 1999, and it was meant to start in Yugoslavia. Hmmmm. We have to be careful. Actually, come to think of it, this might be the last album that anyone

ever fuckin' hears - which is was why it was important that we managed to eventually get it out!

Ministry... Last question. Where did the inspiration for Jamiroquai come from? Parents? A vivid dream?
Jason Kay... No... I think it has been derived from taking acid actually.