Let us now introduce you to the fabulous word of the Scissor Sisters!!!


Photograph, from left to right: Paddy Boom (left the band), Del Marquis, Jake Shears, Ana Matronic & Baby Daddy.

Pop music - it has exploded in an edgy, sexy, supremely tuneful commotion, all thanks to the uncommonly brilliant sounds, performances and shear being of the brillant Scissor Sisters.

A peculiar mixture of glam rock, disco and electroclash, all mixed up in a rather camp, extremely risque, but definitely, absolutely not exclusively gay manner. "The fact that some of us are gay affects our music the same amount as it does that some of the members of Blondie are straight," we discover on the DVD We Are Scissor Sisters And So Are You, a comment which thoroughly explains how early tracks like Someone To Touch, Bicycling With The Devil and Step Aside For The Man shifted attention from out-and-out outness to a more pop chart friendly UK debut album tracklist. With that attitude shift came a shift in sound, as well - from their early beginnings to their imminent launch of their second album, Scissor Sisters have changed. Altered. Maybe even evolved.

Early Days: ('Dead Lesbian And The Fibrillating Scissor Sisters')

So, it's 2001. Who wouldn't want to form an electro band and name themselves after a lesbian sex position? Well, if you happen to be go-go dancer, stripper and all-out attention seeker Jason Sellards and multi-instrumentalist Scott Hoffman you'll not only do that, but you'll immediately rename yourselves Jake Shears and Babydaddy. Add one Ana Lynch, wittily re-titled Ana Matronic, and you're all set, particularly since Ms Matronic hosted her own cabaret show at a Lower East Side New York club. It's not just who you know, it's where you work: The Slipper Room was the band's first gig. History doesn't seem to record how well Dead Lesbian et al went down, but tracks from the Dead Lesbian era are undeniably weird, and far more electronic than their current output. Take Bicycling With The Devil, an almost electroclash mish-mash with truly bizarre lyrics. "I see you dancing, damn you look good. I wish I could dance like you but I ain't got no legs.' is the more sensible part of the song, rapidly giving way to 'I see you defecating, damn you look good. I wish I could take a shit too, but I ain't got no anus.' Quite how riding the bicycle of the devil into hell helps with this isn't really made clear, alas.

A Touch Of Class: ('We gotta lose the dead lesbian...')

With the addition of Derek Gruen, now guitarist Del Marquis, and Patrick Secore, destined to become drummer Paddy Boom, the name was, probably wisely, shortened to Scissor Sisters and the band were signed to independent label A Touch Of Class. Electrobix, an early single, later to be re-released on the Scissor Sisters: Remixed! album, was recorded along with a b-side. Adored and reviled in equal parts, Pink Floyd's classic expression of inner misery, Comfortably Numb, was re-worked with a bizarre Bee Gees disco feel, complete with the ah-ha-has from Staying Alive somehow wedged into the chorus. In fact it was all high-falsetto vocals, which were coupled with a bass-line ripped straight from Stevie Nicks' The Edge Of Seventeen to produce a version of the song completely unlike Roger and Dave's original vision, guaranteed to either delight or enrage Pink Floyd fans the world over. (David Gilmour and Nick Mason have apparently expressed a liking for the group, though Wikipedia is a little shaky on details here.)

With unsurprising irony, Electrobix attracted virtually no attention at all, while Comfortably Numb was immediately picked up by the DJs of a range of electro clubs. The song rapidly spread to the UK, where The Cock in London booked the band for its first British gig. From there, Polydor sniffed out the single and signed a contract. Laura, the groups first UK single, enjoyed a limited release in 2003, and managed to make almost no impression on the UK singles chart. Its disappointing peak of 54 garnered a little attention from New Musical Express, and the song enjoyed a surprising amount of radio play in Australia. A further song, It Can't Come Quickly Enough featured on the soundtrack of the 2003 film Party Monster, accompanying cinema-goers as they left before watching all the credits. It didn't make much impact, but at least the band were getting somewhere.

Fame: ('Remix, re-use it, when you wanna suck to it...')

Scissor Sisters' breakthrough was in 2004, once again featuring the song Comfortably Numb. Reaching a more respectable number 10 in the UK and a well-deserved number 1 in the US, it was quickly followed by Take Your Mama, reaching 17, and a re-release of Laura, which managed number 12. Determined to squeeze as many singles as possible out of their first album, the self-titled Scissor Sisters, the band continued to release. Mary reached number 14, while Filthy/Gorgeous managed their highest chart position yet: number five. The album, meanwhile, reached the coveted number one spot and went on to become the best-selling album of 2004. Scissor Sisters, even without their dead lesbian, had finally achieved that elusive success.

Awards and accolades followed. The music industry is good at this kind of thing. Best international group, best international breakthrough and best international album at the 2005 Brit Awards, as well as the coveted opening-spot at which they performed Take Your Mama. Then there's the GLAAD Media Award for outstanding musical artist, opportunities to perform at Live 8, V Festival and so on. A range of collaborations with other artists also began to appear. I Believe In You with Kylie Minogue, a cover of Sufragette City with Franz Ferdinand, a bit of Jake on Andy Bell's new album or Ana Matronic joining New Order on their latest album. There's also the remixes: the delightfully-named 'sticky tits' remix of Bucci Bag's More Lemonade, their pulsing disco version of Blondie's Good Boys and even a slightly strange 70s disco remix of the Pet Shop Boys' Flamboyant.

'Ta-Dah' with promenance on the lack of exclaimation.

Recording of the second album, Ta-Dah, commenced in May 2005, at Scott's Discoball Studios in New York. On the lead up to the release of the second album the band once again performed some of the tracks at secret shows. 'Everybody Wants The Same Thing' being a more public performance at Live8, while under various other alias' - Bridget Jones' Diarrhea, Portion Control and Megapussi the band previewed 'Hybrid Man (still unreleased), I Can't Decide, Paul MacCartney & Hair Baby to fans. On September the 18th, 2006 'Ta-Dah' was released to the general public. If you were in the US you would have waited a little while longer - the 26th. Track that made the album are: Everybody Wants The Same Thing, Paul McCartney, I Can't Decide, Ooh, Hairbaby, Intermission & The Otherside.

The band worked with Elton John on the number one hit single from the album 'I Don't Feel Like Dancin'' as well as on the album track 'Intermission'. 'I Don't Feel Like Dancin'' is their biggest hit to date.

The band performed a number of shows both in Europe & America to promote this second album. Their first gig in the UK for promotion of the second album took place at the KOKO Club, Camden, London, on August 31, 2006 and was filmed for MTV. They performed at the Bowery Ballroom & Siren Music Festival in New York as well as a spectacular set at the Coachella Valley Music Festival. A free concert was given in Trafalgar square to 10,000 ticket winners on the September 16 2006 in order to promote the (Red) charity. This was shown on Channel 4, the band was introduced by showbiz pal 'Kylie Minogue'. Channel 4's editing of this show was particularly bad; some tracks were cut completly, many edits are done badly and almost all conversions with the crowd has been cut out.

'Ta-Dah' reached number 1 in the UK Albums Chart in its first week of release, officially taking the top spot on Sunday, September 24, 2006, completing a historic first for the Scissor Sisters, a double consisting of a single and album at the top of the UK charts simultaneously.

Singles from the album have been I Don't Feel Like Dancin', Land Of A Thousand Worlds, She's My Man, Kiss You Off and limited release Lights.


2009: Tales Of The City, Litter To Society & Do The Strand?

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At the end of the band's 2007 World Tour, the band confirmed that they would be taking some time off to work on their next album. The band has announced a possible cover for the album, collaboration with Kylie Minogue, and possible appearance of one of the band's original demos.

On October 13 and 14th, 2008, they premiered new material at secret gigs in New York City's Mercury Lounge under the assumed band names 'Queef Latina' (on the 13th) and 'Debbie's Hairy' (on the 14th). New songs included on the set list were 'Television', 'Who's Your Money', 'Other Girls', 'Major for You', 'None of My Business', 'Singularity', 'Do The Strand', 'Who's There', 'Not the Loving Kind', 'Taking Shape' (with Babydaddy on lead vocals), and 'Uroboros'.

Randy 'Real' Schrager was drummer at these gigs, as Paddy Boom was still absent. On October 16 2008, the band announced that Paddy Boom had amicably parted from the band (see the forum for details on this). It still has not been confirmed if Randy is his official replacement.

The band have recently contributed a cover of the Roxy Music song 'Do the Strand' to the compilation album, Heroes. The album is in aid of the War Child International charity and was released on February 24, 2009. 'Do the Strand' may also appear on the Scissor Sisters forthcoming 3rd studio album as it has been played by the band at recent gigs.

A few the band have been involved with their own individual projects throughout this year - Jake has been working on some solo material with Luomo, Tiga & The Hidden Cameras, as well as writting the musical score for a musical version of Armistead Maupin's 'Tale Of The City'. Jake is working with follow Scissor Sister JJ Garden, Jeff Whitty & also the director of Avenue @, Jason Moore. During July 2009 Jakes musical has been in workshop in the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. This should hit the westend in 2010.

Del has also been working on solo material, with a number of EPs released in conjuction with Embryoroom - who worked with him on the video concept. The EPs released to date are, 'Hothouse', 'Character Assaination' & 'Litter To Society' - which can all be purchased with his website, www.delmarquis.com. He has made a view live performances of his new solo material, most noteably at Arjanwrites.com's forst ever club night, Superfriache. Del has stated there is more live shows on the way!

Currently....

Currently, at this moment (July 2009P Jake has confirmed on their official messageboard that progress on album number three is well underway and will be with us "sooner than we think". He states "I can safely announce that we are emerging out of our scissor shaped rabbit hole and are gaining momentum by the day on our sick third album. I think you're going to love the new songs, the new sounds. I can't tell you a lot but I can tell you that it's dark, very sexy and above all else FUN. " - he went on to tell is that the band is currently on a Scissory holiday in the sun.

We hope to hear from them back soon!

Credits: The Age, My Space: Scissor Sisters, Fretplay Discography, Wikipedia, Last FM, Amazon, VH1.

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