Part 2: Career
I’m not exactly sure what the defining moment was for me…but there was a bit of a paradigm shift when I found myself making music…for a company that sells music to TV commercials, website developers, and other dudes who didn’t feel like paying $30,000 to liscense “whoop there it is” for their fuckin tampon commercials or whatever.
Zimmerman released his debut studio album, titled Get Scraped on July 26, 2005. The tracks "Just Before 8bit", "Nice Try, Kiddo" and "Uploading and Downloading" from Project 56 were edited and expanded upon in Get Scraped under the names "8bit", "Try Again", and "Unspecial Effects", respectively. Tracks "Bored of Canada", "Intelstat" and "I Forget" reappear on this album as is, as well as "The Oshawa Connection" from deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002.
Three self-released compilations, Project 56, Deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002, and A Little Oblique, were finished in 2006, with Project 56 seeing an official release in February 2008.
2007–08: Mau5trap label and Random Album TitleIn 2007, Zimmerman began his own record label "mau5trap", which, along with Ultra Records and Ministry of Sound, released the 2008 album Random Album Title, which saw the collaboration of Zimmerman and Chicago producer Kaskade with "I Remember". Random Album Title, saw a digital release in September 2008 via Ultra Records in the United States and Ministry of Sound in the United Kingdom and Europe. Physical copies of the album were released in November 2008.
In the United States, Zimmerman's collaboration with Kaskade, "Move for Me", reached number one on Billboard magazine's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart in its September 6, 2008 issue. Since then, Zimmerman has seen two more tracks, also collaborations ("I Remember" with Kaskade & "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" with Rob Swire), reach number one on Billboard's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, making him the only Canadian to have three number-one tracks on that chart. He is also the sixth Canadian to top that chart, following Deborah Cox, Nelly Furtado, Dragonette, Justin Bieber, and The Weeknd, each with one apiece.
2009–10: For Lack of a Better Name and 4x4=12On September 22, 2009, Ultra Records released his album For Lack of a Better Name in the United States, and October 5 internationally. On a subsequent tour in the fall of 2009, Zimmerman's performances were recorded and made available for sale immediately following the concerts on USB wristband flash drives. For Lack of a Better Name includes two of Zimmerman's most popular songs, "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" (featuring Rob Swire) and "Strobe".
MTV named Zimmerman as the house DJ for the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and MTV PUSH artist of the week on August 16, 2010. He expressed gratitude towards Lady Gaga and David Guetta for bringing dance into the pop music scene and paving the way for him to the mainstream. At the awards, Zimmerman performed with Jason Derulo and Travie McCoy. His song "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" had been featured on the soundtrack for the MTV reality series Jersey Shore earlier.
His fifth studio album, titled 4×4=12, was released on December 6, 2010 in the United Kingdom and December 7, 2010 in the United States. Singles "Some Chords", "Animal Rights", "Sofi Needs a Ladder" have been released and have been featured on the album, with "Raise Your Weapon" released in 2011. "Some Chords" was featured on an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation where Zimmerman made a cameo appearance, and an instrumental version of "Sofi Needs a Ladder" was featured in the film The Hangover Part II.
2011–12: Album Title Goes HereOn August 9, 2012, Zimmerman announced his upcoming sixth studio album, Album Title Goes Here, which was released on September 24 of that year. Singles from this album include "Maths", "The Veldt" (featuring Chris James) and "Professional Griefers" featuring My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way. This collaboration was announced on Facebook prior to release. In December 2012, FUSE TV named "Professional Griefers" one of the top 40 songs of 2012
2013–present: Astralwerks, 7 EP, and while (1<2)
In November 2013, Zimmerman deleted three years worth of music from his SoundCloud account, replacing them with an EP of seven melancholy piano sonatas (simply called 7), named after the Latin translations for the Seven Deadly Sins: "Acedia", "Avaritia", "Gula", "Invidia", "Ira", "Luxuria", and "Superbia".
Also in November 2013, Zimmerman signed with record label Astralwerks, the famed NYC-based imprint that houses artists such as Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, and The Chemical Brothers. Speaking on the partnership, Zimmerman admitted, "I found a place that knows what to do with my music."
On January 7, 2014, Zimmerman announced via his Twitter account that his much-anticipated new album is complete. "In other news...i finished my album today," the tweet read. "2 discs. 2 continuous mixes. 25 tracks. and something im proud of."
On May 10, 2014, deadmau5 announced through his subscription service live.deadmau5.com that his upcoming album will be titled while(1<2) and will be released on June 17, 2014.
The album was preceded by the release of four singles: "Avaritia", "Seeya" (featuring Colleen D'Agostino), "Infra Turbo Pigcart Racer" and "Phantoms Can't Hang". Starting on the week of May 20, 2014, each single was released weekly for a total of four weeks leading up to the release of the album.
On January 13, 2015, it was announced that deadmau5 would be a headlining act for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, in Manchester, Tennessee, to be held June 11–15, 2015. On February 2, 2015, it was announced he would appear at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
On July 23, 2015, Valve announced that deadmau5 was creating a unique series of sound clips to be featured in their video game, Dota 2. The music pack was released alongside the announcement.
On August 8, 2015 deadmau5 performed live at KeyArena in Seattle at the conclusion of the Dota 2 competition The International 5 (TI5), the largest ever tournament in eSports to date.
On December 16, 2015, deadmau5 may be consider ending "deadmau5" after he tweeted "meh. considering killing off the "deadmau5" bullsh** and just start something new. did it before, can do it again. f*** it. why not."
On December 17, 2015, it appeared deadmau5 may be taking a leave of absence or hanging up the mau5head all together after deleting both his Twitter and Facebook accounts. His Instagram, however, had not been deleted. On December 21, 2015, Zimmerman reopened his Twitter account and posted an apology to his Tumblr explaining his disappearance from social media, stating that he was suffering from depression and will be returning to producing music after the new year.
Video game appearancesZimmerman is a playable avatar in DJ Hero 2, a video game released in October 2010. The game featured several tracks by the artist, including a mix of "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" with Lady Gaga's "Just Dance". He is also featured as a non-playable character in the 2014 video game Goat Simulator.
His music has been included in other video game titles, including Dota 2, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Saints Row: The Third, FIFA 13, Grand Theft Auto IV, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Need for Speed: Shift, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, GoldenEye 007, Wipeout 2048, The Sims 3, Asphalt 8: Airborne, Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Sound Shapes.
In 2014's Watch Dogs, he is parodied in the form of DJ JB Markowicz, aka "Defalt".
In the mobile app Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff by TinyCo, deadmau5 was available for purchase as a playable character during the "PeterPalooza" event for 350 clams, the game's premium currency. For Google Play users, his album 4x4=12 was made available as a free download after his purchase via an in-game redeemable code.
In Minecraft, the player named "deadmau5" has ears on his player model. The texture for the ears are contained in an area of the skin image left blank for normal skins. However, if deadmau5 was under the "invisibility" effect, which effectively makes the player disappear, his ears would still render, similar to armor under identical circumstances.
Next, the Rat Race of being Deadmau5
According to legend, the only way to appease the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland is to sacrifice a virgin girl…fuck it, let’s toss Justin Bieber in there…as if the volcano would know the difference anyway, cause I don’t.
