Monday, February 16, 2009

Posted by xCHIPxSEM |
So Im checking my email, when I see that I had a new email from Jav. I open it and heres this story of how he was working at a salon and randomly cut Ben Reed's (ex-Earth Crisis, Framework) hair. I read it and just laughed...great story and word of caution: Vegans this may offend you. This is not coming from Jav, hes just repeating what he was told. Either way, a good read...Ben Reed from what I understand is notorius for writing the main riff of Firestorm, just a little tidbit. On to the story:

"Ive been doing hair since 1998. thats no secret. ive been all over the country, taught in schools and worked in salons.

last year, i had a walk-in client on my books. it just said "BEN, H/C". h/c does not stand for hardcore, but haircut.
the dude came in wearing a Headbangers Ball shirt and just looked like some normal dude. started cutting his hair, and we started talking about music. he said he had been in a band, and i said i had too. he asked me who, and i replied "oh i was in this band called 18 Visions a long time ago"
"oh yeah i remember that band. i was in a vegan sxe band back in the day"
"dude... is your last name Reed?"

he instantly turned around to look at me in the face and said "yeah how did you know that"
"dude. you were in Earth Crisis. you were in Framework. i know"

he laughed SO fucking hard and couldnt believe that he had been spotted. we spent the next hour talking about vegan metal, syracuse hardcore, and what he is up to now.

he said that during ExC he went to the hospital something like 6 times for malnutrition, and that inspired him to go to school to learn to be a nutritionist. he traveled around the country speaking at colleges AGAINST VEGANISM, saying that it was one of the worst things you can do to your body. he was still vegetarian, but had no interest in veganism.

he came in a few more times to get his hair cut, asking the whereabouts of some of his old friends since he had distanced himself so much from the hardcore scene. he told me about how the guys from Green Rage had turned into crazy junkies and encouraged me to write a book about the Syracuse Hardcore scene.

he had recorded a demo at one point with one of the ExC dudes, Andrew from Strife and Jorge? from Merauder, but nothing came of it.

he was a really nice dude and it blew both of our minds that we had been put together like that.

a few months ago i left that salon, and havent seen or heard from him since. hopefully he is preparing for an anti-jihad."

thanks
jav

8 comments:

David Agranoff said...

That guy is so full of shit. I would believe him if he said the sky was up.

Plenty of of people have been vegan for dozens of years. I know weight lifters who have been vegan for 25 years or more. Fuck that sell-out.

Anonymous said...

I loved this post! To each his own in terms of viewpoints, but this was a great post regardless!

jav said...

if you liked that story, read my others!!!

www.bestoftimesoc.blogspot.com

xbojanx said...

This article is pretty good, thanx for this, stories like this are always interesting for us who are "stuck in the past" ;) and reminds me of all these "vegans" who lived on coca-cola and bakery stuff for couple of months and then got malnutrition problems... and than sold out...for those who might even consider this guy's (ex-EC guy) words as at least partially true, go to www.veganfitness.net to see the real deal :)

Guav said...

Wow, that's funny, I've been vegan for 18 years and I've never been to the hospital once for malnutrition. I'm in perfect health. None of the other guys in ExC have been to the hospital once for malnutrition, DJ and McKaig haven't been to the hospital once for malnutrition.

One thing you have to to understand about Ben Reed is that he's a habitual liar—I think he invented the college tours story. The other thing you have to know is that he was miserable on tour and wanted to go home. We've pretty much always thought that he was faking it so that he wouldn't have to finish the tour.

But assuming he really was sick, keep in mind that being a vegan on tour in 1992 was a horrific experience—he was probably eating nothing but potato chips.

David Agranoff said...

How come Scott didn't get fat when he got older like the rest of us?

Shit!

Anonymous said...

hahahaha i love it!! i was fat when i was a 20 year old vegan, now i'm 30 and eating meat with an 8-pack.

Anonymous said...

my understanding is that Ben actually did study to be nutrionist but i'd never he was no longer being vegan.
in fact he was in a short-lived band with Scott Crouse from EC the first time Scott was living in Cali. I imagine i would got wind of it.
although, considering Ben's apparently new found arguments in support of vegans needing supplementation etc. i could also see this.
one would certainly hope it's not the truth though.