The Fabulous World of Felix
Felix da Housecat was the fabulous star of the early 2000s electroclash scene.
When he dropped Kittenz and thee Glitz in late ‘01/early ’02, Felix Da Housecat (or Mr Fabulous as he shall from here on in be known) put an identifiable face and sound to the exploding electro scene. Kittenz and thee Glitz was praised by the UK press, most slapping it with a nice l’il five star review. Shortly after it was near impossible to go clubbing in Australia and not hear Silver Screen, Shower Scene and Madame Hollywood (both favourites for savvy drag queens and club performers). And now with a national tour under his belt, Mr Fabulous is soon to be back on the shelves with a new album. The newie Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever (which may actually be called The Courtship of Devin Dazzle .. watch this space!) is another bold musical statement of the times, this time with a punkier new-wave edge.
“I don’t think I’m electro — that’s the funny thing!” laughs Mr Fab, in his trademark way. “To me electro is like Afrika Bambaata, Cybertron, Juan Atkins — and my album does not sound like that! Maybe Magic Fly on the last one, I dunno. But hey, I don’t want to mess up anyone’s vision of me. If they want me to be electroclash, no problem!”
The alliance with Miss Kittin fell away after Kittenz and the Glitz, but Mr Fabulous insists there are no bad feelings. The temporary alliance was one that certainly put both artists at the forefront of the electro movement. The meeting happened back in 2000 when he (then recording as Elektrikboy) and Miss Kittin played on the same line up at a Swiss festival. He heard Kittin’s Frank Sinatra and thought wow. She was already a fan of his. The two got introduced and the very next day cut Madame Hollywood in three hours. On top of that they did it with just one keyboard, a moog and a computer — and Miss Kittin recorded the vocal in one take!
The new album Devin Dazzle is gonna be “very Minneapolis” says Fabulous. Dropping worldwide on May 18, it features the vocal services of the girl band Neon Fever (formerly Glamorama), in a stylistic nod to his ’80s idol Prince. Mr Fabulous explains the album title: “Devin Dazzle is a character I came up with, who gets the fever to party when he sees neon lights. Devin Dazzle is like this guy who has this humble spirit and Neon Fever is his bad influence.”
And are there cross-over dance tunes that will change everything?
“Maybe one or two.. or three or four,” he laughs. “But when I say dance, it’s not a dance track, but you could play it in your club. It’s danceable. It’s not too left-turn. It sounds like Kittenz and Thee Glitz on steroids, but there are live instruments. You’re gonna like this one more than Kittenz, it’s more mature.. but it’s going to take a while to grow on you.”
Mr Fabulous calls the punk electro sound of artists like himself, DFA and The Rapture “disco pogo” but says he doesn’t like categories.
“I just don’t like the words revival, electroclash, ’80s, categories,” he maintains. “One thing I do agree with is that music always has cycles. The music I was making always sounded the same since the ’80s, I never jumped into different bandwagons. I don’t think it was ever a revival because me, Les Rythmes Digitales, Stuart.. all these guys were making this stuff for ages. I just think people wanted something fresh and new, and when they heard it, it sounded good to the people who grew up listening back in the day, and it was fresh to the people who had never heard it before. I don’t like trends or labels but you gotta have some type of name to identify with it.” He adds an afterthought: “One thing I like about it (the revival) is it’s very fashionable.. people getting all dressed up and weirded out and shit. I love the crowd I draw in, it’s amazing.”
Mr Fabulous has also been doing a lot of remixes. In recent history there’s been messing around with tunes for Madonna, Iggy Pop, Britney Spears, and even Holly Valance. With Britney he wanted to “take something innocent and make it sound like Vitalic.” He says he much prefers producing than remixing though. At the moment he’s all busy producing Puff Daddy’s forthcoming dance album which features their version of The Jungle Bros’ I’ll House U and the P-Diddy / Kelis collaboration Let’s Get Ill.
“That sounded like Joey Beltram’s Energy Flash, man,” Mr Fabulous counters to my Timo Maas suggestion. “I wasn’t a fan, Puffy wasn’t either,” he says. “One thing I respect about him, he was like “it’s cool, it ain’t nothin’ groundbreaking.” It works though, it’s very catchy. I love Kelis, she’s the best. Puffy was managing her at one time, keeping me away from her! I’m definitely going to try and get in touch because I’ve definitely got to work with her. I think my wife’s a little jealous because I had a picture with her and my arm’s a little bit too round-her-waist! Her and Andre 3000 are amazing…”
As for fellow Big Day Out act Peaches, Mr Fabulous warms up. “People are not going to believe me, but she is the sweetest person on Earth! I’ve known her for a while and she is so nice. When people see her hit that stage they are like “whoa”. We’ve been hanging, sitting down and talking, and the last time I saw her I told her I was real sick and she was like “Ohh I hope you get well,” I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you Peaches!’”
It’s all rather fabulous, isn’t it. Devin Dazzle hits the shelves in May on Inertia Music.
This article first appeared in Large Magazine in 2004.
