THE LUCKY 13 - PEEWEE FERRIS

Peewee Ferris is a name synonymous with dance music in Australia and has been since its formative days, initially making his name as a producer and DJ in the 1980s and going on to be a draw card at events like Global Gathering, Future Music Festival, Transmission, Utopia and of course the long-running weekly club night Sublime. Home recently changed the Sublime formula by moving the event to the top floor of the venue to accommodate new electro-themed night Oh My! downstairs, and now they’ve tweaked things again by asking the veteran Ferris to deliver a six hour set of tunes each and every Friday.
“My sets are good for once a night and for all night,” Ferris says, clearly relishing the new challenge. “I can work the crowd up to the peak of the night and you won’t hear the same song played twice. It’s like ‘groundhog day’ at some club nights! The other thing is for my set you have to stay all night to enjoy the journey.”
It says something about Ferris’ skills behind the decks that even after all these years at Sublime the crowd still can’t get enough of him, and he believes the night is as healthy as it’s ever been.
“Yes, it is kicking along just nicely,” he says. “This is my 13th year of DJing at Sublime. Of course as the club ages the crowd changes and older clubbers are always coming up to me and telling me ‘Oh it’s changed man, it’s changed’, but the attitude of the club has never really changed, just the crowd. Which is great because old music is like new music to new ears and I get to play a broad spectrum of songs over the course of the night.”
Sublime may have been built around the crowd control capabilities of Peewee Ferris over its 13 year existence, but that’s not the only string he has to bow. This year saw the brand new Wormhole stage debut over both days of the Sydney Big Day Out, with Peewee joined by older brothers Stephen and John to host a full days of musical proceedings in a dome created specifically for the family Ferris.
A remix of The Castle Kids’ Bargain Reckon and a forthcoming compilation release alongside Bexta on Central Station have also been on his agenda of late – just a small portion of what the life of a full time DJ/producer consists of.
“I do the Australian and Chinese New Year firework events, I did the Sydney Olympic games,” Ferris lists. “I also do work for advertising campaigns like the latest advertising campaign for the Trading Post. [And] I’m always touring – I’ve played in some of Australia’s remotest of towns and all around the globe.“

WHAT: SUBLIME AT HOME
WHEN: EVERY FRIDAY