Industry stalwart and rave DJ provocateur John Ferris joins Timmy in the Lime Light for a chat and mix that will no doubt set the Kiss Mix Lab studio on fire. Watch it live on Facebook, Instagram or Twitch OR catch it later on Kiss Youtube

I love techno — music with energy, soul and a journey. I’ve been headlining clubs, warehouse parties, raves, festivals and private events across Australia, Asia, Europe and New Zealand for over 30 years, playing more than 4,000 shows along the way. It started with house parties that got too big for safety and grew into something I never could have planned.

From those early days I built my own club, and for 15 years I ran Club Plastic — a Friday night institution that moved across 9 Sydney venues and became a genuine haven for the passionate, the misfits and the lovers of trance, acid, techno, prog and breaks. Plastic wasn’t just a night out, it was a community. The kind of place where the music mattered more than anything else and the dancefloor told you where to go next.

I have a driving passion for music with guts. I love a journey that can go for hours — letting the audience drive me and driving them back again. It can lead to amazing, ecstatic and sometimes very funny places. I love pleasing the crowd, but I also love communicating, pushing back, giving more sauce than they expected. I will always take a leap into the twilight zone if the opportunity arises. I love acid music across all genres. I like it deep, I like it dark, and sometimes I like it completely silly.

Over the years I’ve played alongside some of the world’s greatest — Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, Tiësto, Paul van Dyk, Frankie Knuckles, Paul Oakenfold, Underworld, Timo Maas, Chris Liberator, Thomas Schumacher, Seb Fontaine and many more. I’ve appeared at the biggest events on the Australian calendar including Big Day Out (1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010), Two Tribes, Transmission — where I’ve played 25 events since 1998 — Gatecrasher’s full run of Australian tours from 1998 to 2002, Slinky, Gods Kitchen, Welcome NYE, and massive FUN parties at the Hordern Pavilion during the late 80s and early 90s that helped define a generation of Sydney dance music.

As Ministry of Sound’s Hard NRG featured DJ, I toured nationally three times a year for five years — from 2002 to 2007 — and released 9 accompanying mixes that sold over 300,000 copies. On the production side, I’ve put out a string of acid hardstyle records that made a serious mark — Legalise, released in 2004 on German label Blutonium, hit number one on European vinyl sales charts, followed in 2005 by Hardstyle and Acid which went straight to the top spot again. Back in 1996 I released my club rave track Time to Make the Floor Burn, which became a dancefloor weapon of its time. More recently I’ve featured on the Ministry of Sound Australian Testament and Classical touring shows, as well as national NRL finals events as featured DJ.

For 10 years I hosted my own radio show, City Express, on 2SER FM — championing underground and electronic music to Sydney audiences long before algorithms did it for you. In 2002 I won the inaugural Australian Dance Music Award for Outstanding Contribution to Dance Music, recognising my work in the club industry and my efforts to shine a light on homegrown Australian electronic music. I was also co-founder of the ARIA Club Charts in 2000, a platform that continues to highlight the best of Australian dance music today.

Beyond the decks, I’ve had a parallel life deep inside the music industry. I served as music director for Collette Dinnigan’s fashion shows in Paris, LA and Sydney from 2003 to 2005. I headed Sony Music’s Dance Department — Dance Pool — for 10 years, where I signed Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, Jam and Spoon and many others, and spent three years at Warner Music. I currently serve as Head of Music Licensing at TMRW Music and Ministry of Sound Events.

Thirty years in and the love for it hasn’t changed. Deep, dark, full of sauce — and always ready for the twilight zone.

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