Goldfinger: Vege Out.

Goldfinger play the Arena on Saturday.

US punk rock outfit Goldfinger are passionate about many things. One being their music, another being animal liberation. I ask front man John Feldman what influenced his choice of vegan lifestyle?

“I was a Vegetarian when we made the album Stomping Ground it was important at that point which was about three or four years ago, I'm a Vegan (doesn't eat or use anything made from or containing animal products) now but at that point I was kind of just doing it for myself because I knew how good I felt from not eating meat anymore. I wasn't getting sick any more and I had more energy.”

“From the last record to this new record I started getting into the whole animal liberation part of being a Vegetarian and a Vegan. I started researching it and I've seen so much slaughterhouse footage and there's this one video called Meet Your Meat and I put part of that video in our new CD for the song Free Me that I wrote about it. That's what kind of inspired me to carry the message and at least share the knowledge that I have gained the last three or four years with our fans. I know that just for me it's the healthiest and the best thing that I could do for myself. I know for the planet, it's the best thing we can do by not eating meat because of the waste products and the rainforests and just the whole production… the whole factory farming productions are so harmful and horrible to the environment and the most important thing is the animals.”

“Kid's don't know, when I was a kid... I mean like what I write in the CD about 'hamburgers growing in patches' and all the bullshit that McDonalds have told the kids it's all lies. Animals are tortured and tormented their whole lives before they're killed at the end 'cause people are lazy and people just don't want to change. There's so many fake meat products out here like soy protein products and fake chicken and it tastes better than real meat and it's so much better for you and no animals had to suffer. So why then would you not change? Because people are ignorant and people just don't have the knowledge. I figured it was my responsibility once I had that knowledge to at least give kids a chance to make their own decision.”

One would think that being a Vegan touring and being constantly on the road with all those conveniently placed fast food outlets that you would have a hard time finding something to eat.

“No, because in every major city I can look up on the website www.vegdining.com and if worst comes to worst we have a refrigerator on the bus and I can heat up one of those vegetarian frozen dinners or something. It was really easy once I made the decision and really made the connection that I'm essentially eating animals that are as intelligent as my dog and are actually as intelligent as some people that I know. If I'm going to pay someone to do that then I'm just a big hypocrite, so once I consciously made that decision it was really easy. There is no temptation. I would rather go a week without eating than eat an animal that's suffered its whole life before it was killed, I could never do that. I can always it peanuts, I can always eat cashews, I can always eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich there's always something I can find if worst comes to worst. No one s going to put a gun to my head and say I have to eat this steak, it's not going to happen!”

The last couple of years have seen some changes in the Goldfinger camp and obstacles that could normally break up a band placed in front of them including a change of record labels.

“We're on Jive Records now. Mojo actually sold all their artists over to Jive like Reel Big Fish and us. It was difficult but in a perfect world it would have been good to have a choice as to where we were going to go. In the end I've done more press in Australia and more stuff in Australia then ever so I think the new label are doing their job. So far I don't think we're really complaining too much.”

Their latest album Open Your Eyes is also the first featuring new guitarist Brian.

“Brian's awesome 'cause he is ten years younger than us and he was a big fan of Goldfinger anyway so he knew all the songs already and he's so grateful every day to play music that he loves. Compared to all us old jaded fuckers it's like a breath of fresh air.”