Continued from page 22
to Las Vegas just to see Oasis there if the mood struck him( Trent Reznor and Billy Corgan flew in for that gig, as well – other open-minded composers who didn’ t restrict themselves to one narrow-minded definition of music). Today, in fact, one might not even recognize Havok in an average airport – save for his huge ear piercings, he could easily pass for some burly businessman, flying off to some corporate board meeting somewhere. Inside, however, he remains just as sepulchral – and remarkably sophisticated – as ever. He no longer has any need to manifest it all outwardly. Or, as he puts it,“ The aesthetic then look further into why that male is naked. And compassion for animals is important to me, so I’ m using my voice, my music, and my body to help someone who doesn’ t have a voice.”
Naturally, the AFI leader isn’ t the first to make such startling statements. He goes on to praise the work of his wise vegan forebear Chrissie Hynde( featured on page 8 in this issue) and all the trails she’ s blazed for inherent animal rights.“ But I’ m lucky, because I’ ve been able to find a community that I live in that’ s very insular,” he says of the straight edge movement, whose once-renegade precepts now seem like simple common sense.“ I found a group of like-minded people that support each other, even though they share very unpopular beliefs.” Drugs, alcohol, hamburgers, and black leather jackets don’ t have to be part and parcel of rock and roll, he posits – AFI rocks just as pedal-to-the-metal convincingly without any of those outmoded
26 illinoisentertainer. com january 2017 of how I present myself has always changed, and it can change with the seasons. And it does very much so. It’ s a matter of expression, it’ s how I feel comfortable and how I feel most like myself. With my body, I’ m very much part of a healthful movement, and I’ m very aware of what I put into my body, and very aware of my body’ s upkeep. And that, of course, will lead to exercise. I’ ve never been a fan of sports, so I went the gym route. And I used to go to the gym in Berkeley, back when it was open 24 hours.”
Falling in with a plant-based diet made all the difference, Havok adds.“ It actually makes you feel like you’ re infused with super powers – you really respect the way that your body feels, and the way your body feels affects the way that your mind feels,” he reports. Which gave him the courage to sign on to PETA’ s nude-notables campaign. He loved cruelty-free clothing, but was gutsy enough to disrobe for the striking new print spread.“ Because I really believe that ads like that make you think,” he says.“ Because of the different perspectives of it, from male to female, you rarely see male nudity, just because of the social stigma attached to it. So you see a naked male and you think,‘ Why is this male naked?’ And hopefully, people will trappings, thank you very much.
Still, Havok will happily acknowledge the darkness swirling around the group’ s new record like ancient Whitchapel fog. Mention The Mission’ s God’ s Own Medicine debut, plus definitive discs from Wayne Hussey’ s previous band Sisters of Mercy, like Floodland and First and Last and Always, and he’ s delighted that those tones resonate on various AFI cuts.“ Because The Mission are fantastic, and the Sisters have made records that will absolutely always be in my Top 10,” he declares, unequivocally.“ And Floodland itself is unbelievable – that record is really stunning and unique and unlike anything I’ ve ever heard. But we owe a lot of that( sound) to Jade, as producer, who handled my voice in such a way that only he could, since he’ s already so familiar with my voice.” He then goes on to discuss news that he finds fascinating – that sepulchral Sisters frontman Andrew Eldritch claimed that if Donald Trump actually managed to get elected in America, he was going to finally write and record a new concept album about an unusual online spate of spooksters all sporting " Goths For Trump " T-shirts, adorned with the group’ s Merciful Release label logo.
Continued on page 47