We’ve Got A File On You: Moby

10:31 AM EDT on April 26, 2024

Mike Formanski

We've Got A File On You features interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.

Moby is an open book — literally. Few electronic producers across the last several decades have been the focus of such a sustained level of public and press attention the way the 58-year-old mononymous superstar (known in government documents as Richard Melville Hall) has. There's a lot out there to know about Moby, and much of it he's made available by his own design: His twin memoirs, 2016's Porcelain: A Memoir and Then It Fell Apart from 2019, are at turns revelatory, highly entertaining, and straight-up deeply unpleasant to consume. Even as his own ability to be wholly truthful about the past has come under scrutiny (more on that later), his warts-and-all approach to laying out his own personal travails would leave one to believe that, when it comes to reflecting on his recent and distant past, Moby is simply out of stories to tell.

And yet: As we speak about his latest album, Always Centered At Night, a softball question about how choice in collaborators over the years yields yet another notable, very Moby-esque anecdote seemingly from thin air. "I'm not looking for commercial perfection," he states about his choice in vocalists this go-round, which skews reasonably obscure with indie-R&B auteur Serpentwithfeet as the most easily recognizable name. "When I go on a streaming service and listen to a lot of pop music, the perfection leaves me cold. Over time, I've found that the voices that I love the most are the ones that have the most personality. They have technically amazing voices, but they still are able to communicate who they are as individuals — this great combination of strength and vulnerability."

To emphasize this creative pull, Moby brings up the first time he ever met late Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, who collaborated with the producer a few times over his career. "The first time I heard Mark sing live, I was like, 'Oh my God, that voice. How do I acquire that?' I managed to introduce myself backstage and assumed he was going to hate me, but he actually liked my music and was the nicest person I ever met."

Their last work together was on Moby's 2021 orchestral reworks record Reprise, with Lanegan returning for an orchestral version of "The Lonely Night" from the 2013 record Innocence — alongside guest vocalist Kris Kristofferson, no less. By Moby's account, the finished product was literally one of the last things Lanegan heard while on his deathbed before passing away in February of 2022. "Mark responded like I had just given him every Christmas and birthday present wrapped into one," Moby recalls. "I was able to send him the finished recording right before he died, and he was lying in his hospital bed listening to it and crying."

Across our conversation spanning some of Moby's more arcane career milestones, I was frequently fascinated by the somewhat demure and, at points, even sheepish tone from a public figure who, less than five years ago, was publicly proclaiming that he once rubbed his penis on a former president. Moby's tone across this interview suggested someone who's become increasingly uncomfortable with his past behavior, the gestures of those around him, and his own relationship with memory. Time will tell whether his flair for controversy-baiting has truly been extinguished, but for now it was fascinating to explore a more thoughtful and loquaciously cautious side of his public persona.

Appearing In The Video For Ultra Vivid Scene's "Mercy Seat" (1989)

MOBY: It was either 1988 or 1989, and I was DJing in a dive bar in Port Chester, New York. I was living in an abandoned factory with no running water or bathroom. I was desperately trying to make anything happen for myself — going around New York City, dropping off demo tapes everywhere, sending records, sending cassettes everywhere. My friend Julie Hermelin started dating Kurt Ralske, and Kurt was having an audition for a guitar player. I was so scared because he was on 4AD. To me, he was the most successful musician in the world because he was on 4AD.

I auditioned and, somehow, I got the job. I think I lasted all of three weeks before Kurt fired me. I like Kurt quite a lot. I definitely don't have hard feelings. It's, like, 400 years ago. But during those three weeks, MTV came and filmed us. I remember so distinctly watching 120 Minutes with my then-girlfriend Janet, and they played the video for "Mercy Seat" that MTV made for Kurt. They showed me for a grand total of three seconds in the video, and I was like, "Oh my God, this is awesome." That was me on MTV for three seconds in the basement of a rehearsal space in New York City. Back then, even having two people listen to a demo tape was the height of professional music excitement.