Mofo Interview : Nathan from ONSIND



When I was at Glastonbury festival this year, I met two lovely vegans from the North East called Nathan and Daniel. They were playing on the Leftfield stage with their band ONSIND and Nathan was sporting a "I love Vegan Junk Food" sticker on his guitar. With the band due to play in Manchester's Northern Quarter in a few weeks time, I caught up with Nathan for a special Vegan Mofo interview.

Tell us a little about the history of ONSIND and the sort of things you guys write about?

Onsind is a punk duo from Pity Me, Durham! We've been really good friends most of our lives, and have been in this band together for about seven years. In that time we've toured all over the UK, Germany and USA, and have released three albums, as well as several EPs and other releases. We write about all kinds of things, but I think everything we do is imbued with politics, in the sense that we are a DIY, vegan band and so even when we're singing about personal stuff like depression, it still fits into a wider context of alienation. Some topics of songs are heartbreak, sexuality, representation of gender in films, borders, nationalism, mental health, and  animal rights.

You're playing Manchester at the vegan-friendly Bakerie Tasting Store, as part of A Carefully Planned Festival in October . Do you have any shops or hang outs that you're planning to check out?

We love the Northern Quarter for a variety of reasons, but V REVOLUTION is one of the biggest! It combines our love for punk and hardcore music, with our insatiable hunger for vegan junk food. The Earth Cafe is amazing too, lovely cake and friendly people! There's also a little indian buffet place that's great and cheap with lots of veggie options! We've never been to Bakerie before, but we're excited to go!



How do you manage eating vegan when you're travelling around gigging. Do you take stuff with you or research places before you go?

It can be tough, especially when you're doing long motorway drives, and you're having to stop at big corporate service stations, which are overpriced and have very little variety. Providing you plan well enough, it's avoidable though. Tour is a great excuse to visit various veggie spots around the country so it balances out. We try to keep our ear the ground and check out new spots!

What three vegan food items would you hate to live without?

1. Chimichangas from Tias in Durham!
2. Yum Yums (from Coopland's bakery in Durham!)
3. Nutritional Yeast!

As well as the festival in Manchester where else can people catch you playing in 2013?

We're playing a show at an art space in Durham on 28th September (the venue is called Empty Shop). And we're playing the North East Vegan Festival at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland on November 16th. We're also planning a little weekend tour in December with We Came Out Like Tigers from Liverpool.

Photos by Joseph Towns

More info about ONSIND
http://facebook.com/onsind
http://onsind.bandcamp.com/
http://twitter.com/onsind 
Email : nathanisacynic@gmail.com

Comments

  1. Hasta La Vegan24 September 2013 at 19:03

    Onsind are my favourite band ever <3 and are just plain lovely. Hoping to catch them at that Festival if I'm not working!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tea and Sympatico24 September 2013 at 19:59

    Unfortunately we're away when they're playing Manchester :( Would love to see them again, we've been playing Anaesthesiology all summer.

    ReplyDelete

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