Scissor Sisters: ‘We just arrived fully formed as gay men’

After a 12-year hiatus, last summer Scissor Sisters stepped back on stage for the very first time as a trio in Brighton, performing their self-titled debut album in full. It had been 20 years since the LP became something of an unexpected hit.

‘We didn’t really have time to think – it was a little overwhelming,’ Babydaddy told Metro over Zoom. ‘I was like, “Oh yeah, we have to remember all these songs.”’

An even taller order, he tells me, given that the band has spent the last decade ‘avoiding’ putting on any of their old records.

‘Got a headline,’ frontman Jake Shears pipes in. ‘“We don’t listen to our old records.” It’s a good headline.’

Still, it’s a moment worth celebrating. Shears, Babydaddy and Del Marquis – alongside former frontwoman Ana Matronic – brought the noise and debauchery of the underground New York queer scene to the top of the UK album charts with their unexpectedly triumphant first LP, where it stayed for four weeks.

If the band themselves don’t listen to it, songs like Take Your Mama and Filthy Gorgeous have been inescapably packing dance floors ever since. Even unexpected Scissor Sisters deep cuts have taken on lives of their own during their hiatus. ‘I Can’t Decide’ is our most-streamed song on Spotify now,’ says Shears, referring to an album track from the 2010 record Ta-Dah. ‘It’s really weird because that’s a song about murdering your loved ones – but it really connected with video gamers, apparently.’

The Scissor Sisters discography feels like a relic of a time when there was a cultural shift for queer people in the public eye. The tide felt like it was turning: gay marriage was on the horizon, attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community were gradually softening, and a band so unapologetically queer from the get-go – and thriving beyond anyone’s expectations – felt revolutionary.

‘Everything before us was innuendo – “Is he or isn’t he?” You had to dig for clues. We just arrived fully formed as gay men, as queer people. It was just like, “This is a matter of fact,”’ recalls Shears.

When the band released their third album, Night Work, its cover – a Robert Mapplethorpe photograph of a man’s backside – sparked immediate concern both within and outside the group.

‘I was getting a lot of phone calls,’ Shears recalls. ‘People saying, “You’re making a horrible mistake.”’

‘I was one of them,’ laughs Babydaddy.

‘That album is so beloved, and I’m so proud of it. Why would we want it to be anything different?’

Following that night in Brighton, the band embarked on a sell-out arena tour, hailed for bringing a camp, glam-rock riot back to a music scene that had sorely missed it.

A particularly memorable show was recorded for a live album, It’s 10pm… Do You

Know Where Your Sisters Are? Live from The O2, London, available later this month.

Two special guests joined them on stage. Self Esteem took the Take Your Mama slot – a moment that has also seen some of the band’s favourite artists join them for that number – while Sir Ian McKellen recited his spoken-word monologue from the group’s 2010 track Invisible Light. The crowd erupted in shock and excitement; it was such a hit that the actor later followed the band to Worthy Farm for his first-ever Glastonbury performance during their headline slot there, too.

‘The response to Ian was insane,’ Shears says, still visibly in awe. ‘I’ve never heard a crowd that loud before.’

‘I wouldn’t say he missed his cue… but he kind of just did what he wanted,’ adds Del Marquis.

‘I think he was just so overwhelmed by it,’ says Babydaddy. ‘I don’t want to speak for him, but I imagined that going up and having a theatrical moment in front of that many people would be a normal day out for him. But he said he had never really done anything like that before, and it made me realise that, of course, he’s usually on film sets or in smaller theatre environments. This is a crowd reacting to him in a way he probably doesn’t get to experience as much as an actor. No one does Shakespeare in front of 15,000 people.’

It’s the first time the band has toured in a very different world from the one they left when they announced their hiatus. LGBTQ+ rights don’t feel like they’re progressing – with Supreme Court rulings reversing trans rights and hate crimes on the rise, the community feels under pressure. Yet at the same time, queer culture has become completely mainstream, with Drag Race transforming the scope and scale of gay nightlife (as well as the traditional Saturday brunch), and pop music now packed with queer artists. We’re more visible than ever before.

In May, Scissor Sisters will headline Mighty Hoopla, the largest LGBTQ+ festival in the UK – a much sought-after slot on the festival circuit celebrating queer fans, their allies, and the continued rise of LGBTQ+ artists.

It’s never been more important for pop stars to establish themselves as LGBTQ+ allies, while artists like Chappell Roan have become festival headliners off the back of a single album of wall-to-wall lesbian bangers.

‘I think we haven’t really absorbed the idea that she’s an openly gay woman who has broken through in such a major way,’ says Marquis. ‘To me, that’s a brand new idea. Not to diminish other gay women, but if you talk about a glass ceiling – yes, it’s higher than anyone I can think of has ever reached. And it’s almost a side note with her. I think it’s incredible to see that happen in a world where there is so much conservatism and pushback, that it’s not the headline.’

‘But I think the world’s a little less comfortable with gay men representing the community, or even queer people more broadly. It’s more common for female gay icons to break through and represent queerness, becoming icons for the community.’

‘Somebody did a story recently looking at openly gay male singers over the years, all the way back to the ’80s, and how there still seems to be a kind of glass ceiling,’ says Shears. ‘There are definitely things that haven’t broken through yet. There’s still space and room for queer artists making music — but it’s also just a harder moment for anyone to break through, queer or not.’

In this new world, I ask whether there will be new Scissor Sisters music. The band confirm they’re in the studio, but Shears refuses to say more than that.

‘He’s not being overly secretive – it’s just early days,’ Babydaddy assures me.

The Scissor Sisters’ legacy – and the lifespan of their music – might feel timeless, but this still feels like a new beginning for the group, now a trio following the departure of Ana Matronic.

‘We feel like a new band. There’s a freshness to this for us,’ says Babydaddy.

‘The break has been good,’ adds Jake. ‘As you’ll hear on the live album, what was fun about touring last year and bringing out songs that are 20 years old – it felt like we were presenting something new again.’

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