Moby - Interview

21 February 2005

Moby

Moby - Interview

Moby is a pioneer of dance music and he's been around since the beginning. Certainly a creative individual, progressive thinker and talented producer, Moby has worked with the best of them in all different spheres of music.

Play' was an album so innovative and well received it transcended all fashions of the time. With a sample based sound-scape Moby ventured into unknown and unclaimed territory creating a soulful yet electronic mix so hauntingly beautiful that Play truly became the definitive sound of 1999.

Moby - Interview


'Hotel' is Moby's new offering and I had the pleasure to speak to the man himself about the album and life in general.

Moby, I am excited about your new album. What can you tell us about it?

Hotel' is a reflection of the new wave scene and the albums influences are pulled from the late 70's and early 80's. There is a strong revival of this sound at the moment currently largely encouraged by people like Zane Lowe and those at MTV2. Bands like the Killers, Franz Ferdinand and The Kaiser Chiefs are part of the new wave and owe a lot to the artists of that time, especially to bands like Joy Division.

One of the highlights of my career was joining New Order on tour and singing New Dawn Fades' at one gig with the band who hadn't played that song since the death of Ian Curtis.

Hotel' shows me in a more organic light. The album isn't full of samples and most of the sounds on there have been created for the recording.

So Moby, what do you get up to while you're in the UK ?

I haven't had the chance to explore the UK . Even though I've been here about 300 times I'm usually in hotel rooms, gigging or interviewing. I've had some of my best gigs over here though.

We don't know how much UK music gets listened to State-side but out of curiosity who are you liking this side of the Atlantic ?

I'm really into Goldfrapp. Allison is great and her music is really progressive yet accessible.

Who would you like to collaborate with?

I'd like to work with Prince. I'm into his ballads

Moby, in the world of music you can be described as being very successful. What are you rubbish at?

Skiing. I've never been a very good skier. I'm no good at car stuff also.

Moby if you were face to face with George Bush now what would you say?

George Bush claims to be a born again Christian. In America you have so many Christians who are pro death penalty and pro war which seems different to the teachings of Christ. Bush appeals to these voters through his policies and I would say to him if you want to be a war monger that is one thing but how can you call yourself a Christian when you promote policies that destroy thousands of lives

So where do you see the future of America ?

It's hard to say as America is such a large and complicated country. Someone could have been there for ten minutes or four hundred years and still be classed as an American. I am willing to say that those middle Americans who listen to country & western music, watch NasCar and eat Mcdonalds, I feel I have no connection to whatsoever.

What would be one of the most defining moments of your career?

Getting signed to a record label was the most exciting thing I ever experienced in my career back in 1989. I got signed to this tiny label called Instinct Records. I never thought in a million years I get signed to a label and it didn't matter to me that they didn't have a logo, they had never released records, it was for me in my mind that I was now a musician signed to a label.

Other exciting things have been touring with David Bowie, playing at Slaine Castle with U2 to 150 thousand people, closing the Winter Olympics ceremony 2002.

With the availability of the Internet what do you see happening in the world in the future?

There will come a time when all Western Europe and all of the USA will be WiFi (High Speed Wireless Internet) zones. So everything, like your car, will be connected to the Internet. It's hard to imagine how that will affect society. In terms of the music business people will stop owning music and just use it when you need it. You'll be in your car listening to internet radio or give a voice command and play Led Zeppelin's Greatest Hits', for example, and that could eventually stop people having record collections.

I hope it deters certain people from going into the industry. Those shameful musicians who want to get into music to get rich I hope go out and do something else. There is so much pop music where there's no artistry and there's nothing emotional about it and there's no integrity. I hope that disappears.

The division between rich and poor is widening. What do you think of this and how can people such as yourself do something about it?

I'm an optimist and feel the long term solution has to do with democracy, education and technology. If you look at South Korea Vs North Korea there is a much higher standard of living in South Korea as there is a lot of democracy, civil liberties and access to good education. I believe in levelling the playing field as much as possible and giving people accessibility to as much education and technology as possible.

Click Here to read up on Moby's New Single 'Lift Me Up'

www.mobyhotel.com

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