Even though there arent enough woman in the dance music band Scissor Sisters to actually accomplish a real scissor sisters they still rock out. They first came to attention in the UK with their cover of the Pink Floyd song Comfortably Numb that is on their self titled album. Now the New York based bands popularity is on an upswing that will begin with their first US tour.
I got a chance to talk with Scissor Sisters guitarist Del Marquis.
Check out the official website of Scissor Sisters
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hi Del, its Daniel from SuicideGirls.
Del Marquis: Thats cool.
DRE: What do you think of SuicideGirls?
DM: I think its necessary for the movement of culture. It sounds a bit like propaganda magazine as a website.
DRE: Would you go on the site?
DM: If its anything like Propaganda magazine I sure would.
DRE: How is the tour going?
DM: We are at the very end of our festival season. We have one more show then we are vacation back in the States. Then we do an American tour for a month.
DRE: What do you think of all the press youve been getting lately?
DM: Its insane. Luckily we kind of popped our press cherry in the past year over in the UK. So its been easier to digest. Were excited to play at home even if it is on the west coast.
DRE: So youre all from New York?
DM: We all met there. I am the only one that was born in Manhattan and everybody else moved here from somewhere else to prove to something to themselves and other people. We all met by divine intervention. I think once we all met our circle closed. It seems to close once youve met everyone you need to know. In the past year we havent been home much at all because its all been an overseas operation.
DRE: What were you trying to accomplish by going over to the UK?
DM: It was simply demand. They didnt know what to do with us in the States. It was just confusing because we have the gay flag and people looking like they dressed up in an exploding closet. Were a pop band that plays its own instruments and writes our own songs. There just didnt seem to be anyone like us and that scared people. They didnt know how to market us, were kind of dance, were kind of rock and a little flamboyant and gay.
DRE: A little gay?
DM: Well I guess a lot. For whatever reason people in the UK picked up on us. I think its because there is still a really vibrant dance culture over there and comfortably numb was our calling card because it was a dance club hit. DJs started playing that song on our accord and people started wanting to book us. We came over and realized there was an audience for us then we slowly moved out of the dance halls and into rock venues.
DRE: What worked for you about covering Comfortably Numb?
DM: [lead singer] Jake [Shears] is a big fan of Pink Floyd. He was always singing it to himself on his parents farm in that Bee Gees falsetto style. He thought it would be a really good interpretation of a song he really loved. Its no fun to cover a song if youre just going to rehash it. I dont think it does anything for you, the song or any artist. The way we did it kind of twisted the meaning of the song around. It was originally a dirge about despair and heroin addiction then it became a 21st century dance anthem. As opposed to losing yourself in heroin its losing yourself in E. Youve partied your life away then you look back and realize you havent done anything. There is kind of an element of hope in the chorus. It was never meant to be a big hit in fact it was on the B-side of the first single. But people picked up on it so we went with it.
DRE: Ice Ice Baby was never meant to be a hit either.
DM: Exactly.
DRE: How did Scissor Sisters get together?
DM: Were a bunch of stragglers that got together along the way like The Wizard of Oz. We formed totally ass backwards. Jake and Babydaddy were friends and had done music together. Because electroclash was the scene at the time, dance music was their MO. Jake was interested in writing gay disco anthems and looking for something to write with. After a couple of performances they met Anna and she invited them to perform at her club where she hosted. There was mutual freak admiration among them so they brought her on. They were a specific gay dance band and performing at bars. Then at a certain point they wanted to be a band and get up there with some kind of element of rock so they put out the word for a guitar player. Jake was dating my best friend who told him that he knew this gay guitar player that he should meet.
DRE: Gay guitar player were the watchwords.
DM: It went very quickly for me especially. After I came down and played over a couple of tracks I played my first live show with them about a week later. Then a week after that we got invited to the UK to play our first shows soon after that we got our drummer, Paddy Boom. He is a kindred spirit even though he is straight but sometimes Im not even sure of that after I see him posing in photographs.
DRE: Do you guys share a lot of the same sensibilities?
DM: There is conflict all the time. Thats just the nature of a band. Some are intellectuals others are tech geeks and were all just ragamuffins with our own sense of identity. We agree on disagreeing a lot but the goal seems to be same and that is to have fun.
DRE: How was it opening for Elton John?
DM: It was amazing. He was so generous. You never know what to expect but he was so nice. He came into our dressing room and talked with us for like an hour. It was really fun. Whether or not you are a huge fan of his he does make an impression and is quite stupefying. The audiences were slightly more sedate than we are used to. It was a sit down atmosphere but we still had a great time.
DRE: I read that Babydaddy's father is on the message boards a lot.
DM: Oh yeah. All of our parents are very into the band. My parents give me flack because I dont tell them enough all the time so I just tell them to go on the message boards. Now I dont have to rehash what Ive done but I specifically tell my parents not to post.
DRE: Why is that?
DM: Because its crossing some weird parent/child line with me. I regress to a 12 year old boy telling his parents not to come into my room. Were very open people with our parents but there is line even we dont like to cross. We dont want our parents answering questions from fans like when we changed from wearing diapers to pants.
DRE: When did you all come out to your parents?
DM: I was 15 and I think Jake came out about the same time. Even though Jake and I are so different in our personalities we have a lot of parallels. We were both precocious teenagers and we were very aware of our sexuality from day one. It was just a matter of time. I think Babydaddy came out in his late 20s. Now its not even an issue with our families.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
I got a chance to talk with Scissor Sisters guitarist Del Marquis.
Check out the official website of Scissor Sisters
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hi Del, its Daniel from SuicideGirls.
Del Marquis: Thats cool.
DRE: What do you think of SuicideGirls?
DM: I think its necessary for the movement of culture. It sounds a bit like propaganda magazine as a website.
DRE: Would you go on the site?
DM: If its anything like Propaganda magazine I sure would.
DRE: How is the tour going?
DM: We are at the very end of our festival season. We have one more show then we are vacation back in the States. Then we do an American tour for a month.
DRE: What do you think of all the press youve been getting lately?
DM: Its insane. Luckily we kind of popped our press cherry in the past year over in the UK. So its been easier to digest. Were excited to play at home even if it is on the west coast.
DRE: So youre all from New York?
DM: We all met there. I am the only one that was born in Manhattan and everybody else moved here from somewhere else to prove to something to themselves and other people. We all met by divine intervention. I think once we all met our circle closed. It seems to close once youve met everyone you need to know. In the past year we havent been home much at all because its all been an overseas operation.
DRE: What were you trying to accomplish by going over to the UK?
DM: It was simply demand. They didnt know what to do with us in the States. It was just confusing because we have the gay flag and people looking like they dressed up in an exploding closet. Were a pop band that plays its own instruments and writes our own songs. There just didnt seem to be anyone like us and that scared people. They didnt know how to market us, were kind of dance, were kind of rock and a little flamboyant and gay.
DRE: A little gay?
DM: Well I guess a lot. For whatever reason people in the UK picked up on us. I think its because there is still a really vibrant dance culture over there and comfortably numb was our calling card because it was a dance club hit. DJs started playing that song on our accord and people started wanting to book us. We came over and realized there was an audience for us then we slowly moved out of the dance halls and into rock venues.
DRE: What worked for you about covering Comfortably Numb?
DM: [lead singer] Jake [Shears] is a big fan of Pink Floyd. He was always singing it to himself on his parents farm in that Bee Gees falsetto style. He thought it would be a really good interpretation of a song he really loved. Its no fun to cover a song if youre just going to rehash it. I dont think it does anything for you, the song or any artist. The way we did it kind of twisted the meaning of the song around. It was originally a dirge about despair and heroin addiction then it became a 21st century dance anthem. As opposed to losing yourself in heroin its losing yourself in E. Youve partied your life away then you look back and realize you havent done anything. There is kind of an element of hope in the chorus. It was never meant to be a big hit in fact it was on the B-side of the first single. But people picked up on it so we went with it.
DRE: Ice Ice Baby was never meant to be a hit either.
DM: Exactly.
DRE: How did Scissor Sisters get together?
DM: Were a bunch of stragglers that got together along the way like The Wizard of Oz. We formed totally ass backwards. Jake and Babydaddy were friends and had done music together. Because electroclash was the scene at the time, dance music was their MO. Jake was interested in writing gay disco anthems and looking for something to write with. After a couple of performances they met Anna and she invited them to perform at her club where she hosted. There was mutual freak admiration among them so they brought her on. They were a specific gay dance band and performing at bars. Then at a certain point they wanted to be a band and get up there with some kind of element of rock so they put out the word for a guitar player. Jake was dating my best friend who told him that he knew this gay guitar player that he should meet.
DRE: Gay guitar player were the watchwords.
DM: It went very quickly for me especially. After I came down and played over a couple of tracks I played my first live show with them about a week later. Then a week after that we got invited to the UK to play our first shows soon after that we got our drummer, Paddy Boom. He is a kindred spirit even though he is straight but sometimes Im not even sure of that after I see him posing in photographs.
DRE: Do you guys share a lot of the same sensibilities?
DM: There is conflict all the time. Thats just the nature of a band. Some are intellectuals others are tech geeks and were all just ragamuffins with our own sense of identity. We agree on disagreeing a lot but the goal seems to be same and that is to have fun.
DRE: How was it opening for Elton John?
DM: It was amazing. He was so generous. You never know what to expect but he was so nice. He came into our dressing room and talked with us for like an hour. It was really fun. Whether or not you are a huge fan of his he does make an impression and is quite stupefying. The audiences were slightly more sedate than we are used to. It was a sit down atmosphere but we still had a great time.
DRE: I read that Babydaddy's father is on the message boards a lot.
DM: Oh yeah. All of our parents are very into the band. My parents give me flack because I dont tell them enough all the time so I just tell them to go on the message boards. Now I dont have to rehash what Ive done but I specifically tell my parents not to post.
DRE: Why is that?
DM: Because its crossing some weird parent/child line with me. I regress to a 12 year old boy telling his parents not to come into my room. Were very open people with our parents but there is line even we dont like to cross. We dont want our parents answering questions from fans like when we changed from wearing diapers to pants.
DRE: When did you all come out to your parents?
DM: I was 15 and I think Jake came out about the same time. Even though Jake and I are so different in our personalities we have a lot of parallels. We were both precocious teenagers and we were very aware of our sexuality from day one. It was just a matter of time. I think Babydaddy came out in his late 20s. Now its not even an issue with our families.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
http://suicidegirls.com/boards/Music/53385/
DRE: A little gay?
MARQUIS: Well I guess a lot.