Features & Interviews
Night Knight
Moby talks to Lauren Pyrah about his love of tragic women like
Britney and latest project Last Night
AS a vegan music star who recently told an interviewer he wants to marry troubled
pop princess Britney Spears, Moby has never been what you'd call conventional.
Although the remark regarding Spears - which caused a stir among some of the
British tabloid press - was made with his tongue lodged firmly in his cheek,
Moby does have a soft spot for "tragic women".
Comparing Spears to tragic Tennessee Williams heroine Blanche Du Bois, he joked
to The Northern Echo: "The older and fatter she gets, the more attractive
she grows."
But he did confess to admiring another famous blonde.
"I have this strange love for tragic women. My recurring celebrity crush
is Patricia Arquette. If her actual personality and character are anything like
she was in True Romance, I'd jump into a relationship with her in a heartbeat."
This non-conformist attitude is reflected in the eclectic musical style and
taste of Richard Melville Hall, whose nickname was given to him as a child in
reference to his great-greatgreat-uncle Herman Melville's book Moby Dick.
Born and bred in a New York suburb, Moby rejected Americana in favour of British
music - something which will come as no surprise to those familiar with his
work.
Now the veteran musician, who first burst in to the UK top ten in 1991 with
progressive techno-house track, Go, is back with Last Night, a concept album
documenting a night out on the New York club scene.
It seems the album is the latest stop in Moby's musical journey. Following
the success of Go, he was involved in remix projects with Michael Jackson, Depeche
Mode, and the Pet Shop Boys before releasing Everything Is Wrong in 1995, which
contained techno tracks as well as a bluesy punk song.
He followed it up in 1996 with guitar rock album Animal Rights, returning to
his electronic base with soundtrack I Like to Score. He won critical acclaim
with 1999 album Play, which became a platinum hit.
In 2002, Moby released 18, followed by Hotel in 2005, which eschewed samples
for live instrumentation and vocals.
Last Night can be seen as a return to his dance roots, with the 42-year-old
making a conscious decision to create something a little less serious.
"The last couple of records I've made had, at least from my perspective,
a slightly subdued quality to them and I wanted to make something that was a
maybe just a little more playful, a little more reflective of my life as it
actually is, especially living here in downtown Manhattan, so that was my inspiration."
His forays into myriad musical genres, as well as his affinity with all things
British, can be traced back to his teenage years. The Clash, The Sex Pistols,
Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Human League and bands from independent
Manchester label Factory Records all featured in the Moby's music collection,
along with early dance, jungle and drum and bass artists.
"As a teenager, I was a hard-core Anglophile, " he said.
"I can't imagine what my music would sound like if I'd never heard music
from the UK. I look primarily to the UK for inspiration."
And it would appear his admiration for the British music scene is as enduring
as his fascination with tragic women.
"The UK is still the most interesting global scene, " he said. "It
is one of the few countries on the planet which has weekly music news. It is
one of the only countries on the planet where people still buy a lot of records.
"The danger of the UK music scene is the hype machine, where a band is
hyped as the best thing ever before they even put out a record, then when they
put it out, they're has-beens."
However, despite writing an album documenting a night's clubbing, he does admit
it is not as common occurrence as it once was.
"I'm 42 now, so my stamina isn't what it used to be, but what was amazing
about the late Eighties club scene and the early Nnineties rave scene is, you'd
be up until 7am or 8am every single night and then you'd sleep until 3pm and
then you'd do the exact same thing all over again and it just seemed so normal.
"Now if I do that once every three weeks or once a month, I'm shattered
for the next two days."
12:44pm Thursday 8th May 2008
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