INTERVIEW WITH DENNIS FERRER - VIEW BIOGRAPHY

A name you will regularly find on all good dj playlists around the world.

High quality production which you can't pass by anymore. Yet, until now, the man remained very discrete... Producer and remixer on various labels, Dennis F also manages the New Jersey based label, Sfere. We now have the occasion to learn more about this artist who deserves without a doubt much bigger recognition. But it's probably just a question of time.

- Sfere, Madhouse, Ibadan, Large, Bassmental, Chilli Funk, Basic. Your presence is obvious in the international house scene, but what we don't know is when and how you started ?
I was always into music since a very young age and I used to bang on my mother's cooking pans with the clothing pins!! My parents however didn't seem it was fit to buy me any musical instruments so I had to wait till I did odd jobs to earn money for my first keyboard (an Ensoniq Eps). I continued to acquire equipment in a relatively short time, about a year, and shopped my first demo to Big Beat\Atlantic which they signed (shhhh!! I lied to get the deal!!!!). At that time I was into house and electronic music but the people I kept company with leaned more toward the electronic side. Hence the rumors about me doing techno early in my career. First I hooked up with Tetsu Inoue and then with Damon Wild who at the time was running Experimental Records in New York . I released something on that label and when Damon was ready to leave to start his own label, Synewave, I went along with him. I continued to do this type of music for a number of years but then began to get disenchanted with the genre due to monetary disputes. ( You can't make a living doing records for $750 dollars!! I would've had to do 30 records a year just to survive!!) So in 1994 I quit and went back to school. I was out of the scene for 2 years!. During the time I worked at a music store in New York, I met Kerri. I didn't have a clue to who he was since I didn't do house!! We hooked up and became the best of friends (He's my son's godfather!!). It wasn't until 2 years into our friendship that I realized who my best friend was!! Heh heh!!:o). It was Kerri who actually brought me back into the scene when one night he had a gig in Boston(with the Biscuit Head crew) and I went along. He was killin' them!! And he dropped Kenny Bobien's "Why I Sing"!!. I was moved to tears!!. Right then and there I decided to give it another try (Thanks Kenny!). But this time I was going to be different! more soulful!, I was going to do music that reminded me of the all the stuff I grew up listening to combined with the stuff Kerri had exposed me to. So here I am with Sfere!.. Kerri is the Sensei and I am the young pupil. Crouching Tiger – Hidden Dragon style!!!! .

- Most people know you for your work with Kerri Chandler. But recently, most of your production have only your name on them. Have you decided to come out of the dark or simply affirm yourself on your own?
I've basically decided to affirm myself on my own. Not to ride along someone's back because of who you're associated with. A real partner should be able to stand on his own. That's what makes my partnership with Kerri so different than many others. You see_c.. I enjoy being the man behind the scenes….there is a lot less pressure. No expectations. So when you do something very nice people take notice and go….."Hey! Where the hell did this guy come from?" I like doing that! It's fun to surprise people. The way to gain attention is by not commanding attention. By staying true to your form.

- A lot of American producers work at the same time in other styles of music (Hip Hop, R&B, Latin Jazz). Do you consider yourself as 100% house music producer or are you working on other projects? What are your influences?
100% Pure Soulful House! Although many different styles of music influence me as does the situations of everyday life, I think my biggest influences probably come from old school soul….. T-Connection, DJ Rogers, early Herbie Hancock, early and I mean early Cameo! (they were bad ass before going commercial!), early Commodores (also before becoming commercial), Confunkshun, the list of groups can take up your whole interview!!!

-Your label "Sfere" has quickly imposed itself as a quality label, even though you've put out just a few tracks so far. Can you explain how you decided to create your own label and what is the guiding principle behind your project?
Sfere was a concept thought up by Kerri and myself. He thought it was a good idea to start a new label as an outlet for the stuff we were into doing. The name was derived from his Atmosphere project and the name I went by in my electronic days, Aurasphere. Too many spheres to ignore! So we dropped the ph and inserted an f instead and Voila! Sfere! I think the concept behind Sfere is "the don't be afraid" principle. Don't be afraid to be different. If it's soulful and it moves us then on it goes!. Doesn't matter if it's Gospel house, Brazilian house, Jazz house. What moves us is what gets put out. Although we are partial to vocal records because I feel they are timeless.

- Two records came out on "Sfere" with "The Lost Tribes of Ibadan" for title, what is the concept behind this?
The Lost Tribes of Ibadan came about in a strange way. Kerri and Jerome were working in the main studio and I was working in Studio B when I heard Orixas being done. I fell in love with the vocals so I asked Jerome to hand them over!!! I did a mix of Orixas right then and there in about 3 hours!! He couldn't put it on Ibadan as a single (no room) so he let us keep the mix for Sfere, since we are an extended family. At that point we decided to call it "The Lost Tribes Of Ibadan". People freaked out cause they didn't know whether Ibadan or Sfere had put it out! So we've decided to keep the name for crazy projects. Hence #2 with "Inspiration" and "Avareh". It's usually Kerri on one side and I'm on the other.

- You have licensed Bougie Soliterre on Sfere, you're working on the "Soul Collectives" project for Jeff Craven's label, another production is expected on Next Evidence's label, "Basic". How do you choose the people you work with and do you have the impression that you're part of a house "family"?
I choose very carefully! Since I've been down the old road of shopping material to various labels I've come to the conclusion that I only want to belong to a label who wants me!. If your calling me because you want some material from me don't say…."Send me a demo, send me some tracks and I'll take a listen?"…Go F yourself!!!! You know my style, you know the type of material I do otherwise you wouldn't have called! Do you think a label would have the gall to call Herbie Hancock and say "We like your stuff Herbie, send us a demo!!!". Don't get me wrong .. I'm not even in his league! But show some initiative..take care of me…..$$$$…..treat me like family and I'll bust my ass for you!!. So yes I am part of a house family..and the people who've taken care of me (all the other labels I'm on) will be cared for by me.

- What are your thoughts on the evolution of House Music for the past decade, specially with today's tendency of returning to the roots (live instruments, afro-beat, jazz, funk...) ?
I think it's been an interesting evolution of our genre in the past decade. I think that at this time the quality of production standard has been raised quite a bit. It seems like the common consensus is……either you play on your track or you get someone to play on your track otherwise don't even try to get down. That's the old school production mentality!…. roots. I like that. It's become to easy for everyone to make a record. All you need is a drum sampler with a sequencer and another sampler for all your other sounds and you're done. Way too easy! Nothing wrong with that because the blame lies with all the record companies……. in their quest for money they have become no more than pimps on a street corner in a red light district!! Pimping everyone and anyone!!. And that's giving pimps a bad name!! Heh heh !!!:o) That's why we have an overabundance of bad records being released. I think things are shaping up to be very interesting soon though…….we'll see.

What do you listen to right now? Is there an artist that really strikes you at the moment?
Wow! That's a tough question…..if your talking about the house scene then in no particular order my favorite people to listen to are:

Kerri Chandler (Bass!! And then more BASS!!!)
Basement Boys (Those f'in drums!!! Damn I got to find out how they do them!!)
MAW (Kings of that live soul\jazzy feel!)
Frankie Feliciano (Not enough words!!!)
Joey Negro (All he does is make big records!!!)
Blaze (They write beautiful songs)
Steve Hurley (He's sneaky!…. you don't hear from him for a while and then BAM!!)
Julien Jabre, DJ Gregory, Dj Deep, Next Evidence ( Watch these guys…..they’ re for real!)
And anything soulful that's dopely written by a lesser known producer!!