We hear that you are Macbeth's new vegan ambassador for 2009. How did the partnership come about?
I've been working with Macbeth for a while now, and I feel like I'm the person to best represent veganism for the company. Either that or I'm just totally forcing myself on them.

Why was it important for you to design an all-vegan shoe, even down to the glue used?
First off, have you ever worn a pair of shoes without glue? They just fall apart. So, if they are going to use glue, it's going to have to be vegan glue. You know, animals don't wear shoes with human glue—it's just disrespectful.

At what moment did you decide that being vegan is the best choice for you and for animals?
Well, I sat down with the animals …. No, actually I've been vegetarian for 16 years and vegan for eight, and from the moment that I realized that you can be vegetarian, I immediately decided that that's what I wanted to do. It just made the most sense to me. It was the most conscientious choice that I could make.

I think that back in 1992, especially where I grew up, it was certainly not easy to be vegan. Now, I think it is so simple. The world has definitely become more vegan-friendly, and now it would just be silly not to be vegan.

Was there a band that influenced you or a video that you saw that triggered it? Or did it just sort of happen?
No, I grew up in a really small, isolated town, and my exposure to things was very limited. I didn't even know what vegan meant until 1994, at which point I was already vegetarian. So naturally, I was very curious about it. I had two friends who were vegan, and they weren't very preachy—which prevented me from learning from them, because they weren't going to explain anything. The one thing that they did provide, though, was a sense that this is a lifestyle you can choose that isn't going to be detrimental to your health. Later, as I was exposed to more bands and whatnot, I continued to learn and read more about it, but there was never a certain band that influenced that.

My transition from being vegetarian into being vegan was very smooth. It took about eight years. In the summer of 2000, I realized, "Hey, wait a second. I can do this; why aren't I doing this?" Let me just say that being in a band with Davey and also touring with bands like Good Riddance showed me, "You can do this; you aren't going to get sick and die."

Being on tour with AFI and Hunter Revenge has given you the opportunity to travel to every major city in the world. In your opinion, what city is the most vegan-friendly?
I would have to say New York. You know, New York has an amazing variety of restaurants and stores. Los Angeles does too, but many people in Southern California have the impression that veganism is just a diet fad: "Oh, vegan, is that the new trend? Should we check that out? Maybe it's raw? I don't know." Some people do not take it seriously. Whereas in New York it's a no-nonsense approach. So I'm going to say New York.

Our "Meat's Not Green" campaign focuses on a report from the U.N. that says factory farming of livestock is the number one cause of climate change and produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation industry combined. Do you have any thoughts on this?
A lot of people, I think, just simply don't know the facts, or are just unwilling to be open to the idea that factory farming is such a major contributor. So, it's good!

What's next for you? Anything else going on in your world other than being the vegan ambassador?
That does take up a lot of my time, but also, AFI is in the studio right now recording an album. It's our eighth studio album. It's going to be out sometime in 2009. I don't know exactly when, because we're still in the studio at this point, but sometime in the next six months would be awesome.

Is the recording process going well, or is there anything you can tell us about how it might differ from your other albums?
Yes, it's going very well. This recording session differs in that instead of tracking an instrument on every song before moving on to the next instrument, we are actually building each song up individually. I'm used to sitting around for weeks and weeks, waiting to play my parts, and then playing them all within a couple of days. This time around, I go in almost every single day and have something to play. It sucks having to record after sitting around for a month. Playing with the rest of the band all the time keeps us fresh.

Anything else you wanted to add?
I just wanted to thank everyone for taking an interest in my new shoe, "The Hunter." Thank you for buying it—thank you for buying six pairs of my shoe! I also wanted to mention that the sides of my shoe are made out of mesh that is used in making bulletproof vests. So, the sides of your feet will be protected from stray bullets—if somebody is shooting right at your foot.

And if someone were shooting at you, you could hold up your shoe and use it as a shield, if you were quick!
Yes, if you are coordinated enough to lift your feet to deflect each bullet, these shoes will protect you from all gunfire.

Was that a decision made on their end, or was it something that you wanted to do?
That was my decision. I spent a long time just looking at books of different materials to use. I had a really specific idea of what I wanted, and fortunately it was available at a reasonable price. There are so many different options when creating a vegan shoe. You can go with synthetic materials or natural fibers. There are plenty of canvas shoes out there, and plenty of vinyl-y fake leather shoes. I wanted to do something totally different.