 Interview and intro by: Matthew Parrish / Photograph by: Matthew Parrish Sam Bradley: "The House Exploded Into Flames"When I was a young little guy, a friend and I accidentally burnt down his moms house. It was horrible. I still feel horrible when I think about it. We were just dumb kids trying to learn how to smoke. One of the craziest things I remember is running out of the burning house. We watched for a bit - it was nuts - his moms water bed fell right through the floor and smashed below into the kitchen releasing a water balloon type effect. --
Sam Bradley: It was the night before Halloween. I was traveling back from Edmonton, Alberta.
Truth.Explosion.Magazine: Spooky! Why were you in Edmonton?
SB: I had been there for personal reasons. That in retrospect was a mistake. Never go to Alberta for personal reasons!
TEM: Fair enough. Noted. So where to now?
SB: I touched down in Vancouver, the land of the big small city that is dwarfed by the mountains and ocean.
TEM: Ahhh! Vancity! Love it! Did you live there?
SB: I had been living there for 4 years at the time and I was frustrated with my life.
TEM: Frustrated with what aspects?
SB: No, I was MAD with my world. I had so much potential but no fucking balls to claim anything in the game of life.
TEM: You have no idea how often I feel like that! So what did you do when you landed?
SB: I walked off the plane wearing some pajamas that my personal reason sewed for me. She was not my grandmother.
TEM: Ohhhhh I get ya…
SB: My head was down and my phone was on. I called my mother. No answer. I called my sister. “Hello Sammy!!!” She explained that she was coming to get me.
TEM: Well that’s good of her!
SB: As I was standing waiting to collect my bags my phone rang.
TEM: Was it the reason?
SB: No, It was my next-door neighbor Deb. She was clearly panicked but trying to remain calm. She said “I want you to drive home Sam. Your mother has been taken to the hospital. She is fine it’s just a precaution. There has been a fire at your house, it is fine but please just come home. The dogs are fine. You make sure YOU Drive…Say Ok.”
TEM: Oh no, sorry to hear that. What was your reaction?
SB: I had a little chuckle. I know my mum is a dramatic lady and I know Deb depending on the hour is worse. It was way past the hour.
TEM: Well I guess that could be a bit comforting and sis is on her way…
SB: My sister Grace pulled up in my mums truck and I told her that I was driving. No explanation needed, as I am her big brother.
TEM: Of course.
SB: We started our 35 minute journey back to my house. I told Grace about my phone call. We assured each other that it was fine and giggled about some of my Albertan stories.
TEM: Hehe! So it wasn’t a weird drive?
SB: We sat for a few minutes in comfortable silence. The light turned red. We were both thinking “what if”. Our bodies and minds started to feel unsure as we came closer to the area that we live.
TEM: Oh man! Those “what ifs” are the worst. Were you close by now?
SB: We were two roads away. Everything was as it should be.
TEM: Well that’s good…
SB: Now we were one road away. Still fine. Our road was full.
TEM: Full?
SB: Filled with 3 Fire trucks, 30 neighbors and news cameras.
TEM: Oh man! What did you do?
SB: I left the car at the top of the road. Grace and I walked down the road. I shouted towards the fireman “THAT’S MY HOUSE!”
TEM: Was Grace doing alright?
SB: Grace started crying. Another fireman ran over to us and told us that everything was going to be fine and joked with me saying that he hoped I knew how to tile floor and cut wood because I needed a new kitchen. We were relieved.
TEM: So intense!
SB: Then we heard yelling from inside the house. 15 men in yellow overalls and masks charged out of my house with a deafening alarm to follow.
TEM: Woah!
SB: Nothing.
TEM: …
SB: Within a few seconds the windows shattered and the house exploded into flames.
TEM: Oh shit!
SB: Grace threw herself at the nearest person that could comfort her, one of the many standing in tears and shock. I stood still.
TEM: Man! What were you doing then?
SB: I watched my house burn for an over an hour as chaos surrounded me. Everything my mum and my sister and I had collected and cherished and worked for was gone or was going.
TEM: That is just horrible.
SB: It seemed all so easy and quick to disappear in the Halloween orange flames.
TEM: Weird isn’t it! What about mum though?
SB: That was about when I realized my mum thought things were fine. She was at the hospital unaware of that the flames had left its origin; the fridge.
TEM: The fridge? How does a fridge catch on fire?
SB: You see we had moved from London, England with everything that we owned. The fridge was of course English. That day our regular fridge repair man (yes regular) had been in to fix our ice machine. He had forgotten however of the birthplace of our stainless steel monster and put a Canadian component into the organs of our fridge. The voltage is different in both countries and it would seem the North American part could not handle the pressure and burst into flames.
TEM: Oh shite! Do you think your mother tried to put it out?
SB: My mother tried to put it out while on the phone to the fire department but they recommended evacuating and waiting for the professionals.
TEM: Ahhhhh!
SB: Rightly so. As I doubt you can put fire out with heels and white wine while waving a dishcloth. My mum grabbed the guitar rack and ushered the dogs while holding the wine and screaming for help.
TEM: What an image that is. I have one final question – what is the “truth” about Sam Bradley?
SB: We are all fine and well. I think we as a family now have a greater understanding of what is important and what is not, like how amazing it is to be able to write this story from my iphone. No I kid. I think though now that over a year has passed and I have detached myself from the trauma of it all that the moral of the story is “don’t travel with your fridge.”
For more goodness from Sam Bradley check out his myspace page.
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