As soon as Jack Steadman finishes making a record, he redecorates his studio.

It can be as simple as moving tables and chairs around, but the singer has to make things different, so he can look forward to new things.

That attitude helps to explain how the former singer of indie-pop band Bombay Bicycle Club has now become Mr Jukes, a man mixing up classic soul and funk with a host of different collaborators, from rap legends Run DMC to soul great Charles Bradley.

“Something like this has been on my mind for years,” says Jack.

“I’d come offstage after playing Bombay shows and be on my laptop on the tour bus making this music, and wondering what would happen if I made this type of music properly. Basically I then decided to see what would happen if I did put all my energy into it.

“I wanted to be ambitious with it, which is why, instead of doing a bedroom production style record, we have an album full of diverse and incredible artists.”

Bombay Bicycle Club are currently on an indefinite hiatus, after forming as teenagers and releasing four albums. After the group decided to take a break, Jack chose to focus on his solo work in less than obvious surroundings – he took a journey on a freight ship to North America, where he was the only passenger on board other than the crew.

Setting up in a makeshift studio onboard, he found himself starting to write the songs that became his debut album, God First, while letting a few of the crew record too…

“It was like a little slice of heaven, because no-one could contact you and you were shut off from the world,” he says.

“The night sky was the most incredible thing I’ve seen, and there was always a sense of going forward. I always enjoy that, whether it’s on a train or a ship or anything, so if you set up a studio then it’s a really nice environment.

“Everyone else was just crew, German, Polish, Filipinos, and a lot of them were singers and musicians. There was a lot of karaoke and they’d take it in turns to use the studio. It was slightly surreal.”

The whole experience sounds surreal, not just the crew borrowing the studio. Did Jack not feel isolated at any point on the trip?

“I think I’m a naturally quite introverted person,” he says.

“I don’t dislike being sociable, it’s just I get a lot of creativity from being alone. It’s funny, because I actually feel comfortable onstage, which is strange. It’s like a whole different world for me there.

“I’ll be very quiet before and after but playing an instrument and being surrounded by a band makes me feel comfortable. I just get very animated, so there’s two sides to my personality.”

That side of the singer’s personality is what Glasgow will be keen to see later this month, when he play Saint Luke’s on Friday, September 22. The show was upgraded from King Tut’s after fans swiftly turned it into a sell-out.

While the record features plenty of samples and guests, Jack is planning the live show to be of a different nature, having assembled a nine piece band.

“It’s all organic and live,” he explains.

“There’s a mindset of not having to be shackled or faithful to the record. You realise you can go back to the bare bones and do something fun with it, so we’ve got lots of horns, three vocalists and it’s just fun playing with jazz musicians. It’s a totally different mindset compared to Bombay, where everything is very structured and we would start panicking if anything went wrong.

“Now it’s very relaxed, and if anything doesn’t go the way you planned it then it can be exciting, because you can start improvising.”

For excitement though, it’ll have to go some to top Jack meeting Charles Bradley. A huge soul and jazz fan for years, he was thrilled when the great singer agreed to provide typically full-throated vocals to the track Grant Green.

“Having the privilege of standing next to him in the studio was amazing,” he raves.

“He prefers that rather than you write down the lyrics and him reading them, that you sing them to him before he records. So our shoulders are touching in the recording booths, and then he sings it back, and it was really incredible just to be there.”

Mr Jukes, Saint Lukes, Friday, September 22, £12, 7pm