Common Experiment #008
Sometime during the summer of 2011, dead5nail was created. An odd combination of two of my favorite things: deadmau5 and snails. He was doodled late at night in an attempt to cheer up a friend who was solely responsible for my fangirl fascination with deadmau5. Using a sketch art book, and my old colouring pencils, and my paltry artistic skills, I drew dead5nail. A gigantic mouse head with crossed out eyes, attached to a snail body in muted red and black. Grant, the friend is question, got a good laugh out of the cell phone picture and I decided to make this creature a pet here on Subeta. Thus, dead5nail was born.
deadmau5 aka Joel Zimmerman was born on January 5th, 1981 in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. A decade later, Joel began his career with electrical music. He fiddled with crafting and creating music via computers rather than traditional turn tables, which were popular instruments of that era. As time passed and his experiences into the industry blossomed, he created his own studio, record label called mau5trap, and persona. The name Joel picked, deadmau5, was rumored to come from an event in which he found a dead mouse in his computer case. At the time, Joel was a frequent user of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to promote himself, and user names were limited to 8 characters. He shared his horrific find with others and was dubbed "that dead mouse guy." Due to the character restrictions, Joel utilized LEET speak by replacing the letter S with the number 5.
The next step in promoting himself was something memorable and iconic. When Joel performs he wears an over-sized mouse head with enlarged ears and eyes. As the mau5head has evolved over time, so has the technology behind the mask. Present day performances has the mau5head being a technological master piece with LED lights and electrical graphics that are coordinated with his shows. Along with this iconic item, Joel totes around a multi-million dollar stage called the mau5cube. This particular item is lined with multiple LCD screens that flash, and dance along with the music. deadmau5's concerts come with some of the most unique and highest rated visual graphics on the entertainment music scene.
Within the last three years, his electric music career has skyrocketed giving him numerous awards in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He is the first electronic musical artist to sell out London's Earls Court, which is 17,000 person venue. In 2010, he was given the opportunity to host the music for MTV's Video Music Awards (VMA). When DJ Hero was released, also in 2010, deadmau5 was a playable avatar. He's been awarded multiple titles from Beatport, a website dedicated to promoting digital and electrical music artists, such as Best Single, Best Electro and Progressive House Artist. For the last four consecutive years, he has been ranked within the first 15 of the Top 100 DJs from DJ magazine. 2010 and 2011 have him ranked within the top 5. The 2012 Grammy Awards have nominated songs and deadmau5�s latest album itself, 4x4=12, for various categories. Sadly, deadmau5 did not win any Grammy Awards for 2012, but there is always next year!
When 2011 rolled around, I made myself a New Years Resolution to see deadmau5 live in concert if he did a North American tour. In the Spring, the Meowingtons Hax tour was announced with both American and Canadian tour stops. With approval from my husband, I bought tickets for us to see him live August 25th, in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Palladium.
We made a mini vacation out of the trip to SoCal by visiting family, the beach, and going to one amazing concert. I've never been to such an event but it was a lot of fun and very memorable. We got to the venue early, standing in line with other excited fans. The Hollywood Palladium is an old theater, built in the 1940s but under went renovations in 2007. The newly refurbished revenue can hold up to 4000 patrons, with improved dance area, stage, and interior and exterior refurbishments.
The concert started at 8PM that night, and we saw three different opening acts before deadmau5 finally took the stage at 11PM. We didn't return home till 3AM in the morning. Needless to say, it was an amazing, and epic show to experience. I wanted to say around for a chance at an autograph, but the venue was very strict about making sure people vacated the premises after the concert was over sadly. I'm planning to see him again some day soon, maybe next year!
Acknowledgments
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Lyrics and Image Copyright: [url="http://www.deadmau5.com/"]Deadmau5[/url]
