From his early days as the bassist in The Housemartins to becoming one of the most iconic figures in electronic dance music, Norman Cook (better known as Fatboy Slim) has never been afraid to evolve.
Drawing inspiration from an eclectic mix of genres, his sound is a fusion of funk, soul, punk rock, and house, all blended together
with a unique personal touch.
Fatboy Slim is the cover feature for the latest Forte Magazine, out now – check it out here !
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“I wasn’t really into The Housemartins’ music,” admits Cook, “I’d been at school with Paul (Heaton), and I was just the bass player who did as I was told. But, really, I always liked dance music.”
“All these bands over the years have essentially been cross-pollination,” he continues. “I grew up listening to pop, then I was a punk rocker, then funk and soul, then hip hop, then house. It was a time when you stuck to genres, but gradually it’s all blended together—especially with the internet. Everybody can hear what everybody else is doing from different countries and cultures. It’s a melting pot.”
Fatboy Slim, Cook says, is “the sum total of my whole life.” His musical evolution has been a mix of influences, from the catchy hooks of The Beatles to the rebellious spirit of punk, the squelchy energy of acid jazz and house, the breakbeats of hip-hop. “I’m working on a book, charting how I went through all of these bands in my past and, if you listen to the last single of each band I was in, they sort of lead into the next ones sound.”
When asked about his musical evolution, Cook is quick to make a comparison to one of music’s greatest chameleons. “If I was David Bowie, I would still be called David Bowie, but rather than mutating, I just worked with different people. A lot of my musical changes were down to who I was working with, whereas Fatboy is just me. That’s why it’s lasted longer than the other projects, because I find it hard to split up with myself.”
Cook’s distinctive sound is perhaps what’s kept fans coming back for more.
“I think I’ve just got a good ear,” he says thoughtfully. “But the most important thing is I’ve got one foot in both camps. I grew up DJing and got very heavily into club culture and mixing, but I was also in pop bands. A lot of DJs who make DJ music don’t understand pop, and a lot of pop stars trying to make dance records don’t understand dance music. Because I’d done both, it was easy for me to combine the two.”
Perhaps the key to Fatboy Slim’s success lies in his ability to be himself and experiment without constraints.
“I think I’m best left to my own devices with no one saying ‘you can’t do that,’” he reflects. “When it’s just me, I can carry on with those stupid ideas I have, and no one reigns me in. That’s when I’m at my best. That’s when I’m cheeky, experimental, and catchy. I love a good hook, and I think that’s what people latch onto.”
Cook recalls a time in his youth working at a record store, the only “honest job” he’s had, he says. “If the record didn’t have a hook, they didn’t buy it because they couldn’t sing it to me. That stuck in my head.”
Cook’s energy is deeply connected to performing on stage. “The energy of the crowd truly fuels me,” he says. “People ask, ‘How does a 61-year-old have such energy?’ I get it from the crowd. I get so overexcited watching them. They’re a part of it—it’s a conversation that goes on. And that influences the music as well because you spend thousands of hours onstage watching people react and seeing what gets them going. A lot of the time, I try out new stuff on the crowd and figure out what works.”
During the pandemic, when live performances were off the table, Cook found that the absence of an audience changed every-
thing. “Trying to do livestreams and DJing without an audience,” he admits. “It ceases to be DJing; it’s just a middle-aged man playing records. The audience makes the show.”
When it comes to his music, Cook has always embraced a disinctive sound—“a bit acidy but accessible,” as he puts it. “I call it dirty but catchy. That’s what I’m aiming for.”
Though he’s well known for hits like ‘Right Here Right Now’ and ‘Praise You’, he loves to switch things up. “That’s the beautiful thing about being a DJ, you don’t have to play the same set every night or your own songs every night, it depends on the mood.”
Cook’s musical influences go way back, and he has fond memories of his first vinyl purchase. “Suzi Quatro—it’s a filthy, dirty, sexy record by a female bass player, who was probably the object of my early teenage fantasies. I still love that record to this day,” he says.
And when I mentioned a similar obsession with my own muse, Viv Albertine, he lit up; “The Slits were one of the first bands I saw live, supporting The Buzzcocks in Croydon in ’77. She [Viv] dropped her plectrum, and I kept it for years. I wish I could find it for you now.”
As for the name “Fatboy Slim,” it’s rooted in his love for old scratchy blues records. “If you were a fat blues singer, you were called Slim,” he explains. “I had records by Memphis Slim, Pinetop Slim, Bumblebee Slim, and Fatboy Slim just sounded like the oxymoronic blues singer who could never exist. It had a great ring to it.”
“Come along, bring your dancing feet, leave your inhibitions at the door; though I know you Aussies are good at that, and let’s celebrate love and life together through the medium of very loud music.”
Cook is heading out on a national headline tour this month, hitting Perth, Sydney, Bowral, Barossa Valley, Mount Cotton and Mt Duneed Estate in Geelong. Get tix here!
