Abridged versions of these interviews also appear in the May+June 2013 issue of VegNews.
Jake Bannon of Converge/Deathwish:
“In 2013, we exist in a very strange place—our hunter/gatherer instincts are still firing, but technology has given birth to “advanced” populations, so we’ve created factory farming and other unnatural ways of harvesting food.”
“Pop [music] is overproduced—so are processed foods. Pop is like creamsicles mixed with fudge mixed with bacon flakes and genetically modified soy and corn. And it tastes amazing! I listen to pop music all the time, but is it good for me? No. What I’m going to get from a Run-DMC song is going to be amazing. They’re talking about about social inequalities. They’re talking about injustices. They’re singing with purity. It feels like Zeus singing when you hear DMC’s words. Same with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It’s poetry.”
Moby:
“One of the reasons I’ve dedicated my life to making music is because I love the way that music affects me emotionally and the way that it affects other people emotionally, and different types of music have the capacity to elicit different emotional reactions in a listener. And I mean, listening to an old Black Flag single triggers a huge emotional reaction in me, but listening to Debussy or Kraftwerk or Donna Summer … Every type of music has the ability to create a really powerful emotional response.”
HILARY POLLACK 