Call him a technical genius. Call him a dance music phenomenon. Call him a trance/house fusion pioneer. But if you get tickets for deadmau5 and get to meet the man himself, don’t call him a DJ. He’s so much more than that.
Hailing from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Joel Zimmerman was fanatical about computers and music at an early age and was already creating ‘chip tunes’ as a teenager. Fanatical about advancing technology he embraced the advent of digital music technology, balancing a career as a web-designer and software engineer with his pioneering forays into the creation of a new genre of dance music.
The chance discovery of a dead mouse in his computer led Zimmerman to name his web design company Deadmau5, subsequently adopting this as his performing name too. Following the release of his debut album Get Scraped in 2006, Deadmau5’s big break came when his seminal mix ‘Faxing Berlin’ found the attention of influential dance DJ Pete Tong and was played on Radio One in the UK. It became one of the biggest tracks of 2007.
Adopting his trademark stage persona – which features an oversized grinning mouse mask – has made Deadmau5 instantly recogniseable and an iconic figure in the dance music scene. Multiple collaborations, another four innovative studio albums, a host of awards including a prestigious Grammy and a string of sell-out tours have followed, cementing Deadmau5’s reputation as one of the foremost exponents of progressive electronic dance music around today. But remember, he’s not a DJ.