Sober living for the revolution

Name: Tommy
Age: 28
Location: Ruhrpott, Germany

How long are you sober ?
It's 7 years now.

Why did you decide to be straight edge ?
I decided to become straight edge in the first place because I liked
the idea of having full control over
my life and the things that I do at all times. That being said, I had
my times with drugs and booze, intense times,
so I can tell the difference it makes and the impact it can have on
someones life.

How long are you vegan ?
I'm vegan for a little longer than I've been straight edge.
Why are you vegan ?
I always was a big fan of meat. Just for the taste of it. I grew up
like most people being tought, that eating meat
is part of a healthy diet. Then I started this band with this dude I
barely knew who happened to be a vegan. So I started
joking about it and questioning everything about veganism but at some
point I realized, that he always had the
better arguments. There is nothing in this world that justifies the
slaughter and the abuse of innocent beings.
I decided to become a vegan little later. I've never been a vegetarian though.

What do you think about "edge breaking" ?
That makes me sad every time. Of course I saw a lot of people dropping
the ball throughout the years and I never got it.
When I was at Fluff Fest this year I hung out with Greg Bennick
(Trial) that one day and we were talking about
all kinds of stuff. Some other dude joined the conversation and they
knew each other from back in the days, so they started
talking about the past and people they know and then the dude said
that someone broke edge. Then Greg said something that
has been stuck in my head since then. He said "I just don't get it.
How hard is it to stay straight edge?" Then he looked at me,
raised his hand into a rejecting position and said "No, thanks."
That's it, it's really not hard to stay straight edge at all.
I don't think that you should punch people in the face for breaking
edge but it's ok to let them know if you are disappointed.

What's your opinion about D.I.Y. ?
DIY is the foundation of everything I believe in. Without DIY, there
would be no punk or hardcore scene or anything like that.
I think it is ok to let someone else take care of certain things,
espacially if these things are very time consuming and affecting
your creativity and productivity, but as I said in the straight edge
question, I just really like to be in control over my life.

Do you show that you are vegan edge ? Do you x'up or have edge tattoos?
Yes. To all of these questions. I wear animal rights and straight edge
merchandise, have tattoos on these issues and x-up on shows.
In my opinion, neither veganism nor straight edge are subjects that
should only serve as an identitary purpose. so when I show that
I am vegan edge, I support all the ideas behind it and it can serve as
a conversation-starter on these topics.

Do you play in a band ? Is the band vegan edge ?
I play in a band called WOLF DOWN. It's a vegan straight edge hardcore
band from western Germany.

What's about your local scene ? Many vegan edge people around ? Many
shows (common and vegan edge)?
I guess there are some vegan straight edge people. The Ruhrpott once
was a place where a lot of hardcore shows took place, but this
all ended a few years ago. Nowadays, the shows in our area are sadly
more the big shows, not much DIY spirit left here.
But I think you can't really blame the people, there's just a lack of
reliable venues to set up shows. And a lot of bands asking for
too much money nowadays.

What do you think about violent dancing ? Do you practice it ?
I like moshing. As long as you are careful and take care of each other
it can be great fun. I don't like the whole tough guy shit
with the suckerpunching and stuff (which is most likely referred to by
"violent dancing") though. That's just dumb.

What are your 3 favourite straight edge bands ?
Have Heart
Champion
Mindset

What are your 3 favourite bands ?
xUnderoathx
BringXMeXTheXHorizon
Asking x Alexandria

Do you watch TV ? What do you think about it ?
Yeah, every now and then I watch TV. Mostly while having dinner or if
something good is on like news or documentaries. But I'm really into
TV Shows, I just watch them online.

What do you think about the qoute "Straight Edge is politics" ?
I think there is nothing wrong with this quote.

What do you think about the hardline movement ?
Stupid. Makes me really angry and puts all the positive ideas in a bad
spot and scares people away.

What do you think about pro-choice and pro-life ?
I think that everyone has the right on his_her opinion on that matter.
I also think that a womyn's body is her own fucking business.

What do you think about religions ?
Nothing good. It's ok to have some sort of spirituality, but all the
dogmatic religions are shit.

Any shout outs ? Things to check out ?
Thanks for getting in touch! If anyone is interested, this is my
band's facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WOLFxDOWN
xvx

Name:Reinhard

Age: 23
Location: close to Vienna

translated

How long are you sober ?

More than 4 years.

Why did you decide to be straight edge ?

Soon after my girlfriend became Straight Edge I decided to choose this path, too. Straight Edge was a well knowen thing for me for a long time , because I knew it from bands like Maroon. I always regarded sXe as a very positiv and good thing

Furthermore my brother decided to live a „drug free livestyle“ some time before this (heself doesn't call himself sXe).

The main reason why i decided to live sXe, is that i'm fed up with booze drinking (i never took “illegal“ drugs). I didn't see any sense in boozing and loosing control. I just wanted to be clear minded and putting my energy in usefull things.

That's why sXe is a logical step for me.

Now I can't imagine why drinking was such a cool thing for me.

How long are you vegan ?

Almost 5 years.

Why are you vegan ?

The band maroon is part of it again ;)

I got knowen to such topics as veganism and animal rights through the lyrics of Maroon, thus i reflected my own consum and its outcome. I informed myself more and more about veganism and animal rights on the Internet and decided to become a vegetarian when i turned 18 with the goal to reach veganism one day. After 6 months, soon after i watched “Earthlings“, i prompt decided to live vegan. My parents tried to talk me out of this decision, but i never let mislead myself and stayed on the path i choosed. But i'm not angry, because they just worried about me, they never been confronted with such a situation and these topic.

My younger sister was such a big support for me, because soon after me she decided to became vegan, too. At the time we wrote many e-mails and were outlets for our frustation and anger about humanity.

To step back to the essentials: I'm vegan because i love animals. I realy don't want to support this insanity against the animals and I want to set a sign.

What do you think about „edge breaking“ ?

In the past I often wondered, why someone decide to break the edge, but now it's different. Everyone can live his or her life as he or she want to. If the decision to stop being edge is set, than it's ok for me. Everyone knows, that opinions change over the years. I don't care about drinking, smoking or drug use, except a third person is harmed. At this point I care realy much.
 

What's your opinion about D.I.Y. ?

Just great! It dosen't matter if it's fanzines, shows, shirts, recods or what ever. My brother set up free DIY shows in our rehearsaal room . And i started my on zine (the Worlds Havoc).

Do you show that you are vegan edge ? Do you x'up or have edge tattoos?

I have a vegan tattoo on my chest. Sometimes I x'up (especialy on shows I play) and I have enough shirts, which say, that i'm vegan and edge ;)

I want to make the people think, especialy in terms of veganism!

Do you play in a band ? Is the band vegan edge ?

Yes, i play drums in a band called Charly Bone. We are not a sXe Band, but every member of Charly Bone is vegan and this is very important for us. We write songs about it and we try to give speech about this topic on every show. I have the feeling, that the idea of veganism gets lost in the hardcore scene more and more and the animal rights are forgotten (not as in the past). We try to spread a positive message of veganism and being throug this a voice for the animals, which are tortured, killed and exploited day by day.

Animals can't speak, so we have to be the voice of the voicless.

We have to fight for their rights.

But we aren't a band, which beats someone, who isn't vegan. We want to inform the people. It's the greates success, if someone starts being vegan or vegetarian through us.

We are a bunch of friends (respectively brothers), who love to have a good time together, too.

What's about your local scene ? Many vegan edge people around ? Many shows (common and vegan edge)?

Well, in my area isn't a hardcore scene. There are some people, who are interested in these kind of music and come to the local shows, but i wouldn't regard them as a part of a scene. There aren't many vegan and edge people around, too. But I'm a little dreamer and hope that I'm able to set up a local scene in my area.... But time will tell. Hope dies last ;)

The Vienna hardcore scene is a lil bit bigger. There are many shows and some vegans. Straight Edge was a bigger thing years ago, but this is now past.

But even the Vienna hardcore scene is divided. And it's definitly the smaler part, which is interested in conciousnes.
 

What do you think about violent dancing ? Do you practice it ?

If violent dancing means moshing, then yes. But I try to be considerate and I'd never hurt anyone on purpose. Sure, there are many idiots, who punch others... but I would't hasty doom moshing, a moshpit, where everyone is respecfull is much fun, even if it seems for strangers aggressive.

It's fun for me, I don't want to harm anyone and everyone, who knows me, knows, that I just want to have fun and don't punch someone in his or her face.

What are your 3 favourite straight edge bands ?

 

Casey Jones

xKingdomx

xBishopx

What are your 3 favourite bands ?

Maroon

Earth Crisis

pppfffff.....that's difficult...it changes quite often.....at the moment I'm very into Cradle of Filth ;)

Do you watch TV ? What do you think about it ?

Yes, I watch very often TV. It's just entertainment for me and doesn't influence my thinking or my attitude. But I think TV has a huge impact on the people, as well as other medias like the Internet. This is very alarming, of course, but I think the problem is rather the influenceability of the people (religions, dictatorships, and so on).

The people have to start question everything again and learn to seperate reality and the illusory world.

What do you think about the qoute „Straight Edge is politics“ ?

Every action is some kind of politics, even if we don't realize it. Straight Edge is certainly a political statement, but for me it's a personal thing.

 

What do you think about the hardline movement ?

Absolutely idiotic! It's a good thing to take a stand for animal rights, but to connect it with homophobia and sexism is absolutely wrong.

 

What do you think about pro-choice and pro-life ?

Pro-choice! But to prefent an abortion: safer sex. It's clear, that you can get pregnat, even if you contracept. This happens often enough, but there are enough people, who fucks mindless arround.

What do you think about religions ?

I think religions can be something very dangerous, many wars are fought in the name of religions. People belive in sexist, racist, speciesist words and books, which are several thousands years old.

You don't need religions to belive in something. I just belive in myselfe, not in any god.

Any shout outs ? Things to check out ?

Cookis with chokolate and peanaut butter is the best thing ever! If you come to a Charly Bone show, then bring some vegan sweets. Question the system. Listen to Maroons album “When worlds collide”. The second edition of my zine “the worlds havoc” will be released in january or february 2013. Never punch a thin rehearsaal room wall two times (if you know what I mean Mike?). Visit Fluff Fest and eat there 20 vegan burgers, 10 cupcakes, 8 softice and enyo the best festival of the world! Thanks for the interview! SHOW SOME HEART! GO VEGAN!