Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) was hoping for a break from the spotlight. With the whirlpool of promotional duties for his multi-platinum You've Come a Long Way, Baby finally over, the newly married "funk soul brother" was hoping to settle down with his wife Zoe, a British talk show host, and begin work on his new album. But in the process of recording, Cook told RollingStone.com that he's decided to work with live vocalists for the first time, and a new publicity storm ensued. Now, as the media scurries to uncover the artists Cook has roped in to assist him in his quest to move beyond big beat (to date, only Macy Gray has fessed up), it looks like he's going to have to wait on that reprise quite a bit longer.
In the meantime, fans and critics intrigued by Cook's talk about moving away from his trademark big-beat sound can get a teasing glimpse at his new musical direction by checking out Essential Selection Volume 1, a two-disc set featuring Cook and the world's highest ranking DJ, Paul Oakenfold. The brainchild of FFRR dance label guru Pete Tong, the DJ mix series is already a hit in the U.K., and the first stateside volume -- due May 16 -- aptly showcases Cook's night job of bloke with a record box, slapping down the vinyl and sending dance floors a-moving. The mix blends together club standards from artists including Chemical Brothers, Underworld and Groove Armada, but it is a hell of a lot harder and more diverse than the peppy, "Rockafeller Skank"-type tunes many might expect.
From his home in Brighton, Cook chats about trance, dance, sex and Denny's, proving that even though he's one of Blighty's few true crossover success stories of the last decade, he's still the veritable Everyman.
So how's the new album coming?
Slowly but surely. It probably won't be out 'til Christmas. I'm working on about fifteen songs, but it's a long and slow process. I've been a bit lazy as well. It's very hard to get used to doing an eight-hour day in the studio.
Aside from the live vocalists, what's different about the stuff you're working on -- you really have a trademark sound, don't you?
Hopefully, yeah. If I get it right it'll still have the trademark sound, so you'll kind of know it's me, but it won't be, "Oh bloody hell, another record by him!" A lot of the sound on the last album is kind of standard practice now. There's a lot of things I definitely know I don't wanna do. I think that's probably why it's been slow: I probably know more what I don't wanna do than what I do.
Well what don't you want to do?
Just the whole kind of big beat sound. There's been many records that sound exactly like "Gangsta Tripping" and "Rockafeller Skank." I don't wanna sound like the people who sound like me.
How did you become involved with the Essential Selection series?
Pete Tong's been a friend of mine and we've worked together for fifteen years. I did one mix album for the Boutique -- Big Beat Boutique, that was the only mix album I'd ever done. I've always held back from doing them. I've been a bit precious about it. But the millennium seemed a good time and to be in such company as Paul Oakenfold and Pete Tong. To be honest I was just flattered that like we were considered the three biggest DJs in Britain to represent the millennium.
Why would you not think of yourself on that level?
Maybe because I thought two years ago it would have been Pete, Paul and Carl Cox. I was really chuffed that they asked me. I mean Carl probably said no. That's why. I mean I'd say that Carl Cox, Pete Tong and Paul Oakenfold are the three biggest DJs. But to be in a series with two out of the three kind of made me look good.
But in America you dwarf all three of them.
Well, that's just a different country, isn't' it?
Yeah, but that must be something that makes you feel good...
It does, and that's why I spend so much of my time in America coming over and playing. I promise you I don't go to Germany half as much as I do America -- like at all.
So remix requests -- do they just flood in on a daily basis?
They've trickled off for the last few months because everyone's sort of realized that I just say no to everything. I just haven't had time the last year and a half, and now I'm kind of doing my album so I don't wanna go off and do somebody else's. There are times that are exciting, some really big-name acts, but unless there's something I'm really killing to do, there's no point in doing it just to say, "Oh, I've remixed so and so."
Paul Oakenfold once said that he likes to come over to America because it lets him get down to business, whereas in Britain he is so high-profile, people like to "pop" at him -- take him down a notch. Do you find yourself encountering much jealousy back home because you have had such tremendous success over here?
No, I'm very surprised that there hasn't been more of a backlash toward me. You'd expect [to hear], "Oh, bloody hell, how come he gets all the awards?" Everyone's very proud of me 'cause I'm kind of flying the flag for England over there . . . But I don't know. Paul does kind of set himself up for a backlash because he does say some quite outspoken things, and I could see people wanting to have a pop at him. I seem to be a bit more cuddly and friendly than Paul.
So are you feeling any pressure back home while you're working on the follow-up to You've Come a Long Way Baby because you've been one of Britain's few crossover success stories?
Yeah, a little. I mean there's pressure for it to be as successful and for it to crossover like the last album did. But it got so big it kind of took over my life. So if the next album wasn't quite so successful, I wouldn't mind 'cause I'd get a bit of my personal life back. If it does really well, then that's great, and if it doesn't do so well, it means I can kind of take my foot off the pedal a bit and get a bit of time to myself. And I just got married.
Are you hoping to start a family?
We really haven't had time. That's one of the things it might be nice to have a bit more time to do. We have had sex ... a couple of times now [laughs].
How many kids would you like to have?
Oh, I don't know -- 2.3, is that the average? Yeah, 2.3.
Do you think the dance scene in America will ever end up mainstream like it is in Britain?
I don't think it'll ever be like Britain's, because people go to different clubs for certain reasons. In America, specialist people go to clubs, whereas in England everybody goes to clubs. In England, every town the size of Des Moines, Iowa, has got like three clubs. In America there's only clubs really in the bigger cities. But Americans take it a lot more seriously, which is really nice 'cause when I go over, they're more enthusiastic because they've paid to come see me, whereas in England people just pay to go to a club. There's certain big DJs people go to see, but on the whole you go to a club just for the atmosphere of the club and to meet people of the opposite sex and get drunk and take drugs or whatever.
There's a lot of talk here about trance being the genre of electronica that is going to break dance music in America. What's your take on it?
I don't think it's what's gonna break it in America because it's kind of ghetto-ized. I think one of the reasons I did well in America is because I could kind of crossover to people who grew up watching MTV and listening to Nirvana in the same way the Stereo MCs and Chemical Brothers [were able to]. I think Moby and Chemical Brothers and me are far more likely to do well in America than trance.
So what do you like most about America? What sort of little things -- is McDonald's better here than in Britain?
I don't go to McDonalds. I go to Denny's. I love Denny's. I probably would [go there every morning] if I ever got up in the morning.
What is it about Denny's that you like?
I don't know I think it's probably the thing you like about America -- everything's easy and you can get whatever you want, whenever you want it, and there's no attitude, and it's a bit kitsch and fun. And you just go there and you eat what you want. It's like being at home. I'm a Grand Slam Breakfast man.
JOLIE LASH
(May 5, 2000)