Deadmau5 uncensored: Two and a half hours with the professional griefer
Back when Joel Zimmerman first built his mau5-head, he gave Rolling Stone an interesting rationale for the new prop: “I thought it would be kind of funny to be the mystery mouse guy, like Daft Punk.”
A few years down the track, Deadmau5 is often talked about as one of the best-realised ‘brands’ in dance music. On stage, Zimmerman’s been through over 20 incarnations of that mau5 head, while the punters who come to his gigs regularly slave over their own replicas to wear on the dancefloor. One eight-year-old fan even has a Twitter account (with 7,000 followers to boot) dedicated to drawing new Deadmau5 designs every day.
But Deadmau5 never really ended up being that “mystery mouse guy.” Far from an enigma, Joel Zimmerman is always right out there. Even when he’s holed up in his studio, working on music with a cigarette in hand, he’ll broadcast it all for fans to see. Then, of course, he’s also the guy who’ll deliver a lacerating takedown of just about anything and anyone. (And yes, he’s never far from the inthemix homepage.) In recent years, we’ve seen more of Joel than ever: the good, the bad and the angry. He remains one of the most fascinating, polarizing personalities in music.
“In recent years, we’ve seen more of Joel than ever: the good, the bad and the angry. He remains one of the most fascinating, polarizing personalities in music”
So when inthemix was offered our first interview slot with Deadmau5 in three years (thanks to an incoming tour with Future Music Festival), we came to it with all these contradictions in mind.
What was meant to be a 15 minute call on Christmas Eve turned into a two and half hour talk on Skype chat (“The label were amazed we got him at all,” the PR rep facilitating the media time told inthemix after the interview).
This is the conversation we could never have predicted – it’s as freeform and unfiltered as its subject, but perhaps one of the most honest he’s ever done. And certainly the longest.
In the interest of keeping things authentic, we’ve reproduced the conversation almost exactly as it happened – lower case lettering, meme references and all. Stick through ‘til the end and you’ll walk away with an insight into Zimmerman’s thoughts on labels, his live show plans, that time he called every DJ in the world a “fucking c*nt”, the Grammys, inthemix forum users, Mozart, Giorgio Moroder and much, much more.
inthemix
hey, it’s inthemix. I think we’re second in the i/v queue
Deadmau5
k
Deadmau5
hey
just type away
I’ll answer on here
I have a cold.
not doing so great
inthemix
ah okay sure, I also have a cold
so that works
Deadmau5
canberra. fireworks and porn.
inthemix
haha! yep. home for the holidays
Deadmau5
my kinda town
inthemix
impressive knowledge
are you on another call at the moment?
Deadmau5
yeah I’m full of useless shit
no
just rather type
inthemix
okay cool I’ll start hitting you with stuff
Deadmau5
alright
inthemix
first up – been having a play on the new site the last couple of days, watching you play minecraft etc. looks cool! does the finished product match your vision for it?
Deadmau5
very close
it’s getting better, we had to roll it out in a hurry
inthemix
what’s left to be done?
Deadmau5
well, overall improvements and functionality
but the gist of it is there
music video photos chat… short of me coming over to your house and giving you a personal hand job, what else is there
so we’re doing all that
except the hand job
that will be a $200 in app purchase
inthemix
haha, well I’m glad we’ve already covered hand jobs
Deadmau5
they are of high caliber….
inthemix
I know there exists an old tumblr post of your where you said “what you need a fuckin theme park, and you and your music are the theme. you want people to come to you theme park and feel like they’re part of your world” – how close do you feel you are to that?
Deadmau5
but yes
it’s getting close to my theme park idea
inthemix
do you feel like it’s gonna eliminate the problems you have with open, established social media? (like twitter)
Deadmau5
nah
but at least alleviate my need to say something stupid to a buncha people who giveth a fuck not about me or my music
Miley Cyrus manages to find her way onto my timeline / home feed
ergo, I probably end up on hers
so some butthurt Miley fan is going to have something clever to say on the matter of 44.1 vs 96khz audio
inthemix
ha!
Deadmau5
totally relevant.
inthemix
heaps. been wondering – what’s the drawback of having that close a relationship with your fans? do you ever wish you had a little more anonymity?
Deadmau5
mmm nah, in the online “live site” capacity… I can always unplug for a sec.
I don’t leave the house
and when I do, I don’t get mobbed in malls in China
or malls in Toronto
inthemix
fair call. it’s funny though, I know once back in like 2010 you were talking about the mau5 head and said “I thought it would be kind of funny to be the mystery mouse guy, like daft punk. you could totally pass those guys in the friction k-mart and not know it”. but that’s not really want the mau5 head ended up being hey
Deadmau5
eh
shit happens
just let it happen.
embrace the shit.
become the shit
inthemix
wise words
I actually wanted to talk about your first australian tour back in 07, for kink
do you remember that?
Deadmau5
yeah
I rode a kangaroo on stage at my first AU gig
fun fact
I THOUGHT people would have LIKED that.
then I realized how annoyed id be if tommy trash dressed up as a mountie
inthemix
haha
Deadmau5
keepin it vanilla this time
inthemix
am I right in saying that was your first (or one of, at least) tour outside of canada? how different was your world back then?
Deadmau5
yeah it pretty much was
I was full of hope and excitement
and happy to be a part of something
inthemix
yeah, reading back articles and things from that time, that definitely comes across
what sort of electronic music were you inspired by then?
Deadmau5
mmm not really much of, I was in the learning stage then
inthemix
so was there a turning point where you WEREN’T so excited about everything? how long did that 07 feeling last?
Deadmau5
tillbout 08
inthemix
what changed then?
Deadmau5
no idea
that’s some me, searching me, shit
ain’t nobody got time for that
inthemix
ok, fair
let’s talk production
Deadmau5
let’s.
inthemix
when you spoke to someone from ITM before another tour in 2011, you said you were making up to five songs every studio day. are you still as prolific?
Deadmau5
well I’d like to be if I didn’t have a million things to run / monitor / approve / dictate / endure and or litigate through
but comes with the territory I suppose
inthemix
oh damn
that sucks?
Deadmau5
not really
it has its fun moments
inthemix
but you’ve been making quite moody music lately, stuff that doesn’t feel geared to the dancefloor. I wondered – is your end goal only to play headline shows where fans are going to ‘get it’, or can you still see your music working in the context of a dance festival?
Deadmau5
I’m still keeping it relevant enough in the BG to be fest. friendly…. at least with small injections of my “out there whack ass I can’t dance to this isn’t even music where’s the drop bro” shit
inthemix
IS the end goal to only play headline shows though?
Deadmau5
headline as in playing with a buncha other dudes playing other dudes shit?
not really
just do solo shows
inthemix
oh yes, that’s what I mean by headline shows
not festivals. just you
Deadmau5
I’d rather just do solo shows.
more control.
inthemix
is that a possibility for the immediate future? or are you likely to be stuck doing the festivals thing for a while?
Deadmau5
I can die happy never needing to get in a fight with Tiesto or Armin’s fuckin team over who gets to use what percent of a fuckin LED screen because all our music sucks so much shit we might as well blind them with CG we had nothing to do with
inthemix
ha!
Deadmau5
just sayin
every
fucking
festival
“WHO GETS THE SCREEN”
there’s a whole political scene
screen scene
I’m telling you
there are wars happening in the back there with production teams
that NEED to be reality TV shows
inthemix
and here I was thinking it’s billing artists fight over
I’ll pass that on to MTV. see what they can do.
Deadmau5
better than watching whiney 16 year old preg bitches
inthemix
amen
Deadmau5
almost the same thing actually.
n/m
inthemix
I can see the ratings now.
on the topic of festivals though, what incarnation of the live show are you bringing out for Future?
Deadmau5
cube “plus”
man
I love aus.
inthemix
🙂
Deadmau5
I really do
but
I do not love freighting things to aus
I really do not
inthemix
ah yeah, that
Deadmau5
it costs WHAT!?
and you can’t exactly rent an “original” production there
outside of the usual product
soooo
yeah
it’s like that
inthemix
‘spose it’s our own fault for being so far away
so what’s the ‘plus’ in cube plus?
Deadmau5
wait for it
of course I have no idea what that is, and here’s me hoping our production team fuckin nails it
LOL
oh
I’m bringing that rad touchscreen shit this time
that’s new!
inthemix
haha
so it’s a work in progress?
Deadmau5
yeah actually
lol
I’m the last minute man
inthemix
well that’s cool for us, means we get something new
Deadmau5
well not to mention fucktons of new music
inthemix
and that!
Deadmau5
not like I’m gunna roll up and ghosts n stuff you to death
inthemix
haha
Deadmau5
might mash it up with Levels this time
inthemix
boom tish
what sorta stuff is gonna be in your set then? ALL new?
Deadmau5
technically that meets the “new” requirement
win win
inthemix
that will definitely go down well
so they would burn effigies of me in the street if I didn’t ask whether you will do any sideshows..
…you there?
D:
Deadmau5
that’s it?
lol
inthemix
no!
not it
I got heaps more
can we talk about the ultra split?
also, with live. deadmau5.com, are people not supposed to be able to see the chat unless they’re in it? cause all I get in that section is white screen
Deadmau5
k one sec
bogged down
inthemix
all good!
I’ll be here, scrolling through instagram on my phone
Deadmau5
lemme know if you see any good manicures
yo yo honey singhh
inthemix
all just photos of coffee