Two Doting Dads with Matty J & Ash#133 KLP Wasn't Prepared For How Different Her Births Would Be
KLP, or Kristy Lee Peters, knows exactly how to get your kids to dance silly and make the parents' feet tap.
KLP has been cooking up a tune since she was a kid, from featuring in that iconic Lube Mobil ad, Real Blonds 00s girl group, triple j's House Party, and she now fills out rooms for adults at night and kids by day.
She juggles this alongside her main gig as a mum to Sienna and Monty with her partner Nick.
KLP shares how different her girls' births were, the dilemma of waffle stomping and managing what feels like the inevitable mum guilt.
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Ash math.
Can I tell you a band that not only am I obsessed with them, my children are obsessed with them. We play them every time in the car. Corn Divers City Close. Do you want to have a listen?
Absolutely?
Can you?
God silly? Get your hands silly and city hands silly, Get your pants silly and Sidney Pants City Shop back. Get everybody get down on the floor.
Ah, that sounds nothing like Corn. Get your kids on the Diversity divers City Right, they are the best.
Kop or Kersey Lepeters for sut is one half of Diversity, alongside Matt o'kine.
That's right. Kope is one of those musicians who has been in our ears in ways we didn't even realize.
Yes, sir, that's thirteen thirty thirty two, Matthew.
We will get into the lubabill later a little bit later in the episode, but let's try something a little bit more current. By night, Kop is filling out the dance floor to incoherent adults and by day stumbling toddlers.
Two ends of the spectrum but similar in so many ways.
She juggles this alongside her main gig as Mum to see Jenna and Monty with her partner Nick Kop.
Tells us her secret hiding spot when she needs a little bit of a lone time Matthew.
She also talks about how different her girl's birds were and her ongoing dilemma that involves waffle stomping my favorite. Let's get into it. Welcome back to two doting dads and one doting mum. I am Maddie Jay, I'm Ash and I'm Kop. And this is a podcast all about parenting. It is the good, is.
The bad, and the relatable.
And we don't give advice. Koorp. You can illegally you are allowed, Ash and I are not allowed.
Okay, great, good to know.
We've had a few season desist letters by lawyers, so for legal reasons, we can't give advice. But guess they are. They escape any kind of punishment for sure, legally for sure.
Welcome. Thank you for coming.
Thank you so much for having me.
Where are your kids right now?
I thought you had them? My kids one is in year one and one is in daycare? Yeah.
Can I say thank you? Thank because this time is precious.
Yeah, it really is. But I mean my kids have been in care for a little while now, kind of in daycare from maybe about one year old. So they love it. They really do. Like we do have those moments where they're like, I don't want to go, et cetera. But whenever they're there, they just have so much fun, and I feel a lot of pressure to provide them that much fun.
On the weekend, it's no they like you said, they go, I don't want to go to that, and then you pick them up they're like, that's.
Yeah, yeah, we're going to go do something boring.
Obviously, children getting sick at daycare, it's going to happen. Have you had any situations, Yeah, all the time.
But very early on with Sienna, we discovered she was getting tonsilitis all the time, and I think we went to a doctor and he said, her tonsils are just a stupid size, like her resting. Healthy tonsil size allowed her no space to be like eating, breathing, and if they're not getting enough oxygen they can stunt their growth, et cetera. So we had her tonsils out when she was just under three, which was, yeah, just a whole experience. Again, I know, in the greatest scheme of things, it was just day surgery, but seeing your child go under for the first time, you know, that was very hard. And then with Monty, very soon we realized she was getting the same thing. Turns out Nick and I have also had our tonsils out. Supposedly it's not yeah, but I'm like, we've all had it, so we're a totally tonsil free family now. Yeah, oh my god.
Sorry.
Yeah. So, I mean that was like a really challenging time because even with Monty we picked it up straight away because we're like, we've been through this before, but they don't want to do it to kids that are too young. And so I remember the E and T just saying no, we're just going to stick it out for a year, and we're like, oh, she's going to get sick a lot, and I'm just like, yeah, that's just what's going to happen. But it was just it was really rough. She was sick all the time and coughing and sleeping. No, it wasn't that. It would just be coughing to try and clear her airways and they would just be swollen and red and then they start to get scarred, I think from the build up.
And then what's the recovery post surgery.
It's the worst. The doctor's explained it as two weeks of hell and then overnight it suddenly changes and it is like that, it's two weeks of It's really rough on the kids because they're just in so much pain and you just.
What do you feed them?
Ah. Funnily enough, my daughter wanted all the things she couldn't have, like crackers, yeah, no corn and crackers that, yeah, but yogurt.
How would they understand an internal injury?
You know, you know when they know when you're like great straight away band aid, I'm her, let just don't get.
It and yeah, and even going into the surgery and stuff, you know, they go under, but when they wake up from that general anesthetic, I don't know if you've had to deal with that at all, but they're just so out of it and that's pretty confronting. Second time around, it was way better because we understood the pain management. You've just got a pantold europin panold europhine, like just one after the other, almost before they want it, and so that was a little more bearable. Yeah, So that was really challenging because it just felt like every month they were sick and then just not breathing, and.
It's brutal of the whole household.
When they snore, but it's just a knock on because you're up with them.
Then they're tired, they go to school, they're grumpy.
You're grumpy. You gotta try and get some rest, and it's just this ever go.
They would wake up with these little bags under their eyes because they're just not getting enough oxygen at night because they're not sleeping enough. And then as soon as the tonsils were out, they're like, you know, waking up happy.
Changes their speech and everything.
No, it totally does, Yeah, because when they've got those tonsils in their mouth, they can't pronounce things, and then when they're removed, their voices.
A friend of mine's kid was so they thought he had really bad learning difficulties because he wasn't talking properly, same age as Oscar, he so far behind. And then they were like, need tonsils and adenoids out because he can't breathe, he's not sleeping properly, he can't talk properly.
I had no idea this is the thing. And then he had them.
Out and I remember I was walking with lenning up to the beach and he was like, uncle.
WIXI And I was like, yeah, they suddenly can pronounce.
Different kid altogether, and now he's like leaps and bounds where it was like holding him back because he was so tired, so cranky all the time, and now he's just like hitting goals.
Like I kind of wish I had my tonsils taken out.
They're stunting learning.
Now instead. I just got circumcised.
Yeah, I haven't had mine out. I haven't had mine. Explains a lot, but I'm uncircumcised.
We always like to know with our guests what you were like as a child. Were you well behaved?
Were youna?
You seem like someone who would be very well behaved.
Look, I think it's so boring, but I think I was. But I was very determined. I was a good negotiator. So I was the type of kid that would go to my parents and be like, I'm going to do this thing. I'm going to tell you about it, and I want you to accept it. But I think I was probably. I think I was maybe that way because my parents gave us a lot of autonomy, so they really encouraged us to like whatever we wanted to do. They would really encourage us to be able to do that.
Do you remember any big pitch that you had to go to your parents and be like, we should do this thing.
I mean it was definitely you know, boyfriend related or I know I went out to a party and had a fake ID but had told my parents. Oh, and they were can I.
Just quickly ask it takes all the fun out of that. Everyone always talks about having a fake ID. How did you get yours? I never had one.
There was it. I don't want to name the travel company, but there was a travel company that did these like student travel cards, and it was quite easy to I'm not naming it.
I don't want to get I don't want to because we're not young. And we talked about the legal problems that this.
Is also a really long time ago, that it was quite easy to do that, and I think my parents were of the mindset and I think I'll be like this with my kids. It's hard to know where they would say, we'd prefer to kind of know. And so I was allowed to go, but I had to say who I was going with, be back at a certain time, so it was controlled. You know, what's what's the word?
Yeah? What is that say? You just come up with that? That's great.
I feel like that's the same.
But I was also so I was.
That was a trick though when parents were like, rather know.
Right, I was always like a performer. My dad was a musician as well, and I went to a performing arts high school. Found myself in a girl group signed to Sony when I was thirteen, and so we did a lot of traveling around. So I was by myself traveling around Australia, being away from my parents. So they kind of had no choice but to either give me that responsibility and trust me in those situations. So I had a lot of responsibility, but I also yeah, I wasn't going to fuck it up, you know, that kind of governed. I guess who I was as a kid.
What was that group called? Again?
It was called Real Blondes. Terrible name, look it up. Put in the SoundBite it was it was actually it was like, would you prefer to go to school or go to school minimally and tour and.
So we will put a SoundBite in. Is there a specific track you would like us to play right now?
The classic is we Be Cool? Yeah? Do you know what it was? Prior the Internet. But then one of the parents of one of the girls has since uploaded the music videos to you, so you can't. You can find them, but there was no like official like YouTube wasn't even really a thing. That's how long ago.
What was we be cool about? What was the premise?
You know? Oh god, I haven't been able to ask to sing this. It was pretty deep some lyrics We be smart from our head to our heart cool.
I know, have you thought about remixing them?
Because you are a DJ, you do high energy stuff that I think we should read the three of us.
Look, I have other songs now and I didn't write that song.
How was that with other kids at school?
Though?
Because I feel like sometimes people are jealous of success.
Absolutely and especially teenage girls. So it was this weird thing where people were supportive and it was kind of cool because I was a little famous for a teenager, you know, like get a little bit, you know, not a very successful one, but like a little bit. But then it ended at six when I was sixteen, so we got dropped from our record label and I had to go back and just be a normal kid at school.
So it was heartbreaking.
It was because I thought I was going to be the Spice Girls, and I wasn't Luckily I had a dad that was in music, so he explained, you know, this is one of the many times that I thought it was a failure, and he was like, it's not a failure. You're going to be in so many bands. You're going to be in so many things. And I think I got a really thick skin and huge resilience because I just had to go back to school. People would kind of make fun of it.
Did they know they wouldn't know you got dropped or do.
People kind of yeah, it kind of ended no, no, because we weren't that famous, it wasn't that that successful. But I was just back to being a regular kid. But I had the choice of either letting that destroy me or being able to sit there and laugh at them making fun of the situation. So I actually see that whole period as being like a really big blessing because I think it set me up for being quite tough.
Bit of resilience. Yeah, your dad is being he's been quite wise in your corner, but he's also told you into a few jobs as well. There's one that I think a lot of people listening.
With you remember is not where that comes to mind.
And I'm just going to say thirteen thirty thirty two.
Yes, yeah, I peaked really young.
Yeo.
I don't actually.
Remember how old I was, And I can't take full credit because it was my brother that had He was a few years younger than me, and he had the It wasn't like a list, but you know the thirty three that was my brother. I think I was like there they fixed the car and he had the firth further. But yeah, my dad was a songwriter, but then he also wrote TV jingles. So that's why I've always come from like a songwriting point of background.
Like a cool claim to have here in Australia because it's like everyone knows that.
Everyone knows it. Yeah, there's a few famous ones, but we would like honestly come home from school and just hang out in the studio. I mean, I don't think it's airing now, and I think I need to ask my dad. But I think the laws were different, or the rules were different as to you know, you just get paid a fee as opposed to being like a writer and getting like real I think it was different back then.
I once did a tampon ad and and that ran for almost two years.
As a child.
No, I was how would that one?
I don't know, like, Mom, what's wrong.
I don't know.
We'll think about that, we'll think about the logistics.
And I used to get phone calls whether they'd say like, oh it's now gone to New Zealand.
Oh wow, And you would get royalties off that.
Yes, I was living off this tampon a good money. Yeah, it was great money.
My friend who was the VEGGIEMI kid kid.
Is that how you met Nick?
Then?
Through working in music?
Yes, through working in music, but that was through DJing and for me the nightclub it was actually uh Cargo Bar, famous nightclub, Unaware, but he was a little bit younger than me and I, you know, had some rules of things, you know, people I weren't going to date and DJs was like top on the list, but I think he saw that as a challenge. But yeah, we just met through DJing in clubs. This is even really before I was kind of k RP and.
He was he DJing or U DJ.
We're both DJ, well just his name. But then he's in Setmo a band as well now, but he's also now in the fitness industry, so he's had a little bit of a pivot away from music.
Personal trainers on that list as well of people you wouldn't danger.
They probably would have been higher so he can stick around, but yeah, we just can't. We knew each other from the DJ scene and then a mutual friend of ours, you know, we're kind of all friends, and then it just slowly happened.
Was there a big first date or was it just it just.
No, It was definitely me even saying to his face, this is not going to happen.
And then he was trying then for you to say this is not going to happen with you.
Yeah, but I think I was also not his type. But I think it was definitely one of those things where neither of us thought it was going to be serious, and then we suddenly found ourselves in a situation where we were like.
Fuck, we love each other.
Yeah, and then yeah yeah, and now we've been to yeah that's coming up on thirteen years.
Wow.
Yeah crazy?
Oh yeah, congratulations, Yeah, why what's the secret?
Ah?
It's like this is going to it's not funny at all, but like repair from issues. We're really good at discussing issues, recognizing what they are, but they're not just saying, oh, that was shit. Let's not do that again, actually saying how can we avoid it happening again? And it's just an ongoing thing, like it just comes up all the time, especially when you've got kids. I remember my dad once saying having kids is like throwing a grenade into a relationship, and I was like, ha ha, And then you have it, you're like, oh my god. Yeah, so just that idea of you just constantly having to like work at it and then repair and like work at it and repair.
It's funny, becau. Laura and I had a big fight last night. Fun So I've got some repairing to do.
Yeah, like repair is the best part and it can actually make things better.
And yeah, totally because you can be like, hey, I didn't actually like that and like, how can we avoid that from happening again?
Yeah, not just me, but you like together.
You've got to find practical ways to do that. Sometimes hard, but yeah, like sometimes it's hard to figure out as well.
And if you're.
Tired and you're you know, over stimulated from kids or whatever. It's just.
With Nick, I don't want to stereotype, okay, but he's younger than you. He's a DJ I imagine that again. Stereotyping having kids is not top of his list of things to do.
Well, here's the thing about Nick. When we first the first time, we kind of saw each other in the light of like, oh hello, because we knew each other in the nightclub. He said something like, oh, we should hang out, and I was like, I don't get picked up in cargo bar, like you can call me in the am. He did. He called me the next morning and he said, Hey, I'm just on my way to yoga. Do you want to meet me afterwards? And I was intrigued because he's very much live life to the fullest. So he will run a marathon. He will then stay up all night DJing or dancing. He'll eat burgers, then he'll eat really healthily, like he's just this real. He does things in all extremes, but the good and the hard parts. So yeah, he he really throws these curve balls out there where he's like, I'm going to do yoga. But then I'm a DJ and I'm younger, but I'm reliable.
So how did you respond to the yoga statement?
Well, I was intrigued. It worked. I went to meet him for coffee. Yeah, ok, yeah, so he had yeah, yeah. So no, it just and all through our relationship, like we kind of started seeing each other and I knew he was about to go overseas for a Bucks weekend or week in Fither.
Wow, it's intense exactly.
So in my mind, I thought, well, this has an end date, because you know, there's no way we're going to stay together throughout that. And I was fine with it. But then he turned up on my doorstep one day before he was about to leave and he said something like, I want to lock this shit down with some flowers. Yeah, so that's the thing. But he's he's not perfect all the time, let me tell but he's pretty good.
Let's just preface that a very beautiful.
This is too much love for Nick, very mature.
He's actually doing wonders to repair the image of DJs around the world.
Honestly, especially the Aussie one. So we're going to I have a whole other podcast.
It's hard to decide when is the right time to have kids. I remember with Laura we were like, this is going to just it's the grenade, you know, with work, especially career wise, nothing's going to disrupt that more than having kids. Being in the music industry, it's very difficult. It's not a conducive industry to raise a family. So when did you decide that it was the right time.
I remember when I turned thirty one, I suddenly thought, Okay, this is something that I want to happen in the next few years. And I knew that he wanted kids to we had talked about it, but I kind of went to him and said, this is something that is in my next few years trajectory. Just go away and have a think about that. And he was like, okay, freaking out, but then he came back and he was like, I'm ready, now let's go, and I was like, oh, I'm not. So it was just a very planned out thing. Like we weren't planning on getting married. It was always have kids that was more important to us. Yes, it was just like a very planned thing.
The birth of Siena, your first was that very planned. Did you have a birthing plan in place that you had to follow.
I mean I think everyone has a birthing plan, but yeah, I don't know anyone really that the plan has actually been played out. We went through all the things and we tried to be in the midwife you know program et cetera. And then Siena had her own little plan, so she was breach. I had low amniotic fluid reach again around the wrong way, so it's meant to be head down.
How early did you find that out?
Well, they wait until the thirty seven week scan. This is also this could be incorrect. Now, this is what happened with me. They waited until the thirty seven week scan because they're then too big to turn around again. Up until that stage, they can flip all the time. So thirty seven week scan, we went in and they said, she's breach. You've also got low amniotic flow, so she's swimming in like a very shallow pool. So they were kind of watching her, and they said, even if you go into labor, it's a sea section, Like there's just no way, too high risk, too high risk, So we knew it was going to be a sea section. And I definitely felt a little bit ripped off at that choice, you know, like I almost feel like it's weird saying choice because it's put to you, like you have this choice, but I feel like the body just decides for you. But at the time I felt a little bit ripped off. But looking back now, the planned sea section was a dream for me.
It was Why was that?
Because you had a time you went in. I had like a little bit of makeup on my hair, was nice. We had these photos of Nick and I, you know, doing peace signs, like in the waiting room you go in. It's all very controlled. I swear Sienna just would have been snoozing in there and they just pluck her out.
Do you have music playing? Did you do you get to decide to play.
It on repeat? No? I can't even remember that, but I just it was such a chilled experience. Was very quick, even the scar. I think, you know, because you're not in labor. The cut was very simple for me, whereas my second child, I attempted a v back out because vaginal birth after caesarean v BA. Yeah, so if you haven't had a caesarean because of complications with going into labor, like for me, we don't. We didn't know at the time if my body could go into labor. So I'm allowed to try it, but there's there's different risks because my uteruses being cut, so they can't induce you, et cetera, because it can rupture so and they won't let you try it after a certain amount of weeks, et cetera. So there were different restrictions to it, but I want to give it a go because I wanted to experience labor. Yeah, I did, and after a little bit, I was like, this is how long.
Did you do it? Look?
Hours? But then I had complications because my waters didn't break properly. They then had to break the waters and then it was an emergency sea section. And the emergency sea section over a planned one was a whole different experience for me. Yeah, and there were just a few little complications in the greatest scheme of things, and just from what I know from my friends and things, it was still fairly chill. But that compared to the planned one. I look back and I'm like, damn, I should have just done planned again.
It is like we've we've had both as well. And yeah, that plan one, it's like checking do you have a C section?
Is that a joke?
Yeah, that's really funny, but yeah, it's like checking into a hotel and you come out with a baby like four days.
That, to excuse my co hosts thinks is really fun.
You didn't pass out, did you.
I'm not talking about it.
They did tell me this story when I was having the epidural. They were like, dads sometimes pass out, so they made me.
I'm anything about it anyone, because I keep get in trouble for talking about it. Yes, yeah, no, how was your husband doing it? Though?
He was fine? I mean he gets really scared at needles and things, so I think if they didn't keep him out of the room, he maybe would have passed out like you, but he was, he was fine. I mean, it's would be such a weird experience for the dads, I think just seeing their partner and feeling a little bit helpless. I don't know, not knowing what to do.
Tough for dads, and tough that seems really uncomfortable than women.
But I'm just recognizing that. Like I think if I was in that position, like what can I do?
And that planned one where you're like you both went in, you be getting photos and stuff like that, and at some point it's like, all right, guys, we need to be serious. And then you're kind of in your scrubs and getting prepped for surgery and you're right.
I was sitting there and I'm like, it's a fucking weird morning. Yeah, we just had breakfast.
Nick, hold your hand, is he no, because you're you've got your hands like one arm is strapped down because it's got the drip, right, and I think he was maybe holding that one or the other one. You can move, yeah, but you're like numb from here down, so you can't move from there down. Second time, when it was the emergency C section, because I had been in labor when they gave me the epidural, Oh, it was horrible. I was then like vomiting all over myself and kind of passing out and yeah, so that was horrible because I think it's just different again to that controlled environment of having the epidural and yeah, I think you're having contractions and.
The option of not vomiting on your else. Yeah, can we see those photos?
Oh man, it was But also I don't know, looking back on it all, it just seems almost irrelevant to all the other things your face as a parent, Like that's just this started line.
You get vomited on and then involed on yourself, someone else's ship vomented on you.
Yeah.
No one talks about the amount of body fluids that you deal with.
Yeah, it's relentless, like you you might as well throw your wardrobe out because you just get covered in.
Like we know, tired. I was really in fashion when I had Sienna, and I was just walking around in tied I shirts because it would disguise a baby bomb. Hot tip.
Parents out there. Did you have any set plan on when you would start returning to work and DJing.
Yes, I think for multiple reasons. First being, I worked for myself, so I didn't have much Mattley, yeah, yeah, and I think at the time it was less. It was twelve weeks or something. I think it's more now, so I needed to financially. But then I was really determined to prove myself because you give up so much of your identity when you have kids that I was just desperate to keep functioning as Kop and you still exist in that way. So it was, yeah, a bit of a combo of the two.
How soon was your first gig?
I think it was about four months, yeah, and so I did a tour around Australia where I took Sienna and everywhere I would go, I would take my mum or a different friend. I would feed her in the hotel room, go out, play a club, come back, feed her, go to sleep. It wasn't that far off the shitty sleep schedule of having a few months old. Anywhere, it's kind of the same. You may as well go play a nightclub.
Would you request, like an early set? Do I have to play?
Are you going to be awake all night? Anyway? Sleep? For me, going out and doing that for an hour was just like refreshing.
It would have been strange because when you have your first child, you're kind of embracing this new image that you have. Here are now mother, You're a parent, and I'm assuming you can't go into a club and be like, hey everyone, I'm a mom now.
Yeah, And I struggled with that a little bit. I feel like Hannah Montana a lot of the time, especially when I'm going into a club and I'm with these young eighteen year olds and I'm like, I could be your mother. But yeah.
I also just expressed and fed my.
Child, yeah, like, And I almost wish I'd documented it a little bit more, but again, I was trying to maintain my identity as kop so like, I started a separate Instagram account that does have the mom's side a little bit more, and I could express that a little bit more online and separate it because I didn't want to alienate the ravers. Yeah you know, okay, yeah yeah. So I mean it's they think it's cute, and they would say, oh, techno, mum, et cetera, which is cute. But then after a while you just want to be able to relate because I feel like it's just almost a decision that I have to make constantly of do you look after like what comes first? No, prioritizing your kids or prioritizing me time. And it's just this constant battle that I think parents, but in particular Mum's face of giving themselves permission to say no, I need to do this and this comes first. So I guess that's just I mean, at the start, it's such a challenge. Now I think I'm a little bit better at it. Like even just the other day, Nick was out for a run because he's always running his new thing now, and he kind of got back and we were going to a family thing and there wasn't enough time for me to go and exercise, and I was like, I really need to do something just for my body, but my sanity. I either do that and I miss out on doing this family thing, like which one do I do, And in the moment, I was like, I need to just go and do this for myself and just having to kind of make that decision. And I see it all the time with friends where they don't do that and then it's just so detrimental to their body and mind, and it's just like a constant thing that you have to make that.
Choice, and then the parent guilt afterwards.
Yeah, we told.
A lot about you got to fill your own cup. Yeah, right, we talk about filling their cup so much. And I see with April, like April gets so guilty when she puts herself first, and you're putting yourself first is actually really helping us because like you're revitalized, you're full of endorphins, you're doing your thing, and the kids they pick up that energy.
Yeah. Well yeah, I'm a better parent when I do that. But it's also I think I heard this somewhere probably on a podcast setting an example of like, first of all, I like my job, so like I like working and I feel I'm lucky that I do like my job, but that I will put myself first and say to my kids, and I know this is really hard, but like I need to do this, and when you're grown up, I hope that you prioritize the things that you need to do, even if that's like a little hard in the moment, but it's just it gets a little bit easier, but it's just hard. It's hard to do that all the time. The parent guilt is just crazy.
There's gonna be some reason for while we have that in our brains, like fuck off guilt.
Yeah, I think if you didn't, if you could just go and do your thing without any guilt, you're kind of dehumanized the whole thing a little bit. You're gonna I guess some sort of you know, am I doing the right thing? But I think, like I said, if you're at that level, you're setting an example that you can be. You love your job, you are in you know, you're happier mom, you your energy is really high.
They'll pick up. And Nick is actually, to his credit, he's always been very encouraging that. Like when we agree we're going to have kids, I remember writing it down. We had these little agreements, and we had agreements we're going to save up extra money for maternity leave, et cetera. Because we didn't have much and I was very much. It's fifty to fifty on everything, you know, down to the hour at times. And he would be very encouraging if he'd gone out and done something, or he'd played a show or he'd been out with his mates, he'd say you go, like, go do it, and he'd say I would go. And I remember one time I was like I had one up my sleeve, you know, I could go do something. And I took myself to Broadway Camart because it was open like really long hours, just because I needed to go somewhere, and I was just like, I'm just going to keep making the decision and I just walked around. It's actually amazing.
Was it like Akon and Ie and.
Just wandering around? It's kind of cool.
Without a kid. Yeah.
Yeah, I've just had a long period of child free times. Yes, shout out that came out opening to like ten pm. Parent came out like did you guys buy something the parents just walking around?
Yeah?
Did you take san gigs?
No?
No? No big headphones.
Yes. But when it was a festival it was at five pm or something.
It's obviously a very different. Yeah.
Yeah, So she came to a few gigs and then she's been on stage a few times, and then now that I have a kid's project as well, she insists on coming on stage. So it's yeah, it's funny.
It was obviously like Fisher, for example, has A has Bobby. I was at a Fisher concert and he's got a big picture of Bobby.
In front of him.
Yeah, so when he plays and it's like proud dad, and then he's just got all these eighteen year olds in front of him, just like going nuts.
And I do love that he talks about that so much. It's very different for a woman totally.
Like I would.
Honestly like when we first had kids. We would turn up somewhere and Nick would be there with me. It'd be my show, and people would say to him, oh, congrats on the new song or congrats on this, and then to me they'd say, who's got the baby, and that would be the question.
Or you know, they'd be it is yeah, yeah.
Or they'd be like an interview thing or I remember there was this one panel and I think he was asked to talk on this panel about his music, and I was asked to talk on it about being a woman and being a mom, et cetera. So that's the whole thing. It's like, I think women want to lean into it as much as say Fisher does, but we're also trying to maintain that or hold onto our identity away from being a mum, because we don't want to just be defined by that. So yeah, I mean I love that he does.
That, though the double standards. For Fisher, it's like, oh, that's so sweet and endearing, and then for a female performer, they'd be like, you should be at home, Yeah, you should be home and reading them bedtime stories.
Yeah, but it's I mean, it's also why we started Diversity because that was an outlet that I could actually involve my kids in and they could come to the shows. The songs could be directed at them, written about them, written for them. So it was very different. And I guess that's a good thing about music is you can write all styles and there's different audiences for every type of music. So and luckily I now have daycare and school, so I have lots of time so I can make different musical projects.
I got introduced to Diversity, and for any parents out there who haven't listened to Diversity, it is fucking amazing. Madow Kine invited me to twenty your gigs and I I was like, oh, I'm sure whatever Matt's involved in is going to be good. But I was like, I hadn't taken Marley. This is a few years ago now, I hadn't taken her to any gigs before, and I was like, I don't know if you'll like it. Played her a few songs beforehand, and she kind of enjoyed it. But we went to I think those are the Comedy Club and Siddy and she was obsessed and she is going to be so annoyed that you're here in the house right now and she's not around with performing gigs to young kids. Did you love it straight away?
Yes? So, I mean we started Diversity in COVID because Matt and I had kids five days apart and we both weren't working. You're just singing these stupid songs your kids to try and get them to do things, and I think just threw us chatting because we were good mates. The idea kind of came up and we eventually did an album, and we were never really even planning on doing shows, but then we just thought it would be fun to try out, and after the first show, we were both hooked because it's like a cleanse of your ego. Any you know, he's a serious actor now besides the comedy stuff you know in TV shows, etc. And movies. And I'm you know, doing this DJ thing where you're trying to write music that's going to get played on the radio, and then you get up on stage and you just say something like who loves cows, like.
The dumbest stuff, and the kids are so hyped, and it's just refreshing because the stupider you are, the better they and it's just the kids love it.
But then you can also throw in these comments and this is where Matt is so good, where you like, we do this one bit where we at the very end of the show, we've got a song called Dance Silly, and we say, you know, the kids have been dancing really well, but the grown nuts have been letting the team down. And so we get the kids to go and get their grown up and then we get them to get all of their silliness out of them, and then we're going to say a magic word and go one, two, three, put their silliness into the grown up and then we dance to dance Silly. And so we do this bit where I'm like, Okay, Matt, we need a magic word. What's a magic word that's going to get grown ups really excited? And he goes, oh, no taxes. Everyone's in bed at seven o'clock. Like you can throw in these things that go over the kids' heads that the parents like and it's just really fun. So yeah, we just did a run of shows and we did them at bowling clubs. I don't know if you have a local bowling club you go to, but the kids being able to dance and then the parents being able to have a beer.
Ah, is the best part about parenting when you can all get together at a pub and the kids can be like, do it being entertained in some capacity?
Yes, you're watching those parents out there going you take you care to a pub and then you're there with your mates just like.
Yeah, and we do the work for you.
Yeah, very smart.
It's just so fun, is it?
When you're writing songs, do you is it the same hat or do you kind of trans from like remove yourself from kop and then put your diversity hat on because you're like, I'm not writing now for these eighteen year old ravers. I'm writing for five year old Ravers or is it the same process.
It's the same process as far as just trying to make something that feels good because I try and just really tap into that. Now the older I get writing songs, but it's totally different because you're writing about I mean, we have a song about a sad piece of spaghetti that gets left in the.
It's a classic.
It's kind of like nothing's really you can make a song about anything with the kids really, and that our.
Songs start from voice memos where one of us will voice memo that's I've got this idea. So if you've ever got ideas.
Okay, all right, picture to me. Do we want to get Kope to sign any legal letters before we piss this song?
I don't know that worried about it.
If you make this song and I have nothing to do with it, I'll be happy. Okay, it's out not drinking the bath water. Oh yes, So we went to Bali, my kid's bath. The whole time over there, we didn't bath, and we washed them down. We showered so that they didn't drink the bath water because you know how that ends. And then as soon as we got back the first bath, I walked back in and makes you sucking on the washer.
Yes, that's all I could hear.
It was like I don't drink, and I'm like everybody is having that argument to just not.
Drink the bathroom.
But you can make that funny. That's the beauty of writing kids music. So it's and the way it would kind of work is Matt usually comes up with something like that, or I tell him an idea like that, he makes it really funny, and then I'd say, maybe not that funny if he's putting in the boundaries, and then make the music.
Because you drink the bath water, you'd get the ships.
Yeah. Yeah, love Pooh, I mean we do. We don't actually talk about Pooh yet. Maybe this is an undert. We do have one about going to the toilet, yes, and we do have personal we have there's a favorite line of Matts. He goes it's like all my hardy people, Oh what is it? All my hardy people, all my arty people, all my farty uh something, all my party people, all my there's some kind of farting. Yeah.
One time Maci did it was kind of like a coffee reaction but with bath water. Yeah, and she took up of bath water and shot the bath immediately, like it just got to her and it was like they thought it was fucking hilarious.
I had to clean it up.
I'm in there up to here in the bath, like get ship out of the bath.
They love that ship.
One thing that you guys are talking about before we started recording was waffle stomp.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It's not a diversity song, but it could be.
Yeah, but it's disgusting.
So here's the setting. The kid is in the bath or the shower, Yeah, and they do poo and it's the first time this has happened. No one teaches you the correct way to remove the poo, and it's kind of going down the drain a little bit, and you're like kick it up or do I if it's kind of going down, do you stomp it down? That's a waffle stump. That was my I just remember kind of laughing then also going well your barefoot No, no, no, no, I think no, not.
You're in the shower on barefoot. I mean yeah, no, I think.
I maybe just like got a glove and was doing it with a glove or something. But that's the thing, like what you just don't get taught those kind of things.
Well, when Macy did.
A poo in the bath, I think it took a photo and sentence to you. It was so hard that it wouldn't waffle stumps. I had to pick it up.
I mean, that's better if you can just pick it up. But I think maybe the first time it happened, it was separating everywhere, and then I was like, I can't pick that up.
Separate.
Yeah, So that was a kind of funny, funny challenge that at the time was stressful, but then after the fact, I was like, that is just such a bizarre thing that you have to deal with.
Laura and I were talking about wafflestomping when You're away and we were just like, how did someone just come up with that word wafflestop?
Nick told me the word. I didn't know. I was just explaining what I did, and he was like, you're, yeah, great.
That could be a song the Waffleston do the wafflestock.
What do the drop would be like on that.
It'd be like something, don't drink their bath water. Don't drink their bath.
If you haven't listened to any diversity. And I'm not just saying this and being polite because kop is in front of me. It is amazing, It is so so good we've been. There was a while there where I was I was following you to a lot of gigs.
I love me.
I were both like, it's sorry about that.
I mean, we write the music for grown ups and little kids, because I think that was the other reason why we started it is I just couldn't listen to the same kids music over and over again.
It was faced with a couple of beers, old dance or anything so great.
I recommend Weekend Baby is a starting point for you.
Sweet that sounds that sounds like me? Weekend Baby. Yeah, I did cry a lot on the weekend anyway.
Moving Is there anything that Marley and I know a lot of parents must be like, my child is such a performer. But Marley is such a performer.
She shut on bearings do that.
She's she's really really talented, and she asked us about that. She will also listen to a song once and she just learns the words so quickly. She just gets it. Is there anything that I can do without being like a stage mom slash day I can do to encourage that musical talent, which I know was there.
I mean we were just surrounded by music. Yeah, I mean I learned flute when I was a kid. I went to a performing arts high school. I just did like the amount of driving around my parents did to dancing and singing lessons and all of that stuff.
Give it a crack.
I think she'd love it.
We'll be there.
I wonder what he dances, funny, such.
A supportive parent.
He dances like my dad. It's god.
Kop. One thing that we ask all, I guess to wrap up an interview is what would you like your your daughters Sienna and Monty to remember about the house that they grew up in?
Hmmm? I would like them to remember it as a safe, but really fun place. Is that a boring?
Not at all wholesome?
I thought it would be like music fun, of course, like you wanted to remember.
Yeah, yeah, just being able to dance silly, like we do have dance Like we throw on music and we've got a little light that flashes, and we often have dance parties where we just dance around living.
Do the kids prefer your music or nix?
Oh it's mixed, but I'm definitely making more music these days, so they probably hear mine more. But they're harsh. They're really harsh critics.
They don't Yeah, they don't really understand sarcasm and that I don't understand what it's really like to be critically mean.
Yeah yeah, but they do. They like it. I mean, Sienna is really into dance music. She always requests scrill X rumble, you know, yeah, killers in the jungle, she requests that all.
The time in the car as well.
It's the best in the car.
That's where she requests it.
Yeah.
Maybe again.
My kids are all about yeah, Dave.
I was like.
At the documentary, now it just sounds like a v G.
Yeah, Kop, thank you so much.
Thank you so much for having me spending.
The morning with us today. And we will put show notes in this episode. So if you do want to come along and check out Diversity or KAlP gigs you can you can pick and choose. Yes, we'll put it in there. But thank you so much.
Thank you.
Yeah, you're my favorite part ash of this record with Kop. A little video I made a mistake day. I asked Kope to do a video for Mali and I was like, yeah, make it for Mali, Lola. You forgot to put Lola in there.
You're a terrible parent.
Hey, if you want to check out Diversity tour dates and music in the show notes.
If you've enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, believe with a review, join.
Us on social media.
Please suggest any other parents, mom's, dad's grandparents, their father.
Couple of grannies. What's that? What?
What?
Just the way it came out of your mouth. It didn't come out weird, but we'd love to hear from them all. Let's get out of here by.
Two.
Doting Dance Podcast acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and the connections to land, sea and community.
We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestraight Islander people's today
