Man Behind the Mouse Mask: Deadmau5 on Monome, Not Being a DJ, with DTD
Deadmau5 interview with Dancetracks from Dancetracks on Vimeo.
Our friends over at Dancetracks Digital send along their video of Deadmau5, the top mouse-headed act on the planet right now. Deadmau5 may surprise you, with some good things to say about playing the open-source, sustainable, OSC-savvy monome controller – the controller that had big grids of buttons before big grids of buttons were cool. He also talks about not being a DJ, which means, I suppose, he’s one of us.
Say it with me – M-O-U-S-E! Or, um …five.
Okay, enjoy your weekend.
30 Comments
Leave a Commentc.db.sn
whats an ofus?
May 15, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
Birds Use Stars
ofus: http://www.ofusidi.com/estore/home.php
Peter is saying that Deadmau5 is an electronics dealer website or something.
May 15, 2009 @ 6:55 pm
Alex
Oh my God! He really looks like a dead mouse.. :D
May 16, 2009 @ 4:36 am
dajebus
I have much love and respect for Deadmau5. He is doing all his stuff live. No tracktor BS. A lot of fun to watch!
AND he also has on of the best sounding records you will ever hear. Production wise. His album just sounds so “thick”. It has depth that a lot of dance records are missing.
It thunks and shimmers in all the right places.
AND he is a dork.
How can you not love this guy?
May 16, 2009 @ 5:49 am
Mudo
…
“Are you a Dj?”
“No, there is no disc, no jockey”
“What tools do you use?”
Controllerist?
and if you use any other “tool” like… a turntable?
mmmm
“Tooltablist” (or free creative humans using tools for perform)
Just my 2cents.
…
May 16, 2009 @ 7:37 am
Birds Use Stars
technically he has a hard disk. hard disk jockey?
oh I know!
Misc-Jockey!
May 16, 2009 @ 5:42 pm
Maus Hater
I get tired of his endless dribble. He is boring and wimpy. Kanye West and him should get together and share Massive Ego moments together.
May 17, 2009 @ 7:10 am
Alex
@Maus Hater: +1
May 17, 2009 @ 11:09 am
matt
yeah, damn him and his success
May 17, 2009 @ 11:17 am
gmk
In an October 2008 interview with the Irish Daily Star Deadmau5 was quoted as follows:
“It puts me to fucking sleep to be quite honest, I don’t really see the technical merit in playing two songs at the same speed together and it bores me to fucking tears and hopefully with all due respect to the DJ type that will fucking go the way of the dinosaur id like them to dis-a-fucking-pear. It’s so middle man, they’re like fucking lawyers. You need them, but they’re fucking cunts. God bless them they’re my number one customer right so I’m not gonna go dis every fucking DJ. But to say you become this massive up on a podium performer by playing other peoples productions at the same speed as someone else’s productions and fading between the two of them, I don’t get it.”
DJmag.com Top 100 DJs Poll
2008 Highest new entry, voted 11th best DJ.
May 17, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
Holotropik
LOL!
May 17, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
Holotropik
Its one thing to have this narrow attitude towards a particular technique of music performance…but…why not do it all? Play totally live sometimes and then use something like Traktor to play your own music in a different way…mixed in with some other tracks etc…
May 17, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
Mudo
…
He “only” uses a Hard disc?
Don’t be haters, future is integration not separation.
…
May 18, 2009 @ 1:25 am
JonBro
+1 to IRC handle
+1 to writing python scripts after getting trained as a classical musician.
what chans is he hanging out in, that is what I need to know.
May 18, 2009 @ 5:46 am
nkem
@JonBro,
I know it’s fashionable to say “I have classical training,” but his sounds like he was in band or orchestra in junior high. At what point do you draw the line of “classical training.” You can read music & play some kind of instrument – big whoop.
May 18, 2009 @ 11:40 am
Peter Kirn
I actually have quite a lot of classical training, but I think I sometimes introduce it as a sort of apology! ;)
May 18, 2009 @ 12:30 pm
Peter Kirn
If it’s fashionable to have classical training, I’m going to have to start mentioning it more. ;)
May 18, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
Tim
Also +1 @ Maus Hater and just because someone doesn’t use traditional dj equipment it doesn’t mean they are not a dj.
I think anyone mixing songs and not significantly modifying them live is still a dj. If you’re mangling things beyond recognition then you are a performer or artist.
May 18, 2009 @ 1:30 pm
Peter Kirn
“mangling things beyond recognition” is definitely a new way of defining artistic talent, but okay. ;)
(sorry, couldn’t resist…)
May 18, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
Birds Use Stars
I’d just like to be counted as a Maus defender here. Drop the hate!
May 18, 2009 @ 9:36 pm
Birds Use Stars
Also: he’s not boring, he’s Canadian
May 18, 2009 @ 9:39 pm
mikymousehater
another +1 Maus Hater
May 19, 2009 @ 2:40 am
Mudo
…
For me Maus or not Maus… it’s not the question…
Leave Hate and enjoy “perform”!
I manage two songs and recreate an so on… but I’m not a dj (I use turntables sometimes, live sometimes, my sampler sometimes…)
I’m a free creative human using tools!
Not all my tools have disc…
media jockey?
GRRRR stoooop!
xD
Free Creative Human performing (if you like tags call me Tooltablist)
…
May 19, 2009 @ 7:19 am
salamanderanagram
“You can read music & play some kind of instrument – big whoop.”
as a classically trained musician there is a lot more to it than that, btw… maybe not deadmau5, but when i hear someone say they have classical training, that means a lot more to me than “i can play an instrument.” pretty much everybody can play at least one instrument decently well if they try for a few weeks…
May 19, 2009 @ 9:58 am
ormauratto
forget training, experiment and do something. coming onto a forum just to add some retort is a fucking waste of time get on with it and do something. oh wait maybe i should follow my own advice. haha.
May 20, 2009 @ 7:16 pm
kipplekeeper
+1 maus hater & tim.
@ dajebus: it’s easy. deadmau5 is a fucking prick. and his ego is so big, it’s just hilarious that he’s dissing DJs when his performances are really boring and are just about watching a dude in a giant mouse helmet. he should worry less about making himself sound like he’s a good performer in interviews and actually work on being a good performer.
May 22, 2009 @ 6:12 am
EKS Otus DJ Controller
[...] out to an application such as Ableton, Serato or Traktor Pro, are you still a DJ? As the famous Deadmau5 put it, there are no Discs and I you dont really Jockey. So then what is the new name of this once [...]
June 24, 2009 @ 7:41 am
andy
wtf deadmau5 is a musician not a dj.
he everything peform on the stage
December 30, 2009 @ 11:46 pm
Pierfrank
he is the best of this planet…
February 18, 2010 @ 4:58 am
Ru55k13
personally, i enjoy his music. he has a right to be a dick; he makes hot fire. im about the music more than the “dj”.
March 14, 2010 @ 4:48 pm
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