VEGAN QUEEN V
The Good, The Bad AND The Ugly – vegan musician Jen Armstrong (Vegan Queen V) speaks to us on how it’s been during Lockdown as an artist, and what’s on the horizon.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING MUSIC, HOW DID YOU START AND WHAT INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY? I had a very privileged childhood - I had a family who could afford private music lessons! I picked up the violin when I was 7, much to my mum’s delight. I began playing the piano at 10, jealous of my two older sisters who were receiving lessons and I was not. 104
FORCA VEGAN
Both instruments have proven invaluable to my musical journey, especially piano being the instrument I compose songs on and perform with.
HAVE YOU GOT ANY RECORDINGS OUT AND ABOUT? I do have songs online! I’m working on my debut animal rights album and that will be my first big release. I have songs and accompanying videos up on YouTube, a favourite being ‘What Hell is Like,’ a song I was inspired to write after watching the Earthling Ed / Surge documentary ‘Land of Hope and Glory.’ My single ‘Only One Life’ is available to watch, filmed in East London where we used some of the beautiful animal wall / street art you can find there. Also look out for my parodies, ‘No Meat,’ and ‘Vegan Dirtbag.’
WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO BECOME VEGAN? I was one of those vegetarians who thought they were doing their bit to help animals. I was one for many, many years - since the age of 8 in fact. I didn’t once question where the milk I was pouring on my cereal was coming from; or the eggs I’d happily cook up on usually a daily basis, to be ‘healthy.’ I moved to London in 2016 and it was there that I met a few vegan friends who asked why I wasn’t vegan if I loved animals. Around the same time, a new partner (who also wasn’t vegan at the time) showed me ‘Cowspiracy’ and ‘Forks over knives’ and it was a fairly swift shift to veganism for me after that (and him a few months later!)
