Hanging with Fatboy Slim
We had an amazing time with Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim last week making not one but two separate videos for MoS TV.
First up was at an Oxfam shop in East London where he was playing a gig for 200 people. Yes, that’s right, a gig in amongst the old clothes, books and most importantly heaps of records!
He wasn’t actually feeling too well, but was still as charismatic as ever and played really eclectic music with all the classics, but there was also a Sheryl Crow track thrown in at the end, which was very groovy. He even had a moment with a banana on stage. The banana became the theme of the evening, got passed around the crowd and back to Fatboy, who sang into it.
The place was packed so we could hardly move and boiling hot ‘n sweaty too, but everyone was in such good spirits. Having grabbed our first interview with Norman, we looked through the kids book section reminiscing about childhood books and checked out an Elton john suit for sale for £1000. Baby blue with diamantes. Lovely! (I really wanted to try it on, but the arms were too short by the looks of things.)
Not the sort of this you find in a charity shop every day, but then this was a special occasion as part of the excellent Oxjam series of events. The basement of the shop had been done up really well, yet as the gig ended the lights went on and we saw the mini club transform back into a charity shop.
The next day me and my trusty cameraman Pedro took the train down to Brighton and met up with Norman again at his amazing house right on the beach, with a gorgeous view of Brighton Pier. He was feeling a little better, but still not 100%.
We sat out and spoke to him about his new Greatest Hits Remixed album and all the other things he’s been up to for what turned out to be a great, really relaxed interview where we laughed a lot and talked for ages. It’s amazing when you look back at his life and how involved in the music scene he has been. It seems everything he touches turns to gold - amazing talent. Poor Pedro though, his arm must have been finished after all the camerawork!
I am not quite sure how we got onto the conversation of his bath, but we did and I asked if I could have a sneak peek into his massive bathroom and a tour around the house. So glad I did because wow - what a beautiful pad! It’s very family orientated with pics all over and I loved the bathroom by the way, I think it is about the size of my flat and it looks out onto the sea. If I had a bathroom like that I would live in the bath. A great bath!
There is also Norman’s Bar next to some deck that looks out on the sea. It really must be the coolest place to live and they must have some great times there. I met wife Zoe Ball and she is as gorgeous in person as she is on the TV screen. Even though Norm is a superstar DJ, he really has not let a single thing go to his head. Really lovely.
I had to buy a stick of rock for Pedro as he had never eaten it! He loved it, but thought it was probably the strangest thing he’d ever seen. We could not find one with his name on it. Actually, thinking of it, what is the point of rock? I suppose it really is a part of the English seaside culture?
- Date: Oct 17th 07
- Categories: MoS TV