Moby, also known as 45-year-old Richard Melville Hall, is kind of a big deal. He’s worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Guns N’ Roses and the relentlessly troubled Britney Spears. He’s sold over 20 million albums, and, being an ethical vegan, he’s done this and more without so much as sniff of a double cheeseburger – which works in his favour when he takes on fast food vendors and capitalist ideology, both in his blog and in America’s murky political arena. In a world where artists such as Lady Gaga are considered normal (if only the clue were in the name) and principles is a shop where your gran used to buy her cardigans, Moby’s determination to improve his habitat through the support of various causes is often misunderstood. We catch up with him to straighten things out.
So is it true that a man broke into your house and you gave him some money for food?
Yeah, it was about five months ago, and I had some friends staying with me, and, at 7am, my friend Laura rocked into my bedroom, and she looked terrified, and she said there was a strange guy sitting in my living room. His name was Robbie, and he’d been up for a couple of days taking illicit substances, and somehow he had found his way into my house. Luckily for me, he was completely harmless, so we gave him some money for breakfast and a sweatshirt, and sent him on his way.
That was very understanding. How do you stay committed to your morals in an industry that’s accepted to be devoid of them?
In some respects, yes, the music business is not renowned for being the most principled, ethical business in the world, but I can’t think of too many industries that are. And also, being a taxpaying American is much more of a challenge to my values than being part of the music business.
Really?
The American government does some good things, but it’s also the biggest polluter on the planet, the American military tests on animals more than any other company or industry on the planet, so I feel like the music industry is a bastion of good ethical behaviour compared with the American government.
Would you consider leaving the US to live somewhere else?
Possibly, but when saying that the American government is not a bastion of good ethics, I’m not implying that there are too many countries that are. Countries are big, messy, complicated places. I think if someone looks for ethical purity and ideological consistency in the world, they’re just going to be disappointed.
You’ve got a reputation for being quite a calm person. Time Out has quite a short fuse, what advice would you give us?
I guess my advice would be to pretend you’re on your death bed, and look back at your life and try to figure out what’s important and what isn’t. When I find myself getting stressed out or angry, it’s usually a waste of time. If I’m sitting in traffic and I’m angry, my anger about traffic isn’t making the situation any better. That should be our criteria for evaluating our responses – are we making the situation better, or are we making it worse?
You must come up against resistance from politicians who think you’re just another righteous musician.
Funnily enough, that’s not with politicians, it’s with journalists.
Oh dear.
I’ve found the quickest way to incur the wrath of the media is by being opinionated on political and social issues, particularly in places like the UK. Look at people like Bono and Sean Penn and Tim Robbins – the moment you’re outspoken about something, the press break out the knives.
What do you do then, ignore it and carry on doing what you think is right?
The very strange thing about the wrath of the media for musicians who try to be socially active, is that a lot of the time the journalists writing these nasty pieces actually agree with the musicians on a political and social level. It’s a really strange phenomenon; I’ve received my worst press from left-wing journalists who probably agree with the positions that I take. In Australia, they call it tall poppy syndrome, where they cut the head off the flower that grows the tallest.
Okay, let’s lighten up a little bit. If a film were to be made about your life, who would you want to play you?
The thing with most of us little bald white guys is that we all look the same. Even though he’s not a little white bald guy, probably Sam Rockwell. I think he’s probably the best actor of our generation, so arrogantly and presumptuously, if someone were to play me, I would like it to be an amazing actor. If he shaved his head, I think he would look like me or Michael Stipe, or John Malkovich, or any of the other little white bald guys in the world.
Little white bald guy Moby plays Dubai World Trade Centre as part of his Destroyed album tour on July 4. To buy tickets, visit www.timeouttickets.com
