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

Corporeal Imago’s Jeremiah Hughes and Gabrielle Martin. 

Who are you   

We are Jeremiah Hughes and Gabrielle Martin, co-artistic directors of Corporeal Imago and partners in life and creation. We met while performing as artists in a Cirque du Soleil show where we played lead characters with a love interest. Life imitated art and we also discovered that we had so much more to say as artists that we could say better together. We founded our own company in 2018 to do just that. In 2019 we left tour to settle down in Las Vegas, but then the pandemic hit, everything got turned upside down, and we ended up in Vancouver. And we are so glad we did! As a company that works between aerial acrobatic, contemporary dance, and visual theatre, we have found a warm welcome. Our second full-length creation, a group work titled Throe, is at the Scotiabank Dance Centre until November 19. It features six powerful performers in a world of aerial ropes, as they cling to what remains in the throes of survival. We see our work as unique within Vancouver--we blur the space between floor- and air-based movement and create a world that’s compellingly kinetic and visually arresting. We are also collaborating with some incredibly talented dancers, award-winning lighting designer Sophie Tang, and composer Jo Passed.   

First concert 

[Jeremiah] Well honesty is important… so when I was 10, I was in a Lifesavers commercial. For their launch, Lifesavers had a private party at which they had hired the Backstreet Boys to perform in a nightclub. I’m not gonna lie, I was so excited and told everybody. Interesting fact, about 15 years later I ended up performing on the same stage for New Year’s in Las Vegas.  

Life-changing concert 

[Jeremiah] I guess life-changing could be so many different things, for unique and memorable concerts, as a child I saw Andrea Bocelli sing for Elvis Stojko and Kurt Browning skating solos. But if we are talking about music-obsessions… Gabrielle and I had spent most of 2018 on tour in China, and during that time I completely immersed myself in Hozier. We had just come back to Canada to train in Montreal when we discovered that Hozier was playing the next week at the Olympia Theater. Knowing every lyric, beat, tone, and hum, I was in paradise and cried openly for about two hours. I still hold that entire experience as sacred. 

Top three records 

[Jeremiah] How dare you only allow me three. Now are these the best albums of all time? probably not. But if I had to guess what I have listened to front-back on repeat I suppose it could very well be these three. 

Hozier Hozier (Expanded Edition) As I mentioned, this album became a sacred sanctuary for me. I have found his lyrics to be evocative and cathartic. (While still rocking) 

Linkin Park Hybrid Theory These guys. Rock, rap, electronic--they were entirely formative for the subgenres they created. But for highschool Jeremiah, these guys brought so much realness and a dynamic range to their catalog to have guest artists then come into their remix album and create even more inspired works. Twenty-plus years later and I am still a huge fan. 

Odesza A Moment Apart Now this work falls into a totally different category. Odesza creates these expansive energized environments that bring a sort of chill-hope. It is electronic and vocal, yet somehow otherworldly in scope. This for me was zen driving music. And will always bring me back to driving a motorbike around Thailand. 

All-time favourite video

Baby Driver [Jeremiah]  What a difficult choice to make. Of course there are so many great ones out there like Dj Shadow’s (feat. Run The Jewels) “Nobody Speak”, Kenzo World’s “My Mutant Brain”, and Childish Gambino’s “This is America”. But the choice I will have to stand by is Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver. That entire film is a singular solid music-video-musical, with the illusion of being a blockbuster. Because it was so good we were charged to watch it in a theater. Every note and accent in the 37 tracks was meticulously choreographed making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. If that’s not enough, Edgar Wright used his own music video for inspiration: Blue Song’s “Mint Royale”. (This music video happened because he had the idea for the film but never believed he would be able to realize it). 

What’s in your fridge 

Cans of tomato juice. [Gabrielle] I love Bloody Marys! But I am also a lazy drinker, so I rarely ever mix a drink, even if it’s as simple as a Bloody Mary. Plus I’m breastfeeding, so I keep them in there as a promise to myself that the future holds more alcohol.  

Old sourdough bread starter. [Gabrielle] We really should throw this out! We had a baby and making homemade sourdough bread went out the window, but we still keep it as if it and that kind of spare time are salvageable! Honestly, I had only lasted a few months with it before abandoning the project, but Jeremiah kept us in fresh bread for a few years--making it a point to clarify that we started the sourdough project before covid made it trend! 

Two bottles of chipotle sauce: [Gabrielle] Because it is clearly the best hot sauce, and 1 is not enough.