What were your food influences when you were growing up and what kind of food did you eat at home or with your family?
Our family loves food! Good food. My parents are both really great in the kitchen and I grew watching them cook up a storm. Dad has always loved cooking up curries and stews. He makes the best soups and his apricot pie is so delicious. We had roast dinners and BBQ’s with loads of fresh and interesting salads.
Our favourite desserts were mum’s Lemon Delicious and Golden Syrup Dumplings. And still now I crave them!
What are you favourite tour van or aeroplane munchies?
This is a hard one. Touring doesn’t always bring my favourite things. Although when I’m travelling on the road you can sometimes come across a local store or cafe with a great sandwich made with love. It’s true I LOVE sandwiches. I dream and sing about them actually. Good bread is the key. Fresh bread. It could be a vietnamese pork roll or a toasted chicken and cheese on crunchy sourdough. Oh and a single espresso… And…
If I can’t get any of that…. I love Redskins and salt and vinegar Kettle chips!
What is your typical Jordie Lane cooking playlist sound like? (rock, soul or maybe even smooth grooves)
This is a happy place for me.. Cooking and music.. Two of my favourite things. When I’m cooking I’ll put on a bit of Sam Cooke, Guy Clarke and maybe some early Stones.
I did just get back from a trip in Ojai which is 2 hours north of LA. When we arrived we came across the town’s local library book sale which was out on the front lawn and I picked up a whole lot of old vinyl 25 LPs for $5 total) of all kinds of weird and wonderful sounds. That night I made a fiesta of food at the cabin. We had blaring on my portable record player soundtracks to ‘the sound of music’, ‘Oliver’ and the ‘Hawaiian choir from 1975’.
What type of food do you make sure to avoid before a gig or going on stage?
I’m better when I don’t eat close to a show. If I’m full and just want to find a comfy couch and have a nap so I’m best staying away until after the show. I’m great at finding late night snacks though. I like coming home and putting together something with whatever is in the cupboard. That is one of my specialties. Making something from nothing.
What’s the most outrageous food you’ve ever asked for on a rider?
I once asked for the full three course Peking duck experience. You know the one where they cut the crispy bits right into the crepe, and you make your wrap, then they serve the darker meet as a stir fry, then they come back out with the bones as a soup. Was that too much to ask??
Note: I did NOT receive my rider!
What has been your biggest cooking disaster to date? Tell us the story.
Well It wasn’t really a cooking disaster, more an eating one.
The cooking went fine. Nice oven roasted Chicken breast with mashed potatoes and Garlic dressed with lemon and pepper.
After a big night out I came home to finish the left overs which Id left on the bench. I didn’t turn the kitchen lights on. I just ran straight for that chicken! I vaguely remember thinkin I didn’t recall ever putting that much pepper on the chicken. But I took a couple of massive bites before putting the rest on a plate to microwave, and that’s when I realised. That was not excess pepper. It was a mass of live ants crawling around. And then the burning in my mouth came. But it was refreshingly like really hot pepper.
When you were in the studio recording ‘Not Built To Last’, did your diet change much? What sort food is good for the soul around recording a record?
Well we recorded in Nashville in a studio at the back of this big old white southern home. We would start the day meeting in the kitchen of the house but that usually consisted of video games and jokes mainly.
In the studio we had mexican beer, coke, water, carrots, a lot of lollies(candy) and apples. I made the mistake on the second day of having a 5 hour energy shot, a coke and an Irish coffee all in the apace of 30 minutes. i then had a bit of a meltdown.
Once that was all over and we were done though we went Southern style eating.. fried chicken and mash, old school diners, Vietnamese and oh I loved our late night stops at Waffle House for Texas Melts on heart attack buttery bread. Yum
Where is your favourite music venue to eat at in Australia and internationally and why?
In Australia while on tour, Lizotte’s in Newcastle and Central Coast are one of the only places to give you whatever you want as part of your rider! Mmmm mmm.
You’ve played a few festivals in your career, which ones have had the best backstage catering?
Winnipeg Folk Festival in Manitoba, Canada would have to be one of the most complex and massive back stage catering services I’ve ever seen.
3 courses a day cooked by a full kitchen staff of hundreds. With gourmet meals like steak with a red wine truffle jus, organic Couscous salad and sticky date pudding dessert. Damn impressive!!!
What is all your all time favourite meal? (can be breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert).
It sounds cliché but probably Mum and Dad’s roast… Or maybe it’s the fried potatoes at Little Dom’s in LA…. Or maybe it’s a Vietnamese pork roll from the bakery at the end of my childhood street in Thornbury….. Or maybe it’s my girlfriend’s tuna curry…. Or maybe it’s goat’s cheese and crunchy bread…I can’t decide.
Maybe Avocado on fresh sourdough with fresh rocket and balsamic vinegar. I’d be happy if that’s all I had for the rest of my life.
