Interview
Tabitha McKibben is a party organizer, DJ, and dancefloor enthusiast based in Seattle. Having lived her life in the city, she’s seen a bit of each side of the Emerald City’s underground - shiny, although typically due to the perpetual slick of rain.
Presently, she finds herself immersed in the dance music scene. In just over a year, her party J⊛⊛SED has become a favorite monthly all-locals affair, featuring some of the city’s deepest heads and finest dolls. Wielding a USB of her own deranged, trippy, bouncy selections, Tabitha’s here for the fun of it, but as she says “fun like a chainsaw - fun like a trash fight.”
Congrats on the recent anniversary of J⊛⊛SED! Tell us about your experience organizing over the last year plus.
Oh it's been wonderful, I'm really lucky to be surrounded by such a special group of dancers and DJs. We've developed a great core of regulars and a very fun culture around the night. I feel like we've finally hit our stride again after relocating from our original home at Afterlife (RIP) down the hill to Timbre Room. It’s been an adjustment, but it’s been really fun to just have the JOOSED squad take over the club once a month. I've been able to give some newer DJs a chance to play out for the first time (shoutout to Quinn, Regan and (soon!) Ruby), which has been really rewarding.
Our goal from the beginning was to throw an unhinged, kinda crazy night with & for our friends - a regular chance to get truly freaky on the dancefloor with your nearest & dearest. & I think we've mostly achieved that - it often feels like more of a monthly hangout session & music sharing moment than it really does a 'club night'. And I really appreciate everyone's willingness to get crazy on a weeknight, great energy and excitement in the town right now and we love it.
Having seen so much of Seattle’s underground music scene, I’m curious what changes you’ve seen? Any particular growth or regression?
I mean, I've been doing dance music stuff in Seattle for about 10 years now? Before that I was more in the DIY/punk/noise world... There have definitely been some shifts over the past few years, but also everything kinda stays the same, ya know? New spaces and parties evolve, old ones fade, etc etc. The pace of partying here is pretty consistent - a few things at the club, a bigger rave roughly every other weekend, a smattering of non-dance music events that overlap with that scene. Recently I have been plugging back into noise music here, and that's been really fun. Nice to get reacquainted with that music after not really going to shows for almost 10 years.
There's been a pretty great influx of newer people to the scene the past year - a lot of folks who were regulars at JOOSED have been getting more involved with the underground stuff, which is great. I feel like the parties were starting to get a little stale for a minute, it's really good to feel like there is some fresh energy & a sense of forward momentum. For better or worse I'm kinda an oldhead in this scene now, and I try to take that responsibility somewhat seriously - helping to teach & provide opportunity for newer DJs, showing up for new people throwing events, making sure some fresh faces get invited to afters, etc.
What do you find to be unique about the corner of the scene you’re in now?
I think my favorite part of my little pocket in the scene here is how utterly dedicated most of us are to DANCING. There's not a lot of jadedness or cool-girl distance at the rave - we're the ones in the front gripping the subwoofer and freaking it until 6am. For me, the dancers are what truly make a party good, and I'm really happy to be around a bunch of people who also absolutely live for this music the same way I do. I really see myself as a dancer first and foremost, then an event organizer, then a DJ. Love my fellow dancefloor maniacs, couldn't do this shit without you.
I also love how dedicated we're becoming towards wearing masks & practicing some basic COVID safety. Most of the 'cool kids' mask pretty consistently, and it seems like general consciousness around the ongoing pandemic is on the rise. Just threw the first edition of CRANK along with my friends Michaela and Arabella - it's a covid-safer, mask required rave, and it went really well! We had DJ Dissolve up from Portland, who was incredible. A really lovely group of dancers, music was wonderful. Looking forward to doing more of these in the future!
What change or growth would you like to see of the Seattle underground?
I mean more masking & general covid safety would be FAB. Mask required events are actually very fun & easy to throw, more promoters should be doing that! AND at very very least it should be absolutely standard to provide and encourage masks, and to have some degree of air purification. It's really not that hard & dancers will (actually) appreciate it - I think a lot of the reason people don't mask has to do with social pressure/looking un-cool. Promoters & DJs have the ability to shift the culture in a safer & more inclusive way, everyone should be doing what they can to make that happen.
A big goal of mine for this year is to make clubbing in Seattle fun again (lol). We have such a wonderful set of underground parties here, but the clubs (...i.e. just Kremwerk and Massive) have often felt neglected. As much as I love raves, nightclubs can be such an important part of a healthy music scene and I want to push that forward as much as I can! There's a certain friction and tension and sense of possibility at nightclubs - you never know who's going to be there, there’s much more potential to meet someone new or hear a DJ you didn't expect to love. Raves can be so warm and fuzzy and safe (which I love), but you also need the sleazy, spontaneous chaos that clubs can bring. Going to Kremwerk was such an important part of my early education and involvement in dance music - that's how I got to know people in the scene, and got hip to the bigger underground things (secondnature, High+Tight etc).
I'm a big believer in having variety in a music scene - you need the nightclubs, you need the free renegades, you need the off-the-grid campouts, you need the cool-kids-only exclusive underground functions, you need the silly little bar nights, you need the deranged afters in your friend's living room etc etc. And you need all of this to work together to actually make a scene thrive and flourish and produce music and parties of real power and significance.
Tell us a bit about your mix.
Well it's a lot of what I've been playing out recently - if you've caught me at JOOSED or whatever you might recognize some of the tracks. A lot of grimy, sleazy minimal, some weirder moments of abstraction. & definitely also some influence from my background in punk & noise musics - literal tunes from that world, and also just a general sense of momentum & rush & chaos.
This has been a crazy year of personal pain and growth for me, and I've really really depended on the catharsis that dancing & DJing provides. Tried to capture some of that energy here - exuberant & energetic but not afraid to be a little harsh/brutal. Not so much about feeling your feelings on the dancefloor, rather releasing your negativity & anxiety and letting the music scoop you up and toss you around. Rebirth, tearing yourself apart & putting yourself back together. Ecstatic music for girls on ecstasy; painful music for girls in pain.
What’s up next for you?
More DJing! I've been pretty deep in throwing parties the past few years, and as much as I love it I feel like I've lost some momentum as a musician. I'm hoping to get more opportunities to play out (book me!) at events that I'm not also organizing lol. I feel like I'm really starting to hone in on my particular sound and perspective as a DJ, and I'm really excited to keep developing that in collaboration with the dancers who come to see me.
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Photo credit: Cameron Day O'Connell