Hamish Gee
The Feelers drummer is looking forward to some quality time in front of the fire at Queenstown restaurant The Cow after the Kiwi band kick off their 25th anniversary tour at the Winter Festival. “I think two Feelers songs have been written beside that fireplace,” says Gee.
What are your on-tour eating habits? When cooking facilities are available, we take turns making meals – with varying degrees of success. My signature dish is tuna surprise. The surprise is that it often has no tuna in it.
What are some memorable meals from touring?
I ate a pizza during an Australian tour, which is memorable for the wrong reasons. To cut a long story short, no matter how hungry you are, don’t eat last night’s unrefrigerated seafood pizza.
What do you do when you’re not touring with the band? I teach music at my own little studio in Auckland and juggle snakes – aka raising two mostly delightful children.
How would you describe your diet and lifestyle? Having a five- and two-year-old, I do my best to make them healthy meals. I’m sure a lot of new parents reading this will appreciate that usually the parents’ dinner is the kids’ leftovers, so I guess my diet is healthy by proxy.
What’s your typical breakfast? Today, I had a chicken and mushroom pie, but it was from Earth Seed Organics in Glen Eden and I was assured it was healthy.
What about lunch? A Mexicana chicken from Pita Pit with wholemeal pita bread, after the gym. I guess I felt bad about the pie.
What about dinner? I made a Thai stir-fry with chicken, vegetables, basil, chilli, ginger and cashews. That’s not typical, though. If I’m in the studio until late, I’ll settle for a cold baked-bean sandwich. What’s your favourite evening meal? Cold bakedbean sandwiches.
What about snacking? I eat raw cashew nuts and bananas. They have loads of protein and
potassium.
What do you serve when entertaining? Tuna surprise. If the guests aren’t satisfied, there’s always a cold baked-bean sandwich.
What nutrition advice have you found helpful? Eat what you love, within reason, and live active lives. Log out of Netflix, eat your favourite pie and walk around this beautiful country.
The Feelers kick off their 25th anniversary tour on June 24 at the Queenstown Winter Festival.