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Luc Carl grew up in Nebraska raised on heavy metal, Chef Boyardee and the smell of peroxide wafting up from his mother’s basement salon. This shaped him into an avid rock and roller, touring in bands you’ve never heard of. He landed in New York City, gorging on it’s nightlife and with his long shaggy locks and spandex pants quickly becoming a permanent fixture on the scene. But one day he realized that an extra forty pounds filled his signature spandex. Slippery slope to permanent obesity and health problems? Hellz yeah. Decidedly unsexy? Most definitely. This is New York fucking City, not Nebraska. We don’t do heavy –unless it’s metal.

But can a die-hard hard rocker become fit and still lead a life of rock and roll? In his book The Drunk Diet: How I Lost 40 Pounds Wasted Luc Carl shows us that this is absolutely possible. He defies the stereotypes that rock and roll = unhealthy and that fitness fanatic = douchebag. Going from fried chicken and cigarettes to fresh fruit and marathons wasn’t easy but The Drunk Diet makes Luc’s journey an enjoyable and informative read. It’s also slyly inspirational. There are no platitudes or “shoulds” in this book. Simply by example of his own transformation through trial and error while staying true to who he is, Luc makes you realize that the change is there for the taking.

I stopped by St. Jerome’s recently and talked to Luc about his book, New York and Rock and Roll.

What inspired you to write the book?
I read a bunch of diet books and they all pissed me off. I wanted to shove it up the doctors asses…all these “experts” that wrote all these diet books. I wanted to show how you could have my kind of schedule and still party and still get in shape.

Something unique about your book is that you say you can get in really good shape – and in fact you have – and you don’t have to give up drinking. Why do you think so many people think that you have to stop drinking to get in shape?
Well I think if you have to give up drinking completely then you probably have a problem. Two glasses of wine on a Saturday afternoon is not a problem. It’s all about moderation.

You made major lifestyle changes in terms of your health – did you do it pretty much on your own?
I read a lot of books and learned a lot, but like I said before they also really pissed me off. Things like “The Cookie Diet”! That’s not going to lead to permanent changes. So I used that as fuel. There’s nothing like being pissed off to wanna kick somebody’s ass. That’s the whole point. You get pissed at a guy you wanna fight him. I was pissed at a lot of people and I wanted to fight them. I wanted to be like Rocky Balboa and win.

Did you lose friends through this process? Sometimes when people are trying to make changes their friends feel threatened or whatnot. There were a couple guys who went to rehab – actually a few times – but they’re in completely different places right now…but other than that I still talk to all my asshole friends and we still go out drinking all the time.

You’ve become an avid runner. What do you love best about it?
It makes me normal it makes me sane. Everyday I wake up I work on the website… and everything builds up in my brain like a game of Tetris and I go for a run and it sets me back to normal. It get rids of my crazies

Sex or running? If you had to pick one?
I can’t answer that one…laughs…I’ll go with sex!

What do you value the most in your friends?
Honesty

In your girlfriend?
A beautiful ass.

Do you plan on staying in NYC?
Oh yeah, at some point I‘d love to have a small ranch in Wyoming but I’d still want to have a place here. This is definitely my home and I have no plans on leaving anytime soon!

What do you love best about New York? It’s like a giant ball of fire. Lets say you go out of town to the Catskills or a bed and breakfast. And then you come back to the city and when you’re at the edge you can feel that energy and then at some point you become a part of that energy –and the inspiration completely surrounds you at all times and it’s an amazing thing.

Are there any current rock and roll bands you like?
Very Few! Of course locally there’s The Dirty Pearls. Then there’s The Sword from Austin TX, Airbourne from Australia…I’m really into -they’re working on their third album but the first 2 were really killer. Eye On Fire from San Francisco. There are very few. I don’t like rock bands that try to sound “new” instead of like rock and roll.

It’s kind of like how there’s a certain kind of country music that sounds the same…
Exactly! And classical. And jazz. I don’t know why rock bands think they have to reinvent all the time. It’s like they’re afraid the record company will get bored. It’s why all the bands I like from the last 10 years just sound like Metal. Not like they’re trying to be from the future or some bullshit. The futures already happening don’t bother to try and reinvent it.

Other than St. Jerome’s if people are interested in hearing rock and roll in the city where would you recommend.
Three of Cups on 1st ave. It’s the shit. Other than that there’s a place in Williamsburg called Duffs…that place is amazing. If you can stand going to Williamsburg. Which I can’t! Also MotorCity kicks ass too!

Last question! Anything you’ve learned from running?
Every morning I have to achieve a goal that no one gives a flying shit about and it’s all a personal goal and that plays into my everyday life. Just walking down the street I feel like a much more accomplished human being because I achieved my goal in my running shoes. Or even if I have a really bad day and I can’t achieve my goal at least I tried…yeah, running makes everything in life better.