Norman Cook turned 50 this summer, so what better way to celebrate half a century of the man most commonly known as Fatboy Slim that with a chat about eating, sleeping, raving and repeating, repeating, repeating…
Norman Cook has, to riff on one of his several hit albums, come a long way, baby...but he reckons there’s a long way still to go. “Right now I’m having more fun than ever” he admits. “The cut-off point is when I stop enjoying it and/or the audience does but that time is not yet!”
Cook needs little introduction at this stage of the game; but here’s a brief refresher course. His first major contact with the music industry was during the Eighties as bassist for chart-topping indie-poppers The Housemartins. The band eventually split, paving the way for forays into hip-hop and meaty, beat-y electronica via aliases and collaborations such as Beats International, Pizzaman, Freak Power and The Mighty Dub Katz. In 1996, Cook embraced the Fatboy Slim moniker and proceeded to tear-up dance music’s status quo with his vibrant fusion of catch-y samples, killer grooves and big, combustive beats.
As Fatboy Slim, Cook’s DJ profile rocketed globally. His countless hit singles (The Rockafeller Skank, Praise You, Right Here Right Now...) and albums (Better Living Through Chemistry, You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby, Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars...) also captured a vast international imagination. Long before EDM, Mr Slim’s rapid electronic prowess was challenging the American mainstream’s traditional reliance on rock and hip-hop.
And so here we are today, the gigs still coming thick and fast. One of Fatboy’s next big dancefloor assignments will be Space Ibiza and the We Love... night’s huge closing party, September 29. Only last month, he co-headlined Space’s 24th birthday party with 2manydjs, Joris Voorn and Agoria. “I’m honoured to be invited...Space is pretty much my favourite place to play in the world,” Cook offers, “I feel like I’ve been playing there most of those 24 years! It’s always a pleasure....”
As a veteran with plenty of past visits to call on, Cook questions the overall temperament of the island, certainly when its formative years under the pure stewardship of iconic natives like Alfredo and Jose Padilla are considered. “There’s way too much money being thrown around in the bigger clubs and some of the soul is being lost trying to attract the VIP crowd” he laments. “But when that bubble bursts, the spirit of the island will prevail and the DJs and clubs who care will be around to pick up the pieces.”
Cook may well have been superstar-sized for over 17 years now but he remains keenly focussed on the quality and continual progression of his playlists. You’d be forgiven for thinking that having earned his skyscraping level of fame and success, life would only amount to playing safe and taking it easy. Far from thoughtless auto-pilot, the Fatboy Slim pre-show ritual is carefully tailored according to type of gig, and crowd. “My crates are different depending on the size of the show, definitely” he says. “Big tunes for big shows, but in clubs I can experiment more and go on a bit of a journey. They are all just as significant for me though. Some of the smallest gigs are where the real magic happens!”
Recently, it has often been through the most intimate of dancefloors that Cook has earned his biggest kicks. “Every time I think I’ve peaked I seem to find something else that eclipses it” he laughs. “That said, I think I’ve taken things as big as I can so my motivation for fun these days is to go sideways rather than ‘stoopid’ big pranks – for example, playing six low key shows rather than one big one at Glastonbury this year. Having said that, I still played to 50,000 in [Glastonbury’s] Arcadia flame-breathing spider!”
The spider followed monumental performances in the Houses Of Parliament (this spring) and, famously, at the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, last summer. How on earth does he pick his favourite musical moments?:“Well, if we just take 2013, then getting the whole crowd to sit down during my mash-up of [Felix Da Housecat’s] Sinner Winner at Glastonbury....”
Cook, married to TV and radio presenter Zoe Ball with whom he has two children, Woody and Nelly, combines his musical shenanigans with an especially colourful family life. There is no chance of the humdrum. “The last few days, as an example, haven’t bad at all,” he indicates. “I turned 50, went to a strip club with my mother-in-law. Went to Gay Pride in Brighton with my kids, went to Paris for a Keith Haring exhibition [the celebrated New York street artist and social activist, who died in 1990] and now I’m off to Croatia and Portugal for gigs. Just another regular week....”
Nonetheless, the question must be asked as to whether Cook believes he can still convey an adequate dose of hedonism and edginess via his music (in an environment that thrives on heavy doses) whilst tied so assuredly to family commitments? Family ties have definitely matured throughout his forties, whilst the memories of his well publicised spell in rehab (four years ago) have further diminished. His is a different life these days; there has to be an effect on the music, no?
“Family life is possible as a DJ because you mainly play at weekends and are at home during the week rather than spending months away on tour” Cook argues. “Living clean has perhaps taken the edge off of my career as a producer, hence not much studio output, but as soon as I step on stage to DJ my mind reverts back to that of a hedonistic 17-year old who is as high as apple pie. I believe the term is ‘euphoric recall’....”
Whilst Cook has spent a lot more time as DJ than producer over the past few years he is buoyed by the success of his current Fatboy single with Riva Starr, Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat. The old-skool acid banger was inspired by the pair’s record-buying spree in Brooklyn a few weeks before, a chance encounter with a “dude ranting in the street about some three day bender he had been on” making perfect material for Serato and some classic chop-up house. “There hasn’t been a huge amount of studio action...but with the current success [of Eat Sleep Rave Repeat] I might bullied into making more Fat Boy records” he teases.
Is he confident he can maintain his current level of motivation far into the future? Identifying that there is still a way to go on his musical journey and actually being able to complete that journey are two very different things. “Oh it’s not difficult [staying motivated] if you love the music first and the business second” he grins. But what of the ongoing challenges the dance industry faces – digital revolution, economic turbulence, evolving club legislation? “Economic recession means people want to party harder to forget their woes” he counters. “Digital revolution makes it easier to communicate and swap ideas, and being invited to play at the Houses Of Commons makes me think that they [the lawmakers] as more than just drug-taking lunatics. Over the past 30 years it has gotten bigger and better, and there has never been a better time to be a DJ.”
Even the loudly proclaimed fears of certain club figureheads that America’s most recent dance music revolution – EDM – may, ultimately, end up harming the integrity and quality of the global scene don’t appear to wash. “EDM isn’t exactly a revolution” Cook matter-of-factly declares. “It’s just another generation of kids getting hip to the rave. Because of the communication on the internet it’s got a lot bigger and more commercial this time round but it’s the same basic principle.... eat, sleep, rave, repeat....”
Words: Ben Lovett
Fatboy Slim plays We Love...’s Closing Party at Space Ibiza on September 29 – for full details, visit www.spaceibiza.com/en/
