Lockdown! at the Disco #12: The Food Episode

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Read the transcript of the episode!

Hiya babe! Come in, get comfy, and err…I dunno if you can smell that or not but we’ve got a proper feast of an episode cooking up for you today! But in the meantime, let’s snack on something sweet, shall we?

TRACK ONE: “I Want Candy” – Bow Wow Wow

That was Bow Wow Wow with their cover of The Strangeloves’ hit tune “I Want Candy” and you’re listening to episode 12 of Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco. I am your host Amy Roberts and I will be your waiter today because this is the food episode and we’re serving up a proper tasty musical feast for you during this one!

As a little heads up for any new listeners who might have missed the memo on us, Comics Youth is a youth organisation based in Liverpool and we do a whole bunch of creative projects and workshops with young people from across the city region where do stuff like comic books creation, zine making, blogging and poetry jams – and all sorts of other boss creative projects designed to elevate the youth voice and nurture the phenomenal talent of the young people in this amazing city.

For more information about us, check out our website, www.comicsyouth.co.uk.

And Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco was a project created at the start of lockdown to help our community stay connected and to offer the reminder that none of us are alone during all of this. Especially not when we can share our favourite jams together with the rest of the world via this show.

We develop Lockdown! at the Disco with the spectacular and super sassy young people involved with our Safe Spaces and Livergrrl Riot projects who help to curate the content and the playlists that you hear on this show.

We do a lot of things in our Safe Spaces group on a weekly basis concentrated on how we can create spaces of safety within and around ourselves that not only benefit us as individuals but also our community – and particularly those within the LGBTQIA+ community and young women.

And though we like putting the world to right during these sessions and creating some killer artwork and writing in the process, inevitably, our conversations swing back to this one universal safe space that I think most of us share and that’s food.

We chat about the snacks we’ve scranning on, we debate the validity of the weird food combos that we all individually enjoy, we share recipes and celebrate the simple pleasures of a takeaway pizza with a great TV binge or a bowl of noodles on a rainy day.

And we receive regular updates about the baking that Lucas M’s mum has been getting up to that week – for which I’m very thankful, because have I mentioned how much I miss sourdough? I’ll keep saying it, folks – I MISS IT. Sourdough is my heart and it’s hard to come by in Kenny, where I live!

And so it only makes sense that we dedicate an entire episode to food. Because when we’re feeling sad or stressed out or on those days where the world feels unbearably heavy – heck, even on the days where the world feels surprisingly light for once – food is such a nurture.

One of our young people by the name of Jack made a great piece of artwork that sums this up perfectly where he wrote on it, Anywhere that there’s food is a safe space. And my goodness, how true.

So, throw on some elasticated sweats and get your napkins at the ready and let’s dive into our first course, shall we?

This is “Pork and Beans” by Weezer.

TRACK TWO: “Pork and Beans” – Weezer
TRACK THREE: “She Don’t Use Jelly” – The Flaming Lips

That was the wonderfully weird “She Don’t Use Jelly” by the eminently odd but wonderful The Flaming Lips.

And we really don’t recommend that anyone start spreading Vaseline on their toast instead of jam. Yikes!

But, it is a great song about celebrating our individual little idiosyncrasies and weird tics that we all have and when it comes to food, I think we all have those habits or tastes that other people think are odd or disgusting but that we personally love.

You know, it’s like that great ongoing war between those who hate having pineapple on pizza and think that it’s absolute abomination and that be outlawed by the pizza justice system and then there’s those who absolutely love it.

FYI: I’m in the latter camp on that one because I’m a total freak and happy to own it.

But it’s such an odd and strange thing that taste is so subjective. Like a few of my things that have made loved ones gag to see me eat is cream cheese on a cinnamon and raisin bagel – which by the way, HUGE recommend on that vibe because sweet and savoury, my friends. They’re siblings, not enemies – and I also proper love raw broccoli as a snack item.

I like dipping it in hummous, I love it on a butty with loads of hot sauce and cheese. Occasionally, I’ve even been known to slide some broccoli between two pringles and just nom-nom-nom.

I don’t think any of that is too weird. Growing up my dad used to dip his toast in his tea in the morning – that was weird. Shoutout to me dad, though! The man who taught me to just enjoy me food in whatever combo makes you happy.

Eat it however and whenever. Food has some weird rules and etiquette that comes with it. But you make your own, honey.

This next song was requested by Lucas M who says that it’s about how “no matter what happens in the world, even if the apocalypse is going on outside, in the morning the song’s narrator is going to have a bowl of cereal like he always does”

And that idea, apparently, gives a reminder to Lucas about how a sense of grounding and doing normal things can really help when everything else seems to be out of your control.”Anywhere there’s food is a safe space. This is, “I’ll Make Cereal” by Cavetown.

TRACK FOUR: “I’ll Make Cereal” – Cavetown
TRACK FIVE: “Cherry Wine” – Hozier

That was Hozier with “Cherry Wine” and it was technically requested by Rosa – via Comics Youth head honcho Rhiannon – and Rosa is a self-proclaimed Hozier lesbian. Which is a title I adore. Because we’re all queers for Hozier, honey! Who doesn’t love that man? Good lawd.

And that song neatly brings us into our third course – which is basically the drinks portion of this feast. Now, I’m going to assume that Hozier was talking about non-alcoholic cherry wine with that song – and not a nasty bottle of Lambrini from the corner shop – because we only drink juice here at Comics Youth. Well, juice and the occasionally can of something sweet and fizzy.

And I wanted to take a moment to celebrate that often overlooked sweet treat that very rarely gets included in conversations about snacks – and that’s just an ice cold can of pop – that’s right, I call it pop, but you might call it a fizzy drink, a soda if you’ve been watching too much American TV, or you might call it a carbonated beverage if you’re the Queen.

But oof, you can beat it. Obviously, we all know that such drinks are not good for you and should be enjoyed in moderation. But when you’re just in the mood for it, those fizzy slurps are just pure carbonated joy.

Shoutouts to some favourites from the Comics Youth office: The fruity sacharrine of Rubicon Mango, the caffeinated pick-me-ups of Cola, the blast of tongue sunshine from each and every flavour of the Tango constituency, and my goodness HUGE shoutout to Dr Pepper. Which is what me and fellow Comics Youth co-worker Kay Dale used to buy each other as a tin of pep and friendship on a hard day – you know, before the end times happened.

Which brings us to this gem of a song which I personally think features the greatest reference to fizzy pop in the history of music.

This is classic Californian hardcore punk band Suicidal Tendencies with “Institutionalised”:

TRACK SIX: “Institutionalised” – Suicidal Tendencies
TRACK SEVEN: “Coffee” – Salt the Snail

That was local noise-merchants Salt the Snail with “Coffee” and it was requested by Rosa who says that it’s a “proper hype tune that perfectly embodies the feeling of being too caffeinated” – AND HOW. 

Coffee is a central fixture at Comics Youth. Hail Coffee and long live the bean.

And since we’re playing a local band there, we wanted to give some shoutouts to some local food places and takeaways that have been helping to keep us fed and happy during this truly diabolical moment.

Alex wanted to give shoutouts to Geek Retreat on the Wirral for their dairy free milkshakes, to Frost Burgers for their top notch vegan junk food, and to Greggs for their dynamite vegan sausage rolls.

Shane is throwing props to Down the Hatch for the delicious belly busting vegan junk food being sold there – which I’ve also indulged in a couple of times during lockdown.

Lucas M wants to give a holla to Brew and Tucker in Frodsham – a place that he’s really missed going to, saying “the coffee is fab, the people that work there are so lovely and make an effort to connect with their customers, it’s filled with plants and is such a lovely place to chill and hang out in.”

Tom wanted to give huge thanks to the China Panda takeaway for keeping his tummy happy throughout lockdown.

And I wanted to give a huge shoutout to Lovelocks in Whitechapel in town, which has just reopened and remains one of the loveliest cafes in the city centre. Great coffee, great food, and the loveliest people.

I’d also like to give a huge loving hug to my friends at Malmo on Hanover Street – where I used to work – who serve one of the best breakfasts in the city and are also just the nicest people with the best playlists to listen to while enjoying a chill in a café. They’ve also just reopened so be sure to book a table with them and get some brunch.

And lastly, I wanted to give a shoutout to my friends Kally and Mikey at Guac’N’Roll Kitchen in Craft Taproom on Smithdown Road. They’ve been keeping their business alive throughout lockdown and delivering some dynamite vegan fast food to the masses. I wasn’t able to order any because I live a little bit too far away, but they catered the Comics Youth Christmas party last year and it was the greatest scran ever.

MASSIVE THANKS TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE. Here’s to every last one of you! And I can’t wait to return to all of your gorgeous establishments very, very soon.

And now for our next course. This song is a reminder not to bite the hand that feeds you. Oh, and that – holy heck – treat people with kindness and maybe learn how to cook basic meals and do the dishes and whatnot. Otherwise, you’ll wind up like Johnny Cash here. This is Beans for Breakfast on Lockdown! at the Disco.

TRACK EIGHT: “Beans for Breakfast” – Johnny Cash
TRACK NINE: “Friday Fish Fry” – Kelis

She needs ice cold water, people! That was the wonderful Kelis with “Friday Fish Fry” taken from her 2013 album simply titled, Food.

Kelis actually started a food wagon around this time and made the album because she was just like, Food is as important in my life as music is. So may as well just combine the two!

I think she actually took her food van to the SXSW festival in America around that time and from what I hear, word on the street is that her food was pretty phenomenal. I’d expect nothing less from the woman who managed to score a massive hit with a song about a milkshake back in the early ‘00s.

She’s pure magic.

Now, we’re wrapping the show up a little bit here and I know you’re all still digesting that last course, but the next table’s waiting and we gotta speed things up here. And we’re gonna do by actually slowing things down and maybe moving in reverse with two scoops of 90s nostalgia courtesy of these next two tracks.

This is Deep Blue Something with “Breakfast at Tiffanys” as requested by Top? I don’t know if I’ve pronounced that username right, so apologies! You know what I’m like – and take your time with this one and keep it balanced. It’s the most important meal of the day.

TRACK TEN: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” – Deep Blue Something
TRACK ELEVEN: “Peaches” – The Presidents of the United States

That was the delectable Peaches by The Presidents of the United States and it was requested by Shane who says that it’s simply a “great song all about harvesting peaches.”

What more could you want from a tune?!

And that’s it for today! The kitchen is now closed. Before we wheel out our final course and set the belches of gratitude free from our bellies, I’d like to thank you very much for listening. And please be sure to recommend us to your friends and leave us nice reviews and share us with your faves.

I think this show is a feast that deserves to be shared!

Next week we’re gonna be getting all sorts of loud and noisy and unruly because our next instalment of Lockdown! at the Disco is going to be The Punk Episode and we’re gonna raise some absolute hell.

But until then, stay safe, stay sassy, and my goodness stay home and keep eating! And be sure to grab a huge slice from this box before you leave. Just don’t let the Ninja Turtles see ya do it….

Byeeeeeeee!!

TRACK TWELVE: “Pizza Power” – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles