Young Londoner Madison Cox has directed and edited a mini doc ‘The Come Down’ based around the 90’s House scene.
“Not everyone understand House Music”, the famous lines from Eddie Amador speak of an understanding and love of the House music scene. From it’s origins in the early 80’s in cities like Detroit, Chicago and New York to the early exploration of the Ibiza by UK adventurers Jonny Walker, Danny Rampling, Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Hollway and Trevor Fung, the ‘rave’ has played a prominent part in worldwide youth culture.
The halcyon days of the early 90’s are a much argued conversation starter with many speaking of 88-91 the ‘golden’ years of rave/partying and many speak of how the modern youth don’t appreciate the scene as much as our forefathers did. So it’s unusual that you come across a free spirt with a keen eye of learning and appreciating where and what she literally came from.
Life is one big risk.. we all die eventually. But do we wanna die being bored and following the rules.. or do we live for the day… Tough choice… @peterlovell
Step up Madison Cox. The London-born digital creator, photographer, graphic designer, documentarist and social media content creator is part of the new wave of ‘ravers’. But what sets Madi apart is her thirst for knowledge of where the roots of the dance music world stem from. A college project with nearly 8k views on Youtube, ‘The Come Down’ is a raw, true short film that speaks directly to people who were there in these said halcyon days. Capturing the attention of RSA (Ridley Scott creative group) the short film/mini-doc is an entertaining watch, as it not only speaks to veteran clubbers but also speaks to the younger generation and offers a opportunity for them to say what’s on their mind and how they see things.
Madi Cox
We caught up with Madi recently and had a chance to speak about the short film and Madi’s upbringing. Here’s what went down
K: Hi Madi, thanks for taking some time out to have a quick chat withus.
M: it’s my pleasure, thank you for having me
K: First of all, congratulations on the mini doc I guess you could callit. How did it all come about?
M: We’ll this was actually apart of my college course we got told we had to do a documentary, and my brain went straight to my mum and dads lives and I knew that I needed to honour them in a way they would enjoy and to just educate people on the rave scene in the 90s because I’m so jealous I never got to experience it!
K: Why Clubbing/Raving? What made you steer towards that direction?
M: Growing up my mum would always talk about these fun times she had at raves with her friends and I was very jealous of that because as a 18 year old myself I recognise that we don’t have that anymore, we do but it’s very very underground because these days if you was to throw a rave like you did back then it would be found out in 3 seconds and shut down due to social media which is a shame because i would love to experience what my mum, dad and their friends experienced in the 90s
K: Your mum appears in the video, was it easy hearing her love and fearcentred around going ‘clubbing’ these days and does it have an affect onhow you see going out?
M: It wasn’t as odd and awkward as you may think it would of been because as I’ve got older my mum has tried to be more transparent with me about drugs and going out because I’m at that age where those conversations are kind of mandatory for a parent to do, but overall it was amazing to also hear some stories she didn’t tell but the funniest part was my friends were helping me film it and they found it awkward because they had never met my mum and their first impression of her was a crazy raver in the 90s
K: Music wise, what are your first memories of dance music? or having a’raver mum’?
M: My first memory of music is when my mum would drop me to school and play the Hed Kandi CDs in the car, I remember wanting to look like the cartoon girls on the front cover, another fun memory and there’s a video and photos me dancing to Annie Mac when she did a New Years show for BBC on the tv that was really fun because me and my mum was just dancing around our living room but I would also say when my dad used to play on the pirate radio station KOOL fm i would listen and he would give me a shoutout which was very cool growing up
K: Your dad is a Jungle DJ, whats the best story he’s ever told you from back in the day and did his music influence you growing up?
M: I mean my dad has told me so many stories I could be here for days telling you, One that I do remember which wasn’t at a rave but was a funny story to do with my Dad and Nan, he was around 19 I’m gonna say and was sitting on the wall outside his house ignoring my nan when she was telling him to come in for dinner so my nan lost her cool and started throwing his vinyls out the window like frisbees, he told me his friends were scared of my nan after this, she was crazy back then and still is but I love her loads and so does my dad
K: Musically, what’s your bag?
M: that’s a really hard question because I’m like my mum I like all music genres but a song I’ve been listening to on repeat recently because it reminds me of being younger is ‘Jus 1 Kiss’ by Basement Jaxx theres something about that song that I love, but in all honesty my favourite genres of music would be House, Soulful House and Indie, the Indie genre comes from my mum and my nans brother he loves old rock bands from the 70s and he always used to quiz me when I was younger about the bands
K: How was the mini doc received generally?
M: I was so surprised by how many people watched it, I remember the day it came out I kept refreshing the page and just watching the views go up and up, my college ELAM loved that people loved it because it was a genre specific doc which can sometimes work out in your favour or not but luckily for me it turned out ok, I’ll tell you a funny story actually I was on a plane coming home from San Francisco a few months ago and had to catch a connecting flight from Dallas to london and on the plane to Dallas I got talking to this proper country guy from Dallas and told him about my documentary and he was amazed that I made something like that and asked me if I could give him the details of it to watch it and so I did and then I saw a comment on the post from him saying he loved it, it’s crazy to me that people still want to watch it even if its not their genre of music and I never thought it would get to a point where I would be interviewed about it.
K: What’s next for you or what’s your dreams for the future?
M: We’ll I’m currently working for a marketing agency that does a lot of social media promotion for clubs and DJs across London, Ibiza and Brazil which is amazing and I want to continue doing this but if the opportunity came up where I got to do a documentary again I wouldn’t pass up on the offer.
K: Quick fire question time….. MP3 or vinyl?
M: vinyl definitely, I think if I said MP3 my dad would kill me!
K: Best DJ?
M: Carl Cox 100% I love that I share the same surname as him aswell
K: Ibiza or Croatia?
M: Ibiza all the way, best place on earth I think apart of me is still stuck on that Island in all honesty
K: Sync or No Sync?
M:As long as there is no clanging I don’t mind
K: Cameras in clubs, yay or nay?
M: I’m gonna say yes but hear me out only if it’s for like marketing and promotional purposes because I wouldn’t have a job if there was no cameras in clubs but if your a audience member take a few videos but don’t stand there the whole night recording… live in the god damn moment!
K: Thanks Madi, and good luck with the feature!
M: Thank you so much I really appreciate it…I hope I get to speak to you guys again
