New documentary on acid house and birth of UK rave culture launches crowdfunder for release

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A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to support the release of a brand new documentary, ‘All We Wanna Do Is Dance’, which captures the explosion of acid house and UK rave culture from the late ’80s through into the ’90s.

The film – directed, edited and self-financed until now by Gordon Mason – is made up of archival footage, much of it never-seen-before and captured from 1988 onwards, from various dance music hubs, such as Chicago, Manchester, London and Ibiza.

The story, a press release explains, is “told by the people who were there, the pioneers who took on the establishment and literally fought for their right to party”.

Fingers Inc. member and legendary house music vocalist Robert Owens narrates the film, which takes in interviews with more than 60 influential figures from across the history of house and rave music culture, including producer and Trax Records A&R Marshall Jefferson; London’s key acid DJ Colin Faver (who passed away in 2015); Paul Oakenfold; Carl Cox; A Guy Called Gerald; Fabio & Grooverider; and many more. 

The film looks back at the Detroit and Chicago originators who developed the house music sound, and the parties from that time, and traces the development through to influential UK parties, such as Helter Skelter and Fantazia, as well as those that took place at Manchester’s legendary and now closed Haçienda club.

In addition to its extensive collection of interview, the film features a soundtrack of 56 classic house and rave music cuts, which, the crowdfunding page explains, means that “the music clearance budget is large, although this is offset against some frugal archive clearances and low post-production expenses”.

As a result, director Mason has launched a campaign to help finance the film through its final release stages, which you can support here, where you can also find out more about the project as a whole and watch a trailer for the documentary.

A new photobook capturing the Haçienda at its prime was recently published.

Last year, The Haçienda – which was recently recreated in VR – was voted one of the UK’s top historic sites, despite the fact the warehouse that once housed the Manchester club no longer exists.