Tony Kanal, Prince and being vegan

Did you know I adore the band No Doubt?

I might even be what is called a superfan. Travel back in time and you would discover I was a member of the No Doubt fan club and I travelled to see the band live many times including shows in Brisbane, London and Houston.

The music they have created (and hopefully will continue to create) has been a huge part of my life soundtrack.

So I have established I love No Doubt. So what, right?

A few days ago I spotted a social media post by founding member, bassist and songwriter Tony Kanal. The post detailed a meeting between Tony and another musical hero of mine, Prince.

As the post was to do with Tony’s vegan journey, I reached out to him to ask if he was happy that I shared the post on here with you all.

Tony was happy.

I hope you appreciate this insight, memory and compassionate awakening as much I as did.

On Tuesday, what would have been Prince’s 58th birthday, some friends and I joined @maytejannell and @PETA to celebrate his life, legacy and compassion for animals. • • I had the chance to share a story of one of my conversations with Prince, briefly summarized here: “On No Doubt’s second visit to Paisley Park, sometime around 1999, we were working on a song with Prince called ‘Waiting Room,’ which would later be released on our Rock Steady album. We had some downtime, and Prince and I found ourselves in the studio kitchen. I asked if we could order some food, he said yes, and I said, ‘I’d like a cheeseburger please.’ He pleasantly replied, ‘Well, you can have that, but you can’t have that here.’ At the time, I didn’t give it much thought. It wasn’t till I became a vegan 12 years later and adopted the same rule at my house of ‘no animal products can be consumed here’ that I realized how significant that conversation was. Not only can I thank Prince for his music and artistry but also for that very powerful seed that he planted on my journey.” • • I was reminded that in 1999, Prince also included the following in the liner notes for his ‘Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic’ album: “If this jacket were real wool, it would have taken 7 lambs whose lives would have begun like this … Within weeks of their birth, their ears would have been hole-punched, their tails chopped off and the males would have been castrated while fully conscious. Xtremely high rates of mortality r considered normal: 20 2 40% of lambs die b4 the age of 8 weeks: 8 million mature sheep die every year from disease, xposure or neglect. Many people believe shearing helps animals who would otherwise b 2 hot. But in order 2 avoid losing any wool, ranchers shear sheep b4 they would naturally shed their winter coats, resulting in millions of sheep deaths from exposure 2 the cold.” • • Thank you Prince.

A photo posted by Tony Kanal (@tonykanal) on Jun 9, 2016 at 7:13am PDT

Please follow Tony on Twitter and Instagram.

Maybe while you are there, you can thank him for being kind to animals and for many years of fabulous music.