deadmau5 Covers VIBE's Feb/Mar 2013 Issue!

The Masked Avenger

Electronic spinner and production mastermind deadmau5 lords more than a quarter of a million party disciples at shows. Yet when the mau5 head comes off, Joel Zimmerman wants to save EDM (except never call it that in front of him) from becoming a mainstream monster with no soul. As he prepares for his headlining gig at Ultra in March, the antihero reveals why he’s palatable dance music’s harsh protector

By Sarah Polonsky | Photographs by Kenneth Cappello

CLICK THE ARROWS ABOVE TO READ THE FULL STORY

deadmau5 IS VANISHING in a fog of cigarette smoke on a sunny day in Los Angeles. He’s just wrapped a cover shoot for this magazine, and has removed his signature mau5head helmet—which resembles a bloated, bug-eyed Mickey Mouse—to take a few solitary pulls beneath palm trees. Over the next hour he’ll puff no less than 10 bones. Colorful splashes of body ink, which plaster him from head to toe, occasionally peek from the cloudy haze ensuring the notorious potty mouth is still there.

deadmau5 (pronounced “dead mouse”), born Joel Zimmerman, stumbled on his moniker the day he pried open his computer to swap out a video card and found a rodent resting in peace within. But he’s made his name by crafting high-BPM melodies and spinning massive concerts and festivals. Today, he’s boasting about his yet-to-be-revealed new live setup. “It will be a game changer,” the pale skin 32-year-old insists from within the plumes, one day before announcing that in March he’ll be headlining two sets during the 15-year anniversary of Miami’s acclaimed electronic dance fiesta Ultra Music Festival.

For now he only grumbles. “I’m tired of talking about Ultra. It’s the same thing every fucking year. And so is Lollapalooza.” Festival gigs have become auxiliary to Zimmerman’s list of triumphs. The five-time Grammy nominee—including one for 2012’s >album title goes here<—is also performing at ’palooza’s inaugural Chilean and Brazilian installments. His aforementioned latest LP packs well-oiled tunes crossing the spectrum of sound, complete with cameos by genre-varied artists ranging from Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance) to Cypress Hill.

deadmau5’s rise to fame began over a decade ago in Toronto, when the Canadian producer released an electronic dance music ditty for the first time. It was meant to be a joke, a parody proving the genre so simplistic that anyone can make a hit record. Ever since that first trick-track, Zimmerman has been chuckling all the way to the bank teller. One thing is clear: No amount of smoke or smack-talk will be fading out this mau5 anytime soon.

VIBE: This is the first time you’re talking to VIBE…
deadmau5: So, let’s talk about bitches, hoes, fucking bling and Crystal.

Or Cypress Hill’s inclusion on your new album?
That’s probably what did it, isn’t it? Is this what this is all about?

No. Just wondering, why them? You’ve said in the past that every artist approaches you to collaborate.
I thought it was cool. I like fucking hip-hop and the hands-on technological stuff. It was an exercise to see if I could do a hip-hoppy track, and they just so happened to be there, and they’re nice guys. I was like, “Do you guys want to rap on this?” They took it home, came back and gave me the vocal.

Any other rappers you really want to work with?

Any other rappers you really want to work with?
Whoever is cool. And I don’t mean cool as in cool with everyone else, just whoever is a chill dude and doesn’t have his fucking grill on too tight. I’ve been approached by a few dudes—who shall not be named—that want a piece of the dance market real bad. They’re like, “Yo! Hey, I love your beats!” It’s like going up to fucking [Salvador] Dali and saying, “Hey dog, I love your melting clocks, and shit.” It’s like, Wow, you don’t fucking get it, do you?

Who would you work with?
De La Soul, the good shit. And I don’t mean the best produced, but the shit that’s thoughtful and artistic. I’ve seen so many hip-hop acts where there are 12 of them on the stage. What are you all doing? It reminds me of Swedish House fucking Mafia. There’s three of you and one fucking CD with the track on it. It’s all show pony shit.

What do you think of the three members of Swedish House Mafia as individuals?
They’re great people. I always feel bad, but I think they get it when I say shit like that. So I can hang with Steve [Angello], [Sebastian] Ingrosso and Axwell. They’re all really cool dudes, and we have good times. When I start gacking on about what they do or their stage thing, they understand.

So you really proposed to Kat Von D via Twitter? You didn’t get down on a knee?
I got on my fucking E-knee and proposed. We met on Twitter, so it was kind of fitting. It wasn’t just me being a fucking weirdo. She said yes, so who cares.

What is it that made you want to spend the rest of your life with her?
She’s fucking awesome. She’s rad. We both come from similar backgrounds in the arts. It’s good to be able to bounce off someone creatively. She loves me to death, and I love her to death. It’s just a good merging of two empires. [Better] than either of us carrying someone’s fucking dead-ass weight.

You’ve said so many times that you can’t make good art when you’re happy.
I think so. In the past, yeah.

Is that still true now that you’re in love and happy?
Nah, I’m chucking along. I’m still doing my own thing. I’m not like, “Oh, fuck it. I’m throwing it all away for a married life.” Things will change for sure. I’m fine.

Will your new live set be ready for Ultra?

Will your new live set be ready for Ultra?
Don’t fucking know. Ultra’s weird. I mean every time I say something about fucking Ultra, that fucking dude calls us up, fucking bitches us out—“Argh, I’m going to sue you.” Whatever man. I’m tired of talking about Ultra, even if I had something good to say—Ultra is the same thing every fucking year. And so is Lollapalooza. I haven’t really noticed a change, and if they have changed then maybe I have my head too far up my own ass. When is it going to be played out?

What are you going to do in order to not play yourself out?
For me, it has something to do with the new tour and the kind of elements we’re going to introduce that aren’t traditional by any fucking means. And maybe start something or kick off, not like a fucking revolution or movement. Traditionally, I don’t think you’re ever going to escape the fact that you’re going to have X amount of people in a fucking building watching you.

Do you ever need advice? Who do you call on?
If I’m having problems with my label, I can always talk to Tommy Lee, who’s been sued more times than anyone I know. It makes my life not feel so fucking bad. He’s been through the whole spectrum of bullshit, so he’s always got a good ear for my daily dramas.

You’ve got photos all over the Web with people like Skrillex. Are you friends with any producers or DJs?
More than everyone would think. I’m perceived to be this massive fucking loner in the world of electronic music, but I have a lot of guys to just hang and do shit with. The problem with the genre is that for the longest time it couldn’t survive without people fucking being friends, and collaborating because it was the only way to keep the thing sustained. But now it’s more commercial than fuck. We can all do our own thing now, but there’s still a lot of hangers-on to the whole fucking EDM community. Oh God, I hate that fucking word.

Any chance you’ll get over hating the term “EDM”?
Yeah, I just renamed it. I called it “Event Driven Marketing.”

How do you feel about all the new emerging DJs that are having a moment right now?

How do you feel about all the new emerging DJs that are having a moment right now?
It’s easy to show up with that one hit, but the problem is not stagnating in a pile of your own fucking shit. That’s something I’m always aware of when starting a new project. If you’re not being diverse, people will get bored. I like Avicii, he’s a real nice kid, but Avicii has got this “Le7els” thing, and I almost feel bad for him. It’s probably not even his fault. He did the track, and it was all right—it was catchy—but I, dead-fucking-mau5, cannot name another Avicii track. I shit you not. I can’t.

He’s also had “Fade Into Darkness” and “Silhouettes.”
I don’t know if it’s him, because from barely knowing the guy on a “hey bro, what’s up?” level, I really didn’t take away that he was running the show. It was more his management, and it was like, “We’re going to release this track with 40 different remixes and 20 different languages.” Man, I just feel bad. Dude, you just got the wrong fucking management.

Did you tell him that?
No, I should have. Something funny happened at Coachella with his manager and a guy on my label, Feed Me (a producer named Jon Gooch), who is such a cool dude. It was really funny ’cause I’ve never seen Jon riled up; he’s such a nice guy. Jon’s fucking awesome, but he got really gnarly. There were some comments going back and forth on the stage. I can’t remember what started it, but remember what ended it. Man, if my manager ever got involved like that with another artist, I wouldn’t have a fucking manager. Dude, I would break his fucking leg. I’d do five years, and then not have a manager over something like that. So it just kind of says this kid’s got the shittiest management right now.

If you could give advice to the new bedroom producers right now, and show you’re not an asshole, what would it be?
I’m not an asshole. The reason why I am looked at as an asshole is because I just don’t give a fuck about pretty much anything. I tell it the way it is, sometimes more often than I should, and that is detrimental. It’s like poking at this whole DJ [button-pushing] thing. I’m calling myself out more than anyone. I’m guilty of doing this just because of the nature of the technical aspect of putting on a show. A lot of people think that I am creating music on the fly, when I’m literally playing all the versions that you get on the album. I’ve gone through life, walked down the fucking street, played a show, met someone backstage, and never once had someone come up to me and say, “You suck,” or “You’re a disgrace.” Not once.

No one has ever said, “Your set was weak tonight”?
At me? On Twitter, all the fucking time.

What about to your face? Would you prefer that or would you punch them out?

What about to your face? Would you prefer that or would you punch them out?
No. I would pull the Danzig and fucking knock your shit out. Even if I felt like I was just having a bad fucking day and I didn’t really give it my all for that ticket price. A lot more often people will say, “You fucking killed it, I had a great time.” I shit you not, like at these really gnarly gigs, and maybe my management who are paid to lick my nut sack and fans that aren’t paid to lick my nut sack. Then I have to put aside that I just had a shit day and say, “Wow, well you know what? Faked it, didn’t fake it, I fucking pulled off a shit show.” Hey, I made this kid’s day. I did fine and that’s all right.

You still didn’t answer, do you have advice for the young budding DJ?
I have no advice for the fucking kid that wants to play everyone else’s music and be famous for it.

Another mask wearer, DJ Bl3nd, is also in this issue of VIBE. He said, “I like deadmau5 music.” But you once said he’s not successful and, “Don’t compare me to him.” Bl3nd claimed your words motivated him and said, “Negative will never take me down… I learned from it.”
There was a chick in my life once that fucking told me, “You’re not Tiësto.” She actually said that! A year later I wrote her back and said, “You’re right, I’m not Tiësto, I’m fucking deadmau5! Suck it.” It was awesome, it felt so good. Can we get kettle and pot on the line? If I’m going to size this guy up now for wearing a fucking mask and for having a number in his name, good for him that maybe he’ll take that constructively. To me, he’s like a comedian that laughs at his own jokes. You just feel bad, but you can turn that around because I don’t know what the fucking kid looks like. Everyone knows what I fucking look like.

Are you friends with Tiësto?
Sure. I’ve never been a dick to him, he’s never been a dick to me. I’ve heard about how he was a dick to this other guy, and I hear all these stories about how I’m a dick to everyone else. When we get together it’s just like, “How’s life?” We talk about music and shit.

In an MTV interview, you thanked David Guetta for paving the way…
Yeah, well he did.

But in Rolling Stone, you said all Guetta needs is two iPods and the wave.
Well it’s true. I can do that, too—and I have [laughs]. The Grammy show, what? We all did that live? Fuck no, man. Look at the way that it’s done. All those shots, the timing, when the thing starts and exactly when it ends has been produced fucking eight months ago. The whole structure, the whole show is produced.

What about the mau5 heads? How do you continually evolve the design?
I work closely with the guys over at the Jim Henson Creature Lab and they do the fabrication. But I’m in Burbank at their creature lab when it comes to “oh, we have to do this head for this thing” or if I have to do this Halloween thing. The Halloween one was my favorite project of them all, and it sucks that it’s worn out.

Well, Halloween happens every year.
Yeah, but I can’t wear the same thing every year. Now it’s just a trophy and I can’t wear it because I think Halloween is the exception to the parody rule in a performance.

If you were to produce a new stage show with deadmau5 and a rapper right now, who would it be?

If you were to produce a new stage show with deadmau5 and a rapper right now, who would it be?
Anyone other than fucking Kanye. I fucking hate him. He’s just trying too hard. But the problem is he’s succeeding at it. It’s like, “Oh, I’m so hate-able.” And everyone is like, “Yeah, I hate him.” Ah fuck, he wins!

That’s you! You’re the white Kanye.
Not really, because I’m not trying. I mean it.

Okay, not Kanye, but who? What about your pal Tommy Lee?
Tommy’s rap… That was horrible. Don’t worry world, I still rag on him for that shit. The cornrows. I show him a photo every six months and say, “See what you fucking did?” He’s really sorry, trust me. He’s back to being Tommy now.

No more cornrows?
No more cornrows.

Is there somebody paving the way in the EDM like a Jay-Z? He evolved from rapper to businessman and made careers for everybody else.
He owns half my fucking parent management company. It’s in my best interest to not disagree with any of that. But as a businessman, yeah, he’s made some pretty fucking smart-ass moves. He’s done some big things, and I kind of look at him more as an entity of a ball mover as opposed to a ball washer.

Who’s doing that in EDM?
Who’s ball washing? I mean, who’s ball moving? It depends on which direction. There are kids like Skrillex, he’s a good example of making a movement, because he took this brostep thing and really commercialized it. And I’m not saying that’s bad, it’s great in a certain aspect. You got to be really careful with those mill markets, because they’ll turn on you in a fucking second. It’s like when my album came out, I actually became a fan of Mumford & Sons—not their music, I fucking hate it, it’s boring folk shit—but man does America like non-offensive Christian music. Not that I’m discrediting them as musicians, because when I talk about groups, I don’t talk about their ability to do something. I talk about their whole fucking bit with the marketing. I’m very marketing oriented. I wear my fucking logo—you cannot say I’m not marketing oriented.

What do you think about what’s happening in dance music right now?

What do you think about what’s happening in dance music right now?
What’s happening in dance music now is what’s happened to hip-hop. Grandmaster Flash and fucking all that and spoken word, shooting this dude you hate and fucking this hoe. There are these other guys that are like, “Let’s take this 808 and fucking 606 and then fucking red line it and just make it an engineering embarrassment…” and that’s what happened with dance music. I fucking hate dance music.

So, you don’t make dance music?
I make music that you can dance to, but when someone says the word dance music I think of Aqua. “Barbie Girl.” Dance music to me is just like that, but you can say my dance music is shit, too, because people need to classify things for whatever.

Can you classify yourself?
I could—palatable fucking dance music.

So you are palatable Aqua.
Right, and if you follow my work you can always have the argument, “No, because he does this other stuff that’s not dubstep and not even dance music,” and I don’t want to be part of that argument. I got shit to do. I don’t want to sit on my fucking balls and try to explain to the world what someone else is doing. If I have to explain anything, it’s nothing.