Australia

Closing time

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Have you noticed the Just Falafel fast food outlets have been shutting down in London.

just falafelThe picture above shows the locked store front in Fulham and I noticed the outlet near Shaftesbury Avenue closed months back. It seems plans for expansion of the vegan-friendly food providers have hit a serious road block in the UK, even moving backward.

In contrast, the parent company is pushing ahead with rebranding and expansion in Australia. Just Falafel stores are planned for railway stations in capital cities down under, with the first one launched last year in Sydney’s Central Station.

This news article reports plans to open 160 Just Falafel locations across North America within five years. That’s a lot of falafel!

It seems the UK’s loss is the rest of the world’s gain.

Do you have a Just Falafel outlet near you? What do you think of the vegan offerings?

 

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Unnoticed

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Think back to the glory that was London Vegan Beer Fest and you will recall I invited a fabulous band from my home town of Brisbane, Australia to play a gig for the drunken masses.

Love Like Hate played a killer set and made more than a few new fans on the day.

Fast forward to now and I am helping the band with promotion of their brand new EP, Unnoticed.

You can click here to access the world premiere of the music video for the title track.

Watch it, enjoy it, share it and help vegan musicians.

Cool stuff!

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Beef juice

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Get ready to start questioning everything.

UPDATE: READ THE COMMENTS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST AND STOP DRINKING A HELL OF A LOT OF DRINKS!

A report out of Australia has shed light on the process of using beef gelatine to clarify fruit juice, much in the same way alcohol is filtered using animal derived ingredients to remove organic matter.

beef juice

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Damn fine cookbook

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Josh is popping in to tell you about a new vegan recipe collection we got our grubby hands on this week.

Take it away, Josh…

I love Christmas. Actually that’s a complete lie. I bloody hate Christmas and the orgy of capitalist consumption that it involves. But I DO like having a couple of weeks off work: time to try out new recipes and basically eat and sleep intermittently throughout the day and avoid the outside world in all of its grey, present-buying frenzied misery.

So when my friend Leigh Drew in Australia sent me her latest cookbook a couple of weeks ago, I happily flicked through the pages working out what I was going to make when I finally had some spare time at home. I’ll let you know which two recipes I chose, but first let me tell you about Leigh.

Leigh holding her book
Leigh holding her book

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Tell me the world is ours

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Nothing hits me like a solid pop song. There is something about a well-crafted song drenched in snare and bouncing with bass to make me love life just a little bit more. But it can’t be just any pop song that wins my affections. It needs to be heartfelt, timeless and believable. Enter Betty Who with her debut EP The Movement.

You’ll remember Betty Who from my interview with the singer a short while ago. I asked her about her musical influences, growing up in Australia and most importantly for readers of this blog, her veganism. Refresh your memory here.

Accidentally tripping over her single Somebody Loves Me sent me into a musical tailspin from which I’m yet to pull up. The song literally zipped to the top of my playlist and has barely been bothered since. My appetite for Betty Who had well and truly been awoken so it is with much joy and satisfaction that I present the songs from her new EP The Movement, available from today.

The four track collection is an exercise in pop purity. From powerhouse choruses through to softly spoken refrains, Betty’s voice stands across the EP as the combining force. Her delivery is both poignant and extremely well informed. Betty sings well and knows why she should.

Bass, snare and jangly vocals sweeping across the soundscape of You’re In Love are reminiscent of perfect pop moments born out of the legendary Janet Jackson/Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis partnership. As I listen, I can almost visualise Ms. Jackson driving with girlfriends in a convertible. Across a desert. In black and white. Someone would lose a scarf and they would all laugh because the song is just that damn catchy and fun.

Right Here takes proceedings to a slower place but certainly one that deserves to be on The Movement. Whispery vocals float almost separately above the rest of the track. I can’t listen without fearing they are going to get blown away.  I would love to hear the vocal bare, without production.

Now. Down to the nuts and bolts. If universities taught people how to write the perfect pop song, High Society would be the required text. I could list all of the influences I hear such as Open Your Heart by Madonna, Affirmation by Savage Garden, I’ll Be Your Shelter by Taylor Dayne, Summerboy by Lady Gaga and others… but this songs needs no comparisons to warrant praise. It is pure pop perfection. I want it to last forever but am secretly delighted when it ends, allowing me to relive the experience all over again by pressing play.

And that my friends, is the sign of an irresistible pop record.

EP Cover

Do you like pop music? Do you support independent artists? Do you encourage vegans in their artistic pursuits? Buy The Movement today.

Listen to the full EP here: www.BettyWhoTheMovement.com

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Who knows you can’t be replaced

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I’m in love and for once it is something other than vegan food. Welcome to a music post with a vegan twist!

One of my hobbies is to troll around the Internet looking for music that tickles my fancy. I adore finding songs that speak to me. During my latest round of musical exploration I stumbled upon a track that was so instantly catchy, I had to walk out of the room and re-enter to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. The song I am referring to is Somebody Loves You by the artist Betty Who.

Betty Who 1

I am quickly discovering that the Australian-born, USA-residing Betty Who writes and delivers tunes that are smart, poppy, loveable and catchy as all get-out. Her powerhouse vocals take her songs to a level above the current cache of throwaway dance tracks and her Aussie twang instantly sets her apart from other vocalists.

Check out the song that has got me going weak at the knees for Betty Who (available as a free download!) before scrolling down to read my interview with the talented singer in which she shares her love of Kylie Minogue, vegan cupcakes and being an independent artist.

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Pushing the night into the daytime

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Long before I was fat and vegan (gay always), I spent a lot of time in a seaside town that Australia forgot to close down. My friends and I constantly lived on the verge of adventure and despair as we dodged the equally-dangerous obstacles of local thugs and mediocrity. The main attractions were an almost-dilapidated pier, a skate park and many drive through liquor stores that asked very few questions of disengaged teenagers with a few dollars to spend. We would walk through the idling cars filled with older-than-us locals buying cartons of ice cold beer before boldly placing our orders for the cheapest drinks in the store.

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I guess this sound is soothing

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If you visit this blog often, you could be forgiven for thinking my days are stuffed solid with cruelty-free food and alcoholic beverages. It is true I like to overeat and I do enjoy a tipple, but I also make a lot of room in my FGV world for music. If a band or singer I appreciate is also known for promoting the welfare of non-human animals, all of my worlds collide.

Adalita and PETA against fur

Many of the entertainers I admire care for non-humans. My life-long main obsession, Morrissey, has raised the profile of vegetarianism to untold heights. Thanks to Meat is Murder, I believe he is as well known for his animal-friendly politics as he is for his contributions to music. Nellie McKay has integrated her love and respect for all creatures into complex, quirky and irresistible pop classics. The card sleeve for her 2008 release Pretty Little Head was even produced with the aid of soy ink.  And then there is Adalita.

Adalita Srsen is a phenomenally- charismatic and talented singer/songwriter who has emerged from Magic Dirt, one of the greatest alternative bands in Australian history, to forge a stomping solo career. After

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