From left: Babydaddy, Ana Matronic and Jake Shears wear DIOR HOMME BY HEDI SLIMANE. Stockings by Emilio Cavallini at Showroom Seven. Fragrance: HIGHER DIOR. Styling: J. ERRICO. Hair and makeup: ERIC POLITO for Makeup Forever/i Group. Retouching: JIRASKA UDOMSAPAYA. Location: Courtesy of the Bathhouse. Special thanks: PHOTOCARE
SCISSOR SISTERS
By Tony Moxham
TAKING OFF WHERE THE B-52'S LANDED
On a recent Saturday in Manhattan, downtown disco revivalists the Scissor Sisters performed at the notorious East Village gay bar The Cock. "It was a regular Saturday night there," says front man Jake Shears, "but we were three freaks onstage playing crazy disco songs. It felt like instant party."
For the last few months, the band - comprised of Shears, Babydaddy and Ana Matronic - have cut their teeth on club stages. Now they've been signed to A TOUCH OF CLASS Records.
"I'm an attention fiend," confesses Shears. "I was go-go dancing for two years and that was my outlet. Scissor Sisters is the next step." And while the band is heavily visual and performance focused, their music belies a more serious intent: to pump out uber-gay party music on par with the B-52's, Sylvester and even Wham! Explains Shears, "I'd never listened to Wham! before, and when I did I was blown away by how homo they were. Just listen to 'Bad Boys'. We'd like to stay in that vein of making gay music that reaches a bigger audience. "Case in point: The band's first single, "Electrobix", which hits stores in mid-May, has infectous beats to keep feet moving and lyrics that remind image-obsessed gay men, "You better pump your body if you wanna be a hottie".
Given their funnalicious agenda, making good on their dream of playing gay mecca Fire Island this summer should be a cinch.
Tony Moxham is INTERVIEW's Art Director.
INTERVIEW Magazine, May 2002
The Cutting Edge Newcomer electro band Scissor Sisters woos and wows the gay crowd
by Sean Kennedy
You gotta pump your body-ooh, you wanna be a hootie" goes the chorus to "Electrobix," the debut single from the Scissor Sisters, an intoxicating new band on New York's burgeoning electro scene.
The catchy tune features 1980s electronic stylings (complete with organ flourishes worthy of vintage Madonna dance hits), falsetto vocals and clever lyrics that disect the roots and effects of gay male body fascism."I 'm obsessed with the gym," confesses lead singer Jake Shears, who has the Adonis-like physique to prove it. The three-member group, all of whom are in their twenties was formed last fall by Shears and his longtime scenester friend who goes by the moniker Babydaddy. They had often talked of forming a group, but it wasn't until they recruited glamourous, multifaceted performer Ana Matronic, host of the Knock Off party at the Slippper Room, that they got down to business. With Shears and Matronic providing vocals, and Babydaddy on keyboards and guitar, the trio has been playing local clubs while readying an upcoming album.
With a second single, a West Coast tour and a video in the works, the group seems poised to accelerate their hot-newcomer status into a serious career.
Although the group incorporates electro elements(such as New Order-style sonics and kitschy beats), the Scissor Sisters don't want to be thought of as just another act inspired by the new wave '80s. They cite such Me Decade standard-bearers as the Talking Heads, the B-52s and Afrika Bambaataa as influences along with the disparate genres of grunge, jazz, and according to Shears, "hippie trucker music." On "Electrobix" and their other songs, many of those sounds can be heard, unified by one key idea: to get people grooving."I think what people care about when it comes to that '80s sound is that it was really the grass roots of dance music," says Babydaddy."That's what we connect to."
The Scissor Sisters also connect, quite unabashedly, to the gay scene and have recently played concerts at Luxx, Barracuda, the Cock and Knitting Factory.
"We're pretty much a gay disco band," says Babydaddy, who is gay, as is Shears. (Although Matronic isn't, she cut her teeth as a performer at San Francisco's experimental drag club, Trannyshack, making her game for anything). But there's more to the band then just their fun party sound. Indeed many of their lyrics evoke images of queer life that are decidedly different from those offered by the culture at large."The Will an Grace side of being gay is a little bit disconcerting to me," explains Babydaddy.
"There's more to gay life than being flamboyant, flaming queen or the really straight-acting gay man."It certainly is difficult to imagine Will, or even his less-inhibited pal Jack, running through the city from a trick, high on acid, as happens to the young gay man in the Sisters' song "Filthy/Gorgeous."
Aside from their mutual affinities for queer life and electro music, the group also shares a distaste for contemporary pop music.
"There hasn't been any exciting since grunge," says Shears, who clearly remains unaffected by the constant barrage of Britney Spears, Incubus and other of their cookie-cutter ilk."The problem with pop music is that everybody's trying to be as inoffensive as possible so they can sell as many record as possible, adds Matronic, who, along with her Scissor cohorts, hopes to achieve success without having to compromise their unique sensibility. "Our whole idea is that we just want to be ourselves,"she continues."We just want to party-and be smart about it."
Time Out New York, May 2-9 2002