Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please : last call… The train to Giftland is about leave, all on board ! As the Brits have secured to have him for a few dates around the New Year festivities, we, at IDMW.Com are happy and honoured to have him as our hi-lite of this X-mas week. And what a better choice than this feature about a man who, gracing our ears the way he's done these last 12 months, appears to many of us as one of if not the upcoming talent both DJ, production and remixwise. Ladies & Gentleman, please welcome Quentin Harris !

Hey Quentin, a die hard pleasure to have you on board. How do you feel ?

Hey I'm doing great. Just geting ready for the cold here in New York City.

So I come to understand that you're gonna grace UK with a couple of gigs incl. New Years Eve at Cargo. Any other plans in the pipeline while over there. I mean productionwise ?

Well, I will be in the UK December 26th until January 4th. I'm doing the On Hubert Street Party and I am playing Cargo New Year's Eve with Ron Trent where not only will I be spinning but playing Live keyboards. As Far as prodction is concerned, usually when I go away, I don't focus that much on production cause I do it so much when I am home but I don't ever rule it out.

We met for the very first time last March in Miami where I saw you spinnin' and I've been quite impressed by that sort of magnetism I could feel in your DJ work which is about the same as in your productions. Any comment ?

I feel that it comes from many different places but the ones I can pinpoint is that I love to dance when I am not spinning. You can pretty much find me on someone's dancefloor dancing for hours. I am also a very energetic person so I guess that plays out in my DJing as well.

Is this also the result of some heavy concentration ?

I am totally into what I am doing but its a little more than that I love to dance so I play as a DJ who dances

In the mean time, it looks like coming naturally…

I guess you can say that.

Do you feel like there are any common things between DJing and producing. If so, which ones ?

I was told by a good friend of mine that a DJ has 3 jobs and that is to INFORM, EDUCATE and above all ENTERTAIN. I feel that they also apply to producing also.

Could we talk about a formula to be considered as a sort of ID the way producers used to have back in the days from Nile Rogers & Bernard Edwards to Jam & Lewis, Soul II Soul, Blaze, MAW and more recently Mood II Swing, Ron Trent, DJ Spinna. Not to mention Darryl James & Fred McFarlane then, of course, Tyrone (Francis) and yourself ?

I try not have a formula when I produce records but I am me and what ever I come up with is an extension of what I have learnt over the years of playing in bands and working with different people and I know that a listener who is buying my work can hear things that I may do alot in my productions but I usually try not to give each project I work on the same feel just because ever song is different. For example, I felt that (Donnie's) "Cloud 9" shouldn't have the same kinda feel as "Rocketship". As an aritist, I wanna feel like I am constanly changing and evolving with my work.

What has been your starting point ? Your heroes and the people who brought you into this ?

I started making music as a producer at the age of 12 for my uncle's hip hop group. As far as heroes go when younger there wasn't anything that Prince, James Brown and Parliement/Funkadelic didn't do that I wasn't obssesed with. I do credit my family for bringing into music.

Do you play any other instrument (apart form keyboards) ?

I play trumpet and baritone

Suppose not being who you are, what would you have done ?

I cant imagine not doing music…

I understand that you're hailing from Detroit. Has this city and its environment been for anything on who you are today ?

I think that growing up there gave me a a rich musical history and the fact of Detroit not being like the hussle and bussle of NYC has kept me grounded in a way. It is a very blue collar laid back kinda city. Everything is sparse and very spaced out not to pretty either and I guess it shows in the kinda music that comes out of there really stripped down and funky stuff.

How do you see its current scene ? Any contact with its actors ? In touch with Lathun who you've done a remix for ?

Well, the local scene has always been an enigma to people living outside Detroit. We tend to do our own thing and not really care about what's going on elsewhere. For example, techno, ghetto-tech, Detroit hip hop, and Detroit house. I am in contact with a lot of people from the Detroit scene such as My uncle Phat Kat, Omar S, Mike Huckaby, Scott Grooves. As for Lathun's concern, he is into on a new project and I hope to do some new work with him.

Is this any different in terms of perspective when collaborating with someone - Tyrone - productionwise ? What does such an exercise bring ?

Well when collaborating with others you have to compromise and some ideas that you have in mind may not sit well with the person you are working with but in the end it always works itself out. This also brings the opportunity to realize that the way you're doing things is a path amongst others as opposed to being the only one.

How did you meet and how long have you known each other for ?

Me an Mr Francis met at Satellitte Records where we both worked at. Gotta say that our first meeting wasn't so great as we almost got into a fist fight but that didn't pan out and I guess our mutal respect for each other not taking any crap from one another just grew into a friendship that has been going on for about 3 years now.

You're also quite related to Darryl (James) and Fred McFarlane. Would you mind having a few words about their Fall Out label or should this be kept secret ?

Not at the liberty to discuss about the subject.

What does Epod stand for ?

It's the production name I used for hip hop. When I started doing house, I thought about using my real name but in the mean time, I wanted to let the people who knew me for doing hip hop know that I hadn't disappeared. Epod is a play on words.

We all know how there's a crucial need of identification for house music. Is the fact of sein'it blended with R&B – the way you did for Jill Scott, Jesse Powell or Lathun to name but a few - a potential key for the future with the R&B fans brought to "your" world ? Or would this have to be taken as a will from the R&B scene for some more danceable form the way it was 20 years ago ?

I think that things are gonna change musically as everything goes full circle. Destinys Child "Loose My Breath" is 119 bpm but to get the R&B/hip hop world into house music means that there has to be more artist albums and things that people under the age of 30 can identify with.

In the mean time, Kiss FM looks like getting rid of what has made its reputation throughout the years while withdrawing Darryl's radio show from its programs. Any comment ?

I think that is not a good thing but sometimes what can you do ? WBLS KISS FM is a buisness and changing their programing is something that they feel that they do sometimes need to. You can't change what you have no control over. The mix show are a great thing for the scene, but if the listener doesn't know the titles of the songs or where to get them, this can be a troublesome problem.

Would it have anything to do with politics at the end of the day ?

I don't know There are always politics in this buisness. You can't seem getting away from them.

I mean, Glenn Underground on a soon to be printed interview told us that (I'm quoting) : We (the Blacks) lose site of things. We procreate and then the other people watching in hiding steal our shit and lose site of the true meaning and then close us out, so I ain't even a DJ in Chicago !

The only thing that I can say about that is that all music is related and people are gonna think what they wanna think, but at the end of the day, if you can touch one person with your music or whatever, then you have done your job and you shouldn't have to worry about the other stuff. It will all come in time…

Miami looks pretty much in this case right now. Doesn't it ?

Well I'd say yes and no to that one. People are gonna get in where they fit in. I remember saying in another interview that should the DJ's take a little more risk, then everyone would come together a little bit more. I try to keep an open mind about music. It's the way that makes me grow.

What to expect from you (you & Tyrone) in the near future ?

I am working on an album with Cordell McClary as well as my own one + some hip hop projects.

What about Space Kat label ?

I have an upcomming release on Space Kat with Cordell called "Got 2 Love".

Your biggest wish for 2005 ?

Just to continue to grow as a producer

JILL SCOTT Golden – Quentin Harris Mix (white)

QUENTIN HARRIS featuring CORDELL McCLARY "Got 2 Love" (to be released on Space Kat)

MONIQUE BINGHAM You Can't Have New York – Quentin Harris Shelter Mix (to be relased on Shelter)