Scissor Sisters

Mon 19th Dec, 2011 in Features

In the lead-up to their performances over the New Year to play the Pyramid Rock Festival and Summadayze, we speak to Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters about the band’s new record and future collaborations with Dave Grohl.

Hello Jake – I wonder where are you now, are you in NY?
I’m in New York, we’re in our little studio at the moment now making fun little tunes.

What have you got planned for the next record then? I’m pleased to hear you’re in the studio again; that’s fantastic.
Oh you know we have tons done so far. We’re on the way to another record, and we’re really excited about it. We have great songs and it’s a great time for us. Our heads are all in good places and we’re just having fun. I love the stuff we’ve been writing and yeah, I think we’ll have music out to hear later.

Great. It’s interesting you say you’re having a lot of fun because it does feel that way following your career. It feels like you’re confident at the moment and that’s really coming through, you’re allowing yourself to have more fun these days.
Absolutely. I think it’s also just getting a little bit older. It’s funny that this whole year and a half my anxiety on stage just completely evaporated and I had so much more fun performing without anxiety. You know, I would always get very nervous and quiet before I went onstage, but I just go out now and have a great time. The day I stopped getting nervous is the day I should, throw in the towel but that’s just the case. I’ve had so much fun just not getting the jitters and nerves onstage. I think as a band it brought us together in a really great way and solidified our relationships with each other and really solidified us as a band. It’s amazing how our dynamic with people has really matured and changed. It’s a really great thing to see relationships evolve and progress and not stagnate.

That’s amazing, because it’s not just you that’s the creative powerhouse in the group. Everyone else has their own blend of talents that they bring to it, don’t they?
Absolutely. We’ve always worked with people and branched out but it’s really great. Babydaddy’s been working with this girl called Elle King who’s from Ohio. She’s incredible and they’ve been making this amazing music together. And I did this musical which just opened in San Francisco beginning of June that I worked on for 5 years, and Ana [Matronic]’s always got various performances and things going on. Ana’s been working with this amazing group called the The Joshua White Show and they did these amazing shows in the planetarium in New York. She does oil effects; it’s really incredible. So it’s really good to have those kinds of distractions and to get your head in a few different places. Because it’s nice when you come back together as a band or in the studio, and you have these other experiences you can feed off and not these solitary world as just a band and that’s all you do.

Keeps things fresh, sounds good. That show you were doing, was that Tales of the City? How did that go?
It’s been amazing, it’s been the biggest show (at ACT, the theatre in San Francisco) they’ve ever had. It did remarkably well. It was such a complex process. It was very satisfying but backbreaking. It’s still the craziest work I’ve ever done. It was just like a fever dream or something. With a band you’ve got 6 or 7 people on the same page. During a musical you’ve got about 100, with all the crew and the costumes – it’s insane, but so gratifying and exciting. I can’t wait to see it up again. I’m looking forward to the next iteration of it.

You’re lucky to work with such talented people all the time. One of the things I love about the Scissor Sisters is that you’ve been able to work with so many greats like going on tour with Lady gaga and working with Elton John, who’s one of your friends I read somewhere. You’re quite close with Elton?
He’s one of my best friends. He’s family. I don’t know what I would’ve done the past six years of my life without him. He’s just been an incredible friend.