unsettled issue 001 by unsettled_mag

ISSUE 001

EDITOR

Bartosz Kielak Victoria Kamila info@unsettledmag.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ashley Ang

Cover by Agness Trawczyńska Model Aleksandra Klima

CONTRIBUTORS

Agness Trawczyńska James Cropper Jay Sharp Erica Tao Humothy Sim Lea Vitezic Ronald Haisen

SPECIAL THANKS

Forrest Curran John Fairhurst Toby Murray Peter Episcopo Garrett Lerner-Palomar

unsettledmag.com @unsettledmag

CONTENTS 1

p(e)ace of mind// FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

forrest curran// PURPLE BUDDHA PROJECT INTERVIEW

life in the kettle// RIOT FEATURE

something happening somewhere// SHORT STORY

street photography x social media// STREET FEATURE

image as a burden// ART FEATURE

in conversation with john fairhurst// MUSIC INTERVIEW

e-sports: redefining competition// THINK PIECE

unsettled in copenhagen// TRAVEL

INTRODUCTION// letter

from the editor

We are Unsettled because that's how we've come to understand journalism - as capturing events, stories, projects, and opinions at the blink of an eye... before anything has a chance to settle. More than that, Unsettled is a platform by and for youths. We're for a generation of progressive voices and underrated perceptive minds. As an outlet for youth culture and youth opinions, our aim is to be representative of all demographics; from race to gender, to various professions and cultures. Like most start-ups, our first issue took its sweet time overcoming those generic initial struggles. We conceptualised back and forth between what sort of identity it was that we wanted to carry. Even now, that identity is likely to morph along with all our future issues to come. This magazine is a space where creatives are free to collaborate and experiment, and showcase the outcome. It's a medium for discussion, criticism, and exploring tastes unsettling to generic media. We hope that in reading or working with Unsettled, we inspire original thought and introduce perspectives previously unbeknownst to you.

victoria kamila

EDITOR

P(E)ACE OF MIND 2

P(E)ACE OF MIND FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY Agness Trawczyńska

P(E)ACE OF MIND 4

Photos by Agness TrawczyĹ&#x201E;ska

Model: Aleksandra Klima

Confidence is a primary domain of beauty. I wanted this shoot to highlight the transition from confidence to the defensive and withdrawn nature of tragedy. A modern individual seeks escape from traditional forms of nature, finding herself at a loss for her identity; it is the pursuit of the new that does this to her. Her existence becomes tragic, and she needs to find peace in herself. She takes a brash attempt at coming back to her roots and connecting with nature - such is the balance between the tragic and the beautiful. I wanted to make the viewer feel uncomfortable by confronting Portugalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stunning scenery with the wrecked image of the model. Emphasis is placed on the modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body language and the harsh intensity of her stare. She is not meant to reflect beauty; instead, the beauty here has been transferred to the environment and its components. The heroine-chic look portrays an exhaustion with a world that is manufactured and unfamiliar. Self-confidence is often affiliated with beauty, and in some of the images, its presence is a contradiction. The modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coat in the first image is very structured, and instead of embracing the shape of the body - is creating it. The face of the model continues to disappear as the editorial progresses. Once she is facing away from the camera, the idea of emotional expression being reserved for the face is negated. The model is absorbed into nature, suggesting a certain vulnerability for the whole experience. Simultaneously, however, coexistence between nature and humanity is also felt.

P(E)ACE OF MIND 10

FORREST CURRAN Words by Victoria Kamila

FORREST CURRAN HAS BUILT FOR HIMSELF A SOCIAL MEDIA EMPIRE AS FOUNDER AND CHIEF LOVE GIVER OF THE PURPLE BUDDHA PROJECT. His organisation began as a simple tumblr with a purpose as straightforward as spreading positivity. Now, it's an internationally recognised organisation that takes up-cycled weapons of conflict from Cambodia and Laos, and transforms them into Asian inspired jewellery. His artisans are sourced locally in Cambodia (so not to displace the local economy), and every purchase goes toward clearing 3 cubic metres of bomb-littered land. This sustainable style has allowed him to grow a network ranging from charity professionals, to celebrities such as Jhene Aiko. Although, these are more than just contacts in his professional network, they're personal connections that grew from his habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve and ability to carry a title as optimistic as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chief Love Giver.â&#x20AC;?

Purple Buddha Project was able to take off digitally through social media and crowd-funding. Do you have any advice in that regard for anyone interested in start-ups? On Tumblr, for example, one of my friends was a really good photographer. Certain posts get more notes than others. What’s hard with him is, his pictures, you can’t look at one and know that it’s his. From the beginning, all my artwork had the same template. They had a fruit and Buddha and a quote. People recognised it. It’s called brand alignment. Just having the same congruent consistency. If you’re going to have one font in one post, you should have the same in another.

You’ve stated that many things haven’t worked out for you in this project. Which was the most heartbreaking and how did you recover from it? Last spring, I ran another Kickstarter. It was really close to being completed, I had a goal of $32,000 and I was at $27,000 with a week to go. So I was chilling. Then I got an email from one of my fans like, “What’s up with one of your kick-starters?” I went online and they cancelled it. Some charity reason or tax reason. The crowdfunding tax is really different. It’s something that hasn’t been happening for a long time, it’s new. The laws around it are very grey. Basically my thing got cancelled. It was really disappointing. But that week I got hundreds of mail from around the world supporting me.

Your relationship with your followers can be very personal at time, as you've been very honest about your past battling mental illnesses. Having a presence on social media for others facing similar health problems can be draining and daunting, though in many professions, it's essential. What advice can you offer for overcoming this? Right now we’re working on a phone app. It’s suppose to be spiritual, still in the beginning stages. It should be out by the end of this year. Social media is a hard one. To be honest with you, I’m not much of a social media person. In real life, I don’t own a phone. My work and life revolve so much around social media. I have a good portion of the day dedicated to work. On my personal time, I need a break from it. Part of my zen stuff. I do a lot of random spiritual stuff.

As the founder of a project associated with Buddhist philosophy, how do you separate yourself from the materialism of clothing, brands, and consumerism, yet still upkeep a sort of ‘modern man’ identity? That’s some stuff I really think about a lot. I don’t know, it’s weird. It’s like, am I contradicting myself? Buddhism and commercialism - what am I really trying to do here? I think it’s important that if I’m going to name something Purple Buddha Project, there has to be an aspect of giving to it. I don’t like when brands use Buddhism as a marketing ploy. Like, I’m not gonna use Buddhist statues in my stores. It’s more about being conscious about what

What do you ultimately hope to accomplish with Purple Buddha Project and what’s next for you? Who knows. There’s a lot in the works right now. I’m working with a couple artists. This year is a pretty big year for me. I’m getting my first American employees, we’re going to start touring the States this year. Should be cool, we’ll see how that goes. It’s one of those things - this sounds weird, but, - if you’re driving a car and you’re at a stoplight and you see a Ferrari, but you pull up next to it in an old Toyota and tell the Ferrari to pull their window down, they’re not going to pull their window down. But if you pull up in a Bentley next to a Ferrari, they’ll probably pull their window down. Once you get to a certain amount of fans, you actually get a lot of replies and people who want to work with you. Networking is a step-ladder program that really develops over time. What’s opened my eyes about this project is, you know how people say there’s things that money can’t buy? This project has really made me realise what money can’t buy. For example, just being recognised by someone like Jhene Aiko. People that you idolise or really respect, they’ll respect you too. Money can’t buy that feeling. It’s some weird shit. A lot of this is about being patient. It’s not when you think you’re ready, it’s when you are ready. A lot of people ask me, “how can I come up and start my own thing?” Whether they’re a musician or a designer, I always tell them that the come up is the most fun you’re ever going to have. When you’re struggling and

I’m doing. That’s something I still struggle with.

you’re really coming up, that’s when you’re becoming the artist you are. I see

Your social media presence is based on circulating quotes and Buddhist sayings. Which has been the most relevant for you?

that unless you go through those struggles. It’s in them. A lot of people

certain singers and I can hear the emotions in their voice. You can’t emulate wanna come up, but it has to be real.

”Shame on me for changing. Shame on you for staying the same.” A lot of people associate change with something bad, but I think the natural direction of life is growth and progressing. A lot of people do fine craft, or make music. You kinda go through a hermit period where you don’t see a lot of people and you’re working on your craft. A lot of people who’ve become semi-successful have had to let go of a lot of people. Whether it’s friends you just kinda lose them as time goes on. A personal sacrifice I’ve had to make for this project really got to me. If I knew it was going to be this hard, I would’ve never done it. You gotta choose sometimes if you wanna be with someone you love or do what you love. It’s just timing. Everything happens for a reason.

FORREST CURRAN

LIFE

IN THE

KETTLE

Words and photos by Jay Sharp

LIFE IN THE KETTLE

If someone were to have told me I would spend the best part of two and a half hours in a ‘Kettle’ as I was leaving for the anti-Tory demonstration, I would have met his or her statement with profound confusion. Before this experience, I had never heard this word used in any context other than its most logical use. I guess you could say I was a ‘kettle virgin’. I first heard the re-appropriation of this term as it was screeched from a megaphone, followed by the sound of rushing feet on the ground as hundreds of people made their way to the nearest available exit in hopes that they wouldn’t get caught. My inexperience with all things protest-related would explain why I had done the exact opposite. Instead, I walked into the heart of everything to try and take some decent photographs. It was perhaps my preoccupation with photography that distracted me from the advancing police officers. One moment I was on the side of the road taking photographs, the next I found myself completely surrounded. Many of the people who occupied the inside of this circle did not appear phased by the presence of the police. Some wore army camouflage and had ‘Fuck the system’ sewn onto their hats - it was evident that they had done this before. Others, like myself, were confused as to what was actually happening and how long we would be held for. I heard whispers speculating arrests and this seemed to scare a few people, but what for? They couldn’t arrest us for a legal protest! I knew it would just be a case of waiting. Once everyone had just accepted that we were going to be there for a while, we formed a ‘kettle community’ of sorts. Bottles of water, packets of crisps, and biscuits were thrown over the top of the human wall that imprisoned us and were shared with everyone. A group of protesters started to play music and we all danced. People were invited to the microphone to share songs and poems or simply give their opinion on the Tories. Spirits were high and I can honestly say that the kettle became a very pleasant place to be.

The music carried on for a while until singing turning into chanting, and eventually died out. Everyone became tired as the day carried into the evening and the weather turned cold. It was obvious that everyone had started to have enough and began questioning the police. These questions were met with unmerited hostility and scrappy excuses. We were told we were being kept due to a breach of the peace and that it was not yet clear how long we would be held for. It seemed like a bit of a cop-out to me, but I accepted the excuse and went back to life in the kettle. It wasn’t long before the music had started again and everyone was dancing and enjoying themselves. I believe this new burst of energy came from a desire to display unity. It also served as a massive ‘fuck you’ to the police. About an hour after the music started again, we heard that the police were planning on forming a corridor through which we could all leave. I believe it is fair to say that a lot of people would have preferred to stay there but, nonetheless, we were soon free. The group split into those who were heading home and those headed for the pub.

LIFE IN THE KETTLE

Something Happening Somewhere Ronald Haisen

A story of insecurity and modern isolation.

It was the end of her overnight shifts for the week and Kayla was standing, waiting outside. The city was quiet and cold. Around the corner, the silence was broken by the hum of a motor and crackling gravel. Beams of bright lights burst forward and fell upon Kayla. A giant, moving machine maneuvered itself to the curb. Air hissed from the machine and it lowered itself. Its doors opened.

I see trees of green, tall roses tooooooooo. Kayla laid aside her coat and sifted through her purse for her headphones until she remembered that she forgot them on the break room counter. “Shit”. she thought, “I have to go through this again.” The bus driver's smooth, baritone voice soared, resounding and ringing all around the bus.

Kayla looked through her phone. There was one “Goooooood maaawning!” the bus driver announced new message. It was from her mother. The message in his crisp, Caribbean accent. A warm, grand smile began with, “You know, you really ought to think of…” Her head peeled away from the screen and she gleamed across his gentle face. put her phone down on the seat, letting its dull light Kayla barely gave him a glance and found her way to the dwindle away. back of the empty bus. The doors shut and the wheels On the streets, the lamps were winding down with started to rumble and the bus driver began to sing. their last burn. All forms of life seemed petrified into 26

their places. The permeating sound of empty space was put on pause each time the bus rattled against cracks on the concrete. Inside the bus, the bus driver was snapping his fingers and settling into his second song.

colour she wore was her bright red lipstick. She sat on a bench in the middle of the bus. Her two heavy bags thumped against the seat. Kayla’s head was tilted to the side.

’Cause we’re just dancing in the park…

“…I wonder what she’s doing up this early”, she thought.

“Why does he keep getting the lyrics wrong?” she thought.

Living it up in the Motel Californiaaa…

Kayla tried to pay attention to something else, but she kept turning her head back to the young woman and taking in each detail that she could. Right way, Kayla noticed a complex and vivid tattoo design that stretched from her neck onto her shoulders. Piercings adorned her nose and ears. On the outline of her She glanced at her phone. The black screen beckoned bottom lip, there was a small but noticeable scar. One at her. She picked it up and checked to see if there of the bags had clothes piled on top. On her lap was a were any updates. It was the same as three hours ago. mirror, which the young woman would use to powder along the fine border of her right cheekbone. A quarter of the way through her trip, the electronic voice system of the bus switched on and announced, “I wonder what her name is…” “Gran-ville Sta-tion”. In the middle of this examination, the young woman glanced towards the back of the bus. Her eyes aligned On that notice, Kayla’s arm automatically reached out and held a nearby handle, anticipating the awkward turn. with Kayla’s. Kayla’s eyes widened and her spine stiffened. Blood flowed from her face before surging But the bus didn’t turn. It stopped. The air hissed from back like a hot, scarlet tide. Kayla quickly snapped the suspension. The bus lowered. The door opened. her head in the other direction and pretended she Kayla raised her head. A faint figure could be seen. was simply looking at everything around her. Kayla’s forehead rested on the cheap, blue leather that lined the seat in front of her. Yawns were shortly followed by long sighs. Her knees fidgeted up and down. With her slender fingers, she lightly picked at the coarse calluses on her palms.

“Gooooooooood maaawnning”, the bus driver cheerfully said.

When she regained her composure, she set her head against the window.

To Kayla, at first it seemed like a shadow, she could only make out those blurred lines and curves. The closer it appeared, the blacker it became.

The first flecks of dawn darted across the horizon. Gold and violet waves flared out onto the soft, pale blue sky and blended with rippling white clouds. The sun rose between a large neon cowboy and his But it was only a young woman, who wore a black lasso, hoisted on rusted pipes and reigning in a leather jacket with tattered, black jeans and black boots. rundown billboard. The neon cowboy served as an A black, stylish bob decorated her head. The only

unofficial sign that the bus was approaching what was known as the traffic circle circus. The sunlight tricked through the window and reached across Kayla’s eyes. Kayla’s eyelids shut, and when she opened them, she saw that the young woman’s eyes were directed at her. A moment passed before the young woman put her head down and went through her purse, first rubbing lotion onto her hands and then re-applying her bright red lipstick. “Maybe she wants someone to talk to?” she thought. The thought went away. The bus was weaving through the first roundabout, and the bus driver was about to belt out his signature song. His voice rose higher and deeper with each turn.

tires screeched. But through it all, when there was doubt, I MADE IT UP AAAAND SPIT IT OUT. “Oh god, Kayla, you always do this. Just go up and talk to the girl. Maybe she wants to talk to somebody…” The bus oversteered into the third circle and the brakes squealed and the tires skid against the pavement. And now, as tears subside, I find it all SOOO CONFUSING… “Kayla, you don’t just go up to people you don’t know and talk to them. Quit being so stupid…” For what is a man, what HAS HE THOUGHT?

And now, the end is NEARRRR, and so I chaseee the FINALLL CURTAIN…

“Wait. This is what you do every time. You limit yourself. You always make up an excuse…you’re just going to go up there and say hi…Just say hi.”

The thought returned.

If not himself, then HE IS CAUGHT.

“I should just go talk to her. She’s not doing anything. Both of her hands firmly gripped the railing in front of her. I’ll just go talk to her.” To say the things HE TRULY FEELS, and not the The bus sped into the second circle. words OF ONE WHO DEALS… Regrets, I’ve HAD A FEW, but then again, TOO TRUE TO MENTIONNNN. “No, don’t do that, she’ll think you’re a creep. Don’t bother her.” Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew. When I BIT OFF MORE THAN I KNEW. “She’ll give you that look, like, ‘Why are you talking to me? Do I know you?’” The bus made a sharp turn and the rubber of the

Her body shifted closer to the edge of her seat. Her pulse throbbed and radiated to her palms and onto her fingertips. Little beads of moisture formed and trailed along her forehead. The record shows that I SHOOK THE BLOWS… Her knees slightly extended. And I did it… MYYYYYY WAYYYYYYY.

SOMETHING HAPPENING SOMEWHERE

The bus recovered from the wide turn on the last circle and eased off onto the straight road. Kayla’s knees started to fully straighten out but she stopped. She watched the young woman reach into her purse. The young woman pulled her headphones out and plugged them into her phone. Kayla dropped back into her seat. A hollow, aching feeling spread throughout her chest. It moved downward and hardened in her gut. And I did it…myyyy way. The bus driver clapped his hands and let out a triumphant laugh. Kayla’s palms were pressed against her forehead. A few stops later, the young woman exited the bus. Kayla waited for a couple of moments before she gathered her coat and migrated to the young woman’s former seat. On the seat, the imprint of the young woman’s body and the heavy bags slightly remained. The sweet scent of coconut lotion lingered. There was a single, thin strand of the young woman’s black hair on the windowsill.

muscle fiber was clenched and bound and wrung until it tore. It pressed and pounded against the bone, over and over again. Waves and waves of it came crashing and shattering like sharp, tiny pieces of shrapnel, making her body writhe and curl and twist and shake until there was nothing left but a vast, ravaged void in her soul. The bus eventually arrived at the last stop on the route to Kayla’s destination. She wiped the remaining running mascara onto her damp sleeve. The dry, unseen stains on her blank face and the bitter taste on her tongue stayed. She slowly stood up. With her head down, she trudged along the floor with her lifeless legs. Her hand clutched the cool, metal railing and she was about to climb down from the bus until a voice called out to her. “Hey”, the bus driver said. He turned in his seat and faced towards Kayla. He leaned over, with a stern face and his elbows on his knees, looking straight into her eyes. “You have a nice day, alright?”

She stepped onto the solid pavement and heard the rumbling motor depart and disappear into the distance. The sharp chill of the raw morning Kayla glared towards the front. A clawing, choking brushing along the skin of her cheeks. The warm feeling clamped her throat. The knuckles on her rays of the sun danced with the sparkling morning hands became completely white. mist and left behind darkness only in the form of At a traffic light, Kayla looked outside. On a tree, shadows. Kayla took a couple of steps before her there were two budding birds perched on different knees buckled and she hid her head into her coat. branches. The birds began to sing at one another, back and forth, until they spread their wings and flew away together into the morning sky. When she saw this, Kayla sank into her seat and buried her head into her coat. All the noise around her drowned out. A force of blackness encircled and enclosed and engulfed her all at once. It forced itself through each hole and gap in her body. Each single

fin

LONDON STREET PHOTOGRAPHY X SOCIAL MEDIA

WORDS Victoria Kamila

PHOTOS

Erica Tao Humothy

Social media has essentially reinvented the relationship between photographers and their audiences. Both Instagram and VSCO (Visual Supply Co.) are platforms providing the two with the potential to conduct more frequent, intimate interactions. Photographers are receiving exposure for their work at amounts that would previously have taken years to achieve. With street photography especially, Instagram is oversaturated with users looking to pursue it more seriously as a hobby, or full-time job. Interactions that take place on these digital spaces have formed an encouragingly tight-knit community, but many are also noticing that the vibes are increasingly superficial. Thankfully, we’re also seeing creatives take advantage of various media platforms to come together and change that. Both Street Dreams and Visual Voice magazines uphold mantras of showcasing talented photographers to promote personalised storytelling. That’s not to say they’re creating a hierarchy - it’s more about encouraging the masses to strive to contribute to the authentic progression of the art itself (as opposed to bumming off its fame and attention). Instagram shouldn’t be utilised as a shortcut to ‘making it’ - it should serve as a platform allowing creatives to come up and thrive together. Erica Tao and Humothy Sim are two London-based street photographers contributing to this movement.

Known more widely by their Instagram handles, @Eezeetee and @Humothy are close friends who are relatively new to London’s street photography fam. Their follower counts don’t quite amount to tens of thousands just yet, but that’s not of their concern right now. The three of us met up in Soho to discuss the pros and cons of the scene - a major pro being Street Dreams. As soon as I met Hum, Erica was apologising for his behaviour in advance (I soon found out why). On our way to the cafe Erica was set on for its red velvet cupcakes, it only takes a couple of minutes before Hum’s worked up the owner of a Banh Mi shop for spraying soda all over his windows. But accidents happen, you know?

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY X SOCIAL MEDIA

GET TO KNOW: ERICA TAO INSTAGRAM @EEZEETEE

Thoughts on street photography and Instagram right now? In terms of me being in this, I’m still fairly new. I only really got into it October/November. On Instagram, it’s starting to become more about who you know rather than what skills you have. Especially with street photography, it’s about capturing something that’s natural, rather than staged. Loads of people are getting distracted by the fame of it all. There are so many tube shots and photos taken for the sake of getting the most likes. I’m trying not to be about that. I try to avoid getting red buses in my shots, and anything else that’s cliché for London. You have to be really involved if you wanna catch a good shot. Sunrise, timing.

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY X SOCIAL MEDIA

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of suicides happen at this bridge.â&#x20AC;?

GET TO KNOW: HUMOTHY INSTAGRAM @HUMOTHY

Thoughts on street photography and Instagram right now? I think that Instagram has deviated from the whole craft of photography itself. Of course it’s been good in allowing audiences to understand photography, but people are distracted for fame instead of looking to capture something more meaningful. Young photographers, people who are actually exploring street photography seriously, aren’t recognised enough. The layout and pace of social media has made users judge the photos and characteristics of an account too quickly. People aren’t taking their time trying to understand the person behind the account I mean, what comes after getting tons of likes? More likes? There’s clearly more depth to photography than ‘likes’. I try my best to document life in a beautiful manner through my camera. A lot of people I see on Instagram are not telling a story through their photos. It takes a lot of patience and time to understand photography indepth. At the end of the day, it’s about what you want to say in your images. On Instagram, the photos that I actually really like - are never popular. I don’t want to sound all negative though. We’re lucky to have a platform like Instagram to let us explore more photography. Because of Instagram I got to be a foot model!

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY X SOCIAL MEDIA

“It’s about getting off your ass and out of your comfort zone. There’s so much to learn about this world and the worst thing to do is learn to be lazy.”

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY X SOCIAL MEDIA

IMAGES AS A BURDEN Words by Lea Vitezic

Marlene Dumas is an artist who was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa. She moved to Amsterdam in 1976. In her own words, however:

“My fatherland is South Africa, my mother tongue is Afrikaans, my surname is French. I don’t speak French. I live in Amsterdam and have a Dutch passport. Sometimes I think I am not a real artist because I am too halfhearted; and I never quite know where I am.” Her art explores themes such as love, death, sexuality, fear, and anxiety mostly through thought-provoking and sometimes provocative portraits. Her paintings are deep reflections of various human emotions. Image as a Burden is the name of her small painting of a face. It is a signature example of her work - mysterious and dark in nature. The painting’s name suggests she wants to depict deeper ideas through her work and provide a deeper understanding of the position that artists find themselves in whilst attempting to represent these concepts. Dumas wrote in her collection of notes and texts Sweet Nothings: “I write about art because I am a believer. I believe in the power of words, especially the written word.” Portraits of famous people are also part of her work. One of her more relevant pieces is called Great Britain, as it shows two popular icons of British femininity: Naomi Campbell and Princess Diana. These two canvases have sparked dialogue relating to class, race, and culture. Dumas plays with colours and different expressions that can be found in every person. Her portraits are powerful studies of human nature. The style is very unique, the ideas are original and substantiated perfectly with her own thoughts. Marlene Dumas’ exhibition, Image as a Burden, was held from 5 February until 10 May 2015 in the Tate Modern.

IMAGE AS A BURDEN

F A N H O J

IN CONVERSATION WITH

T S R U H R I A F WORDS Bartosz Kielak PHOTOS Agness TrawczyĹ&#x201E;ska

WHEN A MAN WALKS INTO A CLUB LOBBY WITH A VINTAGE GUITAR CASE IN HAND, carrying a demeanour that implies nobody has ever once forgotten his birthday in the whole of his life, this man has captured your attention - if not for a moment. Then you notice he’s wearing a bright red, bell-bottomed corduroy suit and suddenly your senses stand alert; nothing out of the coming moment could be rendered unexpected to you anymore. But it would be too easy to describe John Fairhurst this way, as he is not a man to be summarised by his looks. I’ve met John twice. The first was for an interview, when he entered the lobby of the Rich Mix in Shoreditch dressed in that red corduroy. He’s been described by many (the BBC included) as the best guitarist in England, which would make it a tragic mistake on your part to miss him and his band (two other blokes, a drummer by the name of Toby Murray, and Peter Episcopo on the bass) at Glastonbury this year. But in case you do, you’ll also be able to catch some of their sounds on the upcoming film ‘Tomorrow’, produced by Martin Scorsese. Fairhurst has also recently been signed for a worldwide publishing deal with the Metropolis, a cooperative effort between him and Alex Beitzke - the man who’s produced artists ranging from the Editors, Ed Sheeran, and Young Buck to Florence & the Machine. We followed our interview with a wild late-night carnival party, something that would’ve gone down in my books as something special had it not been for what I soon realised after. Sitting on the tube on my way home at 7 that the morning, I’d discovered that there, on my audio recorder, was a blessed, 46 minute long silence. I was left two choices - one, to fabricate the interview, or two, hang myself David-Carradine style. Instead, we arrive at my second encounter with the gang, as they had agreed for a re-take. We sat down on a Sunday at the Magic Garden, an old-school Battersea club, whose stage has hosted the likes of Jimi Hendrix. The music was chilly, the atmosphere warm, the rack already set up for the following jam. John ordered himself some food and a cheeky pint for myself. This time, the external audio switch was on.

IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN FAIRHURST 46

So, how did we get here? My dream when I was twelve years old, thirteen years old, was that I would have a band, and I would play Voodoo Chile on stage. I got to do it now, with the guitar I had when I was a kid. So, did my dream come true…? Yeah, it did. I feel like for a long time the music industry and public lads forgot about the rock n’ roll, but it’s nice to see it coming back to the forefront of people’s music, a bit of bargaining revival, that kind of thing. Lately, I’ve been listening to a band called Ushti Baba, they are really good. Lots of bluesy kinda stuff, mojo hand. I watched them over night, came up with some ideas for this electro blues thing. But that also takes a lot of listening to dance music again, so I’m doing that too. You’re really just trying to pick up the pieces that are going to work together, to create a new genre.

One of your EP’s is called “Hungry Blues” - what are you hungry for? Experience. Ideas, times, interesting people. When I’m soloing, it’s not about caring. I do care about notes, but I wanna make noise, noise that affects the vibes and the sound. Jack White is a huge influence, Jimmy Page as well, Frank Zappa, obviously Jimi Hendrix in a big way, and loads and loads of blues players. Indie, classical music, everything - anything with ideas. When you hear something, and it sounds and feels amazing, I’m really interested in why it feels good. I’m hungry to understand and create that feeling.

How come your voice sounds like you’ve been eating tobacco and washing it down with petrol? That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing, yeah. I had a throat infection in Australia. It was like tonsillitis, but gone crazy. It used to kill people, quite regularly. Your immune system can’t even do anything about it anymore. So I had quite a bit of my throat cut out. That changed my voice a lot, made it how it is now.

Where did you shoot some of your recordings for ‘Tomorrow’? Here. Magic Garden is probably the best place in London when it comes to meeting all sorts of people. A lot of things with Tomorrow came up here at Magic Garden. I met most of the guys when we were shooting here, including Sophie (Kennedy Clark). Good blokes, good lasses. This is where we did all of the shooting on stage. One night I was playing a lot of blues with Joss Stone. She’s one of the main artists in the film.

What’s the process of cutting songs down from 13 minutes like? Separating the weed from the chaff. Trying to find bits of gold, you know. There are a number of different ways of going about that process. The last time we recorded, we didn’t have a lot of time. Toby was leaving to go back on the cruise ships, so in a month we just recorded everything we had, all the ideas together.

IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN FAIRHURST 48

”I mean travelling is the core part of the whole thing, isn’t it? It’s a wandering life style, and I guess it always was for blues musicians - for any musicians, really - but, you know, you’re just travelling around from place to place, living on each other’s pockets the whole time. That’s how you build your relationships, an understanding of each other. It’s on the road. ”

IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN FAIRHURST 52

What was Toby doing on cruise ships? We were recording in between his [Toby’s] trips. He spent a month on the first one, I think he was away for 3 months on the second one. His first trip was around Europe, and then it was around the Bahamas and America basically. He had a repetitive strain injury in his hand, they gave him like 2 days off or something (laughs). He was playing 5 shows, 6 shows a day, 7 days a week. They were playing in a cover band, different nights, different kinds of stuff.

How did you two meet? We’ve known each other for two and a half years. We went to the rehearsal studio, played together for a couple of hours, until eventually he just said to me, “have I got a fuckin’ job then or whott?” I was just like, “Yes, mom.”

Where were you before all this? I’d been living in Australia…just living in the countryside. I’ve travelled a lot, hitchhiked all the way from the north and back to Melbourne. Went up and down the east coast quite a lot. I was playing with an aboriginal guy called Gumoroy for a while, a didgeridoo player. There’s loads of history and knowledge in aboriginal culture. I used to fish with him quite a lot, as well. We fished for all sorts of things, collecting shellfish, catching stingrays, gathering things from the beach. The biggest thing I’ve caught in Australia was probably a massive stingray. I lived in New Zealand for quite a while as well, with my girlfriend. We’ve just been living outside. So we travelled a lot together, cooked on the open fire, caught our own food. Washed in a river, made a shelter. We had no money, we were just living, you know? It’s very funny. There’s a lot of merry people, like, “why are you living like we used to live a few hundred years ago?”, and we’d always reply, “We haven’t got any money”. There is no chance you could live like that here in England. You can actually go and catch the things you eat in Australia. And obviously it’s much warmer, you’re not gonna freeze at night in the shelter you’ve made for yourself.

Where else have you lived?

Let’s talk about something more personal than jewellery or tattoos. Do you have any scars you’re particularly proud of? Haha, I’ve got plenty of scars. This one is form a bottle…yeah, there’s quite a few bottle scars, and I’ve been knifed before on my neck…got plenty scars on my knees, some from fighting, but that was a very different time. I lived a very wild life for a long time. I used to go to things like Megadogs, all the Free Parties and stuff like that when I was a teenager in Manchester during the early nineties. Glastonbury - I went to Glastonbury in ‘95. It was crazy the acid and ecstasy. The acid was cleaner than nowadays. All the way throughout the nineties I went to many festivals. We were very young teenagers experimenting with drugs for the first time. There was really kind of a …a real feeling about the whole party scene before criminal justice tapped in and banned all of it. Festivals were very different, they were not so corporate. I think that Glastonbury that year was the last of this era. Glastonbury 1995, when the fence came down there were like 250,000 people. It was a free festival and it thrived with drugs. Just really fucking crazy - a crazy time to be alive.

Now you’re playing at these festivals.

I love Glastonbury. It’s fucking insane. So much stuff going on. I’ve travelled through Asia, from Singapore to Malaysia, Taiwan, You can walk around the entire time and never feel damaged Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia. I lived in Thailand for quite a long by the people, the performances, the whole vibe of the place. time and travelled all around the country. My tattoos were done I feel completely at home there, you know? by monks, in a temple. They’re a very old, traditional form of tattoo from South-East Asia. They basically perform a kind of spell, or magic, to put a protection over you while your’e getting tatted. Each tattoo has a different meaning. I’ve got like seven of them. They were not Buddhists - they’re a different culture. Each temple has its own lineage, its own history, its own way of writing, and different monks do different tattoos because of their age. I was taken there by my Thai friends when I was about to leave for the first time. The one on my chest means I can’t be killed, some of them are supposed to bring you prosperity. I’m still alive so it seems to be working!

IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN FAIRHURST 56

What’s to come for you guys? I’m excited about everything at the moment. We got signed for a worldwide publishing deal with the Metropolis. We’ll be recording demos and sending them over to Alex (Beitzke), he sends his ideas back, we refine, refine, refine them. Alex, the man is a genius! His consideration and understanding of everything... he’s interpreter essentially of... an overall flow in the recordings, the way the song and jukes work. I met him at the Dean Street studio. It was one of those times where you meet somebody, you chat for ten minutes and you’re just on the same page. We’ve been best friends ever since. I really trust his judgement. Tune after tune after tune we were continuously working on our ideas as we spoke. We've also got a very busy festival season coming up. That is, several times at Glastonbury on the big stages, and some other great stages in England. Boomtown. We have to wait until everybody announces these things, but we’ll be putting it all up on our website as soon as it all comes out.

eSP Words by Bartosz Kielak Back in 88’, two century-defining events took place. The first was the release of the first installment of Die Hard. The second was the launch of Netrek - the first online team gaming experience that allowed up to 16 players to connect via LAN. Nobody would have guessed that in 25 years, an audience just as large, if not bigger, than one film’s entire viewership would belong to online streaming services. Today, millions of people simultaneously participate in an entertainment industry surrounding teams of competing e-players, yet this ‘sport’ still isn’t taken seriously in the mainstream. In 2013, League of Legends (LoL) player Danny Le, better known under his gaming handle ‘Shiptur’, received an American visa under a category that was previously reserved for internationally acknowledged athletes. Now, players competing in the LoL Championship Series receive P-1A visas on a regular basis. On the 14th of May it was announced that Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño was now a member

of the RedBull Sports family - again, under the ‘athlete’ category. It’s popular speculation now that eSports are on their way to the Olympics, as they allow equal competition to take place between competitors that would previously have been divided between the Olympics and the Paralympics. This exponential growth of eSports, however, raises some serious questions surrounding the ‘unhealthy’ lifestyle of gamers. We’ve all found ourselves questioning the direction of our lives at some point after spending days rotting away in front of our desktop screens. Can we really call something like this a sport? Society still often puts a stigma on gamers, perceiving their interests as immature. It’s a long sounding echo of 90’s macho culture, the divide between the cool kids and the geeks. Statistics are showing that these ‘geeks’ are actually much more likely to be obese now compared to back then, with around 40% of them sporting XL sizes.

PORTS Redefining Competition X-ray stills of computer gamers’ spinal cords, wrists, and even medical evidence of the strain eyes are put under show a clear and unfortunately toxic relationship between how good the gaming goes, and how bad your physical health can get. It’s only when the money starts to come around that professional players can invest in quality gear to alleviate these health risks. But on the other side of things, can we really continue to make claims about the ‘healthy’ lifestyle of ‘real’ athletes? Football players’ knees often refuse to cooperate at the age of forty, and that’s hardly one of the most extreme sports one can play. Risks of damaging your health with a long-term career in eSports are comparatively lower. Another hurdle eSports needs to get over is the lack of women in its world. Female viewership numbers are estimated to exist at 30-32%. Although this is a major increase from 15% just three years ago, these numbers are still

frighteningly low. Just a score of top players in LoL are female, and in FPS’s such as CS:GO, there are almost none. A Polish gamer known as ‘Lunatic’ attributes this to women not being able to “handle the pressure”. So, ‘Lunatic’ is an appropriate nickname, then. Past psychological experiments have proven that this is simply not true, with girls showing a much more substantial ability to behave reasonably when put under pressure. Ralf Reichert, Managing Director of Electronic Sport League, has said “There is no reason why a female gamer should not be able to compete with a male one, and surpass him in terms of skill.” Despite more than a handful of these encouraging statements in circulation, sexism in competitive gaming remains a significant, controversial issue. Nonetheless, eSports is thriving. Huge corporations have invested some serious dough into it now, with many having completely

remodelled the current layout of the gaming market. One of three major contenders is Riot Games, with its juggernaut League of Legends that hosts an average of 27 million active users daily, 65 million monthly, and an average of 7 million active during the game’s peak hours. Another is Valve. Although Valve is much less popular, it is quickly gaining popularity after developing DoTA 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) (which has more than tripled its numbers of players in a year). Blizzard’s two biggest products in the segment are online card games Hearthstone, and newest members of the MOBA family, Heroes of the Storm. Both with stories based on the hit World of Warcraft - the predecessor of the current eSports industry.

Valve and Riot host international competitions, with The World Finals’ first prize in DoTA 2 totalling a respectable $1 million, and LoL totalling around $5 million last year. That value is expected to increase this year in DoTA’s case, as it has already raised $7 million of its $15 million mark in just 10 days, with 80 days remaining. The structure of online gaming has seen a transformation from a clan/guild/faction structure to existing under the more professional context of sports organisations. Many of these organisations are sponsored and owned by worldrenowned corporations like Samsung’s Samsung White, SK Telecom T1, or Korean Telecom’s KT Rollster. Thanks to the enormous amounts

of money pumped into the Asian gaming scene (alongside its long history with being one of the most popular demographics to support gaming culture), Korean players are recognised around the world to be the most skilled. Starcraft is even the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national sport. In Europe and North America, every major team has acquired a sponsorship, but often they have ceased to exist under their original names (with the exception of Fnatics and Team Dignitas, who kept their names despite now belonging to MSI and Intel). Big media outlets rarely cover eSports for any longer than a 25 second slide at the end of the 8P.M. news. Government support for eSports in the form of subsidies is also rather nonexistent.

It will take some time until the biggest will realise that someone has already bitten off the most profitable slice of eSports coverage, and is chewing up a significant fragment of the market. The biggest online streaming service, Twitch.tv (owned by Amazon) provides up to 24 translations on its website, has 100 million unique views every moth, and has 1.5 million broadcasters. Twitch.tv even broke a Guinness World Record for holding 826,778 concurrent viewers during the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice finals last year. By ignoring eSports, the mainstream is allowing companies to privatise the competition before itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s even begun.

UNSETTLED IN

COPENHAGEN words and photos

James Cropper

WHY COPENHAGEN? Well, as any eagle-eyed traveller may

well know, there are countless bargains on flights throughout Europe with the forward journey only costing myself and a friend £1. Yes, you read that right - Copenhagen for a quid. That’s 50p cheaper than a London bus journey and £1.30 cheaper than an off-peak tube journey. So the flights were purchased and we were on our way to Copenhagen in pure disbelief that we’d quite possibly snatched up the bargain of the century.

The first thought that’ll hit you once you arrive in Copenhagen is, ‘why doesn’t my city operate like this?’ The cycle friendly nature of Copenhagen has, in fact, been driven by a desire to become the world’s best city for cyclists, which it hopes will encourage 50% of its workers to ride a bike into work by 2020. In other capital cities, this seems unrealistic; however 2010 statistics discovered that 35% of Copenhagen’s workforce cycled to work - and that was five years ago. There really was no doubt in my mind that this city was a worthy winner of last years “green Capital of Europe” award. To accommodate the influx of cyclists, the city features specialised cycle lanes that, at times, blend in with pedestrian footpaths and even possess their own traffic light system. To the untrained tourist, it was sometimes difficult to acknowledge that you were standing in a cycle lane - so pay attention. But unlike the endless complaints about tourists that we hear all too often in London, Copenhagen locals didn’t appear to get annoyed. Despite a real emphasis on cycling, the real beauty of Copenhagen is that every corner of the city is within walking distance. Whether it be journeying to the 400 year old Rosenberg castle or the Freetown of Christiania, it seems like in no longer than 30 minutes everything was reachable. The environmentally friendly atmosphere radiates throughout Copenhagen, there’s even a reward system in place for recycling. By pure chance, my visit to the city coincided with a national holiday known as “Ascension Day”, which commemorates “Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven”, marking the 40th day of Easter according to Christian belief. This saw crowds of people descend onto the city’s canals to relax on a surprisingly hot spring day, with one specific moment encapsulating my experience within

UNSETTLED IN COPENHAGEN

Copenhagen perfectly. This scene depicted three young men who had created what can only be described as a living room barge consisting of two mattresses, a motor, and plenty of beer. For quintessential tourist viewing, there is no better sight than “Nyhavn”, a 17th century row of coloured houses that are all nested together beside one of Copenhagen’s beautiful canals. As it is a main tourist hotspot, you can expect to find endless crowds filtering through its rather narrow canal side streets, but this shouldn’t deter from experiencing Nyhavn’s beauty. Whilst walking towards Christiania, we found ourselves in awe of a dazzling spire belonging to the 400 year old “Church of Our Saviour”, which features a spiral staircase on its serpentine spire for thrill seekers. Caught up in the sporadic spirit of our Copenhagen expedition, we decided to scale the 295 foot length of these stairs - a decision that would not disappoint. The first couple of feet had met our sights with a rather modern interior, but that soon changed when a lone door stating “Climb at your own risk” appeared. Now things got real, as by stepping through the door we essentially entered a time-warp. Although it does look striking from outside, it is the Church’s interior that really allows a person to re-live its history as you make the same ascent that thousands upon thousands of people have made throughout history. The sense of history really echoes through its walls. During our ascent, all I could imagine were the thousands upon thousands of people who had climbed these stairs over time. This climb is not advisable for the claustrophobic. Making your way up feels like both the walls and stairs continuously shrink until they climax at its peak. This is where you are so cramped that the last set of stairs was met by a chorus of multi-

lingual “fuck-offs” as fellow visitors wondered how making it past was possible. I somehow managed to clamber my way onto a seemingly even more narrow platform, greeted by several people who wanted to get down staring sitting rather lonesome by the harbour, features an right at me. There is absolutely no doubt that eye-catching curved glass entrance that contributed I looked like a petrified idiot, but one look out at heavily to its overall cost of $500 million. Copenhagen’s skyline and it was worth it. I could have easily decided to write on Copenhagen’s famous “Little Mermaid” status in this piece, but that would’ve taken away from the military fortress “Kastellet”, located right beside the tourist hotspot. The interesting thing beauty becomes apparent. about Kastellet is that when viewed on the map, If you ever make it to Copenhagen, take advantage its shape resembles a star with steep grass banks of the riverbank atmosphere as hundreds of people built to protect its inner buildings. As you step dangle their legs above the water with a few tins around these steep banks, the 19th century “St. Albans” church will come into clear view, of beer. It’s almost like a riverside equivalent which peer across Kastellet’s star shaped moat. of having a picnic as the care free atmosphere of This church completes the picturesque setting canal-side life beams from its residents. of Kastellet, but one can only wonder how any Architecturally, Copenhagen manages to blend connection to the military could exist in such modern buildings with its transitional styled a peaceful star-shaped section of Copenhagen. buildings. A highlight of this modern architecture is the Copenhagen Opera House, which although Copenhagen’s skyline may not be full of skyscrapers like other capital cities, but this is what makes it so unique. When you look out into the sea of orange roofs, church spires, and canals, a real sense of

Copenhagen has held a reputation for being quite expensive, with tourists regularly spending their Krone, (Denmarkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s currency) before they have time to think. But, as in other places, by venturing out of the city centre, several supermarkets that boast cheap prices do exist - crucial spots to hit up for the budgeting traveller. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think words can describe Copenhagen adequately, as you really need to experience it for yourself. Maybe youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be lucky and fly out there for a pound like I did. All I can say is it is definitely not worth missing out on falling in love with such an eccentric city.

TOP 5 COPENHAGEN TIPS 1 2 3 4

Hit a HotDog stand found through the city centre

Hire a bike to cycle around the city’s specialised roads

Visit Christiania Climb the famous “Church Of Our Saviour Tower” (Like anywhere) Stay in a hostel, Downtown Copenhagen Hostel specifically

{CLICHE}OUTRO// letter

from the editor

Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes. Yes - this is a meme reference. But with it, the irreversible becomes a fact; someone’s life has passed. There’s a reason why some of the fastest growing metropolises and highest grossing companies are based in Africa. In bypassing the age of the cellphone but advancing straight for digitalisation anyway, Africa shows its respect for the cellphone-less passage of time that we took away from ourselves by constantly being switched in and connected. Every 60 seconds somewhere in the world, it’s a quarter past three. For the next hour, someone is going to think about switching their cubicle’s desktop off, throwing on their jacket, and ditching work. We give statements like that a patronising look, but is thinking about going home the only way we waste our time? Every 60 seconds in London, five minutes pass. Someone, somewhere has got his hand on his watch. My point is, there are a limited number of events going on at the same time. Don’t let them settle without your participation.

bartosz kielak

EDITOR