FabulousPDX sat down with emerging deejay Gutter Glamour for an exclusive interview on her recent debut and quick rise in the queer music/ party scene. After clocking in only 5 hours of sleep and getting up early to practice mixing, DJ Gutter Glamour, known around town as Jenny Bruso, cut short one of her daily basement practice sessions to meet up with me at the Tuff Luck Deli for a sit down about mixtapes, mistakes and musical epiphanies.

Behind the deejay booth for only 6 months, Gutter Glamour has played some of the most well known Portland queer parties including BlowPony, Double Down and her own monthly gig, Dirt Bag.  A self-proclaimed music nerd, deejaying was not something she ever considered until her partner asked her to spin for a Tuff Luck coffee shop benefit, an invitation that she promptly declined.  In the days following that offer, she couldn’t stop obsessing over what exactly would constitute an epic set list, mentally mixing every song she heard into the next and getting excited about the balance between carving out her play lists in solitude before presenting them to a party-ready public.  Gutter Glamour eventually accepted the invitation and played at that event for 4 hours, which surprisingly wasn’t a huge deal since her epic set list actually turned out to be 8 hours long.

It was out of that successful initial appearance that Dirt Bag was born.  A queer party whose music can be described as queer/feminist electro pop, hip hop, and hella gay jams.  Gutter Glamour is dedicated to staying on course with her vision to play music that strays from the Top 40 circuit and focuses on more unpredictable set lists, describing her genre as independent electro-pop and minimal wave such as Cold Cave, The Knife, Hot Chip, and Delorean.  Tempering her mixes and musical style with pleasing the crowd has been one of the more difficult recipes to master, a lesson recently learned when she cleared the dance floor with a Kate Bush song.  “For that crowd, it was a boner kill.  For sure.”

While radiant in appearance, Gutter Glamour is surprisingly shy and generously humble about her mistakes and the learning curve as a newbie in the deejay game. Completely self-taught, she practices for hours everyday. Hands on experience, trial and error and a welcoming Portland music community have been her greatest teachers so far.  “I’m learning something from my practice sessions everyday, which is overwhelming and wonderful.”  For most of the summer, she’s been holed up in her basement studio working on her first mixtape, a tool for showcasing skills and getting new gigs, which will be available at Dirt Bag this Thursday (at The Know on Alberta). She tells me she’ll know it’s ready when she can listen to it without cringing.  “It’s awesome that there’s a lot I don’t know because that means I get to keep having these epiphanies that I love.”

Hear DJ Gutter Glamour live this Thursday! at Dirt Bag, 10pm at The Know (2026 NE Alberta St.).  Her mixtape will be available for deejays, promoters and fans.  To get a copy and keep up with the latest, contact her on Facebook:  facebook.com/gutterglamour.

Tags: Dirt Bag, DJ Gutter Glamour, jenny bruso, Portland Oregon, The Know