Getting Personal with Del Marquis |
|||||||||||
| (09/05/2010) | |||||||||||
As the lead guitarist of Scissor Sisters, Del Marquis (née Derek Gruen) has spent the better part of the past decade touring around the world, alongside his friends/band-mates, in what has become one of the most entertaining musical groups to see perform live. And while in no way as gregarious on-stage as the band’s lead vocalists Jake Shears (Jason Sellards) and Ana Matronic (Ana Lynch); his stalwart demeanor, and unique style of dressing – not to mention his incredibly deft and versatile guitar-playing – make him a stand-out performer, in his own right. In the midst of Scissor Sisters' North American tour (which stops in Las Vegas, this Friday, at Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort) supporting their third full-length release (the deliciously danceable Night Work), the stylish strummer answers some questions for ShulmanSays.
ShulmanSays: Are you a Guitar Hero junkie? Del Marquis: I’ve only played it once, but I’m not a big gamer – so no, not really. SS: Tell us about your look.
DM: It’s a mix. When we started, I was working with a friend, and we developed the look together. I’ll always pull things from editorial or make reference to movie characters. Then Zaldy came on, and I pulled a Gaultier image and asked him “How can we make this work?” He’s so good at what he does; he can pretty much do anything. This time around, I’ve kind of just been dressing myself. SS: What kind of guitars do you favor? DM: One guitar that I got when I was a teenager was a Gibson 335 [the model used by the likes of B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Keith Richards]. It has a rockabilly look and a spring-mounted whammy-bar, and I’d seen Bernard Butler [Suede] and Johnny Marr [The Smiths] playing that guitar. I got it not thinking about the sound, but because some of my favorite guitarists used it. And I’ve found that it’s a really versatile guitar, because not only can get a really smooth, jazzy tone for that clean disco rhythm, but it really rocks out and has a midrange that’s really great for rock. Because Scissor Sisters goes between so many styles – even in one song – it makes it so I don’t need to use more than one guitar.
SS: Describe the experiences behind making each of the three albums – because they’re all so distinctive.
DM: Oh Jeez! That’s one question? Okay, I’m gonna make them very succinct. The first album (Scissor Sisters) was all made and mixed in a bedroom studio. This is in the corner of a tiny room in an apartment in Brooklyn, with Babydaddy at the helm, and each of us coming-in, and plugging directly through a live-mix pod and just doing our part. On the second album (Ta-Dah!), we upgraded to a proper studio – nothing too fancy. And it was a lot of pain and suffering and strange energy. Not the most fun record to make.
Then, this record (Night Work), was us breaking-out of that whole cycle of just standing around a computer; and we had someone else [Stewart Price] take the role of Svengali; which freed us up to enjoy the recording process in a way that we'd never experienced. Sometimes, we even went into the studio and recorded the song, as a band (which was a first – all of us playing at the same time, in the same room). Sometimes people say that the computer is the future, and stand-alone recording is so versatile. We kind of went backward, and opened it up, and became more of a band through the process of making these three albums.
SS: If we were to hijack your i-Pod, right now, what we find on it? DM: You know what? There is zero music on my i-Pod, because I just sync-ed it, and put in the new software, and it wiped it clean. So, I have nothing on my i-Pod, right now. It’s really distressing! SS: Okay. In that case, when you reprogram it, what are some of the first things you’ll put on it? DM: I’m really into ‘90s r&b, right now – Groovy Theory, and PM Dawn, and SWV. People are probably gonna read that and go “Huh?” But, right now I’m all about 90–100bpm. I love a slow jam.
SS: Does off-tour/non-touring Derek dress like Del, or do you wear street-clothes, and stuff besides high-waisted pants with suspenders? DM: I vary between housecoats and high-fashion. I’ve got my gardening clothes (which is basically where I dress like a 40 year-old lesbian), and I’ve got things that I wear when I’m going-out to some event, and I want to dress well. Aesthetically, I’m a high/low person.
SS: Tell us about your independent solo-work. DM: We’ve got two incredible song-writers in our band, and they just write these amazing songs. But by the end of the second tour, I just had this intense desire to write and record an album, and do the production, and play most of the instruments, and exercise my ego. I learned so much, because I found that I never want to be the lead singer of a band. I never want to be in that position. I enjoyed the recording, enjoyed the writing, and enjoyed the promotion – but afterwards I couldn’t wait to get back to Scissor Sisters. SS: Well, that seems like the perfect place to stop. Enjoy your tour, and I look forward to seeing y’all in Las Vegas, this weekend!
Get into it! |
|||||||||||
           Email  Comments (0) |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Website Powered by BannerOS. Your Business Energized!