I HAVE SPENT MY LIFE BUILDING TO THIS MOMENT
Fatboy Slim is inviting everyone to the ultimate dance party. MARION McMULLEN finds out about music videos, snails and supersizing the nightclub experience ....
FATBOY Slim is adopting a new name for the day... Fatboy Slow. The DJ, musician and producer behind such hits like Right Here, Right Now, Praise You and Weapon Of Choice is attempting to walk a marathon in a day while hunting down 50 giant snail sculptures for charity.
The 55-year-old DJ will hit the Snailspace public art trail on October 19 – part of Be More Snail Day.
He explains: “When Brighton had Snowdog sculptures a few years ago, my daughter Nelly and I did the whole trail, but we cheated a bit by going by car.
“So, completing the whole trail in one day was an obvious idea and, as I’m a little bit of a runner I thought about a marathon taking in every snail.
“The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to embrace the idea of slowing down. By walking it is a far more sociable affair, I can get a selfie at each snail, chat to people as I walk.”
He will be setting off from the cafe he owns in Hove Lagoon, and hopes to raise £5,000 for The Martlets hospice which cares for terminally ill people in Sussex.
But the hit-maker, born Norman Cook, has no plans to slow down permanently. Quite the opposite in fact. He’s currently preparing for his In The Round UK headline tour next year.
It will see him turning arenas into the UK’s biggest dance floors and he says people can expect a big production, including a revolving stage and rave ushers.
“I’ve spent my whole life building up to this moment,” he says excitedly.
“I’d shied away from doing shows in arenas because it can be difficult to get the atmosphere of a club or festival, but then my manager forced me, kicking and screaming, to play at the O2 and we managed to create the biggest trendiest nightclub in the world.
“We played in the round, with me in the middle, so no-one was far from the stage. It’s really important to me to connect with the audience and we are doing that... just bigger.”
He laughs: “I’m a born performer, a showman. A guitarist can run from one end of the stage to another. I’m not able to do that, but I can perform in the round, connect with the crowd and have a lot of fun.
“It’s quite exhausting to do shows that big, but the adrenalin kicks in and I am going to give it my all.”
He laughs: “There’s no way you can blow your nose or scratch your bum without everyone seeing you. You are on show the whole time.”
It is 20 years since You’ve Come A Long Way Baby first came out and Norman has been pushing the musical boundaries ever since.
This year alone he performed 162 metres above Brighton in the resort’s landmark i360 pod and played at the El Row Olympic Park in London.
“There have been many, many great moments over the years,” he agrees. “Performing at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics on a giant inflatable octopus was definitely one and the pod in Brighton watching this beautiful sunset over my home town. It was like being in a dream. A pinch-yourself moment.
“I remember doing an interview back when I started, saying ‘this music has to be disposable,’” he says with a wry chuckle, “and people are still listening to it 20 years later. It’s like The Who singing ‘Hope I die before I get old.’ They play Right Here, Right Now at a football match now and it introduces it to a new generation. I’m very proud of it.”
The music-lover confesses he still has 9,000 vinyl records in his own personal collection and insists: “I’m not going to get rid of them and I’m not sure if I’m keeping them for nostalgia or what. I’m not really sure for the life of me why I am keeping them but I am certainly not getting rid of a single one of them.
“I like anything old, black and scratchy. Soul from the 60s, blues from the 40s, gospel, reggae. I used to spend many hours in dusty record shops, but now it’s mainly on the internet.
“I’ve been dropping hints over the years about how I would love the good pleasure of working with Al Green. But he’s a reverend now and probably wants nothing to do with a heathen like me.”
Fatboy Slim music videos have become almost as famous as his songs over the years, but he admits he still regrets missing out on the chance of meeting Hollywood acting star Christopher Walken on the Weapon Of Choice video.
“I was supposed to be the bell boy at the beginning, but my wife [TV and radio presenter Zoe Ball] had our first child so I couldn’t be there. I still tell my son Woody when the video comes on ‘I wasn’t there and it was all because of you.’”
He laughs: “It’s taken my son a while, but I think he tends to think I’m a bit cooler now after I did a show and all his mates and teachers wanted to be on the guest list.”
He and Zoe split after 18 years of marriage, but family will always be his number one priority. “I have got two kids and they keep me busy,” he says. “For years and years I slept and breathed my job, but now I think I’m a more rounded human being with a life outside work.”
The In The Round arena tour begins on February 21. Go to fatboyslim.net for dates and ticket details.