Interview: J.D. Samson of Le Tigre

The prospect of interviewing JD from Le Tigre was actually a daunting one. More than just the band’s keyboard player and sometime lyricist, she is an outspoken gay rights advocate and figurehead, respected DJ and performance artist and even a calendar star. But despite this wealth of activity to mine questions from, its hard to get away from one question. The moustache. What is it with the moustache? Obviously such a question is out of the question- it could be really offensive. But now I’m worried about avoiding the question so much I’m worried it will just slip out. Worriedly I flick open a few shots from her 2003 calendar shoot and there it is in big gothic black letters. Right across her chest. The word “Moustache”. There is no need to ask now. The moustache is cool.

Speaking of cool, JD seems amused by the bio’s description of her as one of “New York’s hottest underground DJs”. “You know what? I guess fun people come to my parties and that’s what makes it fun. I wouldn’t say I’m one of those crazy beat mixers or something. I’ve been asked to DJ since I joined Le Tigre and I just started having parties and having a good time with people. I think its just cool to create a space for people to have fun with other people in the community rather than having some sort of top notch superstar DJ” JD is in the country for the blink of an eye to lift up the final night of Brisbane’s annual Queer film festival, right after a screening of John Water’s latest piece of sleaze “A Dirty Shame”. She’s excited about the film and the visit for sure, but as an avid camper would probably like to take the visit a little slower.

“I put out a calendar in 2003 and everyone had been asking me to do another one. So we came up with the idea to go in search of a Lesbian Utopia. For most of us, it has been such a hard time in the gay and lesbian community to actually

out of their own little scene. And I was just thinking, is it because we all live in the city? Is it because we need to get out of the city?”

So JD, photographer Cass Bird and two other performance artists packed themselves in an RV and went on a tour of rural United States, shooting location on the way.

“I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I just wanted to be anonymous for a while, to just go into these experiences and just be kind of an anthropologist. Especially in the gay lesbian community and someone who has been in the magazines, it can be hard to get away from it all.”

Rather predictably, the group found Utopia “inside the RV with us”, but so far as finding spaces for the gay and lesbian community outside of the cities, JD judges the trip a success. “Although some of them just thought we were men” she adds.

This means adding to her previous success with “Dykes Can Dance”, a guerilla style dance group she formed with a friend to protest New York’s antiquated cabaret laws. Think Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” video with Lesbians (and a little more artistry).

. “In New York there used to be a law that you couldn’t dance in clubs that didn’t have a cabaret licence. You could have music on but nobody could dance. There were signs saying no dancing all over and they mostly were policing that sort of thing in lesbian bars -mostly because they were wanting to move them out of where they were.”

JD was able to abandon that project after the law was finally changed, but DJing and Le Tigre aren’t her only musical ventures.

“I’ve had to cut short my trip to Australia because I’m going to be performing with Peaches playing keys and sequencers and we need to rehearse. She’s gonna be kind of a live band this time. I think we’re already scheduled to do the next Big Day Out.” A lot of Australia got their first taste of Le Tigre from the Big Day Out. The experience is part of why JD is so keen to come back.

“It was out of control. We had a really good time and made friends, and probably managed to push the boundaries of our ‘scene’. The Gold Coast was amazing, Sydney was great, individual shows were really fun. Actually a really big part of it was to see how many people came out to those shows.”

A whole bunch of those people will obviously be keen to hear what JD can bring to the mixing desks.

I always play ESG, Michael Jackson, Missy Elliot, a lot of Hip Hop. Lately I’m always playing this hip hop remix that Peaches did for called ‘stilettos’. And….” A small sigh comes down the line.

“Madonna”.

She sounds almost ashamed.