It’s nice to have a career that would warrant a collection CD, but the downside is that it also means I’m old.
I turned 40 last year and I think I understand why people can freak out about it. It’s not that 40 is old; it’s the gateway. All of a sudden, 50 and 60 seem very close.
On the verge of a mid-life crisis?
No. I feel my forties are the best age to be. You are still physically young but have experience, some success, and understand yourself and the world around you.
When you started out you were Christian and celibate. Didn’t you get the musician memo?
I love the teachings of Christ and the character of Christ. For me the structure of the Church was seductive. Also, I was 23 years old and uncomfortable with sex, and celibacy seemed a way to feel pure and a little bit superior, doing God’s will and avoiding the biological messiness of being human.
But you fell off the wagon, or should that be into bed?
I had a girlfriend who was a very serious Christian, too, and we would lapse on occasion and feel guilty. Time passed and I thought, if we have this biological inheritance that compels us to be sexual creatures . . .
Did it cause you to ease up on the religious side?
I think I came to a place where I saw the world is so incredibly complicated and nuanced that to have any one monolithic structure just didn’t seem to make sense.
Still get down on your knees?
I try to meditate every day, and I pray, but it is very simple; essentially, it’s that God would do his or her will.
Do you enjoy the celebrity status that has come with your success?
About six years ago I was obsessed with it, going out every night, dating celebrities, and I have never been lonelier or more depressed. Celebrity culture is junk food; you can’t sustain yourself on junk food.
Surely there’s an upside?
It’s a double-edged sword. The good side is that it enables you to have a larger audience for your work and to take your friends to dinner and not worry about the bill. At its core, it’s an institution that causes a lot of suffering.
Some musicians do drugs; you do tea. Until last year you even owned a tea shop in New York.
I love all the flavours and the cultural legacy of tea, from where it’s grown to how it’s processed and picked. And the medicinal benefits, the polyphenols and antioxidants.
Bit of a tea snob?
No, I’ll drink anything.
Even builders’ tea?
If I am in an airport, a cup of Lipton can be fantastic. So, too, can a cup of Korean, handcrafted wild, white tea. I love a simple green tea.
You became a vegan 20 years ago. Ever hanker for a burger?
I feel that if you profess a love of animals, to eat them is inconsistent ethically.
Pop any pills?
I don’t take vitamins. I try to get everything I need from food. I eat pretty healthily and I juice a lot.
Ever eat junk when nobody is looking?
Yes, every now and then. I love it. My biggest failing is organic chocolate.
What about the sauce?
I’m trying to be sober. For the past ten years I’ve drunk way too much alcohol and, unfortunately, with alcohol I can’t be moderate. But at my age the hangovers have become unbearable.
No drugs either? You’re not very rock’n’roll
I stole pot from my mother when I was 10. Then, at 19, I tried acid and didn’t like it. In the late 1990s I tried Ecstasy a few times and cocaine. Luckily, I didn’t like anything very much.
When you’re sick, do you visit the men in white coats?
It depends. I had Lyme disease (an infection that derives from a tick bite) ten years ago. I went to a Chinese medicine guy who gave me pills that didn’t do a thing. I went to my family doctor and a course of antibiotics knocked it out. There are times when you need Western medicine.
Are you a Downward Dog kind of guy?
I walk everywhere and that’s about 95 per cent of my exercise. The other 5 per cent is push-ups and weights.
What about mental housecleaning?
As a New Yorker, of course I’ve done therapy. I did psychoanalysis for a while, looking at my childhood. Now I do cognitive behavioral therapy for panic attacks. I have a predisposition towards worry. Cognitive therapy teaches you how to replace crazy thoughts with rational thoughts.
Think you’ll tie the knot?
I love the idea of marriage and raising a family and I’d say I am passively pursuing it.
You’re a big environmentalist. So how big is your carbon footprint?
It’s minuscule. I recycle, I don’t drive, my apartment was designed on environment principles. But my professional footprint, the tour buses, etc, is a disaster.
And the solution is?
Some bands figure out how much carbon they release through touring and then plant 100,000 trees. I think that’s a great idea.
Happy camper in general?
Yes, but not all the time. I have some friends who seem to be happy all the time and I want to spend more time with them and figure out their secret.
Think about death?
I do, not out of fear, but curiosity. I’m not in a hurry, but I am interested to see what happens.
Your tombstone will say?
I wish I didn’t worry so much.
New York, New York, Moby’s latest single, is released on Monday; Go: The Very Best of Moby is released by Mute on November 6.
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"I feel that if you profess a love of animals, to eat them is inconsistent ethically.", unethically "quoting" Morrissey there...
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