FOR someone who started in punk, moved on to new wave and then got into hip hop via industrial music and reggae, before doing his own DJ-ing and mixing and then becoming the first real star of Techno; Moby is a veritable touchstone of truth in the weird and wonderful world of popular culture. Real name Richard Hall, he was brought up in New York by representatives of the previous generation's musical icons - hippy parents. "My mother did acid when she was pregnant with me ... I think that explains a lot," he says, disarmingly.
He's a bit of a mad bastard is our Moby. If you want the standard stuff, here goes: he doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, he doesn't do drugs, is a strict vegan (aren't they all) and is a Christian. All very odd, but odder still is his musical journey and where he has ended up on his new album.
He started out in a punk/speed metal band called The Vatican Commandoes (no, me neither) before joining Flipper. It's just bloody typical that someone like Moby would be in Flipper, because they are the sort of band who managed to straddle two of the most important musical moments of the last few decades Flipper were on the bill with the Sex Pistols that night in San Francisco when Lydon called it a day; and years later they were pencilled in to support Nirvana on the tour that never was following Cobain's death.
As the 1980s progressed, Moby found himself selling off his guitars and getting into the burgeoning Acid House scene. As a DJ and mixer he scored a top 10 hit with Go! (the one with the Twin Peaks sample) and he became one of the first people to put a recognisable face on the largely anonymous Techno scene. By the time he got around to releasing his debut album, Everything Is Wrong (1993), he was clearly pushing the limits and raising the BPMs over the 200 mark. Whether it was the exhilarating Feeling So Real or the spaced out Into The Blue, Moby mixed it like it meant it.
Then he woke up one morning to discover that Techno had run its course, or rather that "intelligent Techno" had run its course: "The only thing that differentiates `intelligent Techno' from other Techno," he says, "is you really can't dance to `intelligent Techno' and most white guys find dancing to be pretty threatening." Tiring of dance music, he traded in his keyboards, sequencers and samplers for some new guitars (ironic or what?) and in a mini version of Bob Dylan going electric, Moby has officially become a dance traitor and gone back to guitar driven rock on his new album, Animal Rights (Mute Records).
Explain yourself? "It's just that dance music doesn't have the same spirit as it had five years ago. Whereas with a Hole or Smashing Pumpkins record, I'll get caught up in it emotionally and spiritually and want to make it part of my life. I wanna connect to something human."
This being Moby, this is no ordinary guitar rock album. From white knuckle hardcore to shuddering guitar sounds that would make you average death metal guitar hero seem like John Denver, this is as perfect a slice of grindcore as you'll hear. As the accompanying notes say: "you'll be laughing all the way to the open heart surgery".
Moby plays the Temple Bar Music Centre on October 28th.
TALKING about the death of Techno and all of that, the lovely people at Strictly Handbag are celebrating 100 nights of dancing round their accessories. Since its inception, Strictly Handbag has specialised in playing music that has words to it and not merely sticking a drum machine in the corner and imploring people to wave their hands in the air. A few months ago they picked up their belongings from the floor of The Kitchen and legged it across Dame Street to their current home at Ri Ra and 40,000 happy customers later they're asking you to dance around your handbag for Jesus next Monday night at their celebratory party. Your DJs are Mick Heaney and Conor Ferguson and you'd wanna get there for around 11 p.m. ...
