Moby: "Alcohol and cocaine aren't the healthiest ways to achieve transcendence​"

Moby's relationship with alcohol and drugs is no secret. The artist revealed in his book Porcelain how he used to find himself surrounded by "bags of drugs" in the early hours, but it didn't necessarily pay off mentally for him.

In an interview with The Talks, the New York-born musician admitted his old ways weren't the best way of elevating his mind to a new level of existence, now realising that music is the way to do that.

"Music is one of the healthiest forms of transcendence and magic! As someone who used to spend a lot of time drinking and doing drugs, I can say that alcohol and cocaine are not necessarily the healthiest ways to achieve magical transcendence.

"Music can operate as such a powerful and profound healing modality even though technical it has no material substance, you know?"

Having had commercial success in the 1990s with 'Go', 'Move' and third album 'Everything Is Wrong', he explains how that experience taught him that having everything doesn't bring happiness.

"I thought that if I somehow managed to have the right record deal and the right girlfriend and the right apartment and the right membership in the music scene and the right amount of public attention.

"I thought everything in my life would be perfect if I could just have those things. And then the universe, with its sort of challenging sense of humor, gave me everything I wanted but times a thousand. And I was completely miserable. The least happy I ever have been as a person and as a musician was when I was having the most commercial success."

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter