Get ready to paint the town red when original red Wiggle, Murray Cook, hits the decks for a banger DJ set at Fiction nightclub in Canberra’s CBD next month.
A stylish red jacket has replaced the red skivvy and small clubs have replaced the arenas, but Murray is still pumped to connect with the Gen X crowd that he entertained 20-odd years ago.
“I do about an hour set and I try to use Wiggles songs with dance beats under them because they love that,” Murray says. “They go nuts when those songs come on. They hold up little signs on their phones saying “Big Red Car”, or “Hot Potato”, and I say, it’s coming, it’s coming.”
Nostalgia is key here. Murray says today’s 20-something crowd are wanting to look back on their childhood years.
“There’s young people entering the world as adults, it can be pretty tough for them,” he says. “They like to go back and remember when they were young and they were carefree.”
Murray is 63 and living a carefree life these days – a far cry from the hectic touring schedule of the Wiggles. The band was on the road for 10 months of the year, doing shows six days a week.
“I do have a lot of freedom now,” Murray says, taking a break from a gym workout. “I’m not a young man anymore, I was never a gym guy but I am now. Wiggles kept me pretty fit so I didn’t need it. I really stopped performing with the Wiggles because of the touring. It was too full-on, after 20 years. Maybe I just needed a rest.”
Murray was approached to try DJing a year ago and he saw it as a fun way to reconnect with his old Wiggles audience.
“I’ve got quite a few long tracks because a lot of what I do Is interacting with the audience, sometimes I get down into the crowd, sometimes I’m at the front of the stage fist bumping, shaking hands, getting selfies. It’s great fun, I really enjoy it.”
As a dad and former children’s entertainer, Murray says he finds it “a bit weird” to DJ for young adults.
“You’re still a kid as far as I can tell but they’re not, they’re adults. They’re drinking. When you talk to them afterwards, sometimes they use language that you wouldn’t expect children to use. I’m still shocked when my 20-year-old occasionally swears.”
Murray Cook, the original red Wiggle, DJs at Fiction on Friday 25 August. Tix here: https://www.intix.com/events/redwiggle
