Canadian electronic kingpin deadmau5 (aka Joel Zimmerman) has made a name for himself both with his crowd-moving, stadium-approved club jams, and for his ability to shoot his mouth off. Following his anti-Madonna rant a few months back, the musician recently spoke with Rolling Stone to slag the EDM live circuit, dubbing his contemporaries "button-pushers getting paid half a million." While deadmau5 targeted David Guetta, Skrillex and himself, UK electronic pioneer A Guy Called Gerald has hit back at the rant, calling out the mouse-eared DJ as the real problem.
A Guy Called Gerald took to his blog yesterday (June 28) to chew out the mouse, dubbing Zimmerman an opportunist that's ruined the scene guys like Gerald have built up over the years.
The statement reads:
I know who you are. You are some record company or failed journalist asshole left over from the last century who is jealous of the way electronic music is working in this brave fast new century. The only button you and people like you are interested in pushing is a nuke for the Palestinians. You come into our system that we have nurtured for the last 25 years, trick hardworking people into giving you their money, con honest promoters, take large sums of money out of the system and then spit back into our faces that YOU are tricking everyone.
A major point of contention is deadmau5's claim that EDM is too easy, as outlined in the Rolling Stone interview, and in a recent blog post where Zimmerman breaks down exactly how DJ performances aren't about talent so much as they are memorizing how a few computer programs function.
"I think given about 1 hour of instruction, anyone with minimal knowledge of ableton and music tech in general could DO what I'm doing at a deadmau5 concert," Zimmerman wrote in the latter.
A Guy Called Gerald countered, "I agree there are loads of people like you who do fake it. It is easy with the software you are using. Don't worry we are going to find ways of stopping you. You greedy rat head fuck."
UPDATE: In response to Gerald's letter, deadmau5 has written the following on his Tumblr: "i dont give a fuck. esp with the anti-sematic statement about 'nuking palestine' ??? what an ignorant fuck. im not going to even give him the time of day. waste of time. let him go back to being no longer relevant."
A Guy Called Gerald took to his blog yesterday (June 28) to chew out the mouse, dubbing Zimmerman an opportunist that's ruined the scene guys like Gerald have built up over the years.
The statement reads:
I know who you are. You are some record company or failed journalist asshole left over from the last century who is jealous of the way electronic music is working in this brave fast new century. The only button you and people like you are interested in pushing is a nuke for the Palestinians. You come into our system that we have nurtured for the last 25 years, trick hardworking people into giving you their money, con honest promoters, take large sums of money out of the system and then spit back into our faces that YOU are tricking everyone.
A major point of contention is deadmau5's claim that EDM is too easy, as outlined in the Rolling Stone interview, and in a recent blog post where Zimmerman breaks down exactly how DJ performances aren't about talent so much as they are memorizing how a few computer programs function.
"I think given about 1 hour of instruction, anyone with minimal knowledge of ableton and music tech in general could DO what I'm doing at a deadmau5 concert," Zimmerman wrote in the latter.
A Guy Called Gerald countered, "I agree there are loads of people like you who do fake it. It is easy with the software you are using. Don't worry we are going to find ways of stopping you. You greedy rat head fuck."
UPDATE: In response to Gerald's letter, deadmau5 has written the following on his Tumblr: "i dont give a fuck. esp with the anti-sematic statement about 'nuking palestine' ??? what an ignorant fuck. im not going to even give him the time of day. waste of time. let him go back to being no longer relevant."
