NEW ZEALAND
BEYOND THE ORDINARY
FROM INSTRUCTOR TO RACE ACE
IN 3 YEARS
How Kiwi driver Earl Bamber accelerated his career
SEE
YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR The Walking Dead star
RODEO CLOWNS Nose-to-nose with raging bulls
Norman Reedus is a man even Hollywood can’t tame
ROBOTIC ARMS AND MICRO DRONES The future tech you’ll want to own Cover photography by Michael Muller
SEPTEMBER 2015 $ 4.95
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THE RED BULLETIN
28 CIRCUS OF PAIN
In their garish shirts and facepaint, rodeo clowns are the bodyguards of the bullring
MICHAEL MULLER (COVER), JIM KRANTZ
WELCOME Unusual combinations often produce the most interesting results, as you’ll see in The Red Bulletin this month. The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus heads to a Louisiana swamp to trade in his usual zombie foes for a rather more alive alligator (we now know he prefers the former); we meet the hardcore rodeo clowns who take on raging bulls wearing full make-up; and climbing great Chris Sharma swaps rocks for a redwood, in an attempt to be the first to freeclimb one of the colossal trees. Plus Kiwi driver Earl Bamber reveals how he went from driving instructor to Le Mans winner in just three years, and we hang out with A-list insider Mark Hunter, party photographer to the stars. We hope you enjoy the issue. THE RED BULLETIN
“I’ve always lived job-to-job. It’s nice to have a nine-to-five” NORMAN REEDUS, PAGE 48
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SEPTEMBER 2015
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AT A GLANCE GALLERY 14 GOOD SHOTS! Photos of the month
GRANDMASTER FLASH
BULLEVARD
Who do the celebrities call when they need a party photographer? The Cobrasnake, of course…
21 CRIME SPECIAL Profiling law-breakers – and the good guys who catch them
FEATURES
56
28 Rodeo clowns
Inside the dangerous, facepainted world of America’s bullfighters The Strokes guitarist turned solo artist Albert Hammond Jr, Kiwi racing driver Earl Bamber, Jakob axeman Jeff Boyle, and endurance athlete Sean Conway
44 FREESTYLE MOTOCROSS
Pioneering rider, track tester and judge on the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, Drake McElroy is a legend of FMX
48 Norman Reedus
JAKOB’S LADDER
Guitarist Jeff Boyle on how tenacity paid off for post-rock veterans Jakob and won them NZ’s top music prize
The Walking Dead star on celebrity, Slash and a scary-looking ’gator
56 Red Bull X-Fighters
Drake McElroy: maverick FMX hero
64 Chris Sharma
The rise and rise of climbing’s Bohemian superhero
72 The Cobrasnake
Party photographer to the stars
ACTION!
64 HIGHER CALLING
For Californian climber Chris Sharma, the challenge of scaling giant redwoods isn’t only physical but spiritual, too 06
83 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Ducati have really raised their game with their new superbike – the pretty, powerful and clever 1299 Panigale S
79 SEE IT. GET IT. DO IT. The best travel, gadgets, films, games, music, wheels and events. Plus how to fight a forest fire 91 FUTURE GEAR Tomorrow’s tech today 98 MAGIC MOMENT Big-seater BMXing
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MARK HUNTER, PREDRAG VUCKOVIC/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, ALISTAIR GUTHRIE, KEITH LADZINSKI
40 This month’s heroes
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CONTRIBUTORS INSIDE THIS ISSUE
WHO’S ON BOARD
SOUTH AFRICA
BEYOND THE ORDINARY
GRAEME LENNOX
Actor Norman Reedus (right) with photographer Michael Muller
Zombie killer meets alligator “I feel like he could feel my fear,” said actor Norman Reedus after lifting a live alligator next to a swamp in Louisiana, USA. The 46-year-old is more used to slaying zombies as the crossbow-wielding Daryl Dixon in hit American TV series The Walking Dead, a role which brought him fame after stints working as a painter, photographer and video artist. His interview with The Red Bulletin took place in more civilised surroundings, at a hotel in New Orleans. Find out how he got to grips with that alligator on page 48.
The Scottish writer interviewed star triathlete Sean Conway. “This guy thinks nothing of swimming the length of Britain,” says Lennox. “He’s an inspiration to any wannabe adventurer.” The story’s on page 46.
THE FUTURE OF THE SPRINGBOKS
Blood, sweat and big data
LEAP OF
FAITH
RED BULL X-FIGHTERS is back! PLUS Meet Drake McElroy, the ultimate FMX maverick
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THE RED BULLETIN
AROUND THE WORLD
MARK HUNTER
LA-based photographer Hunter was only 17 when he started his nightlife blog, thepolaroidscene.com. Today he’s Katy Perry’s go-to snapper. “She was just a regular party girl and we got along,” he says. See more on page 72.
Jim Krantz was in charge of the camera, not the make-up, at the Clovis Rodeo
The Red Bulletin is available in 11 countries. This is the cover of this month’s South African edition, featuring Drake McElroy, the multi-skilled test rider of Red Bull X-Fighters. Read more: redbulletin.com
IN FOCUS BEHIND THE LENS
“They dress like clowns and move like athletes” JIM KRANTZ The reportages of Jim Krantz can often be found in The New York Times. For this magazine, the Chicago-based photographer followed three top bullfighters into the ring at the 101st Clovis Rodeo in California. Turn to page 28 to meet the men who dress up as clowns and save fallen rodeo riders from raging bulls.
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THE RED BULLETIN
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THE RED BULLETIN WEB HIGHLIGHTS
Channing Tatum’s survival guide In our exclusive web interview, the Magic Mike XXL star lets loose on his career as a stripper and his success in Hollywood. The 35-year-old also reveals the life lessons he has learned from his actress/dancer wife. redbulletin.com/tatum
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FUN SPORTS SPECIAL PICTURE PERFECT
Chessboxing, underwater rugby, competitive lumberjacking, extreme ironing – we bring you a lowdown on 10 sports that should be in the Olympics, with video clips of the action.
In his 12 years as a party snapper, Mark ‘The Cobrasnake’ Hunter has taken more than a million photos for Katy Perry, Steve Aoki and other celebrities. He talks us through his 30 best shots.
redbulletin.com/crazysports
redbulletin.com/cobrasnake
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Visual Storytelling Beyond the ordinary
NEW ZEALAND
BEYOND THE ORDINARY
FROM INSTRUCTOR TO RACE ACE
IN 3 YEARS
SEE
How Kiwi driver Earl Bamber accelerated his career
THE CAPTAIN OF ADVENTURE ALL-ROUND ACTION HERO WILL GADD IS A LIVING LEGEND IN THE TRUEST SENSE.
YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR The Walking Dead star
„IT‘S THE THRILL OF THE CHASE.“
Norman Reedus is a man even Hollywood can’t tame
RODEO CLOWNS Nose-to-nose with raging bulls
ROBOTIC ARMS AND MICRO DRONES The future tech you’ll want to own Cover photography by Michael Muller
Michael Muller Cover photography by
you’ll want to own The future tech
AND MICRO DRONES ROBOTIC ARMS raging bulls Nose-to-nose with
RODEO CLOWNS
can’t tame man even Hollywood Norman Reedus is a
YOU The Walking Dead star ALLIGATOR LATER,
SEE his career Bamber accelerated How Kiwi driver Earl
IN 3 YEARS
TO RACE ACE FROM INSTRUCTOR
BEYOND THE ORDINARY
NEW ZEALAND
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WEB
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APP
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SOCIAL
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TALLI N N , E STO N IA
DROP BOX JAANUS REE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
Drew Bezanson practises ahead of an impressive fifth victory at revered BMX battle Simple Session in April. The 26-year-old BMX park rider learned his skills in the remoteness of his native Nova Scotia, Canada, but after winning recognition much further afield with his genre-defining style – including two ‘Ramp Rider Of The Year’ awards in the US – trips home are a rarity. “I visit Nova Scotia once in the summer and once at Christmas,” he says. “At this point, I’m so used to being on the go, I get antsy when I don’t have stuff going on.” More bike news: redbull.com/bike Photography: Jaanus Ree
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ANAH E I M , U SA
POOL PARTY CARLO CRUZ/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
California-based photographer Carlo Cruz has been taking pictures of B-Boys for the past 10 years, but, even for him, this underwater project was a first. “Breakdance is too fast for the eye,” he says. “It’s easier to capture it beneath the surface.” Cruz sported diving equipment during the pool shoot, and used hand signals to direct Chicago-born B-Girl Ladie One (left) and Sacramento-based VillN. “I was a signlanguage expert by the end of it,” he says. See all the pics at: redbullphotography.com Photography: Carlo Cruz
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ALG H E RO, SAR D I N IA
FIA World Rally Championship organisers give fair warning about the hazards of the Sardinian leg, with its high temperatures, narrow, treelined roads that allow “no room for error”, and slippery gravel. And, like the world-class pros that they are, the competitors take it all in their stride. Here, Finnish driver Jari-Matti Latvala (VW Motorsport) shows how best to deal with the latter problem – by flooring it. wrc.com Photography: André Lavadinho
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@TWORLD/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
GRAVEL CONCERNS
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THE RED BULLETIN BULLEVARD DO NOT CROSS!
CRIME SCENE NO SH*T SHERLOCK
PICTUREDESK.COM
Brilliant, awkward, cold, Benedict Cumberbatch’s narcissistic Holmes has set the gold standard for crime drama heroes You can group us in with the “Cumberbitches”, the legions of Benedict Cumberbatch’s selflabelled female fans who caught on early to the rangy actor’s rising star. Already a TV staple before his breakout as the super-sleuth in the BBC series Sherlock, Cumberbatch has gone on to roles in The Hobbit, been nominated for an Oscar in The Imitation Game, and is in Black Mass, the upcoming film about infamous mobster Whitey Bulger, starring Johnny Depp. But it’s his portrayal of the modern-day Sherlock Holmes that got us onto his bandwagon. After trying to kill him off, it seems the habit of shutting down promising shows (The Office, The IT Crowd) has finally been bucked and Holmes and Dr Watson (Martin Freeman) are back not just for a 2015 Christmas special, but for a whole Season 4, which starts filming in early 2016 . Elementary.
Cumberbatch’s Holmes has given up smoking and ditched the deerstalker
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BULLEVARD
THE RED BULLETIN CASTS...
CASTING THE HEADLINES
Johnny Depp could get an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. Who would play the other headline-grabbers? DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV THE BOSTON BOMBER The Chechen immigrant caused an American nightmare and landed on a controversial Rolling Stone cover seemingly as a sex symbol. To balance out the dreamy with the despicable, it’s time to give one of Hollywood’s moody young guns a shot. Right move: Adam Driver, on the heels of all that JJ Abrams Star Wars glory. Wrong move: Zac Efron trying desperately to gain some depth. OSCAR PISTORIUS OLYMPIC HERO TURNED MURDER SUSPECT
RETURN OF THE X-FILES Mulder and Scully are back. Here are a few more pairs we’d like to see
JOHN MCAFEE SOFTWARE MILLIONIARE ON THE RUN He’s in Belize. No, he’s in Guatemala. No, he’s on Vice right now. Wanted for questioning by Belize authorities in connection with the death of his neighbour, McAfee was the global personification of sex, drugs, money and violence for a few weeks. Now he’s existing quietly in Tennessee with a new wife.
SETH ROGEN / BETTY WHITE The potty-mouthed May/ December duo must choose between battling bad guys and… just firing up a big one and ordering in pizza.
Right move: It’s Aviator meets Blood Diamond as Leonardo DiCaprio hits Howard Hughes paranoia levels for a second time. Wrong move: Ryan Reynolds — too cute. RONDA ROUSEY / THE ROCK The World’s Most Dangerous Woman and the guy who can battle earthquakes: who’d mess with that?
The adaptive athlete runner on speed blades is accused of murdering his girlfriend. He says he thought she was an intruder. South Africa finds him guilty of culpable homicide. Someone who can balance athletic machismo with paranoia and arrogant self-delusion. Right move: Michael Fassbender, because the man can basically do everything. Wrong move: Bradley Cooper – just too damn likeable.
KEVIN HART / JANE LYNCH The hyperactive small American actor/comedian paired with the lofty, dry-witted best high school gym teacher in television history.
WE CAN DREAM
Depp in Black Mass: the film is in cinemas worldwide from September 17
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Season 1 made the Matthew McConaughey renaissance, with some fine acting by comrade-instonerhood Woody Harrelson. Season 2 was Colin Farrell (fine), Taylor Kitsch (fine), Rachel McAdams (great) and Vince Vaughn (errr…). So why not jump the shark? Tommy Lee Jones provides the gravel, Charlize Theron the gravitas, and Jack Black steals every scene.
CORBIS(5), WARNER, GETTY IMAGES(5)
True Detective Season 3
BULLEVARD
MISS MONEYPENNY
THE ULTIMATE BOND GIRL
Once relegated to being MI6’s most besotted assistant (“You always were a cunning linguist, James”), Moneypenny’s job description has been shaken and stirred with the times NAOMIE HARRIS 2012-current That mysterious Land Rover-driving, train-chasing, rib-breaking sniper babe at the start of Skyfall was revealed at the end of the movie to be none other than the modern iteration of Miss Moneypenny. She returns in Spectre, which hits cinemas in November. We presume she will again take sh-t from no one. SAMANTHA BOND 1995-2002 PTODD PLITT/CONTOUR/GETTY IMAGES, KOBAL COLLECTION(2), PICTUREDESK.COM
Said that “cunning linguist” line with a straight face. Types. CAROLINE BLISS 1987-1989 Wears glasses. Books travel. Goes to meetings. Carries a notebook. Types. LOIS MAXWELL 1962-1985 Makes calls. Puts on lipstick. Files paperwork. Begs for jewellery. Types.
Naomie Harris is the first Moneypenny who’s been given a first name: Eve
THE RED BULLETIN
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BULLEVARD
LA’S WORST DAY
Sharon Tate
Murder In 1969 the actress, who was eightand-a-half months pregnant, was killed by followers of Charles Manson at her home in Benedict Canyon.
Mel Gibson
DUI Who would have guessed that downing too many cocktails at Moonshadows, then driving off and launching into an anti-Semitic rant was a career killer?
Lindsey Lohan
DUI This is the site of her second 2007 arrest for DUI and coke possession, not the site of her first 2007 arrest for DUI and coke possession.
Malibu
Santa Monica Bay
Die Hard
Terrorism Yippee ki-yay, motherf--ker! Bruce Willis’ Christmas is almost ruined as he fights terrorists at Nakatomi Plaza — actually Fox Plaza in Century City.
Santa Monica
CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS
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TOM MACKINGER
In both fiction and the real world, Los Angeles attracts its fair share of malfeasant creeps. But what if all of the city’s notorious crimes happened at the same time? Sorry, LAPD, being on duty for the crime apocalypse must suck…
THE RED BULLETIN
Wonderland Murder
Bugsy Siegel
Murder In 1947, mobster Bugsy Siegel was shot to death in his girlfriend’s Beverly Hills home. The crime was recreated in the 1991 Warren Beatty movie Bugsy.
Wonderland tells of four murders in Laurel Canyon, for which porn star John Holmes was tried but acquitted. Boogie Nights, starring Mark Wahlberg, was inspired by Holmes’ life.
CA
LA Confidential
Police corruption A sort-of good cop, played by Russell Crowe, uncovers a prostitution ring run out of a historic Richard Neutradesigned house in Griffith Park.
Griffith Park Nightcrawler
Led Zeppelin
Mayhem If you were in one of the greatest rock bands ever, would you ride your motorcycle through the lobby of the Chateau Marmont? Yes, you would.
Obstruction of justice Jake Gyllenhaal’s creeper Lou Bloom travels around the city collecting gory crime scene footage; his home base is in Echo Park.
Beverly Hills Mid-Wilshire
Downtown
Culver City The Notorious BIG
Murder The New York rapper was the victim of a drive-by shooting outside the Petersen Automotive Museum in 1997. The crime remains unsolved.
Heat
Bank robbery The movie’s insane 10-minute bank shootout scene features Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer marauding through downtown with assault rifles.
Drive Ray Donovan
Bribery Liev Schreiber’s fictional fixer commits quite a few crimes of his own to help his clients, including springing them out of jail in Culver City.
THE RED BULLETIN
Mob heist Driving a getaway car is no problem for Ryan Gosling’s stunt driver; neither is beating a guy to death. He and love interest Irene live near MacArthur Park.
Collateral
Assassination Hitman Tom Cruise holds taxi driver Jamie Foxx hostage as he completes his kill list around the city. The final chase occurs near the Staples Center.
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BULLEVARD
RUN AND GUN WHEN CRIME GOES THUD The world’s dumbest criminals
WAYNE WADE HOLLYWOOD, USA The burglar left his mobile phone at his victim’s home and called the number to ask for it back. A detective answered. You can guess the rest.
PAUL ROBERT BENSON BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND If you’re going to shoplift, make sure you’re not wearing a replica Manchester United shirt with your name on the back.
Guns, Andy Warhol, 1982
WHAT MAKES CRIME GO POP? Why does a case make headlines? These are the five characteristics that can make a crime go mainstream
CONFLICTING EVIDENCE The numbers don’t add up. What he said doesn’t line up with what she said. The cops couldn’t find the weapon. The DNA samples don’t match. “To me, these are the most interesting cases. You’re trying to weigh up the evidence and ask yourself, ‘Am I convinced by this, or more convinced by the other side?’”
2.
COULD HE BE INNOCENT? If there is even a glimmer of a doubt that the defendant is guilty, it’ll inspire widespread debate. “These cases really put your nerves on edge, because they could happen to any of us. You’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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WHAT WAS THE JURY THINKING? Jurors are thrown into a void where no outside thoughts or opinions are allowed, which often leads to a massive disconnect between public opinion and final verdict. “We get frustrated when we feel that a sense of justice has not been served. It’s when everyone in the world knows something, except the people on the jury. It’s hard to make a perfect system, but the US sure as hell doesn’t have it.”
KAINRATH
4.
THE MORE BLOOD, THE BETTER There’s something about excessive violence and the lurid accounts of a murder that taps into our base emotions. “One of the basic rules of the crime story is that we are looking inside the soul of human nature by looking outside our own experiences, and that’s why these cases are intriguing. When something is really unusual about a crime, people react to it.”
Crimes are… DIETMAR KAINRATH
1.
3.
5.
THEMES OF OUR TIMES Stories with socially relevant themes that stimulate national debate carry weight above almost all other ingredients. “A crime that strikes a nerve sets off a kind of cycle. It’s like we’ve hit a gold mine; because we’ve had this rush of stories about the deaths of black teenage males recently, every time there is a case that seems like it might fit that pattern, it gets into the media.”
…a matter of perspective.
THE RED BULLETIN
CORBIS, GETTY IMAGES
Celebrated American baseball writer Bill James is best known for turning the sport on its head with his stats-based approach to team-building. But in his downtime, the Moneyball pioneer reads true crime stories — more than 1,000 of them so far — and his book on the subject, Popular Crime, was published in 2011. In the age of Trayvon Martin and Oscar Pistorius, The Red Bulletin asked James what it takes for a crime to grab the masses by the throat.
PETER WELSH and DWAYNE DOOLAN BEAUDESERT, AUSTRALIA On New Year’s Eve, the pair tunnelled into what they thought was a jewellery store. It was, in fact, a KFC. They robbed it anyway.
BULLEVARD
SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
THEY FOUGHT THE LAW, AND THE LAW WON Which star was accused of which crime? Match the celebrity mugshot with the misdemeanour they were arrested for…
6’4”
6’4”
6’0”
6’0”
5’6”
5’6”
5’2”
5’2”
4’8”
4’8”
4’4”
4’4”
3’0”
3’0”
2’6”
2’6”
2’2”
2’2”
1’8”
1’8” WIZ KHALIFA 1
JENNA JAMESON 2
VINCE VAUGHN 3
REESE WITHERSPOON 4
MARILYN MANSON 5
A. FIGHTING IN PUBLIC — B. SUSPECTED DUI — C. CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT D. POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA — E. DISORDERLY CONDUCT Answers: 1D; 2B; 3A; 4E; 5C
HOT FUZZ
GETTY IMAGES(5), INSTAGRAM(4)
Four police department Instagram accounts to follow
Queensland Police Department
Reykjavik Metropolitan Police Department
New York Police Department
Portland Police Department
Followers: 9.4k Antipodean badassery and a perhaps unhealthy obsession with arresting Captain Jack Sparrow. instagram.com/qpsmedia
Followers: 160k Cute chicks in uniform, officers pulling ollies on skateboards, and puppies. Let’s go to Iceland. instagram.com/logreglan
Followers: 30k See New York’s finest bust bad guys and confiscate evidence through all the right filters. instagram.com/nypd
Followers: 1.1k On patrol in Portlandia with the cutest K9 unit on the West Coast. Also: ironic doughnuts. instagram.com/portlandpolice
THE RED BULLETIN
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SEND IN THE CLOWNS YOU CAN BE A HERO REGARDLESS OF HOW RIDICULOUS YOU LOOK. BULLFIGHTERS IN ABSURD COSTUMES STOP FALLEN RODEO RIDERS BEING KILLED BY CHARGING BULLS WORDS: ANDREAS ROTTENSCHLAGER PHOTOGRAPHY: JIM KRANTZ
Bullfighter Josh Daries at the rodeo in Clovis, California: “If you’re not scared, you’re crazy”
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JOSH DARIES’ TRANSFORMATION BEGINS ON A SUNDAY MORNING IN A STIFLING TRAILER ON THE EDGE OF THE RODEO IN CLOVIS, CALIFORNIA. Daries is 26 years old, slim, and has aquamarine eyes. He slips on a jockstrap and wraps bandages around his wrists. He then ties a body protector made of hard plastic onto his upper body and, with both arms fully outstretched, rotates them to check that it’s on properly. This first part of his transformation is the normal part. For part two, Daries climbs into a pair of washed-out jean shorts. They are three sizes too big for him – XXL – and the ends are frayed. Then he fishes an orange batik shirt covered in dabs of russet pink watercolour paint out of his trunk and buttons it up over his body protector. All that’s needed now to finish the job is some make-up. Daries draws purple circles under his eyes and onto his chin which he colours in using white finger paint. He takes a selfie with his iPhone to assess the results… Perfect. The transformation is complete. Daries is a gladiator in a clown outfit. His working day starts an hour from now. Rodeo riders in Clovis are fighting for prize money of $300,000
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Bullfighters Daries (left) and Eric Layton on their way into the arena. They both wear hard plastic body protectors under their floral shirts
“YOU CAN’T TELL HOW BRAVE A MAN IS BY WHAT HE’S WEARING” Daries, a former bull rider, is a bullfighter and a bodyguard for rodeo cowboys. When a bull bucks its rider off, Daries offers himself up as a more enticing target, giving the cowboy time to get to safety. When it all goes according to the script, at least. If things don’t go to plan, the cowboy either gets caught up in the retaining straps and gets dragged along by a 900kg bull or he’s lying unconscious on the 32
floor, in which case a second bullfighter has to distract the bull while Daries hurls himself at the cowboy to protect him, hoping that he doesn’t get trampled to death himself in the process. Bullfighters are the quiet heroes of any rodeo, colourfully dressed men in huge trousers risking their lives to save cowboys. The reason bullfighters still wear outlandish outfits today is because their predecessors, the rodeo clowns,
used to entertain spectators with gags back in the early 20th century. “It’s part of our history,” says Daries as he clambers down out of his trailer in his painted shirt and white make-up. Daries arrived in Clovis, a farming town at the foot of Sierra Nevada, a fourhour drive north of Los Angeles, two days earlier in his Dodge pickup truck. This town of 100,000 people is rodeo THE RED BULLETIN
Daries distracts a bull: “They pay attention to their name�
Above: bareback rider R C Landingham in a splint. This picture (from left): bullfighters Tim O’Connor, Eric Layton and Josh Daries warm up for the final of the 101st Clovis Rodeo
Daries works as a bullfighter at up to 50 rodeos a year. The make-up is part of the sport’s history. It harks back to a time when bullfighters entertained the crowd as rodeo clowns
mad. Competitions have been held here for more than 100 years. A cowboy adorns the Clovis official seal. With 20 minutes to go till the rodeo begins, Daries is standing by the side entrance to the arena and stretching his adductor muscles. “Quick legs are my life insurance,” he explains. Daries has to charge at the bull’s rear at an acute angle so that the huge animal will have to turn round before it can take up pursuit. Centimetres here make all the difference. “If it catches you with its hoof, it can knock you out or break your ribs,” Daries reveals. In 1989, rodeo rider Lane Frost died after a bull attacked. The broken ribs he suffered had severed an artery. Daries has been lucky so far: two knee
DARIES SPRINTS. THE SWEAT RUINS HIS MAKE-UP THE RED BULLETIN
operations and various dislocated joints. Two years ago, a bull slammed its left horn into his chin. Daries was dazed and could barely stand – but he soldiered on. Five minutes to go. Daries gets down on one knee and prays. “God, protect me, my colleagues, the rodeo riders and all the animals in the arena.” There are three bullfighters today. Daries’ colleagues are wearing canary blue and tulip pink. It is the final of the main event: bull riding. The Clovis rodeo is 150m by 40m and the longer sides are flanked by steel stands. There are 7,000 spectators here and pop music is blasting out of the loudhailers. At the bull rodeo, riders have to stay on the bucking animals for eight seconds with only one hand on the reins. The judges give scores based on how elegantly the riders ride and how wild the bull is. The Clovis Rodeo forms part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association series, and there’s $300,000 in prize money up for grabs this weekend. On the rodeo ground, Daries and his colleagues have begun dealing with the riders at a rate of knots. The man in the tulip-pink shirt dashes around between snorting bulls. The bullfighter in canary blue drags cowboys out of
the danger zone. For the riders, the danger is over in eight seconds. But for Daries there are another 19 riders to go. The sweat ruins his make-up. A bull called Crystal Deal provides the most spectacular throw of the afternoon. It bucks and stomps hard on the ground. The cowboy holds on tight, but it’s no use: he goes flying off the beast’s back after 4.2 seconds. His colourful bodyguards are on hand immediately. Canary man gets the rider upright. The cowboy totters into the safety of the enclosure. The rodeo winner goes on to receive a cheque for $5,696. But what about the bullfighters? “Not as much as it should be considering the risk,” says Daries. His reward is no one getting injured. Occasionally a cowboy buys him a beer. Two hours after the rodeo, Daries is back at his Dodge, freshly showered and wearing a neatly pressed denim shirt. He has transformed himself back into the person he was before. And what has three years of lifethreatening work wearing clown costumes taught him? “You can’t tell how brave a man is by what he’s wearing.” For rodeo news, go to: prorodeo.com
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The rodeo riders call their bulls “animal athletes�. Here we see animal athlete Crystal Deal throwing cowboy Christopher Byrd. For bullfighters Layton (second from left) and Daries (right), that means work
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Left: Layton (left) distracts the bull. The cowboy makes a run for it. Below: The bullfighters each cover 180 degrees of the animal’s field of vision
Above: Josh Daries drags himself back to his trailer after a hard day’s work in Clovis. He’ll soon get into his Dodge pickup truck and make his way to the next rodeo Left: It’s tough at the top – rodeo riders tend to their wounds. Top PRCA stars earn five-figure sums
THE RED BULLETIN
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HEROES
“I PREPARE FOR TOURS LIKE AN ATHLETE” ALBERT HAMMOND JR After rock ’n’ roll stardom
almost killed him, The Strokes guitarist got clean and rediscovered his creative mojo
the red bulletin: Kicking an addiction is one thing, but how do you get the creative process working again? albert hammond jr: It took a while. There was a two-year window from when I stopped using [drugs] to when I began to feel normal. I doubted everything I did and I didn’t think I’d play music again. It was really hard. I would have to schedule seeing a movie in my calendar so that I wouldn’t just end up isolated in my room. It sounds a little silly, 40
but my therapist told me to use my eyes as a camera – not to judge anything, but simply to take everything in, like an archaeologist arriving on an alien planet. I did it at parties. I did it when I went out. It became this thing I did, where I would just absorb information. And, ultimately, that was what helped me regain my curiosity. Would you say that going through all the tough stuff helped you rediscover the talent inside? When you’re reduced to being on autopilot and then have to
preparing for it as an athlete would in order to win the championship. I practise playing my guitar. I practise singing. I keep my body in shape. I ride my motorcycle and I go scuba diving. But it’s not just about keeping physically fit, because the mind can go sooner than the body when you’re travelling on the road. You really need to keep your morale high. Do you miss partying like a rock star? When I look back on those days, sure. There are times when I even miss the darkest moments. But when I think back to that time, I don’t imagine doing what I did then. I think about how
“I TRY TO REMAIN FOCUSED ON SETTING POSITIVE THINGS IN MOTION, AND I’M CONSTANTLY IN SEARCH OF NEW RITUALS” find your way out of it, there can be learning. I had to take baby steps just to want to have fun again. But you have to, because fun is what keeps you from doing the things you shouldn’t be doing. I also had to create more discipline in my life. I wake up, I practise, I exercise. I try to remain focused on setting positive things in motion. These days, I’m constantly in search of new rituals, and that goes for my songwriting, too.
just connecting. And then, after I’d listened to some song or another enough times, I’d hear a line and it suddenly had something to do with a moment in my life. It was like they knew me. I want to have that effect on people. One way to look at addiction is that you’re pushing your body (and your mind) to its limits. But there are healthy ways to do that as well… When I’m getting ready to go on tour, I feel like I’m
great it would have been, back then, to be where I am now. If I could travel back in time, I’d take that over all the partying any day. I’m also happy no longer being thrown left and right emotionally. You can live in the middle. You can understand both sides of your emotions, but think about them and grow from them. I’m more centred right now. Duff McDonald alberthammondjr.com THE RED BULLETIN
JASON MCDONALD
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hen Albert Hammond Jr wasn’t performing to stadiums packed with adoring fans as guitarist with millennial post-punk phenomenon The Strokes, he was ingesting a colourful array of drugs. And then the predictable happened. But after pulling back from the brink and getting clean, Hammond Jr has tapped into a deep creative vein as a solo artist. Following the release of his third album, Momentary Masters, the 35-year-old talks recovery and rediscovery.
So, have you reconnected with the reasons you started making music in the first place? Absolutely. I wanted this record to be multilayered, so you can put it on in the car, with friends, wherever. More than that, though, I wanted it to hit you somewhere, make you feel something, so that you connect to it. When I was 15, music changed my life. Nothing at school made sense. Everybody had everything so planned out. It was all about money. And then – boom! – I discovered The Beatles and The Velvet Underground, I connected to their music in such a deep way – it wouldn’t even be thinking,
The title of Hammond Jr’s new album, Momentary Masters, was taken from a book by the late astronomer/ author Carl Sagan
HEROES
“WHAT HAPPENED TO ME IS SURREAL” EARL BAMBER The Kiwi driver explains how he
went from working as a driving instructor to winning Le Mans in the space of three years
the red bulletin: What are your abiding memories of racing at Le Mans? earl bamber: Watching grown men crying in the 42
pits after the race made me realise the enormity of what we’d achieved. We took the trophy to the Porsche factory in Stuttgart and the joy on everyone’s faces was special. We get all the glory, but without the engineers and mechanics, we’re nothing. Sharing the podium with your childhood friend Brendon Hartley (who was second in another Porsche) must have been special. It was crazy. Porsche last won Le Mans in 1998. I was eight years old and had just started racing go-karts with Brendon.
What was the turning point? I was doing driver training with Adrian D’Silva, the team principal with Nexus Racing. I tried to tell him what he was doing wrong in the car and he said, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. You think you can drive quicker than me?’ I jumped in his car and when he saw my lap times he sponsored me to race in the Carrera Cup Asia series in 2013. That was the start of it. After your first test drive for Le Mans, Porsche vicepresident Fritz Enzinger said: ‘Earl was incredible. He was at the same level as our regular drivers after only an hour in the car.’ How did you manage it?
“BRENDON AND I USED TO PLAY ON THE SWINGS TOGETHER – 17 YEARS LATER WE FINISHED FIRST AND SECOND AT LE MANS” We used to play on the swings together and Brendon taught me how to overtake. We could never have imagined that 17 years later we’d finish first and second at Le Mans. Were you fast from the start in a go-kart? After six months my dad asked, ‘Do you really want to do this?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I love it.’ He said: ‘You realise you’re useless, don’t you? You’re getting lapped in every race.’ Soon after that we went to a race and I saw this
I was lucky that I still got to play with race cars in my day job as a driving instructor. In my first race back I was rusty and struggled with fitness, but you never forget how to drive. Did you ever give up your dreams of making it? Never. I knew that I just needed an opportunity. I’ve always believed in my talent, but motorsport is so unpredictable. It’s quite surreal what happened to me and the way it played out.
I think that my obscure career path helped. I’ve driven nearly every kind of car, so I’ve lots of experience. The Porsche LMP1 [that Bamber drove to victory at Le Mans] has a steering wheel and four tyres, so it’s like any other car. As a driver you dream of challenging yourself against the world’s best. I’m living that dream with Porsche. Robert Tighe facebook.com/ earlbambermotorsport THE RED BULLETIN
EMILIANO GRANADO
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erendipity, self-belief and playing Gran Turismo helped Earl Bamber get his racing career back on track after it looked to have stalled before it really got started. The 25-year-old was tipped for great things as a teenager, but a lack of funding and opportunities forced him to move to Asia in 2010 to work as a driving instructor and TV commentator. A chance meeting with a team owner led to a drive in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia series. Bamber won the 2013 championship and backed it up the following year by winning the Porsche Supercup. At the end of last year Bamber joined the Porsche factory team, and in June he teamed up with Force India Formula One driver Nico Hülkenberg and Nick Tandy to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the world’s great motorsport events.
big trophy and I told my dad, ‘I’m going to win that trophy.’ He laughed, but I won the race and kept on winning after that. It just clicked. You struggled to find a drive in your early 20s. How tough was that? Moving to Asia was a gamble, but if you don’t roll the dice your life won’t change. It was difficult when I wasn’t driving, but I focused on other things. I read The Winner’s Bible by Dr Kerry Spackman and worked on goal setting, time management and other tools to make life easier. How did you stay sharp when you weren’t racing? I watched a lot of races and played a lot of Gran Turismo.
His name is Earl: Bamber is a rising star in the LMP1 category of the World Endurance Championship
HEROES
“WE’VE ALWAYS HAD A FIRE IN OUR BELLIES” JEFF BOYLE Jakob’s win in this year’s Taite Music
Prize is a testament to tenacity, says the Napier noisemakers’ uncompromising guitarist
the red bulletin: First things first, congratulations on the win. You’re now four albums in – does this feel like a reward for playing the long game? jeff boyle: Yeah, it does feel like that. Sines is an album we 44
worked long and hard on, and it’d be cool if winning the Taite was a bit of a ‘Here you go, boys – good on you for hanging in there so long’. It’s been a long, hard road for all of us in the band; we’ve had heaps of injuries and setbacks over the years, but we just stuck at it. It’s amazing to get recognition for that. What was it that inspired you to stick to your guns for the last 17 years? It’s just been our desire to make music our way, man. We’re music lovers – listening to music, making music –
me to play Stairway To Heaven on guitar, and I said to him, “I’m going to be a guitar player.” I remember him telling me that you need to have your own sound to succeed; you can’t just copy other people, because music lovers are always hunting for something new. Those words really had a huge bearing on what I’ve been trying to do as a musician, and also on what we’ve been trying to do collectively as a band. There are so many people who have said to us, “You guys will blow up if you get a vocalist,” but we’ve never been interested. We’ve always known we had something that’s unique, and we’ve never swerved
“SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE SAID TO US, ‘YOU GUYS WILL BLOW UP IF YOU GET A VOCALIST,’ BUT WE’VE NEVER BEEN INTERESTED” and we’ve always had a fire in our bellies to keep on going and make bigger and better sounds. The album was originally titled Colossal Sines. Why does size matter for Jakob? When there are only three of you in the band, you’re always overcompensating by trying to sound as big as you can. Jakob has always been a band that’s wanted to be big and bold, and Colossal Sines is a representation of that.
behind us. It’s a massive honour, and obviously the prize money is going to be a huge help, but we’re on a trajectory that we’d planned to be on a long time ago. With commercial success anything but guaranteed, what enabled you to be so uncompromising with your sound? We’ve always had a belief in it. It all goes back to something my dad told me when I was a kid. He taught
from it – that’s how we got to where we are today. Now that the Taite Music Prize is yours, where is the trophy going to live? It’s going to live at our jam space, man. It’ll sit right there in plain sight so that when we’re writing the next album we’ll get a reminder that the bar has been set and we’ve got to raise it even higher. Tom Goldson jakob.co.nz THE RED BULLETIN
ALISTAIR GUTHRIE
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hen post-rock trio Jakob walked on stage at Auckland’s Galatos in April to pick up the Taite Music Prize for their massive fourth album, Sines, the band’s response was suitably laconic. “This is my worst nightmare,” said Jeff Boyle, the gunslinger who powers Jakob’s wall-ofsound. “There’s a reason why we’re an instrumental band.” For 17 years, Jakob have let guitar, bass and drums do the work, with no need for lyrics to muddy the mix. Boyle’s words were met with cheers from the assembled critics and music industry VIPs, who have followed the band’s slow rise with four commercially uncompromising albums. Fresh from the career-defining win, Boyle explains how the fourth time’s the charm.
Now that Sines has been awarded New Zealand’s most coveted music prize, how do you plan to use the victory to take Jakob’s music to a wider audience? Honestly, I don’t think our approach is going to change now that we’ve won. We’re just going to stick to the plan we’ve always had, which was to build up an audience as organically as we could and continue to be true to what we are. At times, we’ve felt like outsiders in the New Zealand music industry – as an instrumental post-rock band, we don’t fit into the usual boxes. Winning the Taite has given us confidence that the music industry is
Freak coincidence: hand and wrist injuries to all three members – Boyle (pictured), bass player Maurice Beckett and drummer Jason Johnston – delayed Jakob’s return
HEROES
“LIVING A NORMAL LIFE SCARES ME” SEAN CONWAY The triathlon athlete, endurance kayaker and professional photographer has dedicated his life to adventure. And, says Conway, so can you
rather than the usual 12 hours. The location is top secret for now. Can anyone become an adventurer? Yes. I’m 5ft 8in tall and weigh 65kg. I’m not an Olympian or ex-army. I’m just this hairy kid who wasn’t any good at school sports. Luckily, the bad decisions that I made in my 20s forced me to go in search of something better.
Have any of your missions ever scared you? Living a normal life scares me. But adventure isn’t always about rowing across oceans and climbing mountains – it’s a way of thinking. You don’t have to quit your job: you have the nine-to-five, but you also have the five-to-nine. Graeme Lennox seanconway.com
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imbabwean-born adventurer Sean Conway recently became the first person to complete the Ultimate British Triathlon. Having cycled the length of Britain in 2008, then swum it in 2013, he finished the running stage – the equivalent of 38 consecutive marathons – in May. But the 34-year-old, who now lives in Cheltenham, is far from your stereotypical extreme athlete.
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Sean’s no sheep: Conway doesn’t follow others in his quest for adventure
JAMES CHEADLE
the red bulletin: Huge congratulations for your latest success. Did you ever consider giving up? sean conway: I was in a lot of pain, but I knew I could keep going. Physical pain subsides, but the emotional pain of failing stays with you. How did you become a professional adventurer? I became sick of just existing and I wanted to push myself. I cycled 16,000 miles around the world and got into a lot of debt, but I persevered and my life was transformed. How have things changed? I still live a simple life. I don’t have a mortgage; I live on a 60ft former RAF boat that I bought on eBay for £2,000. It means I can be more creative with my ideas and run a scholarship that helps fund other people’s adventures. How will you top the Ultimate British Triathlon? I’m competing in an Ironman, but it runs over three months
THE RED BULLETIN
Norman Reedus has taken an unconventional path to acting success, steered by a relentless curiosity. Now, even though he’s made it, the Walking Dead star remains an outsider who not even Hollywood can tame. We head to America’s Deep South to meet a man unfazed by fame, but unsure about alligators
NORMCORE
Words: Noah E Davis Photography: Michael Muller 48
Self-confessed “city kid” Norman Reedus takes to the Louisiana swamps in search of ’gators
How has Reedus remained so unchanged by fame? Because he was an established man before he was an established star
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Having heard how handy Reedus is with a crossbow, the alligator wasn’t planning to hang around and take any chances‌
N orman Reedus screams through the back roads of Georgia atop a motorcycle. It’s summer, but he’s dressed all in black, looking like a man willing and eager to take on the zombie apocalypse. The actor is riding to the set of The Walking Dead – the hit TV show in which he stars as crossbowwielding Daryl Dixon – from Senoia, Georgia, his home-from-home during filming. The speed and freedom of the ride produce a familiar blur, the constant motion of Reedus’ life. Right now, the 46-year-old star is as close to settled as he’s ever been. His myriad other projects, including a nascent art career, have taken a backseat to the regular paycheck and filming schedule that come with being the best-loved character in a global hit show. But the pace of life is still hectic, with every gap in TWD filming filled. Reedus stars alongside Kate Winslet and Woody Harrelson in crime movie Triple 9, to be released early next year, after TWD returns for a sixth season at the beginning of October. Fame has come late to Reedus, which is a good thing. It has made him a rarity in the acting world – successful and famous, yet still very much the Hollywood outsider with his feet on the ground. “I’ve never been spoilt,” he says in a hotel on the edge of New Orleans’ French Quarter, looking more skate rat than screen star in the ubiquitous trucker hat and black clothes. “It wasn’t in my game plan to ever think like that, and it still isn’t. I still put potato chips and bread in the refrigerator because I’m used to my apartment having bugs. “This is the first job where I’m making money and I know I’m going back. I’ve always lived hand-to-mouth and job-to-job. It’s nice to have 52
a nine-to-five instead of trying to find a job to pay the rent this month and doing an art show to cover the next. I’m still that guy… but I made it.” This is a guy who’ll stop every few steps for selfies in the Loews Hotel or on the streets of New Orleans. A guy who’ll hop on his bike for a spontaneous solo road trip, or spend an evening shooting a compound bow [the modern, levered type] in his backyard. A guy who is as keen to interact with an increasingly star-struck barista as he is with his rock-star buddy Slash, the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist. “Norman’s genuinely curious,” says TWD co-star Melissa McBride, who plays Carol. “He’s always seeking input, and he loves stimuli. He’s so observant of what’s going on around him, of people, of the way things work and what people are into.” This curiosity is an instinct that has fed and shaped Reedus throughout his life. It could also explain how he’s resisted the changes that so often come with fame: he was an established man before he was an established star. Reedus is the product of a lifetime of international adventures. During his childhood, he bounced from city to city with his mother as she chased work after her marriage split. When she moved to Japan and married a geochemist, Reedus left high school to join her. (She later taught kindergarten in Harlem, high school in the Bronx, and ran an orphanage in Kurdistan. As badass as Reedus is, his mum might be even more so. He compares her favourably to Mothra, the giant, winged force of nature in the Japanese Godzilla movies.) In Tokyo, he fell in with a French guy, then a band moved into the apartment the two were sharing. Soon, they all took off for London and moved into a squat near Clapham Common, doing shifts at a postcard shop in Piccadilly and making just enough to keep themselves in beer and potatoes. From there, Reedus moved to Sitges, a city 35km south-west of Barcelona. Today, it’s the West Hollywood of Spain, says the actor, but back then Sitges wasn’t up to much. Neither was his apartment, where saltwater flowed from the shower head. “The place was as big as this,” he says, referring to the two-person dinner table in front of him. “But it was paradise. It was a cool little escape for a while.” Local women would buy his paintings of stray cats. So are there dozens of Norman Reedus
“I put bread in the refrigerator because I’m used to having bugs. I’m still that guy”
He may look tough, but Reedus admits he’s not cut out for ’gator hunting. “I feel like he could feel my fear,” says the actor
“I’m one of those people who doesn’t want to talk to anyone when work is over. It’s not, ‘Let’s go out for drinks.’ It’s, ‘F--k you, guys, I’ll see you in the morning’” paintings hanging in Sitges? “They’re probably in the garbage,” he says. “They weren’t that good. Everything was unfinished. I think the women felt sorry for me. They’d just throw me some coins.” Next, a girl he’d met in Tokyo called to say she was in Los Angeles and that he should join her. He did, but when she began dating an ex-boyfriend, Reedus was on his own. Then he got fired from a job fixing motorcycles. It was at this point that, as has been the case throughout Reedus’ resolutely open-minded life, the next adventure presented itself. While drunk and mouthing off at a party somewhere in the Hollywood Hills, he was asked to appear in a play. On the first night, he was spotted by an agent, and the rest is history. For eight months of the year, during filming for TWD, Reedus’ day-to-day existence couldn’t be further from the Hollywood stereotype. While the rest of the cast choose to stay in the centre of Atlanta, Reedus retreats south to Senoia, a place he describes as a hippy commune for rich, old white people. Senoia is a small, isolated town where he knows the neighbours, who have been known to tell any visiting fans to get off his lawn. “I live in Manhattan, so the woods are paradise to me,” says Reedus. “I ride motorcycles, set off fireworks and shoot my bow from the back patio. It’s magical.” He’s still living a private life. “There’s that part of him that loves that solitude and absorbing what’s around him and taking it in,” says McBride. For Reedus, the choice is simpler: “I’m one of those people who doesn’t want to talk to anyone when work is over. It’s not, ‘Let’s go out for drinks.’ It’s, ‘F--k you, guys, I’ll see you in the morning.’” He smiles as he says this, genuine and mischievous in equal parts. THE RED BULLETIN
Reedus’ low-key, tree-loving lifestyle belies the fact that he’s hugely famous. At the last count, he had 2.4 million followers on Instagram, 1.8 million on Twitter, and was the subject of reams of digital fan-fiction. “I’ve seen myself kissing Shawn [Travis Charpentier], Glenn [Steven Yeun], Rick [Andrew Lincoln], Carol, Beth [Emily Kinney]…” he says. And yet, far from becoming insular, Reedus is keener than ever to interact. At dinner in New Orleans, the star engages the maître d’ and the server in separate conversations about the Warhol-esque paintings on the wall. He wonders if the woman pictured is Jerry Hall; it’s actually the restaurant’s former owner. Later, he compares notes about Dubai with a serviceman who politely interrupts an interview. Reedus opens the conversation with a sweet and disarming, “Thank you for your service.” This is the same Reedus who describes holding up a Kiss concert in Atlanta because the rock band wanted to take a pre-show selfie with him before their make-up wore off, but his TWD shooting schedule had made him 15 or 20 minutes late. So there he was, racing up the highway to the gig with Slash, as one of the biggest bands in the world – and, as a consequence, their legion of fans – waited for the duo’s arrival. Like any celebrity, Reedus exists in his own world, but frequently – and intentionally – it crosses into the world of regular people. Part of the reason is that he’s always been his own man, making art, running around Manhattan’s Lower East Side with his cool art-world friends, dating supermodel Helena Christensen with whom he has a son, Mingus. Another factor is his status as a latecomer to the showbiz party. Reedus was a relative unknown until he was in his early 40s. “It’s weird that the show is successful,” he says, considering how his life would be if TWD hadn’t happened. “I really like that idea of flying and making art. I’d probably still be doing that, to be honest. I really liked that time – it was great. And that was up to five years ago.” And then came the alligator. Reedus stands in the middle of a Louisiana swamp, on a tenuous platform that holds two ramshackle trapping huts that have clearly seen better days. He’s accompanied by a photo crew and a group of animal wranglers, one of whom is a beautiful young blonde woman who was carrying the gator when an ancient plank gave way, plunging her leg into the water below. Reedus is hardcore, but not that hardcore. “I’m a city kid,” he says. Now he’s holding the animal, arms shaking from the exertion of keeping it aloft and maybe something more. Photos taken, Reedus puts it down. “I feel like he could feel my fear,” he says. It’s time to depart. As Reedus rides away on the airboat, he turns and waves, cupping his hand like a Miss World contestant, hamming it up for the amusement of not only those who have temporarily been left behind, but also himself. After a powerful blast from the large open fan, he disappears from view, heading for the next adventure. Triple 9, which stars Norman Reedus, Woody Harrelson and Kate Winslet, is out in March 2016
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Just testing: Drake McElroy leads the Red Bull X-Fighters free practice session in his own unique style
LEAP of faith Meet DRAKE McELROY, the freestyle motocross maverick who’ll be first in line to jump into the unknown when the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour lands in South Africa
WORDS: JAZZ KUSCHKE PHOTOGRAPHY: PREDRAG VUČKOVIĆ
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Tour – get to ride the track. Ahead of Thursday’s qualifying and Friday’s main event, it’s a free practice session that’s crucial to the riders’ safety and the quality of the show many thousands will watch live or via webcast. Without it, the riders would be going blind into first official practice. “Drake is an exceptional freerider in natural terrain, so I think that’s why he has such an important role in the track-
tuning process,” says South African FMX veteran Nick de Wit, who rode in the first Red Bull X-Fighters event in SA last year. “He can think up crazy new lines, but I think his ability to go out and hit jumps that have never been hit before, and time them perfectly, sets him apart.” Like everything else on the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, the test session fits smoothly into a complex, well-oiled THE RED BULLETIN
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anking hard out of the berm to carry speed into the short run-up before the launch ramp, the rider hits the jump with practised calm, the high-pitched baaarp of the two-stroke engine silent for a long few moments as he flies into a smooth nac nac – whipping the bike sideways and swinging his leading leg back around behind the bike. A little look-back adds some style. It’s a trick from another era of freestyle motocross: not hard to do if you’re an accomplished rider, but still difficult to make look good. This version is a classic, thrown not by a Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour contender wearing full-body riding kit, but by a rider in black pin-striped trousers and a sleeveless denim jacket. This is Drake McElroy, part test pilot, part every rider’s best mate, and a whole lot of FMX hero. When McElroy leads the testing session on the multi-tiered course constructed in the Dionyssos marble quarry in Athens, Greece, it’s the first chance the X-Fighters stars – the world’s best FMX riders who compete on the Red Bull X-Fighters World
McElroy gets his hands dirty
Work in progress: the course in the Dionyssos marble quarry in Athens
machine. Once the hour-long tune-up ride is done, the riders give their opinions on the ramps and riding lines to McElroy, who in turn feeds these ideas back into the mix. “Following the test session is a four-hour block during which ramps can be moved and things can be changed,” says McElroy, recalling how in Pretoria last year two big berms had to be added so the riders could generate momentum before take-off. “I’m THE RED BULLETIN
here to be the middle man. Say the riders want to move a jump just a little bit in this direction or they want to put a ramp there, then I go over to the camera guys… but maybe it doesn’t work for them because they planned for something else. Or maybe it messes up the lighting guy…” “The first testing session creates a general level of comfort for everybody and sets the tone for the week,” continues
“TO HIT JUMPS THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN HIT BEFORE, AND TIME THEM PERFECTLY, SETS HIM APART” 59
the 34-year-old from Nevada in the USA. “You know, one good ride sesh before you have to gear up and think about official practice and qualifying. It’s also an early opportunity for the riders to suss stuff out for their bikes – they can feel how things are running and what changes need to be made before regular practice starts.” McElroy speaks so clearly and concisely that if you had never seen photos of him or missed web series such as Drake’s Passage and MotoSoul, you might think you were talking to a marketing manager or an engineer. Instead, colourful ink covers much of his body, his hair is past shoulder length and the grungy punk look that some might call aggressive belies an intelligent, highly creative soul. A special place in FMX lore is reserved for DMC, as McElroy is known to his fans. Best remembered for being a pioneer of freestyle motocross, on two wheels McElroy has done it all. He got a Yamaha PW50 for his first birthday and shed the training wheels at age three. By four he was racing. He raced regionally in the USA until 2000, when he morphed into a freestyle rider courtesy of a small event where he “made a little coin for just riding my bike and having fun”. Later he started carving out his own quirky niche away from the competitive scene. In 2007, aged 27, he told ESPN he wanted to “set himself up to be dangerous for fun instead of doing it for a career”. That meant more time to focus on his young family and on other passions like art, music, building custom café racers and the Smoking Seagulls, a project he describes as “a bridge between likeminded people who don’t fit perfectly into the mainstream motorcycle market”. That evolution has now led him to doing dangerous things so that his friends – who perform even more dangerous stunts – can be safe. “He looks pretty hardcore and has his unique style,” says De Wit. “The first time I rode with him he didn’t have a front fender on his bike. He rides in a leather jacket and jeans. True, unique style.” On the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, McElroy initiated the group testing session – which he now leads – in 2012, when the tour had a stop at Glen Helen in California. “I could drive to the track because it was in my county, so I brought my bike and I could ride everything with the riders,” he says. “It helped validate my opinion. I could ride all the stuff and I knew what the guys wanted and how to make it work. “I could be standing around all day in my casual clothes and saying, ‘Oh, yeah, that might work, or this might work’, 60
but until it’s time to go and your brain is geared for that, it’s a whole different thing. Because I can hit the course with the riders, they’re going to take my opinion more seriously. They see that I went out and hit all the same jumps and I was living the same sh-t they were.” Having McElroy test the course and act as the riders’ go-to guy meant that track shaper extraordinaire Dane Herron could rely on a single source of feedback instead of a cacophony of rider opinions. And at Glen Helen, at that point the biggest Red Bull X-Fighters track ever built, McElroy’s unique skillset also allowed him to shepherd the wide-eyed Spanish riders – who until then had only seen tight arena layouts – around the course until they found their feet. McElroy’s roving role made total sense and by 2013, he had a bike for each stop of the tour and the testing session had become an institution.
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o radically summarise the Red Bull X-Fighters track-building process: what begins as a vision and a venue develops into a vast CAD drawing, with approximately a month’s worth of material sourcing and infrastructure building going on up until a fortnight before event day. What then happens is a frenetic seven days of track construction by Herron and his expert team of machine operators, and then the fine-tuning of the event week. McElroy typically arrives seven to 10 days before a Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour stop, sometimes less if it’s for a return venue such as Plaza de Toros in Mexico City. “You get there in real time McElroy: the riders’ go-to guy
JUDGMENT DAY In addition to his track-testing and rider liaison duties, McElroy also sits on the judging panel of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour. He is unapologetic about the difficulties of the job. “It sucks,” he says. “It’s definitely not even near a likeable job because you’re there to piss off 11 people, and at the end of the day you’re only going to have one friend. The only thing that qualifies me is that I can back it up. As long as I don’t overstep myself, then I’m a decent judge.”
PREDRAG VUČKOVIĆ/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
“BECAUSE I CAN HIT THE COURSE WITH THE RIDERS, THEY TAKE MY OPINION MORE SERIOUSLY”
Mr Fixit: “There’s always something that comes up that you never thought of. And there’s always more than one way to solve that problem” THE RED BULLETIN
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Marbellous moves: Australian Clinton Moore won the second stop of the 2015 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour at the Dionyssos marble quarry in Athens
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THE RED BULLETIN
Fan-tastic day: there will be more thrilling action at the next Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour round in Pretoria
“WE MIGHT TWEAK A FEW THINGS JUST TO GET THE RIDERS REALLY STOKED”
ARMIN WALCHER/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, PREDRAG VUČKOVIĆ/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
and you’re dealing with elements of nature and things you cannot do with CAD,” he says. “There are tons of little fires that start and you help put them out and just help bring everything together. “There’s so much planning that goes into each track, but once you get the ball rolling and the machine is taking off then you need to handle all those little elements on the fly. There is always something that comes up that you never thought of. And there’s always more than one way to solve that problem, so you have to find the best solution, one that works for everyone.” The track for the Pretoria stop of the 2015 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour (on September 12) will be totally different to last year’s. “That track is built on a slight slope so you are limited in the directions you can run,” says McElroy. “But they will still change it up. Every year the riders start doing things a little differently and that in turn creates requests. And that’s what’s cool on the tour: they help make the riders’ requests a reality, which improves the show and progresses the sport.” THE RED BULLETIN
Certain tracks inspire a higher level of riding and fuel the evolution of the sport, but it’s a level McElroy would rather not have a part of any more. Although he puts himself in the line of fire by hitting freshly built jumps, he prefers to keep it old school. “Have you seen what those guys do?” he asks incredulously. “I love riding: I still ride shows and demos, but the competitive nature of the contest today… I just don’t have the passion in me to keep up on the training and the focus. The risk for reward is not there. Those guys are incredible and passionate, so they make it work.” But any talk of risk is relative. Every time McElroy fires up an FMX bike, it’s a risky business – because it means pretty soon he’ll be flying through the air, hanging underneath a 100kg motorcycle and about to discover whether the landing ramps have been correctly laid out. McElroy relishes his role as the ultimate fixer, the guy who steps up to remove the variables so the stars of the show can be 100 per cent confident when the time comes for them to push the limits. “I don’t mind waking up on this tour to do whatever is ahead of me,” he says. “I like picking up shovels and building barrier walls and whatever else has to be done to keep everybody safe. So you put in that work and when you finally see the riders’ reaction, you know, we might tweak a few things here and there to get them really stoked!” redbullxfighters.com
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Tall order: Chris Sharma sets out to be the first man to freeclimb a mighty redwood tree
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CLIMBER CHRIS SHARMA WILL ATTACK A NEW ROUTE COUNTLESS TIMES TO ASCEND IT. HIS MENTAL STRENGTH IS THE KEY: TAKE NO SHORTCUTS. STUDY WHAT’S IN FRONT OF YOU. ENJOY THE JOURNEY Words: Ann Donahue Photography: Keith Ladzinski
A ny first-year English student can recite the trope about the three potential sources of conflict in a story: man vs nature, man vs man and man vs himself. You have Moby-Dick, you have The Count of Monte Cristo and you have The Tell-Tale Heart. But what do you have when it’s an ordeal that combines all three conflicts? This is the situation Chris Sharma is facing right now. He is about 15m off the ground, with a spread-eagled Spider-Man grasp on the bark of a redwood tree on the outskirts of Eureka, in northern California. There is so much about the scene that is outsize and improbable: Sharma, 34, is a rock climber known for completing first ascents of diabolically difficult routes around the world, and now he wants to be the first to freeclimb a redwood. The tree is immense, the top canopy blurring almost 100m above into some vague, misty Lord Of The Rings-style foliage. Sharma is alone on it, exposed like a humanoid beetle, wearing a blue shirt and yellow trousers, and clinging to a tree that’s 800 years old and has seen it all – except this. Nature. Man. Himself. They are all in play and on attack, whirling around Sharma as he sits back in his safety harness, gently swaying and studying the pattern of the bark for yet another hour. Sharma can get a few metres off the ground – and then the tree’s composition changes and his grip slips. Further up, the bark is looser, more undisciplined, less striated. Handholds are difficult, footholds 66
are impossible. “I’m just so amazed by how much variation there is,” he says. The tree does not want to be climbed. Sharma could simply give up, drop back to the base of the tree and head out with his friends to grab a beer. It’s still pretty damn impressive to freeclimb 15m of an ancient giant. But he doesn’t. That’s a shortcut, and for Sharma, it’s the journey that’s important.
THE RATING SYSTEM for the difficulty of a rock climb is arcane and impenetrable to those outside the sport; suffice to say, it starts at “sort of hard” and then increases to “callus-crackingly difficult”, when the rock will mock you while you whimper and bleed and fight to cling to it. Sharma is a specialist in first ascents of the latter category, routes with such evocative names as Dreamcatcher, Fight Or Flight and Stoking The Fire. “There are a lot of people who are really gifted and strong climbers, but I think there’s a difference between that and someone who has a vision to find new first ascents,” he says. “Climbing is so much more than just doing a difficult thing, because if it was just about doing that, we might as well be having a pull-up competition.” All sinew, gentle smiles and brown shaggy hair, Sharma looks as though he was dreamt up by the tourism board of his hometown, Santa Cruz, in California. He embodies the town’s beachy-artyhippie-sporty vibe, and over bagels downtown one morning he’s happy to reminisce about his path from growing
“THE WAY I STARTED CLIMBING WAS WITH TREES, JUST LIKE ANY KID”
up on the Golden State’s central coast to becoming one of the most dynamic athletes in action sports. Sharma’s father worked in maintenance at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a campus that’s noteworthy for being so densely forested that it’s hard to determine the buildings between the trees. “The way I started climbing was with trees, just like any kid,” says Sharma. “It’s easy for all of us to take ourselves seriously – maybe too seriously sometimes – and the reason why we do this stuff is that it’s fun.” When he was 12, the first indoor climbing gym opened in Santa Cruz and Sharma was hooked. It was instantly apparent that he wasn’t the typical adolescent scrambler. “Immediately we were like, ‘Who is this kid?’” says his childhood friend, Justin Vitcov. “All eyes were on him. Within six months it was obvious that he needed to be competing at the national level.” In 1997, Sharma won silver at the world championships; in 1999, he won the gold in bouldering at the X Games. More championships followed, many more medals for the cabinet. But what energised Sharma wasn’t the trophy tally, it was the poetry of motion that occurred when he was on the rock. “My expertise has always been putting up first ascents, finding new lines – it’s a creative and an athletic process, a cool crossover between a sport and a performance art form,” he says. “In climbing, like everything in life, our opportunities are conditioned by our perception of them. In climbing, it’s possible to go to the same cliff over and over again, maybe 1,000 times, and then you go one day and you’re like, ‘Wow, look at that. That would be a great route. I can’t believe I never saw it before.’” Sharma’s patience – he calls it stubbornness – is fortuitous in a day and age when every movement is recorded on video. Watching his climbs online is like watching the adventures of a particularly Bohemian superhero: here are Chris Sharma and his friends in some of the world’s most glorious locations, chalking up the face of the rock, belaying each other for safety and cheering one another on. What is displayed is the THE RED BULLETIN
Fit for purpose: Sharma’s training is simple, but not easy. He climbs and then he climbs some more
Best foot forward: Sharma had new climbing shoes made in order to not damage the bark of the tree
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“WHEN I’M CLIMBING, I’M CAPABLE OF SO MUCH MORE THAN I USUALLY AM. YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE THE WILL TO FIGURE IT OUT”
MARV WATSON(4)
Now for the science bit: Sharma gathered data to help study the impact of California’s record drought
Safety first: Sharma worked with arborists from University of California, Berkeley, so he didn’t harm the tree
converse of the three universal conflicts: here, man is in harmony with nature, with other men and with himself. “You know how you have authors who are authors’ authors and musicians who are musicians’ musicians?” Vitcov asks. “Chris is unique because he’s a climbers’ climber and a general audience kind of climber. He’s a climbers’ climber by doing the hardest stuff, but he doesn’t just go out and climb anything because he can. He finds the most beautiful lines. That’s what calls him. And it in turn inspires other climbers to go and find those lines.” The successful first ascent is the flashy part, and the visceral exultation that Sharma has when he completes one even transfers through the tiny screen of an iPhone. However, like most visual evidence in the internet age, it’s about one-third of the truth. All those conflicts are still there, looming just out of shot. What isn’t shown is the hard work, the pressure that Sharma puts himself under in order to be the first, to complete the ascent and to make it seem effortless. “It’s who I am, it’s how I express myself, how I tap into a higher level of being,” he says. “Not that I’m trying to compare myself to Superman, but a person can be a nerd in every other way, and when I get into climbing, I’m able to do a lot more than I’m normally capable of doing. You just have to have that unwavering will to figure it out.” He takes a sip of his chai tea, and then apologises for being so esoteric. “The reality is, on these big projects, you fail 99 per cent of the time,” he says. “If you’re only happy when you’re at the summit, you’re going to be happy only a very small percentage of your life.” However at this moment, Sharma does have the right to be outrageously happy, to be embarrassingly giddy about his accomplishments.
“IF YOU’RE ONLY HAPPY AT THE SUMMIT, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE HAPPY VERY OFTEN” THE RED BULLETIN
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hen it’s pointed out that he was the first to successfully climb what is considered the hardest route in the world earlier this year – El Bon Combat, a dastardly cliff face in Spain, Sharma’s adopted home – he shrugs. It’s not a dismissive gesture, but rather one of acceptance: “Yeah, I had my eye on that rock for eight years, and then it took one solid year of work and planning and preparation, and blood and sweat and tears, to finally make the first ascent of it, and with every handhold I had to push myself and scream until my lungs were empty. It’s all cool.” With this, the secret to his mental resilience becomes apparent, and it’s both the simplest and hardest thing in the world. Find something you love doing. Do it until you die. Respect the journey in between. Don’t worry about achieving, worry about accomplishing. The conflicts will resolve themselves. “If it’s going to be something you do your whole life, it has to be something that transcends the need to be the best,” he says. “In life we’re always trying to find ways to realise our potential, and climbing is the medium I’ve been fortunate enough to have.”
ON SHARMA’S FIRST ATTEMPT at the
redwood, he falls back into the safety harness twice, but eventually he makes it into the canopy with a celebratory whoop, just like any kid who’s thrilled to have climbed a tree. A tenacious accomplishment of grace and brute force, a fun, full-circle trip that recalls his childhood, but not, by the strictest standards of climbing, a first ascent. To successfully freeclimb the tree, he would have to make it to the top without relying on the harness. So Sharma makes a second attempt. And a third on the following day. And then a fourth. And a fifth the day after. Does he eventually succeed? Does it really matter? “Yesterday I muscled up the tree,” says Sharma after his first try. “Today I want to take my time. I want to discover the tree’s secrets.” chrissharma.com
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Mark Hunter: “Besides Tokyo, Seoul is the party capital of Asia. The whole scene is insane. Especially when it-girl Mademoiselle Yulia is DJing”
FACE TO FACE WITH
A COBRA “When Steve Aoki threw a cake in Las Vegas, he accidentally knocked the flash off my camera into the crowd, too. That’s the danger of photographing him. My equipment ended up covered in champagne and frosting”
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“Model Ingrid launching Jacques Smith’s eye bikini at Swim Fashion Week in Miami. She’s reaching for the on-off switch on the crotch of her bikini. The show can begin!”
WHEN STARS LIKE KATY PERRY AND STEVE AOKI GO ON TOUR, THEY CALL MARK HUNTER. NO PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURES A PARTY BETTER THAN “THE COBRASNAKE”, BECAUSE HE SNAPS AWAY WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT WORDS: FLORIAN OBKIRCHER PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK HUNTER
“This group of four friends had got separated at the Fuck Yeah Festival in LA. They were so happy to find each other again that they were rolling around on the floor”
“Me with my trademark moustache and Hawaiian shirt. The two models are wearing T-shirts from my collection”
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ark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter was 17 when he launched polaroidscene.com, a photo blog on which the amateur lensman would post pictures of wild party nights with friends and celebrities. At the time, 12 years ago, the idea was as new as it was exciting. The site was soon attracting half a million visitors a month, and pop stars began to employ Hunter as a personal party photographer. The secret of The Cobrasnake’s success? His radical, wartsand-all approach, which gives you the impression you’re right there in the thick of it.
“Shaun Ross [left] is albino, and Winnie Harlow [right] has vitiligo. Both models have done a lot for people’s confidence in the way they look, and in being different”
THE RED BULLETIN
“This young woman got caked by Steve Aoki in Tokyo. The frosting is so slimy it’s not that easy to clean off. I’ve seen people lick it off each other”
“I love this shot – she’s just in the moment. Everything looks perfect, and the pink bubblegum matches her lips. Just what any photographer wants”
“I’D RUMMAGE THROUGH BINS OUTSIDE CLUBS, LOOKING FOR DISCARDED BACKSTAGE PASSES” “Every year, fashion king Jeremy Scott throws a Coachella party where you bump into celebrities such as Ferras and Katy Perry”
“When I snapped these two ladies at a party in LA, someone was holding an apple bong in front of their faces. ‘Fancy a drag?’” THE RED BULLETIN
“DON’T ASK PERMISSION. JUST DO IT” Twelve years, 5,000 parties and a million photographs. Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter talks us through his journey from bintrawling music fan to personal photographer to the stars… the red bulletin: So, how do you become the world’s most sought-after party photographer? mark hunter: By following my motto: “Don’t ask permission, just do it!” When I got started in photography, I was about 17 and too young to get credentials at concerts, so I’d sneak my camera past the bouncer and into the mosh pit. And you started the world’s first photo blog devoted to nightlife… It was out of necessity, because at parties other kids would ask me to email them my photos and eventually there were too many requests. So I started a website and just gave out flyers. Now you’re Katy Perry’s official tour photographer and regularly take pictures at the fashion parties of star designers such as Jeremy Scott… I’ve taken pictures at 5,000 parties over the last 10 or 12 years and you get to know a lot of people. In 2004, Katy Perry was just a regular party girl who I photographed when I was out, and the two of us got along. Then, as her fame grew, she wanted me on tour because she was comfortable with me and knew that I would get great shots. There are online tutorials showing others how to take Cobra-style photos. What’s your secret? I never ask for permission when I take a picture at a party. I just shoot. The best shots happen when people don’t even notice I’m there, when the DJ plays some hit and everyone goes mad on the dancefloor. It would be awkward to interrupt their moment and say, “Hey, I’m going to take photos.” I like to add myself to the chaos of an event. What if someone doesn’t want to be photographed? If someone blocks my camera, I don’t shoot. It hurts me a little bit, but I’m not a pap. I want to catch the night’s magic moments and show the most wonderful and wild side of the revellers. How do you get the girls to lift their T-shirts for a photo? I don’t encourage people to act wild. They’re the ones encouraging me to take pictures of them while acting wild. I only document it. The funny thing is, I’ve never smoked or taken any drugs in my entire career. 76
“Fashion star Jeremy Scott [left] with CL [centre], she’s a huge pop star in Korea. Remember that name. She’s about to take the West by storm”
“Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner at the Chateau Marmont in LA. Even though she’s in all these Hollywood movies, Cara still makes goofy faces”
“Only moments to go before the start of Jeremy Scott’s New York show and it’s chaos. Only the Hilton sisters, Iggy Azalea and Terry Richardson retain an air of calm”
Still, why do women feel comfortable letting loose with you around? Mostly I’m in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. I look silly and unthreatening, not like someone who’s trying to pick up women and take them home. That’s why they have fun acting out around me. You get paid to hang out with models and stars. Any downsides to your job? Lots of annoying travel and late nights. And I hate it when people pose for me. Any tips for aspiring party snappers? Be proactive. Early in my career, I’d root through bins outside clubs, looking for discarded backstage passes. Instead of asking magazines to let me photograph a party for them, I created my own blog. What does a party photographer do during the day? I run the Cobra Fitness Club with friends. We organise group hikes and other outings. I play music, and we dance in the sun. You don’t feel like you’re working out, even though you are. thecobrasnake.com; Instagram: @thecobrasnake
“This is a rave in LA at 3am. The club was a sweatbox, full of people dancing half-naked. It was a debaucherous setting – but this girl still looks flawless, which is amazing.”
“At the Moschino fashion party in LA, there was this big teddy bear that people were hugging. My friend AJ tried to steal its T-shirt, but failed miserably”
“I LOOK SILLY AND UNTHREATENING, NOT LIKE SOMEONE WHO’S TRYING TO PICK UP WOMEN”
“The Purple Fashion party in New York was wild. Just after this photo was taken, the ATL Twins were taking girls back to their room. You can’t beat that lifestyle”
RED BULL ZERO.
See it. Get it. Do it.
AC T I O N !
TRAVEL
THE LONG WAY DOWN
Train like a movie stuntman
EIRIK GUSTAVSEN
Ever wondered what it’s like to freefall several storeys, à la Alan Rickman in Die Hard? That’s just one of the extreme new experiences on offer at Copenhagen’s European Stunt School – a place where, in just seven days, you can learn everything from how to fight like Jason Bourne to how to act while engulfed in flames. Be warned, though: it’s not for the faint-hearted…
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GEAR
WHEELS
CULTURE
HOW TO
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ACTION
TRAVEL DENMARK
Clockwise from below: Locking swords at the European Stunt School; the aptly named ‘partial to full burns’ workshop; how to disarm a movie gunman with an air punch; a student receives some hands-on training
More to explore High rise
Looking for more thrills? The Urban Ranger Camp, located in a disused shipyard 10 minutes from central Copenhagen, has the world’s highest indoor high-roping course. Climb and traverse ropes at a dizzying 50m above ground. urbanrangercamp.dk
THE INSIDER
“The most important thing is that you’re up for a challenge, because you will be challenged,” says Jacob Sebastian Malm, founder of the ESS. The intensive stunt workshop is aimed at total beginners, meaning that anyone can learn the tricks of the trade – although you’ll need a decent level of fitness to complete it. “You’re training for seven days straight in a high-tempo, high-level environment,” Malm explains, “so it’s important that you’re used to physical stuff. You’ll also need the mindset that still finds it fun even when it starts to get painful!” So many skills are crammed into the course – including martial arts, high falls (from 11m up), acrobatics, sword fighting, firearms, parkour and the daunting ‘partial to full burns’ – that even regular gym bods will find themselves pushed beyond their limits by Malm and his team. “You could be able to do an Ironman triathlon but still struggle at the aerial work with a harness and wires, because it involves
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Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen Want to learn how to perform stunts like a pro? Visit: europeanstuntschool.com
isolating completely different muscle groups,” Malm explains. “Dancers will find it much easier looking graceful in the air.” Of course, it’s the star attractions that participants find the most challenging, not to mention the most exhilarating. “The burns and the falls are where we really try to minimise the stress,” says Malm. “They’re super-dangerous, even with all the safety precautions we have in place. You have to stay absolutely focused, and you can end up mentally exhausted after a day of it. But people love it!” According to Malm, around 70 per cent of his students return to the ESS to do more advanced courses, or even start searching for work in the stunt industry. “It’s important for us that people really benefit from it and build a solid training base so they can start putting themselves out there,” he says. In other words? This isn’t just an action-packed week of adrenalinpumping thrills and adventure – it could be the beginning of a whole new career.
Drop zone If learning to throw yourself off a building wasn’t enough, try a bodyflight jump at the Copenhagen Air Experience. Scandinavia’s only vertical wind tunnel simulates the thrill of skydiving – without the parachute. airexperience.dk
Hot spot Celebrate your new-found status as an action hero with a cocktail at Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus, one of Copenhagen’s most popular café bars, inspired by James Bond’s female foe in Goldfinger. pussygalore.dk
EIRIK GUSTAVSEN
DON’T BE AFRAID OF GETTING A FEW BRUISES, ESPECIALLY DURING THE FIGHT TRAINING. “YOU DON’T TRAIN TO HURT ANYONE, BUT THERE WILL BE POINTS WHERE YOU ACTUALLY GET PUNCHED,” SAYS MALM. “IT EMPHASISES THAT THERE’S CONTACT BETWEEN THE PEOPLE FIGHTING.”
THE RED BULLETIN
ACTION
GEAR
CITY SLICKER Revive the working day with this urban-friendly kit
Quella One 2015 Black fixed-gear bike
The Quella One’s steel frame weighs just 9.4kg, making it easily manoeuvrable and perfect for a city commute.
This sleek edition of Quella’s fixedgear staple will have you zipping through traffic in style. If Batman rode a fixie, it would probably look like this. quellabicycle.com
The Atom battery pack
Skullcandy Grind headphones
Arduboy console
Clip this device to the back wheel of your bike and it will use the energy generated by your ride to charge your mobile devices. Talk about pedal power. sivacycle.com
These low-profile but immersive cans allow you to pause, play and skip tracks, and answer calls easily with just a tap on the ear cup. Ideal for confined spaces. skullcandy.com
Make your commute more fun with the endearingly retro, 8-bit distractions of this credit-card sized Game Boy throwback. Just don’t miss your stop. arduboy.com
Gunnar Vinyl glasses
Powell & Hyde jacket
Morpher helmet
Sit in front of a computer all day? These clever lenses filter out the harmful artificial blue light that emanates from the screen, reducing eye strain. gunnars.com
Laugh in the face of impromptu downpours with this lightweight jacket from Helly Hansen, complete with a bike-friendly helmet hood and reflectives. hellyhansen.com
This award-winning helmet folds in half when not protecting your noggin, taking up little more space in your bag than an umbrella. Handy for bike renters. morpherhelmet.com
THE RED BULLETIN
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GEAR
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Swatch’s new automatic classic By Gisbert L Brunner Back in 1983, Swatch released its firstever watch – a trendy little number with a mechanism consisting of just 51 parts. Over 30 years later, the quirky Swiss watchmakers are honouring their streamlined heritage with the Sistem51, a beautifully simple timepiece with the same number of components as the original, all held together by one central screw. Unlike the ’80s classic, though, the Sistem51’s tech specs are bang up to date. The watch boasts an ingenious self-winding movement, meaning there’s no battery required; the automatic motor is powered by the slightest of wrist flicks and will keep ticking for up to 90 hours, even when it’s lying on your bedside table. Of course, this being Swatch, design is a top priority: the collection boasts 12 styles – from the atomic ‘Pink’ to the striking blueand-black ‘Class’ (right) – and each has a transparent back panel that lets you see those 51 parts working together in perfect harmony. swatch.com
FACE VALUE
Premium self-winders that won’t break the bank By Gisbert L Brunner
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Longines HydroConquest
MeisterSinger Neo
Sinn 556 I
The steel HydroConquest with screw-in crown can resist water pressure of up to 30 bar. Divers will like the unidirectional rotating bezel with distinctive indexes, and the reliable ETA 2824-2 self-winding movement has a power reserve of about 38 hours. longines.com
With only one hand, which marks the hours, the German MeisterSinger Neo is a wristwatch for relaxed timekeepers. The steel case, water-resistant up to 3 bar, contains a Sellita SW200-1 self-winding movement, very similar to the ETA 2824-2. meistersinger.net
The sporty-looking Sinn 556 I focuses on essential functionality. The 38.5mm diameter, stainless-steel case contains the same trusty ETA 2824-2 mechanism as the Longines HydroConquest and is comfortably water-resistant up to 20 bar. sinn.de
THE RED BULLETIN
ACTION
WHEELS MOTOR MERCH
Pretty powerful: the Ducati 1299 Panigale S has got the lot
Authentic additions to the journey
Ferrari Store Milan Ferrari fans: flock to the new store in Milan’s Palazzo Ricordi for the Scuderia’s full range of merchandise. Plus F1 simulators. ferrari.com
STREET SMART Bremont Jaguar Collection Bremont have teamed up with Jaguar to create two watches themed on the iconic E-Type. The Mk I and Mk II timepieces take styling inspiration from the dashboard of the ’60s legend. bremont.com
The Ducati gets a tech overhaul We expect superbikes to be powerful. And pretty. But few can claim to be as powerful or as pretty as Ducati’s latest. The 1299 Panigale S smooths out some of the less desirable features of the 1199: a bigger engine, yes, but also more comfort and, with the S specification, a host of electronic whistles and bells. Compared with the standard model, the S has forged Marchesini wheels, an LED headlight and, crucially, a smart semi-active suspension system. The electronics suite is a large part of the 1299’s appeal, making the most of any rider’s ability. Linked to clever inertial sensors, the bike constantly adjusts suspension settings and brake parameters in line with rider-selected modes. The big L-twin engine delivers 205hp, but the on-board intelligence is there to tame it with lean-angle sensitive cornering ABS, wheelie and traction control. It’s a bike that will appeal to Panigale enthusiasts and also bring more riders into the Ducati fold. They’ve raised their game with this one. ducati.com
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
The new 911: an easy decision Bentley Collection Bentley is a byword for craftsmanship and it shows in the brand’s latest range of racing goods, from lambskin leather jackets to luxury cashmere scarves. bentleycollection.com
THE RED BULLETIN
In recent years, the joke has been that Porsche release a new 911 whenever there’s an ‘r’ in the month. There are certainly plenty out there, catering to every sub-niche in what’s already a fairly niche marketplace. Now welcome the new 911 GT3 RS – the 911 for drivers who can’t decide whether they want a track car or a road car. The GT3 RS has as much motorsport potential as Porsche believe they can cram into a road-legal model, with a 4-litre, six-cylinder engine producing 500hp, and a bespoke version of Porsche’s PDK gearbox. It’ll do 0-100kph in 3.3 seconds, but perhaps the more significant benchmark is a lap of the legendary Nordschleife circuit in 7m20s. That knocks the Carrera GT into the proverbial cocked hat. porsche.com
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ACTION
CULTURE COMING ATTRACTIONS
Global hit: Rupert Friend as Agent 47
The best new entertainment to binge on
ART National Geographic Presents: 50 Greatest Photographs
Nat Geo is renowned for its spectacular photos – the best of which are showcased in this dynamic exhibition. From Afghan women to Antarctic explorers, fighting lions to hunting polar bears, it gives an incredible insight into life all around the globe. temanawa.co.nz
FILM
DRESSED TO KILL
The Hitman video game franchise gets a bigscreen reboot with Hitman: Agent 47. We tracked down its British star, Rupert Friend The Red Bulletin: Who is Agent 47? Rupert Friend: He’s an assassin who’s been genetically engineered to be faster, stronger, more intelligent… But he also has a freak anomaly in his genetic make-up that makes him a little more human – just enough that his owners realise he’s a threat and try to shut him down. I found that very exciting, the idea that this so-called flaw could be his greatest strength. The film is based on a successful video-game series. Did you feel pressure from fans to do the character justice? There is pressure, but I think pressure is a good thing. The fact that there is a huge and very loyal fanbase for this character sets the bar high, and that’s as it should be. How did you cope with the physical aspects of the role? You have to be fit, otherwise it just doesn’t work. Audiences are savvy and they know when you cut away to a stuntman. So I was pleased to do as many of the stunts as the insurance would allow. I trained in boxing, Muay Thai, judo, Krav Maga… It kept me engaged in a way that was very helpful. What was the hardest stunt you had to perform? There’s one scene where my character is handcuffed to a table and has to climb up another man’s body, wrap both legs around his neck and bring him to the floor. I had to do it about 50 times. You get very familiar with your most intimate parts. Hitman: Agent 47 opens in New Zealand on August 27. For more, go to redbulletin.com/RupertFriend
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BOOK Trigger Mortis
WHO IS AGENT 47? Three need-to-know facts about the suited assassin…
The latest James Bond thriller, written by Anthony Horowitz with original material from 007 creator Ian Fleming, serves as a sequel to the 1959 novel Goldfinger and features the return of the most famous Bond girl of them all, Pussy Galore. orionbooks.co.uk
He’s an enhanced clone The barcode tattoo on his neck (640509-040147) holds clues to his origins. The first part is his date of ‘birth’, 04 is his series number, 01 his model class and 47 his manufacture order. He’s well travelled Over the course of five games, 47 has carried out hits all over the world, including Russia, Japan, the Netherlands and Colombia. He’s a sharp shooter The hitman is skilled in a variety of weapons, but his favourites are his two customised AMT pistols, known as ‘Silverballers’.
GAME Until Dawn
The old standard Help Me Make It Through The Night should be the theme song of Until Dawn, the new PS4 survival horror, released this month. The plot has eight friends spending a night in a remote cabin with a clownmasked killer on the prowl. playstation.com
THE RED BULLETIN
CULTURE KING OF CLUBS In his book Electrochoc – finally published in English this month – French DJ legend LAURENT GARNIER looks back on a 30-year career that’s seen him play all the best nightclubs on the planet. Here, Garnier picks his current favourites…
Panorama Bar, Berlin “This is the only place on earth where time warps completely. You enter at midnight and suddenly it’s midday. The reason is that people are not supposed to use their phones, which helps you to cut yourself off from the rest of the world.”
Concrete, Paris “Right now, the French techno movement is stronger than ever. If you want to experience the scene’s best young DJs, you need to pay a visit to Concrete’s legendary Sunday afternoon parties on their club boat on the Seine.”
Womb, Tokyo “If you’re invited to play Womb as a DJ, it’s a big accolade like a knighthood, because this futuristic club – think the Blade Runner film set – houses one of the best sound systems on Earth. Besides, the dance-crazy Japanese audience is second to none.”
THE PLAYLIST A$AP FERG New York’s A$AP Ferg embodies a new prototype in rap music. He and his Harlem collective A$AP Mob, led by head honcho A$AP Rocky, are not only changing the face of the genre by injecting trippy leftfield beats into mainstream hip-hop, they’ve also made a successful foray into the world of high fashion. Ferg recently teamed up with menswear designer Astrid Andersen to write the soundtrack for both her spring/summer 2016 catwalk show and a bespoke fashion film, Water, in which he also appears (watch it at redbull.co.uk/ catwalkstudio). The Red Bulletin asked the 26-year-old rapper to talk us through some of the tracks that have influenced his career, plus his own musical milestones.
A$AP Ferg
DMX
Work
Ruff Ryders’ Anthem
“I got into writing poetry as a kid, because I could recite it in front of the classroom and I knew it would make all the girls smile. It was just for fun at first, up to this song, which started my career. This was my first piece of music that resonated with people all around the world. I think that’s because I spoke a lot of truth about my father who died: ‘See my daddy in heaven, he be the realest G…’”
“I get nostalgic every time I hear this track, because it reminds me of my youth. I was about 10 years old when it came out. My friends and I, we would ride through Harlem on our bikes, doing wheelies like the guys in the music video and reciting the lyrics. DMX’s style was innovative at the time. Regardless of what he’s doing now, he planted the seed in me and helped me find my own voice.”
Mary J Blige
A$AP Rocky
You Remind Me
Peso
“In the ’90s, my father designed logos for big hip-hop labels such as P Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. So he had all the new CDs that came out. This was one of the first songs from his collection that really resonated with me when I was growing up. I love the music video where the girls are wearing baggy jackets and cool kneepads. It was the first time that I saw hip-hop and style coming together.”
“Rocky and I have known each other since we were teenagers. He was always very talented, but he created a totally new genre with this song. The way that he pitched down the vocals sounded completely fresh. In the music video, we wore black high-fashion clothes mixed with streetwear. It was a monumental time, because I felt like we were doing something big. Turns out I was right.”
THE GADGET
Here Active Listening These wireless earbuds will change the way you hear the world. Connect them to your smartphone via Bluetooth and they’ll tune out specific noises – crying babies, train engines, office chatter – as you listen to music. They’ll also improve your live music experience: you can turn down the volume if you’re standing too close to the speaker, or boost the bass if a club tune isn’t heavy enough for your liking. dopplerlabs.com
ACTION
A$AP Ferg Dope Walk “One recent song that’s had an impact on my career is my current single. It has the line ‘My walk meaner than Cara Delevingne’s’, which sparked a fun battle on Twitter between her and me, and then we decided to shoot a FaceTime video together. In the video, I show her the ‘dope walk’, which is when you see dope heads winding off into dreamland and then they wake up and jump up.”
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ACTION
HOW TO
FIGHT A FOREST FIRE Last summer, firefighter Morgan Reilly tackled a blaze that raged across about a million hectares of Canadian forest – an area almost as large as Jamaica. Reilly leads a crew of four, working with a ‘fire boss’ (“the chainsaw guy who can cut out a helipad in a forest in 20 minutes”) and two ‘swamp donkeys’ (“the crew members on the pumps and hose”). Of the million-hectare fire, Reilly says, “There were hundreds of four-person crews working for months to put it out.” Forest fires are unpredictable. Reilly’s crew, based in Sioux Lookout, Northwestern Ontario, can go months without seeing flames, or do six months of 19-day field tours with only two days at base in between. “I’m excited about fires,” says the 23-yearold, “but it’s my job to put them out. And I love my job.”
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Stoke the flames “One exciting part of our job is performing prescribed burns: lighting up certain parts of the forest – for example, areas of tornado damage with lots of dead wood – to prevent future fires growing. For the bigger fires, we use a helicopter with a drip torch hanging below it, dripping burning diesel fuel onto the forest.”
Call in air strikes
“We set up pumps on the ground, but we also have aircraft – waterbombers that I can call in to drop 6,400 litres of water per load. As the crew leader, I communicate with everyone on the ground and also in the air. It’s a lot to have to think about at the same time.”
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Be a people person
“We’re ready to go out to a fire for up to 19 days with everything we need: food, clothing, equipment. There’s no cellphone reception and our satellite phones can only be used for work. In these situations, the crew become your family – you’re with them 24/7.”
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Know when to say no
“The hardest part is keeping your cool; if everyone is able to do that, 90 per cent of the time it works out. My first fire, in 2011, was in the other 10 per cent. They flew us to an island on a lake, 500m from shore, where a huge fire was burning. For about an hour, we watched smoke billowing towards us. There was nothing we could do, so we got flown out. By next morning the entire island was burnt out.”
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Feel the burn “The job’s tough on your body. We have to pass an annual fitness test: 31 laps of a 40m course, going up and down V-shaped ramps, carrying 28kg pumps or 25kg hose packs. All in under 14-and-a-half minutes. Not easy.”
THE RED BULLETIN
MARK THOMAS
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“2”and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Also, “-” is a trademark of the same company. Until Dawn™ ©2014 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe ©2014 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Supermassive Games. “Until Dawn” is a trademark or a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. All rights reserved.
16 Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993
26 august 2015
OFLC OFLC OFLC
ESTRICTE
ONLY YOUR CHOICES DETERMINE WHO WILL SURVIVE
When eight friends are trapped on a remote mountain retreat and things quickly turn sinister, they start to suspect they aren’t alone. Every choice you make will carve out your own unique story...
Restricted to pe
NOTE: Violence language
ACTION
EVENTS
Turn of the Sentry: the Aussie rapper is a rising star on the hip-hop scene
September 11-12 Aussie rules Wellington and Auckland
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September 25 Words of wizdom
September 26 Hard yards
Sept 18 to Oct 31 Field of dreams
Vector Arena, Auckland
Kaiteriteri
Twickenham, England
Taylor Gang is the global fanbase of rap superstar Wiz Khalifa – and its Kiwi chapter will most definitely be flying the black and yellow flag at Auckland’s Vector Arena when Wiz pays a second visit to these shores. This has been a big year for the Pittsburgh native, having teamed up with Fall Out Boy for a sell-out US tour, and chalked up a global smash with See You Again, from the Furious 7 soundtrack. ticketmaster.co.nz
Outdoorsmen are more likely to amble than sprint as they traverse Abel Tasman National Park. This won’t be the tactic of entrants in this year’s Abel Tasman Coastal Classic – a run that sees competitors negotiate a stunning 36km trail run from Awaroa to Marahau. But with race entrant numbers capped at just 300, the pristine condition of this jewel in NZ’s conservation crown is assured. abeltasman.co.nz
When Richie McCaw and co lifted the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park back on October 23, 2011, it was only the second time the All Blacks had won the trophy. The ABs don’t have home advantage this time, but all eyes will be glued to Sky Sport NZ on September 18 as the 2015 RWC kicks off with a clash between England and Fiji at Twickenham. Let’s make it a treble, boys. rugbyworldcup.com
MICHELLE GRACE HUNDER, GETTY IMAGES, ALAN PARKINSON
New Zealanders can be a parochial bunch when it comes to hip-hop from across the Tasman, but here’s an Aussie rapper you might want to make an exception for. Melbourne MC Seth Sentry was put on the map by a show-stealing appearance at SXSW in 2013, and has gone on to reinforce his reputation as a skilled wordsmith on record as well as on stage. Fresh from the release in June of his second album, Strange New Past, Sentry will be spitting his ocker rhymes in NZ for the first time at Wellington’s San Fran and Whammy Bar in Auckland. sethsentry.com
THE RED BULLETIN
September 19 Who dares wins Waimauka
SAVE THE DATE
Mad for it: the 16km course is no walk in the park
Blues, bikes or banquets – the choice is yours
You have to be a little crazy to attempt ‘The Madness’ – a no-joke, all-terrain obstacle course devised by former members of the Royal Marine Corps and British Parachute Regiment. Competitors in teams of either two or four will tackle river runs, sandbag carries and natural and man-made obstacles along the course, set across 16km of sprawling private farmland in Waimauku, north-west of Auckland. mulenz.com/themadness
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Sept Glorious food One of NZ’s fine-dining hubs, Wellington has a diner-to-restaurant ratio that, local foodies claim, rivals New York’s. Over three days,the city’s restaurateurs will take part in The Food Show, an expo featuring demonstrations, tastings and cook-offs. foodshow.co.uk
September 7 Bring the noise The Kings Arms, Auckland The mean streets of New York City may be home, but noise rockers A Place to Bury Strangers have a link to Auckland through bassist Dion Lunadon, formerly with The D4. The trio kick out the jams at a searing volume, so earplugs might be needed when they play Auckland’s The Kings Arms. aptbs.tumblr.com
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September 8 & 10 Dragon force Auckland and Christchurch
Exxopolis: ready to be amazed?
September 4-13 Guiding light Christchurch Four years on from the devastation of the February 2011 earthquake, Christchurch’s Cathedral Square has been revitalised. In September, as part of the city’s arts festival, this cherished space will become a giant ‘luminarium’ – a technicolour maze you can step inside and explore. The inflatable structure, known as Exxopolis, was devised by UK lighting designers Architects Of Air. architects-of-air.com
THE RED BULLETIN
The fortunes of Las Vegas natives Imagine Dragons – best known for their hit singles Radioactive, Demons and On Top Of The World – have risen dramatically since the indie rockers performed at a sold-out Powerstation back in October 2013. When the Grammy-winning four-piece make a return visit to New Zealand in September, they’ll be upgrading to all-age shows at the Vector Arena in Auckland and the Horncastle Arena in Christchurch, playing to almost 21,000 punters over the two nights. frontiertouring. com/imaginedragons
Sept Deep forest Head to the forests of Whakarewarewa for this year’s NZO Ride Central Winter MTB Series. Mountain bike riders will go at it across three courses – which include enduro segments this year – competing to be named the series’ King and Queen. ndurowinter.com
10 Sept Daddy’s home
US blues man Big Daddy Wilson may be a proud North Carolinian, but never accuse him of being a homebody. In September, Wilson brings his soulful sounds to NZ, with 21 shows across the North and South Islands. bigdaddywilson.com
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Daniel Ricciardo for Pepe Jeans London
TOMORROW’S
WORLD A S S T A R T U P S A N D I N N O V A T I O N S M U LT I P L Y A P A C E , W E TA K E A L O O K AT T H E L AT E S T T E C H A N D I T S M O S T I N T E R E S T I N G A P P L I C AT I O N S
JOHAMMER J1 What? A revolutionary electric motorbike you’ll be proud to ride Why? It’s time electric bikes got stylish When? Now This electric motorbike has a bold design that makes it stand out – in a good way. It runs on a lightweight Li-ion battery, and is available in two models: the J1.150 and J1.200. The latter, top-of-the range model covers 200km between charges, and weighs just 178kg. Plus it generates 15bhp and has a top speed of 120kph. Electric just got sexy. johammer.com
THE RED BULLETIN
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I N N O VA T I O N S
A LIKEABLE ELECTRONIC C O M PA N I O N T H AT H E L P S YOU FORM POSITIVE HABITS
MOTI What? An adorable deskmate that acts as a motivator Why? To help you achieve your goals When? In the near future Moti is an electronic companion that vibrates and flashes with glee whenever you complete a task or learn a new habit. But be warned: Moti employs the human tactic of emotional blackmail when you stray from the right path, looking sad and buzzing angrily. Just try not to reach for the off switch… moti.io
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HANDIII
R E L AT I V I T Y
What? A bionic arm controlled by muscle signals and a smartphone Why? To change people’s lives When? In the near future This is not a prop from a futuristic sci-fi movie – bionic limb technology is here, thanks to the wonders of 3D printing. Japanese company Exiii have developed this smart arm, which uses sensors to capture electric signals from the user’s muscle movement and translate them via a smartphone app. What’s more, the Handiii is expected to cost considerably less than a conventional prosthetic arm when it hits the market. exiii.jp
What? A craft beer ‘teabag’ Why? To make beer taste better When? Now There’s been a microbrewery boom over the last decade, offering drinkers more choice than ever. But now there’s an alternative to forking out on pricey craft beers to drink at home. Baltimore-based startup Hop Theory have created Relativity, a teabag-like sachet that transforms any beer into a quality brew in just four minutes. hoptheory.com
LUUV What? An attractive stabiliser for your camera that eliminates hand shake Why? For great footage When? Now If your YouTube videos look shakier than the action scenes in a Jason Bourne blockbuster, give this innovative steadicam device a try. The LUUV is a smart handheld camera stabiliser with universal mount that, thanks to its three-axis, counter-weighted movements, enables you to capture perfectly smooth action footage. Hold it upside down for dramatic shots just centimetres from the ground. luuv-is-awesome.com
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THE RED BULLETIN
I N N O VA T I O N S
I K AWA H O M E ROASTER What? A digital micro-roaster Why? For top-class coffee at home When? Next February This digital micro-roaster takes home coffee-making to the next level: just download an app and roast a batch of IKAWA’s ‘green’ beans at the touch of a smartphone icon. Ten per cent of the revenue from the beans goes back to the farmers, too. ikawacoffee.com
AUDI PROLOGUE PILOTED DRIVING What? A futuristic driving system that puts you in complete control Why? To make your ride sleeker – and safer When? TBC Audi’s prototype ‘car of the future’ stole this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with its incredible piloted driving system. Its laser scanner, video cameras and ultrasound sensors make parallel parking worries a thing of the past. The ‘digital cockpit’, meanwhile, has a touchscreen display that controls everything from diagnostics to music with a swipe of the finger. Switches are so 2015. audi.com
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NO MORE DRAGGING A CASE OF DIRTY LAUNDRY AT T H E A I R P O R T
DUFL
MICRO DRONE 3.0 What? A tiny camera drone that fits in the palm of your hand Why? To capture the ultimate group selfie When? November Anyone can join the camera-drone revolution with this little fella. Sturdy, manoeuvrable and customisable (frame designs include a ‘ferocious dragon’ and a ‘terror wasp’), the Micro Drone 3.0 streams HD images and video to your smartphone or virtualreality headset. Expect to see it buzzing around you in the pub some time soon… igg.me/at/micro-drone
What? A digital valet service Why? To take the pain out of travel When? Available now in the US and internationally in the near future This service saves frequent travellers the hassle of lugging cases of clothing to and from the airport. Send DUFL your clothes in the branded case and a virtual wardrobe will be created. Before you set off on a trip, select the items you want, and DUFL will deliver them to your destination. When you leave, your clothes will be collected, laundered and then stored, ready for your next trip. dufl.com THE RED BULLETIN
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I N N O VA T I O N S
L I F E PA I N T
O R B I TA L I N S I G H T
What? A reflective paint in a can that increases the visibility of cyclists to other road users at night Why? To increase road safety and save people’s lives When? Now “The best way to survive a crash is not to crash,” reads the strapline for Volvo’s latest innovation, and it’s hard to argue with that. The stats on the car company’s website reveal the bleak truth: every year in the UK, more than 19,000 cyclists are involved in accidents. With this in mind, Volvo have developed Life Paint, a spray that makes cyclists more visible to drivers at night. The paint, which contains reflective particles that are invisible by day but show up brightly under the glare of car headlights, can be sprayed onto bikes, clothing, helmets and bags – and even dog leads and collars. It lasts around a week, but can be washed off at any time, leaving no trace. volvolifepaint.com
What? Technology that monitors deforestation Why? To protect the world’s forests When? Now Californian startup Orbital Insight has partnered with Global Forest Watch to create a system that monitors and flags up suspicious changes around forested areas, such as unexpected new roads. As the system’s neural network recognises more and increasingly detailed patterns, it will become more accurate at detecting changes and helping to prevent illegal deforestation. orbitalinsight.com
U GA N D A
Mabira Forest Reserve
27 Nov 2001
I N N O VA T O R : JUERGEN FURIAN Meet the Austrian co-founder of the Pioneers festival, a conference celebrating the ideas of tomorrow, held annually in Vienna. It‘s no surprise to find that the man behind a startup shouting about startups is full of advice for young innovators and entrepreneurs… THE RED BULLETIN: A total of 1,600 startups from 96 countries applied for the 2015 Pioneers Festival. How do you choose who gets to present themselves? JUERGEN FURIAN: They have to deal with ideas that will define our futures within the next five years. At the Pioneers Festival, all we talk about is the future. We have given ourselves a broad range
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TRAGO What? A smart water bottle with its own app Why? Perfect hydration When? Pre-order now Two Texan brothers who are “passionate about hydration” have, via a Kickstarter push, proved that a lot of other people are, too. Trago, their smart water bottle, knows how much you should be drinking. It links to a smartphone via Bluetooth and accurately measures and logs water intake against your calculated ideal for that day. It also takes factors like sleep, weather and exercise into account (it pairs with fitness wearables). Plus Trago predicts how much water you’ll need before a football match or marathon. twitter.com/drinktrago
U GA N D A
Mabira Forest Reserve
25 Jan 2006
OMNI PRESENT What? An interactive system for gift-giving Why? To share a moment When? TBC – in testing When the recipient of a gift opens its box, the lightactivated Omni Present contacts the sender and lets them hear the reaction. frolicstudio.com
KURT PRINZ
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of topics: aerospace, biotechnology, energy, robots. That’s what the industry appreciates about us. Which industry has the most exciting startups right now? Biotechnology. That industry has small startups achieving incredible things with not much money. The huge pharmaceutical giants used to invest billions in research to produce a pill 10 years down the line. Now, small startups are bringing good ideas to fruition themselves. For example? Hampton Creek, who are based in San Francisco. They make eggs out of bean proteins. No chickens, no factory farming. I had breakfast with them recently, and their fried eggs are great. Startup founders are professional ideasellers, and you know loads of them. Can you give us a tip, like how to ask your boss for more money? If you have a minute, prepare for that minute. Argue from your boss’s point of view. And most important of all: be passionate!
THE RED BULLETIN
I N N O VA T I O N S
I N N O VA T O R : VISHAL SHARMA The former Google vice-president created one of the world‘s most complex virtual assistants in Google Now. But, says Sharma – currently working on a secret startup – the revolution is yet to come…
HEXO+ What? An autonomous camera drone that does the arty close-ups for you Why? So that all you need is your flying friend When? Later this year The brainchild of professional snowboarder and filmmaker Xavier De La Rue and tech team Squadrone System, Hexo+ removes the need for a second person to monitor the shots when filming action scenes with a camera drone. Simply select your preference (close-up, panoramic or circling flight) on the Hexo+ app and the drone keeps you in the frame by following your smartphone’s GPS signal. hexoplus.com
A C L E V E R A L A R M C L O C K T H AT WA K E S Y O U B U T L E AV E S Y O U R PA R T N E R U N D I S T U R B E D
WEINBERG-CLARK XX EDITOR PHOTOGRAPHY ILLUSTRATOR
WA K É What? A clever clock Why? Relationship saver When? Pre-order now This alarm clock eases you into the day with a beam of light and gentle sounds that grow brighter and louder. But that’s not what makes this device essential for couples: controlled via a smartphone app, Waké’s heat sensor detects your exact location in bed, and its parametric speakers focus the alarm sounds in a narrow beam at you only – leaving your other half in peace. Plus it switches itself off when you get out of bed. luceralabs.com THE RED BULLETIN
THE RED BULLETIN: Even the most advanced virtual PA can’t communicate in a convincingly human way. Why is that? VISHAL SHARMA: There’s definitely a way to go. A virtual assistant has two choices when it doesn’t understand: it can make a joke out of it and distract you with a new conversation, or it can say, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you just said.” So it’s all about speech recognition? Human language is so
enormously flexible and expressive – there are millions of expressions and emotions. Virtual assistants try to break down the input and match it the best they can. Some people say speech recognition is a technology that’s always five years away. I’m not that pessimistic. How do machines learn? There are two different models. Say you want to teach a robot how to move: you could create some elements of movement in the robot and embed algorithms that tell it how to use them. Or there are selflearning robots: the robot is given abilities, but it doesn’t know what they are. So you give it a limb with three degrees of movement, then give it a task of getting a ball closer to a goal. The robot has to figure it out. Over time, it builds a model of its limb and what it can do. In some ways, the robot grows conscious of what it is. What was the last tech that amazed you? It happens constantly. When I’m late and my phone tells me about the traffic, it somehow predicts my future and that’s astounding.
SEALEAF What? A floating hydroponic growing pod for food crops Why? To reduce food imports When? 2016 Many of the world’s coastal megacities – Singapore, for instance – import up to 90 per cent of their food due to a lack of local arable land. UK-based scientific team SEALEAF have devised a solution: hydroponic growing pods that sit out at sea and let the sun and rain do the work. This opens up more space (available at lower-thanaverage rents) for local farmers to grow affordable fresh produce for the population. And because of the reduction in imports, it means a smaller carbon footprint, too. swolzak.wix.com/sealeaf
Keep up to date on the world’s latest innovations with Springwise; springwise.com
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MAGIC MOMENT
“It was a trip back into my childhood” BMX wizard Tyler Fernengel used to come here as a fan of American football; now he uses the abandoned Silverdome as an obstacle park JOE GALL/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
PONTIAC, USA, May 12, 2015 In its 40-year history, the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, has been the home of the NFL’s Detroit Lions and even hosted a Papal Mass. Since 2011, the stadium has fallen into disuse. But then BMX pro Tyler Fernengel went exploring in one of his trick sessions. Watch the video: redbull.com/bike
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