Squamish plays host to plenty of famous folks who live, work or play in town.
But it is not every day that a rockstar is interviewed 10,000-feet above the district.
That is just what happens with Nickelback's Daniel Adair in the May 18th episode of Radio Chatter.
During the online talk show, host and pilot Mathew Mosveen takes interesting folks up in a Cessna 172 aircraft and then peppers them with questions above stunning locales.
In this episode, which was filmed in July of 2021, Mosveen flew to Pitt Meadows to pick up Adair and then over Squamish and Garibaldi Provincial Park.
They also flew up to Pemberton to refuel before heading back.
Mosveen says the relaxed, friendly interview banter in the episode is a testament to the down-to-earth guy Adair is.
"It didn't feel like interacting with, you know, somebody who has millions of fans around the world. He's just like, talking," Mosveen said.
During the half-hour show, which The Squamish Chief got to preview ahead of its release, Adair discusses his draw to flying, being an exchange student overseas, drumming, having fun with his bandmates and those Nickelback haters who love to hate.
While the episode is less than 30 minutes, the pair were on the plane, with a videographer, for three and a half hours.
Adair even helped refuel in Pemby, Mosveen said.
"Daniel was like, helping me fuel the airplane up and reading the weather. He was like a part of the crew, you know?"
'Here and Now'
Adair, who was previously with 3 Doors Down, is quite well known in the B.C. aviation world, Mosveen said.
Unlike some of Mosveen's other guests who had never been in a small plane, Adair is a pilot.
A friend of a friend put Mosveen in touch with Adair about the show and the rocker, who lives in White Rock, reached out to the host about being a guest on Radio Chatter.
"Long story short, like 10 minutes later, I'm talking to Daniel and [he's] like, 'Yeah, this sounds really cool. I'm down,'" recalled Mosveen.
"Like, it went through all those layers within 10 minutes. It was insane. It was like dreaming."
'All the Right Reasons' to fly
Mosveen, 26, who works for a tech company for his day job, describes Radio Chatter as his passion project.
He earned his pilot's license when he was 16, but the flying bug bit him even earlier.
His mom emigrated to Canada from the Netherlands, so he spent time as a boy travelling back and forth to Europe on commercial planes.
"I got to sit on the pilot's lap when I was really young. It is one of the earliest childhood memories that I have — sitting on the pilot's lap and looking down and seeing the clouds on the bottom instead of from the top, instead of looking up. I still remember that it was mesmerizing for me. So I guess from that point onward, I was like, I want to be a pilot — I want to fly."
He was inspired to launch a flying talk show by the online show Hot Ones, which features celebrities interviewed while they eat increasingly hot chicken wings.
"It puts the guest in a more human state than you might be used to seeing them," he said of both his show and Hot Ones.
He realized that every time he took anyone he knew flying with him, rather than a routine hang out, as it was for him, most people found it magical and experienced a range of emotions while flying.
"It was like a very routine thing for me. But they would always get completely blown away," he said.
This made him think it might be an exciting dynamic for an interview show that would allow him to keep seeing flying through their eyes.
Like with Hot Ones, doing something unique and fun together takes away the stiff formality of most interview shows.
"It's so non-confrontational," Mosveen said.
"It's so mutual and, like, a shared experience. And there's also this element of progress. You're physically going somewhere [together]."
He says he will for sure bring other guests to fly over Garibaldi Park.
"100% we'll do it again," he said. "It's one of the most beautiful spots in the world with so many mountains you can go fly over within an hour of Vancouver."
A future dream guest would be Ryan Reynolds.
"I really want to take Ryan up over his city," he said, noting that he has been trying to get Reynolds' attention over Twitter.
The famous actor owns Aviation Gin, so the pairing seems meant to be, Mosveen said.
Find out if it happens by following Radio Chatter at:
Youtube: @RadioChatter
Instagram: @radiochattershow
Tiktok: @radiochattershow
Facebook: @RadioChatter
Twitter: @RadioChatterSho
Watch the full episode below
