Fatboy Slim
a.k.a.
Norman Cook
HE'S COME A LONG WAY, BABY
The World's Biggest DJ Digs into the Crates for a Fresh New Sound
As soon as Norman Cook -- a.k.a. Fatboy Slim -- gets on the phone to discuss his new album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, he announces that he's in the bathtub. The price of being in demand. After 15 years in the music business -- a span that has seen Cook move from playing bass for the Brit-pop band the Housemartins to simultaneously making records under four different monikers -- Cook has become the biggest star in electronic music this side of Moby. Ironically, it was a pop-heavy album that nudged the veteran DJ into the spotlight. Released in 1998, the engaging You've Come a Long Way, Baby catapulted Cook to the upper echelons of the DJ scene, thanks primarily to the beat-heavy "Rockafeller Skank" and the infectious pop gem "Praise You." Having established his crossover potential with You've Come a Long Way, Baby, which went platinum and received two Grammy nominations, Cook returns to his club roots with a vengeance on Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. The album's glorious closing track, "Song for Shelter," is an inspired reminder to both Cook and his longtime fans that he got his start in club music and that's where he belongs. While in the bath, Cook spoke to Barnes & Noble.com's Steve Baltin about club life, stardom, and his impending fatherhood.
Barnes & Noble.com: You're squeezing a lot in right now so you can be at home when your first child is born [due date: Christmastime 2000]. If the album takes off, will you be available to promote it, or is this it for the promotional stuff?
Fatboy Slim: No, it's only for like the first three months. I have no idea how I'll react. Darren Emerson [former Underworld DJ], who's a friend of mine, had a baby last year. After a month, he was phoning up his agent, saying, "Get me a tour. I need some sleep." I might, after a couple of months, decide I want to spend as much time away from nappies as possible. I can't tell, so I don't want to book anything until I know what kind of father I want to be. But no, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of it, it just means we've got to get the album up and running now. I'm sure by the summer I'll be doing the festivals.
B&N.com: While you were in NewYork [in September], you did a DJ show. How did that go?
FS: It was cool. I played four hours, which is a treat for me. Because a lot of times, at the biggest shows, it's all very frantic, and I never really have a chance to have any fun. But playing a small club for a four-hour set, I get to really have fun and flex my muscles. Plus, all my mates stopped by. Armand Van Helden came down to say hello; it was a nice time.
B&N.com: You had an interesting trip to the Grammys that inspired the album's title.
FS: Yeah. I just kind of found myself wandering down Sunset Boulevard looking at the huge stars on the pavement and just kind of thinking, That's where I am. I'm here at the Grammys, staying at Chateau Marmont. But of course I'm kind of sweating and shaking because I haven't been to sleep in two days. I had to drag myself out of bed just to go see someone, and I found myself thinking, I'm not really cut out to be a Hollywood pop star.
B&N.com: You've mentioned that Malcolm McLaren's Duck Rock was a big influence on you. What was it about that album that stood out so strongly for you?
FS: It's almost the blueprint for what I do now. I'm an English white kid from the suburbs who likes black music. So I kind of sample, work with some of the artists and try to find a way that I, as a white kid, can make black-sounding music. It was pivotal because it made all the rest of us who did like rap music realize that instead of just listening to it we could make our own style of rap without being rappers and without trying to pretend we were black.
B&N.com: You've always had a great love for music. Does that come from your family?
FS: It was a musical family in that we sung quite a lot when we were driving along in the car. But my dad worked in the glass industry, my mom was a teacher, so there's no kind of history there. When I was a kid I just always loved music. And my family said they always knew I was going to end up as a musician because that was all I was really interested in. When I was eight or nine, I just got obsessed with pop music, things like David Cassidy, the Osmonds, and Gary Glitter. I was just absolutely hooked, so I started collecting records; then I started DJing. I taught myself the guitar when I was a kid. Then punk came along and said, "Well, look, anyone can do this. You don't have to be trained." So I just started playing in punk bands, and everything sort of spun from there.
November 7, 2000
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