Angelo Munro - Bleeders
Smoking status: Ex-smoker
<p>Since 2003, hardcore punk band with attitude Bleeders did nothing but climb, and their album 'Sweet As Sin' scored them a Best Rock Album at the 2006 NZ Music Awards. Before he got there, lead singer Angelo Munro was working at a supermarket and smoking a pack a day during his breaks. He quit cold turkey because he knew it wasn't getting him anywhere. Munro also manages Deadboy Records, home to some of NZ's best and heaviest music, and in early 2010 joined the band Leeches to deliver us a whole new flavour of hardcore.</p><p> <!--EndFragment--></p>
Interview
Do you think that the 'smoking is cool' attitude has changed now?
Definitely. I guess the awareness about the effect of smoking has changed people's perception of it. I think people got sick of looking at their pack of cigarettes and seeing someone's rotting gums, or someone with gangrene. A lot of role models now are against it and it's making young kids think it's not the thing to get into. A lot of sports stars especially don't smoke and they're the biggest role models out there.
So you think it's okay to be smokefree these days?
It's totally OK not to smoke. The perception that you've got to smoke or you're uncool only exists with teenagers. I think older people do respect you if you're not smoking. The people who sit around in the social scene are not really worried if you smoke or not. I don't smoke and no-one's ever judged me, no-one's ever tried to give me a cigarette and say, "yo, smoke this" That belongs in the school yard.
When did you decide you were over smoking?
I was seventeen, so I quit pretty young. I realised that it was try hard. You get into it because it's the 'in' thing and people you look up to are smokers - people that you think are role models but really they're not, they're just losers. You realise 'this is stupid man.' I've had family die of lung cancer, so you look back and go 'this is stupid, I've got to get this out of my life really quick smart.'