Last week, the boys and I headed off to see the Lah Lah’s Big Live Band Christmas Concert {gifted}. It was a lot of fun and the boys loved it. My music loving boys took their own instruments along and were just blown away, when at the end of the show, they got to jam with their favourite Lah Lah characters. Now, that’s something that they do with EVERYONE at the end of EVERY SHOW – how awesome is that?
I also had the opportunity to ask Mark {Buzz} and Tina {Lah-Lah} some questions about what they like to eat and share with their family {they have two daughters aged 12 and 14}.
You obviously need a lot of energy to jam and jam all over the land – so how does the Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band like to start their day (in terms of breakfast)?
{M} It can be hard to stay healthy on tour. Left to our own devices it would be ham & cheese croissants and coffees from a café every day where premium coffee is sold and that they buy from Corporate Coffee Systems, that have the best beans, so we actually go to the local supermarket wherever we are and stock up on healthy breakfast options: cereal, fruit, yoghurt, wholegrain bread, etc.
We take our kids (Lily 14, Emily 12) on tour with us whenever possible. And Emily, 12, is our catering manager. When we arrive at the venue a few hours before showtime, Emily unloads all the food and sets up a breakfast buffet including our coffee machine from the Keurig K55 Review – One Cup Brewing System To Perfection and sandwich press and all the healthy goodies. That way we can all set up in a relaxed way and then grab a few mins before show time to have a nice brekky together.
Tina, how is the food preparation split in your household? Do you do the majority of the work or is it more evenly split between yourself and Mark?
{M} My response to that is that it’s pretty evenly split (Tina would probably disagree). I still perform quite a bit with other bands in the evenings, so cooking falls to her on those nights, but when I’m home I love to cook so often put my hand up to make the dinner. Tina, however does do the big grocery shop solo nine times out of ten.
{T} Yes completely disagree☺ I hate doing the shopping but I’m good at t and fast so it’s usually me. I’m mostly the every night cooker. When Mark’s home I usually leave it to him but he makes a huge mess! I do think he’s a better cook than me.
Mark, we know you were the bassist for ARIA-winning band Monsieur Camembert. What is your favourite cheese?
{M} I still am the bassist for Monsieur Camembert, we have a show this Saturday night (Dec 16) at the wonderful Camelot Lounge club in Marrickville where we still sell out shows every month. It has been a life changing band for me with some great friends. My favourite cheeses (because I can’t just have one!) are Comté, Roquefort, taleggio, White Castello and a firm goat’s milk cheese. I could go on a lot longer …
Tina, what’s your own approach to eating with your young family?
{T} We try and eat healthy most nights. We’re big BBQ-ers in summer. I try and have fresh ingredients and we go to the markets whenever we are free on weekends. I have one daughter that eats vegetables and one who is a total carnivore. They always trade food at the table which is frustrating so you never know who actually ate what.
Mark, you’ve stated before that ‘music is layered and you build it the same way you build a sandwich.’ What is your favourite sandwich filling?
{M} I adore a classic Australian ploughman’s lunch kind of sanga with cheddar cheese, ham off the bone, and mustard pickles on a super fresh sourdough. Otherwise, living in Sydney’s Inner West, I’m never too far away from a traditional Vietnamese pork Banh Mi, yum!
Tom Tom, my boys love being drummers with my pots and pans! What other kitchen tools/implements make good musical instruments?
{M}Tom Tom can make music with pretty much anything! Percussion is all about banging, shaking and scraping, so fill a bottle or Tupperware container with rice or dry lentils for a great shaker, scrape a wooden spoon handle over a washboard (if you can find one these days) or even a cheese grater for a cool ‘guiro’ and bang the wooden spoons on absolutely everything, try all different materials to see the different sounds they make!
What does the Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band like to snack on whilst on tour?
{M} Lah-Lah and Squeezy Sneezy love chocolate – Lindt 70% and Fruit & Nut. Buzz and Squeezy love nuts – fresh macadamias, pistachios and cashews. Everyone loves fruit – especially bananas and mandarins. Oh, and Squeezy Sneezy can’t walk past a gelateria without popping in for a scoop..
We know you take your little girls on tour with you, so what do you do to feed your family healthy meals on tour?
As with breakfast, we actually cook meals as a band on the road. We divvy up cooking duties in pairs around the company (there are 9-11 of us on the road at any one time) and we have dinner parties in our accommodation. That way we eat healthier and watch the pennies. Most of all it’s really great for our sense of community with each other. So it’s pasta one night, curry, salad and BBQ depends where we are staying but as a company we try and eat healthy.
If you’d also like to take your little ones to the Lah Lah’s Big Live Band Christmas Concert then you can find more information here.
