Scissor Sisters Take Off Their Clothes, Meet ABBA

Posted on Nov 30th 2007 5:00PM by Jolie Lash
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On Tuesday, New York pop combo the Scissor Sisters will drop a new documentary DVD, 'Hurrah! A Year of Ta-Dah.' The film was shot by the band and their friends as they toured their second album, 2006s 'Ta-Dah.' In addition to mounds of concert footage, the DVD offers a real look backstage and plenty of flesh thanks to the cameras often catching frontman Jake Shears stripping himself of most of his clothing.

"I'm gonna be like Morrissey when I'm 50. He just keeps slipping his shirt off on stage," Shears tells Spinner during a break from working on the Sisters' third record. "Here's the thing -- when you're backstage, you're in the dressing room, I just don't have time to worry about if there's cameras on. Are there people watching? I just don't care. You take your clothes off. It's no big deal -- it's like being backstage at a fashion show."

The documentary also manages to fit in some rather bizarre clips from European TV shows the band appeared on during their 'Ta-Dah' world tour, including German program 'Wetten Das.' The band appeared on the show alongside the program's host and the German public, who were dressed in somewhat unusual attire.

"We were on with Justin Timberlake [and] Rod Stewart -- it was really fun," Shears recounts. "[The show] asked us if we wanted to sing an ABBA song with the [host]. We thought, 'What the hell?' and we sang it and it was really funny. They were doing this thing live and they had all these people dressed in garbage bags, like out in the streets in Germany."

Sadly, the audio of the group's ABBA cover is absent for the walk down memory lane as the Swedish ensemble wouldn't clear it. Shears isn't totally upset over the loss though, he tells Spinner, he and Scissor Sisters guitarist Baby Daddy recently got to meet his pop heroes in person.

"Baby Daddy and I got to meet Benny and Bjorn from ABBA a few weeks ago, which was amazing," he enthuses. "We stopped at our record label to say 'Hey!' and [our label friends] were like, come up to the top floor. They're making the 'Mamma Mia' movie, so they were playing 'Mamma Mia' cuts and we got to meet Benny and Bjorn. I absolutely love them. I think that they are two of the most glamorous musicians ever."

Though it was a monumental moment for Shears, he managed to make the introduction fun.

"I think what I said [to them] was, something like, 'You don't know how much time we've spent inspecting and ripping off your music,' No, it was a joke! They were very sweet. They are two of the best pop songwriters of all time," he notes. "I just think they are so glamorous, they're so dapper, so gorgeous. They've done all this stuff and they're super mellow. I have a lot of respect for them."