Electronic phenomenon Moby (AKA Richard Melville Hall) has been breaking new ground and blazing trails in the music industry as a solo artist for nearly two decades. In addition to his 1999 breakthrough album Play, which has sold over ten million copies worldwide, Moby has gained notoriety for his strict vegan lifestyle as well as disparagement for his unique approach to music licensing. Now, with a stunning new album, inspired by none other than Filmmaker David Lynch, titled Wait for Me, Moby once again proves that he is, above everything else, a passionate force in modern music.
Wait for Me is, in no small way, an album of great emotional breadth. Was this something you set out to do when creating the album?
Yes. I’ve made a lot of different types of music over the years, but the music I’ve made that means the most to me is the music that is more emotional and more atmospheric and more vulnerable. So that’s what I set out to do when I started working on Wait for Me, to make something more emotional and more vulnerable.
You’ve been heavily criticized in the past for your eagerness to license your music to television commercials. And yet now, with companies ranging from Apple to Target, this trend seems to have become a marker of sorts indicating a band has hit it big. What are your thoughts on this shift?
I don’t license music to ads anymore, but I certainly don’t criticize any musician who does so. I assume that in these difficult times a musician who licenses his or her music to a TV show or a movie or an ad is doing so for good and compelling reasons.
It was while listening to David Lynch speak at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards that you felt compelled to make an album of a more personal nature. Who approached who in regards to Lynch directing the music video for Wait for Me’s lead single, “Shot in the Back of the Head?”
Every now and then I send music to David Lynch to see if he likes it. I sent him “Shot in the Back of the Head” and asked if he had any random footage lying around that I could use for a music video. Six days later he sent me the finished video that he’d animated himself. I’m a lucky musician to have an uncompromising video from my favorite film director.
How did you come to work with Ken Thomas and what do you think he added to Wait for Me?
I wanted Wait for Me to be mixed differently than most records are being mixed these days. Most records are mixed loud and fairly bombastically so that they’ll sound good on radio or in clubs. I wanted Wait for Me to be mixed fairly quietly, and only using analog equipment. I wanted to mix the record purely for listening, and not for club or radio purposes. I thought Ken was one of the few engineers who would understand and be excited by this approach.
Can you tell us about some of the vintage recording equipment you found on eBay while making Wait for Me?
Basically a lot of old Univox equipment, drum machines, keyboards, amps, reverbs. It’s a Univox record.
Are there any musical acts you feel are changing or enhancing the musical climate currently?
The only record I’ve really loved from the last couple of years was the Bon Iver (2008’s For Emma, Forever Ago) record. I feel like too many records are being made these days that are clever or ironic or unimpeachably trendy and cool. I guess I’m tired of records that are fun and cool and that reference all of the right records from the canon. (I love The Beach Boys, Pavement, and The Pixies, but I don’t need to hear any more records that are hybrids of the aforementioned... knowing which records to reference is not always the best way to make a substantial and worthwhile album.) When everything’s fun and cool it starts to get exhausting, like being at a party when everyone’s being light and ironic. After a while you just want some honesty and depth.
What are some unexpected discoveries one might make in your famed record collection?
Some unexpected records I truly love: Rod Stewart’s Greatest Hits. Spandau Ballet’s first album. Great Southern Trendkill by Pantera. Well, anything by Pantera. Neil Diamond’s Greatest Hits. Anything by Teddy Pendergrass. Prayers on Fire by The Birthday Party. James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Laura Branigan’s Greatest Hits. Sepultura’s Roots. Maybe these are some records people would be surprised to find in my collection.
Are there plans to remaster your back catalog any time in the near future?
Most of the music I made in the past was mastered on analog equipment, so I don’t feel the need to remaster any of it. I’d like to re-record Hotel and make it less professional sounding, though.
How is the Wait for Me tour going?
It’s great so far. For the last two months we’ve been in Europe alternating between big festival shows (50,000 people a night) and small theater shows (2,000 people a night). In September and October I’ll be in North America, where 2,000 capacity venues will actually be the larger end of the spectrum. It’s really odd having the United States as the country where I play the smallest venues. Humbling, but good, as humbling circumstances usually are.
What is your biggest fear and your greatest hope for the future?
My biggest fear is that humans will continue to create problems for themselves. For millennia people dealt with externally imposed problems (vicious animals, starvation, weather, bacteria, etc.). Now we manage to create most of our own problems and catastrophes (war, rape, brutality, avoidable famine, terrorism, etc). It’s tragic, as we’ve been so good at fixing so many of the things that made people miserable for so long. So, my fear is that people will continue to needlessly make themselves and others suffer. My greatest hope is that somehow we’ll find ourselves in a period of honesty and vulnerability, wherein people will admit that they’re all in the same boat. Everyone’s scared, everyone’s afraid of dying, everyone’s afraid of loneliness, everyone’s afraid of insignificance. The solidarity that would result from a collective admission of these fears would go a long way towards making the world a better place, or so I believe.
