Saturday 11 September 2010

INTERVIEW WITH RAT (STATEMENT)




























1. Please introduce yourself to the readers, who are you, what do you do in Life, aims, hopes, fears. Your interests and motivations.

im rat, 42 year old punk! ive been in to punk since i was about 14, ive never turned my back on it, punk helped make me what i am. it helped me to question and form my own opinions, and act accordingly.

what do i do in life? i survive, tho struggle to justify my own existence, aswell as others. im a misanthrope.


2. According to the “Legend” you seem to have been involved in the genesis of the VeganStraightEdge(VSE) thing, can you share that story with us? Looking back, now more than 15 years since the coining of the term and the worldwide reality of this phenomena, what feelings do you have towards it? Do you feel any sense of responsibility? Do you see it in the same way you saw it back in those days? Are you disappointed, surprised…?

i woulsdnt say i was involved in that, as ive never really claimed to be sxe as i was druik and drug free before i even knew what sxe was. so why should i label myself something that was "invented" after i was that way?

i think vegan reich kind of gave vsxe the kick start and pushed it to what it is today, so that doesnt directly have anything to do with me, altho, when i first met and hung out with sean for a month, he wasnt drink and drug free himself.

i dont feel any responsibility at all, because like ive said, i dont think it had anything to do with me.

i guess im only dissapointed that many people flaked out on being vsxe, and more importnantly gave up veganism. that really pisses me off and i hope these people get what they deserve, turning their backs on the reality of meat and dairy.



3. Tell us about the musical projects you’ve been involved in throughout these years and the projects, bands who have influenced you or that you regard as cornerstones in the shaping of your personal ideological life…

the punk (mainly anarcho punk) scene helped me become who i am today. many bands throughout that time have done different things to influence me, musically, and ethically/socially.

i played with the apostles for a very brief time and theyve had a very big impact and influence on me, still today even.

the first band i played in was a local one to me called la masque, this was in the early to mid 1980s.

ive also played in these bands

muted existence

arrogance

anorexia

riot clone

unborn

cracked cop skulls.

the bands that have probably made the biggest impact on me were flux of pink indians for getting me started on the road to veganism, after getting their first 7" with two animal rights songs on. it opened my eyes.

many of the early 80s anarcho bands helped me along my a/r path, like conflict, riot/clone and exis-tance to name a few.



4. What type of stuff have you been listening to in these last days? What VSE bands are you into?

i mainly listen to early 80s uk punk, vice squad, uk subs, blitz, discharge, icon ad, all the riot city and no future label bands, and many. many others.

at this precise moment im listening to onslaught power from hell LP, again, early 80s stuff. before that it was one way system.

as for today vsxe stuff, not really sure, i dont listen to that much of it. i think the last vsxe stuff i bought was the hello bastards 7" which is awesome! it was about time someone took vsxe to a different musical level.

i actually suggested to nick (unborn vocalist) that we (unborn) went down that line of some kind of metal d-beat but he just didnt think people would be in to it.

tears of gaia were really good too. there are quite a few i guess, but i just dont often buy stuff.



5. In the Hardline days you seemed to have been always someone who kept a certain distance while at the same time gravitating around it, how did you see it in those days and how do you see it now? What did distinguish you from the HL philosophy, what made you stay out? Do you see any potentiality in it? What flaws have you found on the HL thing? Can you tell us a bit about the HL gatherings…?

i think too many people possibly saw hardline and thought "thats what i want to be" when, myself, sean and others, were already that way. there were a few things with hardline that i didnt agree with, the homosexuality stance(being the main one), the family unit thing. i think as my ideas have "progressed" i think im now quite far away from the hardline phylosophy.

ive always been an atheist, and always will be, im not in to the human race, id like to think that pretty soon the human race gets wiped off this planet, so that non human animals and nature are left to their own devices, and can some how get things back to where they were before humans started to destroy so much shit.

i think these two things are probably pretty much against hardline ideology.

i met some cool people at the hardline gatherings, and some total fuckwits too! most of the cool people are still aroundd, still vegan and still care about whats going on in this fucked up world!



6. Is the name UNBORN directly related to the abortion issue and what is your opinion on that matter(or is the name a clear pro-life statement)?

ha ha ha, no, its not. at that time i was strongly opposed to abortion, nick wasnt, so i was a bit surprised when he sugested that name!

what it actually meant to us was unborn ideas that people had in their heads, we wanted to try and get those ideas flowing.

as i said, i used to be strongly opposed to abortion, but now im more concerned with the over population of this planet, and teh destruction that over population brings.

so, for me, i have to see the greater picture, and that is of the survival of the planet, not survival of individuals.



7. You seem to be a regular on message boards and forums, how much time do you spend in front of a computer and what impact have you noticed in the scene since the kids got online?

ha, yeah i probably spend too much time on the internet! i dont go on that many hardcore forums, mainly just vegan ones, so im really not up with what goes on in the hardcore scene, and to an extent, i dont even care!



8. In one of these message boards I’ve noticed you getting involved in a discussion on primitivism and freeganism, how do you see these 2 perspectives, is there any interesting points in it? All rubbish? What’s your opinion?

freganism as in taking thrown away VEGAN food is fine. taking non vegan food, when you claim veganism is just bullshit. we, as vegans have to show the world that animal products are NOT food!

as for primitivism, i want to see an end to the human species, so im not sure that fits in with what i believe!

as you can tell, im a pessimist!


9. Tell me who is in your opinion the most over-rated hardcore band and the most underated one as well…?

im probably the wrong person to be answering, as im really not that clued up to what goes on in the hardcore scene!


10. Last words, props, whatever…

thanks to everybody that stands by their veganism and doesnt turn their backs.


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