Compassionate Living (Summer 2017)

Cover Story

Between gigs for his new band DREAMCAR, Grammy Award-winning musician Tony Kanal can be found giving water to pigs on trucks entering a Los Angeles slaughterhouse. Tony is courageous like that. He's also a staunch MFA supporter and co-founder of the annual Circle V vegan music festival.

What inspired you to live a vegan lifestyle?

There were many seeds planted along the way. One in particular was a moment on a No Doubt tour back in 2002. We were traveling across the English countryside in our bus. We stopped to stretch our legs next to a green pasture with an old-school wooden fence. Some beautiful cows who were grazing came over to say hello to us. As we were admiring them, one of our crew guys made a joke about eating one of them later. Something happened inside of me. I went back on the bus and had a reflective moment. A really strong seed was planted, and soon thereafter I started my journey into vegetarianism and eventually veganism.

Has going vegan changed how you feel?

The biggest change is that I feel great about my choices. Every day I have the ability to live from a place of compassion and empathy. I get to live my ethics. There is no separation from the way I want to live my life and the way I am actually living my life.

What do you love about MFA?

What we as humans do to other species, most of the time away from the public eye, is truly incomprehensible. The brave undercover investigators do the crucial work to show us what is really going on behind closed doors. I have such an appreciation for people who commit their lives to being a beacon for animals—to shining a light in these dark places.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about going vegan?

Just do it. Empower yourself with knowledge. It may feel like going vegan is hard to do, until you do it. I felt the same way. I was the guy who was eating a cheeseburger every day—until I wasn't that guy anymore. The only regret you will have is that you didn't do it sooner.