Jump Magazine Issue 7

Welcome friends,

ez@urbanfreeflow.com www.facebook.com/ezstyla www.urbanfreeflow.com www.facebook.com/urbanfreeflow www.twitter.com/urbanfreeflow www.youtube.com/glyphmedia

It’s probably fitting seeing as the mag you’re reading has a bit of a horror theme going on, because this particular edition of Jump Magazine was a nightmare to produce!

Just as everything was prepared to be uploaded to our server, my main laptop crashed completely. As a result I lost hundreds of original photo’s, interviews that had been transcribed and the original source files for the mag.

My problem, I know, but having to go through the process of typing up the interviews again and trying to salvage the pics, was enough to make a mad man go completely nuts.

Luckily I had help with the salvaging so I’d like to extend a personal thank you to Mark McQueen, Stephen Follows, The Tapp Brothers and Brad Wendes for being on point and making sure that the missing photo’s were replaced without too many dramas.

So.....here we are after a couple of re-shoots and in a position where we can at last present issue 7 almost as it was originally intended. Unfortunately we lost the pics from the Session Internationale event in Paris, which I’m absolutely gutted about and we also lost the piece about Stephen Slade, the 53 year old Freerunner. Shit happens but we’ve had words with Stephen and will re-shoot with him for a later edition, so all is not lost there.

What’s in this issue then? First up, we’re delighted to have reached out to Sebastien Foucan for a much needed catch up. We grabbed film director Mark McQueen for an interview where he talks about his first feature film titled Devil’s Playground, that UF features heavily in. There’s an interview with the Tapp Brothers from the USA who caused a stir of interest when they released their ‘Texas Insanity’ video a short while back. We also put a pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes through their paces in a pressure test. Plus a bunch of regular odds n ends.

A concrete way of life....

Enjoy....

Ez - Editor

Front cover athlete: Sebastien Foucan. Photographer: Jon Lucas www.jonathanlucas.com UF ad athlete: Gary ‘Surreal’ Lawrence www.youtube.com/surrealmaniac Photographer : Ez

Copyright © The Urban Freeflow Network. All rights reserved. ‘Urban Freeflow’ and the ‘Glyph’ logo are registered trademarks of Urban Free Flow Ltd

Athlete: Levi Meeuwenberg (USA) www.youtube.com/LeviMeeuwenberg Photographer: Emily Ibarra www.ediphotoeye.com

Interview by Ez - Photography by Kate Malone www.katemalone.eu Here I am parked up at Southbank in London sitting in my car and setting up my dictaphone. Next to me I have Mark McQueen, the director of Devil’s Playground which is a feature film set during a zombie apocalypse. In it the infected creatures go against the zombie grain of shuffling along at pensioner pace and instead, are super alert predators who use Parkour movements to stalk and hunt down their prey. Having just finished the editing process and being in a position where the film is being geared up for a cinema release, I thought that now would be a good time to sneak in and grab some of Mark’s time and bag an interview before he’s off drinking with Ridley Scott.

us a brief introduction….

Mark: Ok, Ok..My name is Mark McQueen, I’ve just turned 30 and I was born in Southport which is between Liverpool and Blackpool in the North West of England.

When I was 10 I moved to Kenya and lived there for 3 years. When I returned I went to live in Blackpool, Preston, Cheltenham and finally ended up in Manchester.

Mark, thanks for taking the time to hook up to do this today.

Mark: Cool but before we start I have to say that I’m quite liking your choice of glamorous location to do this.

You mean the soft porn one with all the naked chicks?

Mark: <laughs>It’s funny because there were two parts to that show. You have the MEN part with all the tits which was made by gays and lesbians, that’s probably why it was so bad <laughs>.

Then you had the MOTORS part which was all about the cars. This is the bit I did and was also where Richard Hammond (Top Gear fame) started out. We all used to dream of bigger times and eventually

Well this is where it all started for the UK Parkour scene, so where better?

Mark: Where, in your car? <laughs> Well we can do this out in the cold if you like? Anyways, this is about you so give

How did you get into the film biz?

Mark: Through television really. I worked in the television industry from the age of 19. Then I started doing a car show called 5th Gear which was for channel 5.

Originally I was working for Granada on a show called Men & Motors.

I moved on to start directing on 5th Gear, which I did for quite a while. From working at Granada I knew a guy called Scott Mann who worked in a different dept but we were good mates.

We worked with Scott on a gig which had our guys doubling for women in wigs and dresses. I hope it never ever sees the light of day <laughs>. He was a really cool guy to work with though.

Mark: Yeah, he’s a great guy. Anyway, one day I sent him a text message out of the blue telling him to watch 5th Gear that night as a piece I was particularly proud of was going to air. He replied saying that he couldn’t because he was in Bulgaria and then added “actually, what are you doing for the next 2 months?” I told him that I was free and he asked me if I’d like to fly over and direct the 2nd Unit on the Tournament movie. I was like “yeah ok” <laughs>.

Gotta love the art of perfect timing.

Mark: Yeah, so a week later I flew over to Bulgaria for a week, met the producer, had a little look around, came back home for a week and then went back out for 2 months.

Charlie Briggs makes an impact as a zombie cop by jumping down through a gap onto the roof of this car.

Even zombie extras have a bad taste in footwear. Here we see a pair of Kalenji â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Successâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; shoes being given some monster treatment.

Setting up for the lab scene where we get to see the first bit of blood being shed.

For people reading this that won’t know what the Tournament is, please explain?

Mark: It’s Scott Mann’s film about assassin’s who are in a big tournament together and it’s last man standing. It’s supposed to be getting a cinema release at the end of the month. It’s got Robert Carlisle in it. Sebastien Focuan is in it.

Ving Rhames who played Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction is in it and there’s a girl called Kelly Hu. I think she was in X-Men. What was Sebastien doing in it?

Mark: He’s one of the assassin’s and his special ability is the way he moves with his obvious agility.

So is he a key figure in the movie?

Mark: It’s quite a decent part. He’s one of the featured assassin’s.

Did he have a speaking role?

Mark: <laughs> Yeah he has one line which took him a few goes, bless him. So consider him the silent assassin which works quite well actually. He was good actually. He did a few action scenes and had one a fight on a bus.

Did you get to film any of the stunts on 2nd Unit?

Mark: I did actually. Seeing as it was Scott’s first main feature, he naturally wanted to film the big action sequences himself. There’s a scene where Sebastien jumps from a motorway bridge onto a moving double decker bus and then has a

big fight inside it. There was one shot that they never managed to get on the main shoot which I had to pick up and it was where Seb runs across the top of the bus and then underbars his way in through a window before starting a fight.

Was this before or after Casino Royale?

Mark: It was after.

Was that your first proper exposure to Freerunning?

“He did a few action scenes and had a big fight on a bus” Mark: No, there’s a friend I know in Manchester who’s really into the scene up there and what we were going to do was make a documentary off of our own backs about Freerunning. This was in 2004 I think. We spent a day shooting some interviews with people talking about what it was and why they did it We also shot some action stuff but did nothing with the tapes. In fact, this girl was going to

edit it and she ended up getting ill.

So it just died then?

Mark: Yeah, it died but she didn’t die <laughs>.

Prior to that had you seen Jump London?

Mark: I’m almost certain that I did because I was working with a cameraman on 5th Gear who was one of the cameramen on Jump and he was all excited.

For the people within the scene, they are very aware of the explosion of interest and how the media latched on to it. But from a film makers perspective, why do you think Parkour/Freerun is so popular?

Mark: Well not so much now but a few years ago it was all so new. People who aren’t into it will see it and still be impressed by it and think “shit, that’s amazing!” The media in general saw it as this new thing and latched on to it. I hope it continues to stay fresh and doesn’t just wear out. From what I’ve noticed, things are evolving whereas it used to just be about moving from A to B as quickly and as efficiently as possible, it’s now moving more towards the showman side with all the flips. I guess for the general public it helps in holding their interest and keeps it fresh. Some of it might not fit with the theory of what Parkour or Freerunning is about but visually, it’s still impressive.

So after the Tournament project, what was next?

Craig Robinson from Wales is probably the most laid back zombie that ever existed. Here he prepares to attack Craig Fairbrass who just happens to be carrying a loaded pistol with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Boom Headshot!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; written on the bullets.

Mark: A friend of mine who worked on 5th Gear ended up producing the BBC show for the World Freerun Championships at Trafalgar Square, London. He called me up and said that he needed a short film that introduces Freerunning and demonstrates some of the fundamental moves. He explained that it’d be shown on the BBC just before the whole event was broadcast live. So we shot that with some of your athletes in London and it took us a day.

We got some really nice bits and had it edited by the next day.

I really liked it as it felt fresh. I get to see thousands of Parkour/Freerun videos and a lot of them follow the same tired format. If I’m honest, I didn’t expect much from yours but had a sneak preview before the TX and really like it.

Mark: Parkour is a cool visual thing to watch anyway. We just managed to capture some good movements in a cool environment. The intention was to make the piece informative and not fast paced. I think it worked quite well.

Where you at the live event?

Mark: I watched it on TV in Manchester as I had another project to do.

Where did Devil’s Playground come into it all?

Mark: Originally Scott Mann was approached about doing it but was tied up on another project with Sebastien, so he recommended me and they gave me a call. We met, I showed them some reels and in the movie itself, the zombies are portrayed by Freerunners so it helped that I had some experience working in that field.

Initially there were a bunch of different directors pitching for the job of director, right?

Mark: Yeah, they approached people who had more experience than me in actually making films. My background at that point was mainly TV. I remember being approached a long time ahead of the shoot about being involved and the excitement levels went up and down because it ended up taking so long to happen. There was a point where we were told that it was definitely going ahead and that they were just choosing the right director.

Mark: It’s a long drawn out process. From a producers point of view you’ve got to choose carefully, as you’re trusting a lot of money in one persons idea of how it should be. There’s always that initial excitement too, where a new film idea comes up and you get the

All zombied up and preparing to kill. Mark - “In this scene you go absolutely mental” Ez - “Yeah but what’s my motivation?” producers together with the script and you’re like “right, we want to do it now….. we want to get this going” but then it takes ages and the excitement dips while all the boring stuff is sorted out. Then when you get the finances sorted and the team sorted, it all fires up and the excitement levels rise again.

Seeing as it was your first feature, where you allowed creative freedom or were you restricted?

Mark: Yeah, I was given freedom but the only limitations were time and money.

Did you have a clear idea in your mind of how you wanted the film to look?

Mark: Erm…..kind of. The way I work is to turn up on the day and decide what I’m going to do there and then. I find it harder to storyboard it and turn up on the day having known a few days before or a week before how we’re going to shoot it. For me it doesn’t work. I prefer to have a rough idea of what I’m going to do and then turn up on the day and decide.

So you just blag it then?

Mark: It’s not really blagging <laughs>.

There’s a bit more to it. I think if you know what you’re doing, you can get away with it.

How much Freerunning was actually in

the final edit?

Mark: The tricky thing was time and at the end of the day it’s about the story.

The Freerunning didn’t directly influence the story. What the Freerunning did was to heighten that sense of danger where these things are quick and very hard to get away from. So yeah, it increases the danger element but from a story point of view, it doesn’t do a lot more than that.

“The only limitations were time and money” When it comes to shooting it all and when there’s so little time available, you concentrate on filming the drama first.

Then if you have time, you pick up the extra bits that you want to get. Another thing about the Freerunning is that it happens naturally in the film where we don’t make a big deal about it. I think this

is a good thing because if we focused on it too much like “look at me, I’m a Freerunning zombie” it ends up looking fake. It’d take away from the story and would just look like Freerunners in make up. It all had to be handled very carefully and I hope people understand what we were trying to achieve. No doubt some people will be unhappy that there isn’t more Freerunning in the film.

There will always be people who aren’t happy.

Mark: Yep, You can’t please everyone.

From our perspective, we made a concerted effort to dumb down the movements and not make the execution super clean all the time. Our brief was to move in an animalistic manner that was natural and instinctive.

Mark: If it was too clean it would take away from what a zombie is meant to be.

In our story it’s a drugs trial gone wrong and these beings are full of rage, super hyped and super energetic, so again, if they are too slick they lose that scariness and you just end up with a bunch of costumed athletes running at you.

Understandably the budget is always going to come into play, but some of the zombie extras were questionable. Where the hell did you wheel them in from?

Chief cameraman Dan de Castro with Mark locked away in the very cupboard where the chemicals responsible for the zombie outbreak, were stored.

Mark: <laughing hysterically> There’s a brilliant one that I love from the car park sequence where a massive group of zombies are running up the runway and there’s this one girl who’s jumping around like she’s getting electric shocks from her shoes <laughs>. It completely goes against what our zombies are supposed to do but I left it in because it was hilarious. In all seriousness that was a problem where we had background artists who weren’t Freerunners and weren’t necessarily athletic. My excuse is that in a zombie apocalypse you’re going to get all manner of people infected. It won’t just be athletic looking Freerunners.

You’ll have all sizes, ages and genders.

So I make no excuses for having some 20 stone guy who’s only 5ft 1 tall <laughs>.

There’s one fucked up scene that I take full blame for. In the dockland chase where we had about 30 zombies, I brought a bodybuilder friend who I thought would be perfect as an extra. He ended up running around with his arms flailing like a gorilla. Did he get cut out?

Mark: He’s in there a bit but we had to use clever editing <laughs>. Our editor Rob was going mad over that. He was like “What the fuck is this!!!” <laughs> . He was running around looking like he was holding a barrel like Donkey Kong.

Well like I said, I take full blame <laughs>.

Going back to the serious side, our first scenes were shot at Elstree studios with a perfect recreation of the garage. I have to say that for a film with a relatively small budget, that I was blown away by the attention to detail.

Mark: The garage location was really important because we spent a lot of the film in there, so it had to be right. I absolutely love it because I think it looks so authentic. At the end of the day it was four cardboard walls with a layer of plastic brick stuck on but you’d never know. In one scene Geoffrey (played by Shane Taylor) stands up and gets shoved against the wall and the wall just bent <laughs>, so we had to use CGI to correct that.

The whole movie was great fun to be involved in but it was a shame we missed out on catching a couple of key pick ups at the end. One in particular was a siege at Abraxon which would have seen wave after wave of zombies jumping down from the ruined building. Do you regret not capturing them?

Mark: Oh yeah, there are certain points where I’d really loved to have spent more time on but we simply didn’t have the time available to do it. Regardless, as a director you are never

Mark with two of the stars, Craig Fairbrass and Danny Dyer. This was between takes for the garage exterior scene where some major zombie kills were scored.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mr Fairbrass, when I tap the dashboard of this moving vehicle, I would like you to execute an emergency stopâ&#x20AC;?

Just another day at the office....

going to be 100% happy anyway. I’d still be shooting now if I could.

You were heavily involved in the editing process too, right?

Mark: Yes, eight weeks sat in a box with Rob the editor, who by the end of it looked like a zombie himself <laughs>.

When we were happy with it, we spent about another month doing all the colour grading and all the audio mixing. It’s the end process that takes the longest really.

We only finished it completely a couple of weeks ago.

Were you pissed off to see the early trailer being leaked onto the net?

Mark: Yeah, what’s really annoying about that is that it was made for internal purposes only as a sales promo. It was put together before we’d even finished shooting half the stuff and was edited by an outside source, who didn’t do a very good job. The frustrating thing is that it got leaked and then people just assume that’s the film and you’ve used all your best bits.

How did it get leaked?

Mark: I don’t know. One person sends it to their friend who sends it to their friend and then it spreads like wildfire. So what I did after we finished the film, was to cut my own trailer. My line of thinking was

that if there is going to be a trailer out there, it might as well be a good one that I’m happy with.

Don’t tell me, it ‘accidentally’ got leaked too?

Mark: The clever thing is that it got leaked after the sales agents put it on their website and people found it. It then spread and people were saying it was

“The official premiere is at GoreZone in October” much better and that they were quite excited about it again. Then we went back and took the trailer down from all the websites again so now you can’t find it anywhere.

When’s the official release of the film?

Mark: The official premiere is at

GoreZone in October.

GoreZone?

Mark: It’s a big horror festival in London that gets a decent turnout and they’ve premiered some big movies in the past.

This will be the first time it will be shown anywhere?

Mark: It was shown in Cannes but that was a market screening for sales agents and was a private showing.

How was it received in Cannes?

Mark: It went well. A lot of countries have picked it up.

Shown in the UK too?

Mark: That deal was done before we shot anything. E1 liked the concept of zombie film + Freerunners + Danny Dyer. That’s all they needed in order to pick it up. They didn’t even need to see the script.

There’s a Freeruner film coming out that features Danny Dyer.

Mark: Really, what’s it called?

It’s called ‘Freerunner’ <laughs>. They approached us about doing some product placement and having the main actors kitted out with UF gear. I wasn’t really interested. The name of the film alone, makes we want to reach for the shotgun.

Mark: With Danny, he’s found a niche that works well for him and it’s probably made him a lot of money. What’s great in our film is that he shows a different side to his character that people haven’t seen before.

The actors obviously knew that it was your first film as director. Did they give you a tough time?

Mark: When I first met Craig Fairbrass, he absolutely grilled me about my film knowledge. He was like “what films have you watched?” he then reeled off all these film names and I hadn’t seen any of them <laughs>. I told him that I’d seen James Bond, Back To The Future and a few other blockbusters but he wasn’t impressed at all. He ended up saying “I’m worried now…

I’m really worried that you’re going to be doing this film” and he just laid into me.

Then afterwards he gave me a big slap on the back and said “I’m only joking!” but I knew that he wasn’t. I can understand why he’d be worried as he didn’t know me but once the shoot started, he waited a couple of weeks before pulling me aside.

He told me that he wanted to wait until we were mates first before apologising for how he was when we first met. He said “I couldn’t have got you more wrong”, which was quite nice. Now when he sends me text messages he always includes a kiss.

Too much info! <laughs> I have to say that some of the conditions during filming were grim!

Mark: We did film at the most ridiculous time of year right in the middle of one of the coldest winters we’ve ever had.

Not such a pleasant time for the extras was it?

Mark: <laughs> Some of them were running about in tee-shirts in -5 conditions. We had the paramedics saying that we could only do one more take because the extras were going to die <laughs>. It was tough and that’s why I have so much respect for your guys.

For me, it was refreshing to be given so much creative input and for our ideas to be fully implemented.

Mark: You guys are the experts. Hopefully everyone enjoyed working on this film.

Definitely. So was it a positive experience for you too?

Mark: Yeah, it was brilliant. For my first feature it was quite intense but I love stuff like that and it’s definitely what I want to do from now.

Ok, that’s a wrap! Thanks Mark.

Mark: Cheers.

The official premiere will be at the GoreZone weekend of horror international film festival and will be held on 31st October and 1st November 2009 at the London Prince Charles Cinema.

More info can be found at: www.gorezone.co.uk The official website for Devil’s Playground can be found at: www.n-genpharmaceuticals.co.uk Mark’s website can be found at: www.markmcqueen.co.uk

Mr McQueen in full-on blag mode.

Athlete: Thanda Mutero (UK) www.teamkinetix.co.uk Photographer: Suzi Appleby

Random sign found by Thomas â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Villainousâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Manning at a Chinese zoo.

Running from the cops is much more fun when doing it as a duo.

Interview by Ez Photography by D’Ondrai Jones www.youtube.com/2unique4pk

For those of you who are up to speed with our Glyphmedia YouTube channel, you’ll already be well aware of who the Tapp Brothers are. For the rest who are reading this and are none the wiser, the Tapp Brothers are twins called Thomas and Jonathan who hail from Dallas, Texas, which is situated on a tiny island full of fat people, better known as the USA. Prior to this edition of Jump, they released a video titled ‘Texas Insanity’ which had a real air of freshness about it. It broke away from the bog standard Parkour and Freerun videos that are currently doing the rounds and injected some funk via a healthy dose of creativity, which contained elements of dance/bboy to compliment the PK/ FR action. In short, it looked great and also a shitload of fun. So we tracked them down to find out a bit more about what makes the Tapp Brothers tick....

Who are the Tapp Bros then?

TB: Identical twin brothers named, Jonathan and Thomas Tapp, who have always been intrigued by stunts, acrobatics, and any other forms of movement that push the body physically and mentally.

Age? TB: 21 Both the same age then? <laughs> TB: Erm....we’re twins.

Nevermind...where are you from where exactly?

TB: Born in Philly, Raised in a small town of Greenville, Texas. Now reside in Dallas, Texas.

How long have you guys been involved in the Parkour/Freerunning scene?

TB: We’ve been training PK/FR since 2004, but we started doing flips and handsprings when we were 7 yrs old. When we’d go out for recess, the black kids in our classes were always doing flips so we joined them. Then it moved on to doing

flips off of cars and benches in the Fifth grade. It got pretty crazy, cause I (Jonathan) definitely remember hitting my head once in front of a ton of people on a failed back flip off of a bench <laughs>. After that we kind of stopped doing flips and focused on soccer till we were about 15 1/2 yrs old when we found Parkour and have been training ever since.

Where did you find out about it and how did you actually start?

TB: We actually saw a news story about a bunch of “crazy Frenchmen” jumping off of buildings and running up walls, who we later found out to be David Belle and his friends. So we got online and found UrbanFreeflow.com. The old school UF, when Bam wore that black cowboy hat and had long hair <laughs>. So we looked up the basic movements and started jumping off our roof.

Probably not the smartest way to start, but it worked out for us.

Did you step up to the plate with a background in any other sports apart from soccer?

TB: Yeah we played a lot of soccer but also ran track and cross-country. We’ve played soccer (football) since we were 6 and joined one of the top teams in the nation, the Dallas Texans Red, when we were 14 and played a bit in college for UD. We got into track around middle school, we were mainly distance runners. We set a record for every event we ran in for the school. We were running around 5 min miles in 8th grade. In high school we ran some Cross country and went to Regional’s each year but we focussed most of our time on soccer.

5 min miles? Nice. Let’s move

on to your area.What’s the scene like there? Active or non existent?

TB: Well when we first started it was pretty much just my bro’ and I and a few guys from South Texas but now it has really exploded. Every time we go out now, we meet people who train or want to start training in PK/ FR. Most of us have seen or heard how harsh the authorities can be in the US when it comes to safety, liability and lawsuits.

Have you guys encountered many problems when doing your thing outside?

TB: In big cities, it really hasn’t been that bad except for

“Why, why dinglberry504 do you not like our vid?!” security guards in private places and at most college campuses, but we’ve had no problems at all. Small towns are where we have had the most issues though. We would literally get the police called on us every day we trained in small towns. So we switched to mostly night training when we lived in Greenville, TX. I think it’s mainly because people in small towns don’t have anything else better to do than be pricks. <laughs> That’s not going to strengthen your case if any of them read this. How about training indoors?

TB: We didn’t for the first 2-3 years of PK/FR training because

we just didn’t have access to a facility. But now we train at a gymnastics gym 2 days a week.

Some moves you just can’t risk learning outside.

Your last video got a load of hits and generated mixed reviews.

Those of us with experience saw it for what it was and really enjoyed the creative movements and overall vibe. The usual internet warriors though, were up in arms screaming that “It’s NOT Parkour or Freerunning..... yadda yadda yadda.” Are you bothered by that?

TB: Yes, it really has taken a toll on us emotionally, so many nights spent crying ourselves to sleep “Why, why dinglberry504 do you not like our vid?!” No, we We see this as a combination of many different forms of movement that all flow together to create a unique video. look at it like this, if everyone liked it, it didn’t do what we wanted to accomplish with the video. What we wanted to do was make a reel different from any other reel out there and showcase the range of talents we have. We don’t claim this video to be a Parkour or Freerunning video, though a lot of the movements do incorporate PK/FR. Well said. What is it inspires you guys to move as creatively as you do?

TB: There are several people and things that inspire us to move creatively as we do. Various dancers, Freerunners, such as Oleg Vorslav, stunt men such as Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, and just the motivation to do something new.

To any beginners out there who might be reading this, explain the feeling of pulling of a technical move for the first time after you’ve been drilling it over

Jon attemptes a wallflip but without flailing arms (for a change).

The classic combination of a handstand and a precision never fails to impress.

Both Tom and Jon are keen filmmakers in their spare time. Now where was the on button again?

and over.

TB: At first, it feels incredible.

It’s one of the best feelings ever.

Something you work so hard on and you finally achieve, it’s fantastic. Then you realise you have another move you have to learn and you work hard on that and it is an on-going process, you keep on wanting more and more. Then the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know. But that’s what makes it great. There’s always another level to achieve. You don’t beat the game after level 20. It never ends.

event. We also have a passion for film work and editing and parkour has enabled us to break into that business as pro’s.

Who would you point to as the person who inspires you most to keep on learning?

TB: Hands down, Jackie Chan.

He is extremely talented in everything he does and his creativity in his moves and fight choreography is unmatched.

Being brothers who no doubt used to fight a lot as kids, is there a rivalry now between you

Have you guys ever travelled to Europe to train with other practitioners there?

TB: No we haven’t yet, but would love to.

Do you travel much within the US? TB: We used to travel everywhere for soccer (football) but we really haven’t travelled much for PK/FR. Just around Texas and Puerto Rico once for a shoot.

Where do you want to go with all this? Do you have aspirations to compete or appear in commercials and movies?

TB: Pretty much wherever it takes us. We definitely want to keep doing commercials, hopefully land some movies, and would be up for competitions but preferably a “man vs. course” competition like Ninja Warrior but we would be down to compete in any big

Have you done much in terms of professional work in PK/FR? Yes, we started our professional career at 17 with a commercial for a Texas news station and have since worked with companies such as, Sherwin Williams, Hasbro - all the recent Nerf commercials and SuperSoaker shot, and Heelys.

It’s all we currently do for a living.

“You’re NOT Jonathan you jackass!!”

when training, or are you going to feed me a line about how you get on like best friends?

TB: Yeah we fight all the time <laughs>. If you’ve ever watched The Boondock Saints, it’s very similar to that. We’re just smart enough not to do it in public that often. As far as training goes, we are usually supportive of each other unless were doing duo moves and one of us screws up, and then it turns into a fist fight.

Awesome! <laughs> Who would win in a fight between you?

TB: Usually it is pretty even.

Though, one time I (Thomas) tried to tackle Jonathan from the legs and he lifted me into a pile driver.

Ouch! Ok onto something less abrasive for the moment..has PK/FR ever got you chicks?

TB: Do you even have to ask?!

Of course man! <laughs> It’s opened up a whole new world of game to lay down on chicks. We don’t even have to say anything sometimes; we just send them a link to our video. It really works wonders. I mean it gets you in great shape, builds confidence, and if you get on T.V. for any of it, honestly, what girl wouldn’t be attracted to that? <laughs>.

At least you’re honest about it.

Talking of girls, have you two ever pretended to be each other in order to test run the same girl?

TB: Oh man, why did I somehow know this was going to be on here? <laughs> Ok I’ll admit that I tried it once on Jonathan’s girlfriend in high school. She was smokin’, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I walked up to her in between classes, had my swag turned on.

I was like what’s up baby and went in for the kiss but just as I was about to go to town she put her hand up in my face and was like, “ You’re NOT Jonathan you jackass!!” Before she could even finish I ran off and disappeared into the crowd <laughs>.

Classy. So what do the Tapp Bros think of the Tapp Bros?

TB: We think they are no good, low down, selfish, overrated pricks that deserve a good ass kicking from the likes of Brock Lesnar, Kimbo Slice, Tony Jaa, and the creature from Jeepers Creepers.

Honesty wins every time. How about friends and family, are they supportive of what you do?

TB: Most are now since we made it into a career, with the exception of a few who think it’s

Fights aside, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proof that they support each other fully.

too dangerous. But before we actually started making money off of it a lot of our family and some friends, particularly, old girlfriends thought that it was a waste of time, too much risk.

They would say “You are only going to be able to do this for a short time so why bother?” or “You need to go to college!” We didn’t listen to them. We knew what was right for us.

You seem to know exactly what you want, so that’s a good start.

Ok what’s your favourite music?

TB: Depends on what we’re doing. For chillin’ with friends - Old school rock like Zepplin, Floyd, Nugent, ZZ Top. Some 90’s rock - Raddish, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and even some John David Kent and the Dumb Angels when we are feeling country. If we want to get pumped up for training Techno, rap (not mainstream) like Aesop Rock, DJ M@R, Fatboy Slim. For creative ideas or writing - Classical or Jazz, mainly Mozart.

Favourite TV shows?

TB: We don’t watch T.V. anymore. Actually we don’t even have a T.V. hooked up in our place. We find it a waste of time and anything we want to watch we can just pull it up on the internet. One show we do still occasionally watch online though is South Park.

Most recently watched movie?

TB: Synecdoche, New York.

Any good?

TB: Most depressing movie we have ever watched...so it was great! It was a work of art.

Fave sports brand right now?

TB: Not really picky about brands but if we were to choose it would probably be Nike.

What trainers do you rock for training and why?

TB: We look for the cheapest, lightest, and most comfortable running shoe at the nearest outlet. Saucony have been the winning brand recently. We go through shoes every 2-4 months so there is no point for us to pay up too much for trainers.

Ever suffered any injuries? If yes, what?

TB: Jonathan- Just the basics.

Cuts, bruises, and sprains.

Thomas- I dislocated my ankle from a basketball stunt and suffered a nasty blow to the head from a failed running gainer off a stair set (as seen in our latest show reel, Texas Insanity). I was

“We didn’t listen to them.

We knew what was right for us.” lucky not to have been seriously injured from that fall. All I got was a bloodied up face with a lump the size of a grapefruit on my head. I’m just coming back from my ankle dislocation.

Yeah that bail in your video made me wonder if you’d seriously screwed up? So do you guys take this seriously in the sense that you train as ‘athletes’ or is it a more of a lifestyle thing for you?

TB: We definitely take it seriously as in the sense of athletes. We were very serious with soccer and track and follow the same philosophy of training with Parkour and Freerunning.

If you want to be a professional

and take it to a higher level, we think you must do this.

Do you eat any particular foods or is it pretty much anything goes?

TB: We are very conscious of our diet. Occasionally we will go to a fast food joint or eat unhealthy when we are pushed for time or with friends. We believe diet and the types of things you put in your body are very important. If you are feeding your body toxins and foods that are depleted of nutrients, your body will not function properly. Our system is not a strict diet per se but here’s a set of guidelines we follow: 1- Eat 4-5 meals a day.

2-Eliminate refined sugar.

3-Eliminate enriched flour 4-Eliminate partially hydrogenated oils and trans fats.

5-Eliminate dairy products.

6-Eat raw, organic fruits and vegetables.

7-Eat high quality meats.

All the joking and banter aside, I think that’s admirable. Far too many people in the scene call themselves ‘athletes’ but live on junk food either through ignorance or just bad education.

Ok....If you could hit 5 places in the world on an all expenses paid trip to train in PK/FR, where would you go and why?

TB: The first one has to be Lisses, France. You can’t be a practitioner and not go where it all started. Second, would be London because there are so many epic spots over there from what we’ve seen in all the amazing videos. Third, Latvia at the playground Oleg Vorslav destroys in his ‘Out of Time’ reel. We would go there just to try all the stuff we saw in that video. Fourth, we would go to Rome, only if we were allowed to jump around on the Coliseum and other landmarks over there.

Tom would be the first to say that Jon’s face was made for radio. He’d of course, disagree and we’d see another one of their legendary fist fights kicking off.

Upper body strength coupled with an ice cool exterior equals girls aplenty (apparently). Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only one way to find out.

In life we all hit brick walls at some point. The Tapp Brothers have founds a quick way to overcome all obstacles....

Fifth, we’d finish off with Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, for the beautiful women. There have got to be some descent parkour spots around there somewhere too <laughs>.

Nice! Do you guys feel satisfied with where the scene’s at right now in the US? TB: Yes, we think the scene is great as of now. It is big enough where people know what it is yet, small enough where you still have a strong bond and community of practitioners.

Though this may not last long due to how fast PK/FR is growing.

The growth isn’t something that can be stopped really. You just have to accept that it’s happening and go with the flow sometimes. With growth in mind, what do you think can be done to maintain the positivity in the US? TB: Keep promoting that freerunners and traceurs respect the environment in which they train, respect authority when it is justified, and that we spend a lot of time training before we do certain dangerous moves. If we keep promoting these things, I think we will be fine.

What’s your view of the global scene?

TB: We can’t really comment too much on that because we haven’t been to enough places around the world. But from what we have seen online, everyone is vastly improving and there are so many different styles. It’s really amazing to see how Parkour and Freerunning has taken off and grown in such a short amount of time.

What are your views on commercialism within the scene?

TB: I think it’s awesome. I know some people are probably reading this saying, “NO!! You capitalist pig, commercialism is bad for PK/FR!! We say, what better way to live your life than to spend it doing what you love, and getting paid for it.

Commercialism within the scene allows guys like us to do that.

Tell us a little bit about your video camera guy? Is he also a practitioner?

TB: Ah yes, Chris Vanatta. He’s been a great friend of ours since high school. He used to freerun with us back in the day, and no we are not all gay lovers <laughs>, as questioned in the intro of Texas Insanity. But

“Try to create your own way, your own style.”

yeah, we needed a camera man for certain scenes in the video, so we called him up. He took the shots we needed and we threw him up in the intro.

What words of wisdom would you pass down to beginner who’s reading this now?

TB: Don’t spend all of your time focussing on other people and their moves. Learn from others, take away things that intrigue you, but ultimately, try to create your own way, your own style.

Before we wrap, please share that story you told me before about you guys fighting at the football game...

TB: Ok, it happened in 5th grade

My brother and I used to go to all the town’s high school American football games. If you’ve been to Texas then you know that American football is everyone’s life over here and everyone in town goes to watch their high school football teams play. My brother and I had just learned how to do basic flips so we started to have a flip session in a grass area right by the home side bleachers. It was around half time, so a ton of people crowded around to watch us and even some people up in the bleachers started cheering us on. We started getting super pumped cause a lot of hot girls from our grade were watching too. So we decided to pull out all the stops and go for a move we had just learned. It was a duo back flip where one person assists the other by tossing him into a back flip. Thomas grabbed a hold of my foot and I got in position, he then proceeded to launch me in the air, for what felt like 15 feet, and I totally squirreled out at the peak of my jump with arms flailing and completely landed on the top of my neck, shortly followed by a loud roar of laughter from everyone in my town. With my pride down and the wind knocked out of me, my only solution was to kick my brother’s ass. So the next five minutes I spent wrestling and awkwardly punching my brother while everyone kept laughing hysterically. We were later escorted from the game.

Man, that’s hilarious! <laughs>.

Guys, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. I wish you all the best with wherever your path takes you.

TB: Thanks Ez.

www.tappbrothers.com

Athlete: Mahdi Baqer (Kuwait) www.pkjaguars.net Photographer: Mohammed Ghuloom www.lens-bh.com

Athlete: Matthieu Le Gall (France) Photographer: Franรงois Constant www.flickr.com/fore1

RANDOM WALK

by Alexandra Claire Artwork by duca-HZG - www.flickr.com/photos/derherzog This extract is from Alexandra’s first novel, a sci-fi fable set in a derelict South Wales city in 2035....

Remi’s crime was high-risk theft. E-Tel ran perpetual scans of the population, checking for unauthorised access to their Xperiences. They caught most thieves.

But most thieves led regular lives, followed a common behavioural pattern. They were a sociological type. Most thieves were normal. But they couldn’t categorise Remi. He no longer had an ID chip. He’d never worn a Receiver. He was virtually dead.

Paper; once so precious, once the curator of thought and the keeper of history was now drifting, dead and discarded. Remi stored away what paper he found. He carefully scrawled with plastic ballpoint pens retrieved from the regurgitating landfills. He mapped out his territory so that he never repeated a route. They had never known where he was going to be next. He burned his paper trails. They began to wonder if there was an error in their software. All humans followed a group, all humans repeated routes; this had been proven. They watched him and the others without chips run wild; able to trace them only

as human fields of heat that appeared from the crowd and then vanished back into it, dots that would not conform. Remi had been born to run. He had writhed and wriggled inside and then out of his mother’s womb. He walked at nine months and was running before he was a year old. Like a cat, he had seen no need for the floor, choosing to climb over chairs, beds and tables and run along the backs of sofas as his primary route through his small, toddler’s territory.

He learned early to use his arms as much as his legs to travel between destinations. When they were walking in public, Rita would hold his small hand tight just to keep him upright and on two legs. But he would suddenly lift his feet from the ground and swing from her hand, nearly toppling her. She would try to steer him clear of walls, because if they passed too closely, Remi would run up and down in a five-step semi-circle, using his mother’s frustrated strength as a counter-balance. He would fold his legs over railings and hang upside down until his head throbbed, then, as soon as they’d reach, he’d stretch his hands down, slowly pouring his weight down into the ground before contracting his stomach, curving his chest and bringing his feet softly to the floor. Then he’d slowly

unwind his spine to an upright position to allow the blood to drain back into his legs and wait those slow, blind, blissful seconds for his vision to return.

At seven-years-old, his father’s death, his failure to land that jump and escape the Guard, had given Remi further reason to master himself and his environment. He would not suffer the fate of his father. The Guard would never catch him. He would destroy them first. Anger propelled him forward to master more and more daring manoeuvres. He was fifteen before he felt flight in any significant way; flight that jolted him to fear for his safe return to the ground. By that time, there were others, those who like him felt the need to be free, to riot against the conformity of pathways and pavements, stairways and roads. Remi never took the stairs from his apartment to street-level but hurled himself down through the centre of the stairwell, passing his weight from hands to feet to railing to hands, then jumping the last floor, his centre of gravity always beneath him, the source of his safety. He led and others followed. At first, young Junkie boys, stunted and pale, would watch him from windows. When their credit had run out and their Xperience had ceased, and all sleep had been slept, there was nothing left to do but confront the outside world. If they looked from their windows for long enough, they would catch glimpses of him, defying gravity, and they’d be pulled out of their doorways and down onto the street.

They’d follow him. And silent smiles would flood their faces. They’d go away to hidden urban grounds to quietly ape his moves in solitude; to pour their weight and to learn to land. They learned that concrete will not negotiate with bone; the body must intercept, capture the energy of the impact and transform it. For energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. The pack moved about the city and in and out of the Grid.

Young men running, diving, twisting. Muscle fibres twitching. Brainwaves pulsing. Eating air. Engulfing space. Weaving and binding life.

As a Jump Magazine exclusive, duca-HZG has offered up his services where for one lucky person, he’ll turn an original Parkour/Freerun action photo into a stencil using his distinctive signature style. Anyone who’s interested, should submit a hi-res photo to him and from there he’ll choose the one that inspires him most.

Please send images to him at: herzog.parkour@gmail.com

Athlete: Craig “Flan” Flanagan (UK) www.youtube.com/flanman13 Photographer: Alice Calcagno

UNDERPRESSURE Review by Brad Wendes - www.teamkinetix.co.uk Photography -Ez This month we’re testing out the Vibram FiveFingers shoes (KSO model). At first glance they might look a bit odd and they are, but stick with us because these babies actually do serve a genuine purpose. Stepping up to beast these shoes is Brad Wendes, who’s a veteran from the UK community. Based in Cheltenham, he’s the director of Team Kinetix which is a teaching and performance agency. Brad is also heading up a collaboration between Sport England and Parkour coaches from around Britain to form a legitimate National Governing Body and forward Parkour coaching in the UK. Over to Brad......

I first heard about FiveFingers shoes years ago, but never had a good reason to fork out the money to test them. Feedback has always been fairly mixed from people I’ve talked to about them, so when I was contacted by Primal Lifestyle about testing a pair, I jumped at the chance (pun intended).

I’ve now been wearing them constantly over the last couple of weeks for walking, running, Parkour, acrobatics, gymnastics and also for leisure wear (driving and shopping etc). What follows is my honest opinion where I’ve taken all of the above factors into account and then put them through a dedicated test for this article....

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The sole is made from Vibram rubber and is therefore awesomeâ&#x20AC;?

“I’d happily drop from higher in these than in Feiyue shoes”

“They’re so light you don’t know they’re there”

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS....

Comfort

Surprisingly they are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever walked around in. They’re a bit tricky to put on for the first time as you’ve got to line up your toes with the correct holes, and they’re very flimsy. The FiveFingers have almost nothing in way of impact protection, as the sole is simply a thin layer of Vibram Rubber shaped like the sole of your foot. The easiest way of describing wearing FiveFingers is that it’s like being barefoot, but everywhere you walk feels like walking on carpet. You can feel every lump and bump in the floor, but nothing jabs you or scratches you. Problems start to occur though, when jumping to rails and landing on the edges of walls or kerbs. Rails are ok if you land perfectly, but there is literally no room for error. If you land on the middle of your foot, it’s gonna hurt. That said, I can wear them all day and not ever have to worry about rubbing or sore feet. You are also very aware of the surface you’re training on, Primal Lifestyle say that you’re less likely to turn an ankle in these shoes than in a flat sole trainer, and after wearing them I really believe it.

All things considered I give them a solid

4 out of 5 Style

This is hard to gauge. In simple terms, no they aren’t ‘stylish’. They look odd. I’ve had a lot of people ask me about them, and some of my friends have said that the FiveFingers “freak them out” or they look like “Gorilla feet”. Personally I think they look quirky, and I’ve come to really like them. They’re unusual and I like that, but not everyone will. For style they definitely aren’t for everyone so I give them

2 out of 5 Weight

They weigh almost nothing. They’re so light you don’t know they’re there. Lighter than Feiyue, lighter than Nike Free, lighter than Plimsolls. The only lighter footwear I know of are socks. So for weight they get a solid

5 out of 5

Shock Absorbency

I was pleasantly surprised in this department. I expected drops to at least sting, but in the interest of testing them properly, I had to try it out. I was told by the guys at Primal Lifestyle that tests have shown people land lighter in FiveFingers than in cushioned sole shoes, and that it’s to do with proprioception and your body accurately gauging the impact and density of the surface. However it works, it does work. Landings feel pretty good when landing on any flat surface; I was very surprised at how painless drops from height were. I’d happily drop from higher in these than in Feiyue shoes, but still wouldn’t want to drop from a huge height that might still be comfortable in a running trainer like the Xcellerates. Landing on uneven surfaces or sharp stones is a different matter. You can feel every feature in the floor, so dropping to anything sharp is a bad idea – this includes corners and large stones. The FiveFingers are great for cat leaps, but a kong-to-cat is out of the question in most cases due to the force your feet hit the wall with. Better than expected, but still only

2.5 out of 5 Grip

The sole is made from Vibram rubber and is therefore awesome. The grip and strength of this sole compound is absolutely superb, I’d like to see more traditional running shoes using it. The large surface area and grippy rubber makes it feel like these shoes were made for tic tacs. The ability to use your toes while balancing or climbing is also fantastic. Climbing in these shoes is incredible; I now prefer them to climbing shoes. You can actually grip edges and features with your toes! It really adds another dimension to climbing. You can stick to

most surfaces with ease, but the sole is still very tough. Even though it’s a thin sole I can’t see it wearing out for a long time. Grip has to be a high scoring

4.5 out of 5 Value

They aren’t cheap and I don’t think I’d have ever bought a pair before having tested them. They retail at between £85 and £120 depending on the model. The KSO’s tested here retail at £98.99 through Primal Lifestyle.

While they aren’t the cheapest footwear out there, they are very tough and will last you quite some time. I would now buy a pair after having tested them and having grown to like them. Pricey but tough.

3.5 out of 5 Overall

Very lightweight, very grippy, very comfortable, amazing feedback, thin sole, not great on sharp surfaces, pricey.

It’s fair to say that the things they’re good for, they’re very good for, but the things they’re bad for, they’re very bad for! I’m going to keep using them for various areas of Parkour training and climbing. They’re not an all-round shoe and they’re not for everyone, but I really like them. They have their place, but as is clear from this article, they aren’t for everyone.

3.5 out of 5 Conclusion

While the FiveFingers aren’t the perfect Parkour shoe that we’ve all been waiting for, it wouldn’t be fair to write a review without mentioning that they are absolutely amazing for tricking and gymnastics. They’re so light you can’t feel them, you’ll never get glass or splinters in your feet when training on grass, they’re grippier than bare feet and you can still feel every feature of the floor you’re training on. I won’t wear anything else on trampoline, trampet or for gymnastics at the park. If tricking’s your thing, then you should definitely invest in a pair.

To find out more about the FiveFingers shoes checkout - www.primallifestyle.com Brad’s Kinetix website can be found at - www.teamkinetix.co.uk Brad’s YouTube channel can be found at - www.youtube.com/bradwendes

The Law Of Repet

By Will Wayla Free runners in general put in a lot of or even 200 times in any given sessio becomes more efficient, your moveme imbalances; this is the law of repetitiv Working at a specific task for extende involved in throwing sports. These iss up with inflammation, RSI, or in wors Freerunner’s is jumper’s knee caused

The Law states: I=NF/AR I = Insult or injury to the tissues N = Number of reps F = Force, as measured as a percentag A = Amplitude of each rep R = Rest between reps

In this equation, injury (I) equals the n times the rest interval (AR). Simply p or amplitude) the more prone to injury and sprinting. But not much thought i our sport so we need to look at other s

Sessions should generally always cov • Warm-up • Go over previously learnt skill • Practice new skills • Cool down • Evaluate

The problem is when any one of these exhausted after you’ve done a hour lo Freerunners the emphasis gets put on training to get better. Doing 200 or 30 equation gets ramped up and serious s technique, you should be able to perfo fatigued and rest is needed. Another th rest. You need to remember that a trai fighting the “I” in our equation. If you potential as well increasing your perfo to get the job done in fewer reps beca due to the increased force production.

Lastly another important thing to thin opposing muscle groups. For example need to train their glutes and abs acco accordingly.

So if something is starting to twinge o taking enough rest between work peri I need to improve my flexibility?

titive Motion And Freerunning

and - www.williamwayland.blogspot.com practice reps and I mean a lot of reps, its not unheard of for practitioners to practice jumps, muscle ups and kongs 100 on. There are a few things that are going to happen; you’re going to get better at those movements, your coordination ent more economical and your muscles get stronger. However, you are also going to start building up muscular ve motion. ed periods of time can cause a lot of complications. Just ask runners, cyclists, musicians, office workers and those sues can all cause imbalances that must be addressed because at some point or something will give and you could end st case scenario, some kind of catastrophic injury. By far the most common type of injury I hear about is from by yup, you guessed it, too much jumping!

ge of one rep max

number of repetitions multiplied by the frequency of those repetitions (NF) divided by the amplitude of each repetition put; the more times (N or reps) you interact with something (F or force) with little rest (R or recovery) at a fast rate (A y you are. Parkour/Freerunning is an extremely dynamic and explosive activity much like a combination of gymnastics is put into planned training sessions by a LOT of practitioners. There is so little scientific information available about sports to see how they structure their training.

ver:

ls

e gets over emphasised a training planning imbalance occurs. There’s no point in a two hour training session if you’re ong warm-up that turns into a full blown fitness session. I have seen it being done before many times. But with overzealous numbers of reps for skill practice. Don’t get me wrong reps and skill practice is important as it’s part of 00 hundred precision jumps or drops though, is not hardcore it is just bad planning. By doing this the N and R in our soreness and or injury will result. An important rule of thumb is to get someone to watch for movement speed and orm a few reps of an explosive exercise at the same speed, as slowness starts to occur it means the nervous system is hing to look for is technical breakdown, so as soon as technique becomes obviously sloppy it might be time to take a ining effect is built over time and variation in your practice is important. Apart from good planning, strength is key to u make yourself stronger, i.e, if you increase his muscles ability to apply force you will drastically decrease your injury ormance. If you make someone stronger, they are able to produce more force and thus sustain more force. They are able ause they are able to exert more force. And they need less recovery time between bouts because they are not as fatigued . nk about is where the stress in your training occurs, ask the question “what muscles am I using most?” and train the e Freerunners like sprinters and gymnasts are at risk from excessive lordosis (when the pelvis tilts forwards) so they ordingly. Someone who bench presses too much might have tight shoulders and would need to train their upper back

or hurt, take a look at the equation and see what might be out of whack? Are you doing too much in one session? Not iods? Not taking enough rests between training sessions? Could I increase the strength of antagonist muscle groups? Do

Athlete: Mike Corr (China) www.youtube.com/fishtricks Photographer: Thomas ‘Villainous’ Manning

The Beginning

Londr

This video features Latvian Freerunner and UF All Star, Pavel â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Pashaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Petkuns from Latvia, who demonstrates a heightened sense of creativity. With little more than a rickety scaffolding frame to play with, he shows that with an open mind and a healthy dose of skill, flow can be flexed anywhere you want.

This edi FreePar them in (London they ses hotspot Kie Will

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0gizZtVSEY

www.you

ridgethon

Shine

it comes from the Team rkour guys of Switzerland and shows n action during their visit to the UK n, Brighton and Cambridge) where ssioned a host of well known ts. Also includes UF All Star athlete, lis.

In a similar fashion to Pashaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s video, this one from Minh of Germany shows that sometimes a simple obstacle is all thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needed to create flowing movement. People who complain about not having anywhere to train at in their own areas, really need to watch this and then put on some Parkour goggles to help widen their vision.

utube.com/watch?v=Oa0sVAlFo3Q

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT8cYFmtkuo

Words - Ez Photographs courtesy of - Jon Lucas www.jonathanlucas.com and Stephen Follows - www.freerunningtv.com Most of you reading this will already know Sebastien Foucan as the co-founder of Parkour and the founder of Freerunning. Others who aren’t as well informed might have seen him in the Jump London and Jump Britain documentaries or maybe saw him in the low budget (straight to DVD) movie called Casino Royale. The last time I saw him in person was shortly after I’d appeared in Jump Britain with him. From then on we went off and got stuck into individual projects and found our own ‘way’ without our paths ever crossing again until now.

So here we are 5 years later outside a cafe in Waterloo, London, and much has changed in that time. What was once considered unchartered territory back then has now moved into an era where Parkour has become a multi million pound industry. On the face of it Seb looks pretty much the same as ever but once he opens his mouth, it’s obvious that he’s been doing his homework and improved his spoken English tenfold.

Upon meeting up, we exchanged pleasantries and as civil as everything was, there was still a sense of caution where we were like a couple of dogs down an alleyway, uneasily sniffing each others asses. It’s quite funny how success in your chosen field changes you and your perception of others around you and we naturally build up these protective walls around us.

Regardless, once we started talking it was evident that we were both still the same people who 5 years previously, were sneaking about on top of the Hayward gallery along with Bam and Asid. Save for a few creaky joints and a dodgy knee, it was the same old story and it soon turned into a good old fashioned catch up where we covered so much ground. What follows from here is an unscripted chat where I simply put down a tape recorder and we talked about what he’s been up to and a bit about old times. The one thing I really wanted to know about was

what he’d been up to since Jump Britain finished and then leading into the whole Casino Royale and Madonna rollercoaster ride.

Seb, our paths haven’t crossed since we shot Jump Britain together many moons ago here in the UK. What’s been happening since then? I’m particularly interested in hearing your story about Casino Royale and what happened after that, so please enlighten us….

Seb: Wow, it’s been a long time.

After Jump Britain which I think was 2005, I kept practising just doing my stuff and not really thinking too much about what was going to be next. I created and uploaded my website (foucan.com) because I realised that if I wanted to be well presented, I needed a platform where I can say to everybody ok this is me. Then I was contacted and asked to come to Pinewood studios to meet with the production company for James Bond. It’s strange because before that I was approached by many other people in the movie industry. For instance I was approached for Spiderman 3 but it didn’t happen. That’s life <laughs>. Anyway, the James Bond opportunity came and I went to the studio where I met the stunt coordinator, Gary Powell. I met Barbara Brocolli who was the producer. We had a very simple discussion where they asked me about my discipline and what it was all about. Then I spent time with Gary Powell outside practising to test some stuff and then they explained to me straight away that they wanted me to be involved in the next James Bond movie as a villain and asked if I was interested. I said yes <laughs> and then I went on this adventure.

This was filmed in the Bahamas wasn’t it?

Seb: We did one month of filming in the Czech Republic and then two months in the Bahamas.

I’m sure I already know the answer here, but which was best of the two?

Seb: <laughs> The Bahamas. I have to say that.

There are quite a few people going around taking responsibility for choreographing the chase sequence. Can you clear it up once and for all and explain how much of a role you played there?

Seb: I had a huge part but the stuff like the crane to crane

“I needed a platform where I can say to everybody ok this is me”

jump was done by proper stunt people. But all the Parkour/ Freerunning sequences were my ideas. I was with other practitioners but I was the guy who finalised it and decided what I wanted to do. None of it was magic. They knew that I had to get from point A to point B but they didn’t know how, so I said ok I’m going to go that way, that way and this way.

Must have been fun to be a part of?

Seb: Oh yeah, it was the first time I realised how good it is to be involved in a movie. All of my friends like the Yamakasi and David Belle always wanted to

be in movies but I was always in my own bubble, it’s just the way I am. But now I realise how fantastic it is. Especially with a James Bond movie because of how huge it is with the big budget…..you have helicopters, big cranes, firing guns etc.

How long did it take to film that particular sequence?

Seb: I don’t really remember. I think it was something like three and a half weeks to actually film it but to prepare it, three months.

Wow, was it strenuous for you?

Seb: Yes it was very demanding! To give you an idea, when I finished James Bond I said to myself that I’ve never done anything like this before in my life and I’m glad that me and my friend (David) practised really hard when we started this (Parkour) to really get ready because it really helped me in that particular moment. On set they’d say again, again, again and there’s a pride thing going on because you are representing yourself and you don’t want to show any sign of weakness. That’s all part of the game but yeah, it was very very demanding.

No doubt, but I’m guessing it was very rewarding for you to see the final edit on the big screen?

Seb: Before the premiere I had already seen some of my scenes.

Alexander White from the 2nd Unit showed me some of my stuff so I knew how it looked.

At the premiere where you got to see it all come together, how special was that?

Seb: Woah, words cannot describe. Look, we’re all kids inside. You know yourself because we were both in the

A man who can be applauded for always following his own way. In this case, he finds his way to Iceland.

During the audition for Lord of the Rings. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My precioussssssssâ&#x20AC;?

Shooting in Iceland for FreerunningTV.

Freerunning game and when you see your face on a playable character you say “wow” to yourself. It was the same but now I see my face on a big screen. “Wow” you’re next to big stars and it’s something very special.

then Madonna, I was fucked up.

That’s the truth. I absolutely enjoyed every moment and if I had to do it again I would do it, but after that was finished I didn’t want to hear a single thing about jumping, Parkour or Freerunning.

Did you relish the moment and soak it all up?

Seb: Oh yeah, every single moment, this is part of my philosophy. Even on set when I was on top of the crane, they would say “cut……you can come down now” but I would stay for little longer to really appreciate the moment because I knew that soon it would be gone. Maybe they thought I was a little crazy <laughs>.

That’s crazy. Most people will have thought it would be all glamour from that point?

Seb: No, it was like “Do not talk to me about it”. It took me two and a half years to come back where I was really enjoying and appreciating what I was doing in my place as an ambassador.

There was a certain point where I just wanted to disappear completely.

Awesome. So how did life change for Sebastien Foucan after?

Seb: Yeah for sure. It’s strange how many friends you find <laughs>. The people who didn’t like you before all of a sudden come back and are like “Woohoo!” All of a sudden everybody wants something from you. But straight after James Bond I went to work with Madonna so didn’t have time to reflect on what I’d just done. All of a sudden I’m on stage with really good dancers in a high level production and I had to prove myself all over again. It’s ok for them to contact you and say “Ah, you’re the guy who created Freerunning” or whatever. You still have to prove yourself and present it at a high level and do what you have to do.

You must have been exhausted?

Seb: After James Bond I was absolutely exhausted but had to do six months on tour with Madonna. At the end of the 9 months of James Bond and

“I absolutely enjoyed every moment and if I had to do it again I would do it” That’s really interesting to hear.

So, you’ve found your mojo again but let’s rewind back to the very beginning where it all started. Explain a little bit about the beginning of Parkour….

Seb: To be short and very clear, it started out as just a group of friends. We start with child play.

We were together in one place and we practised because we liked to play. There was no name of ‘Parkour’ or ‘Freerunning’ or whatever. There was no “ok let’s create a discipline” or “let’s create techniques”. There was nothing like that. We were like every other kid jumping around and climbing but the only difference was that we never stopped. I can’t explain why, but

we never stopped and just kept doing and doing it. Then we reached a level where sometimes things just happen but basically, it was just child play.

So you guys are playing around and then something must have clicked. At what point did it start to become something a little more than just playing?

Seb: We were practising for many years as friends but then the parents of Charles (Perrière) say to him “ok you are spending too much time doing this, you need to find a job”.

Then Charles came to us and said that his mum was really pushing him and that he had to do something with what we were doing, or he had to go and find a job. So everybody decided to create a group. It took a lot to encourage me to join but then we created the name Yamakasi.

Guylain (N’Guba-Boyeke) came up with the name.

How many of you were involved at that point?

Seb: Erm…..I don’t want to make a mistake here.

Historically speaking some of the current members like Laurent came after. Originally there were 7 or 8 of us. Then when David and I left, Laurent and Williams became more involved.

Before we get to why you and David left, explain where the first bit of media attention came from?

Seb: We did an event for the firefighters and David’s brother had a video recorder and taped us moving and then he showed it to the Channel 2 TV show in France. This tape shown on Channel 2 got the ball rolling.

From that news item we started to get lots of attention and people contacting us. Almost

like when Jump Britain took off.

That’s when all the opportunities started to come but I decided to leave and then David left.

Why did you leave?

Seb: For David’s part, I’ll leave that for him to explain but for me, I was at a point in my journey where I really started to understand what I was doing with the discipline. I was in my own bubble with my Bruce Lee ideas from Jeet Kune Do and I wanted to create something so I could understand the discipline more. So I started to create names for techniques like the tic tac, precision jump etc.

The techniques were already there, I didn’t create the techniques. I just wanted to take the fundamental techniques and really understand more to keep going on my journey. I was never the guy who jumped the furthest of who was the bravest.

I was the one who had things stopping him and I was always looking for answers. Also, I didn’t want to devalue the discipline with the commercial stuff. This is how I was at that time and wanted to just stick with the roots. With the Yamakasi, they had the opportunity to work on the Notre Dame du Paris project and I even did the casting with them because they came to Lisses to see what we were doing, so I moved with them to help my friends but I said to them “I do this to help you guys but for me, this is not my way”. I always follow my way.

I know this is hard to answer without touching on politics but what led to you and David parting ways?

Seb: You will understand this.

I was doing Parkour. Even now my heart is with Parkour but

back then there was a discussion about how ‘Parkour’ must belong to someone. For a long period of time we are just a group of friends who don’t care, we just practised together.

Now suddenly it’s a case of someone must have the rights to ‘Parkour’. For me, I was on my journey. It’s indigenous and I already knew about George Herbert. I knew everything…I knew David’s father and I said “That’s not right. Ok that’s how you see it but it’s not how I see it, so I’m going to follow my way”. At this moment I didn’t call it Freerunning, I still called it Parkour but then came a lot of blah blah blah about the name.

Like Bruce Lee says in his book,

“David and I used to walk the streets late at night talking about the future” a name is just a name so that’s when I moved on to Freerunning with Guillaume Pelletier. At this time I didn’t speak English and he said “let’s call it Freeruning” and I said “why not?” In Jump London you can see me say ‘Parkour’ but it was at this point where I start to think it’s time to move on.

Was there bad blood between yourself and David at this point?

Seb: We didn’t talk much in the end. I went to David and said “I’m done, this is not what I want” up until that point I thought I had a relationship with him where we were like brothers but I didn’t see that any more so I said “I’m done”.

Looking back, we didn’t communicate enough. We were both strong characters and so much into our stuff. It’s so important to communicate. Now I understand things much better than before.

Looking back, did either of you ever imagine Parkour would blow up as big as it has?

Seb: Funnily, David and I used to walk the streets late at night talking about the future and we always had this big dream and were always laughing about it.

But what has happened now we had thought about but honestly, never thought it would be so big.

In hindsight, do you think it was a mistake to have split?

Seb: No, no, no. Personally, what I’m living now is way above my expectations and it’s a shame that it happened because ideally we would not have split, but how I find David now is way stronger than before. It’s deeper because now we understand each other.

It’s very hard to explain and I don’t expect any kids to understand but I’m so happy now that I’m back in contact with him and that we are talking again.

What prompted you to make contact again?

Seb: Sometimes things just happen. I always knew that I had nothing against him. Sure, I had problems with people around him but not with him personally. None of us are perfect. I always knew there would be a time to make peace so I decided to build half of a bridge and see what happens.

Was it an easy conversion to instigate?

Seb: Initially we started by text.

I sent a message and he responded. It wasn’t easy, it was

Smile and say “fromage” please.

Moving like a cat and negotiating a set of railings.

Seb has always highlighted meditation as being part of his â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;wayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Here we see him in the zone.

very fragile in the beginning but he could see clearly that I haven’t changed. I’m not a bad person and I know who I am.

So are you pleased that you reached out?

Seb: Yeah, definitely and more things are going to come now for sure. I want to help him but I want to be careful not to get involved too much because I know how much the business and the money can affect a relationship. Sometimes there is a hierarchy, you know. For me, I wish him all the best in business but I don’t want to get involved because it could destroy what we have. That’s where I’m at now.

As you’re aware, the scene has grown massively worldwide.

Both yourself and David removed yourself from being at the forefront and as a result, the scene has grown without you.

Do you think this was a mistake on your part?

Seb: It was a mistake but sometimes people need to understand that it’s a logical process. David and I are different people but we had exactly the same reaction because I don’t think there are many people in our position and nobody really understands how much is required to be in that position. Sometimes to save your mind you have to step back because it’s too much with it all getting bigger and bigger.

Taking on that responsibility is not very easy and it can be a huge and heavy bag to carry, you know? Even now it’s still very painful because you sometimes don’t know what is the right action to take. It all came and smashed me in the face like a big train and I’m sure if it happened again, I would react in the same way. I know as an ambassador I’m expected to

deliver, but sometimes people are like vampires where they want to consume you <laughs>.

Ok so you’ve stepped away from it all and are on the outside looking in as things grow. How do you view the way things are shaping up?

Seb: I don’t like how it’s a bit anarchic and is a bit chaotic sometimes but I am proud because it’s grown so big and that I’m a part of it all. Whatever anyone tries to say, I am one of the founders of it all and nobody can ever delete that. Yeah, I’m very proud.

How about how it’s all evolving.

If you come to London for

“These days I’m more like the guy from Lethal Weapon who says I’m too old for this shit.” instance, you’ve got kids stepping up with just a couple of years experience who are doing next level techniques. Are you inspired by this?

Seb: It doesn’t inspire me, it amazes me! It blows my mind and just confirms what I thought about how quick it can evolve and how far we can push without having too much injury.

I wish I was in their position but these days I’m more like the guy from Lethal Weapon who says “I’m too old for this shit” <laughs>. Even though my body still feels ok, I still need to be honest with myself.

How old are you now?

Seb: Erm........I’m 22 years old

<laughs hysterically> no, I’m 36 now.

Has age meant that you’ve adopted a different style of training?

Seb: I do less height jumps.

When I did Jump London and Jump Britain I had it in my mind that I would only do 2 big jumps from height per year but now, I can still do the high jumps but I don’t. If there is no strong reason for me to do it, I don’t. Always avoid concrete <laughs>. I still train hard but it’s more about flow and moving stylishly. I still condition myself just in case but there are different levels of the evolution.

You have kids who don’t know anything about practising, who are on their journey of discovery. Then you have the period of recognition that I call the fire age where they have the eye of the tiger and are after recognition. Then you have another period of legacy which is more a time where you have to enjoy what you’ve got and that’s where I’m at now. It’s no longer about proving myself. I’m just happy that I can still do a backflip and still do all the running and jumping. Every day I meditate and stay focused but never if I see a 20 year old do something, am I foolish enough to try and do exactly the same.

Do you still train to improve yourself at all and practise new techniques?

Seb: Yes and no. If I’m curious about a new move I might go there and I still have new ideas, but the thing is that my position has changed. It’s now my career and I cannot afford to get injured in case an opportunity comes from Ridley Scott or whoever. If you’re a kid and get injured, it’s not so bad because you have time but at my

An R. Kelly moment in London. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky, I think about it every night and day.....â&#x20AC;?

age, that’s it, it’s gone.

Talking of looking after yourself and looking ahead, tell us about the Freerunning TV project….

Seb: As a founder of Freerunning, I still have a message to get across. So with Freerunning TV I know that there is one place where people can come and find their way. I can give inspiration and help.

Tell us about other things you’re up to?

Seb: I’m a perfectionist and right now I’m really thinking about the teaching side of things. Even now I don’t know exactly the format for how I would like to do it but I’m working every single day towards this. My knowledge improves day by day and one day I’ll be ready to deliver, but not right now. It’ll come. I’m also thinking more and more about the movie industry and being involved more but I’m taking my time.

You know there are actors that you don’t see all the time and this is the style I like. I prefer to be more discreet <laughs>.

In the past we’ve had discussions about your dream of opening your own academy. Is that dream still alive?

Seb: Yes and no. I wish I had an academy but I’ve seen what happen now with the community and the bigger picture. Like I said, it’s a bit anarchic and chaotic and at times there is disrespect about the founders and for that particular reason I say “if you don’t need me, I won’t be here”.

“If you need me, I’m here.” Why should I open an academy if people don’t really want me to do it. Sometime I see people who are like “I know enough now, I’m better than Sebastien”.

It’s like the glass of water

analogy, if your glass of water is full already, there is no point for me to add more water. But if your glass is empty, I can add water. You know what I mean? I cannot push like “You must listen to me”. That’s not who I am.

Don’t you think that perception would change if you actually got into the heart of the community?

When you talk about community I get the impression that you’re just talking about the internet, which is full of shit at the best of times. If you actually got into the heart and met people face to face, you’d find that even the shit talkers are absolutely fine.

What I mean is that the internet

“As a founder of Freerunning, I still have a message to get across” is a breeding ground for haters.

Seb: But even when it comes to business. Let’s say that the government want something to do with Freerunning. Instead of coming to the founders, they go to somebody else. To me, that shows that they aren’t interested in me. If Bruce Lee were still alive, I’d go straight to the source and not to someone else.

But that’s because it’s all become watered down partly because you removed yourself from the equation to a degree and haven’t been at the forefront.

Seb: No, I am here. Foucan.com has been there all along.

Historically speaking there are

many other websites out there, but how did Madonna find me, how did the James Bond people find me? I don’t have the answer, just a big question mark.

I’m talking about the community and the actual scene made up of practitioners from around the world.

Seb: Yeah, but this is a little bit tricky. Because it’s a big competition now people are going to come to a class and the next day say “Oh, he didn’t teach me anything”. I’ve already taught people stuff in the past and they pretended afterwards that I didn’t show them anything. I’ve seen it before and that’s why I won’t do it any more. My teaching is precious and won’t waste my time when I see them the next day in front of the camera saying “Oh, I know everything”. That’s weird. I try to teach respect and humility.

I’m just a very cautious person especially with business. I had problems in the past with my agent so am really careful now.

With success comes all the crap though.

Seb: Not everybody can say that they’ve been at the peak of the mountain. Being at the peak means that you have all the success but you also turn into a target. Before James Bond and Madonna I was already a target but after, wow! But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger <laughs>.

Well met. What’s next film wise?

Seb: The Tournament is about to be released soon.

Scott Mann’s movie? Mark McQueen was telling me about that. Have you had a chance to see it yet?

Seb: Yes, I really like it.

In search of the fountain of youth in Iceland.

Sebastien points to Bruce Lee as a major inspiration in his life. Here he works on perfecting his one inch punch.

What did you do in it?

Seb: I’m a bad guy and Robert Carlisle is a priest.

Unfortunately for him he’s in the middle of the city where there is a big battle taking place where the best assassin’s in the world are involved in a competition to find the best one.

Some people come because they like to hunt and some people come for the prize money. In the tournament people are able to follow each other with tracking devices and my character uses Robert Carlisle by removing the tracking device and putting it in his coffee, which he drinks. I can then kill others when they track him down. My character is the cleverest <laughs>.

up is there any parting message?

Seb: I know that through your community that many people will read this and I don’t want to say take care or anything like that because they’re all intelligent enough to know this.

I just want to talk about the pioneers out there and no matter where they go and how big they get, not to forget the founders. Whether they are getting old or injured, they are like the fathers. The art you all love and practise was made by people at the very beginning.

But does your character get killed in it?

Seb: Yeah, unfortunately <laughs>.

Sebastien’s own website can be found at: www.foucan.com

Maybe not so clever then. What else can we expect from Mr Focuan?

There is another movie that we’re trying to make happen but I don’t want to say more right now because I’m a bit superstitious. It isn’t finalised yet. Hopefully it’ll happen.

With Freerunning TV I want to try really hard to make it survive. I believe in the concept and really love it. Like we both discussed earlier, the movement is too big now and is above expectations. It’s growing bigger and bigger and it’s still not reached its full potential, as there are still continents where it hasn’t really exploded yet. For me, I just want to find my place but I think it will eventually be in teaching.

Seb, it’s been great to hook up again and I hope it’s not another 5 years that pass before we do it again, before we wind things

Thanks Sebastien.

Seb: You’re welcome.

Freeruning TV is a focal point for Sebastien and his work right now. It features lots of footage of Sebastien (naturally) but he also makes a point of venturing out to meet other practitioners, teams and people who are influencing the sport/art/discipline that we all love. Be sure to check it out at: www.freerunningtv.com

A moment to reflect on life.

Athlete: Rocko Rovira (Mexico) www.urbanrunners.net Photographer: José Luis Robledo Sánchez www.youtube.com/traceur01

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7GoycbBHLU