Straight Edge Lifestyle: A New Breed of British Men

Part 1

The term ‘Straight Edge’ has been around since the early 1980s , coined by Punk band revolutionaries Minor Threat. The term represented a total abstinence from any form of drugs or alcohol. It was a reaction against the free love, free drugs attitude of the 1970s, but more than that, it stood for a sense of militant individualism, and a live-for-the moment sensory attitude. These young people didn’t want to de-sensitize themselves to the world around them. They wanted to experience the joy, the pain, and rushes of life in all their vitality.

During the 1980s and 1990s, hardcore and punk bands spearheaded the movement. The music crashed against mainstream trends of dance and hip-hop, and out of the carnage arose a new militant form of expression. Veganism was adopted within the straight edge lifestyle. But by the 2000s militant straight edge was on the decline.

There are those still out there that abstain from drinking, rejecting the status quo of 20 something’s living in London. A city where each summer day rolls onto the next lubricated by drinks at lunchtime, drinking after work, and going for a pint on your day off. The bars of London are where the city is run from; it’s where deals are made, where stories are told, and where friends and foes alike commune.

Rahul Ghai, 25, sipped on his glass of cola, the tall dark glass of fizzing liquid juxtaposed against his crisp navy blue suit. He works for one of London’s major banks and would not seem out of place in one of the upmarket bars near Liverpool street station at 6:30pm on a Thursday afternoon, with the rest of the city’s Suits. Rahul has not chosen that life though.

“I turned the straight edge since I could walk. 25 years going strong.”

A sense of pride washed over his face as he set down his glass and sat back in his chair.

“It was a promise I made to my mum when I found out that my dad passed away due to excessive drinking and smoking. So from that day I haven’t touched alcohol.”

We all know the risks that come with alcohol and smoking, but none of us ever really consider them in relation to our own mortality. 63% of all alcohol related deaths are caused by liver disease, and out of that 65% are male, highest among men aged 60 to 64. What few realise is those deaths are the result of a life of drinking, something a young man can’t really comprehend in the face of his own mortality. There was something so admirable about Rahul, and the simple promise of a young boy to his mother in the wake of such devastation.

“Personally I’ve seen how people consume alcohol on a regular basis and it’s horrible, hangovers in the morning, doing stupid things because it’s out of your control.”

It was clear that Rahul’s choice to reject alcohol was not a cultural one, or a choice fuelled by the adoption of a particular cultural movement. It was not a choice dictated by trends or culture. It was a choice that was rooted in his very core. Rahul’s “straight edge” was sewn into the fabric of his life, it was something that defined him. I realised then that being straight edge wasn’t so easily defined, and the reasons to reject the cultural norms of drinking on such an extreme level are not clear-cut. It is a choice fuelled by circumstance. I asked Rahul if he ever felt alienated from his friends, who he mentioned all drink and smoke.

“I don’t feel alienated at all because I’m on a natural high and I don’t need alcohol to give me that buzz when I walk into a club. I love socialising with my friends even if I’m not drinking. A nice pint of coke will do.”

He picked up his glass of cola and took a long deep gulp, and then sat back again laughing. His timing was perfect. I asked Rahul if he knew about the origins of the Straight Edge movement. About how it had been born from the Punk scene, how it had evolved over the 1990s, and its affiliations with the sub-culture of hardcore metal music. He shrugged;

“Well I wouldn’t say I’m a part of a sub culture group. I respect people who don’t drink, but I also respect people who do, because people may need alcohol to encourage them to gain confidence and to come out of their shell. For me the choice not to drink, smoke, or do drugs is not a cultural thing. It’s much more emotional, it’s to do with my family, my upbringing. I’ve never found it hard to say no, and luckily my friends respect my decision, I’ve never felt any pressure.”

He finished his glass of coke, and asked if I wanted to stay for another. I agreed, and he rose, moving toward the direction of the bar. Just before he left he turned back to me; “I’ll probably have a glass of champs on my wedding day but lets not think too far ahead of ourselves yet!” He laughed, and asked me if I wanted another pint of cider.

Part 2

When you look at Matthew James Fernandez, he doesn’t strike you as the typical 23-year-old guy. Tattoos litter his skin from his hands all the way to his feet, and his ear lobes have been stretched to the size of bottle caps. His hair is lacquered into a neat side parting. I buy him a soda water and lime as we sit down at a pub near Hampstead Heath. I noticed strange looks darted towards him from the elderly couple sat across from us, obviously confused by the juxtaposition of Matt’s appearance and the wholesome, typically middle class surroundings. Matt comes from a straight edge background. He has been into the metal/punk music scene since he was a teenager:

“I turned 100% straight edge three years ago, I quit doing drugs four years ago.”

He continued, “I turned straight edge more for a personal choice and for my grandparents due to the situations i used to get into because of the influence of drugs and mainly alcohol.”

Matt has had his fair share of run in’s with the law, and was no stranger to the inside of a courtroom. UK government crime statistics show that more than a million crimes committed in the past year were alcohol related, and alcohol related harm is costing society 21 billion pounds annually. It was a back-story I would never had related to Matt. The young man that sat on the pub bench next to me had an air of poise, and leveled headedness. He had a clarity to his voice, and he seemed confident about every syllable that left his mouth.

“I always used to make loved ones worry and when I finally matured and realised what I was doing, that’s when I decided it was time for a change.”

He reached for his sunglasses and place them onto the bridge of his nose as the clouds parted and the glare of the sun glinted through the glasses on our table, washing our faces in the hue of our drinks, mine a golden brown, his a citrus green.

“I find being clear minded to be the best part and waking up early each day clean and fresh rather than spending most of my time staring at the backs of my eyelids sketching out about the night before.”

His point was undeniable. He explained the hours he would wastes sat in bed on a come down, or a hangover. All that lost time, evaporating while he was in the best years of his life. Matt explained that he made a decision to grow up, to take control of his life and stop clouding his problems with the haze of substance abuse. He went on.

“Today it seems like the norm to take drugs and drink copious amounts of alcohol but I wouldn’t say I feel alienated. It’s frustrating explaining to people sometimes why I don’t drink, but to each their own.”

Now there seems something abnormal about choosing not to drink, it’s a practice so engrained into the fabric of our society. Matt however did not seem aggravated about this. He experienced it and had mad the simple choice to opt out. He has no animosity towards those who drink, or the culture he described as today’s ‘norm’, but his frustration was palpable. He seemed to resent to constant need to justify his choice, and to deal with what he went on to describe as ‘the constant questions of ‘why?’”

I was interested in the music he listened to; he had mentioned that he liked to go to hard-core music shows where the straight edge scene was more open and accepted. He got out his phone and played me some music. The sounds were frantic, seeped with angst, aggression and emotion. The methodical thrashing of guitars strings, the crashing of wood on symbols and drum skins, and the straining of vocal chords, it all culminated in a cacophony of furious noise that came together in melodic discord, an association that was difficult to comprehend.

“There is a sort of scene at Hardcore shows and there’s a few Straight Edge shows where you feel apart of something but even then violence is more apparent these days at shows so it’s taken the brotherhood feeling away from it but a few scenes are still doing it for the right causes.”

It seemed hard to believe, after listening to the music of these bands, that they inspired such piety against the indulgence of drink and drugs. Matt explained that the music, and the straight edge hardcore scene was an expression of lucidity, it was unflinching. It represented staring at the ugly side of life, and yourself, and not looking away, but meeting it head on with a bloody smile. He related it to how getting tattooed made him feel, it was an uncomfortable pain, but that pain reminded him he was still human. I asked what extremities he will to go to in pursuit of his straight edge lifestyle.

“Since the beginning of 2014 I’ve cut out caffeine so I now don’t drink alcohol, do drugs or have caffeine. A lot of straight edge people go vegan, and there was a time where the scene got quite political, and protested about animal rights, and abortion and things like that. The protest side has mostly died out though, I think it all got a bit too much, and sort of took away from the purity of movement. I don’t think I’d ever go that far, I like chicken too much.”

I asked Matt to tell me how going straight edge has changed his life.

“I’ve got a secure job where I machine vital parts for various ministry of defense companies, I’ve lived on my own and have been able to support myself for years now and I’m finally sorting my driving out. Four or five years ago I was lazy due to cannabis and didn’t care what I did. I don’t think I could ever see myself doing drugs again and I feel the same with alcohol too. Life has been better and so has my outlook on life.”

I almost wished I had met Matt before he had gone straight edge, to fully appreciate his transformation. It seemed that by shunning alcohol and drugs, he had been given a chance to reinvent himself. He embraced the sub-culture, but did not let it dictate the terms on which he had to behave, alcohol had done that already, and it was not a path he was going to go down again. Most off all Matt just wanted to be in control, to have his own identity, and live by his own means.