Our next guest for the Background Noise series is a man that requires very little introduction. Kerri Chandler is a name that has become synonymous with house music. Born into a musical family, with a jazz singing grandfather and a well-respected DJ father, Kerri has been perfecting his craft as a DJ and producer since his early teens.
For more than two decades Chandler’s music has been at the very forefront of the electronic music scene, with dozens upon dozens of top quality releases on imprints such as Nervous, King Street Sounds and Ibadan to name but three, as well as his own labels Madhouse and Kaoz Theory.
To coincide with his latest remix for Lea Lisa on WOLF Music, we caught up with the New Jersey veteran to find out where he draws his inspiration from when approaching the studio. Check it below.
1. My Father
My Dad Joseph E. Chandler died 2 years ago around Christmas. He passed away after being hit by a car.
I started DJing very young as I thought my dad was the coolest person in the world! He was a DJ and I just thought it was normal. I thought everybody’s dad was like my dad. He was the cool dad who went to clubs every weekend.
When I was 12 or 13 I would watch him DJ. He never called me Kerri when he was mad. When he was mad, he would call me by my middle name Camar. When he caught me one day playing around with his set he came in and said “Camar get down from there. Do you know what you’re doing?” and I said “yeah I know what I’m doing”.
After that, he said he was going to take me to the club and I had to show him. Ha! I was warming up for my dad ever since standing on a crate in a suit. Dad called me ‘DJ Little Man’.
My father, my idol and inspiration, left behind a box of records before passing away. Now, two years later, I opened it for the very first time on what would have been his 68th birthday.
The video below is my Classic Vinyl Tribute to my father:
2. God
God has always been and will always be a constant inspiration to me.
I’m a spiritual man. I pray before making a record. Each project is an attempt to inject my spirit into a groove. I’m a believer in peace and harmony.
3. My Grandfather
Calvin C. Reed Sr was my grandfather with whom I recorded several tracks. He died in 1993.
4. Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk’s ‘Computer World’ the album made me want to become an audio engineer.
I’ve been into Kraftwerk for years. I was always fascinated just looking at the album covers before I got into production as a kid. Just looking at them and saying like “what is this stuff?”.
Sonically I would listen to it over and over until the record would turn white and I would still do it until this day. Every time I put it on for soundchecks and things like that and I can hear like channel separations and things that happen in clubs and I would know that sound so well.
Thanks, Kerri!
Below is a clip of Kerri dropping Lea Lisa’s new track ‘From Garage’ in Paris a couple of weeks ago. Grab a copy here.
