Yesterday [30 Nov '11] we headed to St Yves in Camps Bay for South Africa’s first glimpse of the iconic Deadmau5, greeted at the door by hostesses rocking evening wear and tight smiles in the middle of the afternoon.

Sponsored by Olmeca tequila we were offered an option of bottled water and one tequila sunrise if you wanted. A far cry from the ‘crazy party’ image Olmeca has associated themselves with. This press conference had none of that glitzy, party friendly loosening up pretense us journos have become accustomed to.

With all the country’s major and minor league media in attendance we sat down for a little back and forth with Shaun Duvet and Joel Zimmerman (Aka Deadmau5). Whether for the lack of vibe, or general lack of interest or the restricted drink rationing (we were told to buy our own drinks at R20 a shot), the talk took on a strained fashion with awkward silences in between the odd question being asked. So much so that Deadmau5 himself felt obliged to point it out. To fill this gap Duvet and Joel chatted about well… themselves and we all got to listen in, privy to what seemed to be insider info… or something like that. Somewhere in the middle of this Joel grabbed the tequila bottled in true ‘artist-being-sponsored fashion’ and gave it a quick swig from the bottle. Awesome, we always love a little bit of personal show-boating. We also got to hear that he and Paris Hilton are no longer talking, how much he misses his cat and how far along his home renovations are coming.

Fortunately we did manage to get a few decent answers to some of our questions; here is what was asked and how he answered.

Were you surprised that you had so many SA fans?

Yes! I’d never seen so much anticipation for a tour before. The day I got to announce the tour details my Twitter and Facebook fans and followers increased rapidly and still is.

This is your first visit to our country, what made you decide to come finally?

I have friends who have been and everyone has just been telling me that it’s crazy and you gotta go. Now I’m here and this is the first time I tour a country and actually do a semi-formal press conference. It’s really exciting that I have such a big fan base here.

If you were a BPM (Beats Per Minute), what would you be?

[Laughs] 20 BPM, I’m slow.

How do you go about selecting artists for your Record Label, Mau5Trap?

Every artist I have ever signed has been a weird chance happening. I heard some weird warped stuff a few years ago from this young guy named Sonny. It was some crazy out there music and I thought about it and knew that because there wasn’t a market for this yet, I would be taking a chance on this, but I did release it anyway and it was a success. I like to be a conduit for other producers with my label who are talented and working hard and who need that push. I’m not interested in some young kid who doesn’t really want to be a producer, who did one track, put it on a CD and now hopes to get famous from it.

Can we expect a trip down memory lane with some of your earlier 2007 stuff in your sets on this tour?

Yeah for sure. I’ve got some old classics that the die hard fans would love to hear!

What are the elements that can distinguish a set for you while playing from good to great?

Nothing is really on the spot or spontaneous. It is all pre-empted and planned, the surprise and the ideas happen when I’m prepping it before I play. But while I’m playing it’s all very structured, we even have people with placards and timers on everything we doing because it’s a big production.

When the dust has settled and the party is over, how do you measure the success of the performance?

The glow sticks and how much shit is left on the floor afterwards! The messier the floor is the better I feel and just know it was rocking. Not the big glow sticks though that people throw around and damages the rig and stuff, but the small ones are great. Fans throw them at me and I can feel it on the mau5 head and it goes ‘ting-ting’ I love it. So bring your glow sticks!

Catch him tonight in Cape Town at the CTICC, 2 Dec in Durban at The Wavehouse then finally in Joburg on 3 Dec at H2O.

WORDS: Mary Honeychild