Getting Smashed with PieandMash

Posted 10 months ago 6 responses

A bloke called ‘PieandMash’ seems to be all over Kudocities at the moment. Organising themed party nights in Vauxhall, coffees, ranting about tattoos, waffling on about pies. He’s clearly a man with a fair bit to say. We therefore felt we should let this motorbike-riding, pie-chomping tattoo fetishist have a chat to us.

So you’re called Oli, but you’re not a pantomime cow or a cool Welsh snowboarder? What’s that all about then?

Well, It all started 28 years ago when my parents wanted to name their first born Barnaby. My Grandmother who remains as sharp as a newly bought Sensor Excel pointed out that as my surname began with ‘O’ that giving the child the initials BO was not a fair start in life, so I became Oliver. A name I still detest, hence the shortening to Oli. As for not being a Cow or a hairy Welsh snowboarder the simple answer is that they’re the models we used for the photoshoot, as I’m fat. And Ugly.

You’re one half of the two people behind pieandmash – these pub night things we’ve heard about. Are they any good?, who goes?

They are great, The Vauxhall Griffin management liked the idea so much that they asked us to host their Christmas Party before we’d even had our first night there, they came, they saw, they ate and got fat; and went away loving the concept. We get a great mix of people, the young urbanites that stalk Vauxhall late at night; people who get time out and like the concept, we’re just around the corner from the Roller Disco as well, so we pick up quite a lot of their Neon Pink pop-socked trade. There are photos on our site, it’s a pretty broad mix.

Why do you do it? What kind of music do you play?

We do it because we both love music; and this way we get to play it through big fuck off speakers quite loudly. We’re pretty strict on music, most stuff is less than three months old, but there’s always a few themed tracks and classics thrown in – we put all the playlists up on our site so people know exactly what they’re getting, or at least what they could have had. We don’t try to educate people, there are plenty of other pretentious nights out there for that, we just play the good stuff; the stuff we know you’ll love and we’re constantly providing track names to interested people during the night.

And how did you get TV’s finest slaphead comedian Matt Lucas to DJ at your next do (Friday February 29th)?

Ian my, cohort in this project, has known Matt for many years, I believe they studied together. Ian’s also a comedy writer by trade and has worked with him a few times (and had his name dropped in a few Vicki Pollard monologues to boot). I know him and his partner (and their new puppy) through Ian over the last couple of years and it’s always a pleasure to see them.

Who makes the pies? What’s your favourite kind of pie? Who ate all the pies? Any pie related anecdotes?

Piemeister Pete makes the pies, he grew up in pub kitchens – not through neglect, but because his parents owned them – so really knows his onions, carrots, tatties, beef and gravy. My favourite sort of pie is the Chicken and Asparagus frozen pie of old, when that was on the menu my little brother and I always loved it. Anecdotes, well, this one time we were; actually no, that’s a toasted sandwich story.

Pie is always good, but not served on a plastic plate, dammit. Your ethos for the night seems to be about avoiding the pretension of other nights. And dressing up as cows. Encourage me to attend, for I’m a little bit weirded out by the pie/plate/cow/Welsh snowboarder angle this seems to be taking…...

It’s a fun evening, the music’s great, the entry is FREE, the DJ’s are famous (well, occasionally), the Pie is first class (and always available as a veggie option), the gravy is Filthy in that night-in-a-hotel-with-someone-else’s-gorgeous-otherhalf way. The Welsh snowboarder will even be there this month, but seriously we just took photos of the guy, he’s barely real.

This month’s do is all about the leap year, but you also promise London songs and London films….what’s your favourite London song and London film, then?

Wow, so many to choose from. I think film wise it has to be 28 Days Later. Not because it’s a good film but I love the desolate abandoned London scenes at the beginning. I’d love to have the city to myself for a little while. Songs is easy. The Jam – Going Underground; oh, wait The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset; nope, hang on Hope of the States – Angels over Kilburn. Shit, I meant The Stranglers – Dagenham Dave. Or maybe A Day in the Life - The Beatles.

You pick one, I can’t.

You can see Oli filling his gaping maw with fine pie, watch Matt Lucas being not the only gay in Vauxhall and have yourself a fine old time on Friday night, at the Vauxhall Griffin pub – more details here

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