The Few, The Proud & The Crucial

So today I did a bit of a revamp on this site, added a new background image and twiddled some other things here and there. I am constantly thinking of ways to better this site and make if a better medium for the vegan straight edge cause.

The above is not always easy, as I do another hardcore music zine (Take Your Shot) and I am just about to start a blog for the site of the vegan shop I am opening with my girlfriend. All that stuff can drain the amounf of things I've got to say sometimes. But still, I am convinced that a creative mind always finds new ways to use already existing things... we'll see.

As things turn out, this seems to become more of a personal blog, about how I see life being Vegan Straight Edge. For me that's ok, because I mean there are so many STRAIGHT EDGE VEGAN logos and banners I can upload up here before it gets boring. But at the same time, I am glad to know that some people have used the stuff I've put up on this site. Some people actually cared enough to distribute the VSXE message (made stickers etc) with stuff they found through Vegan Straight Edge Athens. So all that stuff is still up for the people who may want to use them, and I will continue to upload them from time to time.

What I am even more excited about is the fact that a lot people from Greece are checking this site out. I check the stats so I can verify that. Makes me think that maybe I should start writing in Greek altogether. Even if straight edge is still held in contempt in this country, people out there are at least interested and/or curious about sXe and veganism... So know that we're not going away!

Times Are Changing

I am glad to see that even in "yo dude" metal festivals like Wacken Open Air, they had all-vegan food stalls for the more aware metalheads. The vegan flag starts to wave high in the air and we are so here to witness it. Protein-filled soy junkfood and moshing go hand in hand, don't you know? Now if metal good get a little more straight edge, that would be awesome, too.

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Χάρηκα πολύ που έμαθα ότι ακόμα και σε ένα φουλ ορκ-μεταλλάδικο φεστιβάλ σαν το Wacken Open Air (Γερμανία), είχαν περίπτερα φαγητού με αποκλειστικά βίγκαν επιλογές. Φαίνεται ότι η κουλτούρα των βίγκαν αρχίζει να εξαπλώνεται και εμείς είμαστε εδώ για να το ζήσουμε. Εξάλλου ξέρουμε καλά ότι τα γεμάτα πρωτεΐνη μπιφτέκια σόγιας και το mosh πάνε μαζί! Τώρα, αν το metal γίνει λίγο πιο straight edge, και αυτό θα ήταν καλό!

Living For My Xs

Today it's like one of those days that it's the calm after - or before - the storm. I had a pretty long, hard working week, but today I just woke up when I wanted to and did stuff for myself, like drink coffee and write on this blog as well as take care of some other stuff.

Tonight we are also playing a show with MT, and I have a lot of damn energy to play that show. It's not always like that. It's like I am totally focused on my goals (to be a better person, partner, to make ends meet)... and all this creates a bunch of feelings and pent up emotions that I am ready to release through hardcore.

It has been a tough time for me recently. A lot of everyday struggle, a lot of questioning myself and what I'm even doing in this music scene -- a stranger in a strange land. "But while the struggle continues, I'm gonna live my dream!" ... and the vegan straight edge is a beacon.

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p.s. I am listening to the song "Sincerly Yours" by Omega Impure's The First in Line album. It is straight edge hip hop by the guy who used to be in DaBlueCorner and a bunch of other pioneering sXe hip hop acts. It's awesome, chilled out, melancholic hip hop with great lyrics and if you're OK with that you should definitely find this. Shit's rad.

Edge kids: Few and Far Between

Being away on holidays for a few days gave me a chance to reflect on what it is to be straight edge in this world. I was away from my friends who are edge and couldn't spend much time online checking out cool straight edge bands or listen to much straight edge music.

The reality of the matter is that this world is definitely NOT straight edge.. not even straight edge-friendly. We live in a world where the norm is to drink and/or smoke and that's that. And even though I know the aforementioned fact well enough, I always feel it more when I am out of context and away from my familiar surroundings.

Does this mean that I get jaded on being straight edge? Hell no!

What I realize is that people who are vegan and especially straight edge are really few and far between. I am not talking about the straight edge kid who does it for fashion or whatever, but about the true warriors who dedicate their life pledging to and promoting a clean lifestyle. Those who are really living it and are supporting it with passion.

I guess this is the reason why those "few and far between" people tend to create tight friendships no matter the distance or their background. If there is some unspoken brotherhood status to being edge, I am happy to claim it. STRAIGHT EDGE!

* by the way of the post's title I remembered (and listened to a few times) SHUTDOWN's awesome, super old school Few and Far Between album. Straight from the late 90s, real hardcore the way it should be played. If you don't have this classic and consider yourself a hardcore fan, do something to find this album! 

No Holiday Break from the Vegan Edge!

The nicest thing about being Vegan Edge in this mess age is that we take these values with me wherever we go. I feel good to have this support, to have worked on this and to be able and call it a part of myself. It's great to have strong, positive beliefs that see you through the day.... and I'm afraid most people in modern society don't go by this.  However, at the end of the day, it's our values and convictions that help us be strong - nothing else. I just feel bad for all the people who have nothing to count on aside their shallow, materialistic, empty lives, without anything to stand for.

So we might go on holidays, chill, interact with people of all kinds, but the values still remain like a diamond in the rough... Vegan Straight Edge!