What's in Your Fridge: Willa

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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

      Willa

      Who are you

      Hi fam, I'm Willa. A singer, songwriter, producer, proud feminist, ginger by choice, and a big Trudeau fan. I was named after my badass great-aunt and create electro-pop songs with an edge. I'm working on a new single to release in 2016 but for now, I have a video cover of Disclosure's “Omen” and some show announcements to share with you! On November 10 I'll be supporting Mr. Little Jeans at the Media Club in Vancouver and on November 21 I'll be supporting Dear Rouge at Distrikt in Victoria. 

      First concert

      When I was in the eighth grade, I spent my only $80 on a ticket to the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Rogers Arena. My three best friends and I stole some beer from my parents' house and fell into a couple hedges on the way there. We had the bloodiest of nosebleed seats and everyone around us was smoking pot, which was not yet something I'd tried—a hazy night to say the least. One of my favourite memories was when Anthony Kiedis came dancing out on the stage, swinging his long hair all around, and my best friend said, "OMG that girl is SO LUCKY!"

      Life-changing concert

      A game-changer for me was attending the Sasquatch Valley Music Festival in 2013. It was my first experience at an "away" music festival; camping and no escape. It ruled! It was like camping in a dream. Father John Misty's set in particular won the whole weekend. He looked like a god up there with his billowy white shirt and beard—actually more like a rock Jesus, I suppose. As he began to close out his set with “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”, he started wrapping the mike cord around his neck and body and writhed around on the stage screaming. Even though the sun was still out, it started to sprinkle rain and a goddamn rainbow showed up. It was utter magic.

      Top three records

      This is one of those impossible questions to answer, as any music lover will know. The albums I'll choose are only one facet of my musical identity, but if I must:

      Gorillaz Plastic Beach  The production on this album was outta control. Every song is a new experience, yet cohesive as a whole. 10/10. Plus Lou Reed. LOU REED! 

      Kanye West (Pretty much anything he's ever done)  As much as he likes to say it, this man really is a genius of our time. I don't think he's always the strongest lyricist, but his debut with “Jesus Walks” is undeniable. Every album is better than the last, and something I really respect is the fact that he's unafraid to experiment. 808s & HeartbreakYeezus? Yeesuz is progressive hip-hop to the point that it'll be 10 years before we really get it. Don't get me started on the fact that he was able to take Otis Redding's and Nine Simone's vocals and turn them into beats. He's a god. Also, his record label, GOOD Music signing Kacy Hill shows me that he's progressive as a listener too. Big ups!

      Various Artists Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack/Meatloaf Bat Out of Hell  I know every word to both of these albums and I'm not afraid to say it. I don't know why, but I became obsessed with these albums at the same time and that's why I'm lumping them together. Perhaps it's the excess, the theatrics, the lunacy, the utter lack of fear to be weird that I love about them. Tim Curry, so good. Meatloaf, his voice is outta control.

      All-time favourite video

      FKA twigs “Water Me”  I don't really know what might be my favourite video of all time, but I always love simplicity with a touch of weirdness. I think FKA twigs nails that. Her look, the colours, the effects they went with.

      What’s in your fridge

      Homemade cashew cream sauce. I'm newly vegetarian and mostly vegan and I've had fun experimenting with vegan food and cooking. I recently made mac-and-cheese sauce with nuts and nutritional yeast and carrots to make it cheesy-looking and it was awesome! I know you jealous.

      Bushels of gross brown bananas. Yes, they're gross and scary, but that's only until they're all mushed up and baked into delicious VEGAN banana nut muffins. Mwahaha! (Thanks to my sound man, Shafer, for all of his vegan secrets).

      Seaweed Snax. These are literally just packages of salty, dried seaweed and I throw 'em back like nobody's business. I tear them up into little bits and put them in rice bowls or salads and sometimes I just eat a whole package of 'em while watching Netflix. Mmmmm, salty green.

      You can check out Willa's SoundCloud page here.

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