Vegan cupcake by xsnorkmaidenx

Many years ago I interviewed Lindsay ‘The Doctor’ McDougall (Triple J Personality & guitarist for Frenzal Rhomb) about something I feel super passionate about: Veganism/Vegetarianism. Here’s what he had to say on it:

I heard you first became a vegetarian when you joined Frenzal Rhomb. What did they say or do to persuade you to the animal friendly side?

Nothing much, apart from the incessant “Stop eating meat! Stop eating meat!” Actually, when I joined, Jason was the only one in the band who was vego. Ben who I replaced was vegan, as was our manager Chris, and Label boss Dianne. Before I joined the band, Jason was one of my heroes, and so of course I wanted to do everything he did, and going vego was one of them. It was only after that that I started to find out all the reasons that I should be vego, and he and Chris were a great source of info for that.

Is everyone in the band vegan/vego? Were they before they joined Frenzal?

To paraphrase Slade: “Mamma we’re all vego now”. Gordy went vego under similar circumstances to me; he joined the band and was opened up to a whole new world of being nice to stuff. I do seem to remember him eating a meat pie at the audition though. And Tom, our bassplayer, was vego before he joined the band, though he does love to say in interviews that he’s only vego around us, so we let him stay in the band. It’s certainly not a rule, that you gotta be vego to hang out with us. Our crew is rarely vego (know any good vego guitar techs?), but we’re not quiet about our beliefs around our mates.

On becoming a vegetarian, what challenges did you encounter?

Just the usual. Taunts from my friends, concern from my parents, complete and utter alienation from all society. Well, maybe not that bad. But I did have to completely rethink my life, coz I was a real big meat lover. Once I got myself sorted out, then I started to deal with all the questions people asked me. I figured the best way to defend myself was to learn as much as I could about animal rights, which led me to going vegan.

Were your family and friends supportive?

My mum owns a health food shop, and while she’s not vego, she understood where I was coming from, at least from a health point of view, and has helped me in that respect. My Dad’s cool with it, he even tried a little Tofurkey last Xmas, just to humour me. Back at the time my friends didn’t know what the hell I was on about and used to delight in dangling chicken wings in front of me. Funny thing is, I met up with an old friend of mine who told me back in school she was vego and I used to drag her into McDonalds and make her watch me eat filthy Big Macs and stuff. Goes to show… Now most of my friends are vego or vegan, and the ones who aren’t understand why I am, and it barely raises an eyebrow, let alone a chicken wing.

What made you decided to go vegan?

I was vego for about 2 years, and that whole time I was learning about all the various shit house things we do to animals, and it became obvious to me that eating cheese and eggs, and drinking milk all caused just as much suffering, or even more than eating meat. Battery hens and veal calves for example. And I saw the direct link between using animals for food and animals for clothing, it’s all part of the same evil industry, and I decided that it was the right thing, not to mention a natural step and an easy thing to so, for me to go vegan. And I had a lot of vegan friends, and I wanted to be as cool as them.

Do you ever get sick from your lifestyle choice of being a vegan?

Well, as I said, my mum owns a health food shop, and she’s been keeping me alive the whole time. Actually, I only ever get sick like anyone else, when I don’t eat the right things. On tour when it’s been hard to find enough protein to eat I’ve got a little weak and ill, but normally I eat more than enough of everything to stay on top of things. That combined with my mum’s supplements makes me a strong, strong boy. Of course I do drink too much, so if I get sick it’s the booze that’s to blame.

Do you find trouble eating when on tour?

Yeah, in some backwards places, like regional Australia, some parts of Europe and most of the USA. But I just plan ahead, find the vego restaurants in the cities we’re going to, pack a few tins of beans and two-minute noodle packets, and basically plan every day on tour around finding food, just like our ancestors did. Get into town, ask where the nearest health food shop / vego restaurant / supermarket is, and spend the rest of the day trying to find something to eat. And if I know a city is coming up with an awesome place to eat, I spend the preceding week looking forward to it. It’s pretty much all-consuming, and I bloody love it.

Did you still crave meat/animal products?

Sure thing, and I still do. Eighteen years of eating meat and cheese aint gonna go away overnight. The stench of a butcher or burning flesh makes me want to throw up, but I don’t think anyone can tell me they don’t like the thought of a cheesy pizza. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna go and get one though. People always ask us vegos and vegans why we eat mock meat and fake cheese, when it looks so much like the real stuff. But that’s exactly the point. We get to eat all the stuff you dirty carnivores eat, without hurting a bloody thing. One point to us, meat eaters – nil.

What are your top five best vegie eats in Australia?

Kingsland Vegetarian, ACT. Get the Assam Fish or the Hot & Spicy Mushroom Stems. Best things you’ll ever eat. Squirrels in Newmarket, QLD. The Lasagna rules, as does everything else they make. The Desserts are worth the trip up north alone. Vegetarian Orgasm, Gertrude St, Fitzroy. See, there is something good about melbourne. And it’s fucking great. La Panella Bakery, High Street, Preston, Vic. A normal looking bakery but everything in it is vego, and almost everything vegan. Meat pies, sausage rolls, muffins, apple scrolls, cinnamon doughnuts, jam doughnuts, chocolate jam doughnuts… this place has it all! Mother Chu’s, Pitt Street, Sydney (behind the Metro theatre). A bloody good Chinese vego place, with all the requisite mock meat stuff. The Wonton noodle-soup rules, and the szechuan vegetables and potato with gluten is fucken awesome.

Do you find that since you’ve become a vegan that you eat a lot more variety of foods and are willing to try more things?

Definitely. Coz you’re constantly looking for more vegan stuff, I guess it’s not about what you want to eat, but eating everything you can. So every vegan thing on every menu gets a thorough going over, and I’ve tried a whole bunch of stuff. Vegan lamb’s brains, anyone?

Do you encounter many vegan/vego punks on the road? What about people in punk bands you play with?

We were in Broken Hill two days ago, a town with no tofu, and I met a vego who had been vegan up til a week ago. With any luck (and a good talking to from me) she’ll go vegan again soon. And in Cummins two weeks before that I met a vegan in a population of 900. And in France, where they hate vegans almost as much as they hate the English, I met someone who told me they were “The only vegan in my house, the only vegan in my village, the only vegan in all of France”. Conclusion: there’s vegans fucking everywhere. Especially in bands. We play with a whole bunch of bands and there’s always a vego or vegan or two hiding in amongst them somewhere, and we band together to form the “vegan alliance – find food or kill!”

Do people ever come up to you at shows and talk to you about veganism? Do you get people saying that you’ve inspired them to go vegan/vego?

Most certainly. Not at every show, but I have definitely met a whole bunch of people who at the very least want me to explain myself, and maybe even wanna head down the same path. I set up an email address; vegancockhead@hotmail.com; for anyone who needs pushing over the line, or wants info on what to eat and stuff.

Do you call yourself as a vegan? If yes, why do you call yourself one? Why not just not not eat/buy/use animal products?

I call myself a vegan, primarily to be cool, and secondly because for me it’s more than just not eating animal products. Being vegan is also about doing everything you can to lessen and stop the suffering of all animals on earth. Getting out and letting people know how fucked it is to eat meat, how awful the whole industry is, to promote the alternatives, to sing petitions, write letters, hand out leaflets, do interviews, get drunk and lecture people self-righteously for hours… you get the point. I understand and respect people who don’t eat animal products but don’t wanna talk about it, but I want everyone to know, partly coz I want them to think about it too, and partly coz I want them to know how cool it is.

Do you use cruelty free products on your person? (shampoo etc) Do you carry over the no animal products rule into all aspects of your life?

I don’t eat, drink, wear or use any product that’s tested on animals, or has animal products in it, or if possible is made by a company that has other products that are tested on animals or contain animal ingredients. Fuck them. Although, as was the case with Nuttelex, sometimes you’re getting lied to and just don’t know it. So it’s a constant education, finding out as much as you can, all the newest info and latest let downs.

What to you is the biggest misconception about veganism?

That we’re weak, sickly hippies. I’m weak coz I’ve never been strong, I’m sick coz I drink too much, and I’M NOT A FUCKING HIPPY!

Would you ever date someone who’s not a vegan?

I have but it was shithouse. It’s such a personal thing, I think being a vegan, having that attitude to all living thing, is such a big part of who you are, that I would want to be with someone who wasn’t. And I don’t wanna stick my tongue where a charred piece of cow’s arse or a rancid piece of cheese has just been.

Do you think it’s important to use your celebrity status to bring attention to the cause?

I think it’s important for every vego and vegan to use everything they’ve got to bring attention to the cause. I get to spout on about it in interviews, on stage and in songs, and for some reason people think coz I’m in a band that I’ve got something more to say about it, which is great. But I’m sure most people who don’t spend half their time in taragos or drunk would know more than I do.

Frenzal did some gigs for Animal Liberation. Do you think you’d get involved in any form of activism for animal rights? Do you consider by choosing to be a vegan you’re being an activist?

I do as much as a lazy, hungover vegan can do. Letters, leafletting, protests, interviews and stuff. I haven’t been on any raids, but that’s only coz I’m lazy. I’d definitely like to do that sort of direct action, Chris and Ben used to get into it, I don’t usually hear about them till they’re over.

Do you think Frenzal will write songs speaking out about animal cruelty/rights?

We’ve written a few songs about animal cruelty, and mentioned it in other tunes. “You’ll go to Jail” and “Greyhound” on Sans Souci are animal rights songs. Thing is, we’re not very good at writing preachy songs, we prefer to slide the message in between layers of humour and swear words, and maybe that’s to our detriment coz sometimes it gets lost. But we are in the entertainment industry, and if we can entertain people and maybe let that message seep out at the same time, then our work here is done. If anyone knows anything about us, they’ll know about our politics, we don’t hide it in interviews or anything.

Do you think you’ll ever eat meat again?

Hell no. I can’t imagine ever needing or wanting to. Even if my lust for charred flesh became insatiable, mock meat technology is getting so good that it’ll be indistinguishable. Then there’ll be no reason for ANYONE to ever eat meat again.

What has being a vegan bought to your life?

Heaps of stuff. Most of all, even when I’m feeling the most hungover and fucked up I’ve ever felt, when the whole world has shat down upon me and my head feels like someone’s just thrown a steamroller at it, I still feel good about being a vegan. And of course the absolute coolness that comes with it.

What’s something else that you’re really passionate about?

Human rights. A lot of vegos forget that humans are animals, and the large umbrella of animal rights and cruelty to animals also covers humans. I go to a lot of protests, rallies and info nights for refugee rights, anti-war issues, and general fuck you John Howard/George Bush events, and it’s rare to see anyone from any animal rights groups there, and even though it’s easy to lose faith in humans when you’re trying to protect animals, I wonder how many people realise that we are also one of the animals that need protecting – from ourselves.

Of course the opposite is true as well, you don’t see any human rights protesters at animal rights meets – surely the saving of animals and the subsequent protection of the environment is a big step towards saving the doomed human race.