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

"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.

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."

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