DJ Seizure
One of the cruel injustices of covering local music is that sometimes the busiest artists are the most difficult to cover.
Take DJ Seizure (aka Curtis Jennette), a resident DJ at Play Dance Bar and a fixture on the Nashville underground dance scene since before he could drive. He’s one of those folks who seem to be everywhere all the time. His schedule is packed with regular gigs on Church Street, out-of-town gigs DJing paint parties and time slots at some of the coolest if-you-know-you-know parties in Nashville.
And when he’s not playing the cool parties, he’s out supporting the cool parties and generally being a nexus for good vibes and good tunes. His multifaceted aesthetic is as much a product of what Nashville dance music has been as it is a representation of what it can be.
“I started [DJing] back when I was in high school, a freshman in high school,” Seizure tells the Scene. “My friends were going to these happy hardcore raves that were actually at the old Rocketown building, the one that used to be off Sixth Avenue — this is way back. So I really fell in love with the music, and when I would go to these parties, I would find myself just closer and closer to the DJ booth, watching what the DJ was doing.”
For those who don’t remember: Those Rocketown parties were wild. The original iteration of the Christian rock venue — which relocated to a different building a few blocks away nearly 15 years ago — would host crowds that were drug-free but amped-up on the unbridled energy of kids getting their first taste of freedom. The buzz was boosted even further by blazing-fast BPMs and tweaked-out synths. Those parties were a scene and a testament to the old raver ideal of “PLUR” — peace, love, unity and respect. The blend of people and styles that made those parties so much fun still runs through Seizure’s work, where connecting with a crowd of diverse people with diverse tastes is the key to keeping the dance floor moving.
“I feel like I have a pretty good finger [on the] pulse of what’s happening in the dance music world in Nashville,” Seizure says. “I follow a lot of different crews that are in the city, so I know what’s going on in the house music realm. I know what’s going on in the bass music realm. I’m just an avid dance music fan.”
Seizure has been a resident DJ at Play for nearly eight years — a millenia or so in nightclub years. He started his run after winning a DJ competition, and brings his underground energy to one of the premier queer clubs in Middle Tennessee and the mainstream of Midstate dance music. Finding that balance between party-time jukebox and wizard-like sherpa for new sounds is a challenge for any DJ — but when your spot is the spot where people are looking for true dance floor deliverance, expectations are even higher.
“I love the fact that I can start at a low energy and build out the night and get to a peak and then bring ’em back down,” says Seizure. “At Play, it’s a mixture of everybody. You have a mixture of people wanting to hear hip-hop. You have people who are wanting to hear Latin music. You have people who are wanting to hear EDM. You have people who are wanting to hear pop bangers. It is really a very big melting pot of a bunch of different people.”
And bringing joy to that melting pot is more important than ever. With queer spaces and arts spaces under attack from the hate-filled, vitriol-spewing corners of the White House and the Trump admin’s acolytes, spending five hours in sanctuary and dance floor fellowship on a Saturday night is a radical act. In an age of institutional greed and selfishness, sharing joy and sharing music is a form of revolution itself.
“Just being able to share new music with people is probably one of the most rewarding parts of [DJing],” says Seizure. “[To] the people understanding how I’m keeping a party going, it’s like, ‘Hey, you’re awesome, thank you.’”
