Moby by Travis Schneider ©
Richard Melville Hall, best known as Moby, is one of the most celebrated electronic music icons ever, with 20-plus-million records sold in a career spanning over 30 years.
He is also an advocate for animal rights and veganism, a talented photographer and cartoon artist, a skilled singer, songwriter and producer, and a pioneering DJ.
Moby’s fifth album Play, released in 1999, dominated the charts around the world for two years, got all the tracks licensed to films, TV shows and commercials, was included in the Rolling Stone magazine’s ranking of the 500 greatest albums and eventually became the biggest-selling electronica album of all time with more than 12 million copies sold worldwide.
The launch of Play was followed by many other studio albums in the 1990s and 2000s, which led Richard to receive accolades from the MTV Video Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards and the DanceStar Awards.
More recently, in 2021, Reprise was released as Moby’s 19th album, featuring his most famous hits and successes – including the classics Porcelain and Natural Blues – all re-envisioned in new versions with arrangements for acoustic instruments and philharmonic ensembles, showing how different anthems and dance tracks can be adapted over time to endless possibilities and contexts.
Reprise by Moby
The LP was recorded with the Budapest Art Orchestra and includes duets with Gregory Porter, Jim James of the American rock band My Morning Jacket, country music icon Kris Kristofferson, Rihanna’s co-songwriter Skylar Grey and many others; there is also an acoustic version of David Bowie’s Heroes featuring Mindy Jones as a tribute to Moby’s long-term friend and mentor.
The recording was put out alongside MOBY DOC, a documentary film about Moby’s life by Rob Bralver, where the multi-platinum performer reflects on his traumatic childhood, unstable personal life, past alcoholism and newly-found sobriety and good health.
Moby and the dog – Footage from Moby’s documentary MOBY DOC – © to the owners
He also discusses his friendship with David Bowie and the inner roots of his genuine love for animals and nature.
During the media briefing that offered the opportunity to arrange this interview with Moby, the Grammy-nominated artist was grilled with questions, some of which made sense and some of which were about how to prepare an avocado salad, and he eventually shared some very personal and beautiful memories of David Bowie, of whom he said:
So, my favourite musician of all time is David Bowie. The first job I ever had, I carried golf clubs as a caddie just long enough to save money to buy some David Bowie records. I was almost 13. Then, in 1999, we became friends. And he and Iman [Bowie’s second wife and widow] actually moved to an apartment across the street from me in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. So we were friends. We were neighbours. We went on tour together, we had holidays together, and we had this one, phenomenal morning where he came to my apartment, and we sat on my sofa – I had this green mid-century sofa. And we played an acoustic version of his song Heroes that was just the two of us. On a beautiful Saturday morning, drinking coffee and playing Heroes. And I still can’t believe that this happened, that I was able to play the greatest song ever written with the greatest musician of all time. And so the version of Heroes that is on Reprise is a testament to the song, a testament to David Bowie, a testament to my friendship with him, and it’s supposed to be almost like an emotional hommage to this moment of happiness, sitting on my couch playing Heroes with David Bowie.
What follows is a quick Q&A with Moby about music and current affairs.
Moby and David Bowie – Footage from Moby’s documentary MOBY DOC – © to the owners
Richard, what do you think of the current state of music compared to what you’ve grown up listening to?
Moby and David Bowie – Footage from Moby’s documentary MOBY DOC – © to the owners
Well, that’s a hard question for me to ask because I’m old. And there’s an inherent bias that we, the old people, have towards the music that we grew up in – like I do find myself wanting to say things like “These kids today…” but the one thing I will say is that, when I was growing up, music was so central to our lives. When I was 16 years old, to be able to listen to an album, you would have to work for two weeks to save up enough money to buy the album, and then you took the album home, and you listened to it. You sat on the floor of your bedroom, and you listened to both sides of the album and then again both sides of the album, digging into the deep tracks, etc. And I will say, I think that most kids today – which is, of course, a dangerous thing for an old person to say – but most kids, based on what I’ve observed, use music as a background while they are DMing on Instagram and posting TikTok videos and watching Netflix, and maybe doing their homework and vaping and looking at Snapchat if that still exists and texting their friends and they’ve got like eight screens going on in the background. So the music is playing, but really, for a lot of people, I think it has become the ancillary background to ten other things that are going on. And I must say, I loved growing up at a time when you paid attention to music without distractions.
In 2008, you took part in Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace. Did this project serve its purpose in the end, and will there ever be a follow-up?
Moby and the Dalai Lama – Footage from Moby’s documentary MOBY DOC – © to the owners
If I’m being honest, I was very tangentially involved in that project. I believe they asked for a song, and I gave them a song for free. One of the more interesting aspects of that was that I got to hang out with the Dalai Lama, and what I learned is that the Dalai Lama has a great sense of humour. Maybe I should keep this to myself because I don’t want to cause problems, but what I also learned is that, by definition, human beings are human. The Dalai Lama is a wonderful, inspired and inspiring man, but he’s human. You know, we hung out, and he was lovely but human, and that made me realise that there are these people in our world who are alive now or have been alive in the past, but we venerate them and we give them superhuman abilities, but I believe that there is something about humanity by definition, and we are all human. You can gain wisdom around your humanity, you can accept your humanity, but I don’t think anyone can ever technically transcend humanity. If I ever get to meet the Dalai Lama again, I might ask him about that, because he’s called His Royal Holiness HRH Dalai Lama, and I don’t know what his perspective is, if he sees himself as divine or just a human who has phenomenal insights and wisdom around the human condition. So, I don’t know whether there’ll be a second project, a follow-up. I don’t know, and I mean, obviously, you know, the situation between China and Tibet is long-standing and complicated and not getting any better.
Do you believe musicians have a responsibility to draw people’s attention to matters like press freedom issues, human rights abuses and armed conflicts?
I hope so. I mean, the greatest musicians of all time have used their voices to draw attention to issues. Obviously, some of the greatest have been able to write phenomenal songs around it, like Public Enemy wrote Fight The Power, Marvin Gaye with What’s Going On and Mercy Mercy Me, The Chambers Brothers and so on. But what I’d say now, what I think is interesting, is that musicians have so many new ways of communicating – you know, obviously, interviews, and then Zoom calls and social media. And I do think, even if a musician like me isn’t great at writing issue-oriented songs, I should still try to use the audience that I have to address important issues.