This week we meet The Scissors, who love rock 'n' roll outsiders, hope their best song is yet to be written and would like to be covered by The Fall.
1: How long have you been together as a band?
We've been going in various forms for 10 years, come this December! But the current line-up's been together since 2010.
2: Talk me through the band members: what do they do and what are they like?
Stewart (second right) sings and plays bass. Loves cats and cookery, though not at the same time.
Toby (second left) plays guitar. Loves ephemera, pop art and ancient megaliths.
Simon (far left) plays organ and homemade electronic contraptions. Likes making mechanical greetings cards.
Huw (far right) plays drums. Likes walking and cycling, loves Emily.
3: What's your favourite thing about Cambridge?
The way the river meets the trees meet the pubs.
4: What's your best song?
We've not written it yet, hopefully! But Phone Calls from the Dead
(a cautionary tale about not believing everything you hear, driven by a
severely off-kilter guitar riff) always seems to go down well, as does Your House has Ghosts (garage-psych stomper about being trapped by one's own memories).
5: Best local show?
Our
recent album launch gig was great to play. It was fun to curate the
evening, with punky-folkpop singer-songwriter Helen Robertson and local
punk pop legends Rubber Dux supporting. We decorated the Boathouse gig
room with hanging cut-outs of esoteric Victoriana (cats' heads, medicine
bottles, haunted mirrors) to create the right atmosphere.
6: Who are your musical heroes or heroines?
We
love rock'n'roll outsiders, like maverick record producer Joe Meek (The
Tornados, Screaming Lord Sutch), Brit-rock/glam/punk legend Jesse
Hector (Crushed Butler, Hammersmith Gorillas), neo-music hall poet Viv
Stanshall (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band), or 90s psychodramatic lounge legend
Paul Hofner (Gretschen Hofner).