Fatboy Slim interview

Fatboy Slim has just announced another Big Beach Bootique to embrace his home city of Brighton & Hove, this time away from the seafront at the new Amex Stadium. Jeff Hemmings talks to the man

As a DJ, there are few bigger acts in the world, and while he continues to perform on the global stage – from Brazil to China – it’s here in Brighton that Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, continues to pull the rabbits out of the hat: he’s just announced back-to-back shows next June at the new state-of-the art American Express Community Stadium, home to Brighton & Hove Albion football club.

Named Big Beach Bootique 5, “It’s the culmination of the four we did on the beach, mixed with the celebration of having a shiny new stadium – the best in England – and an opportunity for those who don’t like football to come to the stadium!”

As a fan and shareholder in the club, Norman was an active campaigner for the new stadium.

“I took a petition to Downing Street, I went on the marches so, it’s a celebration of Brighton, it’s a celebration of getting the stadium, it’s a celebration of my links with the Albion – it’s the icing on the cake for all of us!

“Whenever I was in town people were always asking ‘when are you going to do the next beach party?’, and whenever I’m at The Amex people would say ‘you should have a party here’. I’ve known that we were going to do this for about a year before we could announce it… It’s Roy of the Rovers stuff for me. Dick Knight [former Chairman of the club and now Life President] always said I should do the opening night, and luckily Tony Bloom [current chairman] took it on and made it a reality. As an Albion fan it’s the closest I’ll probably ever get to scoring a goal!”

Along with Fatboy, they’ll be a hosts of other DJs and acts performing over the two days including old buddy Carl Cox and dubstep phenomenon Nero.

“Calender-wise, Carl was never available to do one of the beach ones, but I did a beach party in Tokyo which he did play at, and whenever he does his Ibiza residency I go out and play with him.”

Based here in Brighton for 30 years Norman says he loves it more than ever: “I’ve always been proud of the slightly off-kilter, liberal feel of the town. When I first moved down there was alternative lifestyles going: squatters, gays, all co-existing. There’s always been a broad-minded and forward thinking vibe here which attracts like minded, creative people. That keeps the spirit of Brighton alive.”

And, apart from a short spell in Hull when he hooked up with childhood friend Paul Heaton and became the bass player in seminal indie-pop band The Housemartins, it’s here in Brighton that Cook has made his mark. Soon after The Housemartins disbanded, Cook re-visited his love of hip-hop and rare groove and founded Beats International, enjoying a Number One hit with ‘Dub Be Good To Me’. Then in 1994 he formed Freak Power with Ashley Slater and singer Jesse Graham, enjoying another Number One hit with ‘Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out’.

“As an Albion fan it’s the closest I’ll probably ever get to scoring a goal!”

In the meantime, he continued producing his own music under a number of different monikers including Pizzaman and The Mighty Dub Katz. It was also around this time that he adopted the pseudonym Fatboy Slim, signed to Brighton’s Loaded/Skint Records and pioneered the Big Beat genre that became hugely popular in the late ’90s.

“It’s all based around bouncy acid house – a bit dirty, yet accessible. I always just go back to the spirit of ’88. Big Beat was a bastard offspring of house meets hip-hop meets pop. There is a timeless quality to good old fashioned acid house,” says Norman, who has a huge cabinet at his home devoted to those yellow smiley faces. Hits such as ‘The Rockafeller Skank’, ‘Gangster Trippin’’, ‘Praise You’ (another Number One) and ‘Right Here, Right Now’, cemented his reputation as an innovative dance producer with the midas touch.

And then in 2001 came Big Beach Boutique 1, a free party on the beach just along from his home, followed by the infamous Big Beach Boutique 2 in 2002, which attracted an incredible 250,000, and much hysteria in the national tabloids…

“My roots as a suburban white kid meant I thought I should be doing suburban indie pop rather than trying to make rap or funk music. But when the sampler came out it freed up white people to make dance music without trying to sound black. The invention of the sampler and the drum machine meant I could play music I liked. But even before that it wasn’t a career move being a DJ, it was something I did in the evenings… I got a four track portastudio, a drum machine, turntables and sampler and was playing with hip-hop and rare groove; ‘Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels of Steel’ was a pivotal record for me.

“But I was doing this stuff before The Housemartins. At Bestival, DJ Shadow came up to me just before I went on and said, ‘I haven’t met you before but I just want to give respect. When I was 12 you were the one in The Housemartins who was into breakbeats.’ There were only about 50 people in the world who knew then what breakbeats and sampling breakbeats was about. So I was doing this stuff in ‘85 but in those days there wasn’t a career in it – it was just something you did in your bedroom.”

Nowadays, Cook is a family man, and much prefers to work as a DJ rather than make music. “After 26 years I feel I don’t have to release an album every two years, and I’m getting so much DJ work – I’ve done 70 shows this year around the world. That’s the one thing downloads can’t replace – young people still want to get drunk and get laid so there’s always a job!”

Not only that, Norman gave up alcohol a couple of years ago and went on to complete the inaugural Brighton Marathon in 2010, managing a time of just under five hours. But he still smokes… “I’ve got to have some vice in my life,” he laughs.

“The fact that I can put bums on seats and am still invited to the party is fantastic,” he says. “Rock stars get old, bald and fat and can’t do it anymore, whereas DJs were never oil paintings in the first place and we were hiding behind the decks. I’m still really chuffed at turning people on after all these years; that rejuvenates me more, the fact I see young people getting off on it. I still feel about 17 when I DJ.”

Big Beach Bootique 5, 1 & 2 June 2012, American Express Community Stadium. £35 early bird tickets available from www.ticketline.net