FIVE QUESTIONS WITH DJ MICHELLE LOVE 

How much does being trans affect your career as a DJ? In other words, do people always want to bill you as “Michelle the transsexual DJ”?

I DJ’ed before I started to transition, and I continued to DJ during my transition. So, in the early days it was very obvious I was trans. I was lucky that I worked at a club which had a reputation for being LGBTQI and did shows that had a Cirque Du Soleil atmosphere. My ambiguous presentation just blended in and became part of the experience. So I was billed as DJ Michelle Love - The Fetish Transsexual Performance Artist and I didn’t mind it. In fact, I enjoyed it. As I moved through my transition, past outward appearance, I started to deal with my emotions as a woman. I began to prefer being thought of as a DJ who happened to be female. It seemed to me that my genitals (and chromosomes) were less a part of what I wanted to do musically, and only a matter between me and who ever I might be intimate with. I still spin mainly for the fetish crowd. In fact, I’m trying to figure out how to work in a stripper pole into my act! Yet, I do it as a woman who is entertaining an audience and expressing herself. It’s no secret that I’m a transsexual, lots of people know. I just don’t wear it on my sleeve like I used to. I am no longer billed as a transsexual performance artist. Just DJ Michelle Love.

How did you get started as a DJ? What pointers can you give other aspiring DJ’s?

When I was 5 I got my first Beatles record and my head exploded! At a very young age music became my safe haven when I could not deal with my gender issues. I went to college and received a BA Music. I was a flute major! My life and career in music has taken many turns. For awhile I was a recording engineer and synthesizer programmer. I quickly learned how fickle the music business is. So I learned to change hats and stay open to changing opportunities. I became a producer, a drum tech, and a monitor engineer. I worked with a lot of great musical minds both in the studio and on the road. It became apparent to me that I would never be as talented as the people I worked with as a performing musician. I had more profound talents for technical “behind the scene” jobs. Still, I wanted to perform! So when DJ-ing with laptops and control surfaces popped up, I saw my opportunity. The rest is her-story! 

My advice to aspiring DJ’s?  stay in school and don’t do drugs! Lol! Seriously,  I don’t know what to say. These days everybody is a DJ. I saw someone DJ from their iPhone once. I mean, how do you compete with that? And make no mistake, the competition is fierce! Club owners and promoters are some of the most capricious and unscrupulous people on Earth! I’d say develop a thick skin. It helps if you have a little cash of your own to do some self promotion. Be creative and learn to think way outside the box. If you are really committed, then stick with it. Otherwise find something else to do that makes your heart sing!

As an artist who happens to be trans, do you think it helps or hurts the artist if they are out as trans?

That is a decision everyone has to make for themselves. While there are many artist who are out and proud and seem to be doing well, there are always repercussions to every decision. Find your own comfort level and find the conviction to walk your own path.

Can you tell us what you have coming up for you? Do you have any new work to be released?

I am working on my own CD right now. I have been in my “mad scientist laboratory” chopping up loops and beats and developing some new material for a new live show. It’s getting harder these days to be “original”. Sometimes I think between Lady GaGa and Deadmau5 it’s all been done. But I am determined and I think I’m on to something. My next horizon is somewhere between mash ups and remixing. Now, if I can just figure out what to wear !

Anything else you might want to say to the readers of Bodies Of Work?

I can be pretty opinionated about things. Anyone who has ever been to my Youtube, Facebook or website will tell you. I freely admit it. But don’t take me too seriously. I’m still figuring this out, too. One thing I have noticed is sometimes I meet another person who is a transsexual, and that will be the only thing we have in common. Other times, I meet someone trans and we have damn near everything in common. I think that has, more than anything else, driven me to the opinions I have now. I am a human being first. Everything else comes after that. The fact that some other people don’t see me that way is their problem.

Someone else said it best, so allow me to repost:
I am “out and proud” , I am a woman; I do not “identify as a woman.” My sex assigned at birth is not relevant to any conversation that I am a part of. My chromosomes are not relevant to any conversation that I am a part of. The shape of my crotch is not relevant to any conversation that I am a part of. If you say that I am transgender-identified, you are mistaken. If you say I am transsexual-identified, you are mistaken. If you think that every time you refer to me, you need to describe me as a trans woman, you’re mistaken.

I’m a lot of things. I’m iatrogenic, inter-sexed, multi racial and come from a mixed Judeo Christian background. I have brown eyes, and really good hearing! But if someone introduced me to you with any or all of those attributes you would probably find that a little odd. So why should the fact that I’m a transsexual be any different? This is the evolution my life has taken. It’s not a denial. It’s a realization. And it’s my journey, which (goddess willing) is far from over! Thanks for letting share it with you.

Check out a mix by DJ Michelle Love HERE!