 
Hi Fergie, cheers for taking the time to tell us about yourself and all the lunacy you get up to!
You’ve been DJ’ing for such a long time, completing nearly a decade in Ibiza, yet your only 28, what made you decide that music, whether it be DJ’ing or producing tracks, would take over as your career?
"Hi there, well I was always into music from Queen to Deepech Mode, New Order to Blondie, but I suppose the first time ~I went to a rave with my Dad’s old friend and Robbie Nelson was the first time I really thought this is where I want to be. I didn’t know what the music was or what it was called but I knew I wanted to get involved with it, so I was well a truly hooked and at the age of 12 or 13; it was a very exciting time for me."
-You originally started playing Hard House… but now your more well known for your Techno and Breaks… why the change?
"Yeah, there is no doubt that I made my name in the hard house arena and at that time I loved playing hard house, but it was different then. The music that we were playing in Trade with Tony de Vit, Steve Thomas etc was very groove-orientated and I felt that towards the end of the 90s hard house just lost its groove and became very tempo driven and the producers seemed to stick to the same old formula which made me quite bored. I think the hard house scene just went a bit over ground for a while and I wasn’t into this. As I saw it hard house was for the underground with a Polysexual feel to it, and I just felt it lost it a bit of that but now I feel that the hard house scene is back to where it was and I hear they have quite a healthy scene with lots of new producers popping up all over the place so fair play to everyone involved."
"When I first came over to England with Tony, one of the many things I observed about him was that he was always one step ahead of the rest in his game. So I suppose I just tried to keep that in mind and was always on the lookout for new music. I stopped playing hard house and I mixed between a few styles until I found what I was looking for. My sound is more on a house, techouse, techno note, but I think trying to define what techno or techhouse is these days is quite difficult as there are so many sub genres. My sound is very groove and base driven, aimed at the dance floor and into the wee small hours with the heads down and lights out and volume to the max – that kind of vibe."
"Regarding the breaks, this was something I played in my Radio1 shows and not really something I took to the clubs. I am a breaks fan but again I think trying to define breaks these days is quite hard as they seem to have moved into more of a skippy house feel. Music in general has opened up and I feel that both the music and producers are in the best place musically ever."
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-You have played in so many locations across the world, including Megantite in Ibiza, the Sonar festival in Barcelona, the Berlin Love Parade, Hong Kong, and you even did a 7 day tour of the Curran-Holding Prison Correctional Facility (CFCF) in Philadelphia America! Is there anywhere you haven’t been yet that you’d love to play a set at?
"Well I didn’t really play the prison, I got locked up but that’s another story :)"
"Yes I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve played quite a few places and been able to see the world. I stopped touring for the past 2 years as I felt I needed to get my sound out there so that meant I need to make it first, so went to college and studied electronic music at the SAE in Glasgow. I just felt it would help me understand where I wanted to be more musically and I would be able to move around the software in the studio easier. I work with my partner Dave Robertson - he is a technical wizard - so I try to learn as much as I can from him also."
"But this year I will be heading out to Eastern Europe a lot more, also Asia, Australia, Brazil, America and I will be playing Belfast a lot more, it’s always good to get home."
-I’m sure you’ll agree that your time doing your show on Radio1 was a great journey. You had the pleasure of being in the presence of some amazing DJ’s, some that stick out to me are Dave Clarke, Sven Vath, and Richie Hawtin, who were the highlight DJ’s and moments for you?
"Well yes there were quite a few special moments. One was probably when I first joined Radio 1 and I won the Comic Relief comp against Coxy! As Coxy was a huge DJ I always looked up to and went to see him play when I was very young. It was good to have a sound clash against him, all in good fun of course and for charity!"
"It was ace having Dave Clarke in my show, he presented it for me a few times when I wasn’t there. I remember the first time I had him on the show he blew up the speakers, his set was awesome…. he was just going for it, the BBC speakers just couldn’t handle it, I think he was quite pleased he blew them up though!"
"Also the Berlin Love Parade was ace to be involved in as there was so many people there, we were just on a float for 7 hours banging out some crazy music to a million ravers. All good."
"A bizarre time was when the pope died and I had to come on and say to the nation… "I’m sorry to have to inform you that the pope has just died."… That was a bit mad....."
-How would you describe the music you produce and play, and who were your musical influences that groomed your tastes to what they are now?
"I would say I make music for the dance floor, very base driving, quite deep but with a very electronic twist, the DJs I looked at for influences were Tony de Vit, Carl Cox, Adam Beyer, Pablo Garagano as they always played at the more tougher end of the spectrum and that’s what really got me going. I used to love going to Tony’s gigs as it was good to be involved and experience the clubs that he was playing, I was 16 so it was a bit of a mad one just rocking up to clubs with Tony, I do miss him quite a lot and I often wonder what sort of music he would be into now?"
-You recently started your own label, Excentric Muzik… what are your ideas behind this label, and why did you start it up?
"Well the label was set up to showcase my music and to let me experiment with tracks and be under no pressure; to just put music out and as I was starting to be in the studio more it was a natural progression really."
"We also have the Excentric parties around the world and we have the Excentric Artist Agency were we help showcase new and up and coming djs/producers so everything slots into the other. It’s an extension of what I was doing on Radio 1. I just think it is important to try help the new generation of djs and producers side step the many pitfalls that you can come up against in the music industry."
"The label gives them the opportunity to put the music out and the club night where they can play the music they have made, and the agency were they can relax and get looked after and be given sound advice. I think we are offering the whole package really… there are no contracts involved as I feel if someone wants to leave then that’s fine as what we want to do is get them ready and if the time comes when they want to move on to another agency then they will have learnt a bit along the way and had the pressure lifted a bit."
-Following on from the ideas behind Excentric Muzik, you have your Excentric Gigs. Where will this take you in the future?
"We will just keep on pushing our sound in the studio and pushing the label."
"As I said before we will be bringing out an Excentric Artists album so we will be getting all the artists in the studio to get a track or two done."
"Regarding the gigs, we will be back out in Ibiza this year which will be wicked as it marks my ten year anniversary in Ibiza, which is hard to believe, and even harder to believe I still have my health!"
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-Now, more about your productions; tell us what we can expect from your newest work… "The Me EP".
"Well The ME EP has been out for a month or two now and it has done well. I was happy to see the reactions come in from Huntemann, Phil Kieran, Slam, Laurent Garnier, Yousef and Dubfire to name a few, so it was nice to see these guys playing the music."
"We have just released a new track on Excentric, it’s called Break-in & Break-out. It’s the same track but we recorded two versions, both tracks seem to be doing well also. DJs from Digweed & Sasha to Justin Robertson & Pig and Dan have been supporting it so I was happy at the crossover effect it had."
"We have finished a mix we did for Bigger than Jesus who are on the Excentric Agency, their track ‘Itchy Glitchy Spider,’ which will be out on Silver Planet, and also a remix we did for King Unique too, ‘Hinode’, which is just out this week so it’s all go! The next release on Excentric will be another EP……not got a name for it yet as we have just finished it….it’s 3 tracks,’By the By’, ‘???????’, and ‘To the Core’ that should be out in a few months, so it’s all good at the mo."
-Around the club scene what tracks are really working the crowd for you?
"Mr Phil Kieran always comes up with the goods, his ‘Missip’ on Cocoon, and his mix of ‘Dancing Bears’ are going down a storm. Popof is an artist I am playing a lot as well as Bigger than Jesus…these guys are hot and will just get hotter."
-Being in the music industry for so long, touring the clubs year in year out, do you ever tire of it all? What do you do to chill out and recover from it all?
"Sit in an airport and wait for a flight….. ha."
"It’s hard to get away from the whole music… not that I want to but as the software has developed over the years, I can either go on Abelton or Rason or I can sort out some loops on my Serato. This is all stuff that can be down on planes, trains, or if I’m delayed so it’s always there really."
"I have never been tired of the music industry. I think it has kept evolving and the music that is around is the best ever. I think we’re in the best place in regards to the clubs and the music and the software that is around. I think when you take time off you just miss out and we wouldn’t want that."
"I have not been concentrating on the djing side of things as much as I used to but this is because I have just been focused on the studio so much and wanted to get the label and the agency all sorted. So now I have a handful of releases out and a few ready to go I’ll be packing my bag and heading into the night again.:) SPREAD THE WORD"
-Finally, Summer is on our doorstep, with Ibiza and the Festival season coming with it, what will you be doing with yourself…
"Plenty of nights in I expect?! ;)"
Interview by James Chapman
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