The sexy gay guitarist talks to Gay.com about life on the road...
As the Scissor Sisters sparkle through another world tour - showcasing their latest musical triumph TaDah, Gay.com caught up with them in Detroit and chatted to lead guitarist, Del Marquis. Arguably the least vocal and visible of the queer power phenomena led by song writing duo Jake Shears and Babydaddy, the 27-year old Del, aka Derek Gruen, has an understated charm and sexiness. For those of you who have witnessed the Sisters in concert, you’ll recognise Del for his high strung, matador trousers, mostly deadpan expression, and phallic guitar - often scoring a centre-stage solo. Earning a reputation of staying enthusiastic and remarkably modest, The Scissor Sisters seem unfazed by their growing celebrity. The down-to-earth Del was no exception, chatting familiarly about time-insensitive touring, absent gay groupies, his Brooklyn boyfriend, and about the band’s sisterly dynamic.
So, what did you do today?
Everybody sleeps really late because we travel on a bus. I don’t know if you’ve been on the traditional tour bus, but it’s devoid of light and any kind of natural sense of time… it drives me insane. So as soon as my eyes open I get up, and its usually around 9 am. No one gets up for hours. I just have to start my day. So today, we went to our day rooms, I went to the gym and I had breakfast. It’s really kind of monotonous, it’s not that exciting (laughs).
So how to you build up your energy up for a show?
Exactly like this, by doing something really regular, as if it’s any old day. I don’t sleep late at home so when I’m on tour, so I try to get up at a reasonable hour, eat a big meal and take a walk around the city…to some place interesting. Detroit just doesn’t happen to be that.
Yeah, Detroit’s not very exciting.
Yeah, I mean, it’s not bad. Detroit’s hard to get around in. I’m in motor city and I don’t have a car.
So I’ve read about your fan group, the Deltoids. Do you get groupies? Has anyone ever done anything really crazy?
You know what? In the scheme of rock history, I doubt it. I’ve obviously read about everything from the Led zeppelin incident to Def Leopard groupies, but I don’t think it’s that crazy for us. I don’t know if the gay fans are willing to go all the way like the classic girl groupie.
That’s interesting.
Yeah, it’s true, you might get them at a bar, but in a mixed venue, they’re a little shy. I guess we should ask people to step out a little, and be a little more daring. They’re familiar with the music, but then they might be confronted with the mixed audience, and not feel as comfortable as they would as in all gay crowd. I say, do what you wanna do (laughs).
Who are you closest to in the band?
It really kind of depends. I think we’re all such of different archetypes…are you asking if I have a specific issue I want to talk about or…?
If something heavy has happened, who would you go to?
Something heavy. I actually feel pretty comfortable going to most band members. For something heavy, I don’t think there’s any one member I wouldn’t feel comfortable confiding in .These are people that you spend so much time with, but there’s no avoiding knowing the details if something really awful had happened. You can’t hide it. Everyone ends up knowing, and that’s a good thing.You don’t wanna be a moody asshole, and everyone is like – hey, what’s up your butt? And you’re actually like, ‘Uh, My relative just died, and I can’t go home for the funeral cause I’m on tour’.
Right. So I imagine that the gay energy of the group can be really intense, especially with you guys being in such intimate quarters. How do you deal with that? Does it feel any different than if you were with straight guys?
I’ve only been in two bands with straight guys, and I would definitely take this situation over that. There are more straight men in our entourage that outnumber the gay band members, but our direction comes from the fans. We have a certain sensibility, a queer sensibility, and that extends to Ana and other people we surround ourselves with.
I don’t like to call it a gay sensibility, it’s a queer one. It’s about a sense of humour, a sense of openness…and I don’t think I could do this without it. It’s great, I could never be with anything less. There’s just such openness, everyone is really funny and witty. And they’re also really emotionally developed people. I don’t know any other situation - I just like the one I’m in.
Do you have a boyfriend?
I do have a boyfriend.
And how long have you been together?
A little over two years. We live in Brooklyn.
So is he touring with you, or is he back home?
Nah, he has his own career, he has a job and you know, does the 9 to 5. It doesn’t really allow him to travel much to meet me, but we make time to meet up. He can’t put his life on hold for me.
I saw your Myspace page, but there wasn’t any music up, and you said there was more to come. Tell me about your music.
Well obviously there’s a really strong song writing core in The Scissor Sisters, Jake and Babydaddy write most of the music. Yeah, I mean, it’s not for lack of writing songs, the songs I write aren’t always gonna be appropriate for this band, but that doesn’t dissuade me or stop me from working on music. And I’ve had stuff on the page, but because they’re demos. I take them down, and I work on them., depending how busy I am with the band. Sometimes I neglect that page (laughs).
But there will be time between the albums, I’ll hope to work on other projects. I don’t know where they’re gonna lead, but I think that what this band does is open a lot of doors. There’s a lot of possibilities.
I read that you are interested in film. What kind of films do you like?
Sometimes I like to see a really wrank kind of big Hollywood movie. It’s kind of my escapism.
What was the last film you saw?
That last thing I saw was a Netflix movie. Capturing the Friedmans. (IMDB: “Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middleclass Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes”)
Oh I saw that. Wasn’t it amazing?
It is amazing, and I was just talking about it with my boyfriend actually. The film doesn’t give you the answer, I don’t know if you go into the film thinking are they guilty..or if are they not…
It’s very weird.
They’re not particularly guilty of all the crimes, but they’re not innocent either. The film is willing to be middle ground. Everyone wants it to be one way or another, but it’s really somewhere in the middle. It was even hard for me to say well, ‘Oh they may be guilty of some things,’ but I definitely think they were overcharged. There was definitely something of a witch hunt.
I agree. So what does Elton John look like at Breakfast???
(Pause) He keeps his appearance up. I don’t really wanna comment on that.
So, you’ve have been invited to separate lunch dates. One from Paul McCartney and another from Heather Mills. Who would you go with and why?
I would go with Paul McCartney. I have nothing to talk to Heather Mills about without being mean spirited.
What’s the next single?
We just released She’s My Man, as a single and the video is out. The next single will most likely be Kiss you Off.
Oh, I really like Kiss you off!
Oh I know, I really like it too. I think it’s one of my favourite songs to play. And this means that Ana is kind of the creative driving force for the video. She has her own ideas of beauty and film, so it should be good…and different.
The Scissor Sisters tour will headline the O2 festival in London on July 26th and 27th and play the Manchester Evening News Arena on July 30th, 31st, and August 1st.
To find more tour information, click here.
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