It has been half a year since Stevie Cox has brought her experimental, hypnotic and energetic love of house, techno and breaks to the Sub Club basement. After enriching her knowledge in Manchester and Sheffield, she made the move to Glasgow to take the resident seat for Sub Club’s latest all-embracing Thursday night, Sircle, and has since seen herself becoming a frequent addition to lineups across Glasgow and beyond. She joins Telford on February 23rd for her Subculture debut – no doubt to be the first of many to come.
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Can you tell us when / where your love for electronic music began?
Pretty early on in my teenage years. I grew up surrounded by it, sneaking into a lot of raves with older friends when I was a wee one.
The party that easily had the most influence on me was Hoya:Hoya – so I’m buzzing that that Eclair Fifi has a residency with us for 2020, as she was one of the residents at Hoya too.
Has there been any artists that have had a long-standing influence on you as a DJ?
Not consciously, but I’ve got no doubt that I’ve been influenced by my favourite DJs without me being actively aware of it. I have to give a special mention to Mor Elian – she’s one of the absolute best DJs around in my opinion, and has helped me on a personal level more than I can say. Harri, Domenic and Telford have always been right up there as my favourites, and listening to them on a weekly basis has cemented that. I’m really drawn to the Subculture sound – which in my head I’d describe as emotionally rich, melodic and restrained at the right moments.
In the past 10 years, you’ve lived in Manchester, Sheffield and now Glasgow. How have each of these cities affected you musically?
In Manchester when I first started going out, I used to go to all types of events – massive warehouse parties with lots of big names, in-house nights at venues like Antwerp Mansion and smaller monthly resident parties like Hoya:Hoya. These years exposed me to a lot of different kinds of electronic music, so my ‘raving’ starting point was pretty broad in a musical sense. Living in Sheffield whilst studying opened my eyes to more niche stuff and lesser-known names. I’ve discovered so many amazing artists from my years there, especially thanks to Liam O’Shea, the curator of Hope Works and No Bounds Festival. The No Bounds lineups in particular are so forward thinking. Liam is always ahead of the curve and I’m incredibly grateful to him for introducing me to so much amazing music. At the risk of sounding rather obvious, living in different places has exposed me to different people and things, and I’ve discovered different music off the back of that. Glasgow has always been a city I’ve been drawn to musically though – the amount of amazing producers, DJs, labels and promoters working here is very special. I’m lucky enough to have experienced living in three places that have all got vibrant scenes and musical histories.
The Sub Club basement has already honed your sound throughout your Sircle residency in 2019. What are you looking forward to about playing your debut Subculture?
I’ve followed and attended this party for so long that it feels like a personal milestone moment for sure. Telford will probably hate me for saying this, but having to try and keep up with how good he is has definitely made me better at DJing. We’ve played together 3 times now – at Dimensions Festival in Summer, Subbie in October, and Maximum Pressure on New Years Day. It’s like a lesson in how to DJ every time, and I’m really looking forward to round 4.
What has the future got in store for you – can we expect any productions from Stevie Cox?
Hopefully, once I manage to get my inner critic to simmer down…
We give you a situation you give us a track –
• The world is ending. This will be the last track ever.
Aurora Halal – Sunlight
• Aliens have landed. You have the chance to play them one record.
Tracing Xircles – Lost Illusions
• It’s Sunday afternoon at home. The sun is shining through the window. You have no plans for the day.
The Wanda feat. Chaka Khan & Berres Hammond – Baby Don’t You Go (Qwestlife Remix)
• This record never leaves your bag. In fact you might take it out soon as you play it too much.
V – Faux
• This record is rarely in your bag, but you’ve been meaning to put it in, because it sounds so good.
Shlømo – Ivory
Stevie Cox plays with Telford for February 23rd’s edition of Subculture. 11PM – 4AM.