When I caught up with deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman) on a Tuesday afternoon in mid-August, it’s raining in Toronto and one of his three cats, Peanut, is going a little crazy with the thunderstorm outside. Zimmerman has been in the basement, where he’s been trying to resolve a developer challenge, before he emerges to speak to us. “I’ve spent the last 16 hours redoing topology on a certain thing and I just never want to do it again,” he explains, then quickly quips, “but it’s for the greater good.” He’s working on something he can’t yet fully disclose.
He hints at what he’s been up to, and you know it’s going to be big. He’s expecting Serj Tankian, best known as the frontman of System of a Down, to drop by when he’s in Toronto soon, so Serj may be one of the first to know more. The two may seem like an odd pairing, but actually, their kinship makes perfect sense. Each is incapable of putting on airs that match their fame. And they both speak and live their truth, which sometimes has consequences in the press.
On this day, Zimmerman does not present as one of the most prominent and influential figures in electronic music and gaming. Instead, he appears to be a genuine, forthcoming guy who likes to stay in his lanes of passions, which include gaming, creating music combined with unprecedented live experiences, and testing the boundaries of untapped technology, rather than blindly adopting what exists.
Even after his April Coachella performance, where deadmau5 was called out for being intoxicated during his Testpilot B2B set with Zhu, he issued an Instagram apology with equal parts humility and charm: “Man, even my cat is disappointed in me. Tho, it could be argued that she always has been. Sorry about last night. lol. TO BE FAIR, I felt the 3/4 was great! Huge shout out to @zhu for introducing me to whisky and carrying my dumb ass till the bitter end. Lemme quit smoking, do some personal resetting here at home, find my spirit animal, work on some new music, and come back better. ;)”
As a music and technology observer, it was hard to miss the impact of his three unprecedented live Cube tours between 2010 and 2020, where he performed inside a highly stylized (proprietary) cube that synced movement and visuals to his music. Fast forward to August 2025—his latest EP, Error5, came out August 8 on his own Mau5trap label. The release coincided with the DJ and producer being honored in the Fortnite game with an Icon Series skin. On the skin, he proudly wears a shirt with his beloved cat, Meowingtons, who passed away in 2023. The cat was a prominent figure in the producer’s life, career, and fanbase, often appearing in music videos, social media, and live streams from his studio.
As if all that isn’t enough, deadmau5 has been chosen as the featured artist for the 10th anniversary release of the popular car soccer video game Rocket League. Previous artists featured in the Psyonix game (acquired by Epic Games in 2019), included Kaskade, Alan Walker, and Hatsune Miku. The music from deadmau5’s Error5 EP first appeared in the Rocket League release August 5 prior to it being available to music fans on streaming platforms August 8. Players in the game could unlock access to tracks via achievements in a limited-time event until August 20.
The new 4-track EP finds deadmau5 exploring uncharted territory in the more melodic, upbeat sound of its last track, “What a Save.” The song was actually written several years back for Rocket League, which explains its slower, soundtrack feel. The track name stems from the popular macros used in gaming before the chat feature was implemented. (Yes, there was a world without chat.) “No Problem” and “What a Save” were consistently used to taunt competitors back in the day.
Zimmerman explains, “I’ve only ever lent my talents and my brand to things that I mostly enjoy, so video games are really a no-brainer. I grew up playing video games and still do. So, taking my music to games was really the easiest thing to do. I still play Rocket League. Still play PUBG. Still play Diablo. I’ve been mainstaying those three games easily for about 10 years a piece.”
If the game is something he enjoys, he writes music for it.
“That’s how it’s gone with all the games I’ve worked with,” he says. “The Rocket League connection came up before Epic acquired Psyonix. I reached out to the developers and said, ‘This game rocks,’ and they said, ‘Oh, we’re fans’. So, I said, ‘Here, have a game-ready asset model of my Mousehead—just throw it in the game. I don’t care.’ And they did. It was really cool. They all started like that—even Minecraft. I was talking to the developer about 18 years ago when the game wasn’t even in North America. I said, ‘Hey, this game’s pretty cool,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll make you a mouse thing.’ It’s still got my name in the credit even after the Microsoft acquisition.”
Modestly, Zimmerman claims to be “a little bit of a game developer and modeler myself.” That means he is quite proficient at developing games, because Joel Zimmerman is incapable of doing things halfway. When asked what his perfect day is, he is quick to answer, “Just sitting at home playing video games. A perfect day for me is when Exile 2 finally gets released.”
Although deadmau5’s current contribution to Rocket League’s 10th anniversary is bigger than that of Fortnite’s Icon Series skin and accompanying bundle with multiple styles, back bling, emotes, and more, he is equally proud of both. The Rocket League LTE includes 13 challenges to unlock new deadmau5 music (called Anthems), a Synth-Sonic Boost, and deadmau5 Decade Octane Decal, including 11 items inspired by deadmau5. One of his personal favorite features is the mau5head topper on the Rocket League cars. Additionally, fans can get a McLaren 570S + deadmau5 Bundle alongside other synthesized additions such as the deadmau5 Forever Goal Explosion in the game shop.
Deadmau5’s latest two gaming projects provided him with experiences he hadn’t had before.For him, it was an evolution from simply giving away game-ready assets to developers. “Epic stepped in and they’ve got some heavy hitting, AAA artists that can do much better modeling and texturing than I can. Same with Fortnite, I couldn’t model that in that style and texture. You need an artist for that and Epic games has the best of the best.”
Beyond gaming, his current technology obsession is with a company in Amsterdam that is using an AI algorithmic process for motion capture that is marker-less. “Meaning you don’t have to have things on you, you just get in front of the camera, and it tracks your skeleton,” he explains. “So I’m starting to set that up. I feel like AI is a brand name at this point, they’re all just algorithms.” Another artist at the intersection of gaming, music, and the electronic space that deadmau5 admires is Mick Gordon. “But he doesn’t have the brand. He’s an all-around musician but his best work was this Doom soundtrack. I’ve always wanted to work with him on something really nitty gritty.”
He’s currently working on Legend of Zelda’s ‘Breath of the Wild’ on his Switch, which he still hasn’t completed yet. “It’s probably the most played game because it’s the one I take on the airplane and in the hotel,” he says. “It’s this long game where there’s a billion things to do and a billion things to find and I feel like I’m 90% there.” He also reveals he’s working on a new full-length album.
When asked what the biggest challenge in his career is now, he laughs and says, “Man, they’re always getting bigger and bigger and scarier! Now, it’s that I’m in the process of reinvention. I don’t really want to talk too much about it, but there are some technical challenges involved that are driving me slowly insane! It’s like coming up with the new-new. I remember when it was a challenge that I had to come up with this new stage design that had to be so cool and it turned into a 10-year run with the Cube tours. It was really cool but you can’t run that until the wheels come off. Millions of people have seen it and it’s all over the internet. Time to move on. And I can’t do spheres because Eric Prydz already did it, so we’re out of shapes. Now I have to think of the next thing.”
