Clubs The House of Mau5 David Pollock looks back on Deadmau5’s rise to fame as the Canadian DJ and producer prepares for a huge arena show
www.list.co.uk/clubs
✽✽ HITLIST
THE BEST DANCEFLOOR ACTION
✽✽ Numbers The dubstep, house and UK funky with a guest set from Jamie xx (The xx) ahead of his debut solo 12” on Numbers’ label. Sub Club, Glasgow, Fri 17 Dec. ✽✽ Burger Queen & Yip Yap Reunion Party Step back to 1993 and the house sounds of these two much missed Edinburgh institutions. Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Sat 18 Dec. ✽✽ Death Disco Munich electro legend Zombie Nation claims the headline slot this month, with support from Burns (pictured), Unicorn Kid and the regular DD residents. Arches, Glasgow, Sat 18 Dec. ✽✽ Mungo’s Hi-Fi After four years, the Mungo’s residents commiserate their last Art School party before the reggae, grime and dancehall night moves to Stereo in the New Year. Art School, Glasgow, Sat 18 Dec. ✽✽ Radiomagnetic Winter Rave The internet radio station presents some of the Scottish artists and DJs who have defined 2010, with FOUND, The Blessings, S-Type and Boom Monk Ben. SWG3, Glasgow, Sat 18 Dec. ✽✽ Taste There’s no sleep in the world of Taste as they host a Christmas Day and post-New Year’s Day special of energetic underground dance cuts. Also note with a tear that the 2 Jan date is the last ever Taste as Fisher & Price hang up their headphones after 16 years. Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sat 25 Dec & Sun 2 Jan. ✽✽ Sunday Circus Boxing Day Party Post-Christmas house bash, with guest Dyed Soundorom (Freak n’ Chic). Studio Warehouse, Glasgow, Sun 26 Dec. ✽✽ Hogmanay There’s just too many great nights and great guests to choose from, check page 11 for our top tips. See listings for details. 16 Dec 2010 – 6 Jan 2011 THE LIST 51
H ow the hell did Deadmau5 get so big? The Canadian DJ and producer has been a powerful force on the commercial end of the dance music circuit for a couple of years now of course, but this month is set to prove he’s no longer just another face in a crowd of new breed big-room DJs. Deadmau5 is now rock star huge. He’s massive. Just like that light-up mouse head he wears at his shows.
The evidence will be presented when he takes to the stage at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena. Braehead, of course, is the kind of venue which usually hosts proper big-deal international stars, including the likes of Beyonce, The Strokes and Marilyn Manson in the past, and that’s before you take into account the calibre of artist who will be playing second fiddle to Deadmau5 on the night: new heroes of dubstep Magnetic Man, Radio 1’s Zane Lowe and a DJ set from the pretty-famous-in- his- own-right Calvin Harris.
Then consider the array of DJ talent queuing up to fete his presence at the aftershow party at the O2 Academy on the same night, including Harris and Lowe once more, Magnetic Man’s Skream and Benga, and Radio 1’s dance ambassadors Pete Tong and Annie Mac. Highlights from the later event will be broadcast live on Radio 1 on the night, ahead of the really big news – a sold-out headline show at London’s Earl’s Court the next evening, following in the footsteps of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Oasis. Undoubtedly a lot of the 29-year-old man behind the mouse head Joel Zimmerman’s success is down to concept and marketing. That distinctive headgear
stemmed from the name (apparently the result of telling friends on techy dance forums about a mouse which crawled into his computer and died), yet one cute hat doesn’t make a star.
He’s released three albums in the last three years (Random Album Title, For Lack of a Better Name and this month’s 4x4=12), and each one has drawn greater praise outside the dance mag circuit. His latest is ‘Formulaic? Undoubtedly. Enjoyable? Unquestionably’ according to the Independent on Sunday, while The Guardian declared him ‘a master at doing simple electro house music very well.’ More than that, his records and his live shows appeal to the dance faithful in the way exceptional pop music finds favour with all but the most purist or ungenerous. They merge house, trance and electro so as to enjoy mass appeal among those who enjoy their electronic music unpolarised by extremes.
The Washington Post described Zimmerman as a ‘party-eschewing programming nerd, more Mark Zuckerberg than Daft Punk’, and there’s something in that as well. With a Playmate girlfriend, guest appearances from friends like Tommy Lee and Pendulum on his tracks, an onstage collapse with exhaustion earlier this year and a forthcoming appearance on DJ Hero, he’s nailed many of the key rock star tropes. Yet that damn mouse’s head ultimately casts him in the unknowable boffin role so favoured by many superstar DJs of recent times. Braehead Arena, Fri 17 Dec; Official Aftershow Party at O2 Academy, both Glasgow, Fri 17 Dec.
DEADMAU5 IS HUGE. JUST LIKE
THAT MOUSE HEAD HE WEARS
ON STAGE