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

Nicholas Smyth of the Dreadnoughts.

Who are you

I am the lead singer and songwriter of the world’s greatest polka-folk-punk-klezmer-sea-shanty band. We keep lobbying to have that category included at the Junos but so far no luck. We are playing some kind of concert at the Rickshaw on March 18th and 19th—some kind of big sex-fetish thing I think? Maybe a flea market? Who knows. All I know is that Chi Pig won’t be there and that is bumming me the frig out.

First concert

In 1986 my dad took me and my sister to see a band called the Spoons at some amphitheatre in Ontario Place, Toronto. I spent the entire concert playing on my little hand-held hockey-goalie battery-powered video game, glancing up occasionally at the Spandex-clad ’80s-hair band as they pranced around and—presumably—performed all of the smash hits from their 1986 Bridges Over Borders album, which Wikipedia describes as a “commercial disaster”. We walked outside after the concert and John Candy was there, and he signed an autograph for me. I later traded that autograph for a Coffee Crisp.

Life-changing concert

The Distillers, London Underworld, 2001. My pal Dave and I had gone over to the U.K. to see the Pogues reunion tour. Those gigs were good. But we had a few pints at the End of the World Pub one night in London and wandered down into the music venue, and my life has never been the same. Brody Dalle has remained my hero ever since. I was still a pretty green punk rocker, and when she marched out on stage in her mohawk, downed a shot of tequila, roundhouse-kicked her mic stand over, and started blasting out these power chords, my eyes were opened and I saw the light. It was the most insanely chaotic thing I’d ever seen, and it’s one of the luckiest nights of my life, since the Distillers have remained a massive influence on us.

Top three records

Stan Rogers Between the Breaks ... Live!  Our song “Dear Old Stan” is a tribute to Canada’s GOAT folk songwriter. I grew up on this one and—for better or worse—there would be no Dreadnoughts without it.

The Pogues If I Should Fall From Grace With God  The Pogues spawned this legion of copycat Irish punk bands who essentially just rewrote one of their songs over and over again: fiddly diddly whiskey, fiddly diddly whiskey. The copycats weren’t actually copycatting, because they ignored the Pogues’ best album, which showed their true vision: Middle Eastern dances, German polkas, Spanish horns, a sea shanty, a heartbreaking ballad or two, and plenty of Irish spirit.

Various Artists Songs in the Key of Z, Vol. 1: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music  A collection of bizarre recordings made by musical “outsiders”. Punks like to tell themselves that they don’t care about musical conventions but they all play the same three chord songs. This album is full of people who really don’t care.

All-time favourite video

I hate music videos. Why do bands make them? Do I have to answer this one? Okay, the scene in A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 where Rick is doing awesome karate and Dramarama’s “Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You)” is playing.

What’s in your fridge?

Rhode Island Red Hot Sauce. The world’s greatest hot sauce from America’s greatest state.

82.5 individually wrapped cheese sticks. People with toddlers will understand this one. The little bugger could eat like 27 cheese sticks a day—we’re honestly worried that he’s just going to turn into a whining tube of fat. Where does it all go? No idea.

A jar of yeast cultured from a bottle of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale IPA. That’s right, I am “that” 40ish white guy with a beard who got into brewing beer—it is literally the most basic thing about me. I took the dregs of a beer bottle, successively spun it in a flask with sugar and wort eight or nine times, and now there are about 100 billion cells in this little mason jar. What I’m saying is that I’m a farmer. A yeast farmer.

Stream the Dreadnoughts single, "Cider Holiday", here starting on March 17.