If you think you've failed, you haven't. You simply found one way that doesn't work. DJ, producer, and creative director of Party Time Society, Jesse Felluss, would be the first to give you encouraging words like those. For years, he's done his best to preserve the innovative spirit of the DJ by introducing new music to clubs in New York City but after a while, his attempts fell on deaf ears. When clubs turned into money driven enterprises, Jesse moved to rural New Hampshire to focus on making original music that would be undeniably good and building up an independent record label. Now he's charting high on Beatport with a full schedule of releases from the artists at Party Time Society. We spoke with Jesse on his grind to get to where he is and his humble beginnings.
I found a lot of great stuff that you've done since you started DJing but how did you first get into DJing?
I grew up in D.C. with a major Hip-Hop influence. My brother had an old stereo, where you could hit phono and tape at the same time-I had two records and started cutting on some shit. It was around that time I started going to raves which were mental- 3,000 16 year olds strung out. I don't think they'd let that happen anymore (laughs).
Are you the turntablist beast or the smooth, city, skinny tie guy?
And who'd be DJing?
Old guys from back in the day like DJ Icee was a big deal for us and Sir Charles. I was really into breakbeats because I liked the combination of Hip-Hop and Electro shit. DJ Dan was a big influence. I was that weird, annoying dude that would just stand at the DJ booth and it'd be like, "Why are you staring at me?" And now I have people who do that to me and I'm like, "Why are you staring at me?" (laughs) I'm like a turntablist because I love the competitive aspect of things but I was also into raving and partying. It's also annoying if you're trying to market yourself. Are you the turntablist beast or the smooth, city, skinny tie guy?
Yeah, that's an interesting point because you're into scratching and the Dance scene. How did you get into turntablism?
Originally, I didn't know what the deal was. The only influence I had was the raves and my buddy had turned up with a DMC tape, '95 it was with Q-Bert and Mix Master Mike. I would always watch that tape but didn't know what I was doing. I went down to Boston and got Bionic Booger Brains. I was like, "Oh my god. Oh my god. I got the sound!" After being a PA in the film industry, I started a career in real estate and I started going to Scratch DJ Academy as an intern. That was in 2001, right after [Jam Master] Jay had passed away. Scratch does a lot of corporate shit like I got a tour with Lipton that was three months on a bus with Johnny Walker Red and Jahi. We had I-Emerge and Neil Armstrong with us. I was the turntablist act for that tour and that sparked my DJ career.
To where I'm at now, I've realized the game is so watered down. In order to make a statement, you have to do something really gimmicky or be really, really good but not just as DJing but you have to be making your own shit. So unless you're a hot chick or on a reality show…
...like Jersey Shore?
Like Pauly D. He'd be a working DJ in Rhode Island with a great tan and muscles. Take nothing away but it's crazy how it happened through more circumstance. At the very least, he was a DJ when he went there. He came in like, "I'm DJ Pauly D. I got a mixer with an Italian flag." I don't hate on him at all. Now if Snooki was a DJ and making millions, that's where I'd be like, "Whoa." That's what I'm finding so I'm trying to make as much music as I can and get good at that to the point where people are like, "This kid is good."
While you were at Scratch, were you also doing gigs?
I had a couple residencies. I was with the W Hotel and the Whiskey. I worked with a couple different promoter dudes where I would do clubs in New York. I had a residency at High Bar. I had a residency at Lotus for three weeks and then I got flaked on by the the most shady promoter ever.
That's unfortunate. But when you did perform, were you mainly spinning House music?
Mostly it was Hip-Hop and I got pretty good with 80's type sets. I never liked to play completely what was expected. It's a blessing and a curse. You want to be ahead of the game but people wanna hear what they wanna hear. I would mix in old school Hip-Hop and Prince and Michael Jackson, before it became common to do that. Then I'd come in with the 80's hard like El DeBarge, "Word Up," "Don't You Want Me Baby." I'd do one verse here, one verse there. That was all on vinyl. I was trying to get people at the Hudson Hotel to open their minds. Slowly but surely, they weren't calling me as much because I was always trying to push the envelope. But now, everyone's doing House.
I spoke with another DJ and he commented that a lot of music listeners these days don't have a favorite genre or artists like they used to. It's more about specific songs. Do you feel the same way about clubs and Dance music these days?
Absolutely. Earlier, when the Rave and Electronic scene was evolving, before it disappeared and came back, there was a Drum and Bass party. There was a breakbeat party. There was a House party. Anyone there would be like, "Fuck a Drum and Bass party! That shit's grimy." Then the people at the Drum and Bass party would be like, "That House music is some pussy shit." Nowadays, kids are into that new David Guetta, the new Baauer, the new Bingo Players, the new Drake. Nowadays, when you get a House crowd, you play a dope House song, they don't know it and they're like, "Whoa!" But it's like, "No, you said you like House so that means you're open…" "No, I like this kind of House song."
Your eclectic tastes in music leads into the next question, which is about your role at Party Time Society label. So did that start by your reaching out to the legendary Chicago radio show and wanting to start a label?
Not exactly. Eventually, I thought if shit does pop up, I'm gonna need good music. So I shouldn't go crazy with internet marketing and thought eventually I would keep making good music. I had all this music I wanted to put out and MC Zulu (we met on Twitter) had created the label with the radio show, which was going for a long time, like 14 years, thinking that they'd put out a bunch of music. As it happened, the guys at the radio show never did anything with the label. They were busy with a lot of stuff. It had distribution but no music. When I started putting music out on there, I realized I needed a one sheet. Then I gotta figure out how to use Photoshop and get a logo. Through Zulu, there was this kid, Josh (Kanizzle, ½ of Subatomica) and his girl, Jex (the other half), who had an album that they wanted to put out. Josh grew up in D.C. right where I grew up and we knew a shitton of the same people and we bonded. He's a marketing and branding beast.
What has joining the label as the Creative Director been like?
Right now, there's the three of us that run the label and the radio does its thing. We have a really good pool of artists. What we're offering is a grassroots, "Hey, we're all artists here. Let's get together and work." We have an album with H.R. [Bad Brains] on the label and a remix album. We have the more party, Hip-Hop, Trap artists like myself, Bionic, and Mr. Jennings, then we have Josh, the director of the Burning Man information radio. So we have connections to that scene--psychedelic, bass sound.
So it's like you guys are curating music with a "for us, by us" approach?
Yeah, so far people are digging it. No one has any unreal expectations. We have full distribution. What you do with that is up to you. We'll give it a push as much as we can.
" 'Be so good at what you do that they can't ignore you.' "
One of those artists who I want to discuss is you! It seemed like you moved to New Hampshire from New York City to work on some original production. While you were out there you even turned down a cruise ship gig. Did you just need to get away to some peace and quiet to work?
Yeah, kinda. The city and I both changed. If you're in the city and it's offering opportunity, then the bullshit you have to deal with fades away. For me, I got to the point that I never wanted to do the status quo and that hampered me. It was frustrating to be a hometown DJ and not be put up there with an outside DJ with some kind of air of prestige like Teeble Von Schleebovitz from Berlin, which sounds cooler than Jesse from New York. All of the people in that scene changed from being focused on the music to "how many bottles can we sell as possible?" Now the DJ has to please the 21 year old, Paris Hilton wanna be. I got annoyed. I'm playing the cheesiest song that everyone plays and they're acting like I played a Reggae Sunsplash Kingston '82 rare gem. I wouldn't mind being a 55 year old DJ playing dope music to a crowd. I don't want to DJ for people who want to throw up on themselves. Don't get me wrong, I love a drunk crowd.
I thought that if I want to get back to Marquee in New York and play the music I like, I need to create ridiculously good music. I was enjoying my time outside of the city and camping and we were thinking about moving to California. But I went to high school in New Hampshire and we came up here for a wedding and thought it was sweet. It's close enough to New York for gigs. I needed to free myself from the angst. I read a quote from Steve Martin: "Be so good at what you do that they can't ignore you." And that was it!
You've been on these cruises so many times, you must've seen some crazy things that no one else has seen. What's the craziest story you have that you can tell?
That I can tell… (laughs). One time, I was DJing on this coffin and this dude was so wasted, he falls back and his head or his back hit the corner of my coffin really hard. The record skips and this guy is on the ground. I'm waving to security and meanwhile the floor is going wild. I turn around, and the song was a rising song, this guy slowly stood up and when the beat hit, he jumped up and went into the craziest dance I've ever seen in my life. That was the first time I was on the ship.
Every year my reputation grew and every year they had a Red Bull rave party, which is a crew party on an ice skating rink where the floor comes out. Given my background in electronics, the second year I did it, they gave me a really big intro where the music stops and everything goes dark. There's heartbeats and shit. The curtain opens up and the next year, they're like, "How are we gonna top that one?" One year, I rose up from the bottom. The last year we did a Back to the Future theme where they had a scaffolding and built half of a Delorean with the swing up doors. My intro was a swinging door opens and they poured out so much smoke. I come out with my Michael J. Fox vest and hi-tops on. That was awesome.
That sounds unreal. One of my last questions is about the remixes you did for the Ballet Hispanico's production of Asuka. That seemed super left field. How did that come about?
It is left field. Before I left New York, the last big push I had was a two man, modern day Jazzy Jay and Will Smith deal. It was with this guy, Dante, who sings and is awesomely flamboyantly gay. I love him for that. We were called Nue Pourn. One of his connections was the general manager at Ballet Hispanico. The director mentioned that he was looking for a DJ to remix some stuff. I got in touch and made a sample mix.
What was your initial reaction to the offer?
I thought it was cool! In this business, you don't get really excited about a lot of stuff unless the check is in the bank. But I was pumped especially since it was premiering at the Apollo. I will say that the director made a final edit of the sound design without clearing it with me. I was credited as the sound designer so when we were at the Apollo and it came on, I wasn't as excited with the overall sound as I wanted to be.
How much was changed?
He originally wanted three remixes done. I did them and four soundscapes and all this shit. I scored the whole thing. Then he decides he just wanted to use a bunch of old songs and use one of my remixes in the final version. All that work… At the end of the day, the New York Times was ripping the sound. That sucks! He took all these old shitty versions of Celia Cruz songs that he probably downloaded from mp3.skull. He had those and then my remixes come in which are fully mastered and current music. It was too loud so it didn't feel right to me and I fucking made it.
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?Goonies. Every time I see it, it makes me want to be a kid. It makes me happy and sad at the same time.
2. As a young DJ, who was the one DJ you looked up to?Craze
3. As a DJ, what's your biggest pet peeve?People not trusting me. If I'm playing a chill song at the beginning of the night, I'm playing that for a reason. It's an art. You need to understand that a good Electronic DJ set doesn't even pique in the first hour.
4. What is your current DJ set up at home?Two Technics 1200's turntables. No mixer, which would be a no Serato on board Rane 56, because I was using it the other day. I have my effects on my MIDI controller. A keyboard and a computer. I want to do shows with multi-tracking on Ableton and have a turntable for scratching and looping but you can't have 20 .wav files open at once. I have to be prepared for the money crowd and not the "I'm open" crowd.
5. What's your favorite record of all time?I gotta give it up to the Beastie Boys because they're great like full albums. Licensed to Ill is probably my favorite just because it's fun. It's hard but it's fun, which is kinda like how I am.
Keep up with Jesse Felluss on his website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. For everything Party Time Society related, check out its website and Facebook page.
Bryan Hahn is not the type to spend $2,000 at a club and throw up on himself. On purpose. He's on Twitter: @notupstate.