Fatboy Slim On The Art Of Collecting

Deep down he's a hoarder...

Fatboy Slim has been lucky enough to travel the globe a hundred times over.

At heart, though, he's a home body, seeking out a place to horde his possessions, whether that's records or trinkets or something a little more unusual.

Along the way, he's amassed what is, in essence, a collection of collections – large amounts of debris from his DJ life, each one with a memory.

"There’s one important rule about collecting. It’s not a collection until it’s actually on show!" he comments. "My collecting started with records but I soon moved onto everything from African masks (all above the fireplace) to plastic lobsters, smileys and pop art."

"Most of these things came from my DJ travels: I don’t sit at home on Ebay. Lockdown is an ideal time for consolidating, classification, display arrangement and perhaps cleaning!"

So, with self-isolation looming for the nation, Fatboy Slim is your guide to collecting…

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Records…

“You could arguably start with records because that was the start of everything for me career-wise, although I didn’t intend to be a DJ originally, I wanted to be a musician but I would get invited to people’s parties to play because I had the music. This was around 1978. I was a vinyl junkie.”

Pop Art…

“In terms of purchases, Keith was my first and that came from Malcolm McLaren, because of the ‘Duck Rock’ album. During my first ever trip to America, they were selling prints so I bought three or four and that’s what got me turned on to his work. But it always came through music. And pop art is great for me because I’m colour-blind and Rothko is lost on a colour-blind person! I seem to remember that they were 500 bucks for the four, when he was still alive and before they were crazy money.”

Backstage Passes and Laminates…

“I have a wristband or a laminate or a sticker from every single show I’ve ever done. The laminates are all over the racks in the studio but the wristbands I am trying to make art of our because you can put them in a frame, so the plan is to have a series of frames.”

African Heads…

“A lot of these are notches on my bedpost, so to speak. The first time I went to Africa was with Beats International around 1990 and we went to Kenya, Zambia and Botswana. I have about 20 of them and they’re on the mantelpiece!”

Stupid Rave Hats…

“These are quite recent, a phenomena of heavily beaded rave and marching band hats. This started when I realized I had been given three by three different people although the majority of the collection is from a girl called Amy. Whenever I play Nottingham or London, she turns up backstage and gives me another and some even have lights on! Then there’s another girl called Marching Powder who makes marching band hats…”

Smileys…

“My most passionate collection! Some are things I’ve saved whereas with these I am a philatelist, to the extent that I would show it as an exhibit. It got condensed from various girlfriends and wives who insisted that the whole house wasn’t covered, unlike the old house. Zoe [Ball] decreed that it had to be downsized and so they were crammed into a shelving unit. It makes for a much more impressive collection. The importance thing is the way they are displayed. Having them in a box is no good, they need to be on show.”

Hawaiian Shirts…

“As I chat to you I’m in my bedroom looking at Hawaiian shirts, which are fairly relevant to my career, although I am not obsessive, they’re my work uniform. But I am not precious about them, I would give one of these away from time to time.”

Adidas Superstars…

“I have eight pairs of these but there’s a finite amount to how many can have. It’s much more grounded and I do wear them all.” 9. Brighton and Hove Albion Shirts “I have 14 of those. Do they do all get worn? It’s kind of a library and I have various sizes from a baby grow upwards for my children and they do get borrowed. Nelly likes to come to football – well, one of my children had to follow! We’re in the premiership so its easier to say that you follow! Woody isn’t a fan. He totally rebelled. “

Redundant Technology… 

“And finally, a fledgling but ongoing collection. I don’t have a Betamax player but I do have a VHS, a double cassette player, a portable TV, a 303, a DAT player, a draw full of old Walkmans, every mobile phone I’ve ever had and a dictaphone. As they get older, they become more sexy! A portable DVD player, now that’s a sexy piece of kit. The design of them is something special and if you have space and time, you keep them all! Also, its quite good with things like a DAT player because you can access old discs with parts for old tunes.”

“Naturally, I have all my cassette mix tapes, a whole drawer full of them. I am a hoarder. And a lover of old vintage things. It will sit there for 20 years and in 20 years they will be 20 times more interesting.”

And I just found the plastic lobster collection…”

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Fatboy Slim features in Episode 1 of A Little Moore Conversation, a new podcast pairing music icons with long-time friends and collaborators, out now on iTunes and Spotify.

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