It was a few weeks ago when I was watching one of my favourite musicians, Ed Kuepper, play at the Northcote Social Club that I realised he’s like oysters…

When writing about food, dishes and combinations of flavours, sometimes I compare them to people. When a dish is served lacking flavour, foresight and skill I may conjure up an image of an overweight man in middle-management who sticks to his routine, doesn’t like to upset his family and let go of any dreams he had years ago.

If another dish hits the mark, has elegance, texture, care and skill – well, I may just compare it to a woman, who’s smart and in control with a wicked sense of humour and killer heels.

It was the other way around that night in Northcote. Ed was weaving his magic, as was his drummer Mark Dawson and there was the thought…oysters.

I didn’t understand oysters when I was a kid. One taste and it was all over for years, the flavour and texture were too intense for my uneducated palate but late teens, early twenties I’d been cooking and reading about food and different food writers for years by then and was curious. I revisited them and helloooooo … it was a an explosion of sea, salt, meaty texture and sheer pleasure… it was a revelation.

I didn’t understant Ed when I was a teenager. I wasn’t cool enough, The Saints and The Laughing Clowns were something my older brother Peter was into and he would tell me I wouldn’t get it anyway. Then in my early twenties, I heard about Today Wonder, Ed’s new album with his drummer Mark Dawson. I bought the cassette for Peter for Christmas (it was 1990 or 91) and ended up nicking it and listening to it over and over.

I got it, I got Ed and went back to it again and again and started listening to more of Ed’s other music – it was intense, clever, beautiful … a revelation.