Posted November 10, 200618 yr 10 November 2006 'MY HEART GOES OUT TO PAUL, HEATHER'S REALLY STUCK UP' Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters 3AM EXCLUSIVE Eva Simpson In New York HE may hang out with Kylie and Elton, but fame certainly hasn't gone to Jake Shears's head. The Scissor Sisters singer is still razor-sharp when it comes to spotting a hanger-on - which is why he has no time for Heather Mills. The flamboyant frontman of the glam rock New Yorkers claims she snubbed him when he met the McCartneys backstage at a gig. Then was all sweetness and light when she realised he was a member of the band who U2's Bono rates as "the best act in the world". "I hate to say this, but I found Heather to have her nose really stuck up in the air," says Jake, 28. "I met her once with Sir Paul and, honestly, she didn't give me the time of day. "You'd expect someone to be a little gracious or just pleasant when you meet them for the first time, but Heather was nothing like that. "Then someone must have told her who I was and suddenly it was a completely different situation. She couldn't have been more charming. But by then my mind was made up." So it's no surprise to hear who he is backing in the bitter McCartney divorce. "Let's just say I'm on team Macca with this one," says Jake, who has even written a song called Paul McCartney on the Scissor Sisters' current album, Ta-Dah. "He was lovely to me when I met him, a really nice guy. My heart goes out to the man over all this divorce stuff. I'm sorry, it just does. "He came to me once in a dream and gave me a really good talk, and the next day I wrote the track that's on the album. "I feel like the man deserves a bit more peace of mind than having to deal with all this at his time of life. My dad is 78 years old and I can't imagine my mum putting him through all that drama. "When it first happened I was like, I hope they can stay friends, but that's so not going to happen. But, hey, they do say love is blind." The past two years have seen the Scissor Sisters - Jake, Del Marquis, Ana Matronic, Paddy Boom and Babydaddy - become one of the biggest bands in Britain. Their self-titled debut album was the biggest selling record of 2004 and their upcoming UK tour has already sold out. They also have three Brits under their belt and organisers of next year's Brit Awards have already told them that the opening slot of the ceremony is theirs for the asking. Still, they have yet to break into the mainstream in their native America. Not that Jake, who hails from Arizona, looks nervous as we speak before the band's homecoming gig at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. But then he is no stranger to the stages in this particular state - he started out as a male go-go dancer in the strip clubs of Manhattan. "I think there was an exhibitionist streak in myself that I was discovering and I which I am now well aware of," he grins. "It was me figuring out that I needed attention. And what better way of achieving that than taking my clothes off in front of people under the influence of alcohol and who knows what else?" He still hasn't lost the urge to strip and often ends up in just his pants when the Scissor Sisters go on tour, but these days he also gets to hang out with celebrities. He and Babydaddy are working on Kylie's first album since she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and he reveals he's had to cut up his credit card because Sir Elton John is such a bad influence on his spending. But fame hasn't all been fun and games. After the success of the band's debut album and subsequent sell-out tour, Jake became very depressed and even contemplated suicide. "I got back to New York and didn't want a life," he explains. "Thank God for my boyfriend who is such a grounding influence on me, he's very supportive." His relationship with partner Chris is so solid that the pair are considering marriage and children. Jake says: "I think it's cool that Madonna adopted, she's got to be really, really happy." THEN he jokes: "My boyfriend really wants babies but he's demanding biological children and keeps trying to get me pregnant - but it's just not working. He doesn't understand how it works. "Seriously, we're thinking we could have the same mum for both kids - one of mine then one of his. Then they would look like brothers and like us. But I would like to get married first. I already call Chris my husband. Although that might not happen. In the US the religious right are terrifying. They claim gays are tearing families apart and that we have our own agenda. It's scary. "Anyway, that's way in the future, a good 10 years. I still feel like a big kid myself." He certainly behaved like one after the Scissor Sisters' spectacular performance in London's Trafalgar Square last month in aid of Bono's charity Red, which aims to eradicate Aids in Africa. The likes of Sir Elton's hubby David Furnish and shoe designer Patrick Cox witnessed Jake's outrageous gold foil outfit for the encore, I Don't Feel Like Dancing. And afterwards, he and Kylie Minogue indulged in a spot of room-trashing at the nearby St Martin's Lane Hotel. Jake admits: "We had the best time before the after-party. We trashed my hotel room and there is video evidence. There was major bed-jumping to the song You Got The Look and a couple of glasses were broken. "I have a picture of me walking down Old Compton Street afterwards at about 6am and I look like I've been dragged through the dirt. "I was wearing sunglasses. We couldn't even get into a greasy spoon cafe - they clearly didn't know who I was." They must be among the few people in Britain who don't. Scissor Sisters album Ta-Dah is in shops now. Linkety link...
