Begin Again with Davina McCall - Fatboy Slim The Chaos Behind The Fame, Fatherhood & The Legacy of Fatboy Slim!

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

behind Fatboy Slim. In this episode of Begin Again, Fatboy Slim, aka Norman Cook, joins Davina to talk about fame, family, sobriety, music, and the chaos behind becoming one of Britain’s most iconic DJs. Norman opens up about the early years of discovering music, changing his name, finding freedom through punk, and realising that DJing was not just about playing records, but about bringing people together. From The Housemartins to Fatboy Slim, he reflects on the moments that shaped him, the identity he created, and why he always wanted to be remembered. Davina and Norman also explore his relationship with Zoe Ball, becoming a tabloid “power couple,” raising children in the middle of fame, and what happens when life becomes chaotic behind the scenes. He speaks honestly about partying, parenthood, divorce, friendship, and why their greatest triumph has been remaining a family even after the relationship ended. At its heart, this is a conversation about legacy, joy, and learning to begin again when the life you built no longer fits who you are becoming. Fatboy Slim reminds us that success is not the same as peace, and that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is change the music and keep dancing. 🌟 Follow for more honest conversations about identity, growth, and beginning again. Follow us here :📸 www.instagram.com/beginagain 🎥 https://www.tiktok.com/@beginagainpod ✨Follow Fatboy Slim: https://www.instagram.com/officialfatboyslim/?hl=en   ✨Sign up for the Begin Again newsletter for all your behind the scenes access, recommendations and much much more at: https://linkly.link/2g2xm (00:00) Intro (01:47) The Real Reason He Changed His Name To Norman (03:14) How His Family Sparked A Lifelong Obsession With Music (06:49) Why Music Became More Than Just A Hobby (08:26) How Punk Music Changed Everything (22:17) Do Health Ad (23:27) Why Brighton Became The City That Shaped His Future (26:23) How Joining The Housemartins Changed His Life (28:54) What Legacy Does Norman Want To Leave Behind? (32:14) How Norman And Zoe Ball Navigated Fame, Love, And Divorce (36:32) Coffee Rave Promo (37:02) How Skint Records Was Born And Why He Became Fatboy Slim (39:05) What Happened When Fatboy Slim Made His First Two Albums (40:38) The Story Behind The Rockafeller Skank's Global Success (42:09) Why Music Still Matters More Than Ever (44:23) What Woodstock ’99 Was Really Like From The Stage (45:53) How Big Beach Boutique Became A Brighton Legend (51:41) What Happens When Clubbing Culture Changes With Age? (54:51) Why He Stopped Performing Drunk And Chose Sobriety (01:05:58) A Letter From Damian Harris And What It Revealed (01:08:01) What His Son’s Letter Meant To Him (01:13:32) Epilogue: Norman Signs His Book For Davina Sponsored by: Do Health - The waitlist is open. Begin Again listeners get fixed early access pricing when they sign up today at dohealth.co/beginagain use code BEGINAGAIN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twizzlers keep the fun going. Yeah, I know. I just stopped whatever you were listening to to tell you that Twizzlers keep the fun going. Well, irony isn't my forte, but twisty, chewy, yummy Twizzlers sure is. So think of Twizzlers as a little pallet cleanser for whatever's queued up, which, by the way, should be coming very soon. Like any second now. Okay, Twizzlers, time to keep the fun going.

My dad thought that being a musician was just above being a prostitute really in his eyes. in his eyes. So all I wanted to do was prove my dad wrong. And Jesus wept. Your first two albums were like... And I remember on the news, Donnie Osmond, who's playing crazy asses, we're going to, and eight-year-old me just went, I want to do that. Can we talk about Woodstock? There was footage of my trailer on fire. And in Brighton, the woman from the couch who said,

it was perceived that your crowd was sort of good-natured. If this had been an elias gig, we would have been f***. Tell me about Zoe. I remember when I told my manager, he went, if you and so, I'm a couple, he said, your life is never going to be the same. Wait, tell me why. We'd probably actually better first when we were when we were a couple. What was life like for you back then?

Chaos. There was nights when I was struggling to speak and to walk, and the people around me were like, you're going to be all right. I'm like, get me on this stage, I'll be fine. It's only when you come off, you realise how drunk you are. I've got a present for you. Is this going to make me cry? I hope so.

Our paths have gone. kind of weirdly crossed, not that many times, but we kind of know each other or know people who know each other and over decades have kind of got to meet. Key moments as well, I think. Yes, key moments. I think I've definitely been with you at my highest. Yes. Possibly mine as well.

Yeah. And then we've both been through lows, but then the last time I saw you in Abitha was a really lovely natural high. Wasn't it? Yeah. Wasn't it? Brilliant. It was genuinely lovely to see you and you were in such good form and you just look so good and you're having the night of your life.

Yeah, I feel like you bring back very happy memories for so many people. I mean, I want to start with this idea that I had no idea how many names you've come up with for yourself. I never knew that you were Quentin before you were Norman. Yeah. And then it's quite an interesting concept changing your name. Yes, it allows you It's weird Because people talk about like

Reinventing yourself You know something like David Barry It's like the comedian And he's like For me it's just I kind of wear things out It's more other than like I've got a reinvention

It's just like oh that's knackard And yeah My original name Quentin Got Nackard During my school day Well no don't forget You're not a Quentin I'm A I don't really think

I'm Quentin But in those days There was no Quentin Tarantino So the only Quentin that anyone knew is Quentin Crisp, England's most celebrated homosexuals. So I went through my whole school life with all those jokes and everything. And also it was just like it was difficult to remember. So yeah, so my first shedding of a name that I didn't like and that no one could spell or remember. And did you do it by depot, like the whole proper thing?

I did, yeah. Yeah. God, amazing. But it was like, yeah, so joining a band, you can kind of reinvent yourself. The first thing I want to do is change my name. And I just wanted it in a normal name. So, no one was just like, I asked my parents once. Why did you call me, Quentin?

They went, it was the 60s. And that's all that they could come up with. I love that. What were your mum and dad like? Because I know your mum was the musical one, right? Who got you into... Yeah, my mum was a teacher and musical. And they're both quite liberal, but my mum, I think, wanted to be a hippie.

But she just couldn't really kind of make the... She always talked about wanting to live in a commune and everything. And then my dad was... he worked for a glass company and he was he was like his granddad was a window cleaner but during the war he got evacuated to a very posh house

in Sussex and they sort of you know when he came back after the war he was like going to grammar school and had all these airs and graces so he was more interested he was more interested in me being really professional hence he then hated the idea of me being a musician

he didn't his yeah he didn't see that as a legitimate career and yeah being a musician was like just above being a prostitute really in his eyes so so there was this weird thing that my mum was really nurturing and encouraging which is great and then my dad was really like pop music is rubbish you never get anywhere with that which was a good that was like the negative inspiration because I you know in my early years all I wanted to do was prove my dad wrong yeah and which is a strong it's a powerful thing it's a strong drive right Yeah, so between the two of them, that's how I ended up.

But also, at the same time, my dad was a consummate show off. I ended up dressing up and being stupid. Obviously, none of that rubbed off. No, none of it did. It's a shame that. Yeah. So we are, yeah, no, so we were a family. My uncle's a DJ and he was in pop bands.

I think that's why my dad... Wait! My uncle Dennis, yeah. Dennis? Uncle Dennis, yeah. Oh, my God, his name was Dennis. Oh, right. Yeah.

Wait, tell me about Dennis. Well, he was like, I don't know, when my dad was going around with me, he said, you know, he was always like, do you want to end up like your uncle Dennis? And I was like, yeah, he's been more fun than you. And he's, you know, drives a sports car. This is like early 70s. And he was a DJ. And he'd been in bands in the 60s and then he was DJing.

And so he was always, yeah, he was, again, it's like positives and negative, either role models or just, you know, your, your inspiration. So, yeah, my dad definitely went for the, you know, negative, deem everything that I liked as rubbish, and it makes me want to do it more. For me, it was like, all the rest of my family seemed to have more fun. You know, all my auntsies and uncles and everything, they're a right laugh. And they were proper old-school cockanoo's. And every Saturday we'd all get together and they would play rummy and then they would get drunk and then they would dance around the room.

And, yeah, I've thought that was much better than, you know, sit. in the drawing with Peter reading The Guardian, you know. Yeah, God, it's funny, isn't it? And I mean, all these influences are so important. I mean, through primary school, I think you're just looking anywhere for kind of what kind of music was your mum into? What was she playing? There was some, if you've heard of Peter, Paul and Mary?

Yeah, of course, yeah. And they were like the kind of, Sacrian version of Bob Dylan. So it's Peter Paul, my mum and my mother, Peter, Peter, Paul, Mary. and my dad's life, Kenny's Ball and his Jazzmen and Oscar Peterson I love Oscar Peterson And then But we all agreed on the carpenters and the Beatles

They were the two that all the whole family liked And so that was my main me But they weren't that into Their record collection was like that big When did you start by vinyl As soon as I could afford it First record was Devil Gate Drive By Susie Quotro

Which I think I loved Susie Quotro. She was a great. I think my first direction might have been. Yeah. Me too. Yeah, what's sort of, you know, a woman in leather who plays bass guitar, yeah. And the hair?

Yeah. And the attitude, you know. So, yeah, Devil Gate Drive, that was the first record I bought. The other reference that I loved, you had a cultural reference that I really enjoyed was Donnie Osmond. I was like, that is so Levfield for you. I literally would lick the television when Donny Osmond came on. It was just one of those minds.

It wasn't a sexual thing for me. It was, they, They just came over around the time of crazy horses, and they were just on the news. And now, there wasn't much pop music. I mean, there was no, you know, things just didn't happen. You know, we didn't listen to Radio One at that point.

And so you just didn't hear, but on the news, it's like the Oswans have arrived. And I just saw Donnie Osmond, and he had a piano with light bulbs on it that lit up when he played it, and he had a leather jacket with his name written in studs on the back. And I just thought, how cool was that? And he was playing crazy. I just, we're just one of those moments in time when I was hooked.

Like 10-year-old me just went, no, 8-year-old me just went, oh, I want to do that. And it stuck me in the ever since. And so I wanted, yeah, I wanted to be, first of all, a pop star, but then tempered it down to just being a music. Then punk came along and then it was like, can we. Do you want to talk about punk? I want to talk about it. Hold on, so are we the same? So I'm 58.

I would never ask it. But yeah. I'm 58, so I'm 67. But yes, I was the tail end of punk, really. Yeah, so I was 14 when punk came out. And so you would have been 10. 10? Yeah.

So I want to talk about your hair. You dyed your hair. Yeah. To be more rebellious, a bit more punky. Well, I wanted to be like a punk rocker. Yeah. I'm a middle class kid from suburban Surrey. So I tried.

But my sister said, she used to go, you're just too pretty to be a punk rock. She said, you look more like Julie Andrews. That was one of my nicknames was Julie. Because she said, I look more like Julie Andrews and Sid Vicious. But we weren't allowed to, at school, you couldn't dye your hair. So we used to diet with poster paints at weekends. Oh.

And then wash it out during the week. That's quite a good idea. Yeah, it's good. Not so good when you sweat. If you're wearing poster paint in your hair and you sweat, it kind of sort of comes down. So you were 14. So I was 14 in 19. When you were experimenting with that.

Were you going out, clubbing? Yeah. Let's talk about that. I lived, well, not clubbing, just going to see bands. I was lucky enough to be one stop from Croydon, and there was a clubbing Croydon called The Greyhound, which used to have punk bands on every Sunday night. And somehow I managed to get a membership card for this club,

which said certified that I was over 18. And somehow I persuaded my parents that I was allowed out every Sunday night to go to back to see punk bands and um yeah so uh during yeah so during my lot around the time my gcc i was going every sunday to to the the croydon greyhound and seeing the clash and the adverts and the buzzcocks and the slits oh my god i saw every pretty much everyone apart from the sex pistols wow um and and it was great and it just you know and this you know i'd sort of fall in love with music as music as a thing yeah but then during the glam thing it's like where do you which way do you go are you like are you terex and david or are you like the sweet and slayed and it was like and in the midst

of it it's like and then but out of that came punk rock and then that was just like oh this is my groove you know this is it's got noisy music that annoys my dad it's got rebellion it's got you know freedom all those things that you want when you're 14 so at that just, that just, again, another life-changing moment. My brother brought home the first damned album. Wow. In, must have been the beginning of 1977. And he bought, he said, have you heard this, you know, I think punk rock?

And he played me in it. I was just like, I bought, by the time the first track had ended, I'd bought it off him. And I was like, ah. And yeah, so as I'd immersed myself in pop music and now I immersed myself in punk in the culture. And then it was great because through that came, you know, fashion and politics. and social awareness and social life and being in your own band. The greatest thing about punk rock was it's like, here's a guitar, here's three chords. Doesn't matter if you can play, yeah.

Yeah, and you could. I couldn't, I did. Yeah. What was that band called? The first band was called disc attack. Oh, wait. That's so good. Disk attack.

Disk attack. Yeah, I love that. That's so, yes. And we spelled disc, D-I-S-E-S-E-E-S-E-E-E-S-E. Q-U-E so it sounded a bit French. Disc. Sashid. Disc attack.

Yeah, so the first one, I was drummer and the drummer, and then I was singer left, so I became the singer. And then the next band I was in the guitarist. So it's just like, you just played all instruments. Well, not very well. Enough to be in a punk band. That was the great thing about it. It was like, you don't have to really know what you're doing.

I think this is another thing that we can notch up as being a great gift for people from our generation because I think now people are terrified of having a go at something for fear of looking stupid and I don't think anybody gave a shit back then like I would beg to differ oh go on good no I love this please uh well two words TikTok yes because I've got kids and I'm watched my daughter grow up with musically and then into TikTok yes and then now it's become a enormous thing When I see her doing TikToks, it's like I just remember me with a tennis racket in front of the mirror and a hairbrush for a microphone. That's what we used to do. TikTok, you're actually doing that, but then you're putting it out there into the world.

And then tons of people, I think they get, they're getting their confidence in a weird social media way. But you're, it's way more, it's the same thing that we were doing. It's broader. You are broad. And I think a lot of people are finding what they want to do and where they are. are and who they are in life through social media. Sometimes in a bad way, it's not, sometimes it can be negative. But it's kind of, well, it's, I think it's more, I don't think there's any, um,

coincidence that when we were kids, everybody, you were in a cult, in a gang, you're a punk or a TED or a mom. Yes. Or, you know, and that doesn't seem to exist anymore. They don't have cults because I think people are finding their identity online and they can find out who they are and experiment with who they are without having. to dress in a really extreme fashion to grab everyone's attention and go, you know, hi, I'm here, I'm almost an adult and I think I'm this, you know.

I think there's a, having watched my two kids got, it's like finding, coming of age means finding where you fit in the world, what your identity is and what your place is it. Because before us, everybody just looks after you and you're just wide-eyed and, you know, observing everything and learning. And then it comes to apply, it's like, now I'm going to do, it's like, what am I going to do? And I think being in a band was a great way of doing it. But I think having your own TikTok channel and just doing whatever, you know, start with stupid dances and then end up doing minor, you know,

minor epic TV productions. Yeah, I mean, some of them. Yeah. I occasionally will see something and think this is what social media is made for. Yeah. Like it's so clever and funny and brilliant. I guess like what I was thinking of was that some of the young people that I know are quite self-conscious

because you also get leveled loads of opinions that we didn't get. Yeah, there is a negative side. 10 people would come and see your band and you'd be so happy. Yeah. I do remember a conversation with my son when I was having the go at him for being too obsessed. I think it was like he had an Instagram.

said, oh, can you follow me? Or can you comment? He said, every time you comment, I get like 50 more followers. And I was like, as a father, I ought to tell you that life isn't just about followers. And plus, these people, they're not your real friends, you know. And if they're following you because they came through it through me, they're not really your friends. They're just notches on your, you know, social media bedpost.

And he's like, Dad, he said, do you remember when you were growing up at school? said, you know, that thing about how popular you are and you're in a band and how many people come to your gig. He said, imagine how that important that is to us of our age. And he said, imagine if there was just a figure that everybody could see

that was a measure of how popular and how cool you were. How obsessed do you think you'd be about that figure? And I'm like, yeah, you're right. Can I just say something? What? He sounds great. Oh, yeah, he's very...

For an idiot, my son is a very wife's man. Also very irresponsible. He's very lovable, he's very kind and he's extraordinarily entertaining, but he's also irresponsible. But that's good. He's got the good thing. He's bright and, and the same of my daughter, she's bright and witty and kind. And that's the most difficult. I think I was just going to say.

Responsibility, anyone can do that. I mean, kind is for me key, I think, in everything. You and so are kind. You know, you're both lovely, wonderful people. I want to go back to you and your vinyl and actually realizing in some way that loving music and having the greatest collection of vinyl

of any of your friends actually brought you some kind of like value you know so you getting invited to parties and things because you had the record collection. Yes, I fell into DJing simply because I was obsessed with music and so I bought and that was what I did I did my paper around just to find fun my vinyl habit and so I had a really cool box of records and in those days don't forget there was no streaming or anything like that so if you're at a party and you want to hear the

cool tune someone needs to have brought them to the party or you need to have them yourself so I had this little box of seven inches and and I used to get invited to parties because I had the box of seven inches and one time I suddenly invited me and I didn't know them that well and And I said, is it all right if I don't bring my records? Because they're just, well, they're just like teenage parties. They just get left all on the floor and the fag butts and, yeah. And blood and vomit. There I am with crisps.

You can see what kind of party animal I was. Maybe went to slightly look at it. But I just said they get ruined so I'm not bringing them. And she's like, oh, I was kind of only inviting you for the records. Oh. But she said, and I think her parents had a bit of money. She said, what if my dad hires these, like those double. decks and you're like the disc jockey and you're in charge of the records.

I said, oh, that could. And something very fundamental happened during that. I realized that my love of music is kind of accelerated by sharing it with other people. It's like, when I hear a good record, I don't just sit there and listen to it over and over again. I'm like, talking to my brother and sister. Have you heard this? Have you heard this? Boring everybody, I could with it.

And then this is an outlet for me wanting to share records with people. and but also standing there with this sort of now you'll become the sort of center of attention realizing all this sort of satisfies my showy offy trait but also my love of music

and watching people watching that become the soundtrack of their night and they'll go home remembering that song because they snog someone during that song whenever I hear if you leave me now by Chicago go, I just get all kinds. What were you doing?

Goose bumps and a mile direction. Well, basically, that was the tune at the end of the night. We'd all been dancing to like Susie Quachan's status choir. Like right blocs going like that and everything. And then near the end there'd be like one or two records where it's like, okay, the girl that you've been eyeing up, this is the slow dance bit. Now it's the trance about this. But it was like, it was sort of like musical chairs because like they'd put it on and you'd be like, ah! And then somebody else had got there first

and the girl that you've been wanting to... So that's such an emotionally charged record for me because I'm either in heaven because I've got like two bum cheeks in my hand or I'm in hell watching some other guy... With two bum cheeks in his hand. Damn it. So...

And I think it was... It's from those kind of days that I just realised the relationship that you have with music. And it's not just... It's the soundtrack of your night out. It weaves itself into your emotions it brings people together

sometimes, you know, physically, sometimes metaphorically. But it also, it just, yeah, it dictates the mood. And then me being the DJ in the middle of it, it's like, what a privilege and an honour to have this power over people's nights out or to be able to create a night out that wasn't a good night out. Yeah, so you see someone around.

It turns out and they're a bit shy and by the end of the night, they're down the front going on that or getting, you know, Snogged. Yeah, great. Yeah. So, um,

did you get that first night? Yeah. That feeling, did you? And I just thought, again, my life is punctuated with these moments. I'm just like, oh, I can lie this. And this is exciting. And this is something I want to explore and develop.

And, and sometimes. How old were you? 14? It was about 15. And then, because then I started doing a mobile disco. Wow. And that, if you were going to, you know,

when people ask me, you know, what advice would you give to budding DJs? I'm like, do weddings and hockey clubs. discos and the odd funeral because that's where you really learn your trip to DJ. Yeah, and what kind of things would you learn then? You learn to read a room. Yeah. You learn to realise when you're laying in an egg and you need

to change tack. You learn how to know what tends to work with most people you know and because you would put a record on and then for three minutes you've got nothing to do apart from choose the next record and put that on. So you spend a whole lot just looking at people and you see their reaction and then you put a record on and you can see when people are like people who are tracking someone

just suddenly start going like that and then they look over you know and then if someone comes up and they'll ask you what the record is you know you're really doing your job nowadays it's like you see people shazming you know subtly shazming in so you just yeah you just get a feel for it

but in those days it was I never saw it as a career DJing was wasn't true no in those days you used to get paid just more than the glass collector in the club and you were deemed just a little bit more worthy than the glass character and you were expendable and you were just over there in the corner of the, you know,

you were the nerd who'd bothered to buy the records. I've partnered with Do Health for this episode and I want to tell you why. 46% of Do Health members showed signs of hidden cardiovascular risk after doing their blood test. 46%. And do you know what? They had absolutely no idea. No symptoms. No big dramatic warning.

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Go to dohealth.com slash begin again and use code begin again to lock in early access pricing. I also want to talk about you going to university. So at 18, you started your lifelong love affair with Brighton. Yeah. Can you just talk to me about that? Well, I... Brighton's in your DNA. Am I right?

Yeah, but it before, basically my sister went to university there two years before me. So in my last two years at home, now where I grew up, Ryegate, it's a lovely place, but it's for a young person, it's very good. Yeah. It's suburban, leafy commuter belt. To some people, it's heaven. Yeah. To a young punk rocker who wants to, you know, do things in life, it's like, we've got to get out of this place. So for the last two years

I was going down to visit my sister in Brighton and hanging out and all of a sudden I'm in this big city and these nightclubs everywhere and gay people and anarchists and everybody's... See? Yeah, it's like...

People dressed in fashionable clothes and stuff like that and they've got a McDonald's and, you know, all these things that we didn't have in Ryegate. So, yeah, so I... So when it came to... I didn't really...

By now, I've been in... in a band with Paul Heaton called the Pondfrogs, which has sort of made me think, you know, we probably really could do this and this is definitely what I want to do. And so I, but my parents really wanted me to get an education. My dad, basically he said, if you do a degree, we'll, you know, you'll get a grant and you've got three more years before you have to look after yourself. If you don't want to do a degree, you've got to get a flat and a job now at 18. And I was like,

okay, yeah, I'll do that. But so I, yeah, so Brighton was the place I wanted to be. And so, but the bizarre thing was that I'd kind of fell my eight levels first time around because I was in a band with Paul. And then I retook her evening classes to go to the, well, it was polytechnic in those days, not university in Brighton. And so I said to my, the band split up because I moved down to Brighton and the drummer went to Radha.

And Paul in a huff moved up to Hull and said, fuck you. And so when I was at university, I thought, if I'm, if I get in another band, I'll probably, I'll do half the course and then I'll get waylaid like I did before with Paul. And so I mustn't be in bands while I'm at university. And so I just DJed my way through it, which in later life turned out to be a really good thing. But yeah, I used to DJ three, four nights a week. Wow. to pay my way through college.

And that was great because then I really learnt my chops. But then it was about 10 years into my career when I realised that I'm a better DJ than I'm a bass player and more people want to hear me play other people's records than attempt to play my own. How did the House Martins start? So you left uni and that happened almost straight away, right? Well, I'd kept in touch with Paul.

And he'd moved up to Hull and then in three years while I was there and he'd written some brilliant songs. He was always a good song like it, but he'd really nailed it. And he used to come down and I put his, put the house martins on at the club that I DJed at. And we'd say, and I'd played on some of their demos. And then, yeah, then just three years later when he just got a record, he said, we've got a record contract and our bass players left. Can you rejoin, you know, and it was, it felt like rejoining the band.

But now he's working with Stan and Hugh. and do you want to move up to Hull and rejoin us? And so it was brilliant. I literally, within six months of finishing college, I mean, that's absolutely mad. And how did how long did you stay with them? Because they didn't stay together for that long, did they? It was very intense. It was really interesting.

Three, four years, three years? Yeah, I felt like they were around for a decade. I only did two albums. But it's so funny, isn't it? They were omnipresent. It felt like they were such a huge band. But actually when I read it was a, only two albums. I was like, God, that's so

weird. Well, we they were big. We made I think we made on Mark. You were big. We made on art. And it was, I mean, and that was great because, like, me and Paul, from school days and had this dream. And in the book, which we'll talk about it. In the book, there's a picture that Paul drew me of

like us on top of the pots, but it was like fantasy. I want to have a look now. Okay. Yeah, just for fun. And just because we can. Live unboxing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Love it. So you two, I mean, that must have been hilarious because if you're constantly talking about doing something and then you bloody go and do it. How brilliant is that? And to do, you know, after, you know, I mean, you're from the generation that you understand what top of the pops was to us. Yeah. Every Thursday night. That was just like, that was like a week's worth of social media in, you know, in half an hour on a Thursday night.

So we, we just, to having dreamt about it and drawn. little pictures about it to be on it and it was just a dream come true. So that's Paul's interpretation of what we'd look like on top of the pots. This is a brilliant book by the way. It's like a scrapbook

of your life. It's like a scrapbook. It's, yeah, I mean it's more pictures than words. It's mega. Yeah, but this is brilliant. Like, there is something, I think, when you are young and you've had a dream and you achieve it that slightly gives you

a feeling of anything is possible. Yeah. I wanted to get famous for different reasons to you. For you, it was to like say to your dad, you know, you can make a living out of music and I'm going to do it. And for me, getting famous was about, oh, making my mum regret leaving me,

like that I was worth something more than that. It goes back to your parents. All I wanted to do was make her go, make her say, I'm really proud of you. As a parent, what your legacy will be on your children? I hope, Norman, that it's music. I haven't made music. Right.

But music has been, as a family, our mood-altering drug. Right. Excellent. When we feel something, we play music. Because the thing is, because it strikes me so many people who's like, they either want to be their parents or they just desperately don't want to be their parents. or sort of bits in between. I mean, I definitely, as a dad, I would say things to my kids and I go,

oh, have I heard that before? It's like, oh my God, I'm turning to my dad. Really? And it's literally making me feel a little bit sick that I just said that, you know. And then at the same times, the good thing's about it, so it's quite weird how, and until this moment, I've never really thought, I wonder how, what's the legacy? What do you think yours is? Whether if you ask my kids

When I'm not around Do you want to be like your dad Or do you not want to be like your dad? What Woody obviously does He's DJing right? Yeah he's DJing and he's wearing louder shirts than me I think at the moment he's trying to outdo me

It's quite funny if you see him DJing He's so funny He's so good But I'm known for being eclectic He's really eclecting And I'm known for showing off a bit But it's like he's gone Well he grew up watching me DJing

So it's like that first For him that's the benchmark is showy offy DJ. So he's like, I'm going to do what dad does, but I'm going to put a little bit of pizzazz into it. Plus one. Yeah, up the, up the entry of it. So yeah, he's a concert for him. I don't know.

I mean, but it's not just what you want to do for a living. It's like, who do you want to be? Because I definitely didn't want to be my dad and I definitely did want to be my mum. My sister pointed out the other day that all the first songs that I wrote when I was like a teenager, all about death. She said we were really obsessed with death. I was like, thinking, oh, God, yeah, that one, that one. And I think it's just like you said, when you're coming of age and you're thinking, who am I?

And it's like, I suppose that's a nascent way of saying, what's my life all about? What will happen when I die? Now I feel like I'm fully alive. And I remember thinking, what do I want to do in life? And I remember, and it's always been in there, that I just wanted people to remember me when I was dead, like an obituary in a newspaper or something like.

Yeah, a legacy. I did enough in this world that I'd be remembered. And not for changing the world or anything, but just remembered for me. You have. So I figure, I'm pretty sure there's a bit of which he written about me already. So I think I've done that. So my next one, then it really is the legacy of your children and where you leave the world. Thinking about you and Zoe as parents.

You two have got such, like how brilliant to have such two great role models, but also not the norm, you know, you're both famous. Like that's quite a mad thing for kids. Yeah, I mean, well, that was quite a volatile thing how our children would turn out. And we were definitely living the life. You know, when we first had Woody, we was immersed in... What was life like for you both back then?

Chaos. Was it? Absolutely chaos. Yeah. Yeah, because I'd have this sort of thing of being a musician and everything. And then when I told my manager, he went, you do realize if you like, if you, so are a couple, he said, your life is never going to be the same.

And I said, what do you mean? And he said like, because at that point, I was sort of at the top of my power. I was at that point, she was doing the radio one breakfast show and going on. I mean, you were both mega. And it's like, you put you two together. It's like, this is going to be, you know, and, you know, the whole tabloid thing, which I never really had before. I was just, I was only like band famous. I wasn't tabloid famous.

And my manager said, he said, I don't know if it's going to be good or bad. He said, but your life was going to change, you know. I remember watching it as an outsider. And the amount of public scrutiny from the tabloids was, it was. relentless. So she was kind of used to it and she taught me through it. But it was, we were both partying a lot and all our friends were partying a lot. We all were, I mean, you know.

But also working really hard. You know, for the first couple of years she was still doing the breakfast show. You know, we were being in clubs. People were going, so, like, two hours? Yeah, fine, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, we knew a young you can do them. But we were, but yeah, and then we were, so we were juggling both having very successful careers that took up a lot of our time, but also partying a lot. But going through it together was great because she, it's always a really good teacher.

She was really good. She's really measured and she's kept me really down to her. She's like, you don't, you know, don't forget to say thank you to them, you know, and don't forget we had this tremendous adventure together and kind of went to a place. Went to a place probably that we never could have gone on her own. And it was like our careers and our thing, some of the two parts when we became this sort of power couple. So she was, and still is, you know, we're still really good friends. And I think our triumph is to remain really good friends and parents,

even though we're not a couple anymore. Can I just say, hats off. Well done for that. Because that is quite a difficult one. It's hard. It's quite a difficult one. But luckily, we've sort of found a way. It was a bit awkward at first.

Then we've got this rhythm where we're now, I think we're really good, we probably actually better parents when we were when we were a couple. But we brought up, we're very proud of the two kids we brought up and I'm quite proud of the parents. And that we're firm, you know, as firm friends as we ever were. Sometimes, especially in midlife, you can get into a relationship and get a bit stuck and realize that you've slightly grown apart and but you're just kind of coexisting and people get stuck there because it's, you're paying a price. Or when their relationship, inevitably breaks up, you get acrimonious. And then you start playing games with each other and bitterness and grudges. And if that then starts rubbing off on your job as parents, then for me, that's, you know, that was the thing we just said. It's like, whatever happens is can't, you know, affect the kids and everything has to be about them.

But that doesn't necessarily mean staying together for the kids. A lot of people just stay together. I mean, my parents lived at the opposite end of the house for the last few years of my life. And it, but, yeah, I think it's so important. It's just getting over, you know, when you break up with someone there, you've been a couple. It's hard to readjust, but you just have to get over the petty bits and the things. And I've seen so many of my friends and they're just ripping each other apart. Yeah, so sad.

And they're ripping the kids apart as well. And, yeah, I think. it's, you know, and you sign on to be parents, that's for life. Sign up for marriage, you can get divorced, but you can never stop being parents. Big news. The begin again coffee rave is coming. I cannot imagine a more joyful way to start your day, raving in the morning, all together with a coffee. Doesn't get much better than that. Now look, these tickets are going to sell out faster than Glastonbury, so I suggest you get on the wait list right now. Link is in the description.

And I want to go back because Damien was coming up with skint records. And that was happening just before you met Zoe? Yeah. So you two had kind of got together and he almost built skin records around you. He was fat, what's slim is, Damien's idea. So how did you come up with that name? The name was just what I just needed another name. At that point, I was.

want to be Norman Cook? Well, no, contractually, at that point I was signed to ironing records as Freak Power. Yeah. But there is a clause in our contract that I could make independent dance. I could make dance records on independent labels under false names as long as I didn't do interviews or, oh no, it was me. So at that point, I was still in Freak Power. How long did you have left on the contract? I think I'm still in it.

I think I might still be, no, I don't know. I think they might have kicked us off, I think. They think they dropped us. But at that point, I was still under contract. But I was also Pizza Man. I was also the mighty dub caps. The last thing I really needed was another alter ego. But Damien had this idea of, you know, this kind of music that I'd been playing in my DJ sets.

He said, you should make records like that and we should. And so we just manufactured another, a, another label, another identity and it wasn't supposed to be me so I needed a false name and fact much sin

doesn't mean anything it's just I really love old blues singers yeah they all they all had stupid yeah

fast domino snoaks at Eaglin and Bo Weevil Jackson and if you were a fat blues singer they would ironically call you Slim Slim yeah

Memphis Slim Slim Pintock Slim was my favourite was there I was in the book in I used to I used to write down the funniest blues names

in my little notebook. And yeah, and Fat Boy Slim is the oxymoronic blues singer who can't exist. And, but it just had a good really, it just sounded like a really, like a character that should exist. But what's so funny is that there you are going, oh, we'll just do like a side hustle. Yeah. And Jesus wept. Your first two albums were like, what? It was like that. Well, I think. It blew our minds, Norman. Well, I've been my own mind. as well, to be honest.

It was like, how is it... It was like everything was leading up to that. Yes. No, it was like the DJ experience that I'd always had as a DJ mixed with the experience of being in a pop band so I had more pop sensibility and I kind of knew about song structure and stuff like that.

God, that's true. I hadn't thought about that. And it was like all these different little processes of learning and all coming together and finally realizing the more people wanted to see me DJ and I should go back to that thing that I fell in love with. Because you've been doing the band thing and you're all right at it, but that thing, there's a magic there.

And it was just a moment and it just felt like everything came together and it was like, again, one of those sort of light, I was like, I know what, I know why people are getting so excited about this and I know what that formula is. So by the time I did the second album, it was like, it was most effortless album I've ever done. Really? Yeah, it's weird. It's like. What do you mean?

Like, you just went into it. a studio and it was like brr-r-r-r-h. Yeah, just went in the studio, oh, I've put that with that. Oh, that sounds. Oh, yeah, I like that. But also I was trying stuff out because I was playing at the boutique every week.

So I would try stuff out and then in boutique. Or I'd just get, I mean, Rockefeller Skank, for instance. There's a tune called Slice Tomatoes by the Just Brothers, which is like a northern soul record. Yeah. But it's got really good groove. Yeah.

And I played it at the boutique. And everyone's like, oh, I'm like, yeah, they really did. that, you know, everyone connects with that B. So I thought, so right, I'm going to make a record out of sliced tomatoes. So I just looped it up. And then I was thinking, it's like 160 BPM, which is not a normal, regular tempo for the sort of dance music I was playing. Yes.

And I'm like, oh, I need something. And then I just remember this bit of speech that worked, but only really fast, which was like an spoken intro from a record going, right about now it's no other than the Fonksoe brother the Lord Finesse and I was like what have you put that together with that and it was literally just coming out of literally the day after being in the club thinking

I want to make something out of that groove and I've got this lying around and then you know that day Rockefeller Scout was born and it just came out I wish I could do it again You were literally vomiting hits like you were gurgitating brilliant sadly I'm on a weekly basis

yeah sadly I could never you know And sometimes you think, what was in the water that week? You know, all that six months. I had a six-month beer where everything was just... But no, I mean, it's good. But you just, it's just a moment in your life. And like, two years later, I'm like, how do I make that lightning strike again?

You know what I think is interesting, though, that when you're a DJ and you're as good as you are at entertaining people? I always call it. I liken being in a club to being in church. It's collective worship and euphoria and love and connection. And there's a beautiful spiritual thing that happens when it's kicking off in a club and there aren't any phones, I think, in particular. It works better when there aren't.

Yeah, take the phones out of the equation. It's amazing. I really learned it during the pandemic when we couldn't hang out together. We tried all these different experiments of Zoom things, of, you know, my mates were getting all of their nut with each other on Zoom and it just like, oh what, really? That's a terrible idea.

Well, you know, there's Friday Kitchen discos and they're just like, but it just doesn't work. We as human beings need to physically connect. And then all those things like football and clubbing and festivals, it's like you can't replace that with a download or a Zoom connection or... And I think we're going to feel that more and more

But it got me to think, I mean, I thought about so many things I was thinking about my son growing up. My son had just got old enough to go to a nightclub legally, and then it got snatched away from him. And I was thinking, what if his generation grow up not expecting to go to nightclubs or they find, you know, something else to do? Will I still have a job? And then there was, well, I still have a job, because if we don't solve this pandemic, if we have to live with it for the rest of our lives, we'll probably never be able to all congregate in sweaty nightclubs for, you know, sharing. bodily fluids with each other. So, and I really sort of step back and thought about what it is I do for living and what it is that I enjoy about it and that fulfills me.

And without it, it's like, there was a kind of a hole in my heart, which is we are social animals and we like to find people who like to do the same thing with us and we like to do it together in big groups. And things like music and football and religion bond us and glue us together as human beings and celebrate everything that is good about life. I want to talk to you about this kind of massive legacy of yours, which are your annual massive getting together of the clans of like Fat Boy Slim Worshippers. But I want to talk about the disaster that was Woodstock 99.

Can we talk about Woodstock? Yeah. For my experience, it wasn't actually that bad. Oh, really? I watched the documentary and it looked horrific. It got bad on the Sunday after I'd gone. I think I left just at the right moment. But when I left, it was fruity.

Still good. It was fruity, but it was all good. What do you mean by fruity? Well, there's, you know, people kick, there was things kicking off. There's people driving bands through the middle of a, you know, it's fairly lawless. It was, you know, it was fruity, but it was all good nature. There wasn't any fighting or destruction or anything like that. That all happened on the Sunday.

Okay. So you left Saturday night. Like quickly, right? I left Saturday night and flew straight home. By the time I got home Sunday evening, there was footage of my trailer on fire. I did see them on fire. So I was like, I think, yeah.

But no, it wasn't a disaster. It wasn't like I wasn't at all scarred by it whatsoever. But I'm not trivialising what happened on the Sunday because I know a lot of people probably did have a very, unpleasant experience. No, I mean, it was, yeah, it was fruity but not out of hand when I left it. So Big Beach Boutique happened when? The year after, or two years after.

Cool. Ooh. No, year after you did Glastow. Woodstock was 99. 99. When did you do? When did you do? The big, the big, big, big.

Okay. But then the year before that was a slightly smaller one. Did you do a slightly smaller one year? Yeah, the year before we did one. It was like 67,000 or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. And which was just perfect.

and beautiful. Which actually, even in its own of goal, is massive. 67,000 is actually fucking massive. When I did that first one, I remember coming off stage and saying to my manager, how are we ever going to top that in my love? This just doesn't get any better than this. You know, to do that in my home city,

and I'm so proud of Brighton. I love the city that I love in, and they seem to be quite proud of me. And that was just a great way of cementing our relationship. I love how much you love Brighton and I love you. Yeah, and I, yeah, so, yeah, when we did that one, We just thought that was the apex. We didn't know what chaos.

I mean, Coventry, like there are 250,000 people in Coventry. Right. Came to Brighton the next year to see you. At that's how many people, quarter of a million. We doubled the population. Unbelievable. But, you see, that was way more hairy than Woodstock for me. Oh, was it?

Yeah. Oh, God, yeah. So tell me why. Well, because too many people came. We couldn't stop them. By the time we realized they were all there, and they just had taken all the whole town. There wasn't enough parking spaces, roads, toilets.

Nobody could get home. The whole place was gridlocked, but in a good nature, it'd sign away. But we couldn't guarantee their safety. If anything had gone wrong, we couldn't. You couldn't dry ambulances through the streets if anyone was hurt. So it went from like, this is fat. This is so big to like, oh God, this is too big.

What do we do? We can't tell anyone to go home. You can't stop because it would start a riot? Yeah, it was more dangerous if we didn't do it. So have you seen the film? Of course. Yeah. So you know that the gamut of emotions.

Unbelievable. And even during the show, we had to stop it at one point because a load of people had gone around the wrong side of the thing and the tide was coming in. They're all going to drown. It was just like, the whole day was just, it went from like, actually like, oh, oh, God. So, yeah, I mean, that was, I was way more scared on Brighton Beach than I was at Woodstock. God, I mean, and this year, you've got four events. there were three and then actually it's just sold out so you've done four. They let us do another one.

Yeah, that's great. Thank you to the residents around Madeira Drive. But you know what's lovely is, I think it says a lot for the kind of fans that you have. It was that it didn't kick off with a quarter of million people on Brighton Beach. Yeah, if you watch the film, my favorite line of... They are lovely people. My favorite line out of the film is the woman from the council who said it was like, It was perceived that, hell your crowd was sort of good-natured,

if this had been an oasis gig, we would have been fucked. This is like some of council safety too. I love that quote. So, yeah, no, I mean, it's a testament to the good-natured, yeah, I mean, if anything had gone wrong, we had no way of dealing with it. But luckily, everybody behaved himself. I mean, yeah, I mean, there was people climbing on toilets and throwing toilet rolls and everything. But, you know, nobody would, no one did anything back.

And there was no, it's the stampede thing that you worried about. Yes. Because that amount of people, if they all run in one direction, that's like the 10 juggernauts. And yeah. So, no, so now we do it in small bite-sized chunks. Well, that's right. But yeah, I mean, I still have the same pride in coming back and doing the beach and everybody in Viagai. Because that's what I mean, it's not my relationship is such with the city that even after the big one that was almost a disaster and the whole city's stank of piss for the rest of the city.

summer and there was broken you know took a week to clean the beach every time i go into sainsbury as everyone goes when you're going to do have a beach party then because everybody invited and loved it and and and i love that they're proud of me so to be able to come and do it four nights this year is very it's a big thrill you know what's quite funny i think is that um you saw your your greeting today we we are all proud of you it's quite a nice thing that we all love you like we're all cheering you on i think what it is is that um you were talking about doing the mobile discos and the funerals and uh you know learn your craft but it's that you you can tell what we want you read us so well as a crowd but it but it is an honor and a privilege to be

part of that conversation you're i'm just a sort of conduit for the conversation between all the people there and the music. So it's not like, it's not sort of preaching. It's just, I'm just sort of facilitating your night out. And it's, and it's an absolute joy. Because you say things like that. But it's an absolute joy to do that. Yeah.

And like I said, I don't take it for granted since pandemic when I couldn't do it. I cherish it even more. But the, you understand the joy you get that night after night, you just watch people letting off steam, making friends. And the best thing I ever see, I looked down. Two people are absolutely snogging each other, face it. It's like, you two have either just met or you're just having the time of your life.

And it's like, yeah, get in there. And it's a privilege to be providing the soundtrack. Yeah. And it's a privilege just to watch people, watch, it's not the joy that I bring. It's the joy that the music brings. And I'm just the conduit that makes all that happen. But it is a joy.

I mean, that's why I'm still doing it now. I'm 62 years old. Can we talk about that? Ageism, because I'm your era and I started going out clubbing again maybe four years ago. And it has been such an extraordinary joy for me to revisit what feels like my childhood. I feel young again. I haven't forgotten how to dance. I still, you know, we were listening this morning.

I was playing someone your albums going, look, these are the tracks, you know. And it was like, oh, no, no, I do. I know that one. I do that one. He's a young guy, like really young guy. And I was listening to it and I thought, this still is relevant. It still sounds brilliant. This is what I love about house music is that it doesn't go off ever.

It's timeless. Most, I mean, some of the 88, 89 stuff, the like Acid House is of an era. but it still sounds amazing in a club and how nice it is to go out again now at my age and think I'm going to wear something that other people would think was inappropriate because I can. It's so nice. You're never to, what I'm trying to say is,

you and me and all of our friends, we are never too old. I think you're braver than me though because I'm not sure if at my age I would go to a nightclub. I'm not sure I have people. Oh my God, because you know what that is for me? Well, you, but wait. Norman, Norman, that's a challenge. That's what I love about it.

Yeah, no, I always worry that, you know, people go like, what's Grandad doing here, you know. He's with Grandma. Yeah, no, because I wouldn't go out clubbing. Oh, really? I love it that I'm still part of it. Yeah. And I'm always doing it.

But someone said the other night, He said, you know, when it was the last time you went to see a DJ? I'm like, on my night off, A, do I want to go? Yeah, well, you work late. And B, if I turned up at a club, you know, at my age, just to see another DJ, if they were going like, what, see, well, see what, I wouldn't. No, but that's the thing. They wouldn't.

I'm telling you, because I do it. And actually people just think it's quite funny. Like, they're like, oh my God, this is amazing. You're here, I'm like, yeah, and I'm wearing ankle socks. Well, you had that. Get over that. When, yeah, Amnesia, he did have that, so I think, it was like, oh my God, yeah, and you were just bouncing around like the June Selle bunny wearing this fabulous dress.

And all my God, my mates go, it's really her. She's having to be shown her right on. And, but. It's like being reborn. But you, just by doing that is quite a sort of statement. But also, I don't know if you remember one of my friends was really impressed. he just read your book and he was like, when I said you were going to be there, he's like, oh my God, really? Oh, yes, I do.

Having, you know, similar journeys to us, we, you know, you are kind of a little bit of the poster girl for sobriety. Yeah. Well, I. For rebirth. I love being sober and being out. I want to talk to you about actually how hard was it. Because I also, when I saw you DJ way, way back when, before I knew you, I, you, I, never ever would have considered that you might be drunk.

No, I was always drunk. You were always drunk. Now, when we're talking drunk, like, how would you alcoholically prepare for a gig? Like, how much would you have to drink? Well, a bottle of vodka would be on my rider. Fuck. And I could probably drink that for it on. Wow.

But you didn't seem like, in fact, you were worried about DJing without, how are you going to do it without booze? Petrified. Did it ever affect your DJing? No, I don't think so. No. It's weird. There was nights when I was struggling to speak and to walk.

And the people around me are like, are you going to be all right? I'm like, get me on the stage, I'll be fine. There's something that kicks in. When you're DJing, there's like the muscle memory of what you're doing. It's like riding a bite. And then the way you, the adrenaline just straightens you out and you lock in with the crowd. And then you probably have a few more drinks while you're DJing. It's only when you come off, you realise how drunk you are.

No, when you're DJing, it's very, yeah, I can DJ in any state. And I don't know whether it's better or not. I mean, I was petrified of DJing sober because all my life I'd always been part of the party. And it's like, if you're not walking the walk, can you talk the talk, you know? But I, in my, it took me a while. It took me about five or six shows to reset my month. Recalibrate. Yeah.

Re-calibrate what I was doing there And it was like, oh, you know, what are you doing here? You're a middle-aged man playing a load of sort of squelching noises and loud kick drums To a load of drunk people who were just like waving their arms around and hugging each other And it took me a while to realise like, that's enough. Yes, that's what I'm doing. And it works and it makes them happy and it makes me happy. But also, we were talking earlier about euphoric recall.

I do get a little bit. Explain what that is because I don't really know what it technically is. My perception of it is a bit like, do you ever read Asterix and Obelix? Yes. Obelix fell in the magic potion. Yes. When he was young, so they never needed any more because he was like there's some. I think I've just had so many, so much alcohol and drugs and good times,

that it's just swimming around in there. And it only takes the excitement of being with the crowd and the music being really loud and the flashing lights. And it kind of re-triggers it because I guess. into a sort of a state of, not a nebriation, but I go into another person. Well, it's euphoria. Yeah. I get exactly the same thing.

Really? Yeah. And people have often said to me, like, what are you on? And I'm like, on life. Like, I just am having the best time ever. And a great DJ for me, does it? I used to read the comments on my DJing things on YouTube. And they were going, like, isn't he supposed to be sober?

Look at me. He's off his nut. And they're going, yeah, yeah, look at it. And what do you reckon it is? It's like, is it coat? It's like, you're sniffing. I just saw him blow his nose. It must be coats.

Like, no, no, he's definitely on a pill. I'm like, it's just nothing. But I love that fact that I can be in this sort of state of euphoria without all the bad stuff. And without having done it. Well, the next day, it's good. But I don't know whether it's, there's still some rattling around in my brain or my bloodstream. Or just I can tap into that. I mean, definitely when I'm preparing a DJ,

set and doing a DJ set, I'm thinking about them and what they want. And I'm thinking in terms of what they want, you know, not in the cold light of day of me being sober. It's like, where can we, you know, how we need to push this high out of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard, a fast, you know, like, um,

so I I just enjoy being a part of it, but being able to walk away at the end and go to bed. Yes. And wake up and fight another day the next day and not have a hang over and not go on a three-day bender. Yeah, oh my God. The three-day benders.

Oh, my God. I mean, I love not having a hangover. I just, I'm so grateful. And when I see people now, my age, and they've got one, I think, oh, God, I'm just so pleased I don't do that anymore. No judgment, but I'm so glad I don't have that. When you, just quickly want to ask you, Because whenever I get somebody on, and if you don't mind talking about it,

but how did you make that decision to stop? Just in case there's somebody watching and they think, do you know what? I feel like I have got a bit of a problem and I don't know how to stop. What was it that made you make that decision? Just one thing that happened really, I just thought this is, you know, my life, I'm going to lose people. And I mean, I knew.

was in a bad way and I knew I couldn't start but I'm thinking well I can't stop so I'll just carry on and I knew people around me were worried but no just one day it a penny dropped and I'm like you and you make that decision yeah you're going to lose your family you know if if you don't wise up and it was yeah it was probably like I said long overdue but just I'd suddenly got it I think my god yeah I'm screwed if I carry on doing this and wherever you're Rock bottom happens, it's you, I think you'll know. But it's weird because having gone through AA and the process and everything, you're acutely aware of other people that are out there still suffering

and whether or not it's time for them to come. Yes. And a lot of people are, because of what I've been through, they've worried about their friend or their partner or something. They come and ask me, how do I stop? What do I do? Yeah, you can't. Yeah, when they're ready, when they've had enough,

They'll come in. You probably can't talk them into it. So, yeah, yeah, no, I just hit a realisation that I, probably not a rock bottom, but a realisation of what the rock bottom looked like. Yeah. And I just thought, I've got to do something. It's interesting, this idea that you're the only person that can do it.

And it's so frustrating for everyone around you because I know that, you know, it's the same sort of thing when other people come to me and go, what can I do? And you can't do anything. You've got to wait. Yeah. You know, and sometimes that's a very painful place to be,

but it is interesting what gets people to their rock bottom. My best friend shut me in her car, and we were supposed to be going to see Santana. And she said, we're not going to see Santana. I just need to tell you a few things. She just told me that everybody was talking about me everywhere, talking about what disaster I was, how I kept falling asleep at tables while I was trying to eat something,

how, you know, I was like, and the shame, and the shame was enough to get me to a meeting. I got out the car and I was effing and blinding at her and like, you know, well, you can fuck off. But something finally sunk in. Oh, yeah, right. She probably wasn't the first time it had been said to you. Oh, no.

But it was the moment. Yeah. And I just went and sat on my bed and cried for like four hours and then thought, my God, I've got no way out. Like I've got to stop. Right. It's a really nice surrender. So lovely when you finally bloody do it.

Yeah. I'm still trying. Well, it's... No, it's the surrender bit. I'm saying, like, okay, I need help. The next six months wasn't the easiest of my life, you know. No. Anyway, I don't want to be a poster.

The weird thing is, it's kind of you... I never want to be a poster boy for sobriety. No, I don't. Judgment. So anybody who does anything... No. All I want to... The only thing I would want to be is a help to people when they are, you know,

if they do think then, when they're really, if they do want to stop, I'm kind of sort of, I'll be there to take them to a meeting. But I'd hate, yeah, that's sort of pious list. I'm on a natural high. Yeah. I think that's probably why I sort of tapped into the idea of collective, of, you know, euphoric recall. It sounds better than going, oh, I'm on a natural high.

Anyone ever says that, I just want to punch them. Yeah. Me too. I think, I think. Or punch myself. Another thing that I love about you, again, this rolls into, the kind of humility thing. I just don't want to make a big song and dance about everything.

I just want to be myself. And this is who I am. Live by example. Attraction rather than promotion. You know, I can help you if you want me to. I'm not going to shove it down your throat. Drink as much as much as possible,

but when you're done, you're done. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll be here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. I'd like to ask you, this is quite a weird, a weird question, I guess. But if there was going to be, be a track like a music appreciation moment,

a song that came on at a moment. You know when you were talking about the last song of the night and it still gives you goosebumps now and it's like holding a girl's buttocks. A track for you really, really, really meant something and what was going through your life

when it happened and we'll all go and listen to it. My one would be the first thing that came into my mind was a song by Taj Mahal called Satisfied and Tickled 2 which I think probably Paul introduced me into Tashmahal when we were getting into blues when we were about 15, 16 even used to make me mix tapes of blues records

and that's how I got into the whole blues thing but Tash Mahal did a song and it's I'm satisfied and tickled too maybe just to know that I'm in love with you and it's weird because it really It just reminds me of everybody that I've ever been in love with. And everyone who knows, if it's been on a mixtape that I've made you, that means I was in love with you. And, but it's beautiful because it's just about, it's just,

it just sums up the serenity of being at calm. It's like living in the country, high up on the hill, and nights hear the birds of night, hear the whippoor will. And it's just like just being satisfied. Are you a lyric guy? Not so much, no. I'm no good at writing them. No.

I don't really listen to them most of the time. Every now and then one just suddenly cuts through. Yeah. I'm like, oh, actually, I can relate to that one. I'll listen to the rest of it. But no, I don't. I've never been a lyric person, but my husband's made me a lyric person. So we've done the entire back catalogue of Van Morrison,

which blew my fucking mind. He's amazing. And Bruce Springsteen. Wow. Yeah. I've got a present for you. I've got to find it Hold on

I've got two presents Oh you've been hiding them Yeah I've been hiding them down there's back in the sofa So I'm going to just think about this I'm going to go with First of all I'm going to go with I've got two letters for you

So sometimes When we interview people We like to try and find Like someone who means something to them To write a letter Normally it's one letter but you are such a lovely person there were two people that wanted to write you letters

is this going to make me cry I hope so okay on that caveat so you can read it this one is the first one do you need glasses yeah can you wear very focals

these are very focals I'm about 1.5 you'd have to look through the bottom of the glass don't look through the middle so look at your hand down here. Yeah, that'll work. Yeah, okay. So that's the first one. They really suit you by, Norman. You look good. Dear Norm, someone was asking about your glory days recently, those early days of skin and the big beat boutique. They asked what it was like warming up for you. I replied, it was probably the gig I've done the most and definitely the gig I've enjoyed the most.

warming up for you was a joy starting slow and low with an eclectic selection followed by those weird and wonky records that came out with a bit of is this going to work, energy, so much fun. All done with the confidence

that you were going to go, that you were going to come on and take the roof off anyway. I love the dynamic that we had embodied everything that was great about the label and the club. I also loved the handovers A moment for both of us to look out at the crowd.

They're up for it tonight, one of us would have said. And they invariably were. In the film, skit the movie, we have a little montage of us having that chat on the stage at the Concord in its grotty excellence. And then the venues just got bigger and bigger and bigger and tour on the beach in front of a quarter of a million people. Wow. Brad Pitt as you, Eddie Yates as me. This is coming from Damon. Love you, Norm

D-love. Oh. I mean, he's been amazing for you, Damien, right? Yeah. What a gift. What a gift. He saw you when you were 16 like he got it. Well, no, it was the other way around.

I first met, he came to a Beats International gig when he was a... A DJ. No, when he was like at school or something like that. Oh, I see, yeah, yeah. And then he sort of And we met But we've just got a kindred spirit

We just love music in the same way We're still the best of friends I mean skin records and you And both of which Fat Boy Slim and Skin Records were Damien's idea Mega But more so I love our enduring friendship

When our enduring love of music And we're tall talk bollocks I went to see In fact he was the last DJ I went to see When was that? About a month ago He was playing in Brighton And I went

And I just really wanted to see I just like love watching him play But yes though Not quite as long as Paul But lifelong collaborator And And spa and muse And friend

And But also just fellow music fans We're just Yeah We're just engulfed in it And this one Didn't make me cry though It made me laugh

It made me smile Okay I love me as Brad Pitt And him It's quite good isn't it In the movie Right. Ready?

Okay. I'm going to push these further up your nose because you need to look at the bottom of them to be able to read it. Right. Because otherwise if I don't... I'm going to recognise the handwriting. You might.

You might. All right. The dad bit's probably a giveaway. Hello Mr Slim. Or should I say dad? It's me, Woody. You might remember me from such things as my childhood. That's a big saying in our househood.

I'm just popping in into say, how much, from being in to say how much you mean to me. You're an all right DJ, but you're an even better dad. And the person I am is directly because of you. You just, it referenced, you know, we've referenced all this before. The person I am is directly because of you. In any situation, the lessons you taught me would always be the same. I think more than anyone else, you have so much time for people, so much love for people, and you always taught me to be there for everyone around me from a very young age. You give a little love and it all comes back to you.

So here's me giving it back to you. I love you dad. Now you haven't made me cry. Oh, so was all that stuff early, it was setting up? No. I haven't read it. Well, that was the answer to the question we were asking about what you do to your children.

Isn't that funny? Oh, bless you. Thank you, Woody. Thank you, Woody. That letter. Like you two have done an amazing job. I don't know none as well, but from what I know of Woody, from what you've told me, what a lovely boy. Both my kids are fabulous.

And like I said, me and so actually discussed like how on earth did we raise two such. Because you're lovely people. Well adjusted, beautiful, kind children, you know, they should have been. It's because you two are well adjusted, beautiful and kind. I'm not sure we are. But thank you. My favourite Woody quote was, I have. I had these sort of old man slippers that I used to wear.

And they're actually quite hip. They're called homies or something. Oh, yeah. But they're like deliberately old man slippers. And one day I was wearing them. And I think I was wearing them with a cardigan combination. And he went, Dad, you've got to stop wearing that thing. You know, I know it's just around the house.

But, yeah. And I said, what's wrong? And he said, my slippers. I said, you know, they're my ironic old man slippers. And he looked to me and he just went, Dad, there's nothing ironic about our not. old man wearing old man slippers. He's just got a genius of, you know, just to sum up situations. No, thank you, Woody, and thank you, Damien.

That's some, do you do that to all your guess? No, but sometimes it's an obvious thing for us to, but to get, you know, in touch to someone. It's a cheap gap, but sometimes people don't want to write or sometimes they do or whatever, but it was really nice that two people, you know, wanted to give you a message. Two people who I love very dear. Yeah. It's good to know that they love me back. Yeah, they do.

And I think you're very, you know, I've said this before, but you are an extremely humble man, but you are extremely loved by everybody. It's been really nice talking to anybody that would listen about you. Well, I've been learning more about you. I've been kind of sharing tip bits about you. And you are universally loved.

It's a beautiful thing. And well done for living that life. And thank you for coming on begin again. We love him. We love him. We love him. Do you hug? Norman, can I hug you?

Stay there. I'm coming in. I'm coming in. What's up? Thank you, darling. That was lovely. Norman, I had such a nice time. Me too.

Thank you. For the minute I write. I'm sorry about that. I really didn't see that thing. I didn't make him cry. It was quite funny when you were two years. want me to cry. I was like, yes. I do. Oh, oh, Norman, love you.

Fucking love you. So just in case you missed this episode here, if you love this episode, I know you're going to love that.