FamousVeggie.com's Celebrity Interview with
John Feldmann.

1. What type of vegetarian are you?(vegan,lacto,lacto ovo,etc.)

I'd say I am 95% Vegan. There is a soy coffee drink I get at the Coffee Bean that may have some skim milk powder in it, and I eat Kettle Chips (which may not be vegan) but that's it!

2.At what age did you make the decision to go vegetarian/vegan?

I was 29 years old when I went vegetarian. I've been vegan for 5 months, vegetarian for 4 years.

3. What was your reason for going vegan?

I am a very busy guy, so I used to eat a lot of fast food. I just had one too many "crunchy" things in my chicken sandwiches. I figured there has to be another way. I was so sick of being grossed out every time I ate meat. I am not ignorant about where meat and dairy comes from any longer, so I have to do what my heart tells me to.

4.What (if anything) do you find hard about being vegan?

I live on microwaved food on the road. I have to take B 12 and mineral supplements. It is really hard to find good vegan food in places like Des Moines and Scranton, etc. They usually only have Gardenburgers, which have cheese so they are no good for me! I always hunt down the local Wild Oats (if there is one in the city we are in).If we ever sell tons of records the first thing I'm getting is a vegan cook!

5. Do you find that you feel better or worse since going vegan?

I feel more alert and spiritually more alive. I know I am doing the right thing.

6.Do you find it's hard to tour while keeping a vegan and cruelty free lifestyle?

I have a hard time watching people eat meat around me. Our guitar player is almost all vege now. I always buy the food, so everyone is sort of forced to eat vegan-- I like that. I do miss the social stuff, like eating with everyone at Denny's at 3:00 AM, but those places gross me out too much these days.

7.What about animal rights do you have any thoughts on that?

I don't wear leather and I am a member of PETA. I like doing the action alert stuff when we are on the road. We have about 5 animal rights songs, and I usually say something about animal rights from the stage. Sometimes it is a fine line between preaching and telling someone your opinion. I try to keep it simple and to the point.

8. How far do you go? Do you wear leather?Visit circuses?Etc?

10 years ago when the whole dolphin/tuna thing was really happening I would spent an hour a night stickering tuna cans with animal rights stickers. I would NEVER go to a circus, and I would demonstrate against them if they used animals. If I have kids, I would raise them vegan and would only entertain them with things that do not involve animals.

9. What about family and friends are they understanding of this lifestyle? What about your significant other?

My girlfriend is slowly getting off chicken. It sicks me out so much when she eats it. The one or two times a month she eats it I can't kiss her for 3 days after. My sister has been vege/vegan for 15 years, she really inspired me. A lot of the bands I work with are now vege also.

10.Is the music industry more or less accepting of the vegetarian lifestyle than the average person?

I think there are a lot of musicians that are aware how wrong it is to kill another being. I think people are becoming more aware in general. Once people try Boca and Veat products, they realize it isn't as hard as they think.

11.What are some dumb things you hear from non-vegetarians?

"It is too expensive to be vege" "All the vege food I've had tastes like poo-poo". A lot of people are just ignorant. I wish they could all see "Meet Your Meat" or "A Cow At My Table" -- then let's see how funny it is.

12. Tell the readers where they may know you from.

Our biggest single so far was "Here In Your Bedroom" in 1996. We have been on Conan O'Brian, Farm Club, 120 Minutes, The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show. We have songs in the Waterboy soundtrack, American Pie, Something About Mary, Kingpin,and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game. We've toured with Blink182, the Sex Pistols, No Doubt, 311, Warped. We've toured the world 4 or 5 times, we've made 8 videos, and sold over 750,000 records. I've produced both Showoff and Mest for Maverick records, and I got Reel Big Fish signed to a record deal.

13.Do you plan on doing any songs talking about vegetarianism/ animal rights in the future?

We have a song called "For Your Greed" about how humans kill with no conscience. We have another called "You Think It's A Joke" about people who think they are better than animals. "What Gives You The Right" is about vivisection, "Car Dog " is about my dog Foxy, and "the Prince of Pico" is about my late dog Jake. We have a song called "Fuck Ted Nugent" that sort of explains itself.

14.Do you have any new projects coming up in the future?

We want to do a PETA benefit show when we get back to LA, and I am going to produce a band called Unloco from Austin.

15.Do you know any other famous vegetarians/vegans?

Good Riddance, the Hippos, Midtown, Chris Cayton, Propaghandi, Christina Applegate.

16.What are some of your favorite things to eat?

Veat is my favorite at the moment, but I also love Tofutti, the vegan Amy's products, anything from Boca, Native Foods (the Baja Tacos are soooo good!) is my favorite restaurant right now (with Toi on Wilshire a close second, vege panaang is the best with baked tofu! Ives makes great stuff also.

17.What would you like to tell your fans about going Vegetarian?

You can still feel and look good, and stay healthy without eating meat. I still go crazy on stage, and stay in good shape. It isn't that hard!! It is absolutely the right thing to do.

18.Have any last thoughts or words of wisdom?

Make your loved ones watch "Meet Your Meet". There is no excuse for killing anything once you know the truth about factory farms, de-beaking, tail docking, etc. Animals have just as much right to live free as we do.