Mark Farina has been making dance floors move for over 20 years now. He is widely know for his Mushroom Jazz series and for his chunky-funky underground house DJ sets at the clubs. Originally from Chicago, now in San Francisco, Mark has found himself on the Top DJs in the World lists such as URB, Muzik, and BPM Magazines. A Farina show always delivers good music, good people, and lots of dancing.
G: Why Do You Play Music?
M: I enjoy the medium, and the actual act of playing music is fun. It's always been exciting. I'm fortunate enough to get a lot of tunes, and I feel like I'm a medium for getting new music to people. Hopefully everybody is happy at the end of the day with that; the people that are listening, the people who made the tunes, and myself. I love listening to tunes so if I wasn't playing them I'd still be listening to them. I feel I'm lucky to have the stage to play out different stuff for other people.
G: You played Soccer at Maine South High School, what was your position?
M: Midfield and left wing, left or right midfield, or left or right wing. I kick with both feet, so depending how many natural left footers where on a team, would designate if I was on the left or right.
M: Midfield and left wing, left or right midfield, or left or right wing. I kick with both feet, so depending how many natural left footers where on a team, would designate if I was on the left or right.
G: What's your favorite place to eat in San Francisco?
M: My wife is a good cook so that's a bonus. Eating at home and having good food because being on the road for so much and room service and all those things. There's so many good restaurants in San Fransisco. Today I hit my favorite falafel place called Truly Mediterranean. It's been here since I started coming to San Francisco 12 years ago. They still make the best falafel I've had anywhere. They have a certain way they make it with this hot sauce and thin lavish bread. There's also a lot of good Mexican here.
G: What were your musical influences?
M: Early things would be like the Police, Smith's, and Cure. Rush was probably my first band that I was supper into and I had everything they made. I went to see them 5 or 6 times and was a big Neil Peart fan. Rush was the first concert I went to in the 6th grade, it was the Rush Moving Picture Tour. Then when I got into high school I got ino the new wave, I went through a new wave punk phase. I was big into anything on Wax Trax records, I used to go to the store regulary. Yellow was a big group of mine that I was into electronically and Kraftwerk, New Order, Ministry, anything along those lines. Going to Medussa's in Chicago at the time got me in all kind of industrial stuff. And from there it led to Chicago acid tracks and Detroit techno and house.
M: My wife is a good cook so that's a bonus. Eating at home and having good food because being on the road for so much and room service and all those things. There's so many good restaurants in San Fransisco. Today I hit my favorite falafel place called Truly Mediterranean. It's been here since I started coming to San Francisco 12 years ago. They still make the best falafel I've had anywhere. They have a certain way they make it with this hot sauce and thin lavish bread. There's also a lot of good Mexican here.
G: What were your musical influences?
M: Early things would be like the Police, Smith's, and Cure. Rush was probably my first band that I was supper into and I had everything they made. I went to see them 5 or 6 times and was a big Neil Peart fan. Rush was the first concert I went to in the 6th grade, it was the Rush Moving Picture Tour. Then when I got into high school I got ino the new wave, I went through a new wave punk phase. I was big into anything on Wax Trax records, I used to go to the store regulary. Yellow was a big group of mine that I was into electronically and Kraftwerk, New Order, Ministry, anything along those lines. Going to Medussa's in Chicago at the time got me in all kind of industrial stuff. And from there it led to Chicago acid tracks and Detroit techno and house.
G: Is Medussa's the reason you got into house music?
M: I would say electronic music. I got a lot of house influence from the radio that time. I used to record a lot of mixes on cassette back then. I'd go hear Little Louis when he did his Sundays at Medussas, which showed me what house was about. Seeing it in action so to speak, as opposed to hearing stuff on the radio.
M: I would say electronic music. I got a lot of house influence from the radio that time. I used to record a lot of mixes on cassette back then. I'd go hear Little Louis when he did his Sundays at Medussas, which showed me what house was about. Seeing it in action so to speak, as opposed to hearing stuff on the radio.
G: Do you still mix a lot at home?
M: Ya, not much as I used to. I'll do it for a lesser length of time, I'm not recording all the time, but i just made a home mix last night. When I get new stuff I'll practice. With the advent of the cdjs I find I get a little bit more free range with changing acapellas. Certain things I'll practice at home so I can just get the feel of it like messing with acapellas and figuring how they mix in. I still like to practice. Last night I was playing all new stuff, last week I was on an old vinyl phase, so I was playing all old records and recording them. This week I went back to hitting up the new downloads checking out all my new goodies
M: Ya, not much as I used to. I'll do it for a lesser length of time, I'm not recording all the time, but i just made a home mix last night. When I get new stuff I'll practice. With the advent of the cdjs I find I get a little bit more free range with changing acapellas. Certain things I'll practice at home so I can just get the feel of it like messing with acapellas and figuring how they mix in. I still like to practice. Last night I was playing all new stuff, last week I was on an old vinyl phase, so I was playing all old records and recording them. This week I went back to hitting up the new downloads checking out all my new goodies
G: How important is programming in a DJ's set?
M: That's deffinately the trick of that. it's kind of hard to know what can go wrong until you actually see it happen. Coming from Chicago, it was a serious mixing town you couldn't have any train wrecks or shoes in the drier or you would get the boo. People would talk about you in chicago if you messed up your blends. You would hear, "Damn did you see him? That was a trainwreck waiting to happen and it happened!" You could have your blends on all night and still lose the dance floor if you're not playing the right stuff. That's something that's hard to teach, programming, it's kind of tricky, cause you can have all the right tunes in your bag and if you don't know how to play them you can still screw things up just as much as not having the right songs. Personally, when I'm playing to have peaks and valleys and build and break it down and build up again as opposed as keeping it a straight line. I like to switch things up.
M: That's deffinately the trick of that. it's kind of hard to know what can go wrong until you actually see it happen. Coming from Chicago, it was a serious mixing town you couldn't have any train wrecks or shoes in the drier or you would get the boo. People would talk about you in chicago if you messed up your blends. You would hear, "Damn did you see him? That was a trainwreck waiting to happen and it happened!" You could have your blends on all night and still lose the dance floor if you're not playing the right stuff. That's something that's hard to teach, programming, it's kind of tricky, cause you can have all the right tunes in your bag and if you don't know how to play them you can still screw things up just as much as not having the right songs. Personally, when I'm playing to have peaks and valleys and build and break it down and build up again as opposed as keeping it a straight line. I like to switch things up.
G: How do you deal with distractions in the DJ booth?
M: One of the weirdest things that's happened was when a bartender threw a lime at me. It hit me and went somewhere. I kept on playing but the record kept skipping on one turntable, it kept playing the inside track. I was like "What is going on?" The lime had hit me and wedged into the turntable arm. It took me 4 songs to realize that. Those things aren't gonna happen at home.
Other things can happen, such as having to go to the bathroom. Sometimes the restroom can be on the next floor on the other side of the club.
M: One of the weirdest things that's happened was when a bartender threw a lime at me. It hit me and went somewhere. I kept on playing but the record kept skipping on one turntable, it kept playing the inside track. I was like "What is going on?" The lime had hit me and wedged into the turntable arm. It took me 4 songs to realize that. Those things aren't gonna happen at home.
Other things can happen, such as having to go to the bathroom. Sometimes the restroom can be on the next floor on the other side of the club.
G: What's the most rewarding thing about being a DJ/Producer?
M: The biggest thing is being able to see all the places that I've gotten to go to through DJing, regardless of being in the club, seeing all these different geographic cities is priceless. Also, the people i've met in different places. I'm blessed to see different places with someone that knows the area rather than being a random tourist showing up.
M: The biggest thing is being able to see all the places that I've gotten to go to through DJing, regardless of being in the club, seeing all these different geographic cities is priceless. Also, the people i've met in different places. I'm blessed to see different places with someone that knows the area rather than being a random tourist showing up.
G: What's new on the horizon?
M: The next release is called GeoGraffiti EP, its coming out at the end of January. It's going to be six of my own tracks of my own similar housey style of stuff that I've made in the past. It's funky and techie, I find it's kind of like a mixture of things. The second ep is a tune of my own, that I'm having people remix now, Chuck Love, Ken of ECB, JT Donaldson, and guy from australia Sonny Fodera, he's a young guy from australia, he's really good a bass player, producer. After that I'm going to put out other people's stuff and be just like an A&R guy. Over the years I've always been forwarding tunes to people that are looking for new stuff that I think might fit their label. So i figured that I'd take out the middle man and release some of the stuff myself for a change. I think there's room for a US house label. Seems that there's a lot of europeans going in the mix. Show our US house flag.
G: How do we attract the younger generation of kids to house music?
M: I think it takes an effort to steer them in the right direction. Letting them know what true house is and hopefully they get into it. Sometimes people like it and they don't even know that it's house, or they think house is something else they don't like it. They call it something else in their minds. I try to play all ages show when I can. Not every city has them anymore unfortunately, if you go to Canada and Europe there's no drinking age so you don't have to worry about that so much. The ages between 18-21 was where my whole listening format occurred. I think with the whole digital thing at least now there's ways of people listening to club music without being at a club. It's important to use modern mediums that be to get the house word out.
M: I think it takes an effort to steer them in the right direction. Letting them know what true house is and hopefully they get into it. Sometimes people like it and they don't even know that it's house, or they think house is something else they don't like it. They call it something else in their minds. I try to play all ages show when I can. Not every city has them anymore unfortunately, if you go to Canada and Europe there's no drinking age so you don't have to worry about that so much. The ages between 18-21 was where my whole listening format occurred. I think with the whole digital thing at least now there's ways of people listening to club music without being at a club. It's important to use modern mediums that be to get the house word out.
G: Artists you like?
M: JT Donaldson is one of my favorite producers, Chuck Love, James Curd of Greenskeepers, good stuff. There's always up and coming kids that are doing some good stuff. Uneaq from the bay area , DJ Sneak always still, a guy named Dominic Martin, Jason Hodges, Daniel Cummings, from Ireland that is like 18-19 and plays a lot of instruments. It was a couple of years ago I heard his tunes and I was like this kid is 16, its pretty impressive. Homero Esponoza, Jazzy Eyewear from Miami, Little Mark to name a few.
M: JT Donaldson is one of my favorite producers, Chuck Love, James Curd of Greenskeepers, good stuff. There's always up and coming kids that are doing some good stuff. Uneaq from the bay area , DJ Sneak always still, a guy named Dominic Martin, Jason Hodges, Daniel Cummings, from Ireland that is like 18-19 and plays a lot of instruments. It was a couple of years ago I heard his tunes and I was like this kid is 16, its pretty impressive. Homero Esponoza, Jazzy Eyewear from Miami, Little Mark to name a few.
G: Who is Mark Farina?
M: Mark Farina is a person that loves music and loves to share it. That's my goal, get new music and share it, be it my music or other people's. On top of that always trying to be doing a positive thing, keeping things friendly and nice and being aware of the surroundings.
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