Once nurtured by the late, great hard house legend Tony De Vit, Fergie is now moving into the world of developing new talent by launching Project Ex - a joint venture between his label Excentric and IDJ Magazine to find hot new techno producers.
“When I first came to England Tony said to me 'I hope you can do this for somebody some day' and I’ve always thought about that,” Fergie explains. “It’s what I did during my days at Radio1, and Excentric is just an extension of that. It’s all about helping people to develop and making sure they avoid the many pitfalls there are in this game. When I was younger I got tied into various contracts and agreements with managers and agents and to get out of those contracts you’ve got to pay a substantial amount of money. I got stung, so we make sure this doesn’t happen with Excentric. When someone breaks through, and they’re looking for the next deal to take them to the next level they’re free to go. That’s what the game is; to help them progress without limiting them in anyway.”
“I want to genuinely help someone who’s got talent, if we find someone with proper talent I’ll properly nurture them with little gigs here and there, releases, digital releases. We’ll give them as many gigs as we can, sometimes it’ll be a warm up, other times it’ll be in a back room, but the support will always be consistent.”
How to Enter
It’s a prize to end all prizes; if you’re making the right type of techno, Fergie can shift your dream career into the fast lane. Reckon you’ve got what it takes? Then here’s what you need to do…
Send two CDs to Project Ex, iDJ Magazine, 2nd Floor, 15/16 Lower Park Row, Bristol BS1 5BN . One CD must contain no more than two of your productions, the other one a 20-30 minute DJ mix. The closing date is Monday June 2. One lucky winner will receive a set at a forthcoming Excentric event and the chance to release music on Excentric Muzik. Their performance and release will receive coverage a forthcoming issue of iDJ. For an idea of the sounds Fergie is after visit www.excentric-fergie.com
Rules and regulations
• This competition is open to all unsigned house and techno producers. Any other styles will not be considered
• Closing date is Monday June 2. Any entries to be received after that date will get thrown in the bin ruthlessly.
• All entries will be judged by team iDJ and Fergie. Fergie reserves the right to deny all entries if they’re not the style that suits his label
• All entries to be received without the producer’s contact details will be snapped in half and used as cheap ninja death stars
• DJ mixes must come with a track list - your entry is in danger of being thrown out of a window at a nearby tramp if one isn’t included
• Please do not enter any more than two of your own productions - any extra tracks you send will not be listened to, no matter how good they are
www.djfergie.co.uk