Fatboy Slim pledges encore for Brighton students

Fatboy Slim asked an audience of Brighton students for ideas about who he should include on the bill for his Big Bootique 5 gigs in June.

He said that Carl Cox would be in the line up for the first two stadium gigs at Brighton and Hove Albion’s new ground.

He told students at City College Brighton and Hove: “Carl Cox is another Brighton boy but part of the reason for coming here today is to find out who you think should play in support.

“I was looking for people I was too old too have heard of.”

He explained why the gigs would be at the new American Express Community Stadium in Falmer rather than on the beach again.

He said: “I love Brighton and Brighton seems to like me but the council have just made it more and more difficult to do it on the beach and more and more expensive.

“I’ve had a long association with Brighton and Hove Albion – I was the shirt sponsor nine years.

“This is my tribute to Brighton and Hove and to Brighton and Hove Albion.”

He said that he was looking forward to playing at the Amex: “It’s my perfect home gig. I’ll never get to play football at the Amex but I can play a gig there.

“It’s our mini Wembley.

He promised to play everything except dubstep but added: “Fear not! There will be someone playing dubstep.”

That someone will be Nero, the London duo.

And Fatboy Slim touted the idea of Rizzle Kicks making the line-up, drawing his only groan of the morning.

Dan Doyle, a DJ and music technology student at City College, aka Care3Beats, played three tracks for his fellow students chosen by Fatboy Slim.

The 48-year-old, who lives in Hove, told Dan and their audience that they reflected his musical heritage: The Bottle by Gil Scott Heron, Should I Stay by The Clash and Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren.

He shared his thoughts and ideas about sampling, software, internet piracy and the changing economics of the music business before heading off to speak to students at Brighton University.

Asked for advice on the first steps towards a career in the modern music industry, he said: “When I started you sent a demo cassette to a record company.

“But now demo cassettes are about as redundant as record companies. It’s a brave new world.”

He compared it with the advent of punk rock in the 1970s when bands put on their own gigs and set up their own record labels, shaking up the industry.

He said: “Cut out the middlemen of the record companies and try to keep as much of the royalties yourselves.”

And while telling the students that they were much more advanced in terms of technology than he was, he offered to return and give tips on his trademark sampling techniques.