In the early 90s Moby became one of the first faces people put to dance music attracting as much derision as praise. Plenty of electronica artists have bagged him for stealing their ideas and making more money than them. He's a devout Christian and a militant vegan but rarely speaks about either subject. The New Yorker was recently gagged when lashing out at the US government/CIA about September 11 and even apologised. Currently he’s involved in a public slanging match with Eminem. Also recently a rumour went around that he likes to flop his cock out in crowded areas to see how many people he can rub with it without them knowing (he claims he said it in jest).

First time he visited Melbourne he cleared out a rave as he unleashed favourite punk tunes. Second time he hit on every chick that the record company invited to dinner. Last time around he was a superstar copping flak for exploiting old blues stars in his sampling. Recently he’s released 18 and rang in from Austria to talk about that and other things.

What state of mind have I found you in?
It’s 5.45am. I’ve been drinking and apart from that I’m okay.

Is there a cinematic character would you liken yourself to?
Kevin Spacey in ‘K-PAX’. He’s a space alien and so am I. Like him I’m just trying to better understand myself and the people around me.

What did David Bowie make of the opening track of 18 – ‘We Are All Made of Stars’?
It’s funny because I just emailed him recently and I said, ‘on a subconscious level I think I was influenced by ‘Heroes’. The guitar in ‘Heroes’. And he wrote me back and said, ‘on a subconscious level I’m not offended and I think it’s a wonderful song’. The weird thing about ‘We Are All Made of Stars’ was I never thought of it as being influenced by Bowie. All of a sudden the song comes out and people keep saying that it reminds them of Bowie. It wasn’t intentional. I was actually thinking more of early new wave stuff like Magazine.

You’re pretty active on your website. It’s obviously a conscious choice to be so contactable.
One of the reasons that I make records, do interviews and play concerts is because I love, I mean I almost pathologically love, communicating with people.

Do you attract your fair share of freaks?
Not really. I think most of my fans seem to be like really smart, open minded people.

With no freakish angle?
Honestly, I would kind of welcome some freaks cos that would be very entertaining. Most of the people I’ve met who are fans of mine tend to be bright, educated, very, very open minded people.

You’ve attacked people for using samples from an academic angle rather than an emotional one.
What I was trying to say was when I use vocal samples on my records I’m not thinking about them as far as … What they represent contextually or circumstantially that’s not really my criteria for using them. My criteria is that they affect me on a very, very strong emotional level. I mean I appreciate the contextual and circumstantial y’know where they come from but that’s not why I’m using them.

How do you feel about people who are quite obsessive about picking out where the samples have come from?
I think 100,000 years ago most human beings lived to be twenty years old. But now that we live in the contemporary world and we live to be much older people need hobbies. So if people’s hobbies are figuring out where samples come from then more power to them.

You’ve had plenty of people accuse you of stealing stuff.
What’s ironic is the only criticism I’ve received as far as using old African-American vocal samples has been from white guys in their mid-40s. I mean I have a lot of black friends in New York and they love my records so I’m not too concerned about the authenticity of my records because the truth is when someone makes a record it’s inherently predicated on the efforts of other people. Whether it’s a hip hop record or a rock record or a dance record. So whatever anyone does is inherently collage.

Are you a record bin obsessive nerd?
No, not at all. I love music and I go out and buy records that I love but I don’t have a huge record collection. I buy things as they appeal to me. There are some people who’ve devoted their lives to collecting as many records as they can and I admire that but at the same time I just try and buy records that I love. I guess that on one level it’s subjective quality as opposed to quantity.

What’s the biggest element you’ve brought to dance music?
The biggest element I’ve brought to dance music is not being a dance musician. I mean the records I make, I mean honestly, if anyone were to play one of my albums at a dance club at midnight they would be fired. I mean I love dance music but I don’t think the records I make are necessarily dance music. They’re not records that would be played in nightclubs.

If you play it at 6am on a Sunday morning would you get fired?
I think my records like Play and 18 are much more records that you would listen to driving home from work or making dinner with your friends or listening to before you go to bed. They’re very quiet, introspective records. They’re also very personal records. As tragic as this might sound if you listening to all my records you get a very good sense of who I happen to be as a human being. Attractive or offensive? I don’t know but nonetheless the records I make are very, very personal.

Do you try and offend people?
In my youth I did. I use to play in hardcore punk rock groups and we tried to make records that on one hand would attract people but also offend them. But nonetheless I think I left that behind in my adolescence. At the time I was a presumptuous adolescent jerk. Hopefully I’ve moved beyond that now.

It’s all about attraction now?
No, not lowest common denominator attraction. More the idea of attracting people with records that are beautiful and emotional and atmospheric. If people don’t like my records that’s really their subjective choice. But I try to make records that people will love on an emotional, beautiful and atmospheric level.

What about being a pop star?
But a pop star in the most idiosyncratic, bizarre sense of the word. I mean compare me to someone like Britney Spears. She’s sexy, and she dances well, and she’s hot and she sings well and makes very radio friendly songs. I’m a weird, bald guy from New York City.

Have you made baldness attractive?
(laughs) No. Oh, trust me. If I could have hair I would. I wish I had a choice. The reason I shave my head is because I have a receding hairline.

Have you ever tried a wig?
The problem is when you wear a wig you sweat too much.

What do you think of Elton John’s wigging out?
He wears it very well.

Has Elton given some tips on what you could do?
He doesn’t talk about the wig too much.

What kind of ‘do’ would you like to have?
I’d love to have … I don’t know look at someone like Brad Pitt. Or Bono or David Bowie. They all have great haircuts. But if I were to let my hair grow I’d end up looking like Phil Collins.

You’ve forgiven yourself?
I kind of have to go now.

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