As the most experienced of the interviewed DJs, Fatboy Slim knows the scene thoroughly. Fatboy Slim is the alias of Norman Cook, the legendary British DJ and record producer. He’s the pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s. Cook has won a remarkable amount of various awards – most impressively 10 MTV Video Music Awards and 2 Brit Awards. His most notable tracks include “Weapon of Choice”, “Praise You”, “The Rockafeller Skank” and “Right Here Right Now”. These timeless classics as well as collaborations with other artists have brought him a lot of success in the UK charts, performing as Fatboy Slim and with The Housemartins, Beats International, and Freak Power.

Norman Cook started out as a DJ 35 years go. He pinpoints the exact time he switched from playing punk rock to playing electro music: as soon as he turned 18 and could get into clubs, the electro scene was kickstarted by ‘Planet Rock’ and ‘Blue Monday’. Grandmaster Flash was the biggest influence for the young DJ mainly in turns of cutting up records. He brings out Carl Cox as the big kahuna of his home town Brighton. His musical education was provided by John Peel. In the early years Cook went by the name DJ Ox. Years later he came up with the oxymoron Fatboy Slim, but he doesn’t seem to attach a more significant meaning to it. The usual day is all about music for Cook, as he’s always searching for new tunes online. Then there’s the job of editing and mashing them up for his sets. After that comes the best part of his week, getting on a plane and getting to the shows.

On the late arrival of dance music to wider audiences in America, Cook reminiscences that in the past there’s been less of a club culture in America, whereas in UK and Europe people start clubbing around 16 years old on a regular basis. It’s been a natural part of growing up in Europe, people don’t hang around malls that much. Although Fatboy Slim’s come up with great ideas to speak to his fans through good videos and great showmanship, he says he hasn’t been that quick to pick up on social media. He does have a lot of fun though, you can interact with him through his website’s ‘ask norm’ feature.

In the future, Norm sees himself flying around the world getting turned on by turning people on! He’s also releasing a film about the legendary beach party Big Beach Boutique, which was broadcast in 600 cinemas all over the world, check it out from his website and look at the trailer below! Also, Fatboy Slim recently stepped up in the Awakenings Global 500 show with some off the hook techno action. Head over to the music section for the set.

Photo: Jaime Oriz