terry francis
“Since winning Muzik magazines "Best New DJ" award in 1997, Terry Francis has had what can only be described as a meteoric rise to fame. To those previously unfamiliar with his flawless mixing skills and instinctive ability to work a crowd, it probably seemed as if he'd arrived out of nowhere. Fact is though, he had been blazing a trail through the underground for no less than ten years before the world at large sat up and took notice.
Perhaps more than anything else it was his unanimously praised "Architecture" mix album that really put him on the map. A seamless mix of deep dubby house, celestial breaks and ethereal vocals - it was shot through with the kind of shimmering techno sensibility that really marked it out as something special. Some called it "tech house", whilst Terry himself jokingly described to it as "house no".
Ultimately though, any labelling of Terry's style is fairly pointless because what he does is what all the very best DJ's do. He blurs the lines between the past and the present to create the future and always plays from the heart. Crucially though, he does it just that little bit better than almost anybody else.
From that point on Terry was a confirmed house music lover and within a couple of months he'd managed to secure a residency at a bar in Leatherhead, the town where he grew up.
"It was downstairs in this mad basement at a rockers bar and they were all swearing at me and slagging off the music." he laughs. "Two weeks later they were all jumping about and up to all sorts.”
Terry started working at Swag Records in Croydon in the early 90s and was producing music from 1994 as Housey Doingz with Nathan Coles and under various pseudonyms including the Delinquents, Dirty Fog, Deadendz and recording for various quality record labels including Pagan, Eukatech, End Recordings, Swag, London Housing Benefit & others as well as his own labels Wiggle, Eye 4 Sound, Deadendz and his new record label venture; Where Are You Records.
From there Terry moved on to a residency at the legendary Sterns Club (spinning alongside the likes of Colin Dale, Mr C and Eddie Richards), played extensively on the south coast and did numerous guest spots at parties like London's Heart & Soul.
By 1994 he felt the time was right to set up his own night and in March of that year Wiggle was born. A joint operation between Terry, Nathan Coles and Eddie Richards. Wiggle has always been a night like no other. Still, probably London's best loved underground house event, and one of the only nights in the country that has always remained true to the original spirit of acid house, and that fact that it has sold out every time since it started pretty much speaks for itself.
Aside from the continued success of Wiggle and the release of his "Architecture 2" mix album on Pagan, the years that followed saw Terry's career continue to blossom. He's since consistently toured all over America, Australia, New Zealand and the far East, made weekly trips to just about every country in Europe and still found the time to record for labels like Hooj Choons, Yoshitoshi, Alien, Primal US and many more.
In October 1999 he started a residency at London's Fabric, where he to this day continues to delight both old hands and new-comers alike as one of the institution’s longest standing original residents. Terry went on to start a new vocal based project for Pagan, remixing Didier Sinclair's "Lovely Flight" and followed on to record his debut 'artist album' for Eukahouse.
Terry’s more recent releases and remixes include his exciting first two releases on his new label “Where Are You " featuring Caroline Geys, and an album “Nostalgia" to follow ....Love me Deep on Superfreq feat Miss C and Hive 71, and remixes for Orlando Voorn, Ollie Drummond, Jake Beautyman, Odette van der kooj and a remix on Suena Hermosa’s celebratory tenth vinyl Ep (Glasidum- That’s It! EP) plus many many more...
Terry’s stamp on our scene is unquestionably concrete, as one of the true original founding fathers of Tech House, with an infinite list of coveted releases under his belt, not to mention being one of Fabric London’s longest standing original residents, his historically celebrated career spanning well over 3 decades and his infallible ability as a producer to consistently deliver impeccable music , deem him without question one of the most important figures of our times among our scene.
”