60 seconds with...Fatboy Slim

We catch up with Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim

NORMAN Cook is the Brighton-based beat king famed for his hugely popular incarnations as Beats International, Mighty Dub Katz, Pizzaman and, of course, Fatboy Slim.
A collection of remixes from the likes of Plump DJs, Switch, Justice and Chemical Brothers, 'Fatboy Slim the Greatest Hits Remixed' is out now on Skint. He also drops an edition of the 'Late Night Tales' compilation on 15th October.
We track him down to talk charity gigs, world music and remixes...

Your new remix album is due to drop imminently. Any particular favourite versions on there?
"Yeah, there are some that are really interesting takes, like the Justice remix of 'Don't Let the Man Get You Down'. There are other cool ones, like Darren Emerson's version of 'Sunset Bird of Prey'; I actually had a joke with him that you can't actually hear one bit of the original tune! There's also the original version of 'Love Island' that I did for the Manumission sex show."

You're playing a live show in an Oxfam shop as part of the Oxjam festival. Why did you want to get involved?
"I've been involved with Oxfam for a while, and so has my wife, but she goes over to Malawi and makes TV shows and I'm not very good at that! So I focus on the music side. It tickles my tastebuds, playing in different places - beaches, Loch Ness - but playing in an Oxfam shop... I've never done that before! Playing the toilets at Manumission I thought was pretty mad. But after playing Glastonbury and Ibiza, it's going to be fun to play to a tiny crowd."

You recently visited Belize to work with Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective. What kind of experience was that?
"It was a fantastic experience. The reason Belizean music hasn't crossed over in the way that Brazilian or South African music has, is that it is quite fundamentally different. But there are bits of it that are on the new album. It was a bit of an experiment, I had to do a very quick introduction to Belizean music!"

You've worked under a lot of different production monikers in the past. Do you plan to create any new ones?
"There's a Mighty Dub Katz single to celebrate Southern Fried's 100th release. Mighty Dub Katz never split, Freakpower never split, it's just that the Fatboy project has pretty much just swallowed everything else up. Never say never, but I don't think anyone would be fooled if I reinvented myself with a different moniker."

What's next for your Fatboy Slim project?
"I've got a 'Late Night Tales' CD coming out this month which is quite fun, and then there's the new album, which should be fi nished by Christmas and out some point next summer. I can't reveal too much at the moment, all I can tell you is that it's gonna be a lot of fun."