Harmony added to world tour! Thanks to a magical zap from Endora, The Scissor Sisters got to cut a rug on their favorite soap opera on Feb. 8 and 9, and we got groovy rockers Jake Shears, Ana Matronic and Baby Daddy to dish about their PASSIONS experience.
Soap Opera Weekly: How did this guest gig come together?
Jake Shears: We sought it out. With our first album, I remember sitting around and thinking, "What's our dream TV show to be on?" and we came up with PASSIONS. It didn't happen. When we put our second record out, we still wanted to do it, so [the-powers-that-be] set it up.
Ana Matronic: [PASSIONS] were so lovely and accommodating. The writers and producers came to the last L.A. show we played and asked, "What are your favorite characters? Who would you like to interact with, and what kind of storyline would you like?" We were, like, "Tabitha! Tabitha! Tabitha! Make it as spooky and ridiculous as you can make it. That's what we want to do." They did, and we were. It was lots of fun. Endora conjured us from the CD. She is the cutest little thing. It was amazing. Just getting to meet Juliet Mills (Tabitha) was a total dream come true.
Weekly: So you're the fan in the group, Ana?
Matronic: Jake's a fan as well. He's the one who actually told me about PASSIONS about five years ago. I started watching and thought, "This is insane! I can't believe this is actually on television and I love it. If John Waters and David Lynch came together and made something, it would be very similar to PASSIONS."
Weekly: What do you like about the show, compared to other soaps?
Shears: The creativity.
Baby Daddy: It's the magic.
Shears: And the sense of humor.
Matronic: They definitely think outside the box, as opposed to most soap operas that carry on a tradition that's been established since way back. PASSIONS is definitely campy.
Shears: They've pulled back [from that] a bit.
Matronic: They have, which makes me sad. I also don't get to see it that much, because we're on the road so much. I loved when they used to do past-life regressions with Luis and Sheridan, when Sheridan was kidnapped by clowns and shoved in a hole, and Precious, the orangutan nurse. How can you not love that? That's brilliant. That's good television. Precious was a lucky monkey. [She got to make out with Galen Gering (Luis).] I loved Mrs. Wallace too. I miss her.
Weekly: Any nerves?
Shears: It is different when you're [performing] in a room of people that are not necessarily there to give a s--- about you, pardon my language. You feel like, "These people may have no idea who we are or what we're doing, but we're still going to do it!"
Matronic: I was nervous at first because I'm a fan of the show and we're standing in Tabitha's living room and there's Tabitha and Endora sitting on the couch! I'm just getting wrapped up in the moment, forgetting what I'm supposed to say and how I'm supposed to act.
Shears: We're going to have to watch the show to see how bad my acting was.
Matronic: I thought everybody was good. I got my start acting, and acted all the way up until I met [these guys].
Shears: Ana was good, but I was bad. I only took musical theater, and I think you can see that. I did have my "Kathy Lee Gifford Carnival Cruise moment" on the show, which I was happy about. We only did one take, but when I was singing to the crowd I pretended I was singing, "If you could see me now, I'm on a fun ship, holy cow!" I even got to look at the camera and wink.
Weekly: Now that you've done PASSIONS, what else is there for you to do?
Matronic: Nothing!
Shears: Now we can die (laughs). We want to be the official PASSIONS band.
