Fatboy Slim The Chaos Behind The Fame, Fatherhood & The Legacy of Fatboy Slim!

27:23Davina McCall: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, he'd written some brilliant songs. He was always a good songwriter, but he'd really nailed it. and he used to come down and I'd put the House Martins on at the club that I DJ'd at. Oh, hey. And I'd played on some of their demos and then, yeah, then just three years later when he'd just got a record, he said, we've got a record contract and our bass player's left. Can you rejoin? You know, and it felt like rejoining the band.

27:59Yeah. But now he's working with Stan.

28:01Davina McCall:Yeah. And Hugh. And, you know, do you want to move up to Hull and rejoin us? And so it was brilliant. You know, I literally, within six months of finishing college... I mean, that's absolutely mad. And 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. Like three, four years? Yeah, I felt like they were around for a decade. No, I needed 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 only two albums, I was like, God, that's so weird.

28:35Were we... They were big. We made, I think we made on Mark. You were big. We made on Mark. And it was, I mean, and that was great because like me and Paul from school days had this dream. And, you know, in fact, in the book, which we'll talk about now, in the book, there's a picture that Paul drew me of like us on top of the pots. But it was like fantasy.

28:54Davina McCall:Well, come on, don't let. Fantasy. I want to have a look now. Okay. Yeah, just for fun. 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 I mean you're from The generation that you understand What Top of the Pops was to us Every Thursday night That was like a week's worth of social media In half an hour On a Thursday night So we just To having Dreamed about it and drawn little pictures about it to be on it. And it was just a dream come true.

29:36So that's Paul's interpretation of what we look like on top of the pops.

29:43Davina McCall:This is a brilliant book, by the way. It's like a scrapbook of your life. It's like a scrapbook. 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 say to your dad, you can make a living out of music and I'm going to do it. And for me, getting famous was about making my mum regret leaving me, like that I was worth something more than that.

30:26Davina McCall:Isn't it weird though? It goes back to your parents. All I wanted to do was make her go, make her say, I'm really proud of you. Do you think, 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, it strikes me so many people, 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'd go, why have I heard that before?

31:10It's like, oh, my God, I'm turning to my dad. Really? Do you say the same things as... And it's literally made me feel a little bit sick that I just said that, you know. But then at the same time, the good thing is bad parents. So it's quite weird how, until this moment, I've never really thought, I wonder what's the legacy.

31:28Davina McCall: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? Well, 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 eclectic. And I'm known for showing off a bit. but it's like he's gone well he grew up watching me dj so it's like that 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 that one yeah up the up the ante of it so yeah he's a constant performer i don't know i mean but it's not just what you what you want to do for a living it's like who do you want to be because i i definitely didn't want to be my dad and i definitely did want to be my mum my sister put out the other day that all the first songs that I wrote when I was like a teenager were all about death she said we were really obsessed with that I was like you know good 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'm feel 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 I just wanted people to remember me when I was dead like an obituary in a newspaper so that means 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 an obituary 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 yeah where you leave the world.

33:14Davina McCall: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, isn't it? 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 were immersed in... What was life like for you, you both back then? Chaos. Was it? Absolute chaos, yeah. Yeah, because I'd had this sort of thing of being a musician and everything. And then when I told my manager, he went, you do realise if you, like, if you, so are a couple, he said, your life is never going to be the same.

33:54And I said, what do you mean? He said, like, because at that point I was sort of at the top of my powers. At that point she was doing the Radio Woman Breakfast show and going,

34:01Davina McCall:I mean, you were both mega. And it's like, 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 is going to change, you know. I remember watching it as an outsider and the amount of public scrutiny from the tabloids, it was relentless. Zoe is so, she was kind of used to it and she talked me through it but it was, we were both partying a lot and all our friends were partying a lot.

34:38We all were, I mean, you know. But also working really hard, you know. she for the first couple years she was still doing the breakfast show now you know I'm we were being cops but yeah we knew young you can do that 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 is those are really good teacher she was really good she's really measured and she's kept me really down to earth she's like you don't you know don't forget to say thank you to them you know 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 our own it was like the the our careers and our thing the the sum of the two parts when we became this sort of power couple so she was um 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 and just say hats off though I think well done because that is quite a difficult one it's hard it's quite a difficult one but luckily we we've sort of found a way it was a bit awkward at first but then we've got this rhythm where we're now we I think we're really good we probably actually better so we were when we were a couple but we've brought up we're very proud of the two kids we brought up and I'm quite proud of the parents we and that and that we're firm you know as firm friends as we ever were sometimes

36:10Davina McCall:especially in midlife you can get into a relationship and get a bit stuck and um realize that you've slightly grown apart and but you're just kind of co-existing and people get stuck there because it's you're paying a price whatever you do when their relationship inevitably breaks up you get acrimonious yeah then you start playing games with each other and bitterness and grudges and if that then starts rubbing off on your 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 and but that doesn't necessarily mean staying together for the kids you know 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 um it but yeah it's I think it's 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 the petty bits and the things and i've seen so many of my friends and they're just ripping each other apart and they're ripping the kids apart as well um and yeah i think it's it as you know 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 It 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

38:02Davina McCall: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 Skint Records around you. He found what slim is Damien's idea. Right, like it is your... So how did you come up with that name? The name was just... I just needed another name. At that point, I was... You knew you didn't want to be Norman Cook. Well, no, contractually, at that point I was signed to Ironham Records as Freak Power. Yeah. But there was a clause in our contract that I could make, 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 own up with me.

38:46So at that point I was still in Freak Power.

38:49Davina McCall:How long did you have left on the contract? I think I'm still in it. I think I must 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 Cats. The last thing I really needed was another alter ego. But Damien had this idea of this kind of music that I'd been playing in my DJ sets. He said, you should make records like that. And so we just manufactured another label, another identity. and it wasn't supposed to mean me, so I needed a false name. And Fatboy Slim doesn't mean anything.

39:30It's just I really love old blues singers. Yeah, Fast Domino. They all had stupid... Yeah, Fast Domino, Snooks and Eaglin and Bo Weevil Jackson. And if you were a Fatboy Slim, they would ironically call you Slim. Slim, yeah. Memphis Slim, Pine Tots Slim. There was Bumblebee Slim was my favourite. Was there? Well, it's in the book. I'm going to go listen. I used to write down the funniest blues names in my little notebook. And yeah, and Fatboy Slim is the oxymoronic blues singer who can't exist. But it just sounded like a character that should exist.

40:05Davina McCall:But what's so funny is that there you are going, oh, we'll just do like a side hustle. Yeah. And Jesus wept. It engulfed everything. Your first two albums were like... What? It was like that. You blew our minds, Norman. Well, I blew my own mind as well, to be honest. It was like everything was leading up to that. No, it was like the DJ experience 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 realising that 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 there's a magic there and there it was just a moment and and it it just felt like everything came together and it was like again one of those sort of like 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 You just went into studio and it was like...

41:24Yeah, just went in the studio. Oh, I'll 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 Sliced Tomatoes by the Just Brothers, which is like a Northern Soul record.

41:44Davina McCall:Yeah. But it's really got a really good groove. Yeah. And I played it at the boutique and everyone was like, oh. I'm like yeah they really did that you know everyone connects with that beat so I thought that's all right I'm gonna make a record out of sliced tomatoes so I just looped it up and then I was thinking it it's like 160 bpm which is not a normal regular tempo for for the the sort of dance music I was playing yes and um I'm like oh I need something and then I just remembered this bit of speech that worked but only really fast which was um it was like an in spoken intro from a from a record going right about now it's no other than the funk soul brother uh the lord finesse and um i was like when 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 that groove and i've got this lying around and then you know that day rockefeller scout was born and it just came out.

42:43I wish I could do it again.

42:43Davina McCall:You were literally vomiting hits. I was vomiting, yeah. You were regurgitating brilliance 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 period where everything was just, but no, I mean, it's good, but it's just a moment in your life and like two years later I'm like, how do I make that lightning strike again? It's like, 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.

43:21Davina McCall: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 learnt it during the pandemic. When we couldn't hang out together, we tried all these different experiments of Zoom things. My mates were getting off the nut with each other on Zoom. Oh, what, really? That's a terrible idea. You know, those Friday kitchen discos, and they're just like, but it just doesn't work.

44:02We, 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.

44:16Davina McCall: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. Yeah. And I was thinking, what if his generation grow up not expecting to go to nightclubs or they find you know something has to do well 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 night clubs for you know sharing bodily fluids with each other so um 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 be and without it it's like there was a kind of 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 big groups and things like music and football and religion bond us and glue us together as human beings and and celebrate everything that 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.

45:37Davina McCall:But I want to talk about the disaster that was Woodstock 99. Can we talk about Woodstock? Yeah, but for my experience, it wasn't actually that bad. Oh, really? Because I watched the documentary and it looked horrific. It got bad on a 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 natured. What do you mean by fruity? Well, there's, you know, people, there's things kicking off. There's people driving vans through the middle of a, you know, it's fairly lawless. It was, you know, it was fruity, but it was all good natured.

46:10There wasn't any fighting or destruction or anything like that. That all happened on the Sunday.

46:14Davina McCall:Okay. So you left Saturday night. I left Saturday night. Like quickly, right? straight home and by the time I got home on Sunday evening there was like footage of my trailer on fire but no I wasn't in no it wasn't disaster it wasn't like I wasn't at all scarred by it whatsoever um but I'm not trivializing what happened on the Sunday because I know a lot of people probably do did have a very unpleasant experience but 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 um could know year after you did glasto woodstock was 99 99 2002 was the big the big okay okay but then the year before that was a slightly smaller one did you do a slightly yeah the year before we did one was like 67 000 or something like that and which was just perfect and beautiful which actually even in its own goal is massive 67 000 when i did that first one yeah i remember coming off stage and saying to my manager how are we ever going to top that in my life this just doesn't get any better than this you know you want to do that in my home city and i'm 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 they love you.

47:44Yeah, so when we did that one, we just thought that was the apex. We didn't know what chaos... I mean, Coventry,

47:51Davina McCall:like there are 250 ,000 people in Coventry came to Brighton the next year to see you. That's how many people, a quarter of a million people. We doubled the population of Brighton. 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 realised, they were all there and they just had taken over the whole town. There wasn't enough parking spaces, roads, toilets. Nobody could get home? The whole place was gridlocked, but in a good-natured sort of way. But we couldn't guarantee their safety.

48:27If anything had gone wrong, we couldn't. You know, you couldn't drive ambulances through the streets if anyone was hurt. So it went from like, 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 round the wrong side of the thing And the tide was coming and they were all going to drown It was just like It went from like To like Oh God So yeah I mean that was I was way more scared on Brighton Beach than I was at Woodstock.

49:11Davina McCall: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 a million people on Brighton Beach. Yeah, if you watch the film, my favourite line of... They are lovely people. My favourite line out of the film is the woman from the council who said, it was perceived that Hell Your Crab was sort of good-natured.

49:46If this had been an Oasis gig, we would have been fucked. That's so good. Council safety too. I love that quote. So, yeah, no, 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 themselves. I mean, yeah, I mean, there was people climbing on toilets and Yeah. And toilet rolls and everything. But, you know, nobody would, no one did anything bad. And there was no, it's the stampede thing that you're worried about. Yes. Because that amount of people, if they all run in one direction, that's like 10 juggernauts.

50:21Yes. Yeah. So, no, so now we do it in small bite-sized chunks. But yeah, I mean, I still have the same pride in coming back and doing the beach and everybody inviting. 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 stank of piss for the rest of the summer and it took a week to clean the beach. Every time I go into Sainsbury's, everyone goes, when are you going to have a beach party then? Because everybody invited and loved it. And I love that they're proud of me. So to be able to come and do it four nights this year is a big thrill.

51:00Davina McCall:You know what's quite funny, I think, is that you saw your greeting today. 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 you were talking about doing the mobile discos and the funerals and, 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 is an honour and a privilege to be part of that conversation. 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. I'm just facilitating your night out This is why we love you Because you say things like that But it's an absolute joy to do that And like I said I don't take it for granted Since the pandemic when I couldn't do it I cherish it even more But I don't understand the joy You get that night after night You just watch people Letting off steam Making friends The best thing I ever see Two people absolutely snogging each other face 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 the conduit that that makes all that happen but it it is a joy and i mean that's why I'm still doing it now.

52:39I'm 62 years old.

52:42Davina McCall: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.

53:30Davina McCall:It's timeless. It's most, I mean, some of the 88, 89 stuff, the light 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 too old. 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 how people would... Oh, my God, do you know what that is for me? Well, you... No, but wait.

54:11Davina McCall:Norman, Norman, that's a challenge. That's what I love about it. Huh? Yeah, no, I always worry that, you know, people go, like, what's Grandad doing here, you know? He's with Grandma.

54:28Yeah, 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. So, but I, someone said the other night, said, you know, when was the last time you went to see a DJ? I'm like, on my night off, A, do I want to go to another night? Yeah, well, you work late. And B, if I turned up at a club, you know, at my age, just to see another DJ, do you know what, they wouldn't? No, but that's the thing. They wouldn't. I'm telling you because I do it.

54:59Davina McCall: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, you did have that. So, I think it was like, oh, my God, yeah. And you were just bouncing around like the Jew and Self bunny wearing this fabulous dress. And all my mates are going, it's really her. She's having some Shanna Rana. It's like being reborn. But just by doing that is quite a sort of statement. remember 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 like oh yes because I mean you know similar journeys to us we you know you are kind of a little bit the poster girl for for sobriety yeah well I rebirth I love being sober and being out I want to talk to you about actually how hard was it because i i also when i saw you dj way way back when before i knew you i never ever would have considered that you might be drunk but actually i was always drunk you were always drunk yeah now how when we're talking drunk like how would you alcoholically prepare for a for a gig like how much would you have to drink uh well a bottle of vodka would be my rider.

56:23Fuck. And I could probably drink that before I went on.

56:28Davina McCall:Wow. But you didn't seem like, in fact, you were worried about DJing without, how were you going to do it without booze? Yeah, 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 were 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 bike. And then the way 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.

57:06It's only when you come off you realise how drunk you are. Now, when you're DJing, 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? But it took me a while. It took me about five or six shows to reset my mind. Recalibrate. Yeah, recalibrate what I was doing there. And it was like, what are you doing here? You're a middle-aged man playing a load of squelching noises and kick drums to a load of drunk people who are just waving their arms around and hugging each other.

57:49and it took me a while to realise 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...

58:02Davina McCall:Explain what that is because I don't really know. 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 when he was young so he 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 go into a sort of a state of, not inebriation, but I go into another persona.

58:44Davina McCall: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 him. What do you reckon it is? It's like, is it Coates? He's sniffing. I just saw him blow his nose. It must be Coates. Like, no, no, he's definitely on a pill. Definitely on a pill. And I'm like, it's just nothing.

59:15But 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 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. Yeah. 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 do we need to push this fire higher?

59:51Davina McCall:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's harder, faster, you know, like. So 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 hangover and not go on a three-day bender. Yeah, oh, my God. The three-day benders. Yeah. 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 I don't have that. um when you I just quickly want to ask you because I've whenever I get somebody on and if you don't mind talking about it but how 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 I have got a bit of a problem but 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 gonna lose people and i i mean i knew i was in a bad way and i knew i couldn't stop 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 the penny dropped and i'm like you and you made that decision yeah you're gonna lose your family you know if if you don't wise up and And it was, yeah, it was probably, like I said, long overdue.

1:01:26But just I'd suddenly got it. I think, oh, God, yeah, I'm screwed if I carry on doing this. And wherever your rock bottom happens, 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 in. Yes. You know, and a lot of people are, because of what I've been through, if they've worried about their friend or their partner or something, they come and ask me, how do I stop and what do I do?

1:02:00Davina McCall:I was like, 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, 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, well, I've got to do something. it's interesting um 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 same sort of thing when other people come to me and go what can i do and i you can't do anything you've got to wait yeah you know and um sometimes that's a very painful place to be but it is interesting what gets people to their rock bottom my best friend um 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 I need to tell you a few things she just told me that everybody was talking about me everywhere talking about what a 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 some eating 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 she It probably wasn't the first time it had been said to you.

1:03:14Oh, no. But it was the moment. Yeah.

1:03:17Davina McCall:And I just went and sat in 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's 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, okay, I need help. The next six months wasn't the easiest of my life No Anyway, I don't want to be a poster The weird thing is I never want to be a poster boy for sobriety I never want to be judgmental to anybody who does anything No The only thing I would want to be is a help to people When they're ready If they do want to stop I'll be there to take them to a meeting I'd hate that sort of pious list I'm on a natural high.

1:04:12Yeah. I think that's probably why I sort of tapped into the idea of euphoric recall. It sounds better than going, oh, I'm on a natural high. Anyone ever says that, I just want to punch them.

1:04:24Davina McCall:Yeah. Me too. 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 possible but when you're done you're done and then when you're done come and see me 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 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 that for you really what really really meant something um and what was going through your life when it happened and we'll all go and listen to it um my one would be my one the first thing that came to my mind was a song by Taj Mahal called Satisfied and Tickled Too, which I think probably Paul introduced me to Taj Mahal when we were getting into blues when we were about 15, 16, even used to make me mix tapes of blues records.

1:05:50And that's how I got into the whole blues thing. But Taj Mahal did a song and it's, I'm satisfied and tickled too, baby, just to know that I'm in love with you. And it's weird because it just reminds me of everybody that I've ever been in love with. And everyone who knows will if it's been on a mixtape that I've made you that means I was in love with you and and but it's beautiful because it's just about it's just it just sums up the serenity of being calm it's like living in the country high up on the hill and nights I hear the birds of night I hear the whippoorwill and it's

1:06:28Davina McCall:just like just being satisfied you a lyric guy not so much no I can't I'm no good at writing them. No. I don't really listen to them most of the time. No, I've never done it. Every now and then one just suddenly cuts through. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, actually that, 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. Really? 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.

1:07:00Davina McCall:Hold on. I've got two presents. Oh, we've been hiding them down 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 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 I borrow yours? Can you wear varifocals?

1:07:48Davina McCall:These are varifocals. Let's find out. I'm on 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 the way, Norman. Dear Norm, someone was asking about your glory days recently, those early days of Skint 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 a, is this going to work, energy.

1:08:34So 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 loved 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, Skint 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 tore on the beach in front of a quarter of a million people.

1:09:14Davina McCall:Wow. Brad Pitt as you, Eddie Yates as me. This is coming from Damien. I love that. Love you, Norm. D-love. Oh. I mean, he's been amazing for you, Damien, right? Yeah. What a gift. What a gift. You know, he saw you when you were 16, like he got it. Well, no, it was the other way around. I first met him, he came to a Beats International gig when he was a... A DJ. No, when he was at school or something. Oh, I see. Yeah, 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. I mean Skint Records and you And both of which Fatboy Slim and Skint Records Were Damien's ideas But more So I love our enduring friendship And our enduring love of music And we just talk bollocks In fact he was the last DJ I went to see When was that?

1:10:18About a month ago he was playing in Brighton And I just really wanted to see I just love watching him play But yes though not quite as long as Paul, but lifelong collaborator and spa and muse and friend. But also just fellow music fans. We're just engulfed in it.

1:10:39Davina McCall:And this one... Didn't make me cry, though. It made me smile. Okay. I love me as Brad Pitt and him as Eddie Yates. 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. All right. Because otherwise... 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 household. I'm just popping in to say how much...

1:11:20I'm just popping in to say how much you mean to me. You're an alright DJ But you're an even better dad And the person I am Is directly because of you You've just referenced 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 there you haven't made me cry oh so was all that that stuff early it was setting up

1:12:09Davina McCall:no i haven't read it well that was the answer to the question we were asking about what you 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 now as well But from what I know of Woody From what you've told me What a lovely boy Both my kids are fabulous Well done Me and Zoe actually discuss How on earth did we raise two such Well adjusted beautiful kind children You know they should be Because you two are well adjusted beautiful and kind I'm not sure if we are But thank you My favourite Woody quote was I had these sort of old man slippers that I used to wear.

1:12:55And they're actually quite hip. They're called homies or something.

1:12:59Davina McCall: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. I know it's just around the house. And I said, what's wrong with my slippers? I said, you know, they're my ironic old man slippers. and he looked at me and he just went, Dad, there's nothing ironic about an 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. Do you do that to all your guests? No, but sometimes it's an obvious thing for us to get in touch with someone.

1:13:38Davina McCall:It's a cheap gag, but it works. 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, really. 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 tidbits about you. And you are universally loved. It's a beautiful thing.

1:14:13Davina McCall:And well done for living that life. And thank you for coming on Begin Again. We love him. We love him. Thank you very much for having me. Do you hug? Norman, can I hug you? Stay there. I'm coming in. I'm coming in. Thank you, darling. That was lovely. Norman, I had such a nice time. Me too. Thank you. From the minute I write.

1:14:49I really didn't see that thing going on, making it cry.

1:14:52Davina McCall:It was quite funny when you, do you want me to cry? I was like, yes, I do. Aww, aww, 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. Thank you.