Hip hop
Fatboy Slim is a formative figure in UK dance music. Having swapped indie fame with the Housemartins to plunge head-first into rave, the producer – real name Norman Cook – worked on a plethora of projects before pinning down his most famous moniker.
Helping to codify Big Beat, Fatboy Slim took his sound mainstream, notching up multi-million sales in the process. Still out there fighting the good fight, the DJ recently helmed All Back To Minehead, a stellar dance weekender at the historic British resort.
At times, it seemed as though Fatboy Slim was everywhere during the weekend – from a solo headline set to a stint checking people in and handing them their passes, he had a ball getting out of the booth and meeting some of his fans.
Closing All Back To Minehead with an epic B2B with Eats Everything, Fatboy Slim also hosted sets from Idris Elba, Horse Meat Disco, The 2 Bears Rave, ABSOLUTE. and more.
an epic back to back battle with Eats Everything as the first ever All Back to Minehead was hailed a huge success.
Fatboy Slim says…
“I’m actually quite emotional about how much community love and nonsense filled Butlins holiday camp this weekend. What a delightful mixture of crazy loved up super ravers. I’m proud and humbled. I want to also give a heartfelt thanks to all the artists that joined me this weekend for dancing, community, joy connection, and solidarity.”
A good pal of Clash got up close with Fatboy Slim at the weekender for a quickfire Q&A…
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Why did you decide to put on All Back To Minehead?
I wanted to take the sense of security that you get from one of my shows and elongate it for a whole weekend, in one place.
I’m absolutely blown away by the atmosphere and vibe, I even did a couple of hours on the check in desk for some of the arrivals.
Would you ever go into space as a tourist?
I was once asked by Richard Branson if I’d like to be the first DJ in space which I said yes to immediately. Turned out, it wasn’t Richard at all, it was Beardyman live on a radio show…
Where’s your favourite place you’ve ever played?
Definitely not Woodstock! The gigs on Brighton beach. I love the city and they seem pretty proud of me.
What was Woodstock ’99 actually like?
They did jazz it up a bit. We did stop the gig for about 15 minutes but we did restart. It was one of the hairier gigs of my life but it wasn’t quite how they made out!
Would you do it all again?
Fu*k yeah! As far as I’m aware, I’m still doing it. Don’t think I made any fundamental mistakes. Maybe I would drink a little less and remember a bit more earlier in my career.
Which of your tracks is your favourite?
‘Right Here, Right Now’ still gives me goosebumps.
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Favourite cheese?
Manchego.
About his alter ego…
90% of my life I’m a middle aged man. When I’m Fatboy Slim it’s nice to put on a uniform like the Hawaiian shirt and bare feet then I forget about all the responsibilities that come with being a dad and I can just think about being Fatboy Slim the hedonistic party animal. Plus I always dance better with my feet bare!
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