Madge

Hey Madge, Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?
Madge: I grew up in Utah and my Mormon background is one of my biggest influences for better or worse. I am drawn to blood and noise, so it makes sense that one of my main collaborators is Pussy Riot. I’m hoping to shake up pop by creating records that are mostly done by me start-to-finish. My production skills are self-taught but I grew up playing competitive classical piano. Other than jazz and nostalgic faves, I don’t actually listen to much music though. 

What are your preferred Pronouns?: 
Madge: I love using they and them – it feels like a good fit. That said, I’m not too picky about my pronouns because I think that gender is truly just a construct. I would probably go by anything. 

Jake Saunders from BBC Radio called your recent release “pure gold”. Where did your musical journey start and what defined your futuristic and raw sound?
Madge: Like I mentioned before, I grew up performing classical music. I attribute anything “raw” about my music to me trying to create pop music without listening to it as a kid. I think that anytime I try to create a straightforward pop, it passes through a series of filters (my sheltered upbringing, my depression, my shame, my understanding of piano) and what comes out the other side is a bit weird by default. 

When you consider pop culture, it’s often the case that people look to it religiously without even realising it. They wait for a release date like it’s a holiday, they obsess over their icons and even they sleep in front of venues to see their icon from the first row. Do you have an opinion on the phenomenon of pop music?
Madge: Hmmm… I like it. 

Speaking of religion, how has your Mormon upbringing influenced your career-choices?
Madge: I second guess everything I do. I carry a lot of shame and self-loathing that explodes out all the time as music. I also learned a lot of discipline, though, and I have a tendency to look at things through the lens of “the big picture”. I think that spirituality is a creative space. 

Like many other producers, do you have a collection of samples that are really precious to you and you don’t share with anyone?
Madge: I don’t! I’m not very precious about any of my sounds. But I do have certain habits and tastes that influence how I use my sounds and what effects channels I put them through. 

Would you say you first had a sound and then acquired the skills or did your sound happen by accident while making your music?
Madge: Everything I do is an accident. 

Did you have a teacher or a mentor who you looked up to or took advice from concerning your musical career?
Madge: My first real music partner was Eric Robertson from my band New Shack and he introduced me to the world of synths, which I continue to explore. 

When creating music, what comes first, the lyrics, or the composing? Or does this happen simultaneously?
Madge: Depends on the song! I would say that I typically work off of lyrical themes and then add a melodic hook. I don’t dial in the exact words until the very end. 

In an interview you talk about a diss song you wrote to yourself. It’s called “headshot” and reflects the self-imposed objectification in show business. You had this to say about the title: “Having been in Los Angeles for a couple of years now and also having been able to pick up some random modelling work, I was thinking about the concept of a headshot. It’s a picture of your face but it’s such a weird, violent word. Like… I’m gonna go get my head shot…” What does this wordplay mean to you? 
Madge: I live for double-entendre. Half of what I write has multiple meanings. I find that most phrases can be violent or sexual. 

You recently did a collaboration with Pussy Riot. The song Riot is a reaction to the BLM movement and to the recent arrest of one of their members. How did this collaboration come about, and what were the political motivations behind this song?
Madge: While I’ve been working with them for a while, this song happened very quickly and last minute. There was a lot happening. Especially in Russia. It felt like an important time to put out an anti-police statement in solidarity with all of the protests happening around the world. 

We read in an interview that your musical “awakening” happened in Berlin. Could you tell us more about that?
Madge: Germany in general is where I realised I wanted to do music full-time. I never even thought about it as a career when I was in school. In fact not doing music felt like an act of rebellion against how I was raised. In Germany, though, I realised that writing songs was a form of processing my demons and making them work for me. 

What was your favourite spot to hang around in Berlin?
Madge: Probably somewhere around Neukölln eating vegan kebabs. 

When you leave the house to go to work, what is always part of your producer toolset? Just your laptop and a mike or do you have a notebook and a guitar? What does your producing setup look like?
Madge: Laptop, Apollo Solo UAD interface, small midi controller like Artiphon Orba or an Akai drum sampler, and lots of coffee. 

Are there any exciting projects you are currently working on that you can tell us about (or tease us about)? 
Madge: I have several songs in the works for Pussy Riot and Slayyyter. And I just wrote a full collaborative EP for a project I’m doing with my friend Moon Bounce. It’s called Extended Release (in part because it’s an extension of both of our projects) and we’re making release plans for it right now. I also have a collaborative house song coming out soon with one of the best videos I’ve helped make. I think 2021 will be a good year for music. 

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Images taken by May Daniels. May is wearing items from Big Bud Press.

Listen to Madge on Spotify here. To follow Madge on Instagram, click here. For more music interviews, click here.