Sister Act

Brooklyn's Scissor Sisters cut up the dance floor

by A.D. Amorosi

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If you rolled Hair, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Mamma Mia! in to one contagiously melodic, melodramatic act, it'd be the Scissor Sisters, vocalists Jake Shears and Ana Matronic's five-piece, Brooklyn-based band. Their new smash, Ta-Dah (Polydor), is huge in Australia; features bitchy dance tunes co-written by Elton John; and showcases Shears' songwriting and singing skills to the max. Shears and I dished.

City Paper: Who shot down the first band name — Dead Lesbian and the Fibrillating Scissor Sisters?

Jake Shears: My ex-boyfriend. I told him that name in the back of a cab and he was downright offended. Thank God for Steve. We wouldn't have had a second show.

CP: Why is Ta-Dah so different from the Sisters' self-titled debut? It's musically denser.

JS: I wanted [it] to be great pop. [Scissor Sisters] was different from what my fantasy of it was. I wanted it to be actionary and it wound up more reactionary. It was like a kidney stone. It was something we had to pass that was awful and painful.

CP: Which reminds me — "Almost Sorry." Not pretty. Whose relationship were you dealing with?

JS: That's funny. No one ever asks me about that song. It's about the biggest bully in my hometown. A small place. He was such a horrible kid. I used to say — throughout high school, to myself — "I hope you die" about him. And a couple of years ago, I found out he died — drove off a cliff. And I wasn't sad.

CP: Pretend you're Britney having a nervous breakdown. You like your hair too much so you're not gonna shave it. Now what?

JS: I definitely wouldn't be wandering the streets, that's for sure. I'd go to my folks' farm. They're used to breakdowns.

CP: What's been the most and least bogus pop moment you've experienced?

JS: The same incident: We played Berlin's Brandenberg Gate on New Year's. Looked great on TV. There was a 1.2 million audience. But thank God the director didn't show their reaction: No one applauded. No one. It was the sound of no hands clapping. That, and when we did this TV show on Christmas in Holland. And some Santa helpers had coal on their face — that's fine. But the whole audience was in blackface. And the Buena Vista Social Club was coming on next.

CP: Did Elton John push himself onto your songs, or do you hang?

JS: No, we actually became friends. And we have a pact — almost signed a contract — that we weren't going to care if we wrote crappy songs.

CP: Who spends more time in the mirror — you or Ana?

JS: Ana. If it takes me more than five minutes, it's a bad day.

CP: Any half-decent memories of Philly?

JS: Oh yes. My first boyfriend and I were in some cheapo hotel there and we broke the bed. That's as good as it gets.

Scissor Sisters

Fri., March 2, 8:30 p.m., $25-$27, with DJ Sammy Jo, Electric Factory, Seventh and Willow sts., 215-627-1332