Things You Didn’t Know About Deadmau5
Joel Zimmerman, known by his stage name Deadmau5, has gained a reputation of an arrogant, albeit loveable, star. As he tours India this week, here are some stories from the EDM superstar’s online and offline (read road trips) timelines.
Deadmau5. Photo: EMI Music
— Zimmerman recounted a story to friends of how he’d found a dead mouse in his computer. Not long after, he became known as that ”˜dead mouse guy’. Choosing to adopt the name when forming his online identity and due to the unavailability of the username deadmouse, the internet denizen chose to stylize his name with mau5 based on gaming jargon.
— Incorrigibly outspoken and easily angered, he relishes word wars and has (so far) publicly and unapologetically slammed everyone from Swedish House Mafia, Rusko, Afrojack, Kanye West, Lady Gaga to even Madonna ”“ with the list growing continually.
[@deadmau5: Dear @justinbieber, would you please grow the fuck up already? In the meantime, put a shirt on, and stay away from nightclubs]
— His cat, who he calls Professor Meowingtons Phd, has an impressive online following as well with a presence on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. The borderline overweight, black and white feline is the subject of Deadmau5 content such as the compilation album Meowingtons Hax Tour Trax and memorabilia like the Meowingtons headphones.
— A song by Deadmau5Â called “The Veldt” that references a story by author Ray Bradbury, and features guest vocals by producer Chris James. After a 22-hour live streaming session in 2012, Â James submitted the vocals to Zimmerman via a tweet. Impressed by the rendition, he announced that the official release would include James’ voice. The track eventually made it to ROLLING STONE’s 50 best songs in 2012.
— Zimmerman recently customized his Ferrari 458 Spider with a Nyan Cat wrap which incited mixed reactions from fans of Deadmau5, Nyan Cat and the Italian car. The meme, a cat with the body of a pop tart and a trail of rainbows, is a dated digital phenomenon and is another manifestation of his internet addiction.
— The music video for his track “Professional Griefers”, which features vocalist Gerard Way of emo, punk band My Chemical Romance fame, is to date the most expensive EDM music video ever made. It was reported that 2,000 fans showed up for the shoot without knowing what the final output would be.
— After tweeting that he had lost his handheld game console Playstation Vita while traveling, the management of Sony was on the phone to the cab company for more than three hours trying to find it. It turns out the unit, an unreleased demo that was given to Zimmerman, was never missing and the DJ was just curious to see how much they would “freak out”.
— He has a series on his Youtube channel called Coffee Run where he picks up coffee from Tim Horton’s and spends some time interviewing celebrities such as Zedd, Pharell, Tommy Lee and Russel Peters. Filled with Zimmerman’s backhand humor, these videos might be some of the few documented interactions where the artist doesn’t hate on absolutely everyone.
— But for all his misgivings, Zimmerman does love his fans. When the residents of New City Gas in Montreal complained about the price of tickets in 2013, a month ahead of the show, Deadmau5 immediately responded saying that he hadn’t known what was being charged. A tweet to the venue and a few hours later, he had announced that ticket prices for the show in January 2014 had be halved and he had added an extra an extra show to his tour.
Deadmau5 will perform in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi at the Sunrburn Arena events. Tickets are priced between Rs. 3000 and Rs. 6000 and available on bookmyshow.com
