Apple Doesn't Fall Far From Cart (ft. Peter Moreton, Actor / Director from UK)

00:00:00:04 - 00:00:19:12
Matthew Krekeler
Welcome to Girl Dad Nation. In this episode, I welcome Peter Morton. Peter is an actor, director, writer and musician from London, UK. He co-founded Applecart Arts in 2008, where he currently serves as artistic director. His daughter Meg is now in her twenties and is an amazing jazz singer. Let's get to it.

00:00:23:00 - 00:00:27:20
VO
Girl Dad Nation.

00:00:30:15 - 00:00:31:22
Matthew Krekeler
Peter, welcome to the show.

00:00:32:13 - 00:00:34:08
Peter Moreton
Thanks very much. It's a pleasure to be here.

00:00:34:13 - 00:00:52:07
Matthew Krekeler
It's awesome to have you. This is the first international interview, which I'm really excited about. And you're you're all the way in London. I record this from my home basement studio in Denver. So, yeah, it's about a seven hour time difference, I think.

00:00:52:18 - 00:00:54:21
Peter Moreton
Yeah, I think it's very early in the morning for you, isn't it?

00:00:55:12 - 00:01:18:16
Matthew Krekeler
It is. And my kids haven't quite gotten up yet, but we'll see. Halfway through this interview, I'll sometimes hear a pitter patter of feet come down the steps. So, yeah, we'll see. But yeah, I first met you when I recently went to London and yeah, you've been involved in some productions that the company I work for produces, which is super cool.

00:01:18:16 - 00:01:51:00
Matthew Krekeler
You're an actor, writer, director, composer. You've done so much in the creative world, which is which is awesome. And yeah, I first met you on the production that the company I work for produces for these radio theater dramas, which are all audio dramas. Similar stuff is on Audible and these really amazing productions on various scenes, various stories throughout history.

00:01:52:10 - 00:01:53:19
Matthew Krekeler
Saint St Cecilia.

00:01:54:18 - 00:01:56:03
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:01:56:03 - 00:01:57:01
Matthew Krekeler
St Patrick.

00:01:58:00 - 00:01:58:08
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:01:58:08 - 00:02:09:21
Matthew Krekeler
And The Adventures of Robin Hood. And then coming out soon is another is another production, which I'm not quite sure if I can officially talk about it, so.

00:02:10:00 - 00:02:11:07
Peter Moreton
I'm not sure have been out too early.

00:02:12:01 - 00:02:34:03
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. So I'm going to just assume to keep it safe. But yeah, those are from the Augustine Institute and I'll put links in the description of where people can find that. But really amazing. These are the CD sets, but you can also stream it. And what we've done in our family is we listen to them on road trips in the car a lot, which which is amazing.

00:02:34:09 - 00:02:52:01
Matthew Krekeler
And yeah, you have all the different actors, music, sound effects. You really get to create the the world in your mind, hearing all these amazing voices and bringing all of those characters, all these inspiring stories to life. So that was super cool.

00:02:52:02 - 00:03:05:08
Peter Moreton
I mean, they're quite epic. It's like, yeah, you kind of it's amazing when you sort of you record it in the studio and then when you hear it and everything's added on afterwards, it's all of a sudden it sounds, gosh, it's really huge. Yeah, they do a good job with the face of production on that. It's great.

00:03:06:03 - 00:03:19:00
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. And I. Yeah, we got to talking. And you have a daughter. She's 25 now, and. Yeah, just. Let's just go back. What was that, like, 25 years ago when you first became a dad?

00:03:20:02 - 00:03:43:15
Peter Moreton
I mean, it was then you can ever prepare for it, can you? I mean, it was it was very exciting. I remember I mean, I was there at the birth. My wife at the time had a water bath and she was falling asleep and she was being really relaxed. And I was playing out in Fitzgerald in the background, and I did my back in because I had to keep testing the water.

00:03:43:20 - 00:04:02:10
Peter Moreton
So I was taking gas while my wife was having a lovely time. I think I mean, I think I'm one of the only couples in the planet where I was in more pain during the bath than my wife, although I'm sure she and she I mean, even she at the time so that she didn't find it a particularly difficult experience.

00:04:02:10 - 00:04:13:10
Peter Moreton
I think we had a very good time of it. But I remember Meg being born and it was. Yeah. How did it feel? I mean, it was just daunting and exciting in equal measure, I guess.

00:04:14:09 - 00:04:21:16
Matthew Krekeler
Wow. And a water birth. That's. That's really cool. Is that more common or less common in the UK? Like, I mean.

00:04:21:16 - 00:04:46:10
Peter Moreton
I think it's less common, but my wife at the time, she was very keen, she'd read, she'd read quite a bit about different birthing methods and there and it was kind of obviously I think she wanted to sort of relieve as much pain naturally as possible. Yeah. The the research that she did, basically the what we both did basically kind of indicated that water births were far less painful.

00:04:46:19 - 00:05:03:03
Peter Moreton
And so it proved to be the case. But yeah, we had we had to take her out of office at one point just to make it so she'd push a bit harder. Wow. It was it was it was a an incredibly experience. I guess anybody who's there for the birth of that child would say so.

00:05:03:23 - 00:05:08:02
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, that's a really great story. Was it at home or how did you or.

00:05:08:05 - 00:05:09:23
Peter Moreton
I know we were in hospital and it was in hospital.

00:05:10:00 - 00:05:10:05
Matthew Krekeler
Okay.

00:05:10:18 - 00:05:17:12
Peter Moreton
Yeah. They just it was they kind of it was one of those hospitals which had had those facilities, but it was really.

00:05:17:12 - 00:05:18:04
Matthew Krekeler
Oh, that's great.

00:05:18:15 - 00:05:20:22
Peter Moreton
It's really nice. It was a really kind of nice atmosphere.

00:05:22:10 - 00:05:45:13
Matthew Krekeler
That's really cool. I love hearing different people's stories because it seems like every story is different, even with our own kids. My wife had an epidural, like with our first daughter and our second. She went unmedicated and had an unmedicated delivery, but still in a hospital and then one of my coworkers delivered the baby at home. So which kind of terrifies me to that extent.

00:05:45:14 - 00:05:57:13
Matthew Krekeler
Like I yeah, I know very, very little about, about everything. So I would like trust the people that have delivered babies many, many times before in a hospital.

00:05:58:04 - 00:06:16:18
Peter Moreton
Yeah. And the older midwife who was just laid back knew nothing. And I had to ask the trainee midwife just to be a little classic. She wouldn't stop talking. And at one point she sort of said, I can't believe I'm having an epidural. If it was me, I'd go straight for the epidural. And the old midwife just took to her from the side just said, you have epidural for conception.

00:06:17:18 - 00:06:21:21
Peter Moreton
It was kind of that tension between midwives there, but it was good fun.

00:06:23:00 - 00:06:29:14
Matthew Krekeler
So with that, did you know you were having a girl before or was it a surprise at delivery?

00:06:29:15 - 00:06:45:21
Peter Moreton
And we decided to keep it a surprise, so we decided not to. Yeah, we didn't want a name and my mum. Yeah, my wife, she kind of said that actually that kept her going in the last three months of the of the pregnancy. Just the mystery of X and okay.

00:06:45:22 - 00:06:46:09
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah.

00:06:47:07 - 00:06:48:08
Peter Moreton
During the health of our.

00:06:48:11 - 00:06:51:05
Matthew Krekeler
There's that surprise and anticipation which is awesome.

00:06:51:21 - 00:07:14:21
Peter Moreton
Yeah. But I was I remember when it was again I was I was kind of surprised, I think. I mean, it seemed it was probably like some sexist actually sort of like prejudiced with me, assumed it was going to be a boy. So it was kind of I was kind of really delighted that it was actually I was really excited by it and it kind of it was a surprise.

00:07:14:21 - 00:07:19:15
Peter Moreton
I wasn't expecting it. I don't know why I thought it was going to be a boy.

00:07:19:15 - 00:07:32:05
Matthew Krekeler
So what was any like particular challenge or or surprise? Just having a girl versus boys and stuff like that. Like, did you feel any pressure or anything?

00:07:32:22 - 00:07:54:13
Peter Moreton
Yeah, well, I know. I mean I mean, there's always the thing is, I've had two brothers, so I never grew up with sisters or anything like that. So yeah, I was kind of thinking, I have no idea how girls grow up. Yeah, but it turns out they do perfectly happily without you doing. Anything happens quite naturally, apparently, it seems to me.

00:07:55:19 - 00:08:04:04
Peter Moreton
And luckily I, you know, I get my, you know, my, my wife and I, you know, we we're able to cover the different bases that were necessary.

00:08:04:10 - 00:08:07:07
Matthew Krekeler
That's great. What were the best parts about being a girl, Dad?

00:08:09:04 - 00:08:31:01
Peter Moreton
I think I think there's a particular relationship relationship that you that daughters have with their fathers, you know, assuming that the relationship is is is is not dysfunctional. I think there's a very I mean, Meg and I have always been incredibly close. It's been a, you know, extremely joyous experience for me. We've kind of always just got on like a house on fire.

00:08:31:18 - 00:08:53:21
Peter Moreton
And we still do. I mean, we still work together now. And I think there's something about just the gender difference makes that possible in a way. I don't know why that is, but it just I think it's you just in some ways the difference makes it easier to be close and to have a kind of close relationship. I don't know if you feel the same way.

00:08:54:07 - 00:08:54:17
Peter Moreton
Yes.

00:08:55:08 - 00:09:12:22
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I feel incredibly close with my daughters and. Yeah, yeah, it's it's so sweet. Like I. Yeah. Not knowing at first. Like, you're like, yeah, having a boy or a girl. But I feel so blessed to have girls. I just I love it so much. And there's like, a sweetness in them, but. But I just love.

00:09:13:15 - 00:09:13:22
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:09:14:14 - 00:09:24:14
Matthew Krekeler
So they'll, they'll come up and, like, want me to hold them and they're just like, I'm holding them. They're just putting their head on my shoulder. And it's just like, it's amazing. It's one of the best feelings.

00:09:24:14 - 00:09:40:16
Peter Moreton
Yeah, it's amazing feeling, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You kind of never really forget it because there's should there's a shape to the back of my daughter's neck, which just even now is she still has it. She's 25, but it melts.

00:09:42:04 - 00:09:50:07
Matthew Krekeler
Were there any particular stories of Meg growing up that you remember? Any funny stories or sweet stories?

00:09:50:07 - 00:10:16:17
Peter Moreton
Yeah. I mean, she so she we she grew up my wife at the time was a methodist minister. So we grew up quite, quite involved in the local church, obviously. And she used to sort of sing along to kind of like sometimes you'd hear her singing various hymns and stuff. Yeah, I remember, I remember hearing a once in the in the bathroom just singing to herself and it kind of went along that she was singing.

00:10:16:17 - 00:10:23:17
Peter Moreton
I don't know if you know this in America. It's like when I needed a neighbor where you then where you got, you know, that sound when I need it enabled.

00:10:23:17 - 00:10:25:04
Matthew Krekeler
Is it like a children's song?

00:10:25:15 - 00:10:49:06
Peter Moreton
It's a children's children's Christian like chorus. Okay. So the words are when I needed paper, were you there? Were you there when I needed a neighbor? Were you there? And the creed and the color and white matter. Where you there? Wow. There's different verses to it. And she was just singing along to this. And then I heard this little gap and then I just heard her singing when I needed an ice cream.

00:10:49:06 - 00:10:52:07
Peter Moreton
Where you where, you know.

00:10:53:05 - 00:10:54:19
Matthew Krekeler
So she's adding her own lyrics.

00:10:55:06 - 00:11:00:01
Peter Moreton
I think she kind of like you had put in her own verse, which was, you know, not me. Not maybe.

00:11:00:22 - 00:11:05:07
Matthew Krekeler
That's great.

00:11:05:07 - 00:11:15:16
Peter Moreton
But yeah, she was always very funny. She was always a bit of a kind of an entertainer and always very, very quick to make everybody laugh. And that's very interesting.

00:11:17:11 - 00:11:40:05
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, kids are wonderful like that. They come up with things and they make connections to things that they think are really funny. They'll hear something and they'll try to repeat it. Yeah. And sometimes they don't quite understand, like, the whole context. So they'll like, change certain words and stuff. With my daughter, she heard the phrase Stop, stop in the name of the law.

00:11:40:05 - 00:11:57:20
Matthew Krekeler
But she she changed it because the way that she was hearing it, she talks about me like all the time. I'm like, Oh, Dad has got to go mow the lawn or like I got to go water the lawn. And so she heard like and I was out outside and she just goes, Daddy, stop in the name of the law.

00:11:57:20 - 00:12:06:04
Matthew Krekeler
And it's so funny. So, yeah, that's that's how she thinks that phrase goes and says, stop in the name of the line.

00:12:07:07 - 00:12:35:20
Peter Moreton
I remember, I remember Meg made she made up her first ever joke. I mean, she did loads of jokes before, which were terrible, you know, like why did the chicken cross the road? Because it was not a fun kind of jokes, but she didn't quite get it. Yeah. And then there was one joke she did. I think the first joke she wrote that was actually quite funny, which is what did the dolphin say to his friend when when his friend slapped him in the face with its pen.

00:12:36:19 - 00:12:40:23
Peter Moreton
And I said, I don't know what it is. Officer Shakespearean said, you did that on purpose.

00:12:42:01 - 00:12:43:17
Matthew Krekeler
Well, hey, that's clever.

00:12:44:03 - 00:12:52:08
Peter Moreton
Yeah, that's quite clever. That, I mean, not the best joke ever, but I kind of thought, okay, she's got the principle of jokes. Yeah.

00:12:53:01 - 00:13:07:15
Matthew Krekeler
That works. Yeah, it's. It's so fun when, when they're at that age. Like, even my daughter's three now and they start to understand humor because just like the principle of humor is subverting your expectations.

00:13:07:15 - 00:13:08:09
Peter Moreton
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:09:00 - 00:13:20:04
Matthew Krekeler
So, yeah. So we'll laugh at things and yeah, it's so cute. Like to to have them pick up on that. We're at the airport actually.

00:13:21:11 - 00:13:22:00
Peter Moreton
And.

00:13:22:18 - 00:13:45:01
Matthew Krekeler
Then I forget what I said but but I said some like little quip thing, like when we were going through TSA for security and at the airport and, and they were like, oh, like some line. And I said something like, just like joking. And my daughter goes, ha ha, very funny. And actually.

00:13:48:11 - 00:13:48:21
Peter Moreton
Added.

00:13:50:12 - 00:14:01:12
Matthew Krekeler
Because like everyone else in the group was like, just like brushed it off. Like I was trying to be funny and my daughter like totally just acknowledged it and then called me out by name, which I think was even more funny.

00:14:02:08 - 00:14:18:23
Peter Moreton
Yeah, I mean, I guess I you. Yeah. As they get older, they get more and more. What's the word? Yeah. Cynical about you, right? Yeah. Well, you know, the eye rolling just gets worse and worse and worse.

00:14:18:23 - 00:14:22:12
Matthew Krekeler
And I think it's hilarious that she calls me by my name that.

00:14:22:23 - 00:14:23:03
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:14:23:14 - 00:14:42:22
Matthew Krekeler
She, she knows, like, you know, daddy of Matthew. Like, we're all, like, saved. Talk about the same thing. But depending on, like, what happens, she'll say, like, Matthew, Mommy needs you and I'll be upstairs or something like that, and she'll call me out. It's. It's so funny.

00:14:42:22 - 00:14:49:10
Peter Moreton
Yeah. And I make it. It makes them call me by my, by Peter. I've had lots of it. Never that.

00:14:51:00 - 00:15:01:15
Matthew Krekeler
Do you think there's any like cultural differences like raising a daughter in the UK versus America or other places? And I'm just kind of curious.

00:15:01:15 - 00:15:34:16
Peter Moreton
I think there must be I mean, I've I've I've been I've worked in the States quite a bit over time, mainly, but we're mainly in New York and L.A. And both times it's kind of shocked me that we kind of assume, because we speak the language, that it's the same kind of culture, but it really isn't. I mean, we've got very different I kind of I think if as countries we see things in very different ways a lot of the time kind of I think you kind of just assume because we speak the language, we kind of have the same cultural backgrounds.

00:15:34:16 - 00:16:09:13
Peter Moreton
And I mean, it's not that we're not familiar with American culture because, you know, films and the movie industry and all that, but actually, yeah, and it's sort of the work I do, I do with the guys in the on the radio, the kind of the audio dramas. Yeah. This oftentimes where, you know, we having conversations where we kind of like talking about the different cultural differences between the UK and the US and I mean in terms of, in terms of the relationship between children, I don't know.

00:16:09:13 - 00:16:39:13
Peter Moreton
I mean, I think sometimes I don't know. I mean, I think sometimes there's less of a distinction of responsibility in the UK maybe that you get in the UK, in the United States, as I suspect US parent, I may be completely wrong about this, but the impression I get is us parents sort of tend to to see their role as more guiding in bringing up children, whereas I think maybe we're a bit more laissez faire.

00:16:40:08 - 00:16:53:01
Peter Moreton
Yeah, in the UK about it and but that may be completely rubbish. I don't know, I kind of, it's just, it's just an impression I got over the years. I don't know. What do you think?

00:16:53:06 - 00:17:09:14
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, that's interesting. So. So you're saying you as parents feel like they have a more direct impact on their kids upbringing and and are more concerned about the way that their particularly parenting their kids versus.

00:17:11:03 - 00:17:41:13
Peter Moreton
Yeah, we may see a little bit when you said that rubbing it's kind of it's just I think yeah to the US friends I have my American friends I seem to kind of see parenting as a much more formal process. Oh yeah. I think potentially that's probably a better way of putting it than, than my friends bring it up kids in the UK where we kind of just think let's just try and stop them going to prison.

00:17:42:05 - 00:17:42:09
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:17:42:19 - 00:17:47:13
Matthew Krekeler
No, I didn't mean that. Yeah, it kind of sounds like. Oh yeah, we're like, well, let them.

00:17:48:09 - 00:17:49:15
Peter Moreton
See if we can get to education.

00:17:49:15 - 00:17:50:18
Matthew Krekeler
Just come back for dinner.

00:17:51:10 - 00:18:06:22
Peter Moreton
And see if we can get them educated and avoid scrapes with the law. Just. I'm being ridiculous. It's not. I'm it's a complete generalization, which you can't make. I think probably, but what do you think.

00:18:07:09 - 00:18:37:09
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I think, I think it might be a generational thing too. I think like like when I was raised and you're even, like, older than I am. But, but when I, when I, when I was raised, my parents kind of had that like sort of laid back approach. There wasn't all these, like, parenting blogs and Instagram channels and stuff telling you like all these like proper methods of doing certain things with your kids.

00:18:38:15 - 00:18:58:09
Matthew Krekeler
So like, yeah, we, we would play outside in the yard often and yeah, there's kind of more of a freedom, I guess. Like as kids, I think, I think that there's kind of more restriction now and there's more concern. Maybe it's just the access to the news and all of like sort of the bad stuff that you read.

00:18:58:21 - 00:19:01:02
Matthew Krekeler
You kind of feel like you need to be more guarded.

00:19:01:02 - 00:19:21:13
Peter Moreton
But yeah, I mean, I think, I think the social media side of it is terrifying in terms of bringing up kids now. I mean, I think I was quite lucky. I think by the time it really got to the kind of the level that it is now. Meghan Pretty well was fairly well an adult. Yeah, that was like, I mean, but she, she didn't really get that involved in social media.

00:19:21:21 - 00:19:55:23
Peter Moreton
So Facebook and all that which of course Facebook is gone for that generation now, but that Instagram and TikTok. But I mean, she didn't really get involved in Facebook till she was 14, 15, so she was almost, you know, kind of well the fully, fully engaged human being point. So it's kind of I think but now I think that 13, 14 year olds having to deal with the kind of the complexity of that social interaction is and the kind of brutality of it seems to me and I think that's a far harder thing.

00:19:55:23 - 00:20:31:06
Peter Moreton
So I just used to go out on my bike and I'd see, you know, my parents like this, like this, right? Get run over and you know, you know, not just Jesus cycle around Grandma's around the town and the fields and stuff like that. And I'm not sure you can do that so much now. I mean, I think because very lucky because she she we were she grew up in London and I remember when when she got into secondary school, which I guess is high school for you guys, she was like 11 and we moved house.

00:20:31:21 - 00:20:55:16
Peter Moreton
So we got her into a great school and then we moved house to another part of London, but we didn't want her to not go to the school. So because it was such a school. So she used to travel across London, pretty much 11 on her own with a couple of mates used to me on the tube and after the break we kind of thought, well, if she's traveling into school on her own, there's no reason why she can't travel to go and see a film on our own with her friends.

00:20:55:16 - 00:21:18:17
Peter Moreton
You know, she knows her way around. So, you know, 11, 12, 13, she was incredibly independent going around London and that's great. So, you know, quite savvy about it all, really. She knows, though, she knew much more than I did. And and I think that stood her in good stead. But it's quite but you know, there's always benefits and disadvantages of growing up in city country.

00:21:18:17 - 00:21:26:20
Peter Moreton
And I think you get different things and you lose other things. And I mean, put her in a field. She panics people.

00:21:27:07 - 00:21:53:06
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And the whole tube, like taking the underground. Yeah. All the public transportation in London, I think is really awesome. Like we traveled primarily by tube. You're in London and New York is kind of similar with their subway system. But other places in the in the United States, the United States is so big, too. It depends on where you're talking about.

00:21:53:06 - 00:22:08:06
Matthew Krekeler
But yeah, particularly like in Colorado and other kinds of places in the Midwest and stuff that's more, more rural, there's just not that same public transportation. So anyway, like you're driving your kids and yeah.

00:22:09:01 - 00:22:25:21
Peter Moreton
And that has it must have an effect on that must have an effect on them in my I've got a really good friend who's Irish. She grew up in rural. She basically said, you know, I was a prisoner in my home until I was able to drive the course. Yeah. And so my parents drove me somewhere because I was just too far from anywhere.

00:22:26:06 - 00:22:26:19
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:22:26:19 - 00:22:29:00
Matthew Krekeler
I mean, even going to get groceries.

00:22:29:11 - 00:22:30:00
Peter Moreton
Yeah, like.

00:22:30:07 - 00:22:37:09
Matthew Krekeler
You have to drive really long or else it's going to be like an hour or two back, depending on how close you live to some of the stories.

00:22:37:09 - 00:22:51:01
Peter Moreton
But yeah, yeah. Whereas you know, like growing up in London, you can basically you can get milk from around the corner every hour of the day or night. It's not a problem. You've never run out of it, right?

00:22:51:19 - 00:22:56:09
Matthew Krekeler
So yeah. Did you have that experience of teaching Meg to drive? Do you.

00:22:56:17 - 00:22:57:13
Peter Moreton
Know about.

00:22:57:18 - 00:22:58:04
Matthew Krekeler
Anything?

00:22:58:04 - 00:23:22:17
Peter Moreton
Like, I'm okay. I'm about to. We've just agreed to. I'm going to put her on my car insurance and she's never really. I mean, you really need to drive in London. Yeah, but she's she's a she's a musician now and she's beginning to need to sort of move around and tour and stuff and. Yeah, we've met. She obviously got to the point where we really have to she was able to to kind of drive rather than just be reliant on other people all the time.

00:23:23:00 - 00:23:36:19
Peter Moreton
So yeah, this could be the final test of our relationship. And yeah, I'm about to try and teach her to drive. You mean it can be the straw that breaks the camel's back?

00:23:36:19 - 00:23:42:20
Matthew Krekeler
That's great. And then in the UK is is driving age 16 like it is in the United States.

00:23:44:11 - 00:23:50:02
Peter Moreton
And now I think you have to be oh yeah, you have to be 17 to go drive.

00:23:50:02 - 00:23:51:02
Matthew Krekeler
17. Okay.

00:23:51:08 - 00:24:08:07
Peter Moreton
Yeah, I think you have to be 17. I maybe don't but yeah. I mean, yeah, she could have learned ages. We did a driving lessons for birthday present age, but she never used them. So I don't know what I think. Everybody's insurance premiums will go up when she does learn to drive. Yeah.

00:24:08:14 - 00:24:22:22
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I think that's one of those milestone moments, like teaching your kid to drive. Like, is this. Yeah, a really cool opportunity, I think. Terrifying for most parents and stuff.

00:24:23:18 - 00:24:24:02
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:24:24:18 - 00:24:25:12
Matthew Krekeler
We'll see. I guess I'll.

00:24:25:12 - 00:24:35:23
Peter Moreton
Leave it alone. I think if I had to. Yeah. I mean, it's a while before I take you around Piccadilly Circus, I think. Yeah. It's just the start up on some of the quadrupeds in London.

00:24:36:17 - 00:24:57:07
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, well, I think also in a big city like London and then even Denver here, man, I'd be terrified to go, like, kind of in the downtown area, especially at first. Like a lot of times I hate to drive downtown. Yeah, it's just so congested. And then you have like the one way streets and you don't want to get turned around.

00:24:58:12 - 00:25:19:05
Peter Moreton
I mean, I think the main thing I'm going to be saying to make while I teach to drive is do as I say, not as I do. Whatever you do, don't copy me. If you do, you'll never pass your test. Yeah, but driving in London is a very. Yeah. Very specific thing. I mean you got to yeah, you got to you have to do it with a huge amount of confidence.

00:25:19:05 - 00:25:20:06
Peter Moreton
So not to. Right.

00:25:22:00 - 00:25:35:12
Matthew Krekeler
And then I also want to ask too. So now Meg is a young adult. You're starting on your own ventures and everything. And she recently released an album on it's on Spotify.

00:25:35:20 - 00:25:39:22
Peter Moreton
Yeah, called Girls Night Lions Straight.

00:25:39:22 - 00:25:44:10
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. And I listen to a little bit of it and it's it's amazing. She's got an amazing voice.

00:25:45:05 - 00:26:04:13
Peter Moreton
Oh, thank you. I mean, I told her everything she knows. Nation is amazing. I mean, I'm very lucky. I mean, we've always she's always grown up with music around. I mean, she was born to elephants. Geraldines Yeah. So she was like, yeah, she was always, she's always grown up with music around and I've always worked on and off as a musician.

00:26:04:13 - 00:26:26:01
Peter Moreton
So it's been wonderful, kind of like watching that grow in her, in that kind of love of music and the fact that it's a love of music, which is very much specific to her. It's, you know, she is wonderful. And I think, you know, you can it's clear that that influence of what she listen to growing up is clear of that.

00:26:26:01 - 00:27:03:22
Peter Moreton
Yeah, but but then she's also really developed her own taste and style and and it's and she trained for years at a music college in London, a Guildhall School, which is, you know, quite a good conservatory. So so it's kind of the album's fruition of a long, long time developing, you know, and it's just wonderful. Yeah. And great guy and start performing well, you know, one of the great things to be able to, you know, actually go and see you know the also reforming is just wonderful so what a great night out.

00:27:04:21 - 00:27:08:20
Matthew Krekeler
That's amazing. Yeah. Where did you first see her perform?

00:27:09:16 - 00:27:33:11
Peter Moreton
Well, I mean, the first time she saw me, she sang in a school concert, and I wasn't really expecting anything, but she sang. She sang a lilac wine was a song she sang. And it was I was very surprised that she chose in that song Sing. And she was about 11, I think. No was because it was junior school, so she'd have been about eight and she'd just stood up in a school concert and sang Lilac Wine.

00:27:33:11 - 00:27:58:12
Peter Moreton
And we didn't really know she was going to do it. And it was amazing. It was amazing. And, and yeah. So that's the first time I heard her performing it. It was quite a shock because we either she chose, you know, really quite sophisticated song to sing it. Yeah. And then I knew so naturally and so, so cleanly and well and yeah.

00:27:58:12 - 00:28:12:16
Peter Moreton
But I mean, we've never pushed I never really pushed her in anything in terms of I mean, the only time I was insistent on was that she learned the piano. There was no there was no question about it. It was like, we will learn the piano. There is you know, you go to school and you learn the piano.

00:28:12:18 - 00:28:34:01
Peter Moreton
It's like so there was no discussion. And there was one point she's you know, she was kind of saying, you know, I don't, you know, I don't want to play anymore. And I was just saying, I've never heard I never heard anybody dying. I really wish I'd been allowed to give up the piano. Yeah. Other people saying I wish.

00:28:34:12 - 00:29:10:16
Peter Moreton
I wish I hadn't been allowed to. Yeah, I wish I hadn't been allowed to give up the piano. Yeah. I wish I carried on. It's like you've got a lessons. And I think she's grateful now that she she was forced to do that. But yeah, we didn't really push her in any other way. So it's kind of, it's lovely to see and yeah, she's and a nice thing it's because she's she's sort of you know I come from performing background we can really talk about it you know we really talk about that's great, you know, the kind of the lifestyle and as well as just the creative, you know, the creative side of it.

00:29:10:16 - 00:29:25:18
Peter Moreton
We can about we can talk about how it all works in terms of the profession and, you know, kind of she still I'm very you know, I I'm very proud of the fact that she still wants my advice and support on that sort of side. It's kind of nice.

00:29:25:18 - 00:29:26:11
Matthew Krekeler
That's really cool.

00:29:27:07 - 00:29:27:15
Peter Moreton
Yeah.

00:29:27:18 - 00:29:31:04
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, you can you can bond over those creative things and.

00:29:31:09 - 00:29:44:14
Peter Moreton
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's kind of yeah, it's really lovely. It's just gives it's given us an ongoing kind of an ongoing sort of sense towards refresh our relationship with that's great.

00:29:44:22 - 00:29:54:04
Matthew Krekeler
Is there any advice that you would give other dads of daughters or other dads of kids wanting to get into music?

00:29:55:21 - 00:30:13:20
Peter Moreton
I mean, I think I mean, I think he's true of anything as it is. I think it the one thing I always said to Meg is find out what you love. I mean, when she left school, it was kind of she was she was thinking about what she should going to study at university. And she was really struggling to know what to go and do.

00:30:13:20 - 00:30:42:19
Peter Moreton
And I've kind of said to her, to take a year out, you've just been slogging away doing exams and exams and exams. Yeah. Take a year out, get a job for a bit, go and travel and just get away from study for for a year and then think about what you want to do. And so she went and taught in a school in Sri Lanka and and she kind of traveled around India for a bit and she got a job in a in a in a cafe bar, sort of like to pay for all.

00:30:43:10 - 00:30:58:17
Peter Moreton
And, and she came back and said, I want to do I want to be a jazz singer. So she kind of auditioned, but I think I kind of there was a point when we were talking about it and I just said, look, you have to imagine you get up in the morning, you just think, what do I want to do today?

00:30:58:17 - 00:31:20:10
Peter Moreton
And, you know, how do you what's the best thing you can have and then work out how to get someone to pay you to do that? Yeah, she's kind of done that already, so it's kind of I'm very proud of it for that. I mean, that's kind of what I did as well, but it took me a while to get here and she's got there a lot quicker.

00:31:22:04 - 00:31:27:18
Peter Moreton
So I think it's good just to sort of I remind people to find what they love and try and do that.

00:31:27:18 - 00:31:40:05
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I think that's great advice. I think that's the key to finding, right, what your goal is, what your purpose is, and what you what you enjoy and kind of make a career out of it.

00:31:40:17 - 00:32:00:10
Peter Moreton
So yeah, I mean, my parents are saying, well, what did she comes back from traveling and doesn't want to go to university? And I asked and I said, Well, that was a grand well saved, right? Yeah. Yeah. I guess it's like, you know. Yeah. Tell me what is it's it's kind of spent about a year and a half of university and then decides she doesn't want to be that.

00:32:00:10 - 00:32:18:05
Peter Moreton
Yeah, better to work happened before and yeah I kind of think it was that was a bit shocking to my parents that I think but a chance actually when did a music degree so she got she got to get everybody happy yeah that's great.

00:32:18:13 - 00:32:36:04
Matthew Krekeler
And then final question for the interview and I ask all of my guests this, but what is something if Meg was listening to this now, what what is one thing that you would like to tell her directly?

00:32:36:04 - 00:32:58:13
Peter Moreton
Just how proud I am of her, really, just how amazing I think she is. She's kind of an amazing person. She's sort of got such an incredible spirit. We're working together. We put we've built this art center in the middle of London, and she's sort of running our community cafe. And it's a great it means that we get work, get to work together, which was a risk.

00:32:58:14 - 00:33:19:22
Peter Moreton
And again, it's work really. And just watching her talking to the people coming in and, you know, she she does as well as all of her music career, but just watching her talking to people and kind of making them feel at home and welcome. And she's kind of she's she's sort of taken all the best bits of both her mum and dad and life seems to have concentrated them.

00:33:20:04 - 00:33:29:15
Peter Moreton
Brilliant person. And I'm just very, very proud of that. That's what I say to that. I always say that I just love her very much, though my that's great.

00:33:30:12 - 00:33:38:16
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. So yeah. Check out Peter Martin for yeah stuff that you're doing it's apple cart is that correct?

00:33:39:06 - 00:34:03:09
Peter Moreton
This is the venue. Yeah. Yeah. We kind of storytelling company with encouraging emerging artists in one of the most deprived areas of London. So we're kind of doing quite a lot of work with them. Yeah. Disenfranchized groups and, and, you know, young offenders and it's, it's, it's, it's a real challenge. And I had to here once. But yeah.

00:34:03:09 - 00:34:19:05
Peter Moreton
And I also continue to work as a freelancer, as a kid. So it's good to make sure that you're sort of still attached to the profession and doing things that that I, you know, you know, it's good for people who are coming into this building to know that they're working with people that are actually doing it wrong. Yeah.

00:34:19:23 - 00:34:23:08
Peter Moreton
You know, so it's good. It's great.

00:34:23:08 - 00:34:36:15
Matthew Krekeler
And I'll put links to the audio drama too for people who are check goes out and then mega bird music your daughter's on Spotify. Yeah, girls like lions, so. Yeah, yeah. Check that out, too.

00:34:37:05 - 00:34:41:20
Peter Moreton
Yeah, enjoy it. I'll show you. I hope for you. I'm sure you will.

00:34:41:20 - 00:34:43:10
Matthew Krekeler
Awesome. Thank you so much, Peter.

00:34:44:04 - 00:34:48:23
Peter Moreton
It's been a pleasure. Thank you. You can go back to bed now. Yeah.

00:34:49:10 - 00:34:50:21
Matthew Krekeler
Actually, I've just waking up right now.

00:34:51:05 - 00:34:54:19
Peter Moreton
All right? Yeah. Monday afternoon in the park, it's going to be like.

00:34:58:19 - 00:35:05:04

Girl Dad Nation. I'm proud of you, Daddy.

00:35:06:17 - 00:35:27:08
Matthew Krekeler
Thank you to Peter for being on the show and being part of Girl Dad Nation. It's awesome to hear how he and Meg still have a close relationship. Check out her music on Spotify by searching Meg Bird and learn more about Peter Martin's work through Apple Card Arts by going to apple cart arts dot com. Thank you for listening girl dad nation is on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

00:35:27:15 - 00:35:37:01
Matthew Krekeler
You can also email me at Girl Dad Nation podcast at gmail.com. I love getting your feedback. There is no greater joy than being a dad.