Riccardo Ferri

Riccardo Ferri was born in Florence in 1975. Classically trained on the piano until the age of sixteen, this gave Ricky his first eager taste of music. He first became attracted to electronic music at the age of twelve, when he was inspired by Pump up the Volume and Electrica Salsa. This was set to change his life completely, giving him a taste for the kind of music that would lead him to where he is today.

Gianni Agrey Experimental EP created in 1994 on Magnetik Records was Riccardos first dance production. Without the necessary computer equipment, Riccardo used only keyboards and samplers to create a record that was a club hit in Italy and spurned him on for more.

Following this release and after having completed his studies in electronics, Riccardo began working with his mentor Stefano (Sandy) Dian in a studio in Vicenza. This was an important year in learning how to use machines and produce records as Riccardo had never used a computer before, except for a VIC20 and C64 when he was very young.

Riccardo worked here on releases for Media Records, his first being Mas Experience with Mario Pi?, which had a great club reaction. His music attracted the attention of Mauro Picotto, who loved his work and immediately asked him to join him in Media Records, concentrating on a harder concept. His arrival in 1996 convinced Media to release more underground tracks. The first record, Mauro Picotto The Test (UND 001), a techno bass-line track, was created for the new label Underground. The team was made by Riccardo, Mauro, and another musician Andrea Remondini. Guest producers, including the best techno/trance Italian DJs such as Mario Pi?, Gabry Fasano, Joy Kitikonti, Ricky Le Roy, Bismark, Saccoman, Tony H and some foreign djs like DJ Gee, Simon Foy and Marco Zaffarano, came in weekly to work on their projects.

Riccardo's productions gained worldwide consensus with the release of Lizard in 1998 and the follow up releases such as Pulsar, Iguana, and Komodo. He was in most cases more inclined towards the b-side mixes to give a more underground feel to the productions. Riccardo was co-author of lot of BXR and Underground releases between 1996 and 2001, and did most of the remixes with Mauro, including U2, Fine Young Cannibals, Josh Wink and so on.

In the following years, Riccardo became more and more interested in creating a live performance. The LIVE show, already a success in Italy, was exclusively launched in the UK @ Gatecrasher on the 25th of May 2002 at the Republic. Further appearances at Gatecrasher London, Gatecrasher Summer Sound System, Creamfields in Ireland and Amnesia Ibiza, the much talked about Mysteryland Festival in Holland and Godskitchen Global Gathering gave his name recognition amongst clubbers and djs alike. Other performances saw Riccardo bring his live set to Zurich, Los Angeles, Bogot?, Barrenquilla, Cali, Medellin, and Quito amongst others.

In 2002, Riccardo and Mauro left Media Records to focus more on their productions. They went on to create Bakerloo, incorporating Meganite and the label Alchemy. After having released the Alchemist EP on Primate Recordings, their new imprint Alchemy brought further major releases including the acclaimed Taotek EP.

In the summer of 2004, Meganite landed a weekly residency in Privilege, Ibiza. Riccardo appeared in the line-up for three live performances, the third of which being the closing party. This set marked the end of the live concept used until then, due to major wear to the machines through frequent travelling. This gave Riccardo the idea for a new concept of live performance and he began programming a custom live machine made with Native Instruments Reaktor.

Production wise, Riccardo continues to be responsible for nearly every production released on Alchemy, with both solo work and collaborations with other Alchemy artists. Following the co-production of Mauro Picotto's ?Superclub? album, released in March 2006, Riccardo released "Alchemy 11" in September 2006 featuring "You Know What To Do", "Smiley Cocktail" and "Morning Light". More releases followed late 2006 and 2007 including the new "Alchemy Elements" series.