What's in Your Fridge: Terence Jack

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      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

      Terence Jack.

      Who are you

      I’m Terence Jack, frontman of Vancouver’s indie-rock band Terence Jack. We just released our first EP, Never Get Back, this past Thursday, December 1. The release wraps up a crazy-busy year of touring and festivals. We have our EP release party upcoming at the Biltmore Cabaret on December 8.

      First concert

      My brother and his best friend took me to see the Barenaked Ladies and Ashley MacIssac on top of Whistler Mountain. I must have been about 10 and was so into their music I knew every lyric to the whole show front and back. I thought Steven Page was the cat’s ass with his big voice and boisterous stage presence. My passion for their music trailed off shortly after that but I still was bothered when he separated with the band because of his arrest for cocaine possession. The public eye shredded him and I think that a mistake like that shouldn’t have affected his career as much as it did. He’s only human, let him be to deal with his own problems.

      Life-changing concert

      Couple buds and I made friends with a radio host down in Seattle who had this amazing car. Anyways, we were headed down to Sasquatch festival at the Gorge. We had bought tickets off Craigslist and they were bogus. Our friend from the radio station was meeting us down at the Gorge and had told us about this back route you could take to skip the lineup to get into camping. So here we are, going through this farmers field in my buddy’s sister’s car, going over huge potholes, dust everywhere. We showed up and they scan the tickets for camping and get the “These tickets have been used,” so we sweet talk our way into VIP camping without tickets. The guy was a legend. So we get into VIP and our radio friend is set up with a camper from the radio station she worked for. We hang out and drink vodka etc. They all head in and she texts me to head to this side gate. So we head down, and we’re approached by this huge bouncer that looked like he was going to rough us up. He walks up and accuses us of trying to sneak with a very serious deadpan look on his face. He keels over laughing and our friend comes around the corner. They got us into the event, and the Alabama Shakes were playing a private preshow to 25 media people. We got to go in and watch that, which was pretty incredible.

      That night was followed by an acid trip and happy ugly crying to Bon Iver.

      Top three records

      Pink Floyd, The Wall   I listened to this album nearly every morning of high school, with the track “Thin Ice” starting my day when I’d open my eyes. If I reflect on my teenage years, my friend’s Volvo and “Comfortably Numb” come to mind.

      Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks   I think this record is lyrically on another level. Just raw storytelling and where it takes you to. I have a memory on a train listening to "Tangled Up in Blue" and feeling like I was transported to the days of Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. With this record on I can’t converse, I can’t move around, I just have to sit and listen.

      Stardust, Willy Nelson   Most romantic album of all time. I have a few copies on vinyl for whenever the needle wears out the record.

      All-time favourite video

      Chad VanGaalen’s "Molten Light" is incredible to see and I must have watched it a thousand times. I used to closet doodle as a youngster and his drawings remind me of the weird stuff I would draw. I would say his latest video, “Peace on Earth,” is his best as far as the animation goes, but "Molten Light" blew my mind.

      Chad VanGaalen - Molten Light

      What’s in your fridge?

      Bricks of Thai curry paste. Having bounced back and forth to Southeast Asia for all of my 20s, this was always in my suitcase coming home. Buying paste in bulk at the market and vacuum-sealing it so the dogs don’t sniff me out, feeling like nothing short of a heroin mule with an addiction to something that rots my insides too. The bricks last me a long time, as I cook curries a few times a week. I friggin' love Thai food and Thai culture for that matter.

      Scobys. My girlfriend, Lucy, and I started making our own kombucha last May and it’s now in full production with all sorts of flavours—apple cinnamon being the winner. It has replaced booze for the time being. If that’s not enough to make you zzzzzzzz, we’ll move on to the next.

      Chaga mushrooms. Lucy was given chaga mushrooms in exchange for a scoby. They’re these solid chunks that grow on trees and are packed with nutrients. You’re supposed to boil them in water to make chaga tea. We’ve not got round to doing it yet, so for months it’s just been yet another bag of mushrooms sitting in the fridge.

      Terence Jack's new EP Never Get Back is out now, and the band plays at the Biltmore Cabaret on Thursday (December 8).

      Follow Mike Usinger on Twitter @mikeusinger.

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