Texas Is the Reason Bassist, Celebrated Vegan Chef Scott Winegard Talks Food (INTERVIEW)

Posted on Mar 12th 2013 3:30PM by Carlos Ramirez Comments

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"Growing up, we had a small garden with a couple of tomato plants, but my grandfather had a gigantic garden in his backyard. I remember going out to his house on Eastern Long Island and running through the house to see what new stuff he had planted. I didn't put two and two together for a long time, but I guess I was always excited by fresh food," Texas Is the Reason bassist and renown vegan chef Scott Winegard tells Noisecreep.

We're chatting with Winegard during a break on a Texas Is the Reason's headlining tour, and it's a small miracle he even has a few minutes to jump on the phone with us. The bassist lives quite the busy life.

When he's not jamming with the influential post-hardcore group and I Hate Our Freedom, another killer band he's a member of, Winegard divides his time between Brooklyn and Los Angeles, where he recently helped launch the opening of M.A.K.E. - a raw food restaurant in Santa Monica.

Just like he paid his dues in the hardcore scene - he started his musical career as a member of an underground group called Fountainhead in the early '90s - Winegard learned the ropes in the restaurant world spending over a decade working in several kitchens, including New York's famed Angelica Kitchen.ine

"My parents were decent cooks, but they really weren't making elaborate dishes or anything. How I mostly learned how to cook was when I started working. I always gravitated towards restaurant gigs. When I moved out of my childhood home and into the city, I wanted to work somewhere that served vegetarian food, and I was lucky to get hired at Angelica Kitchen. I remember doing a delivery to a place called The Natural Gourmet, which was a vegetarian cooking school. I had no idea a place like that even existed. 'A vegetarian cooking school?!' I was intrigued and then I went to their open house to check out the school. That's how it all started," says Winegard, a native of Oceanside, Long Island.

Watch Texas Is the Reason Perform 'Back and to the Left' in Oct. 2012

Winegard and Texas Is the Reason are currently promoting Do You Know Who You Are?: The Complete Collection, a deluxe reissue of their influential 1996 debut album, alongside the rest of their recorded material.

Besides his work with Texas Is the Reason and M.A.K.E., Winegard is also supermodel/television personality Heidi Klum's personal chef, making every other red-blooded American male jealous in the process. "She's been really supportive and knows a lot about healthy food."

Watch Scott Winegard Cook a Healthy Snack with Heidi Klum

Do You Know Who You Are?: The Complete Collection is out now via Revelation Records.

Tour dates:

MARCH
29 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbos 365
30 - Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box at Henry Fonda Theater

APRIL
27 - Belgium - Groezrock Festival

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