Tom Ferry

Great. I’ve been working hard in the studio for the past few years and things are starting to happen so it feels nice when the wheels start moving. It really gives you a drive to push harder.

Your new track is called ‘Forbidden Love’ ft. Gabs, out on Get Twisted. What was the inspiration behind the track?

Well it was kind of a weird coincidence. I’ve been making house music that’s quite summery and pop influenced for a while now because that’s what I enjoy, but I spent a few years making progressive which tends to be a little darker. I was messing with some ideas for a darker track and made the main bass-lead section. A day or two later my manager got a vocal demo in our inbox and it just seemed to fit the vibe I had in mind. I wrote the piano part on the break and the rest of the track seemed to just flow out naturally. I pitched her vocal and the rest of the track down 3 semitones to give it that dark feeling.

Both me and my manager are a fan of Get Twisted so we sent them the demo first. They liked it and took it. They’re a good label and are great at getting remix packs together so hopefully Forbidden Love gets some remix treatment in the next few months.

Gabs has a very distinctive vocal style. Did you have her in mind when you wrote ‘Forbidden Love’?

Very. She has a great voice and writing style. But no, it was purely by chance that her vocal was perfect for what I was currently working on. I think if we didn’t get her vocal demo that day I would have probably forgot about that track and it would be another one of the hundreds of ‘dead’ projects on my hard drive.

ILY, the writer and vocalist of Remedy had released remedy a while ago but it wasn’t a big success even though it was a killer track. After some talking we decided to remake the track in a house style and re-release it as a collaboration between me and her. I think I made about 11 completely different versions of remedy before getting the “final” one. We thought it was ready and sent it off to Mike Mago’s label, BMKLTSH. Mike loved it and asked if he could make some changes to it. He did and the then final version was what was released. It was really cool working with somebody like Mike, with his many years of experience and status in the industry.

What can people expect from your forthcoming releases?

More tracks to make people dance hopefully. One track especially that I’m very very proud of. Hopefully it sees the light of day early next year.

What is your career highlight to date?

I’m not sure really. I’ve hit many markers that I never thought I would so it’s hard to pick just one. And I’m always looking ahead anyway, and while I’m happy and proud of what I’ve done, I’m constantly looking at what’s next. I doubt I’ll ever have a specific highlight sadly, just a bunch of great ones.

The guys from TRU Concept and Truth x Lies are doing great things, I really love their sound.
CamelPhat inspire me a lot as one of them is the guy that triggered the idea for me to learn to produce music around 11 to 12 years ago now. It’s nice to see somebody you look up to doing as well as they are right now.

What venue(s) would you really love to perform at?

I’m not much of a typical DJ really, I don’t put massive emphasis on the venue. I could play in a car park to 50 people or an arena of 20,000 and as long as they came to see me specifically I’d made up regardless!

What are your plans for 2018 and beyond?

See what happens, I guess! Staying sexy and not dying is the only definite.

How do you choose to unwind from producing and DJing?

I very rarely do, my mind runs 100mph even when I’m asleep. When I do try, and have a day off though, I really like cooking and catching up on a good TV series with my fiancé. Something engaging though, I get bored very fast!

Tom Ferry ‘Forbidden Love’ ft. Gabs is out now on Get Twisted Records