What’s in Your Fridge is where the Straight asks interesting Vancouverites about their life-changing concerts, favourite albums, and, most importantly, what’s sitting beside the Heinz Ketchup in their custom-made Big Chill Retropolitan 20.6-cubic-foot refrigerators.

On the grill

Mark Henning

Who are you

Hi, my name is Mark Henning, and I've been making, recording, mixing, and filming music for almost three decades in Vancouver. I was the last keyboard player in a band called After All which later transformed into the band Pure. Pure was signed to Reprise Records and we had a couple decent-sized Canadian radio hits. After Pure I was part of a power-pop trio called Blisterene, which had a brief run but did set me up to become a recording engineer and record producer. I then worked for about eight years at NAL Sound in North Van as the main engineer, which lead to me having several opportunities to record albums in the U.K. during the 2000s. In 2007 my wife Isabelle and I formed a band called Combine the Victorious and the very first song we wrote together became a TV theme song. Almost at the same time Jordy Birch of Pure and I also rejoined forces to form Guilty About Girls and released Candy Candy which was a number-one electronic album on the iTunes Canada charts in 2010. These projects lead to the creation of the Boutique Empire artist's collective which is what I'm still working at today. In the past few years, aside from producing and mixing records, I've expanded into the video side of music and started filming bands, gigs, and interviews, the most notable series being Records In My Life on Northern Transmissions.com. Combine the Victorious has a new album, Autonomous, with a video for the song "Best Tonight" being directed by Wayne Hoecherl. And I just produced the first video single for Sex With Strangers, "Momento", recorded and filmed live.  

First concert

I had the extreme pleasure of seeing the Police on their Ghost in the Machine tour (August 1982 at the Pacific Coliseum) for my first concert. It was mind-blowing  for me as a high school student. Sting seemed godlike and the band were a supremely well-oiled machine. They had backing vocalists and horns but the best parts were when they played the older material as a trio. My favourite moment was the call and response with the crowd during the breakdown of "Roxanne". Actually, all the breakdowns seemed pretty special: a friend's older brother was convinced Sting had a god-complex due to his singing  "Dio" and getting the crowd to shout it back at him during the extended break of "Can't Stand Losing You". The show made a big impression on me!

Life changing-concert

Hard question to answer, really. I do vividly recall a cool gig in Amsterdam where I saw the Replacements perform during their Pleased to Meet Me tour at the Paradiso. I remember the venue was an old church, and the Mats were playing on one side of it and there were bleachers set up opposite them across the room. Westerberg freaked out about the lights only a couple songs into the set, "Turn off those flashing lights, man, we're not fucking Bon Jovi." Tommy Stinson was in his usual polka-dotted suit and the band played well if a little sloppy from time to time, as was their way. After the show Paul Westerberg was sitting alone on the bleachers, just taking a break while the crew was doing the teardown, so I sat down and had a quick conversation with him. He explained they were totally wiped out because they'd played London the night before and stayed up all night partying on the ferry. Then when they'd arrived at the Paradiso the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra had been rehearsing on the opposite side of venue, and while the Mats sound-checked, they could hear orchestra members sniggering as they packed up their instruments. He seemed really humble without any delusions of grandeur, and I suspect his attitude informed my perspective on the music industry in the years following. 

Top three records

The Beatles, 1967-1970 (the blue-covered greatest-hits package)  This was my older brother Ryan's album—I often snuck into his room to grab records to listen to on my cheap record player—and I probably loved this album until I was almost 10 years old. Of course it's filled with some of the best pop songs written in the 20th century, so it's not a big stretch to see why. I think my love of harmony, quirky song structures, and just innovative writing most likely came from my constant studying of the Beatles.  Plus it had "Hey Jude" on it, which was my favourite song until I heard "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Queen, A Night at the Opera  I listened to it constantly. The very first time I heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the radio it blew my mind. I had to have this album: I think it came as a birthday gift. I remember we studied it in a music class in elementary school! The entire album, from "Death on Two Legs", through to "God Save the Queen", is a masterpiece. Freddie Mercury might well have been the greatest frontman of any rock band, and they are singularly majestically unique. I had my vinyl copy "borrowed" from me almost two decades ago, but I can still remember staring at the artwork and reading the lyrics. Might need to replace it. 

Röyksopp, The Understanding  There must be 40 other albums in between A Night at the Opera and The Understanding that I've loved as much, but this album was the harbinger of modern-era electronic music for me. I heard it on New Year's Eve 2005 at a friend's party while under the influence of a very sweet mixture of mood enhancement! I kept turning to John, our friend, and asking "Who's this?" and he kept saying "Röyksopp". There is something to their approach to electronic music which seems rooted in classical music, as well as rock. Anthems like "Triumphant" and "Alpha Male" were protein shakes for my soul. They had a way of building up and swelling to such epic proportions but still seemed cool and fresh. Even after more than a decade I still find joy in The Understanding. (Junior is also up there for me too!) Oh, and the double vinyl album looks spectacular! Such great music combined with truly great art is an undeniably winning combination. 

All-time favourite video

There have been a lot of crappy videos to endure over the decades since MTV and Much Music started broadcasting them.  Maybe it's telling that I have so few I like, however I will site one by Sigur Rós, "Glósóli". 

In typical Sigur Rós fashion this is a long-building, epic postrock song that features a crew of children marching their way across fields until they reach the mountainous beach front where they magically take to flight. Combined with the music it is a phenomenal moment on video, truly made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I first viewed it. There was a moment when I adored everything Sigur Rós did and this video came right in the middle of that period. I've liked several videos from these Icelanders over the years, but this one certainly stands out.  

What’s in your fridge

It appears that today should have been a shopping day…

Beer and wine. Well, on a good week we should have some beer and hopefully a bottle of white wine or prosecco in the fridge. Now that the sun has returned we like to eat dinner in the back yard with a glass of wine or a couple tall cans.  

Steak. At the moment I am thawing out a very fine steak given to us by my sister, who had it sourced from a local farm. We don't eat a lot of meat generally, but every once in a while we do go in for a BBQ and I'm thinking it would make a perfect souvlaki. Thanks, Margo. 

Yves Just Like Ground veggie ground round. We use this stuff all the time. It's like ground beef without the grief. We use it in pasta sauces, curries, chilis. It's a decent substitute, has loads of protein and no fat, and fills the guts in the same way as ground beef. Stays all right to eat for longer than meat, and it's cheaper too. 

Oh, and Dijon mustard.