So what kind of DJ has a name like Ferris you ask? If I was to reply ‘the kind of DJ that also rides bulls at a rodeo’ you’d get some kind of idea about the guy. Many DJs describe themselves as ‘adventurous’ but Ferris personifies the word as both a DJ and a person. Perhaps this attitude dates back to when Ferris was learning the DJ ropes in the early 90s during a three year residency at the Gallery Club in country Victoria. It might have been called ‘The Gallery’ but it sure wasn’t full of oil paintings. Just ask Ferris how many dreadlocks got yanked out by punters if he played a tune that a burly sheep-shearer took a dislike too! Or about the time he was set alight (although he tells people that what he really meant was the he was ‘on fire that night’)…or the time he fell through the glass DJ booth onto the floor below. These experience helped Ferris learn much about track selection and the critical (sometimes in an intensive-care kind of way) need to play the right track at the right time. Like so many of today’s greats such as Danny Tenaglia and Anthony Pappa, Ferris shared his time between club and mobile gigs, the mobile gigs being a DJs ultimate test of crowd-pleasing abilities.

Leaving country Victoria far behind, Ferris made a break for it and found himself in South Australia’s capital, Adelaide. Talk about out of the frying place and into the fire! Controversial author Salman Rushdie visited Adelaide in the 1980’s, and later declared it "a perfect setting for a Stephen King horror novel," adding that "sleepy conservative towns are where those things happen." And he was right! Adelaide has been home to more bizarre cults, serial killings and weird murders than many much larger cities. Nevertheless, in the early 90s Adelaide was also Australia’s techno capital and Ferris learnt much sharing gigs with the likes of HMC, GTB and Groove Terminator (GT) and supporting internationals including The Prodigy, Dream Frequency and The Shaman.

’94 saw Ferris return to Victoria, this time to Melbourne, with plans of settling into the responsible 9-5 work schedule…while his friends placed bets on how many months it would be until he felt the need to return to DJing. Surprising everyone (and scooping the pool, thus making a considerable amount of money in the process) it was not until ’98 that Ferris dusted off the decks. Like a vampire in an Anne Rice novel, he had fallen into a musical slumber four years ago, bored and uninspired by what was passed off as good music. But suddenly he found himself surrounded by a very different scene in Melbourne which has by now become Australia’s international dance music gateway. A hypnotising underground paradise of progressive and breaks ruled by Phil K, Gab Oliver, Ozzie LA and the Melbourne club at which they wowed crowds each and every month called Sunnyside Up. Ferris had awoken and he was very, very hungry.

No more commercial shenanigans for this little black duck, Ferris was in the midst of a scene full of passionate people who made and mixed quality music…and he was thriving. Just a few months on from his self-imposed ‘wilderness years’, he had a full crate of bombs and more gigs than dreadlocks, His mix of deep, tribal, progressive and breaks making sure people took note wherever he played. His list of gigs include 3D, Darkbeat, Fokus, Sonar, KinetiK, Earthcore, Freebase, Scubar , Sunday Skool Fathom and Sunny.

More than just a pretty mass of hair, the grey matter under it aint too shabby either. Ferris decided that after being held over a barrel by promoters since his first gig (and getting an appetite for it) he’d give the caper a go himself. Ferris held the much fames ‘Wild Things 2’ at Kryal Castle. Was it a success? Expecting only 800 people, he was awestruck when 4000 punters showed up and partied relentlessly in temperatures of 1.5 degrees this was followed by the ‘Fathom’ events and he eventually established a Thursday night cult following with Peach [director’s note: no DJs were harmed in the promoting of any of these events]

2002 saw Ferris make the leap from Melbourne minion to ‘luminary of the dance music scene’ as he was recently described by Melbourne streetpress magazine, Zebra. Not one to take baby-steps, Ferris achieved two of his biggest DJing goals within two weeks of each other. Firstly he played at Sunny, the club which had nurtured his obsession with dance music since ’98. Secondly, he played a set at Australia’s biggest outdoor music festival, Earthcore right alongside dance music legends such as Ken Ishii, lemon8, Si Begg, Andreas Kramer etc. For the uninitiated, Earthcore is an experiment where scientists from Langley Virginia send tens of thousands of people and countless international and local DJs into a (supposedly) inactive volcano crater to examine their behaviour over a period of three days every year in November. Not only did Ferris survive but, like the dreadlocked equivalent of the cockroach, thrived, earning him a Main Stage spot at Earthcore’s 10th anniversary in 2003.

A tribute to his versatility, in 2003 Ferris has become only the second DJ to ever play two sets (breaks and progressive) in the one night at Sunnyside Up (now just called Sunny). Australia’s longest running monthly progressive night, this year Sunny celebrates its sixth birthday and regularly draws crowds of 800+ (without any advertising) playing alongside quality internationals like PQM, Andy Jarrod, Anthony Pappa, Barry Gilby, Austin Leeds, Gwill Morris DJing there regularly. But with Ferris’s starts rising just as quickly, Sunny isn’t the only one whose future looks bright.

Ferris’ sound has been humorously described as small furry animals being tortured by African villagers. But more accurately, a blend of cutting edge tribal progressive and fat dirty electro breaks. His ability to read and respond to a crowd guarantees your dance floor, weather full of educated punters or girls dancing around handbags will be packed from start to finish. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.