A multifaceted musical artist who played amongst the pioneers of Brooklyn nightlife, DJ Jessamess is here to help anoint the next Art Star. [Cover photo: Voxigma Lo].
Thotyssey: Jessamess, hello! Thanks for chatting today! How are you, and how has your summer been?
Jessamess: Hi, I’m great! Especially because summer is nearly over, haha. I’m not a summer girly at all… but this one has been pretty fab! [multimedia drag artist] Untitled and I kicked off Art Star Season 4 at C’mon Everybody, I’ve been DJing the Metro BBQ with Charlene and I’ve just returned from Honcho… so you’re catching me at a particularly great moment.
How was Honcho?
It’s truly my fave part of the year, and something my camp looks forward to all year long. It’s such a special place, and I always come back renewed, recharged and having learned something about myself. It’s also a wild and sexy ass time!
If someone were to ask you to describe all the stuff you do in the MultimediaGenreVerse, what might you say?
Oof, where to begin!? I’ve always rejected any kind of box to define oneself. I consider myself a true multidisciplinary artist. I’m a DJ, but I’m also a musician and sound artist and producer and maker and activist. I really know no other way to express myself than through making art, and especially making art for my community.
Where are you from originally, and did you always have these musical disciplines in your life?
I grew up in small town rural Ohio. I like to think growing up with a lot of nature and rivers and creeks informed a lot of of my current interest and escapes into nature. I come from a long line of artists and craftspeople in my family, so from a very young age I was encouraged to be a creative thinker, and to learn how to make things myself. My dad is also a big music head–so from a very young age, I was also really into music. I was obsessing over Madonna, The Beatles, Velvet Underground, Talking Heads… really anything I can get my hands on that he would play.
it really wasn’t until later in life that I sort of connected all the dots, but I’ve always been a creative. I’ve always been making music and in sound–and as I got older, I could turn it into a practice.
You are someone who came into queer Brooklyn nightlife in the early stages of what we know it to be today. How do you find yourself there, and who / what do you recall were the influential people, places and things that were happening when you got there?
Oh wow, you mean 100 years ago!? So I moved to New York to go to art school at Parsons, and that’s where I met Untitled. I had been in New York for about two years prior and had fallen into Chelsea gay nightlife, where I started DJing. My first gig was at XES (RIP); that’s where I met Peppermint, and DJed at her weekly karaoke and open set. That really gave me a window into Manhattan drag, but it really wasn’t until we all started rallying in Brooklyn with the most influential people still to this day. I think the best artists and drag came from that time. The actual OGs of Brooklyn drag: Horrorchata, Untitled Queen, Babes Trust, Macy Rodman, Merrie Cherry, Mocha Lite, Lucy Balls, Scarlet Envy… all legends, and all still friends to this day.
Some insane DJs from the time that are still doing it big: Lauren Flax, the Discwoman crew, Amber Valentine, Juliana Huxtable. Just an unbelievable force of talent at that time that we all cultivated and created really without precedent.
Who is someone in the world of Brooklyn nightlife today that is either being slept on, or is a rising star that we must all be paying attention to now?
Oh wow! Tough! So many amazing babes who are absolutely soaring to the top as we speak. Go see God Complex, Slagatha, Beaujangless, and Problem Child.
When RuPaul’s Drag Race started to gain popularity and many Manhattan girls were starting to get cast, it seemed at first like the more out-of-the-box Brooklyn scene was going to get overlooked by the show. But then Thorgy Thor got on, and then Aja, Sasha Velour, Scarlet… up through today with Brooklyn folks like Dawn! Were you surprised / delighted to see these artists you worked with getting on TV, and do you think Drag Race has strongly affected Brooklyn drag today?
Oh, great question. I definitely wasn’t surprised [to see my friends get cast], but I was obviously very excited to see so many of my girls and so many people I’ve worked with get their flowers and get their time in the spotlight. I think like many others. I have a complicated relationship with Drag Race. In many ways, it’s exactly what you said–having some of the queerdos get cast and really get to see their lives change, their gigs, the touring, all of that… it’s so incredible, and shines such a great spotlight on Brooklyn drag.
At the same time, I do think that Drag Race is a pretty sanitized and a more palatable view of what I know and love about Brooklyn drag. That being said, I’m going to return to watching this season. I tend to only watch when my girls are on these days, but the upcoming season I think is gonna shine a really amazing light on what true Brooklyn really is.
How might you describe your own DJ sound today?
My sound is always truly evolving. I feel like I started out doing DJing for drag shows, which tends to lean more pop and House heavy… and I still love doing that. I’d say my sound today is much more experimental. I love to take the listener on a journey. I like to surprise you on the dance floor; I wanna keep you guessing and make you wonder how I mixed that track into the next. If I can get someone throwing ass to a remix of birds chirping that goes into a Madonna that goes into a deep cut disco track, then I’d say my job is done.
So the Metro weekly Sunday BBQ show with Charlene is probably down to its last few weeks of the season. due to the fact that it’s outdoors and we’re rapidly approaching September! For folks who haven’t attended yet, what’s the vibe like?
Honestly, Charlene’s Metro BBQ on Sundays and Slagatha and Mambiché’s “And What About It” Thursdays are literally the only weeklies that I would say must be on your calendar. If you’ve never been to the Metro barbecue ever, than nothing can really prepare you. Charlene as the reigning BBQ queen has really turned this Metro institution into the Must See Show of the week–I’m not exaggerating one bit.
But if you’ve never been: pull up to the bar, grab a drink, head to the back, hit up all the cuties for some free hot dogs and free burgers… and get ready for four hours of the most unhinged, most unpredictable, spontaneous, wild drag–outdoors on picnic tables–that you’ve ever seen. This season saw splash zones that went viral, iconic duets, an all Idina Menzel show… and we still aren’t done yet. Next week I’ll be DJing, and the guest is Lucy Balls… and the little bits that I’ve heard about it are going to absolutely blow your mind.
Now we must discuss Untitled (Art Star) at C’mon Everybody, a multi-week, multimedia / performance art competition that Untitled Queen has created, and you are a big part of! How did this come to be, what have been some highlights for you in prior installments, and why do you think it’s become so popular in today’s nightlife scene where everyone is at war for people’s attention spans?
Art Star is truly a gem in Brooklyn nightlife. I mentioned earlier that Untitled and I met in art school, and it really formed a bond that led to a lifetime of creative collaboration; we’re constantly bouncing ideas off of each other. The idea really came from a place of wanting a drag competition that was really focused on artists–allowing a space for the weird, the artistic, maybe the too strange, to fit in another competition for drag.
We wanted to have it fit the structure of of what’s expected in art school and in the art world. So each week features a different theme, and the themes are centered around a type of artistic discipline. We’ve had photography, installation, and internet art as themes. Each season we have four rounds of four artists each; it’s an open call, and we really encourage the artist to create anything they want. Nothing is off-limits (within reason), and if we can help you make it happen technically, then we’ll do it.
In terms of popularity, Untitled and I are always looking for the arty, weird underbelly of everything. When we got started in Brooklyn nightlife, we didn’t really have a precedent for any of this. We had our friends like Macy Rodman, Amber Alert and Lucy Balls, and shows like Bathsalts that really felt punk and new–just wild and and unrestricted. I think a lot of that is missing now, so Art Star really came from a desire to create a platform for a new generation of artists to have.
So much of what Untitled does and so much of what I do is, really, at the end of the day, hoping to provide an opportunity and a new space for new people. We know how hard it can be to be an artist that doesn’t really fit a mold, that doesn’t fit neatly into a box.
I genuinely think the success of the show is maybe two-fold. I like to imagine that it’s popular because there’s really nothing else like it. It truly is a place for experimentation and creativity. No idea is too big, and the guest judges that we have–the best titans in Brooklyn drag–provide an artistic critique of the work.
I also think maybe the second reason that it’s really popular is because the community that we foster there is really genuine and very real. Every season and every show, we donate proceeds to a fundraiser often focused on either immediate Brooklyn base needs or relevant international issues that are going on. We are firmly a decolonial space we’re pro-Palestine, and we speak really loudly on the microphone every week about the need for community and the need for speaking up about these issues.
The next installment of Art Star is this coming Friday at C’mon!
I’m really excited for the theme of this episode: Fluxus. It’s an experimental art movement originating in the 1960s, and for any of us who work in experimental art–I’m thinking about myself, I’m thinking about Untitled and many other folks–when I learned about this in school, it changed my life. It truly is my type of practice. The theme of fluxus is really rooted in an idea of anti-art and anti-establishment. It came as a rejection of the traditional art, mediums, white boxes… and there are themes and elements of ephemera, and a blur of the audience and the performer.
I can’t say too much about the contestants–you’ll have to come and see for yourself–but I can say that Untitled is cooking up a brand new piece, and I’m working on a brand new sound sculpture installation piece. And from those two alone, I would say this is gonna be one for the books. This will be the third episode of this season… definitely not to be missed.
We have one more in about a month, and then in October will be our finale where the winners of each round will compete for a cash prize, and the crown of Artstar. Everyone must come and see this for themselves!
What else is coming up for you? For one thing, I see you are on the DJ lineup for Bushwig!
Yes, Bushwig 15! So I’m working on a killer set for that. And I don’t think it’s been fully announced, but we’re doing a Bushwig takeover of Lot Radio on September 4!
Very exciting, have great gigs! Any closing words?
I’ll leave on a note of community care and connection: Take care of each other, make sure you have women and dolls and diverse bodies and POC in your orbit, Free Palestine… and let’s meet in the bathroom.
Thanks, Jess!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Jessamess’ upcoming appearances, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, LinkTree and SoundCloud.
Thotyssey 