NME reports that Fatboy Slim has shared that he has lost his “passion for making music.” In the latest Bizarre column by The Sun, published on December 29, Fatboy Slim – real name Norman Cook – spoke to editor Ellie Henman at his weekender festival All Back To Minehead Butlin about the future of his career as a DJ and producer.
“My last two singles [‘Bus Stop Please’ and ‘Role Model’] just came out of a live show,” he noted. “They were both things that I made just to play on the side.”
Cook continued: “The thing is, you can’t make music unless you’re absolutely passionate about it and it drives you from the moment you wake up in the morning.”
“I just don’t seem to feel like that any more. I feel like that about DJing and about putting on things like this, but I’ve kind of lost my passion for making music.” Cook’s last full-length album as Fatboy Slim was 2004’s Palookaville. In 2010 he also released the soundtrack he wrote with David Byrne for the musical Here Lies Love.
“For five years, I tried to beat myself up about it and go, ‘You should be doing this.’ But then I thought, ‘Well, everybody likes my DJing and I enjoy that more, so I’ll do that,’” he admitted. “I’m hoping that one day the passion will come back.” Cook is already scheduled to headline Kendal Calling and Latitude Festival in 2025.
All Back To Minehead Butlin took place from November 8 to 11 this year with a line-up that included Fatboy Slim, Arielle Free, Eats Everything, Ewan McVicar, Groove Armada, Special Request and his son Woody Cook.
That same month, Cook spoke out against what he called “sick” dynamic ticket pricing for Oasis’s 2025 reunion tour.
“The only problem I have got is with scalping the fans. That dynamic pricing, that is ripping off the fans. It is like auctioning tickets because you know they are doing well,” he told The Sun. “It is bad enough with the touts doing it, but the actual promoter and band doing it, it is sick.”
Mirror reports that Cook has also reportedly commented on the UK government consultation that was recently announced concerning caps on ticket prices. The renowned DJ stated: “Great to see money being put back into fans’ pockets instead of resellers. Fully behind this effort to make sure more people can enjoy incredible arts and music events across the country without being ripped off. It is part of the change this government were elected to make.”
Analysis by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) found mark-ups on resale tickets are usually more than fifty percent, while some are sold for six times their original cost. In 2019, fans paid an estimated £350 million to go to events on secondary ticketing sites.
The UK government will also look at controversial ‘dynamic pricing’ of tickets. This came under the spotlight last year when Oasis fans saw standard ticket prices soar from £148 to £355. The consultation and a call for evidence on dynamic pricing will run until April 4, 2025.
