Photo by Shawn Corrigan
By DCist Contributor Briana Younger
Jen Mozenter and Claire Schlissel are living their own version of the storied American Dream. The two met and formed the producer-DJ duo known as The Jane Doze four years ago. At the time, both women were employed full-time behind the scenes in the music industry, but the success they found through DJing prompted them to quit their day jobs and make music full time.
“I think we owe a lot to those [previous] experiences just simply because most artists don’t get the opportunity to see things from the other side and have that perspective going into it,” Mozenter told DCist. “I think it’s made us smarter artists in that we … can sort of read between the lines and see things for what they are … and make strategic decisions that I’m not sure we would make had we not had the experience helping do this for other people.”
The two got their feet wet creating mixes and mash-ups of well-known tracks or buzzing artists that would more easily garner attention. Now, established and polished, the model has inverted itself, giving The Jane Doze endless creative freedom and artists requesting them.
“Sometimes, there are labels that come to us and ask us to do a remix and those tend to be more of the mainstream people that labels put a lot of energy on,” Mozenter said. “But a whole other side to what we do is picking things that we just love and put our spin on it, and it’s not necessarily someone that’s mainstream or that everyone is talking about.”
Their formula is fluid, allowing them to play to crowds of any size in any place—whether it’s Las Vegas’ annual Electric Daisy Carnival or D.C.’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The latter, the duo says, stands out as a top moment of their career.
“We played to about 10,000 kids [for Invisible Children’s Global Dance Night], and the energy was just something we’ve never felt before,” Schlissel recalled. “Every single one of those people was captivated. It was also one of our first experiences having control over a huge crowd. We put our hands up, they put their hands up. We yelled, they would yell. It was pretty incredible.”
The Jane Doze will return to D.C. this Saturday (they played Trillectro in August) to headline #CrankParty—a concert-party hybrid founded in 2012 by D.C.-based producers Rex Riot and Basscamp. They will be fresh off appearances at SXSW and their current stomping grounds in New York. Keeping such a packed schedule is noteworthy in a genre that has a well–documented history of objectifying or downright excluding women.
“This is something we’ve been vocal about before and will continue to be in the future. The ratio needs to change—that’s the bottom line,” Claire said. “There aren’t enough women represented on festival lineups [and] booking agency rosters. And just from that perspective, it feels like we’re treated less-than or not as good as, but we’re out to change that. There are so many talented women doing amazing things that are just not getting the shine they deserve.”
#CrankParty is at Liv nightclub on March 28th. Tickets are $10 and include open bar.
