At age 51, Cro-Mags singer John Joseph McGowan still loves to get high.

The revered hardcore punk singer just does it differently than he did as a teen in the ’70s.

“I’m on a natural high, man. I was just in Jamaica, I went out and ran 15 miles and swam a mile and a half in the ocean,” McGowan says. “To me, that’s a high.”

Cro-Mags will make an exclusive Canadian appearance at Pawn Shop Live (10551 82 Ave.) this weekend, with shows on both Friday and Saturday night.

McGowan’s story began like many early punk rockers. He grew up being bounced from one abusive foster home to the next, eventually winding up on the streets taking and selling drugs.

That all changed when he met pioneering Rastafarian hardcore band Bad Brains.

“I kind of credit meeting the Bad Brains in the spring of 1980. And then I got on this whole spiritual journey, checking out philosophy and became vegetarian, then vegan,” McGowan says.

“You can’t try to renounce drugs or intoxication without something to replace it that’s more pleasurable. For me, that was training. I got into martial arts, and I really took up bike racing and all kinds of stuff. And the spiritual aspect, chanting and all of that stuff.”

If you’ve ever seen footage of him bolting back and forth on stage like a kid on a sugar rush, looking no older than 40, it won’t surprise you that he’s currently training for an Iron Man triathlon.

A practitioner of Hare Krishna, McGowan brings his spiritual, pro-health message to the Cro-Mags’ songs. Bursting out of New York’s early-80s hardcore scene and becoming one of the first bands to cross the style with metal, Cro-Mags were an anomaly in a sea of nihilism and rage.

“A lot of people snapped on me when I stopped eating meat and stuff, and stopped getting high,” says McGowan, who’s been sober for 25 years. “And those same people that snapped on me now are coming to me and going, I’ve got Type 2 Diabetes and I’ve got this problem and that problem.”

Backed by similarly fit and tattooed band members playing menacing riffs, McGowan’s message struck a chord with people who wouldn’t otherwise hear it.

For evidence of his tough, no-nonsense delivery, one should look no further than McGowan’s book Meat is For Pussies, a guide to vegan living that was recently picked up by American publisher Harper-Collins.

McGowan is diving head first into the world of writing. He just finished a screenplay for a feature film and is currently working on another book and a TV pilot.

“I’m facing reality. I’m facing the truth. And to me that’s what it’s all about. I’m coming at life motivated and trying to do things,” he says. “If I was getting stoned every night then you’d see, I wouldn’t have books or movies or any of this stuff.”

His philosophy has never been contained within his music. McGowan — who sang on most Cro-Mags albums, including 1986 debut The Age of Quarrel, but came and left at various times — has undertaken numerous charitable initiatives to feed the homeless in his community.

“I feel camaraderie with all people, not just people form the hardcore punk scene,” he says.

“It is about the spirit of giving back to people. When people give you gifts in life, you have to pay that forward, that’s what I always say.”

No Problem, Fuquored and Secret Rivals will open Friday’s show, while Etown Beatdown, Tarantuja and Ringleader will warm the stage Saturday.