Scissor Sisters

Scissor Sisters' frontman Jake Shears talks to Andrew P Street about the sincerity of the Scissor Sisters. And melting your face off.

Was it hard effectively making an entire album and then scrapping it before making what became Night Work?
It was hard, yes, but once the decision was made it was actually really liberating. That decision to do that with me was also intertwined with the decision to leave for Berlin so I just made like a major change all in one moment of my life. It didn't feel so bad – something about it was really exciting and dangerous. But it was an awful moment.

Was there a flashpoint moment, or was it more a growing realisation that the album wasn't working?
Well, I had been thinking about it for a long time, but we had been writing for a long time. Elton [John] is very close to me and he heard some of the stuff and we had a conversation which really validated how I was feeling. There was a very specific moment where I remember hanging up the phone and being like "I've got to do something very drastic immediately."

Given how ballsy Night Work is, it's hard to imagine you not putting a confident album.
It's not that hard to imagine because it's called [2006 album] Ta-dah. [laughs] I mean, I love Ta-Dah but I don't think it was necessarily finished. But you learn your lessons when you're making records, and the thing I learnt off the last record was that I didn't want to put a record out until I thought it was amazing.

Was it matter of having strong enough material? Had you any writer's block?
No, there wasn't a block actually. Once we started Night Work, which was a very specific starting point, the record happened really fast. It was the quickest record we've ever recorded: it took us about three months total. Once we started it, it just went super fast and it was really fun. So, on a whole, my memories of making this album, even though there was a hard bit before, a hard year and a half or so, we had a killer time making it.

Was there a particular song that was key to that?
[thinks] Well, 'Night Work'. It's is funny. I like it. It sounds like a really fucking coked out aerobics number. [laughs]

I particularly liked the lift of the 'Funkytown' riff.
Oh absolutely, there's a lot of riff lifts. 'Fire With Fire' was a real important song to write. 'Fire With Fire' was like closure for the whole record. I felt like when we write that we had made the bulk of the record.

For a band that are characterised as being flashy and hedonistic, it's a weirdly sincere song.
We're a weirdly sincere band. Our music is a mixture of stuff that's really a bit crazier and stuff that's a lot more earnest. And it's a very earnest song, and it's a very honest song and it comes from a really real place. I think that's always been with our music - that balance has always been there. But when we wrote that sound it did really feel like writing for the last chapter for it so that was a really special song to write.

It sounds like a good record for touring, too: lots of upbeat songs, perfect for festivals...
Well, our set list is crazy now because we're not putting any ballads in. Your face melts off by the end of it. It's really intense, but fun. It's still dynamic but we're never having to control the energy going down and coming back up just because we're choosing songs from all of our albums that are all super up-tempo.

And finally, congratulations on your engagement.
Thanks! It's still not official. We just had our sixth anniversary actually, my boyfriend and I. I don't think we will actually ever get married but I guess we are engaged. [laughs] We'll be together until it's all over, when the asteroid hits.