Unlike most celebrities, Moby looks the height you’d expect in the flesh: small. As he shakes my hand he looks reserved and wary, pulling up a desk chair to sit on while I stick to the plush sofa I’ve just got up from. He’s just done a load of local radio interviews - “It’s not the most glamorous side of the industry” - and looks tired after his show at London’s Meltdown festival the night before. Throughout the interview, Moby listens intently and answers my questions in a clipped New York accent. He crosses his legs, fiddles with his socks and doesn’t smile much. But then, what did you expect from a man who recently said that his new album Wait For Me is a record to “get depressed to”? Here, he talks Meltdown, making sad music and how everyone in New York has it in for him…
How was the gig last night?
“It went surprisingly well. I normally schedule big-city dates - New York, LA or London - at least four or five dates into a tour so we can work out any mistakes and problems, but it was one of the most eclectic shows we’ve ever done. There were electronic songs, punk-rock songs and quiet acoustic ballads - it was all over the shop because I’ve had a weird career as a musician.”
You’re just about to tour your new album Wait For Me around the summer festivals. Are you a festival-goer?
“No - I’ve never been to a festival for fun - it’s just not something that was available when I was growing up in the US although it’s way more common now. But the first festival I played was in 1992, so it’s not like I don’t know what they’re about!”
Your new album Wait For Me is out next week and you’ve described it as a DIY effort, recorded in your studio and you even drew the artwork…
“A few years ago I made an album called Hotel, my first with EMI. And because it was with a major label, I went into a big studio with a big deal engineer and everything was done the way major labels make records - very polished and slick. Then when the record was done, I realised I don’t like polished records. So with this one I wanted to do the opposite - make it at home and make it personal, more humble, have my friends as guest vocalists and I drew the artwork on my kitchen counter while I was making lunch.”
The little character on the cover - he’s been with you for a while hasn’t he?
“A long time ago I worked in a record shop and every bag that left the store had to have a drawing on it - that’s when I started drawing this guy.”
So if people have kept their bags from that store, they might be worth something on eBay now?
“They’re from 1984, so if they’ve kept them I’d be amazed! But I think at some point everything on the planet will be sold on eBay. A friend of mine sold an old packet of Marlboro cigarettes with one half-smoked for 47 cents.”
You’ve said you made the album for depressed people to listen to in their apartments - do you think you’ve achieved that?
“It is a very melancholy record. My aim when I started was to make something melodic, personal and beautiful. I hope it’s not a depressing record per se though - I hope it’s more emotional and atmospheric.”
So that wasn’t the space you were in at the time?
“No, I just really like sad music - even if I’m happy and in a great frame of mind, I like emotional and sad music.”
You’ve made 16 blips - short animations - to go along with each track and David Lynch made the video for one track. Are you guys friends now?
“Yes, David and I have been friends for a few years now - but I’ve been a fan of his since 1980. To get him to do a video for me was fantastic.”
You’ve said that you’re sick of hearing your album Play…
“I’m not sick of it, I just never listen to it. But that goes for most of my old material - I made an album in 1996 called Animal Rights which I still listen to but that’s about it.”
Ever been to a dinner party and someone’s put Play on?
“No! But if I’m out at a bar and my music comes on I don’t like it - I just sit there thinking what I could have done better.”
You played London superclub Matter recently - did you enjoy that?
“It’s great to go out and DJ - it’s like a night off. I never play my own records, only other people’s and the crowd in London were great.”
Unlike the crowd in New York, your home town?
“I often wonder what sort of masochist I am that I live in the city where per capita, the most amount of people hate me. The media in New York - especially in the last ten years - have been unrelentingly mean. A couple of years ago, The Village Voice had an article about me. The journalist wrote as the opening line: ‘Up until recently, I didn’t know why everyone hated Moby. But after the show last night now I understand.’ It was so personal!”
Is there more love for you in London and Europe?
“There’s more love for me everywhere on the planet than New York! Maybe it’s changing but for a long time it felt like I was singled out for a lot of personal attacks. I guess it’s a combination of being visible, opinionated and having had a degree of success.”
If you could be the lovechild of any two artists, who would it be?
“Marcel Duchamp and Flannery O’Connor.”
What’s the most-played song on your MP3 player?
“Going To California by Led Zeppelin.”
Listen to Moby Radio on RealMusic
Moby’s album Wait For Me is out on June 29th.
