Behind the Scenes with BFriendly
Ian and Cathy Haywood of band BFriendly use their love of reggae music to promote the vegan cause. Lisa caught up with Ian during their ‘Peace Love & Reggae’ tour to find out how they use music as their form of activism.
Find BFriendly’s music on Spotify, iTunes or find more links on their website here: www.bfriendlymusic.com
You are just about to set off on your Peace Love & Reggae Tour where you will be performing at Stonehenge, several vegan festivals and even Vegan Camp Out. How easy has it been to get gigs as a vegan band?
Because we’ve had extensive previous experience at vegan festivals it’s been relatively easy to get gigs at vegan events. It is the non-vegan events which take a bit of work. Stonehenge is ideal as an event that you can be influential at and connect with a non-vegan audience – give them a good vibe and they will book you!
You are both part of the musical collective ‘Peace on Your Plate’ who made a bid for the first vegan Christmas number one recently. Do you think that music needs to play a bigger role in the vegan cause?
Yes, and I think it needs to come from new artists because more established acts are not as prepared to jeopardise their following by introducing a cause that, unfortunately, may not resonate with a lot of their fans.
Music is all around us so can be used as an ideal platform for promoting veganism. Peace On Your Plate were successful in taking the song’s message of a cruelty-free Christmas to a wide musical audience and aiming high was very productive. We may not have made number one but the song with its vegan message did well in the online store charts, went top five in the Amazon charts, and sneaked into the UK national download chart top 50.
You built a career as a musician and composer playing many different genres and even performed as a classical pianist, so why have you chosen Reggae music as your way of sharing your compassionate message?
I’ve been a fan of reggae music since a teenager and always enjoyed the bouncy, feel-good aspect to it, and that feel-good aspect grabs people’s attention. People love it, I enjoy playing it, and I can weave the vegan message into it. Win-win!
How easy is it for a musician to reach an audience now? Do streaming services make it easier or just bring more competition for people’s listening time?
There are a colossal amount of songs available on streaming now, meaning grabbing people’s listening time is getting harder and harder. We are in competition online with hundreds of millions of other tracks and millions of artists. So while we have found that it is possible to get followers and streams online (and indeed it is advisable to!), nothing beats getting out there and performing your music live.
"We may not have made number one but the song with its vegan message went top five in the Amazon charts, and sneaked into the UK national download chart top 50."
How easy is it for a musician to reach an audience now? Do streaming services make it easier or just bring more competition for people’s listening time?
There are a colossal amount of songs available on streaming now, meaning grabbing people’s listening time is getting harder and harder. We are in competition online with hundreds of millions of other tracks and millions of artists. So while we have found that it is possible to get followers and streams online (and indeed it is advisable to!), nothing beats getting out there and performing your music live.
How do non-vegans react to your songs?
We play both fun songs without a vegan message and songs with a vegan message. We grab people’s attention with the feelgood vibe and then slip in our vegan message so that people don’t switch off with too many heavy vegan songs. For example, our song ‘Get Da Curry On’ is a fun vegan curry recipe within a song and it gives me a chance to talk to the audience about veganism before we perform it. So the message is as much in my introduction as it is in the song.
If someone reading this wants to use their musical talent as their own form of vegan activism, what would your tips be to get started?
Firstly, I would steer clear of having a playlist of vegan-only songs. You may get the attention of vegans but the people you really want to inspire to consider veganism are the non-vegans – and they can turn off quite easily. Reel them in with a few songs you think they might like to hear before introducing the vegan message. Sometimes you can slip a vegan line or two into a song that may not have a core vegan message. For example, I have the line ‘Show compassion to the beings who are helpless’ in my song ‘Gather Up’ which is about people doing good deeds in their earthly life.
Find BFriendly’s music on Spotify, iTunes or find more links on their website here: www.bfriendlymusic.com
Lisa Fox says:
Musicians and artists have long used their platform to convey a message or support a movement, and by weaving together the message of compassion with very catchy feel-good music, Ian and Cathy are continuing that tradition.
