Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears talks to ICH WEISS WAS ICH TU about friends in Berlin, the time before Aids, monogamy and the desire to have sex with others. And he explains why the new album "Night Work" feels like a night in "Berghain".
(Interview: Paul Schulz)
Jake, your new album "Night Work" is all about sex and is also marketed as "music to have sex to". Nevertheless, the album somehow has a nostalgic undertone. Can you explain why?
Jake Shears: I wouldn't call it "nostalgic" at all. "Night Work" tries to pick up where a certain gay culture left off abruptly with the emergence of Aids. This applies to the entire aesthetic of the production as well as the music.
Can you describe this in more detail?
Not in its entirety. Listen to it. At best, what you will discover is a freedom in dealing with sexuality and masculinity that you will no longer find in large parts of the scene worldwide.
What's missing?
I have to go into a little more detail. On the cover of the CD is the arse of the dancer Peter Reed, a photo that Robert Mapplethorpe at the end of the 1970s. I was very inspired by Mapplethorpe when writing "Night Work" because his depictions of sexuality were unbounded for his time, but still highly aesthetic. I wanted to make music that sounds like a Mapplethorpe photograph looks.
Like the cover with the bum?
I hadn't seen it before and it wasn't in any of the dozen or so illustrated books that were lying around the studio while we were working on "Night Work". But when I saw it, I knew immediately that it would be our cover. Because it perfectly expresses what the album is about: the realisation of an old wish with new means. And a nice arse.
Do you often have flashes of inspiration like this?
Yes, I found out what the album would ultimately sound like on the dance floor of Berghain in Berlin. It was two or three in the morning, smelled of sweat, poppers, alcohol and a bit like shit, because a lot of people were fisting. And suddenly I had something of an epiphany. I had the feeling that this is what our album should sound like.
How did it feel?
There was something completely natural about it, but also very wild, almost a bit like a tribal ritual that I had learnt in the past, then forgotten and now rediscovered. Something very masculine, but free of any machismo and not necessarily excluding women. I imagine this is what New York felt like at the time when Mapplethorpe arrived. It must have been like that in "Studio 54" in the 1970s.
Is that why one of the tracks on the CD is called "Sex and Violence"?
It's mainly about my fondness for "American Psycho" and horror films from my youth. But public sex in Berghain or other places also has something latently aggressive about it because it's so open and so brazen in the best sense of the word.
Did you have sex there yourself?
No, I'm in a monogamous relationship with my boyfriend Chris.
So why were you at Berghain at two in the morning?
Because it's beautiful there. I had come to Berlin to clear my head. We had recorded an album in New York that was okay, but we ended up scrapping it because I didn't particularly like it. When I realised that, I dropped everything head over heels and went to Berlin for two months.
Where do you live when you're in Berlin?
I lived in Prenzlauer Berg, was anonymous, went out and met up with friends like Rufus Wainwright or Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys, who also live there. And we also used to go to Berghain, which is probably the most inspiring place in the world at the moment. I've known the owners for a long time and have already had some unbelievably great nights at the "Ostgut", which they used to own.
How do you spend nights in places that you find inspiring and pleasurable without wanting to have sex yourself?
Who said I didn't want to? (laughs) I've decided to be monogamous and I'm happy with that, but watching is also sex and as a voyeur you're also in a very pleasurable position.
And that works particularly well in Berlin?
So many things are possible in Berlin that are no longer allowed in public spaces in New York. There are police officers with torches everywhere. And all you need in Germany is two or more guys who agree on what they want to do and take responsibility for themselves and what they do. It's so free and so self-determined! No punishments, no fear, just sex. I'm very happy that there are places in the world where it works like this.
What role do drugs play in these experiences?
Drugs can completely destroy your life, but they are also very beautiful and valuable if you don't use them to excess. That is also the responsibility of each individual. And that's all there is to it. (smiles)
What else can you do in Berlin that you can't do in New York?
Just being me when I go out because I'm often not recognised. That doesn't work at all in New York. My life there is very organised because it's where I work, where my relationship is and where most of my friends live. New York is my everyday life. And, of course, a certain kind of nightlife that is in full bloom in Berlin is no longer possible in New York because everything is so incredibly expensive.
Change of subject: You recently wrote a musical together with Armistead Maupin, right?
Yes, we turned the first and second parts of his "Stadtgeschichten" into a musical that will have its world premiere in 2011. Working on it was a great pleasure for me and went well with the new album.
Because the two volumes of "Stadtgeschichten" also tell of the time before Aids?
Very true. Or maybe it's like this: the "Stadtgeschichten" musical tells of the time before, as do the books, while the Scissor Sisters on "Night Work" think about what it might be like if Aids had never existed. What would the music be like? What would the men be like? What would sex be like?
So the album is science fiction?
No. Yes. Maybe. But good ones! (laughs)
The video for the current single "Fire with Fire"
Homepage of the Scissor Sisters
