Leader of men: JD Samson dishes on her new project and bringing genderqueer into the mainstream.(OUT LOUD)(Interview)

It's a rainy night at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis' West Bank neighborhood and JD Samson is feeling the weight of the world. "On our record there's a song called 'If You Want Something'," the former Le Tigre member explains backstage. "Go for what you desire and somehow it will come to you. I think that's clearly what we all need to do right now. Our days are numbered." In stark contrast to this morbid sentiment, Samson's new record, Talk About Body, has her coming out of the shadows in a big way to lead the dance-pop outfit, MEN, bringing a new breed of genderqueer hero to the forefront while opening up a dialogue that even the mainstream music press can't ignore.

"For a while everything I did was gay and that's not all I am," Samson says. "But at the same time, our outfits are completely made out of queer symbols. I feel like it's very important to maintain my image as a queer person and support equal rights for queers in general. But I also feel like it's important to play a show and not ever bring up the fact that you're queer and for people to just enjoy the music."

Samson's music and stage show is a hyperactive concoction of in-your-face politics, bubbly synths and retro-queer slogans. The hand-sewn yin and yang tee she sports underlines both the balance and the contradictory nature of Samson's identity.

"I usually pass as a guy, even during shows," she shrugs. "Afterward, people will be like, your voice is so high, how do you do that And I'm like, Oh, wow. They have no idea."

With Samson's boyish good looks and razor-thin moustache, she could easily nudge Justin Bieber off the pages of Tiger Beat if not for the fact that she is ... well ... a she.

"This record is good," Samson argues. "I don't get why we're not huge right now. I don't think it's about the way we sound. I think it's about who we are as humans. I think the front person of this band being some gender-queer weirdo definitely does not help us in the mainstream music world."

Despite the relative novelty of trans and genderqueer pop stars, Samson is also quick to point out the progress of the past 15 years, helped along in no small part by the power of the press. "[curve] changed my life. Did you know that?" she asks, shaking her head."I would look at the music reviews and I would write down everything on a little piece of paper and then I would go to the record store and buy all the records. That's the way I knew about everything. I didn't have the Internet."

With the economy firmly in recession, global turmoil and the looming fears of 2012, Samson takes refuge and respite in the power of dance music. "With Le Tigre, Kathleen and Jo brought me into such an amazing world and I think that there's this juxtaposition with the music that we were making and the music that I'm still making now that is about movement," Samson explains. "Whether that movement is physical or figurative that is where they come together for me. It's really vulnerable to move your body with other people and to take up space and be sweating together and it's the perfect place to talk about politics, while you're in your body and vulnerable and surrounded by others that are doing the same thing."

Her point was illustrated at a Madison, Wisc. show the previous evening. Coinciding with the Union rally in protest of the legislation to effectively end collective bargaining rights in the state, political tensions ran high.

"I felt so excited to be there during this moment," she says. "Coming in to town, I was really prepared for that audience to be there and I felt like that's exactly what happened. Everybody was freaking out. I totally miss that. Last night I felt the audience acting like the audience of Le Tigre. It's this hunger for activism."

Whether music can save the world or not, JD Samson is glad to provide a soundtrack. "I feel really lucky to be where I am and connect with all these awesome people: she smiles. "That's the biggest thing for me. When people tell me, You've helped me, or You changed me, or I'm so inspired by you, that helps me to move forward with my life and keep going." (menmakemusic.com)