Glenna Fitch, aka Sold, has been a DJ for nearly eight years, with roots all over the Midwest United States. Now active in Chicago’s Smart Bar scene, I caught up with her at Communikey, the boutique techno festival in Boulder, Colorado, to talk about her evolution as a DJ, and how Chicago has influenced–and is still influencing–her as an artist.
You’ve been DJing for a while, but what’s your connection to
music as a dancer?
Well I used to be afraid to dance out, and I had a lot of trouble
at school dances and that kind of thing. In college I wanted to go out to dance
nights and we would drive from Kent up to Cleveland to some bar only to wait
two hours to start dancing. We were underage and couldn’t drink, too. One time
it was really late and people still weren’t dancing, and we were like “why are
we wasting our time not dancing” so my friend and I went right up to the front
and just started. And since then I’ve told myself that I’ll always be the ice
breaker on the dance floor. Even when I
go out to Smart Bar today, I carry that mentality with me. To me, music—I believe
at its core—was made to make us dance. In a way, dancing is the most important thing.
Do you feel like dance is more of a female thing? Or in some
way more understood and appreciated by females? Or is it genderless?
I’ve seen that idea [that dance is gender-specific] perpetuated
before. I’ve also seen a lot of jokes surrounding the idea of men dancing, like
it’s somehow emasculating if a dude just wants to dance. People make it seem
like a strictly gay thing too. I don’t believe that. I think females are more
comfortable with expressing it because of the way gender roles are set up in
our society. It’s a dual issue. By saying dance is a female thing, you are
saying only women can do “women things”, and number two, you are suggesting
that dancing is frivolous, which isn’t true. When you don’t care what you look
like, and can 100% throw yourself into it, it becomes a form of therapy. I
think it’s only more socially acceptable for women to admit it. But I also know
plenty of dudes who are willing to admit it because they don’t care about
gender rules.
[“We are here to dance. Let’s all be honest with ourselves. We want to get lost in music for a few hours, and we don’t need to find a reason for it or make it more intellectual than it has to be. We can work out issues on the dance floor, I know I do every single time. It’s a basic thing that we need.” ]
There’s been a lot of talk lately surrounding the lack of
females, or gender discrimination in one form or another, in the electronic
community. What’s your experience like as a female making music in the scene?
There are two different modes of experience and perspectives
for me – one, being a DJ, and two, being a dancer on the floor. There are overlapping
issues between these two modes of being, and some that are completely separate.
But one overarching for both is sexual harassment. Another is not being taken
seriously, which goes back to the perspective that dance is frivolous. A big
thing I’ve noticed with being a female DJ is, for example, is when you go up to
the booth because you are playing and security just assumes you are going up to
flirt with the DJ, or make a request. This isn’t as common in the places I
frequent, but at some places the staff is very disrespectful to females. One
night, my friend invited me to see him DJ. I was dancing on the floor and was harassed.
So I went up to the booth to hang out with my friend, and the bouncer (there
was a bouncer at the DJ booth) assumed I was dating the DJ, and wouldn’t let me
up there, saying “you can come up here when your boy is up here.” When I explained
what had happened, and that I didn’t want to be on the floor, he overreacted
and said I was “out of control,” so I left. I’ve had people say that it’s your
fault [for going to such-and-such club]. But I feel like if I want to go see a DJ
at a club I should be able to go, no matter where it is, and not feel like I am
going to suffer for it.
You frequent Smart Bar, and you’ve played there. How has
Smart Bar influenced your own evolution?
At first I didn’t know anyone. But the first person I met
was actually, here, at Communikey, a year ago—Sam Kern (Sassmouth) and once I
met her and came to Chicago, she was so awesome and introduced me to everyone,
which was really great. Then Movement really solidified it—that’s where I met Marea
(The Black Madonna) who does talent booking for Smart Bar. She greatly encouraged my DJing and even pulled me into the Daphne series back in March. I also help out with Hugo Ball.
So are things are feeling fluid in Chicago?
Yeah, Smart Bar has a lot of little groups based on the
different monthlies and residencies. The different divisions all interact with
each other. Like Sam’s – Planet Chicago – it’s very much her own style (though as
an artist she plays a lot of styles and she’s not limited to one genre). And then there’s Oktave–Jeff Derringer’s party–which is more of
a techno night. So there are all these different nights and there are regulars that
go to some, or one, or all of them. There’s not really any distinct line which
is what I love about it. I always go to Sam’s parties and Oktave and Hugo Ball,
and it’s really easy to just float between all of them.
Lately I’ve heard that the popularity of house music is fading in Chicago, despite the fact that house is so often equated with the Chicago scene. Would you say
house is still the driving force in the Chicago scene?
I’ve seen a lot of articles lately that claim that house isn’t
important in Chicago anymore, and I’m not sure why. Someone posted a response
to that – it was a photo of something like 50,000 people that came out for
Frankie Knuckles’ memorial. I went and it was so insane. So for people that say
house isn’t important in Chicago, it’s just not true.
Do you produce?
Not yet, but I just bought a 707. I’ve played around with
that for a little while with a friend, and I’m really excited to use it more. I surmise that pretty soon here I’m gonna
get more into production. In the 7 and a
half years I’ve been DJing—I ask myself “why aren’t you producing yet?” But I don’t
want it to feel like an obligation. I’m just letting myself ease into it. I don’t
have any concrete plans but I would like to produce. I want to at least try it
and have fun with it. And if it turns into something serious, that’d be a great
thing. Right now my goal is to try it and to see how it feels.
You’ve grown as an artist in the past few years, regardless.
How have you grown and how has your taste changed or progressed?
When I started in college when I was 23, I started DJing
mostly because I wanted to dance. We were sick of driving up to Cleveland to
see music. So we started DJing at this shitty bar in the town. And I thought,
wow, this feels really good – maybe I really want to do this. I started out
with the indie-dance stuff, and then it took a turn into bloghouse – which was
kind of like a precursor to EDM – so I left that, and then I moved to Denver. I
was blown away and realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I did, and I
researched music for a long time. Denver really likes a lot of garage and bass.
The Hundred crew, for example, they tend more towards the UK influence. Then I
got to Chicago – and at this point I was already listening to and DJing house
in Denver – but then I got to know way
more about house. I started to DJ at a friend’s party that she did at a bar.
And I started to think, I’ve been DJing digital for years. I just felt like my
tastes were really immature and the only way to focus and grow them was to
switch to vinyl.
How long have you been DJing with vinyl?
Only since August. But I had my first vinyl show at Smart
Bar, which Marea (The Black Madonna) asked me to do. Before the show, there was
a lecture (as part of the Daphne series) and Erika did an awesome thing where she
showed everyone all of her machines and what she uses them for. It was a really great moment: to watch people
who know these machines—women especially—talking about them. Before this talk, Marea asked me to play some
records, and it was terrible. I botched every transition I did. I also had an
ear infection so I couldn’t hear well. I felt so terrible about that gig but
Maria was like “let me tell you about mistakes. I have made some mistakes.” She made me feel so much better. That was my
first vinyl gig.
How would you describe your sound? Do you think of yourself as
genre specific?
Not really. There’s so much I like. A friend joked with me
that my taste is “wide open.” But I’m exuberant about dance music. I love it. Sometimes
I like things that aren’t as “cool” but I feel like it has merit, regardless. However,
my taste has definitely matured and now I focus mainly on house and techno. Getting
people moving is what matters. That’s always my thing. We are here to dance.
Let’s all be honest with ourselves. We want to get lost in music for a few
hours, and we don’t need to find a reason for it or make it more intellectual than
it has to be. We can work out issues on the dance floor, I know I do every
single time. It’s a basic thing that we need.
So proud of all my gff bff/old DJ partner, Glenna aka SOLD, is doing.
After two years of being a band, Teenage Strangers released our first demo tape last night! We got to play a great tape release show with Stench Consultants & The Bush Administration, surrounded by lots of friends & people we love. I caught a bad cold which was making my body feel so terrible, but my heart felt so full. It took a long time but was so worth it to record it ourselves & make the tapes ourselves (with a lil dubbing help from Em). Proud of us! Thanks to everyone who has supported us so much over the years. Thanks to Roxy for putting up with me trying to take a cute picture of her with our tape in her lil Nuts Fanzine shirt!