Scissor Sisters interview

All the signs are pointing to the summer of 2004 belonging to camp New-York based 5 piece The Scissor Sisters. Contactmusic.com caught up with multi-instrumentalist Babydaddy six dates into their biggest UK headline tour to date…..

How You All Doing?
We’re good thanks. Everything’s cool.

Take Your Mama entered the chart at 17 yesterday giving you another top twenty hit, how pleased are you?
We’re completely happy with it, it means a lot to us. We see it (chart success) as a pretty valid indication that people like what we’re doing. The single success’s great but we see ourselves much more as an album band and the album went into the top ten for the first time yesterday and that means so much more to us.

The album’s fantastic, how was it to record?
Thank you. Recording it was a really tough process. We recorded it over 2 years and did absolutely everything ourselves. We recorded it, produced it and, with our manager’s help, mixed it in my bedroom

studio. We could’ve done I much more quickly in a big studio but I think it would have lost a lot of its charm. Hopefully the way we’ve done it it doesn’t sound over-produced…except on the bits it’s supposed to. Recording the album was a very rewarding process.

Take your Mama’s got a great video, was it fun to make?
Definitely. Andy, the director, is a very close friend of ours. He filmed us for a documentary on Channel 4 and got such a good feel for what the band was about. We trusted him implicitly. It was a lot of fun to make and great to see the results as most of it was done in a green room.

You’ve just embarked on your biggest headline tour to date, how’s that going?
The tour’s been amazing. Last night, in Manchester, was our biggest and best headline tour to date. We can’t perform without a fun crowd and they totally got us last night. We’re not a pretentious band, we don’t see ourselves selling out stadiums with a ten foot pit between us and the fans. We love the intimate feel of the gigs and want the whole room feeling like they’re with us in the studio.
Lots of the shows have been selling out and that’s been amazing and very exciting. It’s totally exceeded our expectations and it goes to show that people are enjoying what we do. We’re really lucky to have met a lot of amazing people.

You’re touring with Duran Duran at the end of the month, is that something you’re looking forward to?
Absolutely. We’re all big fans so it should be a great show.

You’re also confirmed for a lot of the summer festivals, who ae you most looing forward to seeing there?
We’re doing a few festivals so there’re so many people I want to see. The Pixies definitely but they’re really too many.

As a band you often post on your message board. Connecting with fans obviously means a lot to you…
Absolutely. We have to connect with the fans otherwise the equation doesn’t add u. They get us where we are you know? We never cease to be completely impressed by the maturity and intelligence of our fans and connecting with them is all part of the process.

Single ‘Take Your Mama’ and album ‘Scissor Sisters’ are both out now.
Scissor Sister’s headline shows:
28/3 Cardiff University
29/3 Norwich Waterfront
30/3 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
31/3 Bristol Fleece
3/4 London Astoria
4/4 Manchester University
5/4 Sheffield University
7/4 Nottingham Rock City
8/4 Glasgow QMU
10/ 4 Middlesbrough The Empire
11/4 Leeds Blank Canvas
13/4 Brighton Concorde 2
14/4 London Forum

Duran Duran supported by Scissor Sisters:

14/4 Duran Duran + Goldfrapp + The Scissor Sisters Wembley Arena
22/4 Duran Duran + Goldfrapp + The Scissor Sisters Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle
24/4 Duran Duran + The Scissor Sisters Wembley Arena
27/4 Duran Duran + The Scissor Sisters Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield
28/4 Duran Duran + The Scissor Sisters Cardiff International Arena
30/4 Duran Duran + The Scissor Sisters Wembley Arena
1/5 Duran Duran + Goldfrapp + The Scissor Sisters Wembley Arena

www.scissorsisters.com

Words: Jude Stone