Scissor Sisters on being labelled a “gay band”: “It was rooted in homophobia”

Jake Shears and co also spoke to NME about their reunion tour, life without Ana Matronic, the chances of a new album, and how "Susan Boyle would like a bit of Scissors action" on their upcoming dates

Scissor Sisters have spoken to NME about plans for their upcoming reunion tour – including their dreams of a Susan Boyle collab, thoughts on new material, the absence of Ana Matronic, and being labelled as a “gay band” in the past.

The New York pop icons announced last week that they are returning as a trio comprising singer Jake Shears, bassist Babydaddy and guitarist Del Marquis. The group’s second vocalist, Ana Matronic, will not be joining the tour due to her podcasting commitments.

Their 2025 UK arena tour will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut, home to hits including ‘Take Your Mama’, ‘Filthy/Gorgeous’ and ‘Laura’, which became the UK’s best-selling LP of 2004.

In addition to performing the classic album in full among other hits, Scissor Sisters revealed that they intend to play ‘I Believe In You’, the 2004 Kylie Minogue single that Shears and Babydaddy co-wrote and produced.

“We’ve never played it before in our sets, but I think it’s going to be fun to do,” Shears told NME.

Babydaddy added: “She’s probably busy. Maybe she’ll show up? Put her on the wish list!”

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The genre-melding band, who have previously been joined on stage by everyone from Elton John to Gossip‘s Beth Ditto and the late Pete Burns, also discussed the prospect of bringing out other special guests during the tour.

“Oh, there are loads of people that I think it would be really fun to come out and sing with us – this tour is a party for everybody,” Shears said. “Obviously we really want to have the right people on stage,” Babydaddy continued.  “But we have the opportunity there, and as we get the show together, I’m sure there’s gonna be some fun surprises.”

Shears then floated the idea of bringing out Susan Boyle, the operatic pop singer who rose to prominence on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009.

“I think Susan Boyle would like a bit of Scissors action and I think people would go nuts,” he said. When NME suggested that she could sing the band’s melancholy piano ballad ‘Mary’, Shears replied: “That’s what I’m thinking. Her version of [The Rolling Stones‘] ‘Wild Horses’ is one of my favourite recordings of all time.”

Check out our full interview with Scissor Sisters below, where they told us being in touch with Ana Matronic, the possibility of recording new music, and the ups and downs of being described as a “gay band” back in the day.

NME: Hi guys! What made you want to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album?

Jake Shears: “We’re not getting any younger! None of us have hit 50 yet, but if we waited until the 25th anniversary, we could be in our 50s.”

Del Marquis: “I’d be rolling around in this arrow [office] chair, you know?”

Babydaddy: “I could be completely wrong about this, but it did feel like there was sort of a zeitgeist moment where [interest in the band] was bubbling up a little bit. It just felt like there was enough distance for us. I don’t think five years ago we were quite ready to start reminiscing about those days.”

On the day you announced the tour, Ana explained her decision to sit it out. She also said she’ll be “there in spirit”. How do you feel about what she said?

Shears: “I thought it was really sweet and she will be with us in spirit. But you know, at the same time, if it’s not something that she wanted to do right now, we don’t want to drag anybody along [who’s] not in the space to be there.”

Babydaddy: “I know she’s probably seen the love that people out there have for her [since the tour announcement]. I’ve contacted her and she contacted me since, you know, hearing the way we’ve been praising her in the press. You know, it’s a difficult one, because she’s such a part of that moment for us.

“But as much as it’s a slightly selfish thing to say, ‘Hey, let’s go back out and do what we love to do,’ it felt so important to do something with the people in the country [the UK] that made the album a success. But I’m really glad that she said what she said because we feel the same way.”

Scissor Sisters might be only band who can say they’ve worked with Elton John, Pharrell Williams and Calvin Harris. Did you always feel like quite a musically elastic proposition?

Shears: “We felt pretty elastic early on, because if you listen to the debut album, it really spans genres in this funny way. I mean, we were tapping into the sort of American AM radio sound [as well as] club music and electroclash. So I think there was elasticity in the stuff that we were initially making and I think that carried on.”

Babydaddy: “That provided a challenge for us too. Like, ‘What is our sound, and how many ways can we pivot and get away with it? And I think that was part of [our thinking] with Pharrell coming over to see what might happen [in the studio].”

Shears: “I love that song we did with Pharrell [‘Inevitable’ from 2012’s ‘Magic Hour’ album] and he did too.”

Back in the day, you were described as everything from glam-pop to electroclash. At times, you were also labelled as a “gay band”. Did that grate in a way?

Shears: “It did, yeah. I was looking at our straight counterparts, and, like, I had a bit of resentment that we sort of had this extra label that made it easier for some [people] to dismiss us. And I think I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about that.”

Babydaddy: “We used to say, ‘What is a gay band? Is it Village People?’ Because that’s not us.”

Shears: “I think it was Azealia Banks who said: ‘You don’t eat queer pizza, you eat pizza.’ And I love thinking of music that way – it’s just music.”

Babydaddy: “It’s a lot less loaded now, but in that moment, I think there was a question of, like, ‘Are people saying that to put [the band] in its own little box?’ I don’t really know what it was supposed to say, except that we were open about who we were, and there were some themes [in our music] that were definitely queer themes.”

You could say it was a way of exoticising the band – a superficial compliment, in a way, but also one rooted in homophobia.

Marquis: “I don’t think it was meant as a compliment. At that time, I think it was rooted in homophobia. We would get a lot of ‘camper than a row of tents’ [comments].”

Babydaddy: “But also, there was something kind of camp about us in some people’s minds. So it was like, if it feels camp to you…”

Shears: “Yeah, it wasn’t not [camp]. But I mean, I got to meet Gore Vidal right before he died – which was a very special moment for me – and I’ll never forget he turned to me said: ‘Camp is just another word for those who have no talent.'”

Babydaddy: “You really hated that label!”

Shears: “I did. It made me a little crazy, but I just loved hearing that quote out of his mouth.”

The positive flipside is the fact you were a band with out queer members in an era when there were fewer LGBTQ+ artists in the charts. And that meant a lot to people.

Marquis: “I mean, since we announced the reunion, we’ve had people say they were too young to see us [first time around], but not too young not to be affected by us and the inadvertent message in the [debut] album.

“Sometimes that’s the most affecting thing: when you’re so young and you don’t have anyone advocating for you, but you can see a glimpse of another life or another world in bands and in music. And if we occupy that space for some people, we did our job.”

Jake, you told us in 2021 that you really wanted to make a new Scissor Sisters album. Is that something that could happen now you’re back together?

Shears: “Definitely. I think it’s a matter of doing these shows, seeing how they go and having fun… and yeah, I would really like that. But I mean, we’d have to write some good songs. Great songs.”

Marquis: “It’s gotta feel right, I think. The muse has to come.”

Seeing which songs pop off live could be helpful in that respect? Some may have become new fan favourites since you last toured in 2012.

Babydaddy: “Exactly. ‘I Can’t Decide’ [from our second album ‘Ta-Dah’] has always been a favourite of ours, but that song has a second life now in memes. And I think that’s down to the gaming community, because they started juxtaposing [the line] ‘I can’t decide whether you should live or die‘ with clips from all these shooting games. I was in a comic book shop and that song just started playing. And I was like, ‘Who put this on?!'”

Tickets for the Scissor Sisters’ 2025 tour go on tomorrow (Friday November 8) at 9am and will be available here. Check out the full list of dates below.

MAY 2025
16 – Nottingham – Motorpoint Arena
17 – Glasgow – OVO Hydro
19 – Bournemouth – International Centre
20 – Cardiff – Utilita Arena
21 – Manchester – Co-op Live
23 – London – The O2
24 – Leeds – First Direct Arena
25 – Birmingham – Utilita Arena
27 – Belfast – SSE Arena
28 – Dublin – 3Arena