Del Marquis & Xavier: Hear ‘Tickle’ Mixtape Track “Say Ooh Damn”

Robbie Daw | January 22, 2013 5:30 am

Scissor Sisters announced their hiatus last year following the release of their fourth LP Magic Hour, but that hasn’t quashed band guitarist Del Marquis from keeping the creative juices flowing. Today Idolator is premiering funky dance track “Say Ooh Damn,” a track off Brooklyn-based Del’s mixtape Tickle, a collaboration with seasoned New York vocalist Xavier. Upon first listen, there’s something instantly recognizable with “Say Ooh Damn.” At first it sounds like a Scissor Sisters cut. And, duh — Del spent a decade playing with the band, so that’s only natural. But give it another spin, and suddenly everything falls into place upon finding out he recorded the groove with the New Power Generation.

“I had such an amazing band in the studio, which was essentially Prince‘s live band during the Diamond & Pearls era,” Marquis tells Idolator. “I was sitting across from the guy who taught Prince how to play guitar as a teenager. I mean, this guy could pick up any instrument and it just tumbled out.”

Listen to “Say Ooh Damn” below!

We asked Del what his inspiration for “Say Ooh Damn” was, and, well, he didn’t really mince words: “Oh, lord, I won’t even skirt the issue — the song is about smoking weed and fucking from night till morning. The euphoria of sex.”

[wpaudio url=”//static.idolator.com/uploads/2013/01/21/Say-Ooh-Damn-1.mp3″ text=”Del Marquis & Xavier – Say Ooh Damn” dl=”0″]

Of course, Tickle isn’t the first project outside Scissor Sisters that Marquis has released. In 2009, he put out a series of EPs during some time away from the band. “I play guitar in Scissors, mostly doing overdubs over arrangements,” he explained. “I don’t generally write the music. The EPs were an exercise to find out if I could write, if I could produce. As a teenager, I never wanted to be a writer, just a guitar hero — an out/queer guy who could shred a solo. I needed a bit more validation for being in the pop world, especially with the time off between the second and third Scissor Sisters records.”

Fans of the guitarist will also be happy to know that his solo output won’t be stopping with Tickle. “I think there are great ideas in those EPs, but it’s not fully formed,” Del said. “This time I knew what the end result would sound like and spent more time working on the lyrics and arrangements. The mixtape is a lead up to a full length LP.”

This brought us to the question every fan of Scissor Sisters wants answered: exactly how long will the band’s hiatus last? The answer, according to Del, isn’t one that’s cut and dry.

“I think if we didn’t stop at that moment, there wouldn’t be any coming back together,” he told us. “The cautionary tales are out there. We were smart enough as friends and bandmates to see the signs. Pop and rock is kind of the same story over and over again, you just look for the signs.”

Okay. So the real answer, Del? “It could be a while, but in today’s age, sometimes an eternity is only a few years,” he noted. “How much more vague can I be?”

Not much. Download Del and Xavier’s Tickle mixtape Tickle now for free at DelMarquis.com/Tickle!