Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - Ep 4: Annie Mac

Episode Date: November 29, 2017

Businesswoman, tastemaker, mother, and champion of the sorority; this week we chat to Annie Mac about veganism, taking your kids on tour, and the time her mother punched someone on a plane. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Peloton all-access membership separate. Learn more at onepeloton.ca slash running. Hi, I'm Jessie Ware and this is my mum Lenny. Hi. And this is Table Manners. as table manners so we're back for another episode and if you haven't tuned in to us before this is a podcast about food family and the art of conversation and i host it with my mother who is usually the chef um every week um but not. I've been given the task of creating a brunch for Annie Mack. Who's vegan. Yeah, mum's really excited about this. You're also a bit late, a bit tardy, mum.

Sorry, I was up early finishing a report before I came. There you go. No, no, it's... It's not usually in the morning, darling. No, this is a special one because i guess well annie mack is on radio every evening on radio one doing this specialist radio show so we've managed to get her for a brunch um which actually is my favorite meal of the day i think i love a brunch i like brunch too but with smoked salmon i know alas mum there is no smoked salmon

today sorry i think we'll be allowed to have some butter no annie won't mean you can have what does she what does she have if she doesn't have dry toast it's fun being a vegan isn't it is that gender neutral as well because i've told everyone about what you told me. What did I tell you? You told me that I had to buy the baby gender neutral toys from now on. Yeah, because she likes a car. Yeah. I bought her a car for her birthday.

Gender neutral enough? Yes, thank you. She's going to have a lovely boy doll for Christmas. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you. Yeah. Gentle neutral enough Yes thank you She's going to have a lovely boy doll for Christmas Yeah brilliant thank you Yeah God why did I decide to do this with you You're a nightmare I first heard of Annie Mac through my friend Subtract

Who used to send Annie Mac songs of his And I featured on one of Subtract's songs And she played us which I was really thankful for so we kind of met through her playing my music but became friends she's always always been such a big advocate of women in music and has really really helped my career I feel and has always been really really. And I think she's really inspiring. She's a businesswoman. She's a DJ. She's a mother.

She's a tastemaker. She's a festival maker. She's kind of everything. She can do anything she puts her hand to. Yeah, I noticed that her new amp that Annie Mack presents, her crew are women, all women. Yeah, they are. It's fantastic. Her managers are women. Her her crew are women, all women. Yeah, they are. It's fantastic.

Her managers are women, her creative directors are women. Yeah, she really believes in the kind of sorority and like female sorority. Well, she gives you the confidence as a woman to go out there and get what you want, I think. Totally. Because she's proof of that. Yeah, absolutely. And she should be here any second. So I must go and deal with my

silken tofu scramble apparently she loves potatoes so i've just basically done a load of breakfast potatoes and the tofu scramble and you're gonna have to deal with it mom it's fine it's fine. Okay. It's fine. Hi, Annie. How are you? I'm all right. Nice to see you. Can I get you coffee or tea? Look how gorgeous you look.

I've got... Eat your breakfast. Fine. The real deal. Done. The real deal. That's a tofu scramble. Wait until my mum eats it.

She's going to have an opinion. I'm so sorry I'm vegan. How long have you been vegan? I'm sorry for you. How long have you been vegan? Kind of on and off. I stopped when I was pregnant. I just couldn I'm vegan. How long have you been vegan? Kind of on and off. I stopped when I was pregnant. I just couldn't do it.

I was stuffing my face with smoked salmon. And now that I'm doing it, what, like, I don't know, three or four months, maybe. Do you like being vegan? Yeah, I do most of the time. And is it because you have, because you think about... It's the animals. Weren't you brought up in Ireland, in the city.

Oh, in the city, not in the country. And my mum was brought up on a pig farm. So she was vegetarian all my life. You're kidding. And my sister was too. So we were brought up as vegetarian. Not like strict, it was just my mum cooked. So she was like, well, you've got to get vegetarian food

because that's what I'm cooking for you. So whenever she went away, my dad would give us sausages and mash and stuff it was a real treat and then when I left home I was like give me all the meat because it felt it was like a novelty and I ate meat for years and then uh thank you darling pleasure kind of stopped in my 30s you don't even eat fish I do when I'm not vegan i'm pescatarian okay i'm all over the place i i made a declaration on online which was a really stupid thing to do be like i've decided to go vegan for a month and it's gonna be really hard okay because a month is up i didn't even do a month i did two weeks i remember this yeah and you were like babe welcome to the club stay strong yeah but you know

what you did wrong you were you were like You were like trying to completely change your diet. I know. I'm going to, everything's going to be like super, like extreme vegan. Totally. And I was also like kind of obsessed with making the best kind of vegan food.

So like I was cooking constantly. It's not realistic. Yeah. And I feel like I had the least amount of raw vegetables in those two weeks because I was busy making bean stews and sweet potato burgers and like oh it's exhausting i felt like shit i did that as well i ate all i read all the books there's so many books with like obscenely healthy skinny looking people

talking about you know making cow cow cow cow cocoa cacao cacao cacao cacao yeah isn't it the same as cocoa yes but yeah it was exhausting but like I um yeah now I'm I don't know I'm a bit more realistic about it I'm also not so extremely hard on myself about it so if I go like out to someone's house and they have normal milk I'm not gonna be like well I only drink because I hate being that person I don't want to like do that so it's just kind of my personal choices and wherever i can which is like 98% of the time i will do it i'm not going to eat a steak but you know if i'm out at the weekend and you know so there's nothing to eat apart from a salad with feta in it then i'll be like fuck it yeah yeah but so how does it work with the boys are they

being the boys are pescatarian okay fine they've never eaten meat just because we don't really have meat in our house yeah it wasn't like you're not you know it was just like it just worked out naturally ashin my oldest is four he loves fish he eats like tuna and he eats salmon and stuff now and again but mainly he's a vegetarian he will call himself a vegetarian because he doesn't really understand pescatarian and like but like but he'll eat fish like he'll have yeah he'll have fish yeah he doesn't like he'd have like a fish finger okay yeah you know the best yeah yeah yeah and what like tea is he kind of pescatarian he's fully carnivore but so he just eats it outside he just eats outside the house but because there's no meat in the house he will make himself spag bol with corn because you don't really see the difference

in it the thing with spag bol with corn i always feel like you have to over season like to season it so much yeah yeah it's not great is it i don't mind do you not for someone who isn't vegetarian at all you don't mind corn no they have corn pieces now they're trying to do new chicken pieces yeah I've had them so it's cool like I like it what I eat a lot of is um

can you eat corn because it's got egg in it you can have vegan corn they've just started okay they've just started oh what I didn't know I know

the amount of stuff that's got animal products in it is like once you try and be really probably vegan it's kind of scary but I eat a lot of sesame and almond encrusted tofu,

which is like really nutty and really flavourous. I love them. And I chop that up and put it in salads, and I chop that up and put it in everything. Stews, everything. But the real talk is, I don't cook because I'm at work every night. So I, because I work in town,

I go to Leon, I go to Pret, I go to Itzu, and there's enough. You're pretty good now. I'm very lucky to live in London. There's enough stuff. Or I go to the can I go to Itzu and there's enough I'm very lucky to live in London there's enough stuff or I go to the canteen the BBC canteen we just hit or miss sometimes you just kind of if they're having a roast

you just have the roast vegetables the roast potatoes and then some salad. I love it when I see you getting just a box of roast potatoes that's basically what you end up with. Yeah so yeah I mean I started off extreme I did it for like quite a while and then I got pregnant and was just like, ah, I can't handle this. And now I'm just being a little bit more adult about it.

What do you miss? What do you miss the most out of? Halloumi and smoked salmon. Smoked salmon is the best thing I love. Me too. Yeah. And the thing is with me is because I grew up with, my dad's really into fishing. So I grew up going fishing with my dad i was a proper little tomboy played football went fishing caught loads of fish all

the time was a really good fish we'd go out on boats and i'd have like seven mackerel on my line and my dad would have like one and be like what is it with you um so i used to love catching fish and i've like done stuff on telly about fishing and why are there no women fisher like people and the culture show so i think you know people say with animals like if you know if you are And I've like done stuff on telly about fishing and why there are no women fisher people. Oh, I remember that. And the culture show. So I think, you know, people say with animals, like if you know, if you are comfortable with hunting and catching an animal and, you know, knowing how to prepare it for a meal, then I think that's, you know, if you are morally OK with that, then that's fine. But a lot of people, I think, don't understand where their food's from. They don't understand.

They don't think about factory farming, that kind of thing. So for me, with fish, because I've done it, and I've killed a fish, and I've gutted a fish, and I've fried a fish, and eaten a fish, for me, the process isn't, you know, horrific, but my problem is kind of the, I guess... Sustainability. The sustainability, and the factory farming element, where it's just kind of like fish being bred to be killed to be eaten, anything like that animals being bred to be eaten

so potentially, say you were an island and you were going out fishing and you'd eat it because it wouldn't have necessarily been it hasn't happened for years but maybe I would maybe you'd want to take the boys out I think you're like the so okay so like I think you're like the best kind of vegan I think it's about moderation I think everything is about

moderation yeah and I read a really good article about it about this guy who was you know just saying that you know there's there's extremes and I the main thing is just I just don't judge anyone for how they want to eat that's fine but for me it makes me be vegan longer if i have small exceptions every now and again and i'm not too strict on myself because if you're too strict then you're just like this is ridiculous so you just have to be a little easier on yourself sometimes sorry i've given been given the task today of cooking not a task it was complete pleasure so it's going to be a vegan brunch a vegan brunch yes and it's you know we we have in there i mean you've gone in babe from what i can see you've like a vegan brunch for me is like baked beans

and toast with some avocado smash i mean we have got some avocado smash yeah we've got some roasted vine tomatoes we have a tofu scramble which is supposed to be like a southwestern like tofu scramble but i feel like it's just a bit miserable. I know my mother is going to have... Look, she's already giving me cider. I'm not doing anything. I would have cooked... I'll poach you an egg if you need to.

I don't need a poached egg. But I wouldn't... I don't really know how to cook vegan food. I need to probably try. Hey, McDonald's are going vegan. Shut up. You're joking. I swear to Jesus.

What are they going to do? McDonald's are going... They made a vegan burger. Yeah. They're rolling it out in finland for three weeks why in finland are there a big i don't know i don't know yeah it's a real thing they're making a vegan burger which is pretty major actually when you think about like have they always had bean burgers though yeah they yeah they've had bean i've had i love their veggie burgers sam Sam is peering, my husband is peering round the corner. Come here. You fancy a McDonald's, a McVegan?

Sam, Sam, listen. No, no, I believe, right? Nick, can you get near the mic please, please? I'm so cold here. Shut up, get in. If I was to become vegan, right? Yeah, so what are you? I'm kind of vegetarian at the moment

until Jessie puts the shepherd's pie in my mouth. His spirit animal is like a vegan person. I feel like I'm vegetarian in heart, but my gut's like, Your gut's a carnivore. Miss a bit of meat. Miss a bit of meat. But if you're vegan,

You're the laziest vegan. Then your ideologies are like, save the planet, look after the animals. Then you shouldn't be eating McDonald's. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, full stop. Even if it's a vegan burger. Yeah, yeah.

So I guess I kind of want to go back to you talking about your family because you're... Are you from a big family? I'm the youngest of four. I was brought up in Dublin and yeah, I had a really nice upbringing. I was brought up in the suburbs of Dublin,

kind of four miles out of the city centre. You could see the Dublin mountains from our back garden. Dublin reminds me loads of Sheffield. I don't know if you've ever been there, but it's kind of surrounded by a beautiful countryside. It's kind of similar size. I love Dublin. The people are very warm, super friendly,

mad, brilliant sense of humour. And my school was behind my back wall so i every every day i would go over the wall oh my god that's brilliant yeah so um i had a nice kind of local local vibe and was your family a foodie family no but your mom your mom was a vegetarian my mom hated cooking my dad worked in England from Monday to Thursday every week my mum brought up four kids

she had four kids in five years A she's mad B she brought them up pretty much in the weeks

on her own C we didn't have any money so she like made the curtains made the clothes dad made the furniture it was all very

kind of like DIY vibes she was a school teacher when she was able to go back to work when I was old enough to go to school she went with me and taught but um yeah she the cooking was purely functional and we had a different meal every night of the week so Friday was chips eggs and beans Wednesday was pizza Thursday was macaroni cheese with sweet corn tinned um and so

and like so it was just like it was purely like I have to you know get food on the table and that is it but I still love cheese to this day yeah like did did you kind of enjoy that that you knew you were getting every day yeah I loved it and because there's four in the family like there was no you know you you you had to eat what you could because if you know if you didn't it would be people just taking food and stuff. But I do also have lingering memories of my mum like making me

eat broccoli not broccoli Brussels sprouts and cabbage and like I was not allowed to leave the table until they were gone and I would just sit there

for hours with like four soggy Brussels sprouts because she boiled the fuck out of them and they tasted disgusting. Do you like Brussels sprouts? No, I still hate them

to this day. I've got a fracking recipe for not Megan because it's got cheddar in it. I've got a cracking recipe for it. Is it like not Megan? She can't wrap it, Mum. Not Megan. Because it's got cheddar in it. Oh, but she could have vegan cheddar.

It tastes like shit. No, you know what? I really... I'm starting to find vegan cheddar in it. You have to slice Brussels sprouts really fine. Yeah. And then you mix it with hazelnuts, a yellow mustard dressing,

quite a thick yellow mustard dressing and then put cheese in as well and mix it all together. It's delicious. That's really good. Rosie Mack wasn't having the hazelnuts and the mustard back in the day. But I do feel like Brussels sprouts have come a long way from the 80s.

Yeah, they have. Yeah, yeah. So food, and still my mum can't stand cooking. Really? And when people are coming round, she's So, yeah, so food. And still my mum can't stand cooking. Really? She's still like, ugh. And when people are coming round, she's like, what will I cook? And she has recipes for magazines. And she's, you know, she cooks like vegetable bakes and quiches.

She's, you know, she's got better at it over the years. But I think she'd say herself. Are they still in Dublin? Yeah, they're still in Dublin. That must be hard for you because you're quite a close family, right? Since kids it's been harder, actually. Yeah, I bet. You miss your family loads when you have kids.

Does she come over? Yeah, they come over a lot. And I go over to them as much as possible. I had a brother in London for ages, but he's back in Ireland now. So all my family are in Ireland. So yeah, I miss them. I think, like, you know, my mum complains that she's in South London and I'm in East London.

I complain because guess who always comes? I'm always here, darling. I've been been here this is the third time in four days but you get to see your beautiful granddaughters I adore her yeah my beautiful daughter but and son-in-law but it is hard because I work as well well I think I don't think we should complain because you're not a Ryanair flight away no but I always go Ryanair as well. Don't go Ryanair. Well, they never learn. That's like big eating meat to me. It's like they came to see me in Ibiza.

The two times they've both gone Ryanair and both times they have been traumatized. The first time there was a stag party on the flight and there was a guy pretending to be a horse galloping up and down the aisle with a horse head on. It's like a horror film and they were just like from us

and then the second time my mum actually punched someone oh my god I love this she was sat beside a guy who was a part of another stag party and they were like

yelling abuse at each other getting hammered and like he stood up and just said like they were towards the end of their flight and he stood up and like said

yelled abuse to another person and she just went stop it like a real mom like rosie matt right now can i ask you this so the podcast is called table manners um we like to ask the guests if you have any like pet peeves like any table manners that you think are just the worst thing you can't stand in a restaurant or i just i just the thing that i i judge everyone on i try not to judge people especially as a mother it's really easy to judge yes yes my only thing i judge people on is how they treat the staff

so if you're a rude to a waiter you're dead to me yeah basically i know that's as someone who's waited a lot of tables in my life and worked in a lot of pubs and stuff, I just feel like that's a really good, safe measure of a person. I think you're so right. Nobody said that. I think you're so right. I've had some friends where I've just really disliked them after going out for dinner with them. You get a bad feeling inside

when you see someone you know be like that because you're like, God, I don't want to. I mean, I did have an altercation with a Nando's staff member, but I feel like we were having a right old Josh about. However, he got my order wrong, and I was like, I'm really sorry, you missed out the mushy peas. And he was like, you didn't order them. And I said, I did, actually.

And he said, no, you didn't. And I said, well, I'll just get my receipt out, shall I? And I'll show you. And then he looked at it, saw that the mushy peas were there, and I said, don't fuck with me, Jack. Because he had this name thing, but I said it very calmly. Don't fuck with me, Jack. I just said, don't.

It felt like I was in 24. That's so sinister. He looked at me. My husband, it was in Brixton Nando's, and he was like, you're a psychopath. What did Jack do? Jack went and got my mushy peas. Yeah, of course he did. And kind of with a wry smile yeah i was like thank you jack but it was it just came out oh my god i love it i mean we were getting on and i was very polite but don't fuck with me jack i know my order that's

good but that you you know that's a mutual that's a conversation that you had where you are equals you know what i mean yeah i mean yes but for me it's like when people don't look at the waiter and they're like bark orders at them and it's oh totally so I know that you don't get that much chance to cook because obviously like well I mean you're out basically Monday to Friday

at dinner time do you cook at the weekends? Do you like cooking? Yeah I do actually I've grown to like it and when I was on maternity leave I really enjoyed it's quite meditative isn't it you know just chopping things and preparing things um and I used to make um a mean macaroni cheese oh yeah pre-veganism oh that cheese was good oh man because there's this book called

Anna Mae's mac and cheese you know when you go to festivals and there's an Annie's mac and cheese people always send me oh yeah yeah yeah so they've done a book on just like and it's mac and cheese. People always send me Instagram. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they've done a book on just like... And it's a vegan one? No. No, no, this is pre-vegan. Oh, this is when you were... So I used to make mac and cheese every week. Like, just things like stir fries and like nice bakes and stews and stuff I would make, yeah.

So do you have like a family roast or anything? Do you do that or will you go out for it? We never do roasts. I mean, at the moment, I don't. My boyfriend wishes we did roasts. I think he's going to learn. Men always... I feel like men

want the roasts more than the women because the men get cooked by we're always the ones bloody cooking it it's a real British thing in Ireland

where I'm from roasts aren't really that big a deal oh really like Yorkshire pudding what is that I have no I don't get it

so what would you be having would you have like a family meal on a Sunday then would it be is there an equivalent you would but I don't think there's all. So what would you be having, would you have like a family meal on a Sunday then? Yeah, you would. Is there an equivalent? You would, but I don't think there's an Irish equivalent, no.

The Irish love a stew. They love a lamb stew. There's lots of carveries in Ireland. There is, but when it comes to like, when it comes to like, you know, the way in here, in the UK, the culture is let's go for a roast on a Sunday. It doesn't really feel like that's a thing in Dublin. But I presume you go to the pub on a Sunday, maybe?

You go to the pub, yeah. But you just don't get the roast? I would... Well, I do like a roast. I get a veggie roast, but the Yorkshire pudding, I'm not on. I don't like it. So you just don't get...

That's so weird, because I feel like Yorkshire pudding's like the least offensive thing in a roast. I don't know, it's just tasteless. You just put loads of gravy and then it just tastes of soppy... Is that what you do i mean you fill it with gravy it's like gravy cardboard yeah i guess when you think about it it doesn't have much well it started it wasn't served with your roast it served before with gravy and to fill you up before you had the meat how do you know this because i

know that did you get and what so because there's not that much meat, so you have to be full. Yeah. So people filled it. So it's a huge one. You put gravy in it and it filled you up first because people didn't have that much meat. Own each step with Peloton. From their pop runs to walk and talks, you define what it means to be a runner. Whatever your level, embrace it. Journey starts when you say so. If you've got five minutes or 50, Peloton Tread has workouts you can work in.

Or bring your classes with you for outdoor runs, walks, and hikes, led by expert instructors on the Peloton app. Call yourself a runner. Peloton all-access membership separate. Peloton all access membership separate. Learn more at onepeloton.ca slash running. So we have dished up and it's a bit of a mishmash. I know that Annie loves a potato, so I've basically done breakfast roast potatoes in rosemary and garlic. And then we've got a tofu scramble with kind of cumin and cayenne pepper and some sriracha and kale and garlic. Yes! And then we've got a tofu scramble with kind of cumin and cayenne pepper and some sriracha and kale and garlic.

What's sriracha? Sriracha. Sriracha you just spray on the sauce. Oh that's the sauce? Okay that's the sauce. Sriracha sauce. Hot chilli sauce. Yum.

Then we've got avocado smash with coriander and we've got some, my favourite things like the roasted vine tomatoes. Mum, you can have some butter. Do you not have any butter on you? She's just like misbehaving. That's my other thing with halloumi and some butter. Do you not have any butter, Annie? She's just like misbehaving. That's my other thing. Do you want some toast? That's the other thing I miss the most.

Real butter. You get just dairy-free butter. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine. I'm sure. I feel like we need to address this because Annie was really integral. Well, I mean,

I've spoken about this before, but Annie was really important basically you and Annie were the people that told me to get pregnant and I felt like I needed a I needed a voice from music to tell me that it was going to be okay a female voice to tell me it was going to be okay to be pregnant and be able to still do my job and I guess Annie was the perfect voice to give me that because I could see your career's got better and better since you've had you said your career's got better since you've had children like it's like it's true it has and why do you think that I think I think it's two things I think it's because I waited till I was you know in my in a position where my career was safe yeah um to have a baby so I was 34 when I had my baby and as in

I felt secure to leave it never that secure I know I feel like music is never that secure but it's still terrifying having to leave a job

which is essentially freelance which essentially is like you know someone's going to be doing it for you and when you're in the public eye you know

at least someone isn't going to step in and be Jessie Ware while you're on maternity leave but in my job someone is looking after what i consider to be my baby um as in my radio show so that that's hard but it makes you super focused you know you don't have as much time to spend on it there's no procrastination you have less time you go in and you you blitz it and you know what

you want and also it was good for me in a way because it made me realize that people did miss me and I had no idea where because I'd never been away I'd never had a chance to test that out it's not something you want to test out voluntarily you know but I did and it made me feel way better about having a second baby as well did you feel like then you had this greater confidence when you returned yes that from feeling wanted and also feeling like you could do anything because you're a superman you've been you've had a baby and you know yeah more just like okay you know obviously what i'm doing is it is satisfactory to people they like it not just on the radio but

beyond that being a dj as well um um and then I guess now I kind of feel a sense of not responsibility but a kind of part of me feels like what I'm doing is really important because I am a woman yeah and because there's no other as far as I can see well not not not many other women mothers who are DJs um you know in in my sphere and and i feel like it's really important that i keep doing what i'm doing do you feel like people kind of like focus on that as like a unique selling point do you feel like it deters people i feel like it's both okay yeah i feel like from a promoter's point of view because like with the exception of me i think in the uk i don't know any festivals are run by women it's all men and I think that men

are only now in the last kind of three or four years starting to see it from a female perspective because they've kind of been forced to because people are giving out about it but like you know if you look at a festival lineup it's always like the first 10 rows are pretty much men a lot of the time recently so for me because I'm a woman and because I can sit in high up in a lineup promoters want to book me because there's so few choices of DJs so they're like we need Annie because she's a woman so it's good in that way um but it's also you know um I don't know it's it's never felt like a deterrent to me the only way it's felt like a deterrent is by not being able to focus on an international career but that's my own personal choice like I could bring my kid with me but it wouldn't be very fun for him yeah no that would be look I'm

about to embark on an international tour with my child and a husband and maybe it's and a husband there's the key yeah so your husband's coming and all the djs i know who do tour with kids have a partner that they bring um who will look after the kid and that is brilliant but for me i wouldn't be able to do that because my partner is also a dj yeah yeah so um there therein lies my problem i think yeah i'm look i'm very lucky that like sam is basically going to take take a year off to help me. Well, yeah, I mean, that's the most beautiful thing. He's lucky because he's a personal trainer,

so he can kind of in and out. Alex is still offering to help, by the way. My brother, who's also taking a year out being a doctor, so he's ready to to be nanny which is great but i think i think still it's weird isn't it that it still sits funny and you almost have to like thank the person even more like i feel like it's a given the other way around never thank a wife exactly for doing that i mean like it just feels i feel like i maybe and i respect yeah maybe they would but like i respect sam and i appreciate it so much that he mean like it just feels I feel like I maybe he would and I respect yeah maybe they would

but like I respect Sam and I appreciate it so much that he's doing it but I do feel like I need to complete always address this fact that he's taking

the year out and that that's quite a novel thing but wouldn't anyone address it if their partner was suspending what they did

maybe a guy wouldn't address it as much as a woman would I guess I don't know if you have a job and you're committed to your job and you stop doing it, I think you'd thank either person.

I think you would like to think that. I think probably it's been done. It's more systematic for women to be the ones that sacrifice their career or for the man because traditionally it's the man that's the breadwinner. Yeah. But things are very much changing now. And I think someone like Sam is, you know, a shining example of a man who's not led by his ego.

No, I know. Who's just, you know, loves his family. I think personally for me, the talk, talking about the kind of deterrent factor of it, which is ridiculous to talk about, sorry, but like I think it was more my own insecurities of worrying what other people were going to think of me becoming a mother and a singer and this kind of less desirable

woman in a way like you kind of i remember i remember it's not done adele any harm adele could do anything sing the alphabet and she'd be okay so like she's okay i still feel like when you were talking you know you're talking about secure jobs like I still don't feel like my job is secure like ever I feel like you're only as good as your last yeah record maybe like so um so it's harder it's interesting it's all kind of suck it and see we'll see how it goes but I think that's parenting and this is what I think the most about parenting the hardest thing I learned was that you can never predict how you're going to feel. So when you rang me that time and you were like, I think I want to have a baby.

Am I mad? You know, you didn't know how it was going to be. And that's the hardest thing. You can't plan for being a parent because you could hate it. You could love it. You could have a kid who never sleeps and you can't do anything. But I think with this, you just have to try it you have to do what makes you happy as a mother because as a as a happy mother you know your kid will be happier yeah totally can i ask

i mean because as a female in music i've always felt like there's been this kind of silent undertone of like trying to almost you that you're put against other women whether it's like hon who was it in my first campaign I feel I feel like even though me and Leanne got on really well like Leanne Le Havis was like an upright uprising star there was this girl called Delilah and it was like you became like it became this kind of almost a battle and it was stupid because it wasn't it was other people putting that on Leanne would have me support for her and it was stupid because it wasn't it was other people putting that on liam would have me support for her and it was amazing and but do you feel like that happens ever within like radio or with radio yeah djing lasso because there's not i bet there's no one there's a crew

of women there that good yeah there is yeah because there's so few i think everyone backs each other up but um dj radio there's a lot of women in radio which is great still a lot of work to do in terms of representation like if you look at radio 2 there's not been a female fronted daytime radio 2 show in 21 years between between the hours of 8 a.m and 8 p.m it's fully men that's that blows my mind that someone thinks that's okay. That must change. I know. What the hell? But it's, people just, because it's always been that way, you know, we think about it. But it's Vanessa Feltz in the morning up to Chris Evans.

And then it's Joe Whirley from eight on. But in that middle block, it's all men from eight to eight. And I heard Sarah Cox like almost midnight. Yes. She, it's, that's sacrilege that she's not on daytime radio. She's great. She's fabulous. She's so funny and engaging.

She's fabulous. But, yeah. And Lisa Tarbuck, I think, sometimes. Yeah, she's great also. She's really funny. On radio, too. I think what you're talking about happens mostly with artists for some reason. I don't know why.

I think in radio, because there's so many many women it's not as easy to pit them against each other but in what in what you do i can see how people would do that and i think yeah the answer is to do what what you do which is just to be you know openly supportive and friendly with these women i think there's been really i've had such wonderful experiences of women with music like you know paloma faith has been amazingly she's also very vocal and she's become a mom she is amazing and she's kind of um no nonsense and I you know um no there's so many wonderful women out there but yeah I was just wondering whether it was similar I just kind of wondered whether they tried to do those silly kind of almost they're like silly mind games almost

yeah yeah silly I know it's very very silly i think yeah it's just about having a support system i guess you know where you support each other but i do think as well that there's still a lot of kind of it's still conceived like considered a novelty when it's like loads of women together you know like the fact that radio two can be all men and no one says a thing imagine if that was all women people would be like uproar it's all women are they trying to make a point what is this you know what i mean and it's the same with like dj lineups or you know festival lineups the day that we can see a lineup where it's just women and no one comments on it is is the day that i

dream of where it's not a token thing. It's not a considered thing. It's just because women are really good at doing what they do, and there's loads of great artists out there who are women. That is a day I can't wait for. Hopefully it won't be too long. I mean, I feel you do these

Animat Presents nights, which I think I'm doing one of them. Yes, you are. Yeah, thank you. The day after the Brits thanks so much for that you cow you absolute cow yeah thank you I'll come with you I'll be with you every step of the way

it'll probably be a miserable night anyway at the Brits so it'll be fine but I was wondering so I guess I'm presuming you always make sure that there's a female on your line up yes we have to I mean the thing is it's like iting you always make sure that there's a female in your lineup. Yes, we have to. I mean, the thing is, it's like, it's also about making sure that no matter what, you're supporting good music.

Yeah. That's got to be the first priority. Yeah, totally. And with the festival, like, especially this year, we... Lost and Found. Lost and Found Festival, which is a festival I do in Malta every year. How brilliant, what a brilliant idea to do one abroad, so you can get a tan, work and get a lovely tan and a glow.'s fun i like it um but yeah that there's there's a real kind of precedent

me for me now to to to make sure because especially there is so many women so it's not like there's no excuse for not booking women now because especially in the world of dance there's loads so i really want to make sure but now do you feel like there's almost an added pressure that you're like the pioneer like you're the like pioneer for all these women like you're the kind of the woman's woman and now you're like i've been i've been kind of conflicted over the years because especially at the start when i was a woman i used to get asked when i was a woman i'm saying when i was a dj i used to get asked to play female lineups all the time as in like come on we let's hear it for the guys.

Come on, that play a girl's night. And I always said no, because my thing was like, I don't want to be a token. I just want to be considered a good DJ regardless of my gender. And I think we should be pushing women forwards, obviously supporting them and being,

you know, actively supporting them. But I feel like sometimes those girl nights don't end up being uh beneficial because it helps put you know women DJs in a box and I don't know I still feel a little conflicted by that but equally how did you start being a DJ did it start in Ireland yeah it started when I was in university I bought a set of decks off my friend yeah in Belfast yeah what did you study I guess I studied English lit yes and I loved it

do you still read I love reading I love writing that's what I want to do I want to write so much oh yeah but I never have time a book

anything book I don't know you do write she writes brilliantly I never there's never like this is

this is the biggest bane of my life it's just never having enough time to actually really put you know be good at something because you have to practice to be good at things as you know and I always feel like I'm just kind of a fair weather rider and in my head when I'm like you know in my 60s I just write I'll have a little desk by a window that sounds gorgeous. Annie, you know, because you're a DJ and you play dance music. Yeah.

When you took over the evening slot and you have to play a whole range of music. Yeah. Do you like all the different musics? Oh, okay. So it isn't like. Like no next level. Like I love dance music, but I had been going to see my boss at Radio 1 for years saying I want to get out of the box. Okay.

Because I always liked, I mean I used to work on Zane Lowe's show where he played every... The show that I'm doing now, I used to be the assistant on for years. Oh, did you? So I worked on that show. I made Zane's tea for him.

And I used to play guitar and the mandolin and the piano. Like I'm really, I love... Oh, wow. So you love music. different types of music. Have you thought about making your own music? Loads of times but I can't be that guy girl. Why? Because I can't be the radio DJ that makes music. Why the hell not? Because I can't be like I don't know it's too much. Your boyfriend is? I know but he made music first and then I just became a DJ. You need to just have a different name. Yeah. Do like a subtract. A name yeah like a subtract yeah pseudonym yeah you'll be alright are your children going to have piano lessons I do you know what that's I was really thinking about that this week because I really want them to appreciate music and I had lessons when

I was a kid and I think it really helped me did you I really regret Jesse had piano lessons and I got this elderly man who was very kind. He smelled of tuna. His breath smelled of tuna. Mr. Morris. Mr. Morris. Stunk of tuna. It was alcoholic.

And she didn't have piano lessons. So she did up to grade eight voice without reading music. Wow. Well, not that impressive. I had to go to like a different, like it wasn't. A different guild hall. I had to go to like Trinity or something. Yeah, but it didn't matter because you've got a good ear no it's but but it's a i think i regret that she

didn't play an instrument okay i i'm i'm gonna like ram it are you gonna play oh i i'm going to basically you're not gonna learn everything i'm gonna make sure she learns like i've got got her a little mini piano for her birthday she just plonks it like she just likes yeah thrashing but that's still that's still i know doing it in her way and she's really rhythmic so i just kind of and hopefully she's going to be surrounded by music kind of being on tour with me but like i'm desperate for her to be like a piano like well yeah extraordinary like prodigy so i mean so what instrument you'd start him on the piano probably the piano or the drums as long as they were in a different probably put them in the office at the

end of the garden that's such a good idea soundproofed as well that place so that's good but i like the idea of him kind of yeah like just any anything he wants i've just taught him about rock and roll it's occurred to me that he's never he's only ever listened to like we listen to a lot of R&B and soul and rap in our house we don't listen to a lot of guitar music I listen to kind of like Bon Iver and stuff but and because there's not really that much on the radio he's not really that familiar with it so I found this new thing called daddy doughnuts which is like dinosaur songs but all done in rock and roll style. Oh, that's amazing.

Johnny Cash vibes. Like, so good. That's so cool. And he's obsessed. And he said to me yesterday, I was like, why do you want to dress up as Halloween? And he said, a policeman.

But if not a policeman, a rock and roll man. A rock and roll man. You've got to make him a rock and roll man. Oh my God, how do I do that? Dress up like Jimi Hendrix or something. I know. Thank you so much for finding the time

out of your ridiculously busy schedule. I love you. You inspire me all the time. And I'm so happy that you've been on Table Manners. Oh, thank you, Jessie. Pleasure. Thank you. She's so beautiful.

I know. I just couldn't get over her skin. It's so beautiful. I know, she has got excellent dewy skin. She looks like she's just... And she doesn't ever look tired. I know she has got excellent dewy skin she looks like she's just and she doesn't ever look tired

I know how is that she just looks fresh I don't know she looks beautiful the busiest woman in the industry yeah and she looks so fresh

she doesn't look like she works in the evening I hate to tell you what it's the vegan diet piss off we've been Table Manners I'm Jessie Ware and i'm lenny and thanks so much for listening if you

are enjoying this podcast please subscribe or rate us um it helps with the figures and it helps us to keep on going thanks so much for tuning in bye bye Bye. If you've got five minutes or 50, Peloton Tread has workouts you can work in. Or bring your classes with you for outdoor runs, walks, and hikes, led by expert instructors on the Peloton app. Call yourself a runner. Peloton All Access Membership Separate. Learn more at onepeloton.ca slash running.