We covered The Jane Doze last week when their new Zeds Dead and Big Sean mashup went viral on hypem. Who’s not intrigued by two hot chicks from New York that speak mashups, work within the music industry, and go #antlersup. I followed up with an interview request and The Doze were super responsive to accomodate the blog.

The Doze are far from your average Jane Doe as you’ll be able to tell from reading the interview. With backgrounds in digital marketing and the music industry, Claire and Jen are making moves branding themselves and carving our their own niche.

I didn’t get the chance to ask if they were single or not, but if you’re trying to find out at a show make sure you don’t creep too hard around the dj booth. Jen doesn’t seem to like that.

The Jane Doze Interview

c = claire

j = jen

The Jane Doze. John Doe. Jane is the opposite of John. Doe is a female deer. Doze is the plural. There’s two of you. Okay maybe I’m stretching a little bit, but can you tell me where the name for your group came from?

C: We wanted to play off the idea of anonymity as a way of letting our work speak for itself. We spent weeks brainstorming names, came up with a few but nothing stuck. I told a friend about the idea, and she instantly replied “Jane Doe” – I guess all we needed was a fresh, objective mind. The logo is as much a part of our brand as our name – we wanted to design something that appealed to both men and women. Judging by reaction so far, I think we managed to do that.

J: Claire pretty much nailed it. Coming from a digital marketing background I think a brand’s online presence is extremely important. Although we had liked a few names before coming up with “The Jane Doze” we would find that the names were already used on social networks, or that the URLs had already been purchased. “The Jane Doze” name was available across the board – from tumblr to twitter, etc…all the pieces just fell into place.

I’m guessing at some point you were both like f— it we’re doing this thing and just rolled with it. As females in the edm world, what has been something that you’ve had to overcome? And as new artists, what was your biggest misconception about the industry?

C: The only image associated with our name for 5-6 months after we formed was our logo. No one really knew we were girls – we didn’t have photos of ourselves anywhere – and that was intentional. We made sure we got our feet on the ground before we really put ourselves out there. We both work full time the music industry so, for better or worse, we’re pretty familiar with the process of finding, developing and promoting talent.

J: It’s no secret that the DJ world is still for the most part a “boys club”. Sometimes when we show up to a venue we aren’t taken seriously — it feels like we have something to prove.So I think for us it’s just gaining credibility in the live music scene. Both of us have day jobs in the music industry, so at this point not much comes as surprise – if anything it’s really prepared us as artists.Obviously The Jane Doze does social networking & digital marketing well. You’re doing it all like; monitoring & engagement on relevant streams, pushing on hypem (give them some love) or promoting your own tracks. What platform do you as a new artist gain the most traction from? Where are people discovering you for the first time and saying, “Wow, this is fucking awesome”

C: Hype Machine has been great for us. We had a song hit #1 on the popular chart back in April, thanks to one Hype Machine blog that has supported us from the beginning, Cause = Time. It was a song we submitted to 8 or 9 hypem blogs, and only that one picked it up. The day it was posted, it shot to #1 and stayed there for three days. That was pretty gratifying; couldn’t help but wonder what all the blogs who had ignored our submission were thinking when they saw us at #1. Twitter has also been good tool for us – it’s exposed our music to a completely different audience than Hype Machine. For many of the pop mixes we do that don’t appeal to that HM audience, we’re able to get a Twitter endorsement from either an artist we’ve featured, or an artist who’s a fan of our work.

J: We’re also constantly reaching out to fans on our facebook page, and updating our tumblr blog — not only with links to our music, but posting anything/everything that inspires us. I think that keeps us relatable, and also opens up a line of communication with our fans. Establishing that relationship early on is so valuable, and has been key to our success.

Your mashups are a mix of top 40, old school jams, hip hop, dubstep and more. It’s like my iTunes (filled with tons illegally downloaded music), just played some my of random tracks with perfect flow. Because you’re a duo, what different influences do you both bring and what kind of things do you battle over?

C: I love hip hop. Before I made mashups, I made beats – the first thing I ever produced was a beat that mixed Eleanor Rigby with 50 Cent’s “In Da Club.” I also love Motown; I grew up listening to Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, The Temptations, The Four Tops, etc. The two genres work so well together, and I tend to gravitate towards them.

J: To me, nothing is better than a great pop melody. I also love indie rock, and dance music. Claire’s love of 90s hip hop brings in a different flavor as well. I think that’s what makes our mashups so interesting, and sets them apart from others — our ability to blend different genres, decades, and styles into one cohesive jam.

With your unique video and audio content, I can visualize a really wild live set with epic visuals and people jumping around antlers up. How do the audio and video mash-ups come together when you perform?

C: We use a video plug-in for Serato, which allows the music videos of the songs we spin to play while we mix. The best part about performing our mashups live is seeing people sing along to them…while putting their antlers up.

J: I love using the video plug-in during our shows because it creates a different experience for fans. When you hear a mashup it can be difficult to place the “ooh ahh” vocals in the background or the random synth lick, but the video brings it all together. It’s that “a-ha moment” when someone can visually watch the mashup building before their eyes.

Last few questions are wildfire, first thing that pops into your head type questions.

Hotel or Hostel?
C: motel
J: hotel

Best NYE in NYC surivival tip?
C: make sure your destinations are within walking distance of your hotel/apt. no such thing as cabs on NYE.
J: leave the city for the aforementioned reasons.

Occupy Wallstreet?!?
C: I live in the Financial District, and I can hear the protesters from my bedroom. Subways that aren’t running properly and barricades cattle shooting tourist traffic are making my commute interesting.
J: interesting to watch on tv but I’m keeping my distance from that area right now. Looks like we won’t be rehearsing at claire’s place anytime soon.

How to [or not to] hit on you after your set?
C: “Do you come here often?” usually works.
J: dont creepily linger by the DJ booth during our set. There’s a big difference between creepily lingering and inquiring about our mashups, or setup, etc.

This song in your next mashup?
C: Tetris theme
J: something by Robyn. can’t.stop.listening.

 

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