|
 JD Samson, one third of feminist punk electronic band Le Tigre, is coming to Australia. She spoke with Elena Jeffreys.
JD Samson needs little introduction to underground dyke music scenesters. She’s a lesbian icon, part of New York queer pop group Le Tigre, centrefold pin-up from the ‘Lesbian Utopia’ calendar, guest appears on the latest Bitch album released by Riot Grrl Ink, plays with Peaches’ band The Herms and is a frantic pop DJ coming to a venue near you this month.
Her DJ-ing includes music that is new and old, so be prepared to dance. “I will be creating a space where sentimentality for good pop music runs rampant, where dancing rules and where sweating wins gold medals,” JD tells CHERRIE of her Australian tour.
This tour is a follow-up to the Le Tigre gigs of 2005, including Big Day Out and some sweaty sets around the country, with choreographed moves and matching pop outfits. “I love Australia and I always will,” JD says. “When I was a kid, I only wanted to go to Australia, so it always holds a special place in my heart.”
Le Tigre was part of the Riot Grrrl movement of the ’90s and achieved commercial success with their second album This Island produced by former Sonic Youth producer Nicholas Sansano. Le Tigre’s music is queer, political and makes some big statements about lesbianism, with lyrics such as ‘There’s a slap on my back, I find another butch, hat cocked and we put our hands in the crowd ... they call it coolness, we call it visibility, they call it way too rowdy, we call it finally free.’
Their punk rock ethos is inherited from Bikini Kill – Le Tigre singer Kathleen Hanna’s previous project. Le Tigre are up with the most recognised queer female music acts in the world, alongside Peaches and Chicks on Speed. With issues such as climate change and globalisation continuing to dog contemporary politics in the western world, it seems more than ever music and politics will need to collide, and JD is creating political change in style.
“For me being queer is part of who I am, which is of course a political person,” she asserts. “It is important to me that my feminism and my queerness both encompass my feelings regarding class, race, environment, and other such issues. As a musician it is important for me to speak my mind regarding all of these issues. It is about compassion. It is about understanding what it feels to be ostracised and put down. It is a feeling about sincerity. Do what you believe.”
These beliefs have brought JD to be involved in her own photo projects with photographer Cass Bird. Bordering the blurry boundaries of drag king and butch, JD’s photos are hot property. Increasing visibility of butch dykes is close to her heart and she did this in the 2006 Lesbian Utopia calendar. She’s also aiming to find a place for the butch dyke in the mainstream: “There are not many butch lesbians found in that part of our culture,” she says. “It is usually femme to femme that is particularly sexy for people.”
To this end, she’s posed for pin-up photos looking hot as a butch dyke lifesaver on the beach – the girl-on-girl version of David Hasselhoff. This re-appropriation of popular hetero characters sometimes draws criticism from sections of the lesbian community, but JD doesn’t agree. “I don't actually see a problem with lesbians, queers, fags or anyone else re-enacting heterosexual imagery and reclaiming it as their own,” she says.
When it comes to getting the butch dyke noticed, JD would take it all off (well almost) for the cause, including using her body for advertising, if the company is right. “It is all about the context of the ad, the company, the deal, and many other factors,” she says. “As far as I know, I have not been approached by an underwear company, but the idea seems hilarious. Anyone out there? Bonds? Come on, I'm ready for you!”
JD is our own butch hero, unafraid to push new boundaries of lesbian culture in music, photography and mainstream media. When asked about her own inspirations though, she baulks at naming names. “I think I am afraid if I admit who my heroes are, some day they will fail me and I will have to regret my choice,” she muses. “Or sometimes I wonder what a hero really is.”
But she does admit that she’s motivated by other artists: “The people who inspire me are my peers. I am incredibly inspired by people who work really hard and use their creativity to push themselves through different difficult situations. I am inspired by people who are kind and who don't look back.”
Perhaps the most important question for JD though is what fans should wear to her upcoming shows? “I would wear something comfortable, and some clean underwear,” she smiles. “Bonds?”
JD Samson plays at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane on 15 August; the Manning Bar in Sydney on 20 August; and The Corner in Melbourne on 21 August. More info at www.myspace.com/djjdsamson
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
