Scissor Sisters are certified superstars who sell millions of records and fill massive arenas with their funky mix of retro disco pop -- well, at least in England and the rest of Europe. There, the quintet is an international hit. But in the United States, their home country, this New York-based band has yet to break through the "cult" barrier -- critically acclaimed but just barely commercially on mainstream's bubble.
Still, Ana Matronic, the group's lone female member, doesn't seem too vexed about the group's inability to pop that bubble stateside. "I'm not interested in any of what is successful in America right now," says the vocalist. "The last thing I want to be is fodder for American tabloids.
That's not the kind of success I want." Now, months after the release of Ta-Dah, the band's sophomore effort, the group is seeing a similar sales trajectory to its debut, with the album starting at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, yet peaking at No.
19 domestically. To different audiences, it's the band's campy, playful sound that is both their greatest asset and biggest liability. "They started out making weird, electronic records and then went full-pelt for the wedding disco thing," says Alex Needham, deputy editor for British music magazine NME.
"In America, rock authenticity is a really important thing, whereas in Britain, there aren't so many hang-ups like 'Is it cool to like this?' " Matronic, for one, thinks the Scissor Sisters are cool enough just the way they are. "All my favorite bands had the same kinds of success that we are experiencing now in the United States," she says, citing groups such as The Cure and The Pixies.
"These bands all sold out their tours and didn't sell a great deal of albums." One person who visited the studio was Elton John, who showed up to contribute on the band's first single, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin', " and to "Intermission." An early champion of the band, the feeling is clearly mutual.
Recorded over a span of eight months, Ta-Dah expands on the disco-pop sound of the band's debut with strands of Bee Gees and John mixing with cabaret, funk and rock. Though sonically similar to the debut, lyrically, the group takes on more diverse subject matter, including dealing with the ups and downs of success. "Coming off the road and having the success that we did, we were never gonna be that 'underdog' band again.
We have succeeded in a lot of people's eyes, and from there, there's the people that truly like what you do and the people that don't want you to have too long a ride," says Babydaddy. Shears, for one, relishes any newfound pressure: "When we recorded the first album, we didn't even know what we were doing. We weren't even really a proper band yet.
So much has changed. The more that's going on, the more pressures are added, and it's exciting. Without it, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
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