Whatever you might expect of a guy who performs in a giant mouse head, it probably isn't Joel Zimmerman, an opinionated and diversely talented producer who's been storming dance music charts for the past two years. Going by the stage name Deadmau5 (pronounced 'dead mouse', after a mouse that met its end inside his desktop PC), Zimmerman produces tracks that take elements from trance, progressive, electro and house, and can go from emotional arpeggios to hard, driving beats. 'I'm just making music I like,' says the Niagara Falls, Ontario native. At 28, Zimmerman seems unfazed by the popularity he's garnered so quickly. Since his debut recording in 2005, he's been awarded a Juno (Canada's equivalent of the Grammy award) last year for best dance recording and was nominated for two more in the same category this year. Last May, Deadmau5 became dance music portal Beatport's most-downloaded artist ever, with 30,000 downloads for his tracks Not Exactly, Faxing Berlin, and Ghosts N Stuff. Treading between trance and progressive, the tracks build on precise techno beats with escalating melodic chords designed to tug emotions, and have more than a hint of floor-filling house. He says he has 'no idea' what people like about his music. 'I just make music that I feel is really good and solid, and work on my production skills and sound. If people buy it, that's great.' Zimmerman is a one-time Web programmer who moved into making music in his early 20s when Faxing Berlin ended up in the hands of BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong. Now, Zimmerman runs his own label, Mau5trap Recordings, and has a side music project, WTF?, with ex-Motley Crue member Tommy Lee, Steve Duda and DJ Aero. So surely now he must know he's made it? 'That's a difficult question. How do you know when you have made it?' he says. 'I work hard to make the best music and put on the best show.' Of course, some might focus on how Beatport named him the most relevant, influential and forward-thinking producer at its inaugural dance music awards. Even so, he's not immersed in dance music circles. Zimmerman says he had no idea who Tong was when he played his track, and you won't find him at any of the clubs he packs out. 'I don't have a life outside of work,' he says. He's one of the few producers who masters his own tracks, and is known for his sound engineering skills as much as his production work . 'I like to think my music doesn't need mastering after it comes out of the studio,' he says. 'I am a perfectionist.' Zimmerman's shows as Deadmau5 are super-technical, live affairs where he cuts and mixes tracks with impressive alacrity. 'I've never been a DJ,' he says. Instead, his performances are done from a laptop on which he chops up prerecorded loops and remixes them live. (He also starts each set by arriving on stage wearing a giant mouse head - sorry, mau5head - costume.) 'Besides produce? I'd probably be a Web designer/programmer,' he says. 'In some capacity, yes, I may still do it. I'm looking for new ways to make music, programs and software.' So what's up this year for one of dance music's fastest rising artists? 'You can expect a very special new mau5head,' he says. Deadmau5 Asian Tour 2009, tomorrow, 11pm, Q97, B/F California Tower, Lan Kwai Fong, HK$300, tel: 6859 8985
