Faithless star Maxi Jazz is loving his new band – and reckons the dance legends are done for good.

The frontman brings the E-Type Boys to Oran Mor tomorrow, with Maxi undergoing the surprising transformation to a guitar-wielding soul and blues singer.

He believes it’s far more what he wants to do now than revisiting Faithless classics over and over again.

“You’re not going to see anything happening again with Faithless, probably forever,” he says.

“It’s a done deal. I’m incredibly proud of what we managed to achieve in the 22 years we were together, and the amount of people we affected. But we started 22 years ago, and I was 37 then. If anyone is exactly the same after that amount of time then they’re not grabbing the moment, and I don’t want to go back 22 years.

“I’m a huge fan of Led Zeppelin and I would die if Robert Plant would agree to just one more tour. But I can see why he doesn’t want to, because he’s got his own band and he’s having the best time doing that now. I understand where he’s at, and if anyone wants to know where I am at then they should just look at footage of him and the Band of Joy. If you have something brand new, fresh and energising against stuff that’s 22 years old then it’s an obvious choice.”

Maxi’s work with the E-Type Boys might be brand new, but it also harkens back to his love growing up of bands like Sly and the Family Stone and J.J Cale. As things with Faithless started to wind down he admits he expected to focus on making a hip hop album. Instead he realised he had several songs written on the guitar that he loved, and after playing them to keyboardist Chris Jerome the idea of a band started to form.

Now he has released his first album with the E-Type Boys, Simple… Not Easy, while the rest of the band are drawn from various pals and friends he’s known for years and years.

“10 years ago I’d have laughed at the idea of being onstage and playing guitar, but it’s grown organically, and now I’m sitting in a rehearsal room, preparing to play at Ronnie Scott’s,” he says.

“I’ve no idea how this happened, but I’m glad I did. This is me for the next 10 years.”

Among the tracks on the album is the old Faithless classic Mass Destruction, given a reggae-flavoured makeover. It’s a song that that Maxi admits now feels even more relevant than ever.

“That song came from deep within me and nothing has changed,” he says.

“It is depressing that things haven’t changed much (since he first wrote it in 2004), but the trick is not to concentrate on the depressing bit in the world but to roll up your sleeves and say ‘I don’t care how ignorant or vicious people get, I’m not going down that same path. I’m going to remain the same, despite what I see on Sky News or the radio about what a terrible place the world is.’”

The singer believes strongly that music can play a part in changing things for the better. A keen football and motor racing fan, he reckons he’d always prefer a career in music because of what he can achieve there.

“My favourite sport is motor racing and I’ve raced a few cars in my day,” he explains.

“I’ve had a fabulous time doing it and it was very emotionally involving – however, it’s all the most trivial thing I’ve ever done. As brilliant and amazing as it was, I probably wouldn’t change too many lives or influence that many people as a racing driver, whereas when you’re writing songs that come from your heart you can.”

And proof of the power that music can have comes from his previous experiences in Glasgow.

“We did a gig at the SECC once, and the dressing rooms are miles from the stage, on the concourse. We were in there and heard this noise as people were leaving afterwards, and it was dozens of people going out arm in arm and singing together.

“I was thinking ‘half an hour ago I bet these were strangers, and look at them now’. That’s one of the things I love about Glasgow, the way people can just get on.”

Maxi Jazz, Oran Mor, tomorrow, £20, 7pm

Jonathan Geddes