Ooh, Matronic!
Scissor Sister Ana Matronic discusses flattery through imitation, marriage, and why their underperforming latest record might be their best.
Craig Fitzpatrick, 03 Oct 2011
"I hope this doesn’t sound bitchy...” Ana Matronic starts to mock-weep. “Pleeeasse don’t make me sound bitchy! I don’t want to start any wars!”
We’re nearing the end of a lengthy conversation with the fiery-haired, sole ‘sister’ of Scissor Sisters and she has yet to display a hint of nastiness. She’s stroking her cat as we speak, but she’s definitely no witch. In fact, she’s gregarious, bubbly and all-round lovely. We guess, then, that she’s referring to the part where she discussed the alleged imitators who emerged during her band’s lengthy absence between albums two and three.
The subject was broached, in reference to a quote attributed to Ana over the summer, which read: “You see these people who are like, ‘Someone make me something freaky’. I think if you strip away the costumes and it’s a nice normal conservative Christian girl underneath all that, it is just boring.” It all seemed like a not-so-thinly-veiled reference to that marvellous hit machine, Ms.Katy Perry!
So Ana wants to set the record straight. “That quote, of course, was not complete,” she says. “I did say those things – that if you take off the costume, there’s a good Christian girl underneath who’s not that interesting. But then I followed it by saying, ‘Then again, some of my friends who were raised in really conservative households are some of the biggest freaks I’ve ever met’! My whole thing is that there’s a difference between inspiration, imitation and plagiarism. And there are moments when I have felt plagiarised. I won’t say by who or in what context...”
Are you sure you won’t? Ana laughs. “No, I won’t! But it’s all game in this industry, there’s no one way to do it. The thing about Scissor Sisters, and me especially, is that we come from a DIY place. Right now it’s very in vogue to be a freak. When something is fashionable, it becomes mainstream, so being a ‘freak’ in the mainstream makes the real freaks put the brakes on. I’m into more of a 360 degree freak (laughs). I want someone who’s going to challenge my ideas about music itself. I’m not a big mainstream pop person... I’m totally digging myself into a verbal hole!”
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