Imagine for a second that you went to Europe to do your job and people worshiped the ground you walked on. You would spit out your gum and people would catch it and save it for their collection. You would walk out of your hotel and people would follow your every move. Imagine you went to a magazine store and there was your picture in every magazine. Now imagine you went back to your home in North American and nobody knew who you were.

That is the life of Felix Da Housecat (real name Felix Stallings Jr.). The electro-punk DJ from Chicago made a predominant name for himself overseas, but when he came back to the States, he had to start all over again from scratch to get respect for his music.

?People are more educated over [in Europe] because they have all the magazines, all the TV shows, all the documentaries. When they see that, they treat you like rock stars,? he explains, on the line from Chicago. ?You get spoiled very easy over there. They treat you like your Michael Jackson or Prince in their prime. Whereas in America, you need that reality to keep you grounded. When you come to play in America, you don?t have none of that. It?s just skills.?

A big change from the two music scenes is that in North America, the audience is more laid back.

?Over there, they?re screaming, jumping up and down, trying to attack you in the DJ booth. You have to be able to adjust. It was tough for me, I couldn?t stand playing in America because I like to get jumped and attacked. But I was like ?I can?t be like that because this is my home, this is where I come from.? And people react to things different. Now when I?m playing in North America, I?m cool. They?re into it, they just have funny ways of showing it.?

With the release of ?Kittenz and Thee Glitz,? Felix says he never planned on making the album, which has a definite 80s vibe to it.

?It wasn?t intended to be an album. I was in Switzerland doing a festival and I met Miss Kitten. She was like a hero I wanted to work with. I was into her other stuff and we just went into the studio.?

Kittin, described as simultaneously sweet and shamelessly vampish, became good friends with Felix, and their mutual respect for each other helped the album progress naturally.

?What you see id what you get [with Miss Kitten],? he says. ?People think it?s an act but it?s really her. She has like a naive sweetness to her. She?s very unpredictable.?

But the album almost didn?t happen for another reason. A friend of Felix? by the name of Armando died of leukemia, and up until the day he died, record company executives were trying to get him to record as much as he could.

?That made me realize, the industry, they could care less about our health. They just want to use you up until you can?t be used any more. After he passed, I had stopped [recording]. I had disappeared for two years from DJing. I didn?t want any part of the business so the hardest part to overcome was to come back and be on top of my game.?

He decided to come back when he saw that the top music on the charts just ?wasn?t good.? He recorded ?Elektrikboy? but it was shelved.

?I had to come back with ?Kittenz and Thee Glitz.? I was so bitter so I decided to write about the glitz and glamour and totally just make fun of it and it worked. I started so young (in 1985 when he was 15). When I came in, I took everything for granted. The only time I went through adversity, was when I stepped away and had to come back.?






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