NUNN ON ONE: MUSIC
Del Marquis cuts
to the chase
By JERRY NUNN
Del Marquis, lead guitarist of the band Scissor Sisters, is releasing his final piece in a four-part musical project entitled Runaround Sept. 22. Nunn on One had a "Sister to sister" chat with this music innovator.
Windy City Times: How did you first get involved with the Scissor Sisters?
Del Marquis: I had a good friend that was dating Jake at the time. They wanted to expand from being a nightclub act to being a band. Since I knew how to play guitar, it just began from that.
WCT: You were a furniture designer before that, correct?
DEL MARQUIS: Yes, I did furniture design.
WCT: What music has influenced you for this project?
DEL MARQUIS: I think the strongest influence was the sound that went back to my formative years, which would have been the late eighties. It was that idealized sound of how records were produced. At that time people were still using analogue tape. It was big sounding records, really melodic, really interesting, with a lot of depth. So I was influenced by big productions, like Quincy Jones and Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair.
WCT: You worked with Basement Jaxx?
DEL MARQUIS: Not technically, I worked with Vula Malinga and Sharlene Hector, who sang with Basement Jaxx. They did all the background and sometimes featured vocals for the songs.
WCT: Explain to me about Embryoroom Multimedia Group.
DEL MARQUIS: They are friends of mine who do digital video work. We partnered to put these records out. We are functioning as our own record label. They are doing the distribution and video content for these releases.
WCT: You had three previous installmentsHothouse, Character Assassination and Litter to Societycorrect?
DEL MARQUIS: Right, and the last one, Runaway, is coming out the end of September. I have to time everything because of my duties to the Sisters. It's a fine balancing act.
WCT: I saw you perform with Scissor Sisters at the Riviera here in Chicago. Is there more Scissor Sisters music on the way?
DEL MARQUIS: We have a lot of good songs but we are going to take the next few months and nail down the final production elements and arrangements. I can't give any dates but hopefully it will be wrapped up this year.
WCT: Your fans are called the "Deltoids?"
DEL MARQUIS: I think so. A cute name…
WCT: Windy City Times has a "30 Under 30" awards ceremony every year. You are listed on The Advocate's "Forty Under 40" of openly gay entertainers for this year.
DEL MARQUIS: Yeah, I am not under 30anymore, so I won't make your list. The Advocate was a good article.
WCT: Anything else you want to tell us about your new project?
DEL MARQUIS: Runaway is the final installment. It has three new pop songs and five remixes. It's a straight up maxi-single. This does not have the inclusion of video as in previous work.
Litter to Society is a concept album and where we have put the most effort into, out of all of them, and the one that I am most proud of. There are pros and cons of doing these things in terms of doing all the work. This turned out very beneficial. It's very fun and organic and I am looking forward to people hearing it.
WCT: So people can preview it at www.delmarquis.com and download it on iTunes.com . Great talking to you!