CANNIBAL CORPSE's PAUL MAZURKIEWICZ Says He's Been A Vegetarian For 22 Years: 'I Believe Every Animal Deserves To Live'

In a new interview with the And Now The Band podcast, CANNIBAL CORPSE drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz revealed that he has been a vegetarian for 22 years. Asked what made him decide to stop eating meat, Paul said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I didn't wanna eat the animals anymore. That was as easy as that. I grew up, of course, a meat eater. A Polish family living in Buffalo, it's meat and potatoes. And there was nothing wrong with that; I loved it, of course. But then the older I got, I was just starting to, I guess, feel hypocritical, knowing that, man, I can never kill an animal to eat it, but yet I can turn my head and somebody else can do it for me and then I can enjoy it, eat it. And I was just really starting to get hypocritical in that view.

"I believe every animal deserves to live, and if I can not eat one and eat any, then I'll be happy with myself," he explained. "And that's when I made that decision 22 years ago to stop eating meat altogether. That was my mindset. It wasn't health reasons and it wasn't like I got sick or I hated it. I loved eating meat. I would have probably told you six months up until I was gonna become a vegetarian, if I didn't know at that point, but I would have said, 'Ah, there's no way. I bet you a million dollars. I'm never gonna be a vegetarian.' Things change. Things in your head change and your views change, I guess, and this one was a very strong one for me that made me just made that decision to do it. And it was actually one of the easiest things I ever did, which was kind of crazy. I thought it would be a little harder since you're eating meat your whole life and all of a sudden you're not. So, [I thought], 'Man, it's gonna be difficult. I gotta really…' But it wasn't. I was ready. Mentally, I was ready. So it was, like I said, probably one of the easiest things I ever did, actually, which is kind of crazy to think."

Asked if he noticed a change in his health when he went vegetarian, Paul said: "Not really. It was weird because, obviously, like I said, I didn't do it for those reasons. So I almost was, like, 'If I am unhealthy, I don't care. I'm gonna feel better as a person myself. And I'm hoping it's gonna affect me [in a positive] way. I guess, I always think hypothetically, like what if I went in to my doctor and he goes, 'Hey, you're gonna die tomorrow if you don't eat meat.' Okay. Well, then maybe I would consider it — maybe, maybe consider it — because it's causing me harm, I suppose. But if it's not, and here I am still doing what I'm doing, active, playing drums, playing death metal-style drums and all this kind of thing at this age, being a vegetarian for 22 years, I guess it's been okay. So I'd say my health overall has been kind of the same, which is good."

Paul went on to say that being a vegetarian is a lot easier now than it was two decades ago. He said: "Oh, of course. Yeah, there's so many more options. And just in a flavor standpoint, because, obviously, you can be healthy just as a vegetarian eating bland, eating just literally vegetables and fruits and things like that and beans and stuff. But it's good to know that there's so many great options being… Like I said, I love the taste of meat, and it's not necessarily healthier, like, say, the Beyond products or the Impossible products, if you can have a Beyond burger and go, 'Wow, this tastes like a hamburger to me,' well, I'm all for it because I love that flavor. So if I can get that flavor and it being not eating an animal, that's great. Like I said, it doesn't mean that's any healthier because it's vegetarian, but you'll still be able to get some proteins. So you've just gotta be careful, like anything else, moderation and be careful what you do and eat. And you've still gotta do the normal things — exercise, stay hydrated. I think that's the key as well. That's why maybe I feel like there was no transition or no change because I've really tried to do more in the other way. When I quit eating meat, it was around the same time I gave up drinking soda. And that, actually, was hard. Maybe not as hard as smoking, of course, but that took a month of willpower. Like, 'Oh, my God.' I I love Dr. Pepper. That was my thing. And I was, like, 'Okay, I've gotta stop. I know they're not good for you. I just need to stop.' And I still drink coffee, and I don't think I can ever give that up, but I'm not drinking coffee like I drank Dr. Pepper, where that's all you're drinking all day, if you're into Cokes and things. So, I gave that up, and I felt that was a huge success and a huge positive change, to just strictly drink water from that point on. How is that not gonna be better for you when you're just ingesting water all day as opposed to this soda that's just — who knows what it's doing your innards? Yeah, so, that was good. Making those kind of changes definitely helps. So I think, that definitely helped me in my situation. And for longevity purposes, I would think it would help for anybody."

CANNIBAL CORPSE's sixteenth studio album, "Chaos Horrific", was released in September 2023 via Metal Blade Records.

Since 1988, CANNIBAL CORPSE have been at the forefront of death metal, shaping and defining the genre. In 2021, they raised the stakes again with "Violence Unimagined". And in 2023, the band's thirty-fifth anniversary, they returned with its successor, the equally monstrous "Chaos Horrific", starting a new chapter in their storied legacy.

Mazurkiewicz named "Chaos Horrific" and his cohorts felt it was a great representation of the band. Subjects covered include fighting off hordes of zombies ("Chaos Horrific"),the selection of a random individual to be dismembered and sacrificed ("Summoned For Sacrifice") and the violent revenge of victims of human trafficking ("Vengeful Invasion"). The album artwork by longtime collaborator Vince Locke is also suitably CANNIBAL CORPSE-esque, featuring a chaotic tangle of the living and the undead, evoking the lyrics of the title track.

Photo credit: Alex Morgan