Watch Moby’s ‘Punk Rock Vegan Movie’ ft HR, Ian MacKaye, Captain Sensible & more
Moby has added Documentary Director to his CV with a subject very near to his heart. Punk Rock Vegan Movie was written, directed, shot and scored by Moby and "looks at the surprising history of punk rock and animal rights activism." The film features interviews with dozens of musicians, including Ian MacKaye, HR, John Joseph, Captain Sensible, Dave Navarro, Rob Zombie, Walter Schreifels, Wes Eisold, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Steve Ignorant, and Davey Havok, just to name a few.
"There’s nothing in my life more important than being an animal rights activist," Moby told the San Francisco Chronicle this week. "I love making music, I love doing lots of other things, but all of that is secondary. So my hope is that this movie maybe makes people question, Why am I continuing to support a food system that kills a trillion animals a year; destroys the rain forest; causes antibiotic resistance; causes climate change, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity? If anyone’s in favor of those things, by all means go to Burger King. But if you’re troubled by those things, you probably shouldn’t be supporting that industry."
You can watch Punk Rock Vegan Movie via Moby's YouTube here:
Meanwhile, Moby has announced new album Resound NYC which will be out May 12 via Deutsche Grammophon. Much like his 2021 album Reprise, this has him reworking songs from his back catalog with orchestral arrangements. Specifically, these songs were written or recorded in New York from the years 1994 to 2010, and to help Moby has enlisted an army of guest vocalists, including Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins, Damien Jurado, Danielle Ponder, The Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson, Gregory Porter, The Temper Trap and more.
“An orchestra can be anything, it can be whatever the composer wants it to be,” Moby says. “So rather than having every song receive the same orchestral treatment, I kind of built a bespoke orchestral approach for each song.” As for his recollection of the era he's pulling from, he says, "When you think of the ’90s, Bill Clinton was President; the rave scene was this utopian, idyllic world; the Soviet Union had ended; climate change was just an idea for a book that Al Gore was going to write. Back then, making music was this celebration of the potential that our world had, that our culture had. And now it’s almost a refuge in an at times terrifying and apocalyptic world.”
You can listen to "In This World," which features Marisha Wallace, below.
RESOUND NYC
In My Heart ft. Gregory Porter
Extreme Ways ft. The Temper Trap
South Side ft. Ricky Wilson
Flower (Find My Baby) ft. Amythyst Kiah
In This World ft. Marisha Wallace
Helpless ft. Margo Timmins, Damien Jurado
Signs Of Love
Perfect Life ft. Ricky Wilson
When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die ft. P.T. Banks
Slipping Away
Second Cool Hive ft. OUM, Sarah Willis
Hyenas
Last Night
Run On ft. Danielle Ponder, Elijah Ponder
Walk With Me ft. Lady Blackbird