He's sold mucho records, been called the 'Iggy Pop of techno' while his appearance at 1995's Greenbelt Festival raised eyebrows from conservative evangelicalism. Liz Liew spoke at length to MOBY, before his gig opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Brixton, about his music and beliefs.

"That's a really good question, one I get asked a lot. Most people when they think of Christian music, they think of overt praise songs, which I have never really felt drawn to do! (Laughs...) One of my favourite Christian songs is Bach's 'Jesus Joy Of Man's Desiring' because there are no lyrics! I think of a beautiful sunset or a baby being born or even watching ants crawling on the sidewalk. There are no lyrics, but to me it's like a testament to the glory of God's creation. So I've often felt that perhaps I should have more specifically Christian lyrics but I don't feel compelled to write them. I think that a lot of nature and God's creation is very ambiguous - or at least not ambiguous but not easily understood by humans. That's sort of what I reflect through the music that I make."

How do you seek to communicate that to your listeners because some of your lyrics do not specifically relate to their corresponding titles?

"In the future I might write more didactic or issue-orientated lyrics but for now I don't think I'm very good at it. I think what I'm better at is communicating emotion - both ambiguous emotion and unambiguous emotion, rather than specific lyrics. So I'd rather deal with issues that are more important to me, like my beliefs, in interviews and in essays, which is a more prosaic way of dealing with things than writing about them in songs."

I understand that you started the classical guitar at the age of 10. Have you always been musical?

"I think so!"

What other instruments do you play?

"I play the guitar, bass drums, keyboards and do all my production and engineering."

So how did you make the transition to dance music, given your musical background?

"I don't think I ever made the transition from being like a rock musician to being a dance musician. When I was growing up I liked all types of music and...I've always made different types of music. It's just up until recently I haven't been allowed to release all my other stuff. I was signed to this small label in New York who would only let me put out the dance stuff. So I was writing classical things and punk rock songs, whatever - it just never got released."

How would you describe your musical style?

"I can't! Emotional - that's about it. Some of it's dance music, some of it's not. Some of it's punk rock, some of it's not."

But you're kind of known as the 'techno man'.

"Yeah, which I think is so strange 'cos, especially with the show tonight, I'm gonna do maybe four dance/techno things and five or six guitar-orientated things."

Because you're supporting the Chilis?