Monster Time on Bandcamp

 Our new single will be buy-able from 26 October on Bandcamp!

It's Monster Time! New single out 27 October

It's been a while since we've released new music... but here it is! Our new single, out this week, 'Monster Time'! A heady glam/punk-stomper full of Hallowe'en-shaped fun (although it's pretty much always Hallowe'en here at Scissor HQ), with a retro horror video to go with it!

https://thescissorsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/monster-time

First gig of the new year!

 First gig up, fingers crossed, will be: 

8 January 2022

THE SIX BELLS, CAMBRIDGE CB1 2HS

8.30pm, free entry

With our great friends Goddammit Jeremiah

Join us to celebrate 15 years of The Scissors!

We've been doing this for 15 years! To celebrate. we've got a special gig lined up... 

16 December 2021

The Blue Moon, Norfolk Street, Cambridge
with MR NO FACE, GODDAMMIT JEREMIAH, and SHIFTY STATUES
This will be a special 15th anniversary set; we'll be playing our debut album 'Daylight Cinema' for the first time ever live in its entirety!

Tickets £5 on the door.

See you there!

New LIVE album preview promo reel 'Smokehouse and Mirrors - Live in Ipswich'

Return to Ipswich

We're back in Ipswich this month! It's been a few years, but we'll be at The Smokehouse on 16 March, with other German Shepherd Records artists Bouquet of Dead Crows and Umbrella Assassins! Should be a great night, hope to see you there!

'Look good in cheap clothes' reviewed

A great review of the new album courtesy of Mike at Cambridge Music Reviews! Here's his thoughts in full...

"This excellent third full-length LP from Cambridge four-piece The Scissors pushes their sound into new territory musically and features words and ideas that chime with modern day concerns…
1. Plug Me In Kicking off with a chord from the soundtrack of a western, the sinister guitar of the verses is balanced by the organ-drenched chorus and it all ends very abruptly.
2. Parking Cars More of a rocker, driven by a pulsing bass riff. Not sure how the title line fits in but it is certainly catchy ‘…parking cars…you got to do it right…’ 3. Death Engineer A moody song about built-in obsolescence, suggesting that it is the responsibility of the title character. Around this lyrical resignation a Doors-sounding electric piano and rolling cymbals ominously threaten.
4. Look Good In Cheap Clothes A surreal monologue, spoken by frontman Stewart Harris as the band play freely with the structures and sonic textures. This is a companion to the disturbing artwork of the album front cover (which itself brings to mind the notorious Beatles ‘Yesterday And Today’ sleeve?)
5. I Dream In X-Ray Vision In case you thought the Scissors of old had disappeared this impressive track is a pounding reminder of their trademark sound, with unrelenting unified riff, dissonant guitar and even the theremin gets a look-in. The lyric of course has enough ambiguity and imagery to satisfy the diehard fan.
6. Edgelands Picking up the ‘edge of the world’ theme from the end of the previous song, this loose psychedelic americana is echoing and atmospheric, driven by a roving guitar and accordion.
7. When Is A Boy Not A Boy? A cinematic, sweeping track; a guitar solos plaintively over exciting drumming weaving in with a strong vocal performance.
8. Ufotopia This mid-tempo song is the longest on the album and features a subtly uplifting band sound with the questioning and resigned reflections from the narrator. A guest saxophone solo steals the show at the end.
BONUS TRACKS9. Glossy Magazines (EP ‘b’-side) This noisy staple of their live set is given a more introspective feel here, piling on the paranoia as the music moves in all sorts of unpredictable directions.
10. Electric Line Terminus (EP ‘b’-side) Another previous release and storming live track, this again has a Doors feel, a sort of doom-laden cataclysm of blues-based garage rock."

Look good, look cheap! New album on 7 December

Nearly there! Our new album 'Look good in cheap clothes' is out on 7 December on German Shepherd Records; with a launch party on 6 December at the Cornerhouse, Cambridge (FREE ENTRY)! CDs will be available on the night!

Says Bob at German Shepherd...
"Cambridge’s highly regarded band The Scissors return with a brand new album replete with their signature swirling keyboard-fuelled psych-pop, horrorshow freakbeat guitars and new wave post-punk basslines. Titled “Look Good In Cheap Clothes” the 7th December release shows a real development from its popular predecessor “Haunted Mirror”. With a dazzling mix of garage punk, otherworldly pop, and some new explorations the band demonstrate a significant shift in their sound whilst retaining the core of their alternative take on music."

Strawberry Fair 2018 review

Pic by Adrian

Great review from Strawberry Fair by Cambridge Music Reviews... 
'Some years the event can be slow to get going but this time the weather brought out a substantial crowd early on, including an appreciative audience for The Scissors opening the Rebel Arts Stage at midday. After a decade at the forefront of the Cambridge scene they can still strike a pose and rip it up with the best of them, aided by a selection of their own fastest and loudest songs, including I thought an extra turning up of the blazing sound system to a volume beyond 11 halfway through the set. Having seen them recently in the confines of the Cornerhouse venue, their rich and hypnotic swirling sound easily steps up to an outdoor show.'

Read the full article

Look out! Update from Scissor HQ, gigs and recording

Look out! There's lots going on at Scissors HQ right now... work continues apace on a new Scissors mini-album (shaping up to be an eight-song collection), which should be out hopefully towards the end of 2018. And gigs coming up! We're thrilled to be back at Strawberry Fair on 2 June (12pm, Rebel Arts Stage), and at Knackfest, Karma Farm in Isleham Fen on 30 June. Also just confirmed is a REALLY exciting gig with a great band in mid July that we'll tell you about shortly! So keep 'em peeled!

Video of full set from Cambridge Cornerhouse, 19 April 2018

Incase you missed it (or if you want a reminder), you can now watch our full set from last week's Cornerhouse gig, captured via GoPro (with audio from a Zoom recorder).
Setlist: Sjhake! Phone calls from the dead No go the lowdown I dream in X-ray vision Glossy magazines Electric line terminus Lucy for London Do you believe in modern love? Why don’t you cry? Skylon Your house has ghosts

19 April alt-rock night, Cambridge Cornerhouse!

We're thrilled to be back at the Cornerhouse again with some mighty Cambridge bands of the alt-rock flavour! Our good friends Bouquet of Dead Crows, who are busy recording their new album, plus the fabulously tuneful Shyer, who are definitely a band to watch!

It's 19 April at ye good olde Cornerhouse, Newmarket Road...

Back at the Cornerhouse (with Wild Hope and Goldblume)!

We're back at The Cornerhouse, Cambridge soon! With the fantastic Wild Hope and a special acoustic set from the mighty Goldblume! And it's free entry... so put 10 March in your diary and get ready with your garage-psych dancing socks!

Oxford, we're coming for you!

We're thrilled to be bringing the Scissors sound to Oxford soon! On Friday 2 February we're playing at Klub Kakofanney, at The Wheatsheaf, supporting Fracture, with Restucture and Be Still. It's gonna a great night!

Do you believe in MODern love?

Next gig! A free-entry mod/psych extravaganza down at Cambridge's lovely Cornerhouse. Saturday 14th October.
Playing with mod revival legends The Face, and energetic mod/psychsters The Keepers!

It might even be our next single launch, if the stars align...

April Circus

Looking ahead to April, we're delighted to be playing with the fantastic Moscow Circus, whose album 'Resounding' was one of Stewart Scissor's favourites from last year. If you like Psychedelic Furs, XTC, early solo Julian Cope or House of Love, they'll be up your street.
We also have The Get, all the way from Southend-on-Sea, whose current EP on German Shepherd Records is a veritable delight of Magazine-influenced post-punk! It's a free entry evening at Cambridge's Cornerhouse, and promises to be a blast!

Machismos, Moonstrips and more!

We're proud to be playing with amazing psychedelicists Moonstrips, and the legendary Machismos on 30 July at Cambridge's Portland Arms! The night will be compared by Virgil deVoyde, and all proceeds go to Down Syndrome Association.
£3 entry on the door

Interviewed by Jude Clarke for Cambridge News

We're interviewed by Jude Clarke for today's Cambridge News! Read the full interview.

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).

7: Which bands or artists would you pick to play your perfect festival?

The perfect festival is one where none of the good bands clash at the same times, so you get to see them all. Huw would have The Mars Volta, circa 2003-2005. Simon loves the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, but The Demon Barbers are probably his favourite festival band. Stewart loves Dreadzone at festivals – they're perfectly suited to that environment and never fail to unite a crowd in a nonstop dancing frenzy. Toby would love the original line-up of Thirteenth Floor Elevators, but that's not likely to happen on these shores any time soon.

8: If you had to cover one song, what would it be; if you could pick any band or artist to cover one of your songs, what would it be?

We'd cover Garden of my Mind by The Mickey Finn, a classic UK psych-rock track from 1967. It'd be nice if The Fall covered one of ours. We once covered The Stooges' I Wanna be Your Dog in the style of The Fall, with Stewart shouting out random breeds of dog in the manner of Mark E Smith…

9: Who would you get to play you in a video?

Huw – Jim Dale

Stewart – Terry Scott

Simon - Bernard Bresslaw

Toby – Sid James

10: Can you suggest another local band or artist that we should feature on this page?

Think most of our favourites have been featured! (The Seven Twenty, Bouquet of Dead Crows, Beverley Kills), but maybe you've not featured Moonstrips, a fantastic Cambridge garage-psych trio who have just released a cracking three-track EP (facebook.com/moonstrips)?

Read more: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Introducing-Scissors/story-29186872-detail/story.html#ixzz476qj4WYD
Follow us: @CambridgeNewsUK on Twitter | cambridgenews on Facebook

What to expect from the new Scissors album?

Here's a lovely piece on our forthcoming album from Bob's Aural Delights!

'The eleven track set grabs the attention from the get go with a thumping bass and drum combination, surging Hammond and searing guitars and excellent call and response vocals. “Come With Me” is a great opener, followed by the exceedingly catchy “No go the lowdown” which echoes classic british pop-rock with a tinge of urban blues and a smattering of soul in the vocals, and a killer hook.  This band is all about textures and layers and the visceral guitar tones of “Don’t Hate Just Because I’m Yours” introduce another memorable melody, which promises to be a real crowd pleaser with it’s more-ish chorus. The band keep the songs short and to the point, perfect little nuggets of modern music. After the up tempo start matters slow down for the more restrained “All These Things” which is notable for Simon Powell’s sonic explorations and busy drums from Wallace.  The punky motorik “I’m Not The Real Me” perhaps sums up the unique qualities of the band, conjuring a maelstrom of different sounds into a melange of psychedelic pop. The album title track is a tight little tune with a ska feel, great organ sounds, and tasty pop elements and a tidy guitar solo. “Phones Calls from the Dead” has another killer guitar hook, pumping bass and great changes echoing Zappa at his most playful.  Gritty picked guitar opens the blues drenched “Why Don’t You Cry” which comes across like the mutant offspring of “House of the Rising Sun”, nice soloing from Lefever, combined with some great feedback control make this the stand out track for the guitarist. “Sjhake” – I should have asked them what the added “J” was for, but I forgot, is a tasty portion of blue-eyed soul-rock.”Come With Me” reprises in a jam-like free improv way before morphing back into the main song. The album closes with ambient sounds and the measured “Attack Of The Phantom Teardrops” which takes a deep emotional breath after a such a busy and impressive selection.

A highly recommended second album release from a great band.'

The Scissors launch 'Haunted Mirror' album at Cambridge Boathouse, 12 March!

We'll be launching our new album (which will be released on German Shepherd Records) at a special gig at Cambridge's The Boathouse  on Saturday 12 March!
Special guests will include the fantastic Helen Robertson, playing her electrifying punk-folk songs in a solo set, plus more TBC...

Advance tickets are available! We're so excited to finally unleash 'Haunted Mirror' on the world!