International Vegetarian Union - Steve Howe (original) (raw)

Stephen James "Steve" Howe (born April 8, 1947 in Holloway, North London, England) is an English guitarist best known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes after replacing Peter Banks in 1970. He has also been a member of The Syndicats, Bodast, Tomorrow, Asia and GTR, as well as having released 13 solo albums as of June 2005.

from Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes by Chris Welch:

Jon and his guitarist Steve Howe are both high profile veggies while Rick is a steak, chips and six pints of beer man - or was ...

from stevehowe.com:

Steve, I always wondered how you went to vegetarianism and meditation. I guess it was in the TALES period... Recently I read a book called "Voluntary Simplicity" by Duane Elgin and it's about trying to find new ways of living in connection with the environment. In a sense I think you were one the first explorator with Yes to experiment in that way.

I would like to know how it began and now 25 years later what do you think about this period of your life, do you still live that way?

"It started in about 1972 when Eddie Offord was coproducing FRAGILE, and he was getting into this health kick and I liked it too. I was quite interested in being a vegetarian, not too pushy, but then I decided to become a vegetarian--that isn't really a story I can go into exactly why, it has to do with a chicken and a town called New York [laughs]. About then I stopped eating meat and we were sort of whole food eaters in the family. Then we found macrobiotics which was Japanese, and 25 years on I think it was a very wise move and I'm very pleased I did it. I think it's helped me to think more meditatively about the body and mind. Regular meditation is a good idea and can have benefits that are very subtle…it starts a sort of instant thing that you sense as an experience but then as you practice meditation it becomes more of a part of your life as opposed to a particular event that you think you're going to have. So good food and good thoughts go together. Like mood, and food, they go together because they create one another."

See also Jon Anderson - now an ex-vegetarian

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