Kylie: CJ could you tell us a little bit yourself and your involvement with 4ZZZ. Also can you give us a run-down on the Sea Shepherd punkrock benefit compilation CD you're involved with...how did this project come to be?
CJ: I have been involved at 4ZZZ for a while. I rule Saturdays (a show called "Kids With Class Kicking Ass") with my sister Danika and bro Chris Converse from 10am to midday and I'm currently serving a stretch of the late-night edition of the Punk Show with my other bro Chris Hunter.
To listen, you can stream it here: www.4zzzfm.org.au (click on the link at the top of the page that says "streaming radio")
As for the Sea Shepherd compilation... I was sort of asked to put one together and went hell for (fake)leather at it. It took around 2 weeks in total to put together, including originally getting a massive company to throw a lot of cash it!
Needless to say, that company were employed just to look after the "green interests" of other shitty companies... they represented businesses that owned sweatshops, palm oil factories and one company even implemented an illegal shark-fin fishing operation.
The artwork was put together by a dude from Melbourne named PHilsy/PHilfy/PH...
(the 2008 streetpress polls are in...yep CJ's radio show is officially the 2nd best radio show in the world, or at least in Australia..whatever, beat that posers! click on the image to read the poll results in non-microscopic format. taken from: Time Off magazine)
Kylie: While reading through the biographies of the crew on the Sea Shepherd, I was surprised and delighted to notice more than a few references to punk culture.
Again, while reading the website for the SHAC 7 (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) case, I noticed a lot of the defendants made references to the punk community and the straight-edge hardcore scene.
And in the case of Peter Young (imprisoned animal rights activist), a lot of punk/hardcore bands donated their songs to a benefit CD for the defence of his case.
And obviously, there's also PETA 2, which from my understanding, is basically an off-shoot of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals which targets an “emo/hardcore"(!) kinda audience.
In your opinion, does "punk" play a vital role as an inspiration for (young?) people to care about animal rights? Was it punk that led you on a path towards veganism?
CJ: I think so! I don't I would ever of even heard of veganism without Propagandhi or some band like that...I would imagine that punk bands would be responsible for more social concern than they would ever get credit for.
Amy Winehouse doesn't have vegan stalls in the smack pit for people check out before they rack lines up in the toilet...
(Wheat Paste Poets playing at the Sea Shepherd benefit show in the 4ZZZ carpark. photo: Chris Converse)
Kylie: It seems that the Sea Shepherd is pretty much *the* only organisation to be doing marine-based radical direct action on a large scale (as I guess Greenpeace are more of a mainstream organisation at this point) - and they've gotten a hell of a lot of media coverage and exposure in the last few years..
So how did you first become aware of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society?
CJ: I forget! I remember I applied to go on the ship when I was about 19 and couldn't go cause I couldn't get a U.S. visa! Maybe I found out through an old dood I knew who went on the ship and came back and told stories of sea-sickness, pipebombs and Paul Watson...
(Protest! playing at the Sea Shepherd benefit show in the 4ZZZ Radio Station carpark - April 2009. photo: Chris Converse)
Kylie: Okay now it's time to give me your top 5 lists:
Top 5 vegan punk bands (or songs)?
Top 5 vegan food places in Brisbane?
Top 5 “accidentally vegan” products?
CJ: Top 5 vegan punk bands (or songs)? Propagandhi, Bad Day Down, Protest!, Damn the Empire and Against Me! I guess (it is really late and at a pinch).
Top 5 vegan food places in Brisbane? Loving Hut, The Forest, Kuan Yin, My Heart Garden, Alibi Room pizza and Tian Ran(on the Gold Coast).
Top 5 “accidentally vegan” products? Vegemite, tabouleh, bananas, chocolate crackles, other vegan people!
(anonymous vegan dreamboat myspace photo haha. aka he'll probably kill me for using this)
Kylie: How can someone buy a copy of the CD?
CJ: If you would like to pre-order a CD, here's how: go to www.paypal.com.au and send money to brisbane@seashepherd.org. $13 + include $3 for postage.
As CJ mentioned, they need money to press the CD, because they were originally offered money from a company who turned out to be a shitty faux-eco company involved in all sorts of nasty stuff.
The 4ZZZ Punk Show recently held a benefit show in the radio station carpark (you can see the photos of Wheat Paste Poets and Protest! playing at it above) to help raise funds.
You can pre-order a copy via Paypal, and you will soon find the CD in all the lovely usual-suspect places
(Rockinghorse Records & Kill The Music in Brisbane, Missing Link Records & Poison City Records in Melbourne, Resist Records & Paint It Black in Sydney, and of course directly via the Sea Shepherd website etc).
Oh BTW the CD includes tracks from: Mutiny, Damn The Empire, Wheat Paste Poets, Lungs, Dick Nasty, Ringpull, Protest!, A Death In the Family, Army of Champions, Yidcore, Kill Whitey, Bad Day Down, Dead Like Geneva, Roshambo, Tyre Swans, The Black Market, Daysworth Fighting, The Gifthorse, and One Shot Salute.
Keep yr eyes peeled on the Sea Shepherd website for updates and details:
http://www.seashepherd.org/
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