Norman Cook Digs Deep in the Crates: Behind Fatboy Slim's Brighton Port Authority

What was the David Byrne's session like?
Well I've worked with David for about two years writing a musical ... about the life of Imelda Marcos. We wrote 22 songs together and one day I said, "Can we do a song that isn't about Imelda Fucking Marcos?" The rest of them were narratives about her life. DB had really researched everything about Imelda and been to the Philippines ... The story is not about the shoes. We had a rule that we didn't mention the shoes.

When is the musical due?
Talk to D.B. about that. My job is writing/arranging, which I finished about a year and half ago. But he's still trying to put this stage show together and get the right vocalist to sing it. I was trying get him to sing it, but he said, "I can't be Imelda Marcos." Fuck it, you've worn the big suits, I've seen you do stranger things than that!

Were David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal ever in the same room together for BPA track "Toe Jam"?
No, no! We finished it and Dizzee heard it. I bumped into him at a photo session and he went, "I wanna be on that record. It's gonna be a hit and I wanna be on it. Find me 16 bars and put me on it." So we kind of glued him onto it. He's from a rough part of South London, and if I hadn't he probably would have had his mates come 'round and kneecap me.

Were you there for the taping of the "Toe Jam" naked-party video?
Didn't you see my cameo? Three quarters of the way through, you'll notice someone with a very, very, large? Whoever pays for the video gets the biggest schlong. I was the only one who actually did it naked! The rest of them had those flesh thong things on. I thought I'd freak them out. You can actually see them laughing. Fuck it! Watch this swing 'round!

So, where have you been the last four years?
I've been doing a huge amount of really big parties. We've got this beach party thing. We're not allowed to do it in America, but we've done it pretty much everywhere in the world. We did 360,000 in Rio on the beach. I've got like six jobs, I can really only do one at a time. I'm a DJ, a producer, a remixer, an artist, a record company owner, a restaurant owner. I can only focus on one at a time.