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.

Who are you

I'm Tristan, lead singer of the contemporary popular tropical pop band BESTiE and aspiring astronaut. We’re the tropical surf-rock band BESTiE from the wet rainforests here in the Pacific Northwest, coming at you in slow-mo with our new single “Bubble Bath”, which is about giving life the middle finger and chilling in the bubble bath.

First concert 

I have a really cool aunt that I didn’t know very well because I was growing up in England and she lived in Toronto. She came to visit for a couple of weeks in the summer of 1992. She took me to go see the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, House of Pain, and L7 at the PNE. She bought me a T-shirt and the cassette of Check Your Head. I didn’t know the bands previously, as I was really young, but it definitely helped guide me in the right direction. I started high school the next year and was the coolest kid in my Check Your Head T-shirt. I remember seeing moshing for the first time and the Beastie Boys were quite energetic back then. I think I was the youngest person there and was pretty awestruck. 

Life-changing concert

My high school, Sentinel, had this really great lunch-hour music showcase called Backstage that the really awesome drama teacher Chris Georgas put on. All of this is his fault. It was behind the gymnasium stage area—students would do covers of mostly Nirvana, from what I remember of the time, but also other bands, of course, and original songs. This was the first time I really saw that you could play in bands and feverishly started to attempt learning the bass to get involved. 

Top three records

It’s always changing for me, but for today:

Ice-T O.G. Original Gangster  As I was a sheltered white kid from the suburbs, Ice-T was very shocking and badass and the kind of stuff your parents would not like. He put ideas into your head you didn’t know existed. 

Drake If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late  Drake is bigger than the Canadian Olympic hockey team and really puts Canada on the map globally and represents us to the world, to some people’s delight. It was awesome seeing him at this past Coachella headline, as he always talks about being Canadian. His music and lyrics are so on-point. He’s one of my favourite artists. I don’t care if he uses a ghost writer and he really destroyed Meek Mill in that online beef. 

Weezer The Blue Album  This is probably the most listened-to album I have and would be the one I would take to a deserted island to chill to, if I had to. I’m a die-hard super fan. I love how pop it is and the melodies and simplicity.   

All-time favourite video

El Guincho “Bombay”  We’ve done all our own music videos and are always referencing this one. It’s 100-percent the best music video ever made and delightfully weird and artistic. It seems like it was a lot of work to organize all of these weird vignette moments. The production company is strangely called CANADA but Barcelona-based, and they’ve produced so many other amazing videos and commercials since. I stalk them online. It doesn’t hurt that it’s NSFW either because who really wants to be at work anyways. 

What’s in your fridge

Parsley. My ex left it. I have no idea how to include it into food or what it is.

Lactose-free milk. I love cereal. Something happens in the lactose-filtering process that makes the milk last and not go bad for three times as long as regular milk, so you can stock up on it and cereal and never have to leave the house to get groceries. Not that I would do this. 

Avocados. People think we really love pineapples, having made a song about them, but the real love here is avocados. They go great in everything. Not that I eat mac-and-cheese from the box, but if I did I would put them in that with hot sauce.