Guest guest Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 Short excert from the slaphead Moby interview ( full shenanegins at http://www.cdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3547 ) : Q13: At the beginning of your career, you were best known for being the “vegan teetotal celibate Christian dance star”. Can you talk a bit about what led you to make those lifestyle choices? A: I think what happened was, I did an interview 15 or 16 years ago and I said that I was a vegan and a Christian and at the time I wasn’t drinking. So now, 15 or 16 years later, it still follows me around, but only in the UK. For some reason, I travel the rest of the world and no-one ever thinks of me as a vegan, Christian, crazy teetotaller. They think of me as some weird guy from New York who makes records. But there does seem to be a British journalistic obsession with me as this vegan Christian teetotaller, when really the veracity of those things hasn’t… it hasn’t really comprehensively been true for a long time. So, I mean, I’m still a vegan, but the world is a complicated place and if people choose to eat meat, well, that’s their choice and if I want someone to respect my lifestyle choices, in turn, I have to respect theirs and I’m a teetotaller now, but I’ve certainly put away my fair share of liquor in my life and as far as being a Christian, yeah, I love the teachings of Christ, but I don’t really think I have much in common with other Christians and I certainly would never, ever deign to argue about religion with someone. If someone wants to be a Muslim or a Hindu or a Jew or a Satanist or whatever, that’s their choice and far be it for me to ever criticise them or try to proselytise to them. Q9: Although you’re known for being a very engaged and conscious artist, is it important that you’ve kept this away from the actual music? You may be vegan, you may loath George Bush, but you don’t sing about these things. A: Creatively… I’ve tried to write issue-oriented songs. I’ve tried to write songs inspired by politics. I’ve tried to write songs inspired by social concerns or ethical concerns. They always end up terrible! There are a lot of artists in the last 30 or 40 years who’ve been great at writing issue-oriented songs, whether it’s Public Enemy or the Clash or Cat Stevens or whomever, Credence Clearwater Revival, but whenever I’ve tried to write issue-oriented songs, they just seem really didactic and heavy-handed, so it’s to everyone’s benefit that I don’t write issue-oriented songs, that I just keep my annoying opinions, you know, in the realm of writing essays. Peter H The all-new Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.