Words by Matt O’Leary. Photography by Elizabeth Weinberg. Production Assistant Diana Alkire. Shot at The Ding Dong Lounge, NYC.

Patrick Gemayel, aka P-Thugg – one half of NY/Montreal-based electro duo Chromeo – is pretty blunt about the event which, for him, shaped 2008.  “Daryl Hall has a show on the Web, and he invites artists every month to play at his house – his songs, the band’s songs, and covers.  We went to his house and ran through a whole bunch of songs.”  This in a year which saw their sophomore album, Fancy Footwork, released to rave reviews, and a packed international touring schedule which is only just drawing to a close.

The show, Live From Daryl’s House, went out in August and provided the starstruck Gemayel, and his recording partner and childhood friend Dave 1 (Dave Macklovitch), an opportunity to play with a man whose own brand of rock & soul shaped the critically-lauded Chromeo sound.  “These guys are legends – they’re like idols of ours.  He set it up.  We played four Hall & Oates songs with Daryl, and he played two of our songs.  It was really incredible – the best day of the year.  We were kind of nervous at first, because they were all killer musicians and, y’know Daryl Hall.  But they liked our stuff.”

There’s a lot of common ground between the classic Hall & Oates sound and Chromeo’s wise electro funk, for which Gemayel provides keyboards and talkbox.  Listeners have been quick to spot similarities between the cream of Eighties pop and soul songwriting, and their output.  But Gemayel draws the line at further collaborations: “There’s people I want to meet, but not necessarily collaborate with.  There’s a certain distance you want to keep from your idols – you want to keep the magic.  Daryl did that perfectly.  Nothing changed in my mind about him, his music, or anything.  The magic is still there.  He’s such a gentleman.  I put him in the same category as Quincy Jones.  After that it’s Michael Jackson, and Prince.  But I wouldn’t want to meet Prince and find out he’s an asshole.  Just go through each other’s record collections, you know.  A pop music nerd-out.”

Gemayel calls Montreal home, spending time in New York intermittently: Macklovitch is currently based there full-time, while he studies for his post-doctoral qualification in French literature.  As many visitors to the city find, particularly those from cooler climes and more laid-back environments, it’s a city of mixed encounters and experiences.  “The worst thing about New York is the traffic, the hot, sweaty summers, too much action, too much commotion.  It’s like, one day in New York is really hard on the system.  Anything you want to do takes four hours, and when you get home you’re tired and you’re sweaty.  And there’s a distinct New York smell.  There’s an aroma of stink, of funk.  I finish a day there and I have to take four showers.

“But the good thing about New York is that it’s full of opportunities.  There’s great culture; it’s THE city to be in the United States.  It’s not the USA, it’s somewhere else.  A new country.  Nowhere in the world can you go out at three in the morning and eat anything you want.  I like Brooklyn.  Dave lives uptown, close to Harlem; it’s a bit far.  I’m not a Lower East Side kid either.”

Being used to North America’s street food culture, home comforts are easy to find worldwide.  Gemayel comes from a Lebanese/Italian family – an “explosive combination. The Italian side has strong women, the Arabic side has strong men.”  This background, as well as his time in the culturally diverse environments of Montreal and New York, has led him to have a fairly global concept of home comforts.  “I’d always seek out a falafel if I had a hard day.  A late night doner or falafel, with a lot of garlic sauce.  It makes me feel like I’m coming out of a club in Montreal in the early morning, and it’s the only healthy post-club option.”  And easy to find worldwide, thankfully: he cites the south of France as a particular falafel paradise.

He’s wisely a bit more fussy about other types of street food, the including the soggy, boiled, foot-long ruby in NY’s culinary crown.  “In New York, I avoid hot dogs.  Pizza is pretty cool, when you want to get a bite to eat.  Grab and go, when you’re on the move.  In London, it’s always Pret a Manger.  Apart from that, the only good food you can get in England is Indian food.”

Currently enjoying a bit of downtime in between touring Fancy Footwork and recording new material, Gemayel is taking it easy in Montreal to recharge his creative batteries.   This involves a lot of relaxation – and some good eating.  “At home I like being with my family – my mother and my sister, chilling with my friends.  My mother is an amazing cook.  All my friends would come to my house and like the food better than their mom’s.  I grew up with my Italian grandmother, who is the queen of pasta; we’d have big cook-outs, this loud Lebanese/Italian family.”  And it taught him well: so keen is he to impress his cookery skills that he’s provided Buckstyle with an exclusive recipe for Baba Ghannouj.  Invite some people over and tell them that P-Thugg told you how to cook it.

P-THUGG’S FAMOUS BABA GHANNOUJ

Ingredients:
-1 large egpplant
-2 cloves of garlic
-2/3 cup of lemon juice (depends on taste)
-1/3 cup of olive oil (depends on  taste)
-3 tablespoons of tahineh (sesame paste)
-1/2 teaspoon of cumin
-1 teaspoon of salt
-fresh mint

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees, make sure it’s nice and warm.
2) Bake eggplant for about 30 minutes, you’ll know it’s ready when outside becomes crisp and inside is soft.
3) Open the eggplant and scoop out the soft flesh.
4) Put the flesh in a strainer for 5-10 minutes, just to take out excess water.
5) Put in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, until it cools down.
6) Put in food processor and start mixing the tahineh in first.
7) Start slowly pouring olive oil in to create nice and smooth texture, quickly followed by the lemon juice.
8) After getting a nice and smooth texture, throw the garlic cloves in.
9) Add the salt.
10) Add the cumin.
11) You’re done… Pour it into your best bowl and garnish the top with fresh mint and filet of olive oil.

Ohh ohh, and a couple of no nos…
White people, please, do not mix the garnishing olive oil back in with your spoon (I’ve seen a lot of you do that…), just let it sit on top of the mix like a small lake and let the fresh mint leaves float.

Hippies, please abstain from putting carrots and celery in the mix, it’s just not Baba Ghannouj anymore, it becomes a dry, healthy vegetable paste.

Fusion chefs, please don’t put pears, mangoes, raspberries, mandarins (true story) or any other fruits in the mix, it’s just awful and not trendy.

That’s it! Break off fresh piece of pita bread and enjoy. Share with friends and family!

Please note that every eggplant is different in size and produced flesh, so please dose tahini and lemon juice to your taste, because the proportions of these ingredients will change taste and texture. But you’ve got a good base to start with here

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