Biography

The long-awaited reunion that fans have been clamouring for is here: Scissor Sisters are back and readying their first live shows in over 12 years. The era-defining pop disruptors – lead singer Jake Shears plus multi-instrumentalists Babydaddy and Del Marquis – will fill the UK’s arenas next May with their signature mix of showmanship, songcraft and galvanising queer energy. “It’s the 20th anniversary of our debut album Scissor Sisters, so it really feels like the right time to revisit all the intense excitement of that moment,” Jake says. “And,” Babydaddy adds, “there’s something really special about us being a gay band, a queer band, who really pushed into the mainstream with that album. We want to revisit that because there weren’t as many LGBTQ+ acts breaking through in that way 20 years ago.

Released in February 2004, the group’s eponymous debut album was a chart-topping blockbuster that spawned five irresistible singles: the funky strut of Laura, Elton-esque coming out anthem Take Your Mama, life-affirming ballad Mary, horny club banger Filthy/Gorgeous and an audacious disco cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. “I think Jake’s original vision for our version was Sisters of Mercy meets Cher, so we definitely ended up upsetting some prog rock fans,” Babydaddy says with a smile. The album, one of the UK’s 40 best-sellers of all time, will be reissued on vinyl on 22nd November with a deluxe expanded edition to follow next year. Fans can expect B-sides, remixes and unheard rarities alongside the original 11-track LP.

In a way, the album’s jubilant fusion of rollicking pop, gleaming glam rock, classic balladry and subtly subversive club tunes reflects the fact that Scissor Sisters started out as musical outsiders. They honed their chops on the early 2000s’ stylish, proudly DIY electroclash scene, which drew largely from 1980s synth-pop and new wave, but were equally inspired by 1970s rock icons like Elton John and Steely Dan. “The sound of that first album is a mix of our own homemade productions and our aspirations to make epic arena rock,” Jake says.

They’re also a band defined by certain dichotomies. Though they emerged from New York’s hyper-creative queer underground, they were embraced most vehemently of all in the UK, where Scissor Sisters became the best-selling album of 2004. That year, they also collaborated with pop royalty when they co-wrote and produced Kylie Minogue’s shimmering disco gem I Believe in You, a UK number two hit that was nominated for a Grammy award.

As Scissor Sisters exploded into the UK mainstream, their debut album morphed into a big gay Trojan horse. Filthy/Gorgeous celebrated the anything-goes hedonism of the queer kink scene, a theme fully explored in its raucous, risqué music video directed by John Cameron Mitchell, the subversive mastermind behind Shortbus and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. On the rollicking album track Tits on the Radio, Scissor Sisters asked “where are the queers on the piers?” in the wake of Mayor Giuliani’s campaign to “clean up” – and thus homogenise – their beloved New York City. In a way, an anonymous comment left on YouTube sums it up perfectly: “The whole of the UK adopted these [folks] in the 2000s, no question asked.”

In 2005, they cemented their incredible rise by winning three BRIT Awards – for International Breakthrough Act, International Group and International Album – and performing Take Your Mama at the ceremony with eye-popping puppets created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Sharing the stage with a chorus of watermelons, dancing eggs and a singing barn was a classic Scissor Sisters moment: campy and trippy, but executed in a way that absolutely everyone could enjoy.

“My mom was a great barometer for whatever we were doing,” Jake says. “I always found it fun to make subversive stuff that was accessible and exciting for people who might not normally be into it. We were like: ‘Let’s keep the subtext very subtext-y.'” Though the band’s snappy alliterative name is a nod to a lesbian sex act, it still feels like a cheeky wink to their queer audience – if you know, you know; but if you don’t, who cares?

Putting on a show has always been an integral part of the group’s M.O., but even the band members had forgotten just how fun their gigs could be. “I think the impetus for this reunion was really a YouTube screening of Scissor Sisters: Live at The O2 that happened during lockdown,” Jake says. “I don’t think I’d seen that show since it was filmed in 2007, but we were all kind of surprised by how great it was. And chatting with fans during the screening really brought back what a special moment it was for all of us.”

Del admits that watching Live at The O2 made him realise that he and the band had unfinished business. ” This time I want to be really present on stage and celebrate how lucky we are to have achieved what we achieved,” he says. “I don’t think I was mature enough to deal with everything the first time around because it happened so fast.” He isn’t exaggerating: in January 2004, Scissor Sisters made their UK live debut at a sweaty Soho club night; by June, they were playing Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage.

The Scissor Sisters live experience will have a different dynamic in 2025 with singer Ana Matronic deciding not to join the tour. “We’ve spent a lot of time collectively thinking about what we can add to our show that isn’t a ‘replacement’ for Ana in any way,” Del says. “She’s part of the spirit of this band and we want to honour that.” For Jake, reconvening as a trio adds to the “fun challenge” of working out what their live show looks and feels like after 12 years away. “The way I see it is this,” he adds, “If it’s gonna be different, why not make it an interesting kind of different?”

The band are already batting around setlist ideas but plan to perform every single track from their 3 million+ selling debut album in celebration of its 20th anniversary. “You know, there are songs from that album like Lovers in the Backseat that we hardly played at all back in the day, so it’s really fun throwing them into the mix,” Jake says. Of course, Scissor Sisters will also cherry-pick highlights from their three subsequent albums, 2006’s Ta-Dah, 2010’s Night Work and 2012’s Magic Hour, which contain some of the band’s biggest hits and most cherished fan favourites.

Ta-Dah stormed straight to the top of the charts in 2006 after spawning the number one single I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’, a dazzling disco bop co-written with the band’s idol Elton John. Ta-Dah also featured the deliciously off-kilter stomper I Can’t Decide, which has gone on to become one of the band’s most streamed songs despite never being released as a single. “It’s big on TikTok and just seems to pop up everywhere – I heard it in a comic store the other day,” Babydaddy says.

Ta-Dah was followed in time by Night Work, a harder dance-rock record spearheaded by the strident single Fire with Fire. Since its release, the album has become a cult queer classic thanks to its heady celebration of club culture’s potential for personal, political and sexual liberation. “Don’t point that thing at me unless you plan to shoot,” Jake sings on the cosmic grind of Harder You Get. “That album took ages to make but actually turned out really great,” Jake says today. “Once we found our vision for Night Work, we really ran with it.”

He says the band were “more chilled” by the time they made Magic Hour. This kaleidoscopic pop album yielded the sleek house single Only the Horses, which was co-produced by Calvin Harris, and the drag-inspired banger Let’s Have a Kiki. The latter remains a staple at gay bars and Pride parties, and the band are especially excited to be returning in an era where more queer artists are breakout stars. “We do acknowledge that we did something pretty unique back then just by putting ourselves out there as queer people,” Babydaddy says. “We put queer culture in the mainstream at a time when there wasn’t much of it there.”

In Del’s eyes, Scissor Sisters were part of the last generation of bands that emerged organically from club culture and an IRL scene. “You could just meet people through mutual friends and form a band,” he says. “You might not know your instrument, but if you all shared a certain spark, something could happen.” It’s this unique spark – the one that took Scissor Sisters from the underground to number one – that they’ll be reigniting on their 2025 tour. “There has to be a little bit of anarchy and chaos in our live shows,” Jake says. “That’s the magic ingredient and we’re definitely gonna bring that ‘anything can happen’ energy again.”

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