Scissor Sisters

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:ScissorSisters.jpg Scissor Sisters is a five-piece American glam rock band strongly influenced by the gay-club scene of New York City and named after a lesbian sex position (see tribadism). The group was formed with the full name Dead Lesbian and the Fibrillating Scissor Sisters in 2001 by lead vocalist Jake Shears (born Jason Sellards) and keyboardist/bass guitarist Babydaddy (born Scott Hoffman). The other members are Ana Matronic (born Ana Lynch, lead vocals), Del Marquis (born Derek Gruen, guitar), and Paddy Boom (born Patrick Secord, drums). Although not as yet an "official" Scissor Sister, in live shows and performances they are backed on keyboards by John "JJ" Garden, son of Graeme Garden of The Goodies. The lyrics of their songs, largely written by Shears and Babydaddy, are known for their mixture of wit and tragedy.

1 Overview
- 1.1 The second album
2 Discography
3 See also
4 External links

[edit]

Overview

Their first single "Laura" had a limited release in 2003 (reaching #54 in the UK singles chart), but received little attention except from British music paper New Musical Express. Also that year, the atmospheric "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" played under the credits of the New York club film Party Monster and appeared on its soundtrack. The group came to prominence in 2004 with the release of "Comfortably Numb" (reaching #10 in the UK), a disco-style cover of the Pink Floyd song which features Paul Leschen on piano and keyboards. This was followed by fan favourite "Take Your Mama" (#17 in the UK), a re-release of "Laura" (#12 in the UK), the ballad "Mary" (#14 in the UK), and the randy "Filthy/Gorgeous" (#5 in the UK). All the singles came from the self-titled debut album Scissor Sisters, which reached #1 on the UK albums chart and became the best selling album of 2004, beating their closest rival Keane by just 582 copies. In late 2004, Shears and Babydaddy co-wrote and produced the hit "I Believe in You" for Kylie Minogue.

At the 2005 Brit Awards, the group won all the awards they were nominated for: International Group, International Breakthrough, and International Album. It was the first time in the Awards history that an act won all three International categories. They also opened the show with "Take Your Mama", on a set made by The Jim Henson Company.

The band won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Artist on March 28, 2005. On July 2, 2005, the group performed at Live 8. Their set included the previously unheard song "Everybody Wants the Same Thing".

They have received a lot of attention in the United States by VH1 and magazines such as Out and Entertainment Weekly. So far in the U.S., two videos have received play: the "Take Your Mama" clip and the second "Laura" clip. They have also been interviewed on VH1's website and Del Marquis had been interviewed by the music section of IGN.com. As their early successes have been almost exclusively in Europe, they are often mistaken in the U.S. for an import band despite their New York roots. It is a little known fact that there are several tracks recorded by the band before their eponymous debut which were never released; these tracks have entered the fan community and, although sometimes difficult to find, can be obtained freely. These songs include "Someone to Touch", "Bicycling with the Devil" and "Monkey Baby".

Their music is evidently influenced by Elton John (Shears' singing, particularly, sometimes sounds uncannily like Elton, while "Take Your Mama" echoes Elton's "Little Jeannie"), the Bee Gees, Duran Duran ("the reason we got into music"), Supertramp, Queen and various other dance, rock, and funk acts, and they are the first to point out that their music in general is hard to categorize. They are renowned for strong live performances, and count David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Roger Daltrey of the Who, U2 and Elton John among their fans. They were the opening act for Duran Duran's 2004 reunion tour and opened for U2 on some of their UK dates for the Vertigo Tour.

Scissor Sisters' CDs, records, and DVDs feature artwork by an English illustrator named Spookytim, who has a studio in Brighton called Studiospooky. The artwork is created by a wide variety of techniques and mixes traditional paper-based processes with digital and photographic elements in order to reflect the multi-referential nature of the band's music.

Several fan societies have sprung up in the official forums. These include the "Jake Groupies", "Ana Matronic Appreciation Society", and the "Scissor Sisters Party Bus", the latter two having spilled over to their own sites. The band have a healthy relationship with the fan community, even holding a small private gig for select forum members on August 14th 2005, at which a number of new tracks were previewed, and fans had the opportunity to give birthday cards and presents to Ana Matronic. In the fan community, those fans who hold a special affinity for Ana are known as "nuns".

The group were one of the headlining acts at the British V Festival in 2005, where they collaborated on stage with Scottish rock group Franz Ferdinand to perform a cover version of David Bowie's "Suffragette City".

[edit]

The second album

Recording of their second album began at band member Babydaddy's apartment in May 2005. Sneak previews of new songs have been played at live shows, including "Everybody Wants the Same Thing", performed at the Live 8 concert, "Paul McCartney", "I Can't Decide", "Hybrid Man", "Forever Right Now" and "Hairbaby". The latter is possibly the only song by a pop band inspired by the phenomenon of tumours containing partially formed foetuses. Recordings are taking place at Discoball, their own studio. The band fulfilled one of its oldest dreams: Elton John collaborated in the song "I Don't Feel Like Dancing". According to Jake Shears, this album will be a combination of sixties-era psychedelia and glam rock.

The second album is scheduled to be released summer 2006 in the UK. In the leadup to this release, the band are to play several gigs in the USA, continental Europe and Japan. Their first gig in the UK for promotion of the second album is scheduled for September.

Mary, the inspiration for the Scissor Sisters song "Mary", died of a brain aneurysm in mid April, 2006. The band was said to be distraught.

[edit]