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

Billy Bones of the Vicious Cycles Motorcycle Club.

Who are you:

My name is Billy Bones. I like pinball, motorcycles, and rock and roll. I will sit and watch English Premier League Darts with you. I play rhythm guitar and do the main hollering in a garage/punk/rock-and-roll band called the Vicious Cycles Motorcycle Club. VCMC. We have a new 7-inch record coming out on November 10. Come to our party at the American! Give us your money, we will give you a record!

First concert

It was 1983 or ’84 in the 200-person town I lived in named Pangman, Saskatchewan. What I remember as a hair-metal band from Regina played the high-school gym or the rec centre. I lost my mind. They played to a very unappreciative audience of five or six high-school kids, and one incredibly stoked nine-year-old (me). I left it all out there on the floor. By myself. All night. The next day I couldn't remember what happened, but I knew I was in love with rock and roll.   

Life-changing concert

Kamloops. 1993/94? I'd just moved out from Saskatchewan. Never seen a punk band, but had met all these kids in a band called the Disfigurenes. I had a job delivering pizza and was late to get to the show. Disfigurenes are opening for the Smugglers. By the time I got there, it was sold out, so I had to break in through a bathroom window that led to backstage. I'm a little nervous. My dad had told me that punk rockers wore razors in their shoes and tried to cut each other up. I figured for sure security would recognize that I hadn't crossed their path to get backstage, and throw me out, so I bolted through the door to the main area and ran into the crowd. It was one of those perfect shows where everyone is dancing with everything in them all night. I remember Grant Lawrence falling off the stage, and popping right back up as though he'd done it on purpose. Since that day, I never wanted anything else.

Top three records

The Clash The Story of the Clash Volume 1  I know it's not a studio album, and that it's kind of cheating—come talk to me about it. This is the record that I came to punk rock with. I can hold it in my hand. It's a record. Actually, it's two records. I grew up on '50s rock and roll and the Stray Cats. When I started skateboarding, my town didn't have any paved streets. Punk rock was 1,000 percent foreign. I heard them on the radio and asked around until I found out who it was. I picked up this LP and my entire world turned upside down. I remember being in a van with a bunch of friends at this time and I was telling someone how much I loved the Clash. She said, "Yeah, me too. And the Ramones!" I said, "Yeah, the Ramones!" and then went and got a Ramones record. I had no idea.

The Cramps Bad Music for Bad People  Cave people made a rock and roll record. It's the singular standard of cool. Nothing will ever be this tuff. It's dangerous. Show me another rock-and-roll record that is this dangerous. You can't. Nice try.

The Monks Bad Habits  It's immaculate. It's funny. Every song sticks in my head. Makes me move. I have had thousands of singalongs to this record with pals. Singalongs make a record great. In Kamloops, this record made the stereo as much as the Clash or the Ramones. I was new to the scene. I figured the Monks were just as big as those bands.     

All-time favourite video

Queen “I Want to Break Free”  Freddie with pink lipstick, a mustache, his bra strap coming off his shoulder, a vacuum cleaner, a wink, and a hair flip. Brian May as a schoolgirl washing dishes with a polka-dot bow in his hair. When he says "God knows," I imagine Floor Tom Jones (frontman for Greenback High) every time. Dunno why. To be honest, I could do without all the ridiculous scenes of Freddie in cow-print spandex with a bunch of interpretive dancers, but even with that nonsense, this is my favourite video of all time. Who doesn't like grapes? 

What’s in your fridge

Soya sauce and ranch dressing. These are the condiments I put on my "Nacho Surprise". I make Kraft Dinner on the stove, and nachos in the oven. Then I mix them together in a big pot and add soya sauce and ranch. The nacho chips sog up just a bit. It's delicious. Everybody says it's delicious. 

Chocolate bars. When I was a kid I didn't think I liked salad. I didn't have my first salad until I was 21. It turns out I do like salad, I'm just particular about the kind of salad. When we have friends over to play cards, everybody brings a chocolate bar. You unwrap them all and put them in a bowl. Chocolate-bar salad.

Soda pop. If there's no soda pop in the fridge, I close the door and say, "Fridge's broken. Somebody fix the fridge." A fridge needs soda pop. How else am I going to drink a nice cold pop? 

The Vicious Cycles Motorcycle Club plays a record-release party at the American on Thursday (November 10). Go here for more info.