Besides fronting legendary hardcore punk group Cro-Mags in their earliest incarnation, New York native John Joseph has made a name for himself with his literary work. His first book, 2007's autobiographical The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, told the story of his abusive upbringing and how that brought him to the world of early hardcore. Now, Joseph has announced the details of his second book.
Titled Meat Is for Pussies, the book attacks the meat industry for its destructive effects on the environment and the human body. In an interview with The Examiner, Joseph explains: "I have been a vegetarian/vegan almost 30 years now, people today are bombarded by advertising for cheap fast food and ingestion of those foods not only wreak havoc on your system but most of the havoc wreaked on the planet is due to the slaughter of the animals. Companies are tearing down the rainforest for cheap grazing land, which in turn ruins the environment, causes global warming and displaces the food chain for most of these animals. And the resources needed to eat meat are astronomical and produce amazing amounts of green house gas. Not to mention a meat-based diet is very unhealthy for you and the studies are there to prove it."
If you think that sounds a little heavy-handed, Joseph insists the book retains his matter-of-fact writing style. "It's still me, my anecdotes used for examples, how I wrote Evolution of... and Meat Is for Pussies and any other book will be the same because I write in a conversational style, just like I'm sitting around a table with the reader," he said.
Besides the book, Joseph revealed that he's also at work on a reality show. While the details of its release are unclear, the project is currently in production. "Since the publication of Evolution, I've been getting some interesting offers for projects and have been able to develop some ideas," he explains. "One of those ideas is a reality show where they place troubled kids in a house with me and I try and help them with the lessons I learned when I was in their shoes. A pretty big producer is involved so we'll see what happens."
As if he weren't busy enough, Joseph has also been performing with the Cro-Mags again. The band are scheduled to appear at the Fucked Up Fest in Toronto on October 30.
Meat Is for Pussies is slated for a December release via Punk House.
Titled Meat Is for Pussies, the book attacks the meat industry for its destructive effects on the environment and the human body. In an interview with The Examiner, Joseph explains: "I have been a vegetarian/vegan almost 30 years now, people today are bombarded by advertising for cheap fast food and ingestion of those foods not only wreak havoc on your system but most of the havoc wreaked on the planet is due to the slaughter of the animals. Companies are tearing down the rainforest for cheap grazing land, which in turn ruins the environment, causes global warming and displaces the food chain for most of these animals. And the resources needed to eat meat are astronomical and produce amazing amounts of green house gas. Not to mention a meat-based diet is very unhealthy for you and the studies are there to prove it."
If you think that sounds a little heavy-handed, Joseph insists the book retains his matter-of-fact writing style. "It's still me, my anecdotes used for examples, how I wrote Evolution of... and Meat Is for Pussies and any other book will be the same because I write in a conversational style, just like I'm sitting around a table with the reader," he said.
Besides the book, Joseph revealed that he's also at work on a reality show. While the details of its release are unclear, the project is currently in production. "Since the publication of Evolution, I've been getting some interesting offers for projects and have been able to develop some ideas," he explains. "One of those ideas is a reality show where they place troubled kids in a house with me and I try and help them with the lessons I learned when I was in their shoes. A pretty big producer is involved so we'll see what happens."
As if he weren't busy enough, Joseph has also been performing with the Cro-Mags again. The band are scheduled to appear at the Fucked Up Fest in Toronto on October 30.
Meat Is for Pussies is slated for a December release via Punk House.
