Interview: Vystopia

On writing music, connecting vegans across the world, and the true spirit of Christmas

Dec 08, 2025

Welcome back to another Wizard of Claws interview!

We’re mixing things up a bit today with a special, festive, musical interview with Martin, the man behind Vystopia. His Spirit of Christmas album links the calls for peace on earth in traditional holiday music with a vegan ethic. After all, true compassion knows no species. In addition to creating festive animal rights tunes, Martin donates the profits to animals in need, totaling around €3,300 in donations so far. Without further ado, let’s begin!

Music Questions

Can you share a little bit about yourself, including how you came to care about animals and music?

The name is Martin and I’m 49 years of age. I haven’t eaten meat since 2000 and I’ve been vegan for the animals since 21st of November 2011. In other words, I’m just about to celebrate my 14th veganniversary. And yes, going vegan is one of the best decisions I ever made.
I’m the younger brother of two, and while he has the whole kit with family house and two cats, I’m single and live in a flat. It’s not how I pictured life at this stage, but it’s surprisingly hard to find a vegan woman who also wants a family.
And. I’m a musician. Not by profession but by heart and soul. For me, life is music and music is life. It’s a rare thing that a day goes by without composing, recording, playing & singing or listening to music. Creating music is one of the moments in life when I feel most alive. It’s a joy and adventure not comparable to anything else, as creating something has a soul of its own.

Most animal advocacy focuses on creating tangible changes in the real world. What role can the arts play in changing how people think about animals?

Art in general, and music specifically, holds the power of non-violent revolutions! Art has so many layers of the human expression from the inner naked truth of a person to the freedom of speech as a community. Art can reflect all of our human emotions and inspire others to insight and action. It also has the power of crossing boundaries and connecting people who otherwise might never have met or would not understand each other. So, I would say art is an extremely important form of activism as it is a universal language.
Unfortunately, the support within the movement is surprisingly scarce. Vegan musicians should have 10’s of thousands of streams each month. But maybe if you work your a** off you’ll reach that in a year. For my part, I have traveled and played in UK, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, met numerous vegans and activists, yet the number of monthly streams remains pretty much unaltered. It’s not a complaint. It’s just a sad and discouraging truth experienced by far more artists than just me. For me, it came to the point that I had to pause my project this year as the gain (what I got back) didn’t come close to the input and effort I’ve made. And all I wanna do is help the animals.

For those unfamiliar with the term, can you explain what “vystopia” means? What about the word resonates with you?

When I first learned about the word in August 2021, it spoke to me without even knowing what it meant. When I learned its meaning, I felt it might be one of the most important words there is, as it explains the view of the world from a vegan’s perspective so that it
may help vegans know that what we experience is a completely normal reaction and that we’re not alone.
might help a non-vegan understand that being vegan goes far deeper than just not wanting to eat or wear something. That it is a reaction based on values and feelings from someone who sees and understands that injustice is not just something that can happen to humans.
The term is coined by the Australian psychotherapist and author Clare Mann and can be explained in short:
“The anguish of being vegan in a non-vegan world.”
Or with a bit more depth:
“An existential crisis experienced by vegans, arising out of an awareness of the trance-like collusion with a dystopian world.”

In “Christmas Blues,” you reference the carnage you witnessed on an ordinary Christmas table in 2015. Is that what inspired you to create your own vegan-themed holiday music?

The inspiration for the first animal rights Christmas song arose from me getting the line “Please let me introduce myself, I am your host, I’m your Christmas Ghost of your past and present” in my head in the beginning of 2023. I completed the song in April the same year and it was released on World Vegan Day, the 1^st of November, the same year.
Regarding “Christmas Blues (I don’t eat my friends)” — which is based on my very own experience of Christmas back in 2015, as the lyrics tell — the song coming to life has one of the more unique stories for me as a songwriter. One week after I launched “Christmas Ghost” for release, I woke up with a melody in my head. I sat down and started writing and in just 2 hours the song was done. It was still November and I couldn’t imagine waiting another year for it to be released. So, I did something I’ve never done before and managed in just 2 weeks to write, record and with help from my friend Richard Corbett also mixed, mastered and released it on the 21^st of November.

Which comes first, the lyrics or the music?

The phase of composing a tune is different from song to song, but most of the time a melody and a short phrase comes at the same time and then I build from there. Sometimes I only have a melody and I decide for a theme or direction I wanna go with the lyrics. It can also be that I have a phrase I really like and then I play with melodies until I find something catchy, but that last one is a rare thing. Maybe one in 20 songs.

In “Christmas Ghost,” you ask that others celebrate Christmas with each and every kind in mind. In what ways would you like your listeners to embody the true spirit of Christmas?

Christmas is a time for joy and celebration. A time for kindness and caring with family and friends. Right? So, how could we possibly embody this tradition by separating and killing other families!? We need to recognize that it’s not only humans who have families, friends and feel joy or sadness. We all wanna live a life that is good.
So, “Put you money where your mouth is,” or even simpler, even though it might be a bit of a cliché — “Treat others as you want to be treated.”

How can readers find you and your music online?

Through this Hyperfollow link, you can find my social media and my music on the bigger streaming platforms.
GoFundMe — support my 10-song animal rights album.

Any upcoming projects?

I have two projects.
An acoustic 3-song single.
A full-length album (10 songs).
Apart from that, it looks like I might have two gigs in 2026 ready.
The Great Vegan Gathering in the UK in August.
And a revisit to Vegan Pride Day in Konstaz, Germany, in September.

Anything else you’d like to share?

In this era of AI music, please support REAL musicians and especially Animal Rights Musicians! Writing prompts and bypassing those beautiful moments of creation and creativity is nothing but destructive, soulless lunacy.
“Art from the heart — not from an algorithm.”