After a slot on New Year’s Eve’s Falls Festival and a successful run of headline shows not 12 months ago, Easy Star All-Stars are set return back to Australia this October with some of the world’s finest reggae players and will be performing songs from Easy Star’s Thrillah, a reggae tribute to Michael Jackson. Easy Star All-Stars will bring some of Michael Jackson’s most well known material to life with their reggae and dub twist on the following dates:

Friday 26th October @ The Hi-Fi Melbourne, VIC, Thursday 25th October @ Rock Lily at The Star, Pyrmont, NSW, Saturday 27th October @ All Fruits Ripe, Fremantle Arts Centre, Sunday 28th October @ Island Vibe Festival, North Stradbroke Island, QLD.

Co-founding member Michael Goldwasser took some time out to tell us about his biggest cooking disaster, why kind of food he doesn’t really like and what his dream rider would be.

What were your food influences when you were growing up and what kind of food did you eat at home or with your family?

My mom cooked a pretty wide variety of foods, often trying new ideas from different cultures.  But her specialty was always Jewish food, and making special dishes for each Jewish holiday.  Every Friday night we would have a chicken dish, which dates back from when my family lived in the ghettos of Eastern Europe and Jews could only afford chicken once a week, so they always saved it for the Sabbath.

What dish or cuisine do you most like to eat on tour and why?

Really the most important thing for me to eat on the road is fresh fruits and vegetables.  My body really feels bad if I don’t eat them.  And they can be hard to come by on long drives where the only stops are at gas stations!

What type of food do you hate, and what is the most disgusting thing you’ve ever eaten? Tell us the story.

I generally hate really processed, sugary foods – they make me feel bad pretty quickly.  I can’t really remember the most disgusting thing that I’ve ever eaten, but it probably involved a late night of partying and a diner at 4 a.m.

What type of food do you make sure to avoid before a gig or going on stage?

I try to avoid eating really heavy foods that could make me feel weighted down.  So no big bowls of pasta or meat dishes – I try to keep it light.  And keep me away from homemade hummus because I am capable of eating myself into a coma with that.

Imagine for a second you can request anything on your rider at a gig. What food do you put on it?

Well, this is a drink, not a food, but I really love it – kombucha.  In its most simple form it’s just a tea, but there are bottled versions with different fruits and other ingredients added.  Another musician/producer friend turned me on to it when we were mixing an album together a few years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. I have no idea if it really has the health benefits that it claims, but I’ve convinced myself that it’s good for me!

What has been your biggest cooking disaster to date? 

Well, this isn’t so much about the food turning out terribly, but it’s quite memorable for me – I was cooking levivot (Israeli potato pancakes) to represent for my tribe at an office Christmas party many years ago, and I knocked over a pan of hot oil onto my bare legs and burned them really badly.  I can still remember the pain and this was almost twenty years ago.  So the lesson is – be careful when you are cooking, and don’t wear shorts when frying things in oil!

When you tour overseas, what food from home do you miss the most?

I don’t really miss “American” food in general – I wind up cooking and eating a lot of ethnic food when I’m in the U.S. anyway.  So traveling is great – a chance to check out a greater variety of food.

This is your last day on earth, what is your final meal?

Freshly made hummus with fava beans and some olive oil, fresh-baked pita, and some olives.  And a pitcher of lemonade with nana (mint).  That’s probably the best meal that I’ve ever had in my life, so I think that it would be a great final meal as well.

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