The Red Bulletin February 2014 - NZ

a beyond the ordinary magazine

now

the beat goes on

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NIGHTCLUB AT THE HEART OF A WAR ZONE

DOWNHILL RACER

120kph on a skateboard

Hugh jackman MUSCLE, MAYHEM AND REAL SUPERPOWERS

february 2014

NZ slope star Christy Prior

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snow queen

february 2014

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THE WORLD OF RED BULL

26

Alaska’s surf city

No sun? No problem. A devoted group of hardy surfers brave near-frozen water off the coast of the subarctic city of Homer

Patrik Giardino/Corbis outline (cover), Scott Dickerson

Welcome

A few surprises for you this month. Australian actor Hugh Jackman may be known for his superhero roles, but did you know he is afraid of the dark? Then we have the story of the wave warriors who don’t ply their trade on sun-kissed beaches and instead opt for braving close-to-zero temperatures to surf the Alaskan coastline at the edge of the Arctic Circle. At the other end of the Americas, we caught up with the longboard racers who reach speeds of 120kph on a skateboard doing the downhill in Brazil, and the Mexicans keeping alive a nightclub in Murder City. Closer to these shores, get on board with new surf champ Ella Williams and rising snowboard slopestyle star Christy Prior.

Plus, shark diving, new video games and how you can outrun the whole world. Enjoy the issue. the red bulletin

Hugh Jackman page 40

“Acting brings your fears to the surface like nothing else” 03

february 2014

at a glance Bullevard

64

08 Happy Birthday facebook There’s a lot to like about being 10 years old: 1.2bn users agree

Features

like a bullet

26 Colden Moments

Bombing downhill at 120kph on a modified skateboard: welcome to the Downhill Longboard World Cup

An Alaskan photographer-surfer shows off his chilling local surf spot

40 Hugh Jackman

The Australian actor talks training, farming and his real-life superheroes

48 Beats On Mean Streets

Ciudad Juarez’s oasis of a nightclub

56 Christy Prior

58 Clap Clap Riot

Aspiring Auckland-based rock trio

48 party in murder capital

The Hardpop club, a neutral zone at the heart of Mexico’s drug war, has been voted one of the best clubs in the world

08 Ten years of facebook

Mark-ing a decade of Zuckerberg’s website with a social media special. Like it, share it, whatever, but always be friends, OK?

60 Ella Williams

The surprise world surfing champion

64 Downhill Racers

The Longboard World Cup in Brazil

74 Blitz Kids

A new LP for the indie-pop quartet

76 Prepare For Lift-Off

DIY space travel dreams coming true

Action

76 the final frontier

Two Danes are working on their own private space programme, but can their rockets really go into orbit?

04

87 night waves

Party central in Cape Town’s Aces’n’ Spades, a darkly glamorous dive bar where rock ’n’ roll meets surfing royalty

86 87 88 89 90 92 94 95 96 98

GET THE Gear A windsurfer’s kit party Get down in Cape Town travel Shark diving in the Pacific training With NFL star Reggie Bush enter now Wings For Life World Run My city Electro waltz through Vienna music James Mercer’s cherished tunes gaming Thief: back and in great nick save the Date Unmissable events magic moment An F1 hero’s final lap the red bulletin

Thiago Diz, Katie Orlinsky, zhu Jia ‘The Face of Facebook’, Copenhagen Suborbital, press handout

Rising star of snowboard slopestyle

contributors Who’s on board this issue

The Red Bulletin New Zealand, ISSN 2079-4274

The Red Bulletin is published by Red Bull Media House GmbH General Manager Wolfgang Winter Publisher Franz Renkin Editors-in-Chief Alexander Macheck, Robert Sperl Editor Paul Wilson

Scott Dickerson

Marcello maragni & thiago diz “Excitingly styled and incredibly courageous” is how the two Brazilian photographers described the tribe of longboarders they encountered in their homeland.

“I was surprised how fast the riders were and that men and women raced together,” says Maragni. Adds Diz: “They thundered past so close that the draft felt threatening.” One of them got too close and torpedoed Diz’s camera bag. “I needed 10 minutes to collect my stuff,” he says. The action begins on page 64.

Rüdiger sturm It really was not business as usual when our man sat down opposite Hugh Jackman.

The German film journalist (see also: Rolling Stone and Spiegel) felt a seriousness not apparent in five previous interviews. “Maybe it was something to do with his skin cancer scare,” says Sturm, of the Aussie star’s later Instagram reveal of a nasal ailment he thought was a scratch from an on-camera fight. If anything, the sombre atmosphere put both men in mind of Prisoners, Jackman’s most excellent recent thriller.

Read all about it on page 40.

06

Among the lucky few who combine their passions with their career, photographer Dickerson took The Red Bulletin on a trip surfing in Alaska. “Growing up surrounded by the wild beauty of Alaska, it’s no surprise I chose photography as a career,” he says.

“How I became so passionate about surfing remains somewhat of a mystery, even to myself. The only explanation I can offer is that some of us are just born with a love of the ocean.” See how Dickerson and his crew ride the frigid surf on page 26.

Creative Director Erik Turek Art Directors Kasimir Reimann, Miles English Photo Director Fritz Schuster Production Editor Marion Wildmann Managing Editor Daniel Kudernatsch Chief Sub-Editor Nancy James Deputy Chief Sub-Editor Joe Curran Assistant Editors Robert Tighe, Ulrich Corazza, Werner Jessner, Ruth Morgan, Florian Obkircher, Arek Pia˛tek, Andreas Rottenschlager Contributing Editor Stefan Wagner Contributors Lisa Blazek, Georg Eckelsberger, Raffael Fritz, Sophie Haslinger, Marianne Minar, Boro Petric, Holger Potye, Martina Powell, Mara Simperler, Clemens Stachel, Manon Steiner, Lukas Wagner Design Martina de Carvalho-Hutter, Silvia Druml, Kevin Goll, Carita Najewitz, Esther Straganz Chief Photo Editor Fritz Schuster Photo Editors Susie Forman (Creative Photo Director), Rudi Übelhör (Deputy Photo Director), Marion Batty, Eva Kerschbaum Repro Managers Clemens Ragotzky (manager), Karsten Lehmann, Josef Mühlbacher Head of Production Michael Bergmeister Production Wolfgang Stecher (manager), Walter O Sádaba, Christian Graf-Simpson (app) Advertising Enquiries Brad Morgan, brad.morgan@nz.redbull.com Printed by PMP Print, 30 Birmingham Drive, Riccarton, 8024 Christchurch

Katie Orlinsky The New York City-based photographer has been on tricky assignments in Mexico before.

After shooting a shoe-loving subculture in dangerous narco drug-war territory for The Red Bulletin last year, we tasked her to head to the former world murder capital Ciudad Juarez for this month’s story on the Hardpop nightclub. “A few years ago, I wouldn’t have left my hotel room after sundown and there I was: staying up all night in Mexico.”

You can see what she did page 48.

“ The longboarders thundered past so close that the draft felt threatening” Thiago Diz

Finance Siegmar Hofstetter, Simone Mihalits Marketing & Country Management Stefan Ebner (manager), Elisabeth Salcher, Lukas Scharmbacher, Sara Varming Distribution Klaus Pleninger, Peter Schiffer subscription price: 45 NZD, 12 issues, www.getredbulletin.com, subs@nz.redbulletin.com Marketing Design Julia Schweikhardt, Peter Knethl Advertising Placement Sabrina Schneider O∞ce Management Manuela Gesslbauer, Kristina Krizmanic, Anna Schober

The Red Bulletin is published in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, UK and USA Website www.redbulletin.com Head office Red Bull Media House GmbH, Oberst-Lepperdinger-Strasse 11-15, A-5071 Wals bei Salzburg, FN 297115i, Landesgericht Salzburg, ATU63611700 New Zealand office 27 Mackelvie Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1021 +64 (0) 9 551 6180 Austria office Heinrich-Collin-Strasse 1, A-1140 Vienna, +43 (1) 90221 28800 Write to us: letters@redbulletin.com

the red bulletin

10 years of facebook

what are you up to?

Mark Zuckerberg

The man who did away with anonymity

shutterstock, Corbis, nasa, picturedesk.com, getty images

In February 2004, a Harvard student put a webpage online where users were expected to register with their real names and disclose their personal details. Surely it had to be a joke? Who’d be willing to do that, experts griped, and they waited for it to flop.

That sophomore was Mark Zuckerberg; he is now a billionaire and Facebook is the most popular site on the web after Google.

1 Comment

The Red Bulletin “Great pic! Mark looks like a young Machiavelli. You can see more pictures by Zhu Jia and his friends in The Face of Facebook at the ShanghART Gallery in Singapore.” facebook.com/shanghartgallerysg

We Like!

Friday Reads Every Friday, users post what they’re reading.

08

Who What Wear The trends on the world’s catwalks.

Stylefruits Great tips for her; eye candy for him.

George Takei From Star Trek to the frontier of social media.

Milky Way Scientists Interesting shots, updated daily.

Awkward Family Photos The name says it all.

Bill Nye The Science Guy explains our world to us.

the red bulletin

Best Of Retro-Future

A Riddle

Who Am I? When it comes to music stars, this rapper has the most likes from people in New Zealand. (Answer overleaf.)

OLD SCHOOL DOCKING STATION An iPhone dock for everyone who wants to hold a real receiver. The dial comes via an app. etsy.com/shop/ woodguy32

Born:

October 17, 1972

Joined Facebook:

December 19, 2008

Fans (total):

78.2 million

Fans (New Zealand):

300,000

Days spent in a coma:

10

Friends

getprojecteo.com

Valentine’s Day

Music

Joy and pain The songs users listen to most when they change their relationship status In a relationship

Status

1. Don’t Wanna Go Home by Jason Derulo “No matter day or night, I’m shining” 2. Love On Top by Beyoncé “Every time you touch me I just melt away”

Likes

3. How To Love by Lil Wayne “It’s hard not to stare, the way you moving your body” It’s complicated

Status

1. The Cave by Mumford and Sons “It’s empty in the valley of your heart”

INSTANT LAB The mobile photo lab.

It converts iPhone shots into Polaroids.

2. Crew Love by Drake “This ain’t no f--king sing-along.

So girl, what you singing for?”

the-impossibleproject.com

3. A ll Of The Lights by Kanye West “Her mother, brother, grandmother hate me in that order”

I F**king Love Science Dinosaurs, space, sensational stuff.

the red bulletin

Getty Images (3), shutterstock (2)

sonymusic, idockit.com, Instant Lab, projecteo, CORBIS, hob, shutterstock (4)

When it’s love, pick Beyoncé

PROJECTEO Choose nine of your Instagram pictures, wait a few weeks and a slide projector the size of a matchbox arrives by post.

9Gag Gags and more gags. What makes Facebook laugh.

Humans Of Berlin There’s Humans of New York too.

Reef Girls Bikini models doing what they do.

24 comments

Jamie Oliver New tasty recipes to cook up every day.

The Red Bulletin “Hmm, must be one of my friends. But then I don’t actually know all my friends.”

Grumpy Cat Laughing is infectious. So is a bad mood.

For The Record The Red Bull Music Academy’s new book.

Amazing Things In The World Pictures of the world’s wonders.

09

It’s Me

Eminem The most popular sports stars don’t even come close to musicians among New Zealand’s Facebook users Sport

1. Sonny Bill Williams 150,000

2. Travis Pastrana 90,000

3. Dan Carter 85,000

2. Katy Perry 260,000

3. Bob Marley 240,000

1. Eminem 300,000

10

getty images (4), Dan Busta/Red Bull Content Pool, universal music, cass bird

Stars

10 years of facebook

Bullevard

Social Circuit

Hackers and dogs

Mary Lyn added a new photo 2 minutes ago

There are more than seven billion people in the world. Over a billion of them are on Facebook and they could all become your friends. Even if you don’t want them to

Forbidden Relations

What Facebook likes to delete

Have you ever wondered why one of your photos has disappeared?

Facebook has all content moderated by low-paid workers in countries such as Morocco and India. In 2012, one such moderator leaked a catalogue containing guidelines to the press.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page, FB ID: 4 (numbers 1 to 3 are test IDs) was hacked in 2013…

Some of the things that get deleted: Naked bottoms or nipples. That includes breastfeeding women whose nipples are visible.

Men’s nipples are OK. Camel toes, as seen on those ladies with too-tight lower-half clothing.

People sitting on the loo. Sperm, drunk people or people who are asleep and have had their faces painted by somebody. Illegal drugs. The one exception: all images of cannabis are allowed.

source: facebook

Boo is more popular than Beast (1.6 million likes).

Which Beast probably couldn’t care less about, because he doesn’t wear blue Crocs like Boo, he pads around barefoot, as does his owner, Mark Zuckerberg.

corbis, REUTERS (2), picturedesk.com (2), GEPA pictures, sony music, getty images

False nipple alarm. Wow, what a huge pair of… elbows. Mistaken for something else and deleted.

Share Lock shared a new post about an hour ago

The most popular dog in the world is Boo, with his perfect teddy-bear face

The most beloved dog in the world is Boo, with over 8.5 million likes. This sweet hound’s popularity comes from his perfect teddy-bear face and positive attitude. “I am a dog. Life is good.”

...by a user with FB ID 77,821,884, one Khalil Shreateh. The Palestinian web developer promptly had his Facebook page deleted. It is active again and already has more than 44,000 subscribers, but…

…Real Madrid are way more popular. The Royals have far the most Facebook fans among Palestinian sports enthusiasts at 185,056.

And they have over 44 million fans worldwide.

One of Real’s most loyal fans is none other than...

Crime

Hook, line and sinker Don’t fall for the trick-posting technique known as likejacking. Here are the five most common ruses: Win an iPad! Just fill out this questionnaire...

Click here to see the shocking video (and to share it with all your friends).

Handsome stranger! I see your profile picture.

Me in love straight away. You marry me?

Do you want to see who’s visited your profile?

Download this software! (Not a virus, honest!)

Amazing! She’s only 16 but she did this!

Rap­per Pitbull, who, with 40 million fans, is the most popular dangerous dog on Facebook, is a friend of both CR7 and J Lo.

...her Facebook friend Cristiano Ronaldo is playing. The most expensive footballer ever is also the world’s most popular sports star on Facebook, with over 65 million fans.

...Jennifer Lopez (28 million likes), who regularly jets to Spain for matches in which...

Facebook is to start charging. Pay your membership fee now!

the red bulletin

11

Bullevard

10 years of facebook

Facebook World

The light of friendship It may look like a satellite picture of the Earth, but this is a record of Facebook usage. Every line represents a connection between two people on Facebook. The only dark places are uninhabited areas like the Sahara and Siberia… and countries where Facebook is banned, such as China.

Playing Games

Proceed with caution!

Facebook games are the new Solitaire: computer games for people who don’t play computer games, and it’s very easy to become addicted.

Angry Bird hates the following games 2 hours ago 1. Candy Crush Saga The crystal meth of gaming. Your first fix is free, but then you’re addicted. The aim is to string together colourful sweets. Over 100 million players do so.

2. Pet Rescue Saga If Candy Crush Saga is meth, this game is crack with funny animals. The idea is to save them by stringing crystals together.

3. Dragon City This mix of Farmville and Pokémon is all about breeding dragons – but you don’t have to string anything together.

Don’t be fooled by pretty colours: Dragon City is a merciless time-waster

12

342 friends

That’s what the average Facebook user has. In real life we only have six.

Ann Dead shared a last post 3 hours ago

Life Event: Death

Dying online press handout, shutterstock (2)

In 50 years, will Facebook be the world’s digital graveyard?

The Facebook Zombies According to estimates, 10 to 20 million Facebook users have died since the social network was first conceived. Nobody knows how many of their profiles have been deleted and how many of these people are still haunting Face­book as ghosts. By 2065, at the latest, the number of dead users will outstrip the number of those living.

the red bulletin

The Suicide Machine This is how to delete yourself from the internet.

You log in to the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine website, via Twitter or Facebook, and that’s it. Doing so automatically deletes all your messages and friends on Facebook, blocks wall posts and make your profile private. Your last words go up as a message, namely that you are committing “web 2.0 suicide”. suicidemachine.org 12 Comments

Sign out forever “It’s no longer functioning perfectly on Facebook, but we’re working on that.”

13

Bullevard

10 years of facebook Self-help

Kainrath

To post or not to post?

Can Talk

Great photo. You want to share it with everyone. Which is fine. But remember: the internet never forgets

Can I ask you out for a drink?

N

Is it yours?

Stop, thief!

Y N

Are there people in the picture?

Are you in the picture?

Y

Is there a woman in the picture?

N

Y Does it show a sweet little kitten with adorable little eyes?

N

N Are you alone?

Y 1 Comment

Dietmar Kainrath “Real friends give it their best shot.”

How old are you again?

Y

Y

Are you wearing clothes?

Y

Do you look good?

Y

N

Does she look good?

N

Y

N

N

Don’t do it!

Is she naked?

Y

N

Still alive and kicking

Will it lead to protests by any of the following groups: feminists, pacifists, socialists, environmental activists, capitalists, lobbyists, royalists?

Do you want to stay with her?

N

Y

N

Y

So could we say that what you’re posting doesn’t meet all social and legal standards?

N

N Can what you’ve posted be traced back to you?

Y

Are you sober?

(Are you under the influence of any other substances?)

Y

N

Y

Are you sure it’s not boring?

If in doubt, you probably shouldn’t

N

Can you delete it later without a trace?

Y

Are you posting in work?

Y dietmar kainrath

According to several hoax announcements on Facebook and Twitter, Justin Bieber died more than 50 times in 2013.

That’s more than any other pop star. The most common cause of death was a drug overdose. The next most common was a plane crash. After that was him crashing his Ferrari. Of course, these are just attempts by Bieber’s detractors to reduce his fanbase to tears.

The traumatised devotees then spread the word without checking.

N

Y

N N

No, you can’t

Post it!

Has anyone seen you?

Y Don’t do it

picturedesk.com

It’s a nasty old world out there, and people enjoy lying online because it’s just so easy

N

Is it your wife?

Y

Is it boring?

Justin Bieber

“I like smoke – it smells good – and shredding tyres”

Like It Or Not

‘Mad’ Mike Whiddet “I’m a bit of a late starter on Facebook, but I love it. It was always one of those things I put in the too hard basket, something I didn’t have enough time for.

I set up a fan page two years ago and it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve got over 80,000 followers and it’s a great way to keep fans updated and stay in contact with all the people I meet overseas through drifting.

What else do I like? Drifting, obviously.

I like that the car looks out of control, but I’m in control. I like adrenalin. When I scare myself I get an adrenalin rush. I like bikes, but they’re dangerous. I like anything with wheels and motors. I grew up doing motocross, but with age comes a cage. I like engines as long as they’re rotary. I like pasta and chocolate. I don’t like losing; it’s not an option for me.

I like noise – the louder the better. I like smoke – it smells good. I like shredding tyres – in a typical drift event I’ll go through $10,000 worth of tyres. I like Queenstown; it’s the most beautiful place in New Zealand and it’s where I shot my Crown Range video clip that’s had almost 2.5 million views on YouTube.”

1 comment

The Red Bulletin The danger man hits the skids. facebook.com/madmike.drift

16

miles Holden/Red Bull Content Pool

The New Zealand drift racing star is a recent convert to social media

Bullevard

10 years of facebook

BC One

Red Bull BC One

Body rocking The world’s best breakdancers faced off to crown the ultimate champion

They can contort their bodies into poses like modern art sculptures and move muscles that the rest of us don’t know we have, far less what we could do with them. They are best breakdancers in the world and they went head-to-head in the Red Bull BC One grand finale in the South Korean capital, Seoul. It was local B-Boy Hong 10 who danced his way to victory with some incredible moves. There can only be one. One Red Bull BC One. We like!

Air Freeze shared a post 3 months ago facebook.com/redbullBCOne

18

Your friends might have long since become robots.

Or you could at least save yourself the bother of posting status updates because now there’s a website which does it for you automatically:

Romina Amato/Red Bull Content Pool, shutterstock

what-would-i-say.com

Bullevard

10 years of facebook

14 Alternatives

Up yours Is Facebook getting on your nerves? There are plenty of other ways of staying in touch with your friends

Ning If ads annoy you.

There’s a charge, but then there are no more advertising banners which know more about your consumer habits than you do.

Friendica; Diaspora If you’re afraid of Big Brother.

Both are decentralised which means that your personal details aren’t on a server, they’re stored on your own computer.

About.me If Facebook seems too much like hard work.

Your online business card. There’s no chat and there are no status updates or any other rubbish, but you do have a profile page.

App.net If you prefer to do it yourself.

It’s basically a simple short message service. Social media apps can be integrated and there is developer access.

Part two of the fourth series of The Walking Dead starts this month. Facebook’s favourite zombie serial in numbers:

51 episodes (to end of season 4) 7 main actors in the first series 3 are still alive 5.3m+ People in the USA watched the pilot episode 16.1m+ People in the USA watched the first episode

of the fourth series

38 litres of artificial blood per episode

60 pairs of zombie contact lenses for the extras

121 issues of the comic on which it is based

126 countries broadcast it on TV

2m+ followers on Twitter

21m+ Facebook likes

“ If Facebook carries on like this, it will have disappeared in four years” Eric Jackson, the founder of Ironfire Capital Forbes.com, June 2013

Pheed If you want to earn some money for your updates.

Broadcast text, pictures, audio and video live and receive money from users via subscription or pay-per-view.

Thumbs Down

We don’t like everything

EyeEm If you’re too lazy even for Instagram.

The app recognises your interests and suggests users’ photos you might like with different topics tagged. Couldn’t be easier.

Google + If you prefer to be alone.

The best social network out there… and nobody’s on it.

Though at least you can get some real peace and quiet.

Between If you’re seriously in love.

Couples can send each other messages and pictures via their mobiles. A “love story” gradually takes shape. Sooo romantic! <3 Nextdoor If you like to stay local.

Share your data with your neighbours using your postcode and address. You could, of course, go round and talk to them.

PatientsLikeMe If you’re a hypochondriac, a doctor or both.

Patients and medics can exchange opinions on ailments and illnesses and gather data for research purposes.

Gun Lovers Passions If you’re single and into guns.

A dating and social networking site for firearm enthusiasts.

A shot right in the heart. Sorry.

20

Stand: 21. 11. 2013

WhatsApp If you only use Facebook for chatting.

It looks like text messaging, but uses your internet connection to connect with people, so doesn’t show up on your phone bill.

Broken faces

Geoffrey berkshire

Snapchat If you don’t want your old photos to catch up with you.

Send pictures which automatically delete 10 seconds after they’re opened. Perfect for secret agents, sexters and the paranoid.

The Walking Dead

Let’s be frank: a lot of stuff on Facebook is no good

The glut of invitations to events, pages or groups.

Sponsored links such as: “Do you want a hot girlfriend too?

Then consider this odd trick.”

No sooner have you got used to a new layout than Facebook comes up with another update.

Messages are marked as read as soon as you open them, which puts pressure on you to reply even if you don’t want to.

That’s there’s no dislike button. But according to Facebook, the like button will also soon be history and we don’t like that at all.

1 Comment

The Red Bulletin “And what we don’t like is this constant moaning! If you don’t like it, you can deregister yourself. Even if the button is hard to find.”

the red bulletin

Cinetext, Corbis (2), Universal Music, Getty Images, Getty Images

Instagram If you’re too lazy to type.

And prefer to post retro-filtered photos instead, like of such vital things as what you had for dinner or your abs after a workout.

Rihanna

Like-button legends

This diminutive woman is the world’s most liked person.

We can go along with that For a long time Eminem and Rihanna changed places at the top, but now she’s surged ahead.

With more than 80 million likes, the singer is the most popular person on Facebook. She adds an average of 200,000 fans a week.

Chester French were the first band on Facebook.

The indie-pop duo were students at Harvard in 2004 and were friends with Mark Zucker­berg, but they haven’t made the most of their social media head start.

They’re currently at 60,000 likes.

Lil Wayne had a likeable idea in 2011: he requested that, “Everyone, please ‘Like’ this post.” His fans obliged with 588,243 likes in 24 hours.

That’s nothing compared to Obama’s “Four more years”, which got over 4 million likes in a single day in 2012.

The most popular dead person on Facebook is Michael Jackson, who has 66 million likes. He was the first to reach the 10 million-like mark, which he did in July 2009, a month after he died. Today there are even fan pages for Jacko’s favourite foods.

A Sea Of Faces

…and the number keeps increasing It’s a wonderful sight: as wonderful as all the universe, but a lot more colourful. One of those dabs of colour is you – one of over 1.2 billion. That’s how many Facebook users there are now.

And you appeared on there, just as you appeared in this world, without you realising.

Julian Broad/Farrell Music

thefacesoffacebook.com

22

This is you But you don’t know it.

10 years of facebook

Bullevard

This is Robbie Williams He turns 40 on February 13.

Happy Birthday! But maybe he’d rather mark the day alone.

His FB ID is 5,441,929,106.

Which is all wrong, of course, because he’s really No.1, or has had nine No.1 albums in the UK, at least. As a matter of fact, his latest album, Swings Both Ways, is the thousandth No.1 album in UK chart history.

Find out what number you are at: findmyfacebookid.com

Bullevard

10 years of facebook

12 O’Clock Boys

Geoffrey berkshire

‘Show your strengths’ American filmmaker Lofty Nathan financed his first work with the help of social media and crowdfunding

Henry Rollins publicised 12 O’Clock Boys on Facebook

12 O’Clock Boys will be available as video on demand from January 31, 2014

There’s More Where That Came From

SEMAPHORE Napoleon was fond of this visual version of telegraphy.

A single letter could be sent over a distance of 270km in just two minutes.

100,000 years of social media

Every era believes itself to be the height of technical achievement and that nothing better will come after it. That is probably what people thought back in the Stone Age when they first daubed red paint onto the walls of their caves. A short history of communication.

LANGUAGE “Lovely mammoth tusk!” Nobody knows when grunts evolved into full speech, but we’d definitely mastered language by the time we became homo sapiens.

Noah Rabinowitz/Courtesy of 12 O‘CLOCK BOYS (2), shutterstock (4)

Social media isn’t just about status updates and posting selfies. It can also make creative dreams a reality. Take Lofty Nathan’s debut feature 12 O’Clock Boys. The documentary follows Pug, a young guy from Baltimore who desperately wants to get in with an urban dirt-bike gang. Nathan collected money for the project via the crowdfunding site Kickstarter twice: US$12,000 in 2010 and then another US$30,000 three years later. After completing the film, he submitted it to the South By Southwest film festival where it was heralded by critics and festivalgoers alike. Musicians T-Pain, Jermaine Dupri and Henry Rollins are just some of the stars to have publicised Nathan’s Kickstarter campaign on their own social media pages.

Nathan’s advice to wannabe filmmakers also hoping for help from online funding? “The most important thing is to have a trailer which shows your strengths.” There can be surprise benefits, too: “I met my girlfriend through Kickstarter.”

Pony Express The ‘horse mail’ was discontinued within 18 months of opening. There were no upgrades, it was inflexible and just too slow.

Papyrus It’s light and easy to carry, advantages which the Vatican didn’t do away with until the 11th century.

Cave painting Back in the Stone Age, coal drawings of buffalo were state of the art.

Now such attempts would be seen as vandalism.

The telephone “Das Pferd frisst keinen Gurkensalat” or “Horses don’t eat cucumber salad”. It was one of the first things anyone ever said on the phone.

April 3, 1860-October 22, 1861 Pony Express

1793-circa 1850 SEmaphore 150BC- 1890 smoke signals

3000BC-1100 Papyrus 4000BC-100AD INSCRIBED TABLETS 30,000-4000BC CAVE PAINTING 100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

10,000

8000

6000

4000

2000

100

200

300

400

BC

= 1,000 years

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500

600

700

800

900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900

0-1900

= 100 years the red bulletin

Fast love

One of the fastest-growing apps for Facebook is Tinder; its a simple online dating tool which puts you in touch with people near you. You’re shown a picture of a potential match, use swipe actions to rate it hot or not, and then you hook up. Easy. gotinder.com

Facebook Facts

Numbers please!

Deutsches Museum, shutterstock (2), sony

dietmar kainrath

Facebook isn’t just ones and zeros: there are a tonne of other figures powering the social network

727,000,000 People actively using Facebook on a daily basis.

Kainrath

Persons who visited Facemash, Facebook’s supposed forerunner. Mark Zucker­berg’s version of Hot or Not was shut down within days. But 22,000 votes had already been cast and he had to go before Harvard’s administrative board. The story is told in 2009 movie The Social Network.

Am I in it?

119 %

94,025

Postcode for Menlo Park, Facebook’s home. The complex also just happens to be surrounded by a circular street called Hacker Way.

Percentage of the population of Monaco using Facebook; only 0.05 per cent of China does.

That puts the principality in first place for number of Facebook users per population and China in last. There are way more Chinese people using Facebook (60 million) than there are people in Monaco (30,000; over 36,000 Facebook users are registered there).

500

Dollar value of prize awarded by Facebook if you can hack into the site.

Carrier pigeons Heroes of the air, up until the end of World War II, at least. A memorial in the French city of Lille honours over 20,000 fallen, cooing warriors.

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59/90/154

RGB colour code of Facebook’s dark blue. Why is the website blue? Mark Zuckerberg has a red-green sight defect.

Mobile phones Early models weighing 1.1kg (10 times heavier than an iPhone) could also be used as nutcrackers or dumbbells.

Tube mail It was conceived as a way of transmitting messages and is now experiencing a revival.

The system is popular in hospitals.

From June 2011 Google+ From November 2010 diaspora From March 2006 twitter From February 2004 facebook

TWITTER We became more succinct in 2006, getting our points across in 140 characters or less.

From July 2003 myspace From June 2003 second life From March 2002 friendster From 1973 Mobile telephone From 1964 XEROX FAX MACHINES From 1962 Paging From 1861 LANDLINES

SECOND LIFE More than 36 million avatars are on Second Life; about a million are still active.

1853-1965 TUBE MAIL 1847-2005 TELEGRAMS From 1837 MORSE TELEGRAPH From 1605 NEWSPAPERS 400BC-1980 Heliograph 2000BC-1945 CARRIER PIGEONS From 2400BC letters

“Horses don’t eat cucumber salad”

HELIOGRAPH Communication using reflected sunlight. Last used by Rambo and the Afghans as they fought the Soviets.

From 100,000BC human language 1900-1910

1910-1920

1920-1930

1930-1940

1940-1950

1950-1960

1960-1970

1970-1980

1980-1990

1990-2000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

1900-2000

= 10 years the red bulletin

2000-the present day

= 1 year

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alaska’s surf city During the long winter in Alaska – eight months of cold, up to 20 hours of dark every day – surfers get their thrills in the icy waters off the subarctic city of homer. local Photographer Scott Dickerson is a master of the shivery swell Words: Ann Donahue Photography: Scott Dickerson

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“Because we live in a coastal town, it doesn’t really get super-cold very often – I mean super-cold by Alaska standards,” says photographer Scott Dickerson. “We occasionally end up surfing when it is around zero degrees, and if it’s below zero, that’s a really cold day for us to be out on the water. We never go surfing except for fun, so whenever it’s not fun anymore, we go home. It’s not something we do to prove it to ourselves; it’s not some sort of macho challenge. It’s something we enjoy doing.”

“The guy on the left is Kyle Kornelis, and that’s in Homer during a particularly cold winter. This shot is really cool because of the ice on the beach, and just because he’s a burly-lookin’ Alaskan dude. The tide changes on average about four or five metres – it goes up and down twice a day – so the ice extends way out into the water underneath. At low tide it’s all exposed and freezes, and then the tide comes in and covers it up, so you have this big ice bank that goes out into the water. The above picture is from a trip I did with a heli-ski organisation. They had a down day: they couldn’t be out skiing because of the snow conditions, so I showed up with some surf gear and we took a couple of the more adventurous customers out.

We flew them out, landed on the beach and gave them a surf session. They loved it.”

A

L

A

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Home

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wear the warmest hooded wetsuits available with 7mm-thick gloves and boots. We surf all waves, from knee-high to as big as it gets, which is about 10ft.

Waves are generated 70 miles away from the beach, so the wind has to be blowing extremely hard to get a good swell going.â&#x20AC;?

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“This guy’s name is Iceman. he’s the original surfer in this area – he started surfing Here in 1984”

“We take a lot of people out who travel the world surfing and they are always super-stoked to be up here because of the wilderness experience.

It does this sort of unexplainable thing where everything is so much more amazing when you’re in the water. It’s like you jump into the scenery.”

“It’s like surfing anywhere: sometimes we’ll surf as often as five days a week, and then we could go three or four weeks without a single surfable wave. It’s really unpredictable. We have our whole lives structured so we’ll stop whatever we’re doing and go surfing if the surf’s up.”

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the red bulletin

“I don’t know why I got so into surfing.I’d never seen anybody surf in my life when I started playing around in the water”

“This is a typical day for us. The waves aren’t any good, but we’re out there anyway because it’s all we’ve got. It’s so cool to be in such a beautiful place and then jump in the water. The thing everybody says is, ‘You’re in Alaska, it’s got to be so cold,’ but honestly, I’m warm. When I get out of the water I’m hot, and I’m like, ‘Ugh, get this wetsuit off.’”

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“I want to get in the water. I guess you’re just born to do something”

“Mainly, the thing about surfing in Alaska is that it is just so incredibly remote. There is nobody out. It’s just you and your buddy surfing.

And that’s what the shock is when you go somewhere surfing is popular. You go to the beach and there are 50 people in the water.”

“If you’re cold after a session, you fill your suit with hot water from the tap and lay down; we call it the personal hot tub. It floats around and covers your whole body in hot water. Once you are laying on the snow, though, the warmth doesn’t last very long. After about 30 seconds you think, ‘OK, I need more.’”

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the red bulletin

“after people get a few sessions in, they love it. They get really excited”

“Hawaiian surfer Ian Walsh visited Homer with sibling snowboarders Jon and Eric Jackson while they were filming their travel series, Brothers On The Run. We took them out on the MV Milo, the 58ft boat we use for surf trips. The boat is great for exploring the coastline — it’s all about discovering waves and facing the elements.”

“ T his was taken in homer in the middle of a snowstorm. A lot of times we surf where we can drive to the waves”

“ The surfer sitting down is Kristi Wickstrom, and I believe that’s her dog. John Langham, on the right, is in his early 50s. It’s funny seeing a bunch of old guys up here surfing.

They’re tough old guys, for sure.”

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the red bulletin

“One time, it was too stormy in Homer, so we drove up the road for 40 minutes into the Cook Inlet. The storm was so big that there were 10ft faces on the waves and the beach was covered in huge chunks of ice about three metres wide. The above picture shows local surfer Mike McCune getting the gear out of the truck, and the shot on the right is of him filling his suit with hot water using the outdoor taps at Iceman’s house near the surf spot in Homer.” twitter.com/ScottDickerson

the red bulletin

39

He has beaten supervillains and his fear of the dark.

But what Hugh Jackman really wants is to be the fastest farmer on Earth Interview: R端diger Sturm Photography: Patrik Giardino/Corbis Outline

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action star who can act. And sing.

And dance. Aged 45, he has the body of a decathlete and is married father of two. Just about everything Hugh Jackman does, he does right.

Not least being funny, interesting and insightful.

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the red bulletin: You look like a topclass athlete in your films. Have you had a little bit of a digital touch-up or is that really all down to training? hugh jackman: I wish it was digital effects, but in fact it’s the result of a crazy training schedule, which I’ve now kept to for a pretty long time. Wolverine has been part of my life for 13 years now after all.

What constitutes a crazy training schedule?

Honestly, forget it. Don’t try this at home.

It takes up an enormous amount of your time and it’s no fun. I only do it myself because it’s my job.

Claws in his contract: Australian actor Hugh Jackman shot to fame playing Wolverine in the X-Men movies

“Acting brings your fears to the surface.

You have the choice

of whether to face them down”

But you’re not always shooting. You get a break every now and again.

Will Smith said that’s it’s so much easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.

He was right, unfortunately.

Doesn’t such extreme physical trai­ning dull your mind?

On the contrary: it makes you tough.

I couldn’t have a music career if I didn’t have that toughness. I’ll tell you who the toughest people on the planet are: dancers. They put up with pain you wouldn’t believe. I’d have liked to be a dancer when I was younger and I was good at it too, but my brothers used to laugh at me and call me names. I’m still annoyed now that I didn’t have the balls to give dancing a go back then.

Can you play the tough guy in your everyday life? Have you ever been in a fight?

Sure.

What happened?

I was about 18. We’d started singing Australian songs in an English pub and one of the locals tapped me on the shoulder and then suddenly he punched me. All I remember is that by the time I came round the sun had come up.

44

That really isn’t the best fight story of all-time.

I won other fights, though. Mostly against my brothers.

What’s the toughest situation you’ve faced in your job?

My early days as a drama student. For the first three months, they turned their noses up at whatever I did. I felt bad and of course I was bad. I was like the class idiot. Later on, I only had that feeling once during the first six weeks of shooting the first X-Men. I thought I was going to get fired any minute.

How come they didn’t fire you?

At one point I was feeling so awful that I said to myself, “I’m going to be fired anyway so I’ll do what I really want to do.” If you’re going to go down, then go down fighting. And the director liked it more than anything I’d done till that point.

Is attack the best form of defence when it comes to fear?

Yes, I think so. And we actors are experts when it comes to fear, because acting brings your fears to the surface like nothing else. You have the choice of whether to face them down or not. the red bulletin

B&TOR0036

46

Huge

act, man People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive 2008, still not so bad-looking six years on, can do the business in all kinds of roles, wolf-like or otherwise

X-Men (2000) His third film role, as Wolverine, was his breakthrough. A seventh turn as the mutant hero comes later this year in X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

The Prestige (2006) Jackman excels opposite Christian Bale in a twist-laden tale of two magicians competing to perform the most masterful illusion.

Les Misérables (2012) For the film version of the musical, the actors sang live on set. Jackman, magnificent, won a Golden Globe and a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Prisoners (2013) Hugh goes dark, as a war veteran who takes the law into his own hands after his daughter is kidnapped, in a genuinely thrilling thriller.

weigh up all the pros and cons. But with her, I knew as soon as I met her. Nothing had ever been so cut and dried for me.

Whatever force there is out there said to me: “Hello you idiot. This is the one.”

And I haven’t doubted it for a single second ever since.

You always seem so relaxed and carefree. Is that down to your happy relationship?

Absolutely. It’s because of my wife and children. It is incredibly important for me to spend as much time with them as I can with no computers or mobile phones. Just us. My daily workout is also now a ritual in my life and twice a day I do transcendental meditation.

Why do you meditate?

It’s changed my life – honestly. I feel happiness much more intensely than I used to. I see the world more clearly.

I understand so many things better and I also now find it easier to trust myself. I’ve become a lot more efficient.

I get twice as much done as I used to.

I also feel a closer connection to people I meet and I’m much less exhausted at the end of the day.

Forgive the suggestion, but isn’t that a little aloof?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Meditation helps me to keep my feet on the ground. That’s pretty important.

After all, my job is almost all illusion.

You have played Wolverine, a superhero. Who is your superhero?

Nelson Mandela. He’s the greatest. I’m also deeply impressed by Muhammad Yunus, the guy who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his microcredit scheme.

The success his idea has met with is one of the most amazing stories ever. For a hell of a long time he was the only person who believed in the concept, but he saw it through. That’s admirable.

If you had the actual superpower to be someone else for a couple of days, who would you choose to be?

I’d be Usain Bolt. I’d like to know what it feels like to run so fast. It must be an incredible sensation.

What about a fictional character instead? It would definitely be Wolverine, wouldn’t it?

No, I’d be Superman.

To save the world?

That’d be tiring after a while. But flying would be great.

Think of your fear of heights!

Superman is normally more than 10m off the ground.

As I’ve said, you have to conquer your fears, otherwise you’ll miss out on life. twitter.com/realhughjackman the red bulletin

picturedesk.com (3), Wilson Web

What were the biggest fears you had to confront?

Up until I was 13 or 14, I was scared of the dark. Actually, there was one even greater fear: that someone would find out. So I had to deal with it myself.

Do you want to know how I conquered my fear of heights?

Yes please.

My brothers knew about it and used to make fun of me. Every day. Then one day, I went to the diving platform at school.

I went higher every day. First I dived off the 1m board, then the 3m board and eventually off the 10m board. Everything was OK after that.

So you no longer had any fears by the time you reached adulthood?

The worst thing was singing in public.

Beauty And The Beast was my first musical [in Brisbane in 1996]. I was so scared you wouldn’t believe it. Once I had to sing the Australian national anthem in front of 100,000 people at the Bledisloe Cup, a rugby match between Australia and New Zealand. Singers had been booed in the past. The night before I had the only panic attack I’ve ever had in my life.

Isn’t there anything that messes your life up now?

Virtually nothing. Only the tax authorities, actually [laughs]. They read in a paper somewhere that I’m going to earn 100 million for future Wolverine roles. Total bullshit, but that means I’ve constantly got tax auditors coming round and asking, “Where are you hiding the money?”

How important is money to you?

I was earning $400 a week when I started out and I was no less happy then than I am now. I see money as a sort of fuel.

You mustn’t hoard it but you’ve got to use it. I am probably the least materialistic person you will ever meet. I got a lot of that from my mother. You can be sure that whatever you give her for Christmas, she’ll give someone else for their birthday.

But even if it’s not $100 million, you’ve still got a fair bit of fuel left over. Is there a wish you haven’t yet made come true?

I dream of owning a ranch in the outback, farming my own cows and so on. I might be a big city guy, but that would make me totally happy.

Is your wife the farming type?

I have managed to get her to spend a night outdoors with me under the stars once in a while, but she says she prefers sleeping five-star.

How did you know she was the one for you?

Normally I’m bad at making decisions.

I’m the type of guy who really has to

party Party in murder capital Words: Berenice Andrade Photography: Katie Orlinsky

48

Hardpop nightclub in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where revellers use music as a means of escape from the violence of the city

The Hardpop nightclub grew as a neutral zone in the centre of Mexico’s drug war to be voted one of the best clubs in the world. Last night a DJ saved my life? Here, that’s not just a tune – it’s the truth

j

thinks of the thousands of people the city has recently buried, in its cemeteries and unmarked graves. Of the disputes between drug traffickers, of the gun battles, the extortion, the torture, the murdered women or any of the other miserable, lethal events that meant, from 2008 to 2010, Juarez was the most dangerous city in the world. In 2011, things improved: it was the second most dangerous city. Now it’s down in 19th place. In 2009 and 2010, Hardpop was also ranked globally, by DJ Mag in the UK, as one of the top 100 clubs in the world.

Every week, leading DJs who are regulars at the other clubs DJ Mag’s list – like James Lavelle, Magda, Deadmau5, Damian Lazarus, Jesse Rose, M.A.N.D.Y and more – come to Hardpop. Tonight’s event is to celebrate Halloween and the club’s seventh birthday, with German DJ Acid Pauli playing alongside Zabiela.

Every weekend the city’s youth live it up as if nothing violent had ever happened or ever could happen. None of that history exists inside Hardpop.

ames Zabiela comes on stage smiling and shaking his short mane of blond hair. As he sets up the tools of his trade – turntable, iPad, headphones and a whole load of other electronic stuff – the crowd erupts into applause and bustles to the front of the long dancefloor.

Zabiela launches the first beat with a nervous little smile; the crowd goes wild. They take photos of him and raise their event tickets in the air. Soon the crowd of some 600 people moves as one.

They thrash about, nod their heads, shake their hips, flail their arms around. Everyone is dancing. At the end of the night, the British DJ says the vibe was “electric”.

That’s what it’s usually like at Hardpop, a medium-sized club tucked away in a shopping centre in Ciudad Juarez, the chaotic and deathly dangerous desert city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, just across the US border from El Paso, Texas. Tonight, nobody 50

the red bulletin

Mean streets, good beats: Juarez is one of the world’s most violent cities, yet none of the troubles exist inside Hardpop, which celebrated its seventh birthday in October of last year

so much violence Perla picks up Denisse by car so that they can both go back to Perla’s place to get ready. With Perla’s brother Carlos and some friends, they are going to Hardpop to see James Zabiela.

“I’ve been going to Hardpop since I was 17,” says Perla. “I’d get in with a fake ID and even though Juarez was very dangerous, I was never scared. My parents wanted me to stay in, but I always went out, in spite of the dangers.” Perla, who is 20 now, is lying on her bed in her room, straightening her hair, while Denisse, who is 18, carefully puts on false eyelashes.

“I remember my mum didn’t want to let me when I started going out,” says Denisse, “because there was so much violence out there and she was afraid, but I told her that she had to trust me because I was young and had to go out

51

“ Hardpop promotes a scene; it’s an island of reality in a sea of fakes”

and have fun. Nothing’s happened to me, apart from one time when I was attacked outside my house. It was really sad, but it had to happen. Something’s happened to everyone in this town.”

“A few years ago,” says Perla, “three of our cousins were killed and last year they killed our uncle. Maybe they were involved in something, but one cousin insisted he wasn’t doing anything wrong. That made me worry. I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you can still be affected.”

Her brother Carlos remembers the impact of the violence spreading beyond the city. “Friends of mine from El Paso would say, ‘How can you live in Juarez?’

And I’d say, ‘Well, you just get used to what’s going on. It’s as simple as that.’”

What they were getting used to, according to figures from the Chihuahua director of public prosecutions, was an average of 5.8 murders a day between 2007 and 2012 – more than 11,000 in total. This was when Felipe Calderón was president of Mexico and his war on drugs led to 100,000 deaths nationwide.

In September 2013, the Governor of Chihuahua, César Duarte, gave out statistics showing Ciudad Juarez was becoming a safer place. In 2012, highprofile assassinations dropped by 84 per cent; kidnappings by 75 per cent; violent car thefts by 82 per cent; burglary of commercial properties by 64 per cent and bank robberies by 92 per cent. In the first three months of 2013, there were 86 murders in the city; there were hundreds each month in the preceding years. Unloved houses have been redecorated. Ghost-town streets are busy again. Shops are open and doing trade.

There’s colour back in the face of the city.

All about the music Ricardo Tejada became a great fan of the dance music scene when he lived in London in the late 1990s. With friends, he started organising events, which grew in size and stature so that they could attract big-name DJs like Tiësto and Paul Van Dyk. He thought about opening an electronic music club in San Pedro Garza García, the richest municipality in Mexico. But problems with licences and the local council meant that at the last minute Ricardo transferred everything to a location in a shopping centre owned by his father. This was Hardpop, which began, in the last place that anyone would have imagined, in October 2006.

“It was music for a generation like mine,” says Marco Soli, a 29-year-old from Juarez who was a regular in the

53

early days of Hardpop before going to live in Mexico City. “Within months of opening, it was full. You’d go and bump into everyone you knew.”

Bill Weir, Hardpop’s sound engineer, who has worked in clubs worldwide, says the club has taken on a cohesive role.

“Hardpop promotes a scene. You won’t see all these DJs anywhere else in Juarez and probably not anywhere else in Mexico as a whole, because Hardpop is an island of reality in a sea of fakes.”

The venue itself is simple: black walls, red neon lights and industrial paraphernalia. That’s all that’s needed for people to come and listen to the DJ and dance. As Zabiela finishes his set, and several people in the crowd start hassling him for an autograph, Weir looks up to the ceiling.

“Notice that there are no light shows because everyone’s got their eyes closed while they’re dancing. This place is about all about the music and nothing else.”

The entry policy is that there is no entry policy. Tonight, the crowd includes posh girls in ultra-high heels carrying designer bags and boys in trainers. All you need to get into Hardpop is a ticket.

“Hardpop has people from all walks of life,” says Eduardo Espino, the head of security at the club. “We don’t have someone standing out front who says, ‘You and you can come in.’ If you buy a ticket, you can come in.”

word gets around Denisse, Perla, Carlos and their friends reconvene at the end of Zabiela’s set.

The atmosphere is good. He has done his 54

job – Hardpop has done its job, once again.

“Here we forget the trauma the violence has inflicted on us,” says Denisse. “You’re with your friends, you know people, the music, the DJs. You see your favourite DJ playing for you, you’re dancing to the beat of the music, letting yourself go.”

The feeling is the same looking out at the audience. “I’m absolutely convinced that music helps people a lot, especially when it comes to preventing or turning against violence, because music is safe,” says Acid Pauli, drink in hand, before going onto stage to perform.

But even though Hardpop is an oasis for the young people who come here, it has also fallen prey to the same harsh reality as the rest of Juarez, such as an

Party people: the locals (above left) enjoy top international DJs at Hardpop, such as German beatmaster Acid Pauli (right).

Times are tough in Mexico, and the border crossing queues (below) aren’t getting any shorter

“ It’s impossible not to have a good night at hardpop”

attempt to extort money from Ricardo Tejada, and the closure of the club for 10 months in late 2010 and early 2011.

“We didn’t want to expose our artists to danger and we were afraid of becoming exposed to danger ourselves, because the situation was starting to get difficult,” explains Edgar Cobos, the club’s PR man. “Other businesses in the city had been asked for a cut and kidnappings were on the rise. That was why we closed for a while. We wanted the situation to calm down. But we’ve never relocated. We are one of the main businesses never to have left the heart of the city. We’ve always been here.”

During that period of closure, Tejada and his team put on events in El Paso, 10 minutes drive over the border, and little by little they began the red bulletin

to bring Hardpop back to life by discretely holding events in the club once a month.

“This is my third time here, but it should be my fourth,” says Zabiela. “Last time I came, the gig was cancelled because of all the crazy stuff going on in the city.

The first time I came I didn’t know anything about Juarez or Mexico, and I have to say it was a shock as we were driving along to see armed soldiers in the back of a truck. I’d never seen that before apart from on TV. It was really surreal.”

“Performers come because they’ve heard by word of mouth that this is a good place,” says Tejada. “This is the testimony of performers who have already been here, giving me and the atmosphere their vote of confidence.

Of course, we’ve provided security staff when necessary, like when the situation

was really difficult. I’ve had to offer round-the-clock protection and armoured trucks.” (Eduardo Espino, Hardpop’s head of security who saw one of his colleagues murdered while he was working in another bar, says it hasn’t been easy to maintain the feeling of safety at Hardpop, because armed people have turned up at the door and he has had to turn them away.)

Having got through the temporary closure and resumed normal service, Ricardo Tejada and his staff have decided to renovate the club. It is currently livelier than ever. As Bill Weir says, “The energy the performers get from the crowd is incredible. It’s impossible not to have a good night at Hardpop because the crowd won’t let you. These people deserve a bloody good party.” thehardpop.com

55

christy prior

Board Games The rising star of snowboard slopestyle is one of New Zealand’s best chances of a medal at the Winter Olympics

Christy Prior shouldn’t be a professional snowboarder. She grew up riding horses in Kaukapakapa, about 30 miles up State Highway 16 from Auckland and hundreds of miles from the nearest mountain. She was 17 years old before she stood on a snowboard for the first time and since then has shattered both shoulders so badly that they’re now held together by metal plates.

Despite these disadvantages, Prior is heading to Sochi in Russia in February with a realistic chance of becoming only the second New Zealander to win a medal at the Winter Olympics.

(Annelise Coberger won silver in the slalom in Albertville in 1992.)

The 25-year-old has been ranked as high as fourth in the world in slopestyle, a discipline that she describes as ‘a downhill version of a skatepark on snow.’

Competitors pull tricks on a series of rails and jumps and are judged on style, technical ability and overall impression.

American snowboarder Jamie Anderson is the world’s best female slopestyle rider and will be the hot favourite in Sochi, but she has huge respect for Prior.

“Jamie said to Christy last season, ‘It’s only a matter of time before you’re killing it on the circuit,’” says Colin Bartlett, Prior’s coach. “I know that I’m biased, but the buzz in the snowboard community is about this New Zealand chick who’s going to dominate slopestyle.”

It was friend of Prior’s who introduced her to winter sport when she was a teenager. Before that, her sporting life had revolved around show jumping, playing tennis and surf lifesaving, One session on the slopes of Mount Hutt changed all that. “By the 56

end of the first day I was in love with it,” says Prior. “When I started I was stoked if I made it to the bottom of the hill without falling, but I knew it was something I wanted to do every day.”

Prior convinced her parents to send her to Mount Aspiring College, a high school in Wanaka in the Southern Alps with a strong outdoor pursuits programme.

“I wasn’t a very diligent student,” she says. “I wasn’t a real badass, but I was a bit of a brat. I did a lot of growing up in Wanaka. Living away from home I learned to be independent.”

With students gaining credits for snowboarding, Prior quickly caught up

“I enjoyed burning the candle at both ends, but now I’m not ashamed to admit it, I’m a jock” with her classmates. In 2007, she won her first age-group national title and left school to work part-time jobs to finance her snowboarding. She embraced the ski bum lifestyle, partying as hard as she snowboarded. “I was burning the candle at both ends,” she says. “I’d compete, injure myself, work to save money, compete and injure myself again.”

Most of those injuries occurred trying to land tricks over jumps, so Prior took the safer option and focused most of her efforts on the rail. In 2011, a video clip of another female Kiwi snowboarder pulling some slick moves over big jumps gave Prior a reality

check: her peers were passing her by and she was wasting her potential. She then spent a season in Breckenridge, Colorado, learning how to jump and land big tricks. She snowboarded for six hours a day, practised yoga and got to bed early – not every night, but most nights.

Prior’s newfound dedication paid off in 2012, when she came fourth at the Canadian Open and went better at two events in New Zealand, finishing second in the Burton High Fives and winning the Bro Down. Her results earned her a place on the national team, which brought funding for a coach and a professional sportswoman’s lifestyle.

“Snowboarders have never liked being classified as athletes, but that’s changing,” says Prior. “Whether we like it or not, the sport has become more jocklike. I really enjoyed the fun, casual atmosphere when I first started, but now I’m not ashamed to admit it, I’m a jock.”

Prior is not only committed to a punishing physical routine in the gym, she’s also training her mind to cope with the demands of her sport. She went on a 10-day meditation retreat in Sydney in November, to help her deal with the pressure of competing at the Olympics.

Sochi will be the ultimate test of how far she’s come, mentally and physically. “My tricks are up there with the best and if I can string them all together and land them clean, then I have a strong chance to finish on the podium,” she says.

Her coach has even more confidence in her ability. “The last 18 months have been geared towards Sochi. Hopefully she peaks at the Olympics,” says Bartlett.

“She’s definitely capable of winning the gold medal if it all comes together.” twitter.com/christyprior the red bulletin

Graeme Murray

Words: Robert Tighe

Odd jobs To pay for her snowboarding, Prior has racked up a varied CV, working, she says, “in a butchery, a fish shop and a vineyard.

I painted houses; I was a horse riding instructor and a waitress. You name it, I’ve done it.”

Great grandfather Prior’s grandfather died when she was 18, and her mother convinced her to miss his funeral so she could win her first national title. The inheritance he left her paid for her first overseas snowboarding trip.

clap clap riot

Turn It Down From 11 There’s nothing small about their ambition, but one Auckland band are going less big in order to grow Words: Sam Wicks Photography: Kristian Frires

When the prophetically bearded and unflappably zen-like super-producer Rick Rubin steered Metallica’s direction on their ninth album, Death Magnetic, he shook up the metal behemoths with a series of demands. In an attempt to recapture their ’80s thrash glories, Rubin challenged the band to think back to their 1986 classic LP Master Of Puppets and the hunger that fuelled those recording sessions.

Metallica thrashed out ideas for the new record in the studio without Rubin’s interference, as per his request.

He would interrupt their work randomly, calling for endless rewrites of songs he felt were undercooked. The results spoke for themselves: Death Magnetic was welcomed by Metallica’s black T-shirted army of fans as one of the most vital recordings the band had turned in for years.

The mop-topped musicians in Christchurch-born, Auckland-based pop rock trio Clap Clap Riot could not be less metal if they tried, but they took a Rubinesque route when they recruited Kody Nielson, the former frontman of both skewwhiff punk band Mint Chicks and psych-pop outfit Opossom, to set the tone for their second album, the followup to 2012’s Counting Spins. Unlike the cheeky reference to commercial radio play in that album’s title, Clap Clap Riot anticipated a less mainstream audience for their new set of ’60s-flavoured freak beat tunes, and felt that Nielson’s unorthodox production approach could be the perfect fit for the songs that would become Nobody/Everybody.

“It was the end of 2012 when we talked about getting him on board,” says guitarist Dave Rowlands, who first met Nielson on tour when Rowlands’s former 58

band Luger Boa played a run of shows with Mint Chicks and Shihad. “We loved the stuff he’d done with Mint Chicks and Opossom, but we also loved his production on Bic Runga’s album Belle.

We wanted him to bring some of that flavour to the songs we were writing.”

Much like the songs in the Mint Chicks’ back catalogue, which oscillate between savage and sweet, Nielson’s production work shifts between the psychedelic warmth of Belle and the raw power of The DHDFDs’ French Fries, another album on which he stamped his mark. When Clap Clap Riot tapped his production smarts for Nobody/Everybody, it was partly in response to the studio sheen that made Counting Spins sparkle,

“These are tunes that are made to dance to, every gig has gone off” a gloss they felt wasn’t in keeping with the quirks of their songwriting.

“I think Counting Spins was a bit too epic, a bit too stadium-sounding, a bit too rock for us,” frontman Stephen Heard admits. “We wanted someone who would let us make our own decisions and let us make our own mistakes.”

“There’s an element where you feel a little bit dirty when you’ve got this huge-sounding record and it doesn’t quite fit the music you make,” says Rowlands. “It was almost like we wanted to be a bit more honest this time.”

Nobody/Everybody has honesty in spades. Recorded at Auckland studio

The Lab in just four days, it’s a fast and furious capture of lightning in a bottle.

Nielson made no effort to sugar-coat the material presented to him by the band, keeping all rough edges intact.

Unexpected layers of sub-bass and analogue synthesizers bubble under the surface; shards of ragged guitar slice through the instrumentation; the band’s session drummer thunders away as though The Who’s Keith Moon is behind the kit. No options were off the table: Nielson allowed the trio to follow their instincts, determined to capture the noise in their heads by all means necessary.

“I did a take where I was just smashing the reverb unit on the back of an amplifier,” says Rowlands. “If I was like, ‘I want to bang the amp for the duration of this song,’ he’d say, ‘Cool, go ahead and try it. Let’s see how it sounds.’ I love that he’s kept all those textures in there. It’s those little mistakes that give this album its magic.”

Nobody/Everybody’s beautiful mishaps won’t be heard until the end of January, when the LP gets a release ahead of Clap Clap Riot’s Big Day Out appearance. But some punters who catch that set will be clued up on the rhythm’n’blues swagger that powers the album, since it has been road-tested at a handful of shows. Above everything, its groove-laden songs have been engineered to induce hip-swivelling as much as head-banging.

“Because what we’re doing now is not so balls-to-the-wall and in-yourface, we can just sit back a little bit and groove with it,” says Heard.

“These are tunes that are made to dance to, and every gig that we’ve played so far has gone off.” clapclapriot.com the red bulletin

Clap Clap Riot (from left): singer and guitarist Stephen Heard, guitarist Dave Rowlands and bass player Trisan Colenso

SURFER GIRL No one is more surprised that a teenager from Whangamata is the world junior champion than Ella Williams herself

Ella Williams first stepped on a surfboard when she was four years old. “She had no choice,” says her mother, Janine Williams.

“Her dad and I were always surfing, so she got dumped on the front of his longboard with a life jacket on. It didn’t take long before she was standing up on her own.”

Janine and Dean Williams were living and working in Hamilton when their daughter was born. He owned a panel beating business, she was a primary school teacher. Both were passionate surfers who dreamed of living beside the beach, so they sold Dean’s business and bought the Whangamata Surf Shop in 2002.

Williams was seven years old when the family moved to Whangamata and she spent every spare minute in the water.

“She should have been born with gills,” says Janine. “She was a water freak.”

Aged eight, Williams won her first national surfing title, the under-12 Grom 60

press handout, Craig Levers

Words: Robert Tighe

Born January 13, 1995 Hamilton Hard knocks Williams broke her nose three years ago when she was smacked in the face by her longboard. “I was surfing with my mates, they decided to go in, but I wanted to get just one more wave,” she says.

“That’s when most accidents happen.”

Teenage kicks: Williams took her world title in her first year as a pro surfer

Hard yakka Williams does a morning run on the sand dunes and puts in seven or eight hours on the water every day when the waves are good.

She doesn’t drink alcohol and isn’t into partying.

“Surf, work, eat and sleep.

That’s what I do.”

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the final lasted 35 minutes. williams never panicked “it was just a matter of waiting for the right waves” Joaquina Beach a week before the start of the competition. No one gave Williams a chance competing against 17 of the top-ranked girls in the world.

“We got into a good routine,” says Ella.

“I’d get up in the morning reasonably early.”

“Reasonably early for Ella means half past four in the morning,” says Janine.

“I like being the first in the water,” Williams replies.

In the first round, Williams caused a major upset by beating a favourite, Johanne Defay from France. Next, she defeated Basque Leticia Canales Bilbao to qualify for the quarter-finals against Mahina Maeda of Hawaii. Williams just edged it on the judges’ scorecards to set up a rematch with Defay, who had recovered from her opening round loss to qualify for the semi-finals via the repechage.

“Defay was surfing extremely well, but she just fell apart,” says Janine. “She went to take off on this brilliant wave and took

twitter.com/EllaWilliams

the red bulletin

Alistair Guthrie

Series. Around the same time, she started telling people she was going to be a world champion one day. That happened a lot sooner than she could have anticipated.

At the start of last year, Williams’ chances of competing in the 2013 ASP World Junior Championships in Brazil in October were slim: only the top two women on the Australasia Pro Junior Series qualified for the world championships.

Williams was making her debut in the Australasian series after leaving school in 2012 to surf full time. Her goal was to gain some experience on the circuit, and she finished the season ranked fourth in Australasia. “We thought that was really good for her first year,” says Janine.

A really good year turned into an unbelievable one when Ellie-Jean Coffey, the number-one ranked Australasian surfer, pulled out of the world championships due to injury.

Nikki van Dijk, who finished third in the Australasian series and should have replaced Coffey, opted not to travel to Brazil after she qualified for the big show, the 2014 ASP Women’s World Tour. That meant Williams was the next alternative.

She received an email confirming her invitation two weeks before the event.

“She was jumping around going, ‘Guess what? We’re going to Brazil!” says Janine. “Dean and I were thinking all the comps were finished for the year and how nice it would be to spend time at home.”

Instead, mother and daughter flew to Florianópolis, Brazil, arriving at

a huge tumble, which is unheard of at this level. From then on she was totally rattled.”

“It was really weird,” says Williams.

“Everyone could have surfed better throughout the competition, including me.”

“Maybe it was meant to be,” says Janine. “Normally I get very anxious, but before the final I just felt so calm.”

Back home, Williams’ father, Dean, and older brother, Braden, were watching the live webcast on the ASP website. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final were all held on the same day, and the sun was rising over Whangamata by the time Williams took to the water for the final.

Her opponent, Tatiana Weston-Webb, had been the standout surfer in the event, and the Hawaiian girl oozed confidence.

“It almost felt like she’d won before she got in the water,” says Janine.

The final lasted 35 minutes and each surfer was marked out of 10 on each wave they surfed, with the two best scores to count. Weston-Webb got two early waves to take an early lead with a total of 9.23 (out of a possible 20). Williams never panicked. “It was just a matter of waiting for the right waves,” she says.

In the last five minutes, Williams scored big on back-to-back waves for a combined score of 11.97. That was enough to give her the lead over WestonWebb for the first time. With seconds to go, Weston-Webb caught a wave, but couldn’t make it count and Williams became the second Kiwi to win an ASP world title, after veteran Iain Buchanan’s victory in the Masters in 2011.

Says Williams: “I was like, ‘Did that just happen?’” Her father and brother were asking themselves the same question. “We had been up all night watching the webcast and it was just so surreal,” says Dean. “We went to open the surf shop that morning and there were hundreds of people outside, cheering.”

After the interviews and presentation on the beach in Brazil, Janine and Williams had a similar reception from the locals. “It took us nearly two hours to get back to our hotel,” says Janine.

As well as prestige and prize money of US$7,500, Williams’ win earned her automatic entry into all of this year’s ASP six-star qualifying events, starting with the Hurley Australia Open in January, giving her a chance of qualifying for the women’s world tour in 2015.

“That’s the ultimate goal,” says Williams. “It might take me a few years, and I know I have to improve to compete with the best in the world, but that’s where I want to be. That’s the dream.”

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LIKE A

THE MOST INSANE SPORT YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF INVOLVES BOMBING DOWN HILLS AT 120kph ON WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY A MODIFIED SKATEBOARD. WELCOME TO THE DOWNHILL LONGBOARD WORLD CUP, WHERE THE TRACK SURFACE IS UNEVEN AND THE PARAMEDICS ARE ON STANDBY

BULLET

words: Fernando Gueiros photography: Marcelo Maragni & Thiago Diz

The stance is simple: one arm back, knees still, eyes on the road

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T

he world’s fastest skateboarding hill is a long, winding piece of road stretching a little over a mile, riven with bumps and cracks and bearing the unlikely name of Harmony’s Downhill.

In three days of competition at the Downhill Longboarding World Cup, 230 riders will speed down its uneven terrain. The hay bales and crowds on the sidelines make way for ambulances four times during the three hours of qualifying sessions on day one alone.

“There’s only one way to go down here, and that’s the fastest possible,” says Brazilian Carlos Paixão, who hit 119kph, a record, on the first day.

“If you’re tough you keep the pressure on and don’t slow down. But the most important thing is to always keep your arm back and your knee still; keep your chest and your chin on your front knee and look straight down the way you’re going, not staring at the floor.”

This tutorial is helpful for the small band of longboarders worldwide committed to donning leathers and a helmet and bombing down hills in the name of an adrenalin rush and glory in a nascent sport. As it happens, the best in the business (and a few bold wannabes) have gathered here from 15 countries near the quaint southern Brazilian town of Teutônia, which boasts the legendary hill and very little else. This is only the second time in the 10-year history of the Downhill Longboarding World Cup that the event is being held here. In 2013, as previously, all you had to do to take part was bring approved security gear (leather clothing, helmet, gloves) and pay the entrance fee. But that will change in the future, presumably to save on medical bills. “From now on,” says Alexandre Maia, race director and member of the excellently named International Gravity Sports Association, “we’ll give priority to the ranked elite.” After all, riders here reach speeds of close to 120kph for a duration of 15 to 20 seconds. And all this over a stretch of track a third of a mile long.

“I used to ride at Pikes Peak, in Colorado,” says defending champion Kyle Wester, “and there I go as fast as 95kph. But here we ride at about 100-115kph for a long time. There’s nothing quite like this in the world.”

School buses ferry the downhill competitors, including Brazil’s Carlos Paixão (left), to the top of longboarding’s most feared track

“I talk towhile myself riding, trying to be relaxed”

Competitors hit speeds of up to 120kph on Harmony’s Downhill, a race to the bottom that favours the bold

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U

Credit:

From top: Most of the accidents occur on the first day, when the less experienced crowd the field; the riders’ passion is very real – and more than skin deep; how else do you explain spending the night in a church on the top of a hill?

nder a baking sun and temperatures as high as 30°C, the riders wander around the top of the track, leathers open. Nearby is a small church and a rustic shed where meals are served and people camp during the three-day event, which, this year, will feature 230 riders.

Day one is when most of the accidents happen. The track overflows with competitors. Marshals are on hand to space out the start of each rider’s practice run to five-minute intervals.

When the crowd – assembled along the side of the road on the grass – hears the whirr and scrape of approaching riders, their expectation is audible.

“Ooohhh!” they murmur as a skater shoots by, adjusting his path along the track. From the riders’ perspective, it’s all about… well, perspective.

“I talk to myself while I’m riding, trying to be relaxed and make sure I’m having fun,” says Kyle Wester, whose time was good enough for third place.

“At the main corner, if you can hold the pressure at high speed, there’s a better chance at winning. Finding the right path on this road takes a lot of concentration.”

Four school buses ferry competitors back to the top, and organisers close the track every now and then to let cars or ambulances through. One patient was 19-year-old Debora de Almeida, who lost

“it’s all about

cold blood and a clear head”

German Matthias Ebel finishing his run.

“You can’t slow down here,” he says. “It’s like a roller coaster”

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70

finding the

right path takes a lot of concentration”

Most longboard courses allow competitors to reach speeds of about 90kph, but Teutônia’s long finish features almost half a mile of uninterrupted downhill.

Brazil’s Carlos Paixão set a course record of 119kph

At high speeds and close quarters, crashes are inevitable. The track was closed four times during the three-hour qualifying session on the first day to allow ambulances access to fallen competitors

her balance after the main corner and was thrown from her longboard, crashing on the tarmac in a fall reminiscent of the worst MotoGP has to offer. “I wasn’t sure whether I was going to stay in the right or the left lane when I ran over a bump,” she says. “It was impossible to not fall down since I was going at top speed.”

She slid more than 25 yards on her stomach and suffered a twisted ankle and a dislocated shoulder and knee, as well as some bruises. In order to ease the pain, a doctor on the scene took more than five minutes to remove her racing leathers before sending her to the hospital.

Was it worth it? “Yes, of course,” says de Almeida two days later, an ice pack on her ankle. “The will to drop is very intense. Teutônia is different from everything; it’s pressure all the way down, and there’s always a surprise.”

B

y the final day, as riders’ technique improves, the less good have been eliminated until there are only two men remaining: record-holder Carlos Paixão and his countryman Max Ballesteros.

At the foot of the hill, on the finish line, the announcement of the main event echoes out of the tannoy while the crowd clusters closer to the track. It’s impossible to see the finish line from the top, where the race starts. You can only hear, far away, the sound system.

The start is quiet, almost empty. A dozen locals drink beer and share the

“when they get to teutonia they freak out. they ask:

is this real?”

space between a shed and the starting line. At the race marshal’s words – “Riders, set… Go!” – Ballesteros and Paixão push off and start down the hill, vanishing at the first bend. Paixão is first.

The speed ticks up pretty quickly – 40kph, 50kph – through the portion of a track called the ‘toboggan’, where the road has yet to drop, and a slight left is followed by a right turn.

Ballesteros remains close, looking for space, but when the speed reaches 88kph, he spreads his arms to slow down at the beginning of the main curve.

Paixão decides to go full throttle – his body leaning forward, the G-force punishing his muscles and dictating the precise movements of his hips, ankles, and knees. This is the most important corner of the track, where the athletes enter the final and fastest stretch.

The speed increases while the wheels start to chatter over the rough and uneven road surface. The surroundings – small properties and a cemetery on the side of the main corner – whizz past.

After one minute and 20 seconds, Paixão crosses the finish line first, to the cheers of the crowd, and etches his name into the history of the feared track and the young sport celebrating it.

“I guess the most important thing isn’t the strength or technique; it is all about cold blood and a clear head,” he says. “Some people have a lot of technique, but when they get to Teutônia, they freak out and ask themselves if this is real. And there’s not much we can say, right? That’s what it is: this is Teutônia.” igsaworldcup.com

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Blitz Kids

They Are Alright How do you top your best year ever as a band? For Blitz Kids, it means cracking on with new music and cracking open a cold one (or three) Words: Ruth Morgan Photography: Phil Sharp

After a year that included a headline tour of the UK, signing to Red Bull Records and appearing at festivals including Download, Cheshire pop-rock four-piece Blitz Kids are keeping up the pace in 2014 with the release of their new album. But despite their success, they still find time for the important things in life: bad anagrams, DIY body art and 6am sightseeing. the red bulletin: Did you always know you’d make it? joe james: We always wanted what we’re achieving now, but we didn’t realise it could actually happen until recently. We just did it for fun. Then we got to the point of deciding to get a real job or keep going. Me and Jono went out one night, and I was like, ‘That’s it, I’m not working for another day in my life in a job that isn’t music from this moment on.’ So I quit my pub job, and that was three years ago. I’ve literally not worked a day in my life since that point. jono yates: He’s begged, borrowed and stolen. He’s been a huge burden on society. jj: I am a taxpayer’s worst nightmare.

Why Blitz Kids? jj: We took the name from a little gang my granddad had when he was a kid in London. During the Blitz, he and his mates would sneak out and kick a ball around and spray graffiti when they were supposed to be in the shelter. It was a cool punk rock attitude, so we took it. It’s how we treat life, essentially, in a very reckless manner. jy: It’s also an anagram of Zinedine Zidane. jj: No it’s not.

You’ve played together since you were 15. How has your sound evolved? jj: We used to play heavier music. We were young and rebelling. jy: Now, musically, it’s popular rock. jj: We get called pop-punk a lot too, and it’s a weird term.

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jy: Yeah, pop-punk’s not a thing. It’s like saying, ‘I’ll have a vegan steak please.’ jj: We get described in all sorts of ways, but essentially we just love pop music. We’re not a band you come to observe while standing still. When you leave our show, you’ll be sweaty, tired, drunk and happy.

Even if it’s everyone else that gets you moving. No one wants to stand still in a room while strangers rub up against them. nic montgomery: That’s a good Friday night for me.

What should people expect from your new album, The Good Youth? nm: In a word: better. jj: It’s very different to what’s come from

“It took us a while to realise you can get a job that you love” us before. We never thought in terms of what we want to say as a band with an album, and my lyrics used to be very negative, hard for people to relate to. This is a positive album. I was trying to inspire people and make them happy because there’s a lot to be sad about, isn’t there?

The title is an underlying message, telling kids something we never heard, which is you can get a job you love. It took us a while to realise that, and I don’t want anybody else to waste that time.

Were there a lot of songs that didn’t make the cut? jy: We listened to a lot of radio when we were making the album, and songs were scrapped because they could have been written by Ed Sheeran or One Direction. jj: There’s a song on the album called Pinnacle which is hugely influenced

by Take That, because we love those guys. They’re awesome.

Did you start getting tattoos before or after the band formed? jj: The band came before the tatts, as we weren’t old enough to get them when we started. Then one of you gets one and the next thing you know it’s out of hand. jy: I’ve got ‘Never Die’, the title of our last EP, and ‘To The Lions’, the first track on the new album, which we recorded at Red Bull Studios. One of the biggest is my tattoo of Omar Little from The Wire. nm: I’ve got a Blitz Kids tattoo on my leg that Joe did. Terribly.

Do you have the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle to go with the ink? jj: We’re animals for beer. jy: Too much. jj: We’re referred to by friends as ‘the drunk band’. jy: We’ll aim to go and see a mate’s gig, then end up all walking around Westminster at 6am looking for Big Ben. nm: Me and Ice Man [Matt] are the kings of 9am. matt freer: It’s always bad news when the rhythm section comes to town.

What’s the secret of long friendships? jy: Choose your band members wisely. We are all on a wavelength and love music, and we’re well into football. Except Nic. nm: I’ve learned just to let it wash over me. I’m very Zen. jj: We’ve been friends so long that everyone has found their role, like the Spice Girls. I’m the bossy one. It just works, there’s no tiptoeing around. We get up and it’s ‘Morning, fancy a beer?’ jy: The pulse of this band is alcohol! mf: It does hold us together… jy: [Laughing] …And tears us apart! nm: Who’s thirsty?

The Good Youth is out Jan 20: redbullrecords.com the red bulletin

The line-up Joe James – vocals Jono Yates – guitar Nic Montgomery – bass Matt Freer – drums Discography The Good Youth (2014) Never Die (EP, 2012) Vagrants & Vagabonds (2011) Scavengers (EP, 2010) Decisions (EP, 2009) Name game The Blitz Kids was the original name of the New Romantics, a fact not lost on the band. “We found out after we’d chosen the name,” says Yates. “We announced it then went on Google and were like ‘Wait, who are these lot?’ Hopefully it’s obvious there’s no connection.”

The Finål Two Danes are working on their own private space programme. Their homemade rockets keep going higher, faster and thankfully straighter. But can they really go into orbit in five years’ time?

Words: Bernd Hauser Photography: Uffe Weng 76

Bo Tornvig

Frø nti er

Rocket-makers Peter Madsen (left) and Kristian von Bengtson in Copenhagen â&#x20AC;&#x153;We go supersonicâ&#x20AC;?; the launch of their homemade HEAT 1X rocket off the Baltic coast

“I’m more afraid of dying alone in an old people’s home than on board a rocket I’ve built myself” Peter Madsen 78

p

eter Madsen sticks a photo of his wife, Sirid, onto the dashboard in front of him. An assistant shuts the hatch from outside. He waves one last time. His heart is racing.

Countdown – “three, two, one, zero!” – and the four rocket engines roar into life.

He is wedged into his seat by 200,000bhp and a force of 4G, about four times his bodyweight The words, “This is my finest hour,” race through Peter Madsen’s head as he flies into space aboard his homemade HEAT 1600 rocket.

Madsen plays this scene over and over in his head as he lies on a mattress under his desk at night.

After a couple of hours of sleep and a cup of instant coffee, it’s back to work at the HAB, the Horizontal Assembly Building, at Copenhagen Suborbitals, the company Madsen and his partner Kristian von Bengtson set up in 2008. When will the dream of spaceflight come true? Will it be in four years? Five?

Madsen will be 50 by then, but the engineer and entrepreneur is sure of one thing: come true it will.

HAB, the Danish Space Centre, is a plain corrugated iron shed in an abandoned shipyard on the outskirts of Copenhagen. This is where Madsen cuts, knocks, drills and hammers away at his dream.

But why is he doing it here and not, say, at NASA? “NASA works with a lot of subcontractors who build the engines,” he says. “I’d be sent off to work with some company like Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, where I’d be a tiny cog in a big machine.

I wouldn’t like it. It’d be a disaster. At Copenhagen Suborbitals I’m the one making the decisions. I get to build a rocket from scratch, rather than just being responsible for one tiny part of it. I want to work on it, design it and then actually build it. I love all that!”

Architect and spacecraft designer Kristian von Bengtson used to work for NASA, but resigned when all his designs ended up in the bin. He had worked Madsen and von on the interiors of spacecraft Bengtson founded for the Constellation Program, Copenhagen Suborbitals (above which aimed to send men and far left) in 2008, back to the moon and was cut “to build a rocket

by President Obama in 2010. from scratch.” Left: Just as von Bengtson had A seating-design for had enough of PowerPoint the space capsule, “a presentations and theoretical narrow space rammed with technology” designs, he read something

about Madsen in a newspaper. Madsen had built the biggest private submarine in the world and now said that he wanted â&#x20AC;&#x153;to send a rocket into space with himself as guinea-pigâ&#x20AC;?. Von Bengtson was electrified and met Madsen at his home: Nautilus, a 34-tonne submarine he built himself.

Submarines are like space capsules: narrow spaces rammed with technology, protective shells in an environment hostile to life. Meeting Madsen made von Bengtson sure of one thing: if he was 80

Throughout his life, Madsen has never had a problem with what so many people are afraid of: looking ridiculous

going to make his dream of actual space travel come true, then they would do it together. They spoke at length and made sketches; Madsen would take care of getting the rocket 100km into the air, von Bengtson was to be responsible for Madsen surviving the flight. Since they planned a suborbital, 15-minute parabolic trip into space, they named their space programme Copenhagen Suborbitals.

Initial tasks were divided up clearly between the two men. Madsen took care of building the rocket, with von Bengtson in charge of the capsule and parachutes. The first thing the two of them did was head off to the hardware store to get sheets of metal and cork. “Cork is a fantastic material for a heat shield,” says von Bengtson. “It can withstand temperatures of over 1,000°C.” In June 2010, Nautilus towed the first launch pad, called Sputnik, out from Copenhagen into the Baltic Sea. On it stood HEAT 1X, Copenhagen Suborbitals’ first rocket. It was 9m long, weighed 2 tonnes and was built to reach an altitude of 16km.

A dummy pilot, Rescue Randy, peeked out through a Perspex dome at the top of the minispaceship. Rescue Randy was meant to return to the water safe and sound by parachute once the rocket had burnt out. The rocket’s propulsion unit consisted of 500 litres of liquid oxygen, which would be fed into a rubber block weighing 500kg, and then ignited.

Local and international press were waiting in boats, cameras at the ready. “Three, two, one, zero!” Nothing happened. The rocket didn’t budge.

The liquid oxygen, which had been cooled to -183°C, had caused a valve to freeze. A battery that was part of the system designed to keep the valve open, which came from a €10 hairdryer bought in the supermarket, had run out.

Madsen tinkers away at his dream (left) in a shed in a Copenhagen shipyard (right).

He aims to go into space aboard his rocket in 2018. Until then, it’ll be Rescue Randy the dummy (below) manning the test flights

T

he rocket men were not only met with derision. Private individuals gave money. Companies donated steel, equipment and fuel so that the duo could try again. The support group soon had 300 members, each of them paying €13 a month. Madsen began to blog about his progress for Ingenioren, a Danish weekly engineering magazine. Readers gave their advice. Specialists kept getting in touch with HAB, saying they wanted to help out for free.

The following summer, the launch pad, made by welding together railway tracks, was once again anchored in the Baltic Sea. HEAT 1X, take two.

Twenty-five thousand Ingenioren readers were following events on the homepage. The Danish TV channel TV2 sent a helicopter and was reporting live.

A first countdown led to nothing; during the second, the engine ignited. Onlookers could see the train of fire by the time the countdown had reached one and the rocket roared upwards into the sky. At a public viewing event at Copenhagen’s planetarium, the project’s supporters leapt out of their seats, fists raised in the air. “We go supersonic,” said Madsen, from the launch pad, after two seconds of flight.

But the rocket suddenly began to spin like a firework on Guy Fawkes Night. It only reached a height of 2.8km, less than 20 per cent of the planned altitude. The rocket’s parachutes didn’t open properly and Rescue Randy came crashing back down into the water in his mini-space capsule at high speed. When the team went to salvage the metal tube, they saw it was dented; a human being wouldn’t have survived the impact.

No one mocked Copenhagen Suborbitals that day. The support group grew to 450 members. Why hadn’t the rocket worked on the first countdown?

“An electric connection had probably come loose,” said von Bengtson. And why did it work on the second countdown? “That’s the thing with loose connections. Sometimes the electricity still flows.”

In the summer of 2012, von Bengtson and Madsen began testing an ejector seat for a new

space capsule in the shape of a truncated cone.

Then came a breakthrough; that the HEAT 1X spun alerted its makers to the fact that rockets need to be actively steered. So a new, 4.5m-long SAPPHIRE test rocket was built with four copper rudders underneath the engine. A programmer from among the assistants wrote a piece of software that checked the rocket’s trajectory 500 times a second and could constantly correct it via the rudders.

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When he had completed the first of his three submarines and wanted to display it, there was a crowd of technicians and engineers standing on the embankment. One of them shouted out, “Have you done a welding course?”

Madsen shouted back, “Yes!” The man continued: “Did you fail?” “He wanted to hurt me,” says Madsen. He has since carried out 1,000 submarine descents.

Madsen and von Bengtson have been living the dream for a lot of other people, too. Copenhagen Suborbitals has 40 assistants and 800 supporters, many of whom are technicians and engineers.

Almost all of them have to make compromises in their day jobs. “But we do what we really want to be doing every day,” says von Bengtson. “I write technically when I blog about our project,” Madsen explains. It’s his way of stealing his way into his readers’ hearts. “What really excites them is the poetry of this absurd mission.”

Sometimes Madsen can’t bear the noise of all the work and the people in the HAB. At those times, he goes for a walk around the shipyard, where flowers sprout from torn-up asphalt and broken concrete, attracting bumblebees, buzzing like machines.

Bumblebees have a thick trunk and small wings. It is amazing that they can fly at all, and yet fly they do.

Top: Assistants heave parts of the SAPPHIRE rocket onto the launch device.

Above: Company founder Peter Madsen: “What excites our supporters is the poetry of this absurd mission”

copenhagensuborbitals.com

Copenhagen Suborbital

he team went back on the Baltic in June 2013, now supported by Vostok, an old German rescue ship doubling as mission control vessel.

(Madsen had blogged that they had to have the ship; donations for the purchase price of €40,000 came in within days.) The SAPPHIRE soared into the sky, perfectly vertically. If ever there was a suggestion of the rocket going off course, the rudders corrected things in a matter of milliseconds.

The rocket reached a height of 8.3km, with a high speed of 1,239kph. Ingenioren hailed it as “a huge success”, despite the parachutes failing again and SAPPHIRE sinking in the Baltic Sea. The team would work on a new release mechanism.

The next task is to integrate the active steering into the HEAT 2X, a rocket 9m long, a rough version of which is already sitting in the HAB, scheduled to be ready for launch in the summer of 2014, 200,000bhp engine and all. The HEAT 2X does not have the special rubber hybrid engine of its predecessor. It is a liquid rocket, fuelled by alcohol and liquid oxygen. The rocket is a 1:3 scale model of the planned HEAT 1600, which is very much in the vein of rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun’s V2. That monster of a machine, which Madsen wants to take into space, should be ready for the off by summer 2015, initially with Rescue Randy on board. Madsen wants to be in the capsule himself in 2018.

Throughout his life, Madsen has never had a problem with what other people are afraid of: looking ridiculous. Whether it be opening a theatre or sailing around the world, fear of failure stops people taking action. “We don’t do anything that might be risky, be that economically or personally,” he says.

He is going so far as to risk his life with this rocket project. “A lot of people realise at 40 that they have a boring job, a boring house, a boring wife. I try not to get bored. I’m much more afraid of dying alone and abandoned in an old people’s home than on board a rocket I’ve put together myself.”

Madsen’s personal belongings could fit into two plastic bags. He never finished his mechanical engineering degree or a number of other courses he started. Before he married and moved in with Sirid (and before she’d had a space capsule tattooed on her upper arm), he lived in workshops and submarines. He never wanted to have a career. He always wanted to build submarines and especially rockets, “because they are mythical and beautiful, with all that titanic power that they have”.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We went to the hardware store at the end of our first meeting.

Cork is ideal stuff for a heat shieldâ&#x20AC;? Kristian von Bengtson

Preparing to launch the SAPPHIRE rocket from the Baltic Sea in June 2013

RUNNING CAN'T FOR THOSE WHO CAN SIGN UP NOW! ONE DAY AT THE VERY SAME TIME ALL OVER THE WORLD

4TH MAY 2014 9:00 PM AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND

WINGSFORLIFEWORLDRUN.COM

Where to go and what to do

Into watersports? Then wear this, because time and tide wait for no man GET THE GEAR page 86

ac t i o n !

T r a v e l / G e a r / T r a i n i n g / N i g h t l i f e / M U S I C / p a r t i e s / c i t i e s / c l u b s / E v e n ts Bite club: join big fish fans off Isla Guadalupe

Ernst Koschier

Behind bars

It is possible to view a great white shark up close without it being the last thing you see.

Just enter the cage and drop 10m into the ocean travel page 88

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EASy BREEZy

get the Gear

Three things to improve your windsurfing

Lightweight At 3.37kg, this is an ultra-light Kevlar-coated sail suitable for all wave and wind conditions

Mormaii Lycra shirt Indispensable if you’re on the water a lot, this quickdrying shirt protects against wind and sun. mormaii.com.br

superglue Used – carefully – to close gashes and cuts, and a couple of drops can also be rubbed over palms, making a blisterpreventing film.

Wind power: Robby Naish squeezes every ounce of performance from his equipment

Board level windsurfing Robby Naish, the don of world windsurfing back in the game aged 50, also makes top-class kit

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Wave-breaker The Naish Wave 85l, designed for ocean waves, is relatively long and narrow at 240cm, but still easy to turn

Rip Curl ultimate titanium oceansearch Keeps track of tidal movements and wind direction on over 500 beaches worldwide. ripcurl.com

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getty images

Power and speed are the two things that Robby Naish needs to excel on the waves.

Since the late 1970s, he’s been making his own equipment, with his father, Rick. R Naish Jr, now 50 and back competing in windsurfing’s top tier, after returning to the PWA Tour last November, uses larger sails and longer boards compared with most of his peers. When picking your set-up, he says to “factor in your own weight, ability and the prevailing wind and wave conditions. And never go for a board that’s too small.” naishsails.com

Action !

party

Roll with it: Cape Town rock band BEAST

Making moves homegrown musical talent on the up

Markus Wormstorm

Dark-noir electronica master who did the score for Four Corners, South Africa’s official Oscars entry. facebook.com/ fourcornersdrops

Night waves

Aces ’n’ S pades, Alan van Gysen, press handout (3), Sydelle Willow Smith, Hélène Flament

cape town Rock ‘n’ roll meets surfing royalty in a darkly glamorous dive bar What surfer doesn’t want to own a rock ’n’ roll bar? Big-wave chaser Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker jumped at the chance when a boyhood friend, Reg Macdonald, returned to South Africa after running hot clubs in Hollywood, including the Nacional, Tokio and the Ivar. The fruit of their collaboration is Aces’n’Spades, a self-titled ‘good bar where bad things happen’, and a magnet for the A-list of surf (John John Florence, Mick Fanning) and film (Orlando Bloom and Kevin Spacey). There’s a vast selection of whiskeys and around 10 different beers on tap from local breweries. Wednesday is live music night, on Tuesdays and Thursdays the inner-city suits drop by for predinner drinks, and on weekends the place rocks out. “It was meant to be a quiet bar,” says Baker. “It was never really meant to be a place to dance, but between 12 and 2am pretty much the whole place is a raging dancefloor.”

Aces’n’Spades 62 Hout Street Cape Town, South Africa acesnspades.com

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th i rsty wo r k

DJ Spoko

From a township outside Pretoria, his jive-funk take on Afro-house appeared on an album by Mandela actor Idris Elba. twitter.com/ ghostship8

How the surf stars kick back

Grant Baker

Favourite Drink? “Don Julio tequila on the rocks, with a splash of water. Drinking cheap tequila is like drinking cheap whiskey. It should never be done.”

Favourite Song? Add It Up by Violent Femmes

Jordy Smith

Red Bull Vodka Rockin’ in the Free World

by Neil Young

Pioneer Unit

Frank Solomon

Brewers and Union’s Beast of the Deep beer All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix

Jordy Smith’s new surf film, Now Now, premiered at Aces

Record label behind vernacularlanguage spazahop act Rattex now showcasing cutting-edge local hip-hop via multimedia. pioneerunit.com

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Action!

Travel

And anoth er thing when you (San Die)go

Swell town With 70km of Pacific coastline, San Diego is a surfing mecca (if you can bear to get back in the water without a cage). sandiego.org

S hark Diving A close encounter with a great white is no zoo trip. Out in the pacific ocean, deep in predator territory, you face the beast The best place on Earth to go shark diving is Isla Guadalupe, a remote Pacific island about 260km off the Mexican coast. “Nowhere else are there so many white sharks in such crystal-clear waters between August and November,” says underwater photographer Ernst Koschier. Despite the reassuring prospect of a sharkproof cage, it may still take a while for your brain to accept this as a leisure activity. “You still have to face your fear,” says Austrian journalist Andreas Wollinger, “but that disappears when you enter the cage. The large metal bars are reassuring, plus there’s the calm of the sea.” Lead weights worn around the hips keep you stable on the cage floor.

You breathe through a diving regulator supplied with air from the surface, so that movement isn’t limited by carrying air tanks. The cage, lowered like a lift, remains 10m under the surface for 45 minutes.

Attracted by a bag of fish scraps dangled in the water, the sharks quickly appear. “There were three or four, as big and heavy as cars, their A week aboard the teeth bared, circling the cage,” says Nautilus Explorer Wollinger. “But they’re a lot slower boat, leaving from than you think, with elegant San Diego, California, and economical movements. and including They are relaxed, and thankfully three diving days, not in the least bit interested starts at US$3,000. nautilusexplorer.com in the people in the cage.”

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Face your fears: up close to Jaws, minus the scary cello music

Bunk down Dry-land adrenalin: head out, in a military jeep for a night in the Borrego desert wilderness, home to coyotes and mountain lions. california overland.com

Advice from the inside Stick to thick “The water is a pleasant 20°C, but you’re not moving around much, so that can soon get cold,” says Koschier.

“I’d recommend a wetsuit which is at least 7mm thick, plus boots, gloves and diving goggles – and definitely take a camera that clips onto you, so both hands are free.”

What no cage?

Some scientists have permits to swim freely with the sharks. Mauricio Hoyos has one. “When diving, it‘s important to understand a shark’s body language,” says the Mexican. “Never approach quickly or make sudden movements. That awakens a shark’s hunting instinct. And that usually turns out very badly.”

Roll out You could just leave the country: the San Diego light rail system’s San Ysidro line ends right next to the delights of Tijuana, Mexico. sdmts.com

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ernst koschier (2), shutterstock (3)

Cage with a view

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workout

Roar strength: Reggie Bush, Super Bowl winner and Detroit Lion

Building a winner’s body american football Without power below the belt, NFL star Reggie Bush doesn’t have a leg to stand on “Football has a 100 per cent injury rate”, says Reggie Bush. “It’s not a matter of ‘if’ you’re going to get injured, it’s a matter of ‘when.’” The Detroit Lions running back is one of the physically fittest NFL players; he can run the 100m in 10.45 seconds. “The right training helps to limit the injury risk and to withstand the tackles. My workout routine includes muscle development in the weight room, motor skill training under stress and training on the treadmill.”

t r e a d m i l l d r i l l : n f l s ta r s o n ly “Even under stress, your motor skills need to work properly,” says Bush. “On the treadmill, you learn to automate rolling over at high speed and train motor skills, which helps me play the game under stress.”

1

Jeremy Deputat/Red Bull Content Pool, james westman

Heri Irawan

Leg work: Reggie Bush trains up his money-makers Run forward on a horizontal treadmill.

Dive, roll in motion, over the training ball.

Roll over, get up, keep running.

Repeat four times.

iron man wearing a 9kg weight vest

2

Leg Strength

Run backwards on the incline, keep the ball in your hand.

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Run backwards and put the ball on the holder.

Move back to the start position.

Repeat four times.

“My legs are precious, but they also my opponents’ target,” says RB the RB. “Therefore, strong leg muscles are essential.

This weight vest is filled with sand and iron and speeds up leg muscle development.

I wear it when I do an overall workout, sprint sessions, knee bends and jumping power training.”

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Action!

world run

See how you run Fitness freak, reluctant runner or middling middle-distancer?

Take our test to find out what kind of runner you are, then download the training plan that suits you best

my training and I’ll have to make up for it as quickly as possible.

B Withdrawal symptoms.

I start getting fidgety.

C It’s the normal state of affairs.

1 I run because…

A I want to improve my performance.

B I want to feel good.

C I still need to find out why.

2 When I’m running, the main thing I focus on is…

A My heart rate and split times.

B The weather and the world around me.

C Chatting to my running partner.

4 My Body Mass Index (BMI) is…

A 18-25 B 25-40 C My Body what now?

5 I get overtaken when running in the park.

My reaction is...

3 A few days of no running means...

A What is this ‘being overtaken’ you speak of?

A That I’m behind with

B I don’t react. I just carry on doing my laps.

C It goads me on. I’ll get back past them!

D A friendly wave.

of training, such as weights.

B Go cycling or swimming.

C Take a break!

6 The most important elements for me about running are…

8 After running, I immediately...

A A good time, good opponents, a good result.

B Good organisation.

C Hmm. It’s not like there’s money on it.

A Start planning my next training run.

B Enjoy the endorphins.

C Think about the beer I’m going to have and the aches and pains I’ll have tomorrow.

7 I’ve been plagued with foot pain for days. So I… A Do some other kind

How did you do?

Work out your final score by adding up your points per questions. For every answer A, you get 10 points; a B is worth five points; EACH C is worth 1 and for A D, you add nothing to your total

The Would-Be Athlete

8–14 points

The Keep-Fit Enthusiast

Your goal:

Your goal:

The Reluctant Runner Your goal:

Improved performance

Firm calves and the feel-good factor

For starters, 3km in less than 18 minutes

You’re looking to test your limit almost daily. You like to outperform others on a competitive basis.

You train several times a week and invest time and effort in your health and quality of life.

You only run irregularly, and when you do, it’s only to remind yourself: “God, I used to be fitter than this.”

Your motto:

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‘First work, then pleasure’

‘Conquer your weaker self’

We recommend:

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Training plan C

Get a personalised training plan: redbulletin.com

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sascha bierl

15-70 points

Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool

71-80 points

enter

n ow

an d get training

TIPS FROM A PRO RACE DIRECTOR COLIN JACKSON’S running CHECKLIST

FOOTWEAR “There’s got to be life left in your shoes.

But never ignore that moment when they’ve become loose and worn out, because you won’t be running economically.

Definitely get new ones after 1,000km!”

NUTRITION “On competition day, eat what you normally eat: that’s what your body is used to.

Different foods send your body’s whole energy system into disarray and you could end up worse off for it.”

LIQUIDS “Your body is smart. If you don’t drink enough, it will take more liquid from your food. Always drink enough to prevent yourself ever getting thirsty. It’s important to take on drinks containing sodium and potassium.”

MUSIC “Calm for when you’re in the flow; harder for tougher sections.

Personally, I prefer to run without music and listen to my body instead, and those who like to run as part of a group won’t need headphones.”

“By the time you’re thirsty, it’s too late” Colin Jackson, two-time sprint hurdle world champion

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Global gathering W ings For Life World Run A starter’s gun on six continents.

The first worldwide running race in sporting history gets under way in May next year. Anyone who wants to race against the rest of the world can take part. Here are the details: 1. THE WAY IT WORKS

4. THE RESULT

In 35 countries, 37 races will all begin at 10am UTC (Co-ordinated Universal Time; 10am GMT) on May 4, 2014. ‘Catcher cars’ will start reeling in the participants 30 minutes later. The last person in the world to be caught wins.

The last man and last woman running will be crowned global champions and win a special roundthe-world trip. Each country will also record its national winners. All runners will be able to check online to see how they did. “Who in the world ran further than I did?”

2. THE CHASERS The ‘catcher cars’ will gradually increase their speed at predetermined intervals. Once a runner is caught, or passed by a car, he or she must drop out of the race and the distance run at that point is automatically recorded.

5. THE PARTICIPANTS

3. THE COURSES

6. THE MISSION

They fall into five global categories: coastal runs, river runs, city runs, nature runs and runs with a view.

The event’s homepage (wingsfor lifeworldrun.com) gives you the latest weather reports, detailed course info and a distance-time calculator.

The Wings for Life World Run motto is: Running For Those Who Can’t.

All of the money earned will go to the Wings For Life Foundation, which supports worldwide scientific research programmes looking for a cure for spinal cord injury.

You can find more information at wingsforlife.com.

Beginners, hobby runners, top athletes and stars, such as former Formula One ace David Coulthard. The aim is to cover as much of the course as you can to help cure paraplegia.

Compete against the rest of the world in the Wings For Life World Run. You can register online until April 20, 2014, at wingsforlifeworldrun.com

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City Guide

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Top five our vienna tips

Anna Müller: waltzing around Vienna

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The Vienna Climbing Hall offers bouldering and climbing spaces and a slackline course.

Climbing heaven for beginners and pros. kletterhallewien.at

3 St Josef Mondscheingasse 10 “Have lunch with a clear conscience: this place is healthy, organic, regional and the people are incredibly nice. And it all tastes great. If you don’t like the lentil dhal, you’re beyond help.”

FUTURE WAR

When HVOB formed in early 2012, Anna Muller and Paul Wallner wanted to make electronic music that you could both listen and dance to: ooontze-ooontzeooontze with intelligence. With Müller composing and singing and Wallner doing production they got their wish. After uploading a couple of snippets to SoundCloud, things started to happen very quickly.

Performances at Europe’s biggest festivals, an invitation from designer Elie Saab to soundtrack his Paris Fashion Week video, an EP, an album, another EP and, not least, record sales. They will be playing live at the SXSW festival in March in Austin, Texas (they love playing live, for which a duo becomes a trio with the addition of a drummer). If you can’t make it to America, seek out Lion, HVOB’s new EP. If you can make it to Vienna, seek out Müller’s must-visits. hvob-music.com

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“I know no better shop in Vienna. Big, wide, open white spaces. Wonderful vintage items, especially the old clothes.”

4 Propaganda Stubenring 20

“There’s no excuse for a bad haircut when you’re in Vienna.

The city is home to Wolfgang ‘Jackson’ Steinbauer and his tiny salon with a huge picture of Marilyn Manson on the wall.”

2 zimmer 37 Am Karmelitermarkt 37–39

“This market is a bit boho, but that doesn’t matter. At Zimmer 37, a mother-anddaughter team make wonderful, wonderful food. It’s the best place to sit in the sun and eat, or just have a coffee, anywhere in Vienna. Close by, you also have the Schöne Perle and Pizza Mari restaurants.”

laserfun-vienna.at

FLY AN AIRBUS 5 Pratersauna Waldsteingartenstrasse 135

“Vienna’s best club is loved all over Europe. It has the best bookings, the best garden and the best pool. We’ve worked with the best and most dazzling VJs from the Pratersauna.”

Practise take-offs and tell cabin crew to take seats for landing on a flight simulator.

Simulated engine failure is heck of a thing. viennaflight.at

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albert Exergian, silvia druml

v ienna Electro princess Anna Muller on nightclub swimming and the (hair) do’s and don’ts of her hometown

1 burggasse 24 Burggasse 24

shutterstock

Capital time

One of Europe’s finest laser tag arenas. Pursue your opponents in a misty maze and unleash Arnie one-liners in his home country.

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Action!

AWARD WINNING INFO

MUSIC

Insider knowledge ahead of the 54th Grammys, on January 26

James Mercer is a busy man. The 42-year-old from Hawaii is lead singer of The Shins, whose playful, psychedelic indie songs have been conquering charts and critics’ hearts for a dozen years. Since 2009, he has also been involved in Broken Bells, with his friend Danger Mouse (one half of Gnarls Barkley, and producer of The Black Keys and Norah Jones). As a duo, they proclaim their love of obscure pop and understatedly odd dance music, which sounds strange but works splendidly: Broken Bells’ debut album sold 700,000 copies in the US. A second album, After The Disco, is out now. Here, Mercer reveals what inspired him as he was working on it.

Playlist BROKEN BELLS SINGER JAMES MERCER AND FIVE of the best records you’ve never heard

brokenbells.com

1 Throwing Muses 2 Smith Westerns Not Too Soon

Varsity

“To me this song sums up everything that the ’90s were about.

Throwing Muses were a girl band, which was a cool thing back then and they were also one of the first bands I ever saw live back when I went to high school in England. Not Too Soon is a classic power pop song. It may sound very 1991, but it’d still be successful in any era.”

“They are young new indie band.

They have this song called Varsity, which is the title track of their current album.

I love it. It sounds like a classic ’80s radio song. It’s very easy to listen to.

I love their lightheartedness. We were trying to get them to tour with Broken Bells three years ago, but unfortunately they were busy doing something else.”

4 Fruit Bats

5 Blur

“You’re Too Weird was written by my buddy Eric Johnson from the band Fruit Bats. It’s a love song he wrote for his wife. Well, maybe not exclusively for her. But it’s beautiful and brilliantly written. I met Eric 15 years ago touring when he was playing in his former, highly underestimated band Califone and we just became good friends.”

“Blur released their first new song since 2003 on their website as a free download on April 1 three years ago. Almost no one paid it any attention – at least not in the States. Which is insane!

I thought Fool’s Day was great: one of Blur’s best songs ever. I hoped at the time that the track would herald a new album, but I’m still waiting.”

You’re Too Weird

Fool’s Day

3 Apples In Stereo The Golden Flower

“I learned a fair amount about how to write songs listening to this one. It’s a strange song with strange chords. It was a 7-inch that came for free when you bought the Tone Soul Evolution album on vinyl. It was this thing that would fall out when you opened the sleeve.

Really annoying, but what can you do?

It’s one of my favourite songs ever.”

Stevie Wonder In Nigeria on the night of the 1976 ceremony, he appeared via live satellite link-up.

Host Andy Williams asked, “Stevie, can you see us now?”

It was Williams’ last Grammy appearance.

M O U N TA I N G R O OV E M eta l to the p eda l?

SETTING THE RHYTHM Music to fill your leg muscles with lactic acid by: all tunes-loving mountain-bikers should have one of these Bluetooth speakers, with a 10-hour battery and rugged all-terrain performance, in their bottle holders. scosche.com

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The Hungarian conductor, who died in 1997, is the most-Grammyed, with 31 trophies to his name. He could be overhauled by bluegrass musician Alison Krauss, who, aged 42, has 27 awards.

Sinead O’Connor The only person ever to refuse a Grammy is the Irish singer, protesting the increasing commercialisation of the awards. Milli Vanilli had to return theirs because of a ‘fake vocals’ controversy.

the red bulletin

florian obkircher

Overlooked anthems

Georg Solti

Getty Images (2), Corbis, universalmusic, press handout

Double-time: James Mercer is the singer and guitarist in two bands

Action!

games

Criminal behaviour: stealing to survive and surviving to steal in Thief

Make Millions Making Gam es Biggestearning titles on crowd-funding website Kickstarter

Torment: Tides Of Numenera US$4.18m More than 70,000 people chipped in for a sciencefiction RPG set about a billion years in the future.

It’s a steal Thief watch out! this game might run off with every minute of your spare time “Let me tell you about this city,” says one Thief character, of the game world. “If it were my mother, I would say I was adopted.” This place is dark and dirty, the setting of an eagerly awaited instalment in one of video games’ most influential series.

The first Thief was one of three 1998 games that defined and popularised the sneak-’em-up, or firstperson stealth adventure, for modern gamers, along with the classic Metal Gear Solid and the ninja-rich Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. Without them, there would be no Assassin’s Creed or Splinter Cell and it’s with those two games in mind that gamers will approach the rebooted Thief, released worldwide in February.

They will find a vast game world, missions, objectives: the standard stealth set-up. But the atmosphere, thick with steampunk urban stink and a genuine sense of grubby dread, makes Thief worth taking. Available for Xboxes One and 360, PlayStations 3 and 4, and PC.

paul wilson

thiefgame.com

Thief: eyes on the prize

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o u t n ow

Sensaitional

We can’t stop playing Clumsy Ninja!

He looks like an escapee from Cartoon Network, but the ninja’s ultra-realistic movement makes training him – the game’s sole purpose – an addictive iPhone delight. He feels real and you feel his progress, and that’s what keeps you coming back. Level 77 next…

Project Eternity US$3.97m Another RPG, from the makers of Star Wars and Fallout games, with a Game Of Thronesish setting.

naturalmotion.com

You will obey Hot game of Cold War intrigue

Many of us play games to escape from the daily grind of modern bureaucracy: Papers Please, uniquely, plunges you into exactly that.

As a border guard of a fictional Soviet state, you wield the power over those who would enter your country. Unsettlingly thrilling. For PC and Mac.

level5ia.com

Mighty No. 9 US$3.85m Japanese-style robot fun. Four fans paid $10k each to dine with maker Keiji Inafune, creator of Mega Man. Find and fund new games on kickstarter.com

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Action!

save the date Wheely fast: NZ rider Brook MacDonald

February 14-23

Two wheels good

rotoruabikefestival.com

February 1

Home from home

February 23

Obstacles ahead Hardcore obstacle course events are all the rage, but everyone’s got to start somewhere. The 5km O Rock Obstacle Run is a manageable introduction for athletes of all abilities. orock.co.nz

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Eden Park has been a happy hunting ground for Wellington Phoenix. The A-League outfit drew with Adelaide United in their first league game at the NZ home of rugby in 2011 and followed that up last season with a 1-0 win over Perth Glory.

Ernie Merrick’s side will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten record in Auckland when they host Adelaide. wellingtonphoenix.com

February 14-16

Park life For a decade, the creative types behind Splore have put on a festival for New Zealand’s free spirits, with trapeze nymphs and bicycle-powered cinemas sharing the bill with big-name bands.

This year’s musical highlights at Tapapakanga Regional Park include DJ Shadow, Ebony Bones and The Funk Hunters. Also on the bill are Out Of The Dark, a group of Kiwi creatives setting up an art installation featuring a truckload of mirrors, and leftfield Canadian showman Billions Cobra. splore.net

the red bulletin

graeme murray, Bruce Jenkins, David Read/Red Bull Content Pool

The second Rotorua Bike Festival rolls into the Central North Island town on Valentine’s Day with the National Mountain Bike Championships headlining the opening weekend. The fest is not just for elite riders, with a host of events for amateurs, such as the Yeah Boi Sick race in honour of local hero James Dodds, who died in 2012.

January 25

January 30-February 2

Stadium splash

Red hot racing

Sports fans in Mt Maunganui will be treated to a world first this anniversary weekend when ASB Baypark hosts the New Zealand Jetsprint Championship. It’s the first time jetboats will be raced in a stadium arena and, with the methanol-fuelled craft reaching speeds in excess of 125kph on a track 5m wide, it promises to be a spectacular event. jetsprint.co.nz

With GP2 ace Mitch Evans and F1’s newest recruit Daniil Kyvat as recent graduates, there’s no doubt the Toyota Racing Series is a proving ground for some of the world’s best motor racing talent. Witness the action trackside when the penultimate round of this year’s championship plays out at Hampton Downs outside Auckland. toyotaracing.co.nz

Sand soccer

more dates for the diary

15 January

Amazing race On track: catch the future heroes of motorsport at Hampton Downs

February 8

don’t miss

Copacabana comes to Auckland for one day in February when Mission Bay hosts the Auckland Beach Football Tournament.

Last year, 32 teams took part in this exciting, fast-paced brand of football. Teams can be mixed, shoes are not allowed and ball control skills are a must. beachfootballnz.co.nz

Fancy racing your way around Europe in April?

If you’re a student and you want to be part of Red Bull Can You Make It, visit the website to apply online. redbullcan youmakeit.com

16 january

February 1

High hopes ‘It’s all about altitude’ is the tagline for the Kaweka Mountain Marathon, one of New Zealand’s toughest ultramarathons. The 50km Kaweka Klassic traverses the tallest peak in the Hawke’s Bay high country. If this sounds like too much of a stretch, you might consider the Kaweka Koaster (36km), Kruiser (19km) or Kwicky (7km) events. thekaweka.co.nz

High time: push yourself to the limit in an ultramarathon

HOME BREWED Third Eye, Team Dynamite and The Means are the three acts handpicked by curators the Young, Gifted & Broke crew for the latest Red Bull Sound Select at Cassette Nine in Auckland. redbull soundselect. com/nz

4

February

January 29-February 2

Bowled over Some of the best skateboarders from around the world join New Zealand’s finest concrete warriors for the festival of skateboarding that is BOWL-A-RAMA Wellington.

Waitangi Park will host five days of skateboarding action, culminating in the professional and master’s finals on Saturday, February 1. California skaters dominated last year’s event, with Josh Rodriguez taking the pro title and Steve Caballero winning the master’s contest. bowlarama.com.au

the red bulletin

National treasures Five years on from playing a pub gig in The Kings Arms in Auckland, American indierock band The National have graduated to the big time and the Vector Arena. ticket master.co.nz

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magic moment

November 24, 2013 What Mark Webber did on the slow-down lap after his 217th and last Formula One Grand Prix carries a penalty: he took off his helmet. The Australian, who will race a Porsche in the World Endurance Championship this year, escaped punishment and was also able to blame the airflow for his farewell tears.

“I spent half a lap trying to get it off... it’s bloody noisy with no helmet on, I know that much” Getty Images

Mark Webber

The next issue of the Red Bulletin is out on february 11 98

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