Legendary dance artist Fatboy Slim has opened up about his excitement at returning to Belfast this March, as well as sharing how he kept his sanity during lockdown, and what it means to have his son follow in his footsteps as a performer.
The 58-year-old, whose real name is Norman Cook, is one of the most renowned music artists in the world.
Having helped popularise the big beat genre of dance music in the mid-90s, he became internationally famed for singles like 'Praise You', 'Right Here, Right Now', 'Rockafellar Skank' and 'Weapon of Choice', released throughout the late '90s and early '00s.
Since then, Fatboy Slim has continued to be one of the most in-demand performers globally, and regularly plays arena shows and headline festivals.
His last appearance in Belfast was only a matter of weeks ago, where he managed to perform at the Telegraph Building during a window where Covid rules allowed for a gig of this size.
Now, he's getting set to play the SSE Arena in March, giving the opportunity for thousands more to see him in the flesh.
Speaking about his excitement at getting back to Belfast, Fatboy Slim said: "I'm absolutely looking forward to this. Because of Covid we did a run of arena shows in England in November, and we couldn't fit the Irish shows in. So it's great that we're finally, hopefully, allowed to do them. It's been an interesting six months of dodging Covid regulations, so fingers crossed that we're on."
Asked about his previous times performing in Northern Ireland, he admitted: "I don't think I've had a bad gig here. I had one where I was freezing cold in some industrial park, but no, I like playing here. Fresh in my mind is playing at the Telegraph Building, which was a great gig. There was a little window where we could do it and it was great to have that chance."
As someone who has been performing live since as far back as the '70s, he explained that live shows have taken on a new importance for him since Covid struck.
"Coming out of the pandemic, the power of people being allowed to go out and be together, that sense of community opening up again, that's important," he said. "And also, if you think of the music and what we try and engender at raves, it's a collective abandon from the trials and tribulations of our lives. More than ever at the moment, people have a greater reason to want to go out and be amongst others and escape. So it feels more relevant and powerful than ever."
He added that getting the chance to perform live is what has kept him hopeful during the uncertainty of the last two years.
"In the last six months, we've been able to play two out of three shows, but every gig that I have managed to do has felt like a triumph, so my glass has been half full. And I've been certainly enjoying the gigs that I have been able to play - rather than moaning about the ones that I can't."
For those who know a bit about his history, Norman Cook's musical backstory is impressively varied. He holds the Guinness World Record for having the most Top 40 hits under the same name; he's known for collaborating with a huge variety of musicians; and was famed in his early years for his exhaustive touring schedule. Did lockdown give him a chance to just relax and take stock of things?
"You would've thought that, with my producer's hat on, I might've found that time to do the 'difficult fifth album'!" he joked, referencing the fact that he hasn't released a Fatboy Slim studio album in over 17 years.
"But actually, I was like a rabbit in the headlights. I sort of hung out with my kids, and I started working in my cafe."
Cafe?
"I own a cafe just down the road," he explained, "which I've never actually gotten involved in before. Then by about November 2020, I was going stir crazy sitting in the house all day, so I ended up working in the cafe full time. That's how I kept my sanity.
"But overall, it was a good time for taking stock of just where I am in life and remembering things that matter to you. And it was great to be able to spend a full summer with my kids.
"Also, it just made me realise how much I love my job. At this end of my career, where you're thinking, 'When should I stop? Should I stop soon?' What actually happened was that it just reinstalled my belief that I genuinely just love my job, and I don't want to retire unless I have to. So I came back to music with more of a passion."
He might still have that same passion, but Fatboy Slim has learned to discipline himself over the decades so as to avoid burnout.
"I made a decision a few years back to keep it at a manageable level," he said. "Obviously being a father, and a single parent, I need to be around for my kids, so I cut it back to a manageable level. Five or six years ago, I said, 'I don't want to burn out.'
"But I'm lucky, being a DJ, that I can sort of spread it out over the year. If you're in a band you might find yourself doing nothing but gigging for two years, or six months in a row, but I do about 70 shows a year, over the year, and it never becomes too much.
"And also, travelling around the world, and the late nights, they take a toll physically, so we put things in place that I'll never play four shows in a row, or that I'll always sleep in the town that I'm playing in. I'm too old to be getting on an early morning flight after a gig finishes at 4am and getting ready for the next one. I needed to have things in place to stop getting physically or emotionally burnt out."
Sobriety has also had an important role in helping him not burning out.
"I got sober nearly 14 years ago - that was a decision that I needed to do for my career; but also just as a human being. The key to longevity is to do things, at a pace that is safe and doable, but also that allows you to still enjoy it."
He must be doing something right, because his son, Woody Fred Cook, has followed in his footsteps. Born in 2000 to Norman and his then wife, TV presenter Zoe Ball, Woody appeared to the public in Channel 4 reality show The Circle , and has since gone on to become a DJ.
Speaking about him, Norman said: "It's really exciting as a parent, and I'm really proud of him. It's strange because me and Zoe spent all those years trying to protect him from the public life, but as soon as we let him off the leash, he was going on reality TV shows and becoming a DJ! But I'm very proud of the way he's going. It's probably the legacy of his parents and his grandparents, that it's in his DNA to be part of showbiz."
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