Fatboy Slim – Love Island (BeatOn club mix) (2007)

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Fatboy Slim – Show Nuff (BeatOn remix) (2007)

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Apollo 440 vs. Fatboy Slim – Rockafeller Stop (BeatOn Personal Bootleg) (2008)

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source: beaton.promodj.ru

Emma Johnson talks to the daddy of DJs Fat Boy Slim about how it’s getting harder and harder to party

I HAVE been interviewing superstar DJs for some years now. Sitting in a gloomy office, I regularly catch up with these jet setters in their hotel rooms the world over.

But today is a little different. This time Fatboy Slim is the one sitting in rainy England and I am the one clubbing in Ibiza.

“I’m liking the role reversal,” remarks the Brighton native, chuckling at my croaky voice, the result of four nights’ clubbing in a row.

The reason I am breaking into my holiday is today is the only window Fatboy – aka Norman Cook – can find in his uber-busy schedule to talk about his headline set at next weekend’s 10th anniversary Creamfields festival in Daresbury.

Tomorrow he jets off to tour the Far East, then he is non-stop globe-trotting until September, with that stop-off in Cheshire.

"This summer started for me back in March," Norman explains. "I did Glastonbury, then Russia and quite a lot of Eastern Europe. I’m off to Japan, then it is Creamfields and Ibiza and then I finish up in September with Brighton Beach."

A The Brighton Beach parties became infamous in 2002 when some 250,000 revellers turned up rather than the 60,000 expected. But in January last year Norman revisited the event with a New Year’s Day party this time limiting numbers to just 20,000 and only allowing people with Brighton postcodes to buy them.

But a beach party in September, after the summer we have had? Isn’t Norman taking a risk?

He laughs: "No. We are quietly confident; there is nothing the English weather can hurl at us in September that could be worse than New Year’s Day," he laughs. "I am really looking forward to it – it will be like a glorious end-of-term party for us."

Obviously before he can get to those celebrations there is that aforementioned festival. A regular at Cream and Creamfields, for this its 10th anniversary year, Fatboy Slim will be headlining the main stage joined by acts such as Pendulum, Gossip, Simian Mobile Disco and the Presets not to mention the 100 or so other acts on in the various tented arenas.

Norman, who first found fame with the Housemartins in 1985 (they later became the Beautiful South), before going on to become one of the world’s biggest producers and DJs with a slew of hits including Praise You and Rockafeller Skank, is clearly relishing the thought of getting down with the Scousers again.

"I have been coming up for Creamfields for years," says Norman. I am good friends with James (Cream supremo James Barton) and it is like coming up and being paid to see all your mates."

"But it’s normally all work and no play these days," the 45-year-old DJ adds. "I party a bit but you have always got the next gig to go to and I am no spring chicken any more. I used to stay out all night but now I have got to get up the next day and it hurts. I will have my party on stage."

One act Norman won’t be partying with is Gorillaz Soundsystem, who will be rocking the Radio One stage on the Sunday long after he has hit the road. But at least it means he will stay out of trouble.

"I remember getting thrown off the stage one year when the Gorillaz were on," he recalls. "They were doing their thing behind the screen and I sneaked behind to try and see how it worked but this guy said ‘hey you can’t be behind here.’

"I was trying to say that I knew Damon (Albarn) and that I was next up on stage but they were having none of it."

Last time I sat down with Norman was five years ago. He and Zoe Ball, his wife of nine years, had just got back together after a public break-up and he was suffering a bit of burnout from too much touring.

These days it seems family is very much at the forefront of Norman’s mind. When he is not DJing and 37-year-old Zoe is not presenting on TV they like nothing better than chilling at home with son Woody.

They also, barring the unflattering paparazzi pics like those last week as they returned from a holiday in Sardinia, generally stay out of the public eye.

"We live in Brighton not London so you don’t see pictures of us going out," says Norman. "And if we do go out it is a bit of a busman’s holiday for me. I relax watching films with my wife and going to the football."

After Creamfields and Brighton, there is just one more big project for Norman this year and it has been a long time coming. It is Brighton Port Authority (BPA), Norman’s long-awaited next release, featuring everyone from Martha Wainwright to Jamie T to Iggy Pop.

"This is something I have been working on for 20 to 30 years," Norman explains. "It has always been there but I never quite finished it. Then someone found the tapes and we decided to remaster it. It’s my lost album."

As for the future, Norman may be feeling the late nights a bit more these days and there’s that bad back everyone is talking about but he has no plans to hang up his headphones. He says: "I will just carry on regardless until I get sacked or no-one turns up."

source: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk