Year: 2007

by Nils van der Linden
Fri, 30 Nov 2007

“Dance music isn’t at its peak at the moment,” Norman Cook says, rather wistfully, from his Brighton beachfront home on the south of England.

“Five years ago it was breaking rules and turning people on who didn’t like dance music — rock bands wanted to get involved, and people were excited.”

“Since then we’ve kind of lost our momentum a little bit. When big beat came around in the ’90s it gave dance music a kick up the arse, with groups like Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers,” adds the man better known as Fatboy Slim.

“We’re treading water a bit at the moment so I’m trying to do something different.”

[…]

Athos Kyriakides catches up with up with Fatboy Slim ahead of his scheduled tour of South Africa

Fatboy Slim, also known as Norman Cook, is very much a product of the Nineties, but his appeal has not diminished since he broke on to the music scene as one-third of the acid house hit-makers, Pizzaman. He moved on to focus on his current incarnation, Fatboy Slim, which began with a trio of singles and the full-length album, Better Living through Chemistry.

He has written the music for a musical, won a Grammy and churned out an impressive five albums, including his most recent effort, Why Try Harder: The Greatest Hits. His raucous blend of house, acid, funk, hip-hop, electro and techno have added to his formidable reputation as one of the foremost all-around producers on the scene. When he threw his Big Beach bash in Rio, Brazil, last year, a staggering 360 000 people turned up.

[…]