GET TO KNOW: Scissor Sisters (Ahead of Boomtown 2026)
- Will Freeman
- Jul 3
- 3 min read
It’s hard to fully understand how huge Scissor Sisters were during the 2000s. They were everywhere, yet they managed to reach the mainstream on their own terms, being openly queer and carving their own musical direction. Formed in New York in the year 2000, they existed at first in the vibrant cabaret scene. The core musical duo of the band is frontmanJake Shears and lead songwriter Scott Hoffman, AKA Babydaddy. Their music originally existed for Jake Shears to dance to on stage before becoming a more standard project.
The band then added Ana Matronic to their lineup after performing at one of her club nights. Rounding out the original lineup was the addition of guitarist Del Marquis and the only heterosexual member, Paddy Boom, on drums. Their sound was a combination of everything the members loved: glam rock, pop, musical theatre, guitar-led music and dance. Yet it did not sound like anything that came before, but still felt oddly nostalgic.
Scissor Sisters kept performing and writing songs, releasing their first single Electrobix. It isn’t one of the band’s most known songs, but included a cover of Comfortably Numb on it’s B side, which eventually became their first hit in 2004, reaching number 10 in the charts. Their next few singles from their debut album charted in the top 20, propelling their self-titled album to reach number 1 and be the biggest-selling album of 2004 and one of the best-selling albums of all time in the UK. Their level of success in the UK and Europe was never seen in their home country of America.
Their next album Ta-Dah, featured their biggest song of all time, the dance floor filler ironically called I Don’t Feel Like Dancing co-written with Elton John. The success of the track and the album led the band to officially become arena-level, with the band playing a massive show at the O2, which was filmed and released. Their music became a mainstay of British media, with many TV shows using the band’s music in any way they could. The band had a place in the mainstream whilst singing songs about trans people, sex workers, gay bars and drugs. They remained unafraid to show the world who they are and gained an audience because of it.
Their third album, Night Work, was another hit, but did not see the same level of singles success. The album took the band into a slightly darker direction and turned up some of the dance music influence with heavier synths. The crowning achievement of the album was the Italo disco-inspired track Invisible Light, which featured a spoken word section from Sir Ian McKellen. The band kept refining their song craft and pushed what their sound could be.
The band’s last and currently final album is Magic Hour. The album contained their one hit in America and one of the band’s anthems, Let’s Have A Kiki, which has become a club classic. The album was almost purely dance music and had some of the least rock-forward songs the band has ever created, but still had that undeniable charm. Shortly after this release, the band played their last show in October 2012 before taking a 13-year hiatus. Every member of the band kept working on projects outside the band, with the most notable being Jake Shears performing in Kinky Boots on Broadway and Cabaret on the West End.
After 13 long years away, the band toured again in 2025 with a revised lineup of Jake Shears, Babydaddy and Del Marquis, with Ana not currently returning due to other commitments. The band performed a UK arena tour with many positive reviews all around. The band also toured America as a special guest of Kesha. In 2026, the band have many open-air gigs and a few festival headline slots, which once again cements them as one of the most unusual and powerful pop acts to ever succeed in the UK.
Catch Scissor Sisters at Boomtown this summer.
Words: Will Freeman
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