EVER SINCE rock'n'roll began more than 50 years ago, it hasn't been uncommon for British and American bands to successfully cross the 'pond' and become transatlantic superstars.
From the Beatles to Coldplay one way and from Elvis to Eminem the other, there are many performers who've found a place in the hearts of audiences on both shores. Many more have failed. And then there are the few who have found more affection 5,600km away than they can ever conjure at home: the Fall and Bush from Britain, the White Stripes and the Strokes from the US.
The latest name to add to this list is Scissor Sisters, the retro-glam popsters from New York who scratched a nostalgic itch among Brits for the music of the 80s, a decade that hitherto had been considered too appalling, superficial and decadent to bother mining for its musical commodities. But in the same way padded shoulders and conspicuous consumption are making a comeback, so too are the sounds of Elton John, U2 and Duran Duran.
'We found a soft spot in people's hearts,' says the band's drummer Paddy Boom, speaking by phone from Tokyo, where the quintet's world tour has rolled. He puts their British appeal down to the fact that the band had a sound 'that just wasn't around at that moment'.
Scissor Sisters first raced to the top of the charts with an audacious (some would say sacrilegious) disco reworking of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. Their eponymous debut album was Britain's biggest seller of 2004 and spawned the hit singles Take Your Mama Out and Filthy/Gorgeous. And among their many celebrity fans were the relics they had unearthed - Elton John, Bono and Simon le Bon.
'We are a unique band. We drew upon influences that have always done well,' Boom says of the Sisters' mixture of glam, rock and 80s pop. He cites the 'glammed-up rock'n'roll' of T-Rex and David Bowie as more accurate inspirations. 'We delved into the ages, not for the sake of it, but because we're into it. It just happens nobody else has been doing that.'