Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 54: Sam Carter

Episode Date: April 8, 2020

Ed’s not the only metalhead in the dream restaurant this week, as Sam Carter – lead singer of Architects – chooses his dream menu. And he proves the rule: the heavier the band, the more documentaries they watch.Recorded and edited by Ben Williams for Plosive Productions.Artwork by Paul Gilbey (photography and design) and Amy Browne (illustrations).Architects’ latest album ‘Holy Hell’ is out now.Follow Sam Carter and Architects on Twitter: @samarchitects / @architectsukFollow Off Menu on Twitter and Instagram: @offmenuofficial.And go to our website www.offmenupodcast.co.uk for a list of restaurants recommended on the show.Watch Ed and James's YouTube series 'Just Puddings'. Watch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, listeners of the Off Menu podcast. It is Ed Gamble here from the Off Menu podcast. I have a very exciting announcement. I have written my first ever book. I am absolutely over the moon to announce this. I'm very, very proud of it. Of course, what else could I write a book about? But food. My book is all about food. My life in food. How greedy I am. What a greedy little boy I was. What a greedy adult I am. I think it's very funny. I'm very proud of it. The book is called Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy. And it's coming out this October, but it is available to pre-order now, wherever you pre-order books from. And if you like my signature, I've done some signed copies,

which are exclusively available from Waterstones. But go and pre-order your copy of Glutton, the multi-course life of a very greedy boy now. Please? My top tip would be, don't touch your eyes after you've chopped this podcast because it's pretty hot. Welcome to the Off Menu podcast with Ed Gamble and James Acaster. My favourite intro so far. Is it? Oh, I loved it. I really liked it. As you know, as you know, I always panic just before I have to do them because I don't plan them in advance. And it's in the split second before. And that was probably my favourite too. That's a very good one, Ed. And here we are in the Off Menu podcast. We're going to ask a guest what their favourite

ever start, a main course, dessert, drink and side dish ever is. It's as simple as that. We're in a dream restaurant. I'm a genie. James is a genie. Our guest this week is the lead singer of the band Architects, Sam Carter. Sam Carter. I'm big into Architects, James. Fantastic band. Fantastic metal band. Making waves at the moment. Doing huge things, playing massive venues, massive hope, I think, for British metal. Very exciting. Their latest album, Holy Hell. Absolutely fantastic. But if you, I mean, all their albums are good. This one's absolutely astonishing. So go and check that out. So we're welcoming Sam Carter into the restaurant. Obviously, I'm a bit of a metalhead. But even though that is the

case, if he mentions the secret ingredient, he will be thrown out of the restaurant. Very sweet. We are getting specific when it comes to the secret ingredient. Specific. Secret ingredient is sultanas in coleslaw, but not if there's also apple in it. Yes. That's the caveat that you added onto it. Yeah. I have to say, I hate sultanas in coleslaw normally, but if there's also chopped apple in the coleslaw, it becomes a different dish. The sultanas add to it. I really love it. My favorite coleslaw is sultanas and apple in the coleslaw. My least favorite coleslaw is sultanas in coleslaw. It's so good to know that. And this is why we started this podcast

for such specific things like that. I love it. So if Sam Carter says, oh, I'd love my side dish to be coleslaw, people will be a bit nervous. And then he says, I want sultanas in there. We're like, oh God, we're going to have to throw him out of the restaurant. And then he might go and apple. And then I'll have to be welcomed back. Keep your seat. You're okay. Could be doing and throwing quite a lot. Could be doing and throwing. He might be in and out the door, but there you go. I've actually fitted a new bell, actually an industrial bell on the door so it doesn't fall off if

he's going in and out all the time. Well, let's hear it. Let's hit the off menu of Sam Carter from Architects. Welcome, Sam, to the dream restaurant. I'm so happy to be here. Wow. Welcome, Sam. I've always wanted to see the genie come out and wow. Was it ever for you thought it would be? It was a bit much. I've put some extra fireworks for you.

I knew you already knew about it. So I put some fizzing whizbees. I've got to say the fizzing whizbees were outstanding. Yeah, yeah, everything whizzing around the room. Is that having pot of food, fizzing whizbees? Fizzing whizbees. It sounds like it could be. It sounds like an off brand. I don't think that fireworks would know. It sounds like an American trying to just like decide what sweets we have.

Yeah, yeah. Have you fizzing whizbees most of the time? Fizzing whizbees. You love fizzing whizbees over there. I mean, it does sound delicious. Yeah. I would like some fizzing whizbees, actually. Well, you should try and get sponsored by fizzing whizbees.

By fizzing whizbees. It's not a sherbet-y kind of sweet. It's about time we started trying to launch our own line of food. So I think fizzing whizbees could be the first thing. I'm pretty sure it is happy pot. I don't know if she'd let us do it. All right. Well, J.K. Rowling, if you're listening, just let us know if we can use fizzing whizbees.

Get her on the show. Get her on the show, yeah. Oh, it would be so wacky, though, the whole chocolate crocs to start. A big food fan, Sam? Massive. Yeah, massive food fan. I'm one of those people that wishes they looked like Joel Domit, but loves bread. So it's a battle that I think a lot of people...

I'm also in that battle. Yeah. Look, Joel Domit, wonderful man, famously controversial episode of this. Awful decisions. Awful decisions. Look, Joel Domit's in shape. He works out. He doesn't eat nice food because he likes to stay in shape.

I was going to the gym yesterday and I texted Joel Domit saying, I'm going to the gym today. What should I do at the gym? That was a fucking mistake. He's to right. This is just a normal gym. It's not a CrossFit gym. He said I should do...

What was it like? One minute on the rowing machine, then one minute of press-ups, then burpees over the jump over the rowing machine. Is that what they're going to think I'm an idiot? Yeah, just a little run, pick up a few weights. What I like to think now is I'm at a weight that if I go to the gym, it's not going to get any worse, but it's not going to get any better. So I go so I can eat what I want.

Sure. But I'm not trying to... That's a much more reasonable reason to go for it. When that's people's reason for working out, I completely understand and respect it. Stupid metabolism. Got to go and get it sorted a little bit. Go back and eat a loaf of bread. Yeah, doing this.

I'm not having a protein shake, but I will have a loaf of bread. Yeah, when I see my body in the mirror, I think that just looks like someone who does go to the gym, but then eats proper food. When I see my body in the mirror, when I go to the gym, I just think, what do you spend that money going to the gym for? I shouldn't have mirrors in the gym. That should be not allowed.

Or they should have like a giant filter where you look thinner. Hall of mirrors, crazy mirrors. Or just a picture of Joel Domet. Also, I like going to the gym because it's like watching Love Island. You can see the worst people. You sit there and you just go like, you are scum. Yeah, yeah. And I'm here, near you.

There was a personal trainer at the gym I went to, who, an awful man. And we're just... If ever, he'd really flirt with the ladies that he was personal training with. They all do, don't they? But absolutely, like, almost try and kill the men. So, like, there was a time when at one point, there was this guy on the running machine.

And everyone was in the gym doing their own thing. And then we all heard this really high-pitched whimper. And we all looked round. And the running machine was still going, but the guy was on the floor, crying in like the fatal position. And the personal trainer was just standing there, looking at all of us, really pleased himself, like... Like, really...

I killed him. Like, yep. Another one bites the dust, I guess. A few years ago, I was in the gym and was watching, like, a football highlights video, like, on the TV. And it was just a famous goal that I'd seen before. And I, like, imitated heading the ball, fell completely off the running machine.

Like, that man landed up in a heap. And, like, everyone's, like, looking around. What happened there? It's like, my mistake. I think I'd have to quit the gym. Oh, out of shame, yeah. Yeah, if I came off the running machine, I'd have to quit the gym, completely. I can't even run, but I'm judging everyone else in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or you go back in the disguise. Yeah, like a big hat or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just, uh... Shave the whole, all my hair off the different wig. But then you give yourself away when you're reacted to the football again.

Yeah. Once again, here we go. Here he is. Stop putting it on. Stop put... Oh, he's coming in. Change the channel. Falling off the exercise bike

as you try to do the hand of God. So, we'll start with, as always, the water. Still a little sparkling. Sparkling, please. Strong sparkling. Strong sparkling. Yeah, but I used to hate sparkling water.

I used to despise it. When we were touring in Europe, when we were younger, I was not about it at all, but it was just all that they seemed to have. So, you'd be on stage and be like, oh, I'm so thirsty. You go and pick up a big bottle of water, go to down it, and be like,

whoa, what's happening here? Not on stage. You'd be burping and worse. Terrible to quench your thirst of sparkling. But now, over the last two, three years, I think, yeah, I've got really into sparkling. Would burp quite help though, in metal, though? Maybe, that's a new style.

I was listening to, now I'll get the name wrong, Thurgofen. Thurgofen. How are you spelling that? It's a funeral dune. So, T-H-E-R-O-T-H-O-N. Right, yeah. Thurgofen.

Amazing album, but he does sound like he's burping. Yeah, a lot of that black metal that you do metal, there is a real sort of low, sort of like, it sort of sounds like they're not really making much of an effort. Or they're really sad about the fact that they have to sing like that. It sounds like he's doing that thing

where you used to see how long you could go. Yeah, yeah. Mayhem, like that, there's a band called Mayhem that just sounds like the singers burping. Yeah. That really nasty. But yeah, I don't know what happened. I used to hate it, and now I love it.

Now it's my go-to. Big time into it. Have you got it coming out of your taps? Yeah. No, I wish. You can get it out of the taps. One of those soda streams, I was thinking about getting one recently.

Our drummer has one every time I go to his house, I'm like, this is nice. Pretty exciting. Wow, you've made it, man. Pretty awful that you have to go around your drummer's house and think, you've made it. Yeah. Why am I waiting?

I've made it. What are you up to on the side? Where's this money coming from? It's really really stiff, you're on the contract. Yeah. Have a little look at the contract. Yeah, just check it. Why is everyone else getting soda streams but me?

Which is still not Jyn cut on stage, though. No, yeah, I would not. Not sparkling on stage, I have steel on stage, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I have Jyn on stage, actually, so that's sort of tonic water, isn't it? Oh yeah, some Jyn as well. Yeah, so that's a bit burpy.

Yeah, it's a little bit baby burps. A little Jyn on stage. Two Jyns on stage and a bottle of tequila, but not... Wow. I don't drink it all, but the tequila's there for a shot, if I need. If the show's boring me, I'll have a shot. Right, yeah.

That's a bit more... That's quite honest. No, the shot, you know, the shot's for fun. I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because it makes it even more fun. Bloody love it. The tequila saved it in terms of rock and roll attitude,

I think, because of the Jyn. Yeah, it sounds like I'm going to watch the cricket. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Maybe a Pims or something. Love Pims. Jugga Pims is trying to pick a bit of cucumber out your mouth. We went through a phase where we got really into margaritas, but it was like, our rider would be about 40 limes a day,

and then we would have the tequila, and then we would make it all before we go on stage. Oh, before you're not juicing while on stage. Yeah, we would get our tour manager before we go on and be like, I need another one, I've just drank this one, this one took half an hour to make. They take so long, but it's so worth it. They get you absolutely just...

I was way too drunk on that. You just ran out on stage and you're like, oh, no. Because it's quite a high-energy show as well, right? Yeah, once the adrenaline hits you and you're like an alley-pally, that was the one where I remember I'd had too many margaritas, and you're like, oh, there's a lot of words in this, so... A lot of words. And then the acid reflux kicks in and you're like,

should we just add a bit? Doing a lot of putting the mic towards the audience. Yeah, like, whoa! Come on, guys! Please, you know this bit, right? In this weird B-side? One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was when I went to see a band called Scourge,

who were a local Kevin Sludgecore band. And they were... They sound great. Yeah, they were great. Scourge is a great band. Absolutely love Scourge. And like, really... Pure evil.

Scourge. And they supported Rage and Speedhorn at the Northampton Road Mender. And it was a big... Some of the people Scourge were our mates, so it was a real big deal that they're getting to do the Road Mender. We all went to see it, and I was at the front, really loving it. And Cliff was the singer.

And it was just all screaming vocals for the whole thing. And then he went into the audience, and he just knew that I'd seen them loads. And he just put the mic in my mouth. Like, I could feel the grill of it on my teeth, touching my teeth. And he just had it like that. And there was too much silence to begin with. I didn't know what to do.

And Toby, who was my friend who played the bass, was actually looking at me with his foot on the speaker, looking at me like, fucking do something. And eventually I just went... I made that noise. And then Toby started laughing, because he was on the speaker, so it came right up at him. Really loud.

It was the most embarrassing. I loved it so much. I mean, I have not told this story on this podcast before, but I had a very similar thing. I went to see... Years and years ago, Dragonforce at the Camden Underworld. I think it was their first London headline show. Yeah.

It was after the first album had come out. And I knew all the lyrics. So I thought... Really high. Really high. Really going for it. And the lead singer at the time, ZP, who now sings for White Snake.

Right. Went right in with the microphone and handed it to me. And I started... I sung the right lyrics, but not for the right part of the song. Oh. I started finishing the song. Wow. And he just...

Well, good on you for going for it as well. He pulled the microphone away and just laughed at me first. We have this... I have a thing where sometimes you'll see people that don't know the words, but they think that... They think that they can get away with it when they're looking at you.

Yeah. So we call it chewing gum, where you can tell when you're watching them going... Nah. Nah. So you watch them a little bit and just make them feel uncomfortable. Yeah.

Or do the old... Hold the mic out. And then they're like... Oh, great. Oh. Oh, is that the time? Yeah. It must be gone.

I doubt we'll be picked up on this, but I think he sings in Skid Row, not White Snake. Oh, okay. You will be picked up on that. And you know you will. The same day at Download, they were all playing on the same day at Download.

I was there with Joel Domit, actually, watching Slipknot, and no one knows any lyrics to anything, really. No. Just the big bits. Just the big bits, or occasional turns of phrase. So we were all bouncing around

and like... And then occasionally going home in a basket. That's all you remember, where you're going to be in the next five years. Those are the only Slipknot lyrics I remember. My favourite trick to play on bands is when you go and see them, and they're like,

this one's for everyone who's... Everyone who's with us from day one. And often, like, before I go and see them, I'll catch up and listen to stuff. So I'll know the words, and I'm there singing along, and then the sucker band thinks I've known them since... I haven't really...

I've listened to them last week. I love it when people are like, why don't you play your old stuff? Why don't you play your old stuff? It's like, because we're playing to like 5,000 people, would you play songs to the 5,000 people that know your new records,

like the two, three big ones, or maybe the one person that's... Because trust me, the show is going to take a dip in enthusiasm. Yeah, yeah. This one's for all our old fans. Aw. I put my fans, like, grumpy about people

who haven't been with them from day one. Yeah. So they got the big room, and they're like, you that weren't here in the early days. You were shit, then? Yeah. Exactly.

Like, yeah. Also, you weren't in this room because we weren't here. I like it when people are like that, and they're like, why don't you play this record? It's like, because it's shit. It's like, we know that we're doing well now

for the last three or four, but the ones before just... It's not nice to say you've got eight records. It's a blink. It's a blink. I really stepped our game. I put F with love to do stuff. Number six.

Everyone was in. Yeah, yeah. It's like us doing a gig and someone shouting, do that joke from your first set. Aw. From your open mics. Do that joke from your so-you-think-you-funny heat.

Aw. Do the routine you tried to write about Bjork throwing items off of a cliff. That's what I did. First kick. There you go. And I'm sure you get it.

I'm sure there's people that, like, expect you to do things that they see on YouTube as well. Oh, yeah. They'll see, like, your first-ever stand-up and that's like, well, he's not done that joke.

Yeah. Like, you're not allowed to write new jokes. I still do all of it. Well, that's fine. No, no, no dead stuff. Fine. Pop it up as well, Brett. Pop it up as well, Brett.

Sam. It does catch you off guard. I thought I was ready for it. I'm going to be ready. But it does get you. It does get you. This has been a hard one for me, actually,

because I love Pop-a-doms. You've already given Brett a shout-out. Yeah, so I love Pop-a-doms, but Brett is the best. Brett is the best. And then you also got to think, Brett, you can move into naan bread, bread, pita bread,

Yeah. Focaccia, sourdough, Pop-a-doms you just... I mean, I love Pop-a-doms. I don't want to put them down. Yeah, they're just... Yeah, it's bread.

It's bread. It's always bread. Yeah. You did list a lot of the faves there. Yeah. What are you going to go for for this meal? I think I'm going to go for a Focaccia. Uh-huh.

Really nice, like, fresh Focaccia. It's like, it's the best. Yeah, with some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, and you are... You're set. You're laughing.

Yeah. Do you remember when we all got into it? Into Focaccia. Yeah. This is like, upper middle-class pita cake routine. Do I remember that? Do you remember in Focaccia?

I remember when you first said Focaccia. I think I was probably pretty young. I think my dad used to make another pita cake reference, like garlic bread with Focaccia when I was a kid. Why? Yeah, so he would, like,

cut it down the middle of the butter and garlic on top of it. That's my earliest memory of it. Is that... Do you want that now? Yeah, I'll take that. Your dad's garlic Focaccia bread?

Yeah, I'll take my dad's garlic Focaccia bread, yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. I'm mainly trying to push you in that direction because I want to eat that. Yeah, yeah. That sounds really good.

It's amazing, yeah. It's so soft, and you can just rip it, and it's hard to just have a bit, I find, because you know when you buy it, it's sort of like a tray, and it's like,

you know, sort of like the size of a big book. Yeah. That's what I've always said. It's a bible, can I have that one? But it's just gone. There's no way you can...

You don't want it to get hard. No, exactly. You want it in a day, that's what I say, and then straight back down the gym. Yeah. Whipping yourself from the shoulder. It never happened.

Yeah. And then another loaf on the way back to add to the library of Focaccia. A few beers on the way back. Perfect. Wheat, man. So, we come to your starter. Put a nose...

Is it the big guns? Yeah, these are the big guns. The ones that... Although, you know, I really do love that starter, that Focaccia garlic bed that you have made. Yeah. I mean, it's a good...

Have you ever tried to replicate that? I have, yeah. I do a pretty good job of it. He's... I mean, I'm vegan now, which I have been for like seven years. Yeah.

And, surprisingly, like over the years, I'm not surprisingly, over the years, it's got so much easier to be vegan. So, like, now you can just go and buy a flora.

Right. And I just mix that with like some garlic and some oregano. At home. So, yeah. It's pretty easy to just

whack that together and Focaccia is normally vegan anyway. Yeah. Yeah, there's some, especially in Brighton, there's some amazing, like, patisseries and stuff you can get, like,

sick bread from, which is, which is, again, a nightmare thing. So, you live in Brighton? Yeah. Did you move to Brighton and then

instantly have to become a vegan? Yeah. And start a band at the same time. Yeah. So, everyone's walking around like, no, I'm in a band.

Yeah. I was just before, just before I moved to Brighton. Yeah. I lived, just outside, lived with my parents for so long of us being a band.

Sure. Yeah. Didn't make any money. Thanks so much. And, yeah, then as soon as I could, I moved to Brighton

and we all lived in Brighton and, yeah, we all went vegan at the same time, actually, at the end of recording a record, we just watched a few documentaries and were like, well, this sucks.

Yeah. You're watching it like, there goes everything I ever loved. Me, cheese, eggs, brilliant. The thing about being in a band, you watch documentaries.

Yeah. That is it. Like, and you just see it and you're like, I can't unsee this. I remember actually, I went home

in the middle of the recording, we'd be there for like a month and we were only a few hours away from home, so I went back and I came back and I got picked up from the train station

by a couple of the guys and they were like, right, just so you know, we're vegetarian now. And I was like, what? What happened

when I left? And they were like, we've watched this. Everything was so easy. And then we watched this, but... It's easier that you all decided. Yeah.

Almost like, all right, I'll watch it then. Yeah. And then we just all did it together. It's good, yeah. Also, what I'd say, and I think this is a fairly solid observation, the heavier the band,

the more documentaries they watch. Yeah. Yeah. I think... I think that's a genuine thing. Yeah. What are you talking about? I think that's a genuine thing.

I think people are like, metal... What can we write a weird record about? Like, 9-Eleven, 9-Eleven, what happened?

Do you play heavy music? Yeah. And also what they've been watching lately. It's always documentaries. Yeah. Yeah. It's always documentaries. How do you establish the heavier the band?

Because that's the way it goes. Yeah. The heavier they are, the more they're watching documentaries. The more that they're like, shredding it on stage, and it's all like, and then you go,

what have you been up to? And they'll be like, ah, I guess I've watched this. Crazy documentary. You know very well that nails are not going on stage or watching a documentary.

I bet they do. To be fair, whenever we meet up and we go away and do these shows at the moment, what we do, being a band, the conversation is about

what everyone's watched is mad. Yeah. It's like, yeah, I watched this documentary last night and mushrooms in an hour. You know, you're like,

oh, wow. Oh, yeah, I watched this thing on sleep for three hours, actually, and now I don't know if I'm going to sleep again. You're like, give it up to sleep?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm going to fast for 10 years and you're like, ah, give me the focaccia. Let's go.

It holds up. Anyone listening in a heavy band? I just, I've seen Nails live. I can't imagine the poppin' offstage and imagine them getting offstage and smashing themselves in the face with a plank.

I don't imagine them watching a documentary. I was beating each other up after. Yeah, maybe. I got into a band called Slaybells because of Nails. What? We were a completely different band.

Yeah, yeah. The guy from Slaybells was in Poison the Well, I think. Was he? One of them was in Poison the Well, yeah. I don't know that. But like,

yeah, they're like, almost like the pop version of a metal band and they're like, it was so poppy that it's almost offensively. Great.

You're like, oh, Jesus. I'm so happy. I'm so annoyed about it. It's like YouTube series, that What's in My Bag series. Yeah. There's someone going to buy

a load of vinyl from a record shop and the Nails guy was like, he was just like, Slaybells album. I'm going to buy it if it's a pop album. If it's a good album, I'll recommend it to people.

I just think about doing that What's in My Bag thing whenever we're in LA and I'm always like, what if they give you the records? That's all I want. And then you go in there and you go on the wall

and you go, say the one that's for a grand. I've always wanted to get that one. Get these ones. You come out and you're like, got all these first edition Beatles records. Sorry, guys. No one's getting paid tonight.

Do they must give you the records? It must do to get you to go in. But then like, there's that sneaker. Have you seen the sneaker shop? Yeah. Sneaker shop. They can't.

No way. They must have to pay for it. They must be like a limit. They must be like, right, you've got $300 and that's it. Unless they've got a genie as well. Yeah.

They could have a genie. Yeah. So any records you want forever? Anything you want. And then you go home and you open the bag and it's just gone. Yeah, yeah.

You can only listen to it in there. Oh, you can have them. Yeah, but you can't leave. Yeah, you can't leave. That's why everyone just works in there now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, starter. Yeah.

Starter's been hard. Starter's one of my favourite things for a... Everyone's really going with head to starter things. Head to starter boy on my dessert, man. Yeah. Yeah, starters are the... That's the first thing. You look forward to it, don't you?

Because I think, when you go in for dinner, you're always a bit hangry because someone's late or it's never... You never go for dinner like when you'd normally have dinner at home.

Yeah. So you're like an hour later and you're like, oh, God, I really want to eat. So the starters are the first thing where you're like, can't wait for this to come. Yeah.

And I was tied... I've been tied between two, actually. One is you've already had on here, which was from a place called Cafe Gratitude in LA, which is the Coconut Calamari. Oh, yes. I actually did that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And when I was actually there, I was thinking about the young, dumb coconut. And I couldn't believe it because it just came into my head when I was like, wow, I need to get out. But that is honestly so tasty. Every time we go,

I'm there. That place is amazing for food, but if you get four English people round a table and you ask them or tell them what they're grateful for, no one's going to reply. Let alone look up. And today, what are you grateful for?

It's like, nothing. Nothing. There's no food here yet. But that place is absolutely incredible. And then the other one is in LA as well. And it's... Travis Barker has a restaurant called Crossroads. Right.

And Chef Tal works there, I think that's the guy. And last time we were there, me and our bass player, Ali, went for... We went with our friend V-man who plays in Slipknot, actually. We went for dinner there. We were sat in there.

Travis Barker was there. Wacky and Phoenix just walked past. Pink was there. And somebody else had walked past. And we were just sat there like, this is mental. But we got these... You said my guy stole his mask on.

He didn't, but he did have it in his car. He was like, you know that? You need it. You need it. Covered in vomit. But they do a thing there called Impossible Cigars, which I don't know if you've heard, like The Impossible Burger.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is like that, Beyond Burger, but it's like a step above. I don't know how they make it. The first time I had it, I was like, this is... I need to send this back because it tastes just like me.

That's what a lot of people say. And also, it was a really weird way when they started pitching it when it first came out. Yeah, it was just in me restaurants. It bleeds. Yeah, and it was like Mark...

I don't think any vegan really wants it to bleach. No, I'm not missing the blast yet. I think it was in like Mark Wahlberg's restaurants, because he has like that Wahlburger in America. Just over the London. Yeah. And that was the only place you get it at first, and we would like scout it out and try it.

And like the first American tour, we had one and it was like, oh my God, the second time we went over, we had like 13. Yeah. It was like, we've ever done this. I'm out. I'm back to just sweet potato burgers,

what's happened. It's so many Wahlburgers. Yeah. But it's in like phyllo pastry. They do it in Crossroads. So it's like a tiny little cigar and like this phyllo pastry. Yeah.

It's like an amazing like garlic-olied dip. And it's, yeah. So what's the actual, so what's it, it's phyllo pastry, but it's filled with, yeah, it's filled with like a slim bit of like the impossible burger.

Ah, yeah. So it's like meaty in the middle, but then it's got that garlic dip in it. Oh. So yeah, it's between that and... I think. That sounds good. If you need,

if you need a push in one direction, I think because we've already had the coconut calamari. Yeah. I think I'll go with that as well. It's nice to shout out the coconut calamari again, because it's quite good to have like, been on it before.

Yeah. It's down there where this is like a must-have. It's a real, it's a real good one. Yeah. I think we should go. Yeah. Impossible cigars.

Yeah. That sounds great. I really love the sound of it. That restaurant is absolutely incredible as well. Yeah. Just such a cool place. And it's weird because it is right in the middle of LA and you,

there's all these like celebrities in there. Yeah, yeah. But it's almost like they don't know that it's like a vegan place. Yeah. Or they're being served by this guy there just in there because they think it's cool. And you're just sort of in there like,

what's up? Have you been to Gracie S. Madre? I have, yeah. That's amazing. I love that place. Yeah. That is a vegan Mexican restaurant. Yeah.

Does Johnny Depp own it? Or did he? I think he has some part to do with it. It's another, there's another actor that I think has got a, they've all got like fingers in pies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's crazy.

But it's phenomenal food. But I don't remember what I ate because I got so smashed on margaritas. Yeah. I could not tell you what I ate. There was another place before I was vegan that was opposite the House of Blues in LA. And every time I was there, I'd go and get this like prawn burrito, like king prawn burrito. Yeah.

My God. Like I think about that a lot. King prawn burrito. Yeah. Which normally you'd be like, oh, I'm so rancid. Like why are you doing that? Mixing those flavors. That's because prawns aren't good here.

No. Yeah. And out there, it was just massive, like juicy. Yeah. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant, but that House of Blues has gone now, the one that was in LA. I'd say with back to the prawns, like I like the fact that in America, it's called shrimp because it's a different dish over there.

Yeah, for sure. They do them proper. Like I didn't think I liked prawns at all. Yeah. Because I just thought of the little like. Frozen prawns. Also. Eaters.

I mean, as soon as someone pointed out to me that like, you know, it's just like, you're just looking at her and mass grave. Like, wait, wait, wait. If you look into a sandwich and it's just all the prawns there. Hundreds of them. Yeah. Yeah. All the dead bodies of these prawns.

Yeah. Because they're so kind of like, just similar to how they were when they were alive. I never thought of that. Mass grave. Yeah. A big frozen bag of death. Yeah. You're double vegan now.

Yeah. But then the shrimp is like a proper, that looks like an actual food. Yeah. A plump, juicy shrimp. Big fat daddy. Big fat daddy. Big fat daddy. I always feel bad, like when I talk about meat and fish and stuff.

It's like, I didn't stop going vegan because it didn't take, I didn't go vegan because it tasted bad. Sure. You know, it's always going to, I'm always going to remember it tasting good. Yeah. I wish I could eat it. I just can't morally and ethically do that anymore. But you put a big fucking prawn, a big shrimp with some chili and garlic.

You're laughing. Yeah. You're laughing. Chucks, you passed her on that. Yeah. Yeah. So it's so simple. Yeah.

But like, it just, oh God. Have I mentioned, I would have mentioned it. I bet I've mentioned that. What? Where I was on the yacht in Australia, in Sydney. I'm not sure he has. I was once on a mixed bill in Sydney at the Sydney Arts Festival and five comics and we all died every single day.

It went really badly. And one day we died so bad that a rich man in the audience invited us to go on his yacht the next day because he felt sorry for it. Wow. And so we went on the yacht and his wife brought out this shrimp that had been like caught that morning. She just like, just, you know, peeled it all, washed it and then she just served it with fresh watermelon and some lime juice squeezed over it.

That's all she did with it. Yeah. It's the most refreshing meal. I couldn't stop eating it. Yeah. It was absolutely incredible. Just like, just refreshing. Yeah.

In a way that I hadn't really anticipated also. So about seafood and citrus. Yeah. Goes very well together. But the watermelon was a real curveball. Yeah. I don't want watermelon with shrimp, but absolutely. Yeah.

I think about it. There's a few food things that I think about all the time. Yeah. That if we ever had to do our own off menus, I'd like that and be on there or be close to getting on there. Yeah. And it's absolutely, that platter of shrimp and watermelon. Do you think it has to be on a yacht though?

Yeah. No. Did it help that you were? No, no. The yacht was, I felt a bit seasick after one on the yacht and I got sunburned. So the yacht was actually the worst part. Ironically, you ended up looking like a shrimp and a watermelon. Yeah.

It was a little shrimpy watermelon. All culled up in a little bowl. That is a watermelon. If you take off your like swimming shorts and like t-shirts, those give you the white sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Like little stripes.

And you got little seeds on your tummy. Yeah. Americans call this limies. So that's that. There we are. Australians don't. Of course, poms. I'm a travelled man.

We go on to the main course. Excellent starter. That starter, I would like to try that. Sounds delicious. Yeah. It was a good time. Pastry in general. Like a nice thin phyllo pastries.

It's like those kind of pastries always remind me of like Christmas or something where you go to your nan's house and she's forgotten your vegan again and she thought like the Chinese selection pack. You end up having like 400 spring rolls to get you through the weekend in Manchester. It's a good one. You have a lot of that as a vegan, a lot of emergency food. The people go, oh fuck, okay, there you go. God, he's coming.

Where's Linda McCartney? Let's call her. I think, yeah, I used to get it more. And now it's like so much easier. Like everywhere has an option. It's part of the perks of capitalism, I guess. People wanted to make money off of. Yeah.

Well, we just chuck vegan cheese here and they flock there and KFC are doing it and everyone's doing it and whatever. That's the best thing about like, when these big places start introducing the vegan stuff and then you get all the angry old men of the world getting like, oh, he's snuck flakes and you're just bending to their ways. It's like, no, no, no, it makes money. Yeah, it makes money. It's going to sell a lot.

That's why they're doing it. They're not going, oh, the mainly one in KFC. Yeah. I love it. I love it so much. I love that people are like going like, obviously, like Waitrose is doing so much more vegan stuff now. It's like, oh, they really care.

They really start to care. Do they give a shit? They just see your cash and it's like, well, I'm willing to open up the wallet and buy all of it. So can you come in? Yeah. So obviously we're going to go even bigger, bigger vegs now, I imagine, unless you completely swerve.

Yeah. Something to convert. I'm out here. I'm off for a prawns. Yeah. In between the start and the main course, you watch another documentary and they're completely turned around. I'm going to go for, there's this place in Paris that we go to every time we're there.

It's called Tien Hang and it's like a small, it's really small place. But every time I'm there, I get this caramelized chicken clay pot, but it's a mock chicken clay pot. Which is, sounds crazy. Sounds almost horrible. Right. But it's delicious and it comes in this clay pot, does exactly what it says on the tin. Yeah.

And it's boiling hot. It comes over and it's like, you can see that it's hot. It's like, don't touch it for a minute. It comes over with this amazing rice and it's just, it's so tasty. Just caramelized, sort of coconutty. Amazing. Mock chicken and it's so delicious. So delicious.

So like, also, additional question to that. The, because I talked to a thing of mine recently and they were saying that, sick of coconut. Yeah. Sick of it. But you've mentioned coconut twice. Yeah. It's a good, I love cream. Right.

So like, I was like a creamy, I loved cream and like creamy pasta and cream and everything. One of my things that I remember when I was a kid was my dad would make this amazing like, a tomato-y creamy like pasta with loads of seafood in it. And just, you know, carbonara before I was vegan was like my go-to. I'm a, I'm a, I'm a dairy boy. But yeah, that there is just, so it's something about, you know, the sweet and the savory together. Yeah. And then when you have this like really nice sticky rice with it.

Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. Sticky rice is a revelation. Yeah. You have that, I didn't have it for ages because I thought it just sounded gross. Yeah. Yeah. No thank you.

Yeah. Do you know what, sticky rice is really good when it's like cooked in coconut as well, like coconut rice. Oh yeah. Where they like boil it in that and then it comes, I'm the coconut kid. You're the coconut kid. Yeah. You're the original young coconut.

Yeah. I am. I've turned into it. Yeah. But there, yeah, that is my. So is it in a, is it in a sauce? Yeah. It's in like a sauce, like a bubbly.

And it's this big clay pot and it's just, it's amazing. I actually went on holiday with my girlfriend recently and we went to Paris and I'm pretty sure the reason we went is because of that. Yeah, yeah. I was like, you've got to try this out. We've got to go. Best reason to go on any holiday. I think mostly, I think you're the same.

Oh, 100%. Booking a holiday, basically following your stomach. Yeah. I'm going to Copenhagen in a couple of weeks. Yeah. And my girlfriend loves food. Like we have like nice meals together. She really likes good food, but she's into other stuff as well.

Yeah. And she said, we should go to Copenhagen. It's supposed to be really fun. She was like, oh, that sounds good. And I booked it. And then I was like, oh, by the way, I've booked four restaurants as well. She went, oh, you've tricked me into a food holiday. So what's happening?

What are the restaurants you've booked? Cadeau. There's one called Cadeau. There's one called Relais and there's one called Bar. What kind of food are we talking in? Those are like Michelin Star tasting menus. And then Bar, I think is like a, it's quite meaty, I think. Right.

That's where Noma used to be. They do really, really good. There's a really good raw place out there, which is never normally something that comes out of my mouth. You know, you just take them out like just different vegetables, cold. But I had a raw lasagna there before with like really nice sundried tomatoes. Oh, nice. And it was absolutely incredible.

But normally if I see the words raw, I'm like, psh, I'm out of this. So raw lasagna was just completely cold. Yep. Just layered up. And then you have like courgette and like just amazing vegetables. Right. It's a go-to in a raw restaurant, which is normally why I don't go near them. Right, okay.

It's normally like, I've got one meal today and I'm not having this. Yeah, yeah. Raw lasagna. But some raw places are absolutely incredible, especially if you're like, if you're like trying to lose weight or you're like, it's really healthy. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think if you've, if you've, if you're particularly hungover on tour, I imagine something like that would really help.

Oh, would it? I wouldn't, I wouldn't dirt your stuff if I'm hungover. Yeah, but that's always worse. Absolutely, it's like the body craving. Yeah, the body craves it. I love it. And then you feel awful, but you just got to lean into it, haven't you? Sometimes you just got to go, fuck it, I'm having a pizza.

Yeah, yeah. I'm not moving. I'm not, some, me and Ali, who plays bass in our band, we have a thing, if we go out on a night out, and it's a particularly heavy night out, at the end of the night out, it's like, tomorrow's a double delivery day, isn't it? You're like, yeah, you just sit there and you're like looking over at the oven like, judging me. And then at the end of the day, you're like, so what did you get?

And he's like, oh, I only did one. You're like, what? I went this together. I didn't took it away. Have you ever done double delivery for the same meal? No, I haven't. Have you? Quite a lot.

Amazing. In the same day? You've ordered the same meal twice? No, I've done as in for the same meal time. So you've ordered two of the same thing and combined it? Yes, so I'll do a pizza and you're like, oh, I'd really like an ice cream. And then I'd order ice cream. Nice.

I did do an ice cream order the other day at 10 o'clock at night, and I felt like such a piece of shit with the man arriving just like, here you go. And I was like, tipped him, obviously, to be like, I'm taking it. I couldn't really look at him. I know and you know that I've just been overcharged for this because I'm lazy. Ice cream this late at night. I'm so sorry. Don't like creeping out the door.

Thank you, sir. I ordered a curry recently and I was really looking forward to this curry and I ordered some other bits with it and it arrived and the curry wasn't in there. It was just the starters and stuff and I was so angry, but I was like, I want that curry. Yeah. I am ordering that curry, but I'm going to order it from a different curry house. Nice. And look, it was so quick.

I'd finished the starters and the curry arrived. Amazing. Amazing. It's a bit more devastating than a wrong order. Oh, it's awful. This story is going to sound hilarious in a few years when I'm bankrupt. Listening back to this going, ice cream, eight pounds. Talk about Paris though and like, so Action Bronson does that fuck that delicious show.

Yeah. And in one of the episodes, he goes to Paris and he has a, it's at least a vegetarian burger if it's not a vegan burger. Is that the one where he loses it? He loses his mind. It's the best thing I've ever seen. Yeah. Is it Hank burger?

I'm not sure what it's called. There's a place called Hank burger and they've also got Hank pizza now out there and they're super nice people. Like really cool. It's almost like a marketplace kind of thing. Amazing. But he says it's the best burger he's ever had. That's amazing.

Better than any meat burger. Amazing. And I've been to Paris for gigs twice since then and both times found, you know, the place has gone there and it's been shut both times. And it's like a real, I want that burger so much. Yeah. Like I had this for ages with a sandwich that I saw Adam Richman eat on Man vs Food like 12 years ago.

Did you get it? Yeah. But like it took me 12 years. It's one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. Amazing. At Denix in red in terminal market in Philadelphia. Amazing. And it's this pork, thinly sized pork and it's got broccoli, robin, bit of cheese and then

they dip it in the jus. It's absolutely, but it took a decade. Yeah. Thinking about it. I bought it. Loved it so much. And then I bought the t-shirt from Denix. Yes.

And then Great Benito, our producer went to Philadelphia recently and bought me back a red in terminal market cap. Amazing. That I've been wearing and it's the first cap I've ever had. Yeah. I've not got it on me. You'll notice that I'm wearing a different cap now. Yeah.

It's just I've suddenly got in the caps because of that. Yeah. There you go. So basically I've got the red in terminal market cap. Never worn caps in my life. Yeah. I love that cap so much. It turned you on to caps.

Yeah. And then I went to... By the way, because people can't see you when we're recording this, obviously, now you are a cap. You gesture by a... Yeah. My gestures are... You've got a peak.

...central touch of the broom. Yeah. I adjust the peak. You treat your cap like a top hat. Yeah. It's your hat. It's your top hat that I do a little thing. It's your hat from Monty's Burger in LA.

Monty's Deli. No. No. It's Monty's Deli in London. Okay. Cool. So Jamie Dimitriou, friend of the podcast and his episode, he mentioned Monty's. Yeah.

So I went there because of that. Loved it. Bought the hat. It's in there the other day. It's like the new bin there, got the T-shirt. Yeah. It's a bin there, got the hat. Got the hat.

It's like, you know, so that's the thing. I was in Terminal Market's hat. The Benito got me. I've been walking around in that. Absolutely loving it. Really happy about my new hat. Texting these two going, I love my cap. It's so great.

Yeah. Then I went to Monty's to get a sandwich and they came over and they were like, would you like a free cap? Would you like a cap? Because they say now that I wear caps. Yeah. I was like, yeah. Two caps.

Yeah. And they're both food places that I like. Absolutely. You've never bought a cap. I've never bought a cap. I'll get you an architect's cap. Well, as much as I would like that, I'm only doing food. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

I'll wear an architect's T-shirt. Okay, okay. I mean, but I would not wear a cap. Maybe we need to open a restaurant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's the only way. Just to get a change of hat. The only way you're going to get a change of hat.

Open a restaurant. I don't care how good the food is. I'm wearing the cap up. I'm like, you know. At the minute, I've got two caps. They're both food places that I like. Amazing. Well, love.

They're both like top notch food places. Yeah. I'm going to be that. I said to Ed before we were recording today, I thought I'm just going to start, you know, buying, just getting caps, collecting caps that are food places that I like. He went, oh, that's weird, isn't it, James? That's another weird thing you've started doing. Yeah.

There is an amazing place, actually, and I haven't been to, which I wanted to go to last time, called Monties Burger, which is like, it looks like an old sort of diner place, but it's the, I think Travis Barker that's invested in Crossroads has just started putting money in that. Right. A few of my friends have been to LA and have been like, you have to go to that burger place. He's not doing all right. I need Travis Barker.

Yeah. He's making some bank. Very few bands I can think of who are, the drummer is the one who's happy. It's the most successful one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny, if you go, it's just Blink 182 and Architects.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, that sounds like a great name. Yeah. It's a real good one. And the only other thing I was thinking about was, again, from Crossroads, when I was there,

I had a carbonara, but like a fake carbonara, and it came with a fake yoke on it. Never seen that before in my life. Yeah. And it wasn't like the Wagamama's fake egg, where it's like, what is in my mouth right now? It's insane. It was like the best, one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. Wow.

Yeah. I tasted probably like eggy. It wasn't, yeah. It tasted exactly like a carbonara. The pasta was obviously fresh, and I couldn't, but I was devastated when it was over. Yeah. One of those meals we were like, I'm coming back tomorrow. Yeah.

Yeah. It was amazing. But that clay pot is taking me on holiday and books us French shows. We're like, where's the venue? Yeah. I think that's a very good feeling when you've had a meal, and then the next day you just think, what am I having lunch? Yeah.

And you're like, I want the same thing as yesterday. Yeah. And you think, I can't do that. Yeah. It's a great feeling when you go, I'm going to do it. I'm an adult. I'm going to have the same thing two days in a row. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm an adult. It's a proper, I'm a grown-up. Yeah. I'm a big boy now. Yeah. I'm Dan, who's in the band. We're all massive fans of this place called Flax and Kale in Barcelona.

Mm-hmm. It's like, it's really, really healthy food, but it's absolutely delicious. And he went on holiday there recently just to go and eat at Flax and Kale for the weekend. Wow. And it was like, pretty much every meal, him and his wife absolutely love it. So I've like, messed him like, how many times have you been there? It was like day two. It was like, I've eaten there three times.

And he was like, and I've got delivery from there as well. It's incredible. Incredible place. So yeah, shout out to Flax and Kale for being great. And side dish, we're coming to the side dish now. Yeah. Also, I like about your menu, so far, I like that it's a globe-trotting menu, even the shout-outs.

Yeah. All over the world. Yeah. This is the great thing we hadn't even considered about having musicians on. Yeah. You've been so many places that you've got to eat. Yeah. Also, the worry is that you sound like a complete twat, as well.

You're like, I travel around. Yeah. I was in Paris having a mop chicken clay pot. Everyone at home is listening going, twat. Just have some chicken. I'll tell you what, if you're listening to a food podcast, you're getting angry about someone for traveling around eating food, then you're the twat, if anything. Side dish.

This is a hard one, isn't it? This is a tricky. What would you consider like a side? Like, what's your... Well, throw some things out there, Sam. We'll make the call. What about like a little bow bun? Oh, yeah.

Is that a side or is that a main? I'd take that as a side. If someone brought me a bow and said, there's your main, I'd throw it back in their face. Yeah. I'd throw it back in their face. Yeah, you'd be annoyed. I'd accept that as a starter or a side. Because if you were going out for dinner and you ordered...

And you went to a restaurant that did bow buns, you would order at least two or three and like some dumplings for... Oh, yeah. You'd have a few, wouldn't you? Yeah. So if you were getting like a little side one... Yeah. Yeah, there's a...

That's a side dish. And there's a place in Brighton, actually, which is a pub called The Pond. And they work with BabyBowl. I think that there's one in London as well. And they have one, which is a mushroom bulgogi, which is just insane. Right, I'm having that. It sounds incredible. It is absolutely incredible.

They do meat and they do vegan food as well. And on Mondays, they do like a meat-free... Yeah. ...meat-free Monday. And they check... It's absolutely incredible. I can't hear meat-free Monday to not laugh. Yeah.

Because of them, I can't hear them. Yeah, it's so funny. Because I mean, I'm a massive, massive Beatles fan. But that video of him singing and doing that, it's like... John Lennon is rolling in his grave. He's just going, Paul, just stop. Just stop. But Meat-Free Monday is an amazing thing about that video.

It's the opposite of amazing. Now, that's made me think of when Ringo Starr said... So not send him anything. Oh, yeah. Again, now George Harrison's rolling in his grave. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Peace and love. Peace and love.

Do not send me any more fan mail. The funny thing is about that is like... Obviously, they were so cool when they were younger. But they are human beings. Yeah. And when you get to a certain age, you should not be allowed to drive. You should not be allowed new technology. Yeah.

You should not be allowed on tour. Yeah. Or have access to an Instagram account. Yeah, social media is a no-no. But yeah, that place is incredible. I love... I only really started eating it probably like two years ago. Right.

Like bow buns. I've never... I've always looked at them and been like, I wonder what the hell that tastes like. So I've always been like, I'll just get something else. But yeah, that is incredible. It is deceptive, isn't it? The actual bun itself, when you look at it, it just looks like foam.

Yeah. Kind of like... It does, yeah. It looks like they're animating a meal and they've forgotten to colour that. Yeah, it's like... What's the nutrients like in that? It's just air. The little marshmallow kind of...

Five calories. Air. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I actually don't like it when they're too bready bow buns. Yeah. If you get too... You want it soft, don't you? Yeah.

You don't want to be picking up like a baguette-sized thing when you have loads of little mini ones. They look very satisfying, though. Yeah. Yeah, they look so... So it's bulgogi, mushroom bulgogi. Yeah. So like Korean-y sort of flavor.

Yeah, it's amazing, yeah. Oh, man. And they do some amazing seitan ones in there as well and the tofu. Yeah, they smash it. And every week they do like a different one. So I had a katsu seitan one in there recently. Oh, man. It was delicious.

But again, there's something about the small plates that it comes with as well because you have one and you're like, fuck yeah. Second one, you're like, kind of an animal. You're just like going through it, like conquering this meal. But yeah, it's an amazing place. It's a really cool pub, actually, as well. And they always have like good local beers on as well, so. Great.

Whereabouts is it? It's just down from the station. So you come down from the station. I'm going to go there. Come down from the station. It's first left. Excited about this. But it's really great.

The only problem is it doesn't take reservations. It's always like you go in there and you're like, meet seven, we'll go in there. You walk in, you're like, fuck. Right, let's go somewhere else. But yeah, it's an amazing place. Ah, the drink. Is drinks easier for vegans?

Yeah, drinks are fine. There's only a few beers that you have to avoid. Yeah. Wine? Wine's a bit of a... Yeah, wine's a bit freaky, right? Love a bit of egg in wine. But...

Who doesn't love a lovely old egg in a wine? I'm not a massive wine fan. I like a white every now and then. Sure. But yeah, I'm not really big in the wine. A couple of the boys are really big into wine. What's the one that they always have? It's like the running duck, I think.

Running duck red wine. It's like an organic red wine. I think it's that. And that seems to be... I mean, by all accounts, they seem to get quite drunk off it. So I think that looks quite nice. I'm sort of tied because I love margaritas. I love margaritas so much, but I also love beer.

So it's a tricky one. But I think... I kind of went with the... What would I have at any point of the day? Yeah. And I think I'm going to go for a medello. Oh, okay. Love a medello.

Oh, wow! Yeah. A medello with a lime in the top of it. I like to call it a medello. We have a thing we call medellos, coronas, and all those light, Spanish-y, Mexican-type beers. We call them toe-dippers. Right.

Where, like, at the start of the night, you know, you wake up or, like, wherever you're going to go, you're like, oh, I don't know if I want to get too shit-faced at you. So you dip your toe in. You dip your toe into a pool, and you're like, ooh, the water's nice. And then you're into your heavy drinks after. You call it toe-dippers, but at any point,

has any of you had one of those and gone, do you know what, I'm not up for this? Yeah. God, it's actually too cold. You dip your toes in, it stops the flies getting in it. Yeah. But we've done the tour ages ago. We were on tour in America.

It was about 10, 11 years ago, and our bus had broken down. Well, not our bus, we were in a van, and we just bought a van, and it had broken down for the second time, and it was like, right, we're going home. We don't have enough money to do the rest of the tour. And the bands that we were on tour with, like, hooked us up. We were on tour with, like, Under Oath,

and Between the Buried and Me, and a bunch of other bands on this crazy bill, but we were super young. Yeah. And they were like, we don't want you to go home, we really like your band. So two of us stayed on Under Oath's bus, and the rest of the guys were on Between the Buried and Me,

and we were all sort of dotted around. And I remember sitting on the bus, and Tim from Under Oath giving me a medello, and it was the first medello I'd ever had, and I was like, pfft, I'm in. I'm in forever. And now it's like, on our riders, it's our go-to. What did you love about it that first time?

It's so fresh. It's sort of, like, annoyingly fresh. Every time you open it, you're like, this is gone. And it's small enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's about five sips, and you're into your next one. Satisfying bottle shape as well. So it never gets cold?

Yeah. It never gets cold. It's like a nice can. What would you say to the people, and I'm not one of them, who would say, Corona's just the same thing? Same thing.

I've had enough Corona. Yeah. I've had too much Corona. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm overdone with Corona. But Corona's like a... Yeah. Yeah, it's nice.

I'm not a Corona guy. It tastes a bit... The medello is better. Yeah, the medello is better. It's something about Corona. It tastes a bit, like, sweeter. Yeah. It's not that I, like, know anything about alcohol

and what is in it, but it takes a bit... I mean, it tastes like a fake beer. I'm not a fan of putting a lime in the top, either. I know you say that. No. You do that with the medello. Yeah, I like putting a lime in it.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It always goes well if you try and do that trick where you put your thumb on it and turn it upside down, so it goes... The lime goes in, and all the...

It all flows through it. If that goes wrong, you look like a real twat. And that goes wrong so much. Do you know what I really don't like, is beers with lime flavor. Like a synthetic sort of lime. That is...

What's the one that is basically one of those ones with... It's basically a corona or whatever, but it's got tequila in it. Desperados. Yeah, yeah, yeah. First time I had that, I went bananas.

I went insane as well. Yeah, I really loved it, and then I overdid it. I wasn't sick of anything. Yeah. But I just had too many in an evening, and I was like, oh, I'm never drinking this again.

That's it, man. You can sort of... When you talk about it, you can feel the heartburn, the acid that's coming up. Yeah. Yeah. So I think I even knew there was tequila in it.

So I think the first time I bought it, I thought I was buying another kind of like modello, corona kind of thing. Yeah. It's the first sip, lose my mind. Yeah. It's the tastiest thing in the world.

Tell everyone like, I don't know what's in this. It says on the thing, it's marketed, it says tequila. How old were you when that happened? Oh, it was at the Edinburgh Festival. So I was in...

Oh, wow. So, okay. Late 20s. Because I think I had Desperados when I was like 14. No, I know. It was someone at school being like... It's called tequila.

But it's got tequila in it. It gets you mega drunk. Yeah. No, I was... It's sort of like the four loco. Have you guys ever had four loco? No. It was in America.

They had to take it off the shelves because it was so crazy. It was like caffeinated. It was like that, but caffeinated. And I had half a can. They had half a can and then I had another half. Me and our guitarist split two cans.

It was the most fucked I've ever been in my life. I remember driving to the next... I remember playing the show and being like, I can't believe half a big can has got me this wrecked. And then I remember going to the next venue and us having to get the van to pull over and us both be sick. After one can each.

After one can each. It was insane, but then they took it off the shelves. Yeah. It was like poison. It was insane. I think it might have taken years off my life. Whatever it was, it was not all right.

No. That effect it had on you. But yeah. It's funny, isn't it? I love tequila. I love tequila so much. And I've recently started getting more into like actual tequila because tequila is your average pub.

And it's not what tequila is supposed to take. It's the same with vodka, which you actually try something nice like a Don Julio or something. My friend Ben, who plays drums in Royal Blood, he actually started getting me into tequila because he's obsessed with it as well. And it's so funny because for so long I was like,

oh, I'm not into tequila at all. And then you actually have a really nice one with a beer and you're like, that is just a dream. We were in Brooklyn recently. We were in Brooklyn. And it was the end of the night and there was this cool bar where we were playing. And we've got some shots.

And it was like Don Julio, so it was like nice tequila. And some of the guys that we were with had not had that before and I was trying to be like, this is really good tequila. You should just try it. If you don't like tequila, you'll know after this. And then as they brought them out, some of the guys went back in and got the limes and the salt.

And I saw someone squirt the lime into the tequila and I was like, oh, God. I felt like my granddad whenever. If he'd be like, can I have a whiskey? And he'd be like, yeah, of course. And then he would hear like a can of coke. What are you doing? Yeah, exactly.

I've had this for a hundred years. James, you don't like anyone doing things like that. How do you feel when you're having dinner with me and we get a bottle of wine? You always make me taste the wine to be the person to go through that ritual. And I do it. What's that like?

What are you looking for there? I don't know, Sam. I'm looking for the waiter to pour a full glass. That's what they say in the trip, that episode of the trip. Because that's all... I love the trip so much. All people like us have as frames of reference for the world in the comedy shows we've seen.

Or documentaries if you're in a metal band. But like, you know, he does the thing about you're meant to... All you're doing is tested if it's corked or not. So if you say it's lovely to him, you look like an idiot. Right. And all that. But I'm like, well, I don't know if it's corked. I'm just going to say it's nice either way.

Ed has a posh voice than me. Ed, you try the wine. But I do, though. Swirl it in the glass. Yes. Sniff it. Take it into the mouth. That phrase.

Yeah. Sip it. Have a bit of... Oh, the classic sip. And then suck in some air over it. Right. To just get some basically air rate it in the mouth. Yeah.

And then swallow it. And then say, yeah, fill her up. Is this something about the way it drips down the glass? That's the legs. So that's the alcohol content. Okay. So the more alcoholic a wine is, the more visible and thicker the legs are. Okay.

We'll definitely have a tweet in saying I'm wrong. Yeah. I only know it. All I know about wine is what I've seen on the trip and sideways the film. Yeah. So that's it. We come to the dessert. What is for pudding?

It is. We had it on tour. And it was in Manchester. And we had the same team of catering throughout all the UK shows, which was amazing. And it's the first time. I think it was the first or second time. Because normally in Europe there's catering every day, but it's a different service every day. And they always look after you out there.

We just reached the level in the UK where there was catering. We were doing two shows in Manchester and it was the same lady that was doing everything. And I had this, I'm not a massive dessert guy. I used to love it. My go-to was profiteroles when I was eating, when I was the dairy boy. When you were the dairy boy. When I was the dairy boy. When I was the milkie bar kid.

But I had this Oreo cheesecake that I don't know how she made it, but it completely fucked me up. But I went straight back in for a second. And then the next day it was like, do you think you'll be making that again this evening? But everyone loved it and we were all getting ones for after the show. And yeah, it was incredible. It's quite, normally catering on tour is up to a pretty reasonable standard. It's pretty hard to make incredibly delicious food for 60, 70 people on a tour of support bands or whatever. It's normally just pasta being warmed up.

But you could tell that this lady had worked super hard and she absolutely smashed it. Was the biscuit base of the cheesecake Oreo black? Yeah. So she'd really gone to town. And then the middle was just like amazing like hazelnut. It was just incredible. Oh man. That sounds so good.

Yeah, she absolutely nailed it. Did you have it with anything else as it is? I had a little bit of soy cream with it. Like the soy, I can't remember what it's called, but the brand Alpro. I had a little bit of Alpro cream with it and wha, wha. That does sound absolutely incredible. It was absolutely incredible. And we just, I love an Oreo.

Pigs. We just picked it up. But the problem is I can't buy a pack of Oreos because that's done. They're gone. They've gone straight away. Yeah. So it was the nice little treat because you're like, oh, Oreo cheesecake. Like, yeah, first off you're like, well done.

Vegans and Oreos are classic. You've thought outside the box, have you? Like, you know, up in your house, I'm like, guess I'll give this a go. And then the first mouthful, you're like, gee, I want to marry you. So here's your meal, red batches. I'm excited. Tell me if you like this. Imagine if I was like, I changed my mind.

Yeah. Sparkling water. Absolutely. Bread. You would like your dad's garlic for catch of bread. Starter, the impossible cigar from Crossroads in LA. Main, caramelized, mock chicken clay pot from... Tianhang.

Tianhang in Paris. Woof. Side, mushroom bow from the pond in Brighton. Woof. Drink, a modello with a lime. Dessert, the Oreo cheesecake from the lady to the catering in Manchester. God bless that lady. Sound good?

Feel good about that? Sounds incredible. I'm chuffed with it. Yeah, yeah. One thing I will say before I go to help out vegans is there's an app called Happy Cow, which I use and loads of people use. This is not sponsored. I paid for the app.

Yes. It's free pound. I know what you're thinking. I'm rolling in it. But you turn it on wherever you are, like the app, and it tells you all the vegan vegetarian places around you. Right. It's got reviews and tells you the best ones, and that literally saves us wherever we go.

Happy Cow. Yeah. Ed was a vegan for a while, weren't you? I was for a bit. I hate being called out for this in front of actual vegans. I love doing it. Vegans get a hard time, but I think the first two years of me being vegan, I was unbearable. I now know looking back, it's like you're never going to get free to people being a prat.

Thank you very much, Sam. No worries. Thanks so much for having me. There it is. The menu of Sam Carter. A lovely meatless meal. Lovely meatless meal. Thank you very much for coming in, Sam.

If you like the sound, hey, if you're not really a metal person normally, I can highly recommend getting yourself the new Architects album. I think you'll love it. I saw Benito listening to it the other day. Benito doesn't like metal, and he listened to it, and he liked it. He doesn't like metal. He likes rollercoasters and magic. Yeah, but he liked Holy Hell.

He liked Holy Hell. So check out Holy Hell by Architects. Check out Sam's Instagram, which is Sam Architects. Go on the official Architects website, ArchitectsOfficial.com. What a relief, because I like Sam a lot. Thank the Lord. He did not mention Sultana in Coleslaw's With No Apple. Yeah, that was very, pretty tense, but he didn't say it, and so he got to say his full

menu, which is good, because the Great Benito is his favourite menu. We've had so far. Great Benito is a vegetarian. Yeah. That's his favourite one. I was glad that Great Benito got to have a fun episode where he heard the whole menu, and he liked it as well. Thank you very much for coming in, Sam.

It is goodbye from us. Make sure you subscribe and review the podcast. Sam's just waiting outside, in fact, and we're all going for margaritas. I want a margarita so bad. Yumma yumma. Hello, it's me, Amy Glettale. You might remember me from the best ever episode of Off Menu, where I spoke to my mum and asked her about seaweed on mashed potato, and our relationship's never been the same since.

And I am joined by... Me, Ian Smith. I would probably go bread. I'm not going to spoil in case... Get him on, James and Ed, but we're here sneaking in to your podcast experience to tell you about a new podcast that we're doing. It's called Northern News. It's about all the news stories that we've missed out from the North, because, look,

we're two Northerners, sure, but we've been living in London for a long time. The news stories are funny. Quite a lot of them crimes. It's all kicking off, and that's a new podcast called Northern News. We'd love you to listen to. Maybe we'll get my mum on. Get Glettale's mum on every episode. That's Northern News.

When's it out, Ian? It's already out now, Amy! Is it? Yeah, get listening. There's probably a backlog you've left it so late.