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Saints Alive >
Celebrity Interviews
Lindsay McDougall is the guitarist with Australian band
Frenzal Rhomb. He's cute 'n' cuddly, crazy and compassionate.
I also have it on good authority that Frenzal Rhomb 'are the
punkest band in the world'!
'Dick Sandwich' was their first EP (1994) followed by the
LP 'Coughing Up A Storm' (1995). The band has charmed and
offended fans at shows as diverse as Livid, Big Day Out,
Melbourne's Push Over, Homebake, some shows with Offspring,
Propagandhi, SNFU, You Am I, NOFX, and The Meanies (amongst
others).
In 1997 Frenzal Rhomb became the biggest selling
independent artists of the year with their radio hit 'Punch in
the Face'. The album 'Not So Tough Now' went number 1 on the
national independent chart and stayed in the top 20 for over
90 weeks. In April 1999, Frenzal Rhomb released their mega
album 'A Man's Not a Camel' which spawned some huge hits such
as: 'Never had so much fun', 'You are not my friend' and
'We're going out tonight'.
The band are, unbelievably, all into animal rights ... but
as I couldn't fit everybody into my caravan I picked on
Lindsay for this interview ... read on .... |
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Interview by June Bird, May 2000. |
| June: |
Lindsay, I believe you're a vegan ..... when did
you make the 'big break'? |
| Lindsay: |
When I first joined Frenzal Rhomb, I was quickly
made aware of the Vegetarian issue, before then I had no
bloody idea. I was brought up very 'Meat and Potatoes', much
like your mate Rikki Rockett, and it was Jason, our
illustrious lead singer, and our managers Dianne and Chris,
who alerted me to the whole animal cruelty business. So I cut
out all meat about 4 years ago. I always knew the problems
with dairy, but used the 'at least I'm doing something'
defence to justify my cheese and egg lovin' diet. Then, about
a year and a half ago, I realised that it wasn't any defence
at all, in fact acknowledging the problems but not doing
anything about it was almost as bad, if not worse, so I cut
out all dairy products, too. Now it is only by extreme
ignorance and mistake on my part if any animal product ever
passes my lips. |
| June: |
Any problems doing the vegan thang? |
| Lindsay: |
When we're on tour, especially in more remote
areas of the world, where there is less awareness of
vegetarianism, it is harder to find vegan stuff to eat, but
you can always eat something. I'm sure there are people that
say; 'oh I had to eat this, there was nothing else and I was
starving', but you can always get something even just a packet
of chips. And sometimes, on more organised days, we'll realise
the trouble that lies ahead, and bring supplies accordingly.
So, it's really only hard if you make it hard. |
| June: |
What 'excites' you about your diet and
lifestyle? |
| Lindsay: |
Every part of it. The food, the general feeling
of well-being, the crazy exhilaration of doing something
against the norm. It's fucking anarchy, man. Smash the system,
fuck the state. No, seriously, it does feel good to be in a
group of people doing the right thing, when the majority of
people aren't, it 's probably how people brainwashed by a cult
think. But I realise that's just a superficial feeling of
superiority, and I would feel a lot better if everyone in the
world was vegan, and I was no different to them at all. |
| June: |
What spurred you towards being the owner of a
squeaky clean colon? |
| Lindsay: |
Jesus Christ, I just answered that in your first
question. Alright, I'll answer again. After being vego for
almost 3 years, I realised that it wasn't enough, and I knew
that cheese, eggs, gelatin, whey, milk solids non fat,
albumen, emulsifiers 471, 481 etc... were also causing gross
animal cruelty, sometimes worse than the production of the
actual meat itself. And I realised I couldn't justify knowing
that and still eating it. And so I stopped. Just like that.
And starting finding out about all the animal ingredients
hidden in food that they don't tell you about. |
| June: |
When you were an innocent little nipper (were
you ever?!) what do you think enlightened you about animals –
their rights and their suffering? |
 |
| Lindsay: |
Well there was no one thing, besides being
introduced to the whole lifestyle when I joined Frenzal Rhomb,
who incidentally have a new single 'I Miss My Lung', out now
thru Shock records! But there were times in my life when I
realised things were a little off kilter. Like when friends
would say how they could never hurt their pet, or how much
they loved their horse, and I'd think, 'but you still eat
meat, isn't that the same'. And I knew about the evils of big
meat-using corporations, such as McDonalds – not that I did
anything about it, save general schoolyard jibes. But when I
learnt about vegetarianism, it all started to fit in and make
sense. Or no sense at all, more to the point. |
| June: |
Could you ever envisage eating flesh
again? |
| Lindsay: |
Well, I have a habit of doing things kind of
impulsively, and so obviously people originally thought that
this was just another spur of the moment thing, and debated my
various reasons for doing it, but I think by now they
understand the motivation and realise that I'm not about to go
back to your Big Mac's, Quiche Lorraine's and 2 Moons over my
Hammy's in a hurry. |
| June: |
Significant others ... what do they think 'about
it all'? |
| Lindsay: |
My Mum actually owns a health food store, she's
a veg-aquarian (or vego except for fish); so she is very
supportive up to a point, where she starts saying I need my
essential fatty acids from fish, but she's great in that I can
get bulk wholefoods and on the rare occasion that I take
supplements, for free. My Dad is very meat and 3 veg, although
he does delight in telling me he's given up most red meat,
which is cool, but he doesn't really understand the ethics
behind it. My two brothers, 19 year old twins, have both
studied hospitality, and so get paid for cooking meat, so
they're a little further off. |
| June: |
Frenzal Rhomb's music and animals – do they go
together? |
 |
| Lindsay: |
Well we've written the very funny song 'Guns
Don't Kill Ducklings, Ducklings Kill Ducklings' about gun
shooting from behind the eyes of a paranoid duck shooter. And
to paraphrase the Beatles; 'all of our songs promote
cruelty-free living'. And I'm sure our forthcoming album,
which should be out in September thru Epic, will also touch on
this subject, that's so dear to us. The one thing is that we
don't want to preach, the majority of our audience aren't
stupid, and so we're not going to tell them what to do. What
we can do is let them know what we do, and maybe it will
inspire them to find out for themselves. |
| June: |
Were folk dumbstruck when they discovered you
were one of those crazy herbivores?! |
| Lindsay: |
You betcha, and people still reel back in
surprise when they find out. But we do get a lot of
correspondence from people who have heard something of that
nature, and want to know more, because they are considering it
or are vego or vegan and want to congratulate and thank us. So
that gives us a warm, snuggly kind of feeling. |
| June: |
I pray to Baby Jesus every night that one day
everyone will come to the conclusion that we don't need to
slaughter animals to live well. What are your thoughts on
this? |
| Lindsay: |
Of course, and there is an ever-increasing
awareness of the truth. But the industries filling the
majority's head with 'food pyramid' and 'calcium from milk for
healthy bones' crap are massive industries, and it it going to
take a lot to get people to see past their propaganda. |
| June: |
So what do ya eat anyway?!?!?!?! |
| Lindsay: |
A question that a lot of ignorant people ask,
expecting a very limited and boring answer. I eat bloody heaps
– pastas, rice dishes, all manner of vegetable dishes, beans,
nuts, seeds, Mexican, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Japanese, Thai,
Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Tibetan, Indian, Australian,
African. Bloody everything! |
| June: |
When you're touring are there plenty of good
munchies to be had? What's the best and worst country for
finding non-animal delicacies? |
| Lindsay: |
There's heaps of great vegan fare to be found.
All over the place. Sydney has the best for me, because I live
here and get to try it all. In Japan, it's pretty hard, what
with the language barrier and the fish stock they try to put
in everything. America is pretty intolerant, especially in the
more 'hicksville' areas, but our tour manager has a list of
all the vego restaurants in the country so that helped
immeasurably. The internet is also great for finding places to
eat. |
| June: |
I'm coming around for dinner to your place next
week ... (thanx for the invite Lindsay!) what's on the menu
.... ummm ..... can you cook or will it be takeaway
again? |
| Lindsay: |
I'm not all that bad, actually, contrary to what
most people would probably think. I had to start cooking when
I went vego, living with my Dad there weren't many options.
I'm pretty experimental in that I'll chuck a bunch of things
in together and see how they taste. But I'm not really one for
presentation, it often looks like a pile of filth, but tastes
awesome. |
  
Here are three pictures of Frenzal Rhomb.
(Click
on each picture to see a larger version open in a new
window).
(From left to right) Pic 1: Lindsay,
Jay, Lex, Gordy – Pic 2: Jay, Lex, Gordy,
Lindsay – Pic 3: Jay, Lex, Gordy, Lindsay.
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| June: |
Anyone still making fun of your beliefs? Can you laugh
along with them, ignore them or get totally pissed
off? |
| Lindsay: |
I can laugh along with them, or at them, because they're
the ones still shovelling carcass into their bodies to rot
inside of them, aren't they. |
| June: |
With your chums at a good ol' Aussie barby do you find
that your hosts are sympathetic to your beliefs, and cater for
you, or do you bring your own plate of tempeh and sit in a
dark corner? |
| Lindsay: |
Most of my friends are vegan, vego, or vego-sympathetic,
so they can cater, or at least suggest I bring something.
Although on occasions we've been offered the barbecue after
all the meat and fish has been cooked and dripped all over it.
Not very appetising... |
| June: |
How about leather, or feathers in your bedspread Lindsay
.... into it? |
| Lindsay: |
I take it as far as I possibly can. I don't wear any
animal products, and I'm pretty sure my doona and pillows are
cruelty free, wait a sec, let me check ... yep, they are. I'm
sure I trip up sometimes, and I welcome it being pointed out,
I'm not too proud to learn new things and anything to help me
stay cruelty-free is fine by me. |
| June: |
Zoos, circuses with animals and rodeos – your thoughts
please? |
| Lindsay: |
Bloody horrible. Apart from being a pointless, callous and
gratuitous use of feeling, hurting animals, for the
entertainment of idiots; the non-animal stuff is pretty dull
too. |
| June: |
What's your point of view on factory farming: such as hens
in battery cages, pigs in cramped stalls, and cattle
feedlots? |
| Lindsay: |
It makes me feel angry, and a little frustrated that it
goes on and all I've done is quietly protest by not eating
them, when people are actively protesting and getting
themselves locked up for it. |
| June: |
Is there one particular area of animal exploitation that
you find particularly disturbing? |
| Lindsay: |
The exploitative bits of it. And the way people can be so
patronising of the poor little vegetarians and still be so
sucked in by the bloated greedy companies that they give so
much money too and are themselves being completely exploited
by. |
| June: |
Who else do you know in the music biz who are vegos? |
| Lindsay: |
Lots of my friends are musicians, and a lot are
vegetarian. For instance: Peabody, 78 Saab, Nancy Vandal, Neil
Hamburger, Propagandhi, NoFX, silverchair, 28 Days, Discount,
a lot of bands that I've forgotten, too. All are vego, vegan,
or have vego/vegan members. And all rock!! |
| June: |
How does your non-animal diet make you feel? Pale, wan,
weak and sickly? |
| Lindsay: |
Well, I always said, I didn't do this for health reasons,
our lifestyle is a little crazy sometimes. But I often wonder
how much worse I would feel if my body had meat and dairy to
deal with as well as the lack of sleep, over consumption of
alcohol (occasionally, and only vegan alcohol) etc... |
| June: |
Girlfriends and children .... would you encourage them to
be vegos? |
| Lindsay: |
Yes, and I have with past girlfriends. I don't stress the
point, but my views are important to me and I would hope that
counts for something. And if I ever had kids I would
definitely bring them up aware of vegetarianism and animal
cruelty and hope they would make the decision for themselves,
and perhaps even influence others. |
| June: |
Do you take vitamin supplements? |
| Lindsay: |
Well, my mum does own a health food store, so I do have
access to them. But I don't take them to supplement my diet,
like my Mum would probably prefer, I just make sure I get
enough vitamins in my normal diet. I do take herbs and vitamin
pills when I'm getting over some sickness or flu,
though. |
| June: |
Companion animal/s ... do you have any? |
| Lindsay: |
I don't, and I'm a little undecided on the issue. I'm sure
people with a predominantly cruelty-free lifestyle would have
to treat companion animals better than carnivores, so I think
I'd prefer seeing them go to good homes. But I know I couldn't
justify having any. I would have trouble giving him/her a good
life, and so don't. |
| June: |
Have you been involved in any animal rights
protests? |
| Lindsay: |
Nothing crazy and revolutionary. We've done benefit gigs
for Animal Lib and other organisations, but I've been a little
limp and flaccid on the activist front. That could easily
change though. |
| June: |
Are there many people that you know who can attribute
their vego diet to you? |
| Lindsay: |
Yes, people often tell us, and me, that we've influenced
them and I know people I've personally informed, more than
influenced, and that's a lovely little feeling. |
| June: |
Any messages for those who are still consuming animals?
For those who want to know more about animal rights? |
| Lindsay: |
That it just makes sense, and if they want more
information they should get our new single "I Miss My Lung',
out now through Shock, and while they're at it, get our
current album; 'A Man's not a Camel' with the bonus video,
'Travelling Flea Circus'. there won't be too much vego info on
it, but I'll feel more like talking about it to them if they
own them. |
| June: |
I'm going to give you a 10 out of 10 for plugging your
wares and the great interview. (I might give the 'pile of
filth' a miss mind you ...) |
| Lindsay: |
No bloody worries, any friend of Rikki Rockett is a friend
of mine. |
Frenzal Rhomb website: http://www.frenzalrhomb.com/
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