Artist Name: Mark Farina Web: http://www.djmarkfarina.net/
Biography: Shortly after Mark befriended Derrick Carter in 1988 at a record store in Chicago, his passion for House music, and sharing it with the world, exploded. Mark experimented with a deeper style, dropping De La Soul, disco classics and other stuff that wasn’t being played in the main rooms of nightclubs. While exploring his love for the purist forms of House Music, Mark developed his trademark style: Mushroom Jazz; acid jazz infused with the West Coast’s jazzy, organic productions combined with urban beats. Fans embraced Mark’s downtempo style so much that he started a weekly Mushroom Jazz club night in San Francisco with Patty Ryan. In 3 short years, the club established a fanatical, cult-like following for Farina and the Mushroom Jazz sound. When the doors closed, Farina continued the tradition by releasing a series of Cds on OM Records: simply titled, “Mushroom Jazz”. Since then, Mark has been traveling the globe performing 100s of shows, to over one million club goers, every year. His House sets take fans on journeys to the jazzy side of Chicago House mixed San Fran style. Some of these sets have been known to last up to 8 hours. And sometimes you’ll find Mark playing in two different rooms at the same party, showcasing his range of big room sound to the uber-chill. When Mark’s not touring, you can likely find him in his studio, working on his next release for his imprint, Great Lakes Audio, or on another signature mix for Mushroom Jazz. Mark’s chunky-funky underground house style continually turns the heads of tastemakers worldwide, drawing him not only new fans, but landing him on the Top DJs in the World lists by URB, MUZIK and BPM Magazines.
01. How did you approach the dj profession? Saw DJs playing vinyl in club at age of 15/16 and was interested.
02. Tell us your first time playing in a club? Very first time, my friend, who was a resident DJ at a club I went to regularly was in the middle of his set and told me to get on. I was a nervous wreck. The place was packed with 1000 people.
03. What device do you prefer to use in your live and studio set up? Live in clubs I use CDJ 2000s Pioneer. For production I like Akai MPC-4000.
04. Your Mushroom Jazz saga reached the 7th edition, what can we expect from the next edition? Don't know just yet… Stay tuned!
05. What are you favorite record labels? Coyote Cuts, Classic, Sire, Wax Trax, Transmat, Greenhouse, Sampled, BBE.
06. What lead you to found Great Lakes Audio? Always wanted my own label since I began DJing. Finally made it happen.
07. In your opinion how will electronic music change in the next 10 years? It will always be about good music.
08. What do you love and what do you hate in the DJs life? Love travel, meeting people and seeing new places. Don't like airport delays and bad sound systems.
08. What would you suggest to a beginner DJ? Practice. Practice. Practice. And do your homework.
09. Can you tell us something about your future works? MJ8 this year. Various remixes