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 She is one third of feminist punkers Le Tigre, half of subversive remixers Men, a DJ in her own right and even a calendar girl. RAVE talks to ultra-chameleon JD SAMSON about her hectic schedule, coming out in a small town and her rebellious tendencies.
Small town America doesn’t appear to be the most accepting place within which to come out, but JD Samson assures that Cleveland, Ohio was surprisingly warm.
“My community was awesome when I came out. I grew up in the suburbs, and my school was small enough for me to always be me, even when I was a lesbian. There was no choice really but to accept me for who I was and that was something that really surprised me at the time. I feel very lucky to have grown up with the kids in my community.”
Always the rebel, JD has pushed the boundaries of gender roles and femininity through both her music and performance art. Whether it’s through her Dykes Can Dance group or her JD Lesbian Calenders, Samson works extremely hard at confronting society.
JD will be DJing around the country for the best part of December and January including Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, leaving little time for rest. “I rented a house in Bondi and I am really happy to be having a little bit of time off to relax and run on the beach. I guess the plan is to have no plans and work a bit on some lyrics and music for the upcoming Men record.”
Her Men project is a politically-charged look at feminism and community, its tongue in cheek name not just a deliberate choice, but also a business plan. “Johanna [Fateman, Le Tigre] and I had been travelling to DJ and decided that we should come up with a good name for our new project. We were in the airport, getting off a plane and a man in the next aisle just kind of stepped in front of us and confidently left us in the dust. Jo then told me of her new philosophy, which is called ‘what would a man do?’ She was thinking that in terms of our music career, we should make decisions based on what we thought men would do. So from that moment on we stopped apologizing and we started acting like we deserved more than what we were offered. It was a joke more than anything but it worked.”
Her DJ sets are often a mish mash of commercial hip hop and rolling grooves littered with mixes of queer artists. Always a people pleaser, the needs of the crowd are at the forefront of JD’s priorities when she is playing.
“My DJ sets are a hodge-podge of a million different things that somehow become a conglomeration of dance that is really organic and fun. I’m not afraid to please you. I’m not afraid to shock you. Beats and grooves; politics and hope. I like to spread the feeling that there is a place for us and I like to make that place when I DJ.”
JD SAMSON will be performing in the upstairs Common People room at Thriller (Rosie’s in the CBD) on Saturday Dec 12, supported by I Heart Hiroshima’s Susie Patten and Influenza. $12 on the door, with Skyway and Burning Brooklyn playing downstairs in the Snitch room. www.myspace.com/djjdsamson / www.myspace.com/mrandmrsmen
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