Deadmau5 cues up orchestra for new project
Will perform latest release for two shows in Los Angeles that will be livestreamed and include 60-piece classical ensemble
As a kid growing up in Niagara Falls, Joel Zimmerman’s only real brush with classical music was seeing Phantom of the Opera for a Grade 7 class trip.
It was “cool,” he recalls. But it didn’t steer him towards the symphony or anything. His path would lead somewhere far different – the electronic dance icon known as Deadmau5.
But seasoned listeners to Zimmerman’s music have long known that behind the beats and electric thump, there’s a hint of the symphonic. With his ninth album Where’s the Drop?, he re-imagines several of his bestknown songs – including the classic Strobe – in a classical setting.
Released at midnight Friday on the streaming service Tidal, the project is a collaboration with film composer Gregory Reveret (Deadpool, Avengers: Age of Ultron) and recorded with a full 60-piece orchestra.
On the line from Los Angeles, where he’ll join the orchestra for two shows at The Wiltern Saturday and Sunday (the Sunday show will be livestreamed on Tidal), Zimmerman says his classical side has been kicking around for awhile.
“I’ve written a whole bunch of piano concertos and stuff that I
just really had no outlet for,” he says, “The logistics and costs and labour involved in putting together an orchestra are (huge).”
The two artists met over one of Zimmerman’s ‘Mau5trap Mondays’ Twitch sessions. Listening to a film score Reveret submitted, Zimmerman knew he was the composer who could push his music into uncharted territory.
“His structure is very rich and very complex,” says Reveret. “Joel’s work, it’s not basic. There’s a lot of information to work with creatively. So for me, it was a good opportunity to say ‘Let’s do something different.’
“Some electronic artists have done orchestral works, film score works…how do we present this in a way that it stands on its own? That it’s not a sound-alike?”
For Zimmerman, it meant a true collaboration – working with dozens of musicians instead of his usual style, alone in the studio surrounded by machines. But the music is still unmistakably Deadmau5.
“I’ve managed to draw this really big thick line down my career path, to kind of prelude to doing things that just don’t go with the guy who just makes EDM,” he says.
“It’s not that big of a shocker. But to me, to have a music career that spanned 20 years…to be able to do something like that is a feat in itself.”
Zimmerman is confident his fans are open to something new as well. The album’s cheeky title is a reference to EDM’s calling card – the moment in a track when the beat explodes and energy is released.
“I’m hopeful a lot of my fans are music aficianodos, not (EDM) festival worshippers,” he says. “I have enough faith in humanity that people like all sorts of great music, as opposed to ‘I’m gonna lock it down to one simple thing, and that’s it. That’s my life.’
“My work changes, and people’s tastes change. It’s something you have to be proficient at doing if you want to keep people on their toes and interested.”
For now, he’s looking at this weekend’s classical concerts as a one-time thing. He already has a proper new Deadmau5 album on deck for this year.
“Just speaking from a physical standpoint, it is not anywhere close to affordable to be able to do this all the time and tour it around. Even the recording session…this is beyond a sevenfigure thing.
“You’ve got to wrangle up 60 people. That’s 60 hotel rooms, that’s 60 meals, that’s 60 flights! Doing it with three people is a lot!”
For his part, Reveret was humbled by the “responsibility” of reshaping the Deadmau5 catalogue – some of EDM’s most influential music
“He corrected me when there were mistakes, and when there weren’t he just let me ride,” he says. “You can’t ask for a better situation.
“Especially his biggest work – Strobe. I mean, what a monster to put on the table in terms of trust.”