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FOUNDERS SuperSteve & Namalee EDITOR Emma Dilemma emma@thesupersuper.com ART DIRECTOR Dan Szor dan@thesupersuper.com CREATIVE & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR SuperSteve steve@thesupersuper.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Namalee namalee@thesupersuper.com FASHION EDITOR Thomas Sels thomas@thesupersuper.com FASHION CO-ORDINATOR Niyi Crown fashion@thesupersuper.com FASHION ASSISTANT Dominik E Riddler fashion@thesupersuper.com FASHION FUN EDITOR Philip Normal philip@thesupersuper.com ASSISTANT TO THE FASHION DIRECTOR Hannah Balogun hannah@thesupersuper.com CONTRIBUTING FASHION EDITORS Basso and Brooke MUSIC DIRECTOR Niyi niyi@thesupersuper.com MUSIC EDITOR Buster Bennett music@thesupersuper.com CONTRIBUTING MUSIC EDITORS Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson, Jared ADHDJs, Billy Idle MUSIC ASSISTANTS Naida, Kara music@thesupersuper.com DESIGNER Stephen Williams design@thesupersuper.com DESIGN ASSISTANCE Chris Pollard SENIOR ART EDITOR AT LARGE Gio Black Peter gio@thesupersuper.com BEAUTY DIRECTOR Georgina Graham georgina@thesupersuper.com BEAUTY EDITOR Laurie Hadleigh addam@thesupersuper.com ARTS EDITOR Nicky Carvell nicky@thesupersuper.com SCREEN EDITOR Shirani shirani@thesupersuper.com CLUBS EDITOR JP jp@thesupersuper.com TECH EDITOR George Cook tech@thesupersuper.com FOOD & DRINK EDITOR Jessica Harvey

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Shalom! Just thought I’d pop my head from behind Emma’s pulpit for a bit of a chat. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things seem to be all over the shop recently, what with the world economy and all that. We seem to be in a transitional period. A period that is seeing change (both good and bad) occur at a much faster pace than we seem to be comfortable with. Yet these things happen. It was inevitable that after a period of relative prosperity things would start to decline – it’s the very basis on which our culture and economy were built upon. I assure you that if everything remained at a constant then it would all get rather tedious. Periods like this force us to question everything. Why is an orange an orange or a hippo a hippo? Why can’t a robin be a llama? Everything in life needs to be questioned in order for us to move forward. If no-one went ‘STOP hold on a minute... let’s just think about this’, then nothing would ever change. Look at New York in the late 70s/early 80s – the city was bankrupt, but the years that followed were some of the most creative and inﬂuential in American history in terms of art, culture, music and fashion. What I’m trying to say is don’t get down this Christmas. Take it as an opportunity to take time out to relax and gather your thoughts, then you can come back fresh, dare I say it ‘zesty’, and somersaulting into a new year full of new challenges and ideas. Keep the faith and I’ll see u after. XXX Tra SUPERTEAM: STEPHEN

SUPERTEAM: JOBOT

INTERN Elliot CONTRIBUTORS Billa, Alexis, Rebecca Pearson, Tim&Barry, Slinky Sunbeam, Neil Bennett, Daniel Stacey, Rebecca & Mike, Jamie E-17, Rat Scabies, Mark Moore, Alice Costelloe, KYM, Little Richard, Kayti Peschke, Megumi Matsuno, Kuni, Prof Julian Roberts, Tobias Jones, Motohiko Hasui, K-Tron, Dejan, The 3rd Earl of Kent, Jobot, Amarpaul Kalirai, Ai, Chantelle Fiddy, Akio, Robin Bharaj, Jayga, One Time, Karen Potter aka Handsome Dan, Natalie ‘Esqueezy’ Esquire, Kiki Hitomi, Neon Skullz, Katy Fancyfox, Soﬁ Donuts, Dan Glass, Nicky Carvell, Pochomkin, Charlie Le Mindu, Jack De Havas, Hayley Betts, Nasplasha, Davey Tyler, Dean Varoj, Sophia Melot, The Murkage Cartel, Fiona Cartledge, Karen Savage, Lucy Goosey

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SUPER SUPER

hello !

Ez! It doesn’t seem a minute since I was writing this letter last time. A lot have things in life have happened since: Blue Peter had a ‘bring and buy sale’, and an old man fashioned a kayak out of a log. Apparently someone dropped a packet of Liquorice Allsorts on the ﬂoor of the Number 22 bus – which annoyed the driver because they melted all over the heater and ﬁlled the air with a terrifying smell. In other news, I deleted my myspace page. Alas, Victorian Grime is no more. I’ve decided to join up with some of the guys from the social club and we’re playing darts instead of going on the internet, we’ll see what happens. I hope you’re all doing well and not taking any shit!!! Wot’s this economy about then ayy? I don’t know what all the fuss is about, I got a pair of shoes for £6 the other day. They don’t have soles but you can’t tell when you’re walkin down the street. This issue is packed full of SEASONAL HOPE, a bit like a primary school nativity play. My Rt Hon friend Sir Dan Szor will explain in mo’ detail. My own personal fave contribution has been the feature on LuckyMe – an up and coming Glasgow based group of artists, musicians and magicians! I’m going to pass you over to Dan now. If you can imagine what I’m doing now – I’ve just fallen out of the sky like Jack the Pumpkin King in ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ shouting “Merry Christmas to all!!! And to all, a Good Night!!! See you in Jan y’all!!! xxxx

SUPERSUPER 2nd Floor, 182 Commercial Road London E1 2JY United Kingdom Editorial: +44 (0) 203 002 7923 Commercial: +44 (0) 203 004 9770

STEVE HAS TO PUT UP WITH A LOT HERE AT SUPERSUPER HQ. HE HATES ANSWERING THE PHONE BUT HE STILL DOES IT – AND THAT’S WHAT WE LIKE. HE’S A SOLDIER, WILLING TO STICK AROUND WHEN THINGS GO PEAR SHAPED AND ALWAYS HAS A SENSIBLE ANSWER TO THE MADNESS THAT SURROUNDSHIM. WE ALSO FOUND OUT RECENTLY THAT HE LIKES THE MORE SOULFUL SIDE OF COSMIC DISCO AND THAT SAUSAGE ROLLS GIVE HIM A BAD STOMACH.

JOBOT, THE LUMINOUS PROPHET FROM THE BUSH (SHEPHERD’S THAT IS) VIA CANADA EMBODIES EVERYTHING SUPERSUPER. LIKE MOTHER NATURE, SHE’S PROBABLY THE NICEST PERSON YOU’LL EVER, EVER MEET. WILLING TO GO THE EXTRA MILE FOR ANYBODY OR ANYTHING – SHE IS THE ULTIMATE. CHECK OUT HER ACE INTERVIEW WITH BERLINS MINIMAL TECHNO QUEEN ELLEN ALLIEN IN THE MUSIC SECTION. JOBOT RULES. FULL STOP!

General Enquiries: info@thesupersuper.com www.thesupersuper.com www.supersuper.tv facebook: supersuper myspace.com/thesupersuper youtube.com/supersupermagazine Printing by PCP www.pcpltd.net SuperSuper Magazine is published 6 times a year by SuperSuper Ltd. Registered Company No 6035756

ON THE COVER

112 MIRROR’S EDGE nu game > nu faith > new fun : ) 40 PAUL BABYCAKES fashionable & famous! 38 LADY GAGA US pop star so pop soo popular / / / 22 GIGGS UK rapper runnin tha roads – jheeze! 104 THOMAS SELS’ FASHION SWAYY the belgian master stylist returns . . .

SUPERTRENDZ

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hope! + ﬂowers! + russki hats! + baggy is back! + dangly earrings 4 boys!

SUPERFEATURES 72 K Why? and why now? LUCKYME 76 Emma Dilemma meets Glasgow’s ﬁnest multislash creative collective 82 SUPERSUPER ALEX & JAMES’ GUIDE TO IDENTITY THEFT Keep sly foxes out of your garbage! 86 THE RISE OF THE FLAWED HERO Dan Szor’s soap box special!! 88 !! NEW FEATURE !! CULT HERO !! SIGN OF THE TIMES (1989-96) Legendary shop & parties & people

FASHION hope – paul & ai’s spiritual awakening! / adi with tim & barry / pastry shoes excluse / nu beauty with laurie! ART nicky gets a nu page!!! MUSIC leith/telepathe/twee pop/burga boy! CLUBS mcr’s monday murkage excluse!! NAMAZONIA say no to drugs, yes to spongebob!

133 137 151 154

COVER: Art Direction SuperSteve. Fashion Direction Namalee. Photography Kayti Peschke. Make-up Megumi Matsuno. Hair Kuni. Retouch George McLeod. Model Nana @ D1. Nana wears vintage Basso & Brooke

dear stefan OBAMARAMA Yo Stefan! Just thought I’d write in to congratulate Barack Obama on becoming the new president of the United States – I really think it’s a good thing for the world, and it’s nice to see a black man hold such a position of power. Sophie from Oldham Yo Sophie, how’s life in Oldham? I hear your praise Sophie, I hear your praise [raises invisible arms into the air in a gospel stylee]... but, we must remember – race doesn’t come into it. Yeah it is a good thing that, through the face of adversity, we now have a black president in charge of the US, but it doesn’t matter what the colour of your skin is, as long as you know what you’re doing and have it in the good of your soul to help change the world – you could even be yellow like me. Let’s see what the man does when he ﬁnally starts to bring about change and employ policies – only time and history will tell if America made the right choice.

THE DARK WAVE COMETH Hey Stefan! What’s all this I hear about this Dark Wave coming over the UK music scene at the moment? We’re still into Day Glo Dubstep here in Sunderland – I don’t wanna ditch all my (stolen!) Builder’s work wear and opt for a more depressing shade of black and dance to DNA and Jesus and the Mary Chain. Please tell me it isn’t true! Gary from Sunderland. Way aye Gary, how the devil are you?! Don’t ditch the Day Glo just yet – it might make a resurgence here in capital! To be honest though, you shouldn’t be bothered about the morbid goings on in London. London isn’t the be all and end all, and to be honest, it’s getting a bit boring down here at the moment. I’d love to come to one of your parties – I’ve got a pair of Ugg boots which loosely resemble that of builder’s boots if the builder was to come from Antarctica – will I be accepted into the fold if I wear these? Everything seems to go and come around again so fast nowadays. Yes it’s true about the Darkwave business, there’s loads of cool new bands out there taking inspiration from post punk and no wave – we’ve got the lovely guys from S.C.U.M, the girls from an An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump and a whole host of other bands thrashing out their sound, but then there’s also the Disco revival, the resurgence of UK Hip Hop and the lesser known and totally underground Morris Trancing scene. I’m sure Day Glo Dubstep has the chance to be massive, give it a couple of more months, plant the

seeds of change into the hearts, minds and ears of a thousand Mackams! Don’t give up on something just because it ain’t cool anymore – that’s such a London thing to do!

THE SAUSAGE ECONOMY Dear Stefan, I am an avid fan of sausage rolls. For a period in my life I became addicted to the seductive savoury delights of processed pork (I say that with some apprehensiveness) wrapped elegantly in a blanket of puff pasty with the added option of eating them hot or cold. Personally I like to warm mine up in the microwave for about 30 seconds, just enough time for them to get a bit sweaty. I then leave them in the microwave for an added, almost unbearable 5 minutes, leaving them waiting... contemplating. Contemplating their future but at the same time basking in a radioactive cocoon of contempt. Then I strike. I ﬂing open the microwave door and dive in with my hands, palms sweaty with anticipation, drooling as the heavenly smell of moist meat enters my nostrils enticing and exciting my synapses as my lovelorn stomach rumbles like the great Viking god Thor himself. I bow before the ‘altar of the roll’ as this divine log-shaped canoe of desire is drawn ever closer to my salty lips. Then it’s over, the deed is done. I am alone. Anyway Stefan, I just wanted to ask you if you have any inside knowledge on why Tesco sausage rolls seem to always be ﬂuctuating in price – one minute they’re 48p for a pack of two then the next they’re 53p. What’s going on? Thanks very much. Robert from Rhyl Hey Rob! Can I call you Rob? I’m gonna call you Rob anyway! I found your letter quite disturbing yet at the same time somehow very erotic. I could feel my glossy yellow skin beginning to get goose bumps and I felt a very strange sensation in a place I don’t even have. I get the impression that you like sausage rolls, so don’t get me started on the new, state-ofthe-art Wall’s ‘Stroller’ ...oh alright then, I will! Basically the ‘Stroller’ – or Mrs S as I like to call it – comes in a microwavable sleeve: the aim of this to make sure the pastry reaches its peak potential, without destroying that sweaty feeling you talk about – not too hard, yet not too moist (go on, press it with your thumb!). Not only does it come wrapped in its slinky little sleeve, but as you prise her out of her sexy abode (be careful, don’t burn yourself), it’s only then that she reveals her true beauty. A lattice structure of sorts has been embossed onto her skin. Like tiny windows of love they allow us an insight into the beauty within. Not only does she revel in the

fact that she is 100% pure Wall’s sausage meat, she also contains a smooth blanket of cheddar cheese, beautifully crafted to mould against her silky processed skin. Be warned – once you’ve tasted this, you won’t be returning to your 48/53p sausage rolls from Tesco. I don’t care that you get two – a Wall’s Stroller is all you need. Let’s help Mr Darling and help get the economy back on track by paying just that little bit extra for our sausage rolls.

BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON Hey Stefan, how are you? I’ve recently got into Boney M – have you heard of them? They were this really cool band from the 70s who had hits with songs such as ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’, ‘Daddy Cool’ and ‘Rasputin’ – and that’s just naming a smidgen of them. Anyway, I’ve been thinking. I want to start a tribute band called ‘Knobbly N’. We’d mostly be doing covers, but I’ve been working on a few songs myself. I haven’t moved too far away from their trademark sound – but have kind of jazzed it up and made it more current. I was thinking you could maybe do a feature on me or something of the sorts? Also, if you know anyone who can play the steel drums then let me know! Ta very much. Karl in Swansea Hey Karl, of course I know who Boney M are! I toured with them on their ‘Oceans of Fantasy’ promotional tour in 1979 ...ahh I remember the time very fondly! Did you know that we were one of the only Western pop acts allowed to play in the Soviet Union, yep, it was only us and my mate Elton John who ever played there. I think it’s great to start a tribute band. Life’s been hard for me, Liz, Bobby, Maizie and Marcia for some time now. Ever since Heather Small and her so-called ‘M People’ came along, the gigs just seemed to dry up. And then there was that awful summer when Eminem broke – we took a heavy battering that year [bows head and blesses himself]. Yeah it would be nice to drum up some interest and we’d love to do a feature. Come back to me when you’ve got it all up and running and we’ll talk business. PS. As for the steel drum situation, there’s a guy called Maurice down at the Jamaica Centre. I heard he’s a dab hand on the ol’ steel drum front, and he’s willing to travel, although he is 85. Hope this helps!

A SINBAD SIGHTING Shalom Stefan! I have exciting and informative news! Last week while on a business trip to Tanzania I saw strange

sloth-like creature loitering around outside Zanzibar International Airport. This mysterious figure was decked out in a white panama hat and matching suit and was clutching what looked like a rather expensive briefcase. You see I am an avid collector of briefcases and I was immediately drawn to the beauty and sheer craftsmanship of this particular suitcase. Then it crossed my mind. I’d seen this figure before in the pages of this very magazine! It was Sinbad... Sinbad the Super Sloth! As I approached him across the airport concourse he seemed to become agitated. He was looking straight at me and me back at him. Suddenly there was a commotion. A swarm of monkeys had somehow managed to infiltrate the airport’s perimeter fence. Gunfire rang out as the monkeys descended onto the main public atrium. In the pandemonium that ensued I turned away, it must have only been for a split second, but when I looked back he was gone. The sighting has been playing on my mind. What is he up to? – and just what is he up to?! Anyway, I just thought I’d inform you. I hope this has been of help. Mary from Kent Hey Mary, thank you so much for the tip-off. Please don’t inform the authorities though. Sinbad’s in a very fragile state at the moment and trust me you do not want to know what’s in that suitcase. We’ve hired a crack team of investigators who go by the name of Sharky and George – I don’t know if you’ve heard of them? Thankyou so much for your help though, you don’t know how much we here at SUPERSUPER appreciate it – and you don’t know how many lives you’ve probably saved.

HATE MAIL Hello Stefan, I just thought I’d write in to say how much I hate your magazine. I think it’s ugly and disgusting and I’d rather study a baboon’s bottom than read your magazine ever again. I only read it out of sympathy. Alice Higginbottom from Highgate Hey Alice, you seem like a nice girl and I really like your name. Maybe you could pop round mine for a cup of tea and bourbon biscuit sometime in the near future. I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about. I really like baboons too, but I’m more interested in studying their habitats more so than their behinds. I also like hot air balloons and rolls in the park. Maybe we could hook up and go for a roll together – but not a sausage roll, I’ve had enough of them for one issue as I think I caught a STD (Sausage Transmitted Disease) from the last Stroller I ate. Do you like eating out?

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19/6/08 15:48:23 19/6/08 15:48:23

SUPER TRENDZ

STATEMENT: “Always look on the bright side of life” TREND INFO: Hope in its truest form is simply a wish. A wish for something with the expectation that it will be fulfilled. When we say something like ‘I hope they do well’ or ‘I really hope it happens’ – there does for some reason seem that there’s a feeling that they might not happen. But as a collective species and also as individuals we’re now at a point where hope can become more than wish – we can actually make it a reality. Barack Obama is probably the biggest symbol of hope that we’ve had in while. Not only is he the first black man to become President of the United States, he is also echoing in a change at highest level of US power in 8 years. Martin Luther King was hoping that this day would come and now that hope has become a reality. It took forty years. In today’s world however, hopes can be realised more quickly. The slogan ‘You can make a difference’ has been used quite a lot recently, and it is true. We can make a difference. One of the reasons why the Democratic Party in the US had so much more money to spend on their campaign was due to the donations of normal people. People who wanted change, but probably thought that it would never come about. Through technology Obama was able to reach out to everyone and make sure that they knew that their actions could change the world. It’s time to stop thinking that it doesn’t matter, that your voice is insignificant. If you can trigger a thought or a question in someone’s brain, then you’re one step closer to making sure that the hope you bestowed actually becomes a reality. It’s not big anymore to remain anonymous, horrible and moan, it’s a whole lot easier, and that’s why we need to rise up to the challenge and be the better person. The person who stood up to the bully, the person who voted in the election and the person that at least had a go at trying to make a difference. HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: Ok so there’s not really a set look to the way we think, but there are

HO ways of expressing it. Actions speak louder than words some might say, but what’s stopping them from working in tandem. Together they can mean a lot more. When was the last time you really felt good because you did something that made someone’s day? Sometimes the simplest of things can be the most effective. Nothing can beat that feeling inside – you know the feeling – that warm sensation that starts in the pit of your stomach and works its way up. Is that the satisfaction of hope in action? A simple smile and thank you are all it takes. Telling someone that you appreciate them or that they look good, and meaning it (none of this double kissing fashion business malarkey) can work wonders. Life can be tough, we all know that, but if we hope that it can be better, then it makes it a lot easier to make it better. Hope is not a full stop, it’s the start – the start of a process by which change can come about. LIFESPAN: We hope it lasts forever. The importance of this trend is that it’s a constant process. We live in a world where we’re used to everything happening almost instantly, a world where we can sometimes get angry by the fact something doesn’t. Maybe now is the time to step back and think. We should be constantly contemplating our actions and generally assessing just why things are the way they are. Thought is a vital process in fulﬁlling the idea of hope! It’s easy to say, but it’s harder to actually execute. 1968 was the year of revolution, yet just as quickly as the spirit of change blew up, it imploded just as fast. Was this down to fact that it all happened so quickly? If hope in its fullest sense is to be achieved then there’s no harm in being patient, but in the meantime we should concentrate on the smaller things that ultimately will allow the end goal to be achieved much faster. Remember – every little helps!

Words by Dan Szor

( OPE

SUPER TRENDZ

“Get The Living Look!” STATEMENT: “Sniffin flowers!” TREND INFO: We might well be a little ahead of the curve here but you mark our words – we’re going to see the return of nature/natural tingz in a big way very soon. We’ve already spotted psychedelic/pagan/spiritual imagery and iconography being used by the more avant garde/cutting edge cultural types and besides, when you’ve run out of money as we’re all supposedly about to, there’s no better time to rediscover the joys of that ultimate free gift to us all – mother nature. This ‘vibe’ is most associated with the hippies of the 1960s, who chose to move in this direction away from all the nastiness of the Vietnam war, the civil right struggle and so on. They liked flowers a lot and often wore them weaved in Jesus-like headbands or strewn across their naked bodies as they danced to the sound of some mating caterpillars in the woods. We, of course, would suggest you take an altogether more modern approach. HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: What with us lot being the post-hippie, post-punk, post-everything mash-it-all-together generation, we say why not combine these two opposite ideals in a mish mashy angry flowery vibe. Wear them in your hair with black goth panda eyes and an enormous scowl or take them straight to the dancefloor and throw them at revellers instead of bottles – that way you won’t come across as too cliché hippie (too wishy washy) or too cliché punk (too much like you want to be the millionth person to try and do a pointless Sid n Nancy rerun). Like Nancy Spungen’s fave aperitif glue, flowers are cheap, easy to get hold of and great to sniff. Unlike glue they will leave you with all your brain cells intact. LIFESPAN: As we all sort of learnt in our biology lessons at school, flowers die if you take them out clubbing, so like a high class hooker don’t expect to spend more than one fantastic night with lovely Lily of the Valley or Pat the Sunflower. Infact some flowers are sooo naturally colourful and frilly that they put the best drag queens to shame on the costume front, so pay some respect to your fabulous flora and buy her a drink of water to sit in as you step into an ultra enthusiastic body bopping waltz to Donna Summer’s disco classic “I Feel Love”.

FLOWER POWAAA

Words by Namalee Photography by Billa Make-up by Megumi Matsuno Hair by Kuni Model Rebecca at First

and

are registered trademarks of Boxfresh International Limited.

MONSTER MASH

3 “we’re kate moss on the inside!”

STATEMENT: ‘Just add a D’ TREND INFO: Basically everything 2D is becoming 3D! For example (& this will be a real shock to all you non-super-geeks out there) but 3D TV is here! Spazzy two-tone 3D spex are a thing of the past, or at least a thing of pure fashion now. The new 3D TV’s won’t require any silly glasses, other than the ones you already have. ‘WTF How?’, we hear you cry! Well it’s a combination of lots of really v complicated scientiﬁc things, so let’s skip that and get straight to the nitty-gritty. 3D TV’s are gonna be awesome! Imagine, in the future when Sleb mags have 3D TV channels of their own, you’ll be able to feel like you’re in the room right next to J Lo’s jangly bingo wings, or Britney Spear’s crack-stubble! Oh how did we live without it?! Computer games of course will become ever more realistic, making you feel part of your chosen bloodbath nightmare or virtualpuppy reality, and we’re not even going to talk about ‘Second

3DTV

Life’ and 3D porn! And as Billboards are turning into giant TVs as we speak, how long til they go 3D? Someone needs to ﬁgure out how to hack into them, super-villain style, and kick off the 3D grafﬁti-jack craze! Even fashion is having a 3D makeover – Cassette Playa has been creating some shithot 3D Fashion illustrations, using 3D graphic software that is becoming more and more accessible to the masses. It’s only a matter of time before she hooks up 3DTV nerds and launches a full-on 3D shop complete with projector suits and invisible coats, like those ones Japanese kids on YouTube claim to have made (they’re fake, but the technology has been invented). It’s not just Tvs, either – all of a sudden holograms

are popping up everywhere. Not only is Kate Moss now immortalised in possibly the most hideous gold statue ever made, but she’s now also a hologram, courtesy of Alexander McQueen and ‘Dimensional Studios’. Even Diesel have had a dabble at it, with electric blue results! All of these are in fact based on ‘Pepper’s Ghost Illusion’ and are created using mirrors, but some clever noodles in Japan are on their way to creating the ﬁrst ever true holographic projectors. So far, they can create just 16 pixels, but then it wasn’t that long ago we were all raving about 64 kilobyte computer games. HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: You’re already 3D, but how about enhancing your extra dimensional appeal? Why not experiment with some Cassette Playa style cardboard extensions, or log yourself onto Second Life and start a virtual fashion label. My personal plan would be to make like ‘Jem & The Holograms’ and be the ﬁrst to have a holographic band. LIFESPAN: 3D should at least remain cool until they turn CERN back on in 2009 and continue the search for those other dimensions.

STATEMENT: “Gabba Gabba Yo!” TREND INFO: There has quite simply never been a better time to empathise with a scary monster. Commonly known as the freaks of fairy tales, poor old monsters have never had it easy. Having a massive moon-shaped hairy green face with 4 eyes and a hump the size of a beach ball is never gonna get you on the cover of Hello! no matter how much glamourous beige furniture you purchase for your mansion in Kensington. We here at SUPERSUPER towers have always held a torch for the monsters of this world, preferring to see them as drooling misunderstood anti-heroes than anything sinister. In a funny kind of way (and we mean this in the fondest of ways) models have gone a bit monsterish at the moment. Aggy Deyn in her big hairy monster baggy sweaters, and Alice Dellal often looks like she arrived straight from the set of the The Rocky Horror Picture, the infamous musical which featured the amazing song ‘The Monster Mash’. Take cult kidult Nick Jnr hit series Yo Gabba Gabba – this incredible hit is the brainchild of Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz, who were in fringe punk bands before turning their talents to this Tellytubbies/Muppet show meets Tommorrows World style masterpiece. The show sees DJ Lance Rock hosting in Gabbaland leading five monsters — Muno, Foofa, Brobee, Toodee and Plex. This assorted gang are probably the most aspirational slebs we’ve seen in a long while. Infact not only are they musically gifted with incredible electro-punk style Sesame Street-esque ‘learning’ songs like the wonderfully hypnotic and psychedelic ‘Shapes’ and the techno-fab ‘Party In My Tummy’ – an incredible Gameboy/Gamegirl style track with pro-eating lyrics – they are also very educational. And that’s before we get started with the return of Monster Munch, the Honey Monster... HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: Becoming a monster is all about embracing your inner ugliness for the better. Beauty ideals have always been something which need to be smashed every now and again for the sake of the future anyway. How many times have you heard that infamous supermodel line “When I was at school I was so ugly and weird looking.” Amy Winehouse is a good example of a lady wholeheartedly embracing her inner monster – she’s the queen of dressing and doing her make-up to enhance what some would describe as flaws. And that beehive is the ultimate monster hairdo. Monster-wear needs to be exaggerated and fun – it can include big oversized jumpers, big fake fur jackets, silly make up, baggy trousers and unsightly footwear to give your feet the look of an Elephant Man style swollen foot disease. We’ve even noticed those unfashionable Aussie Ugg boots are making a comeback in our office – probably due to the fact that they are one of the most repulsive shoe shapes ever created (10 points), are severely despised by fashionistas worldwide (10 points) and are ridiculously warm (10 points) and comfortable (10 points), and also now come in silver (60 points) – all adding up to a big thumbs up for the monster shoe from SUPERSUPER! LIFESPAN: Wanting to look like a monster isn’t something that will last forever. Think of it as a temporary freedom-fighting gesture as you shriek ‘We are the new Ugly’ from the rooftops this Christmas. It feels liberating to run around in your PJs with a big furry rug on your back and jingly horns on, but sadly it’s not likely to win you a boyfriend anytime soon.

Monster words by Namalee Image from Yo Gabba Gabba on Nick Jnr. 3D words by Buster Bennett Image by CassettePlaya

SUPER TRENDZ

Classics. With a twist.

www.golaclassics.com

baggy

STATEMENT: “The Baggier The Better!” TREND INFO: Looking back we’ve had an almighty skinny phase in fashion o’er the past few years or so. It’s probably true to say that jeans have never ever been so breathtakingly tight. Fashionable people have been showing off their splendidly malnourished physiques with wanton abandon over Blair’s boomtime years, with some even having had their genitals removed for the ultimate androgynous airbrushed disco crotch effect made popular at clubs like Boombox. But with recession in the air it’s time at last for a bit of comfort dressing and a little bit of skeletal healing after all that chaffing on your gloriously cool hip bones. In times of trouble our trousers are getting somewhat baggier because we have all decided that we would not liketh to be both poor AND in pain. When we had money it was OK to suffer in tight trousers, holding in your pot belly for the sake of pretension and good time party posing. After all we were rich rich rich (apparently) so we had to suffer in some way. But it’s time to embrace the flab, cos no one is going to notice under this new get up anyways, and it’s the festive season so we want to eat pie. Like Madchester in 88, in the words of the great baggy poet himself, Mr Shaun Ryder “It’s gotta be a loose fit.” HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: T shirts have got to be indulgently massive. They have to be so big that rather like a snail shell you can curl up in it and hide if need be. Jumpers should be huge – down to your knees with long hangy sleeves that go right over your knuckles like a stroppy 90s Nirvana fan or an old fat woman wandering around the suburbs of Florida with a trolley and a Slushie milkshake. The new shape is more like a futuristic nightie – infact we have spotted some great actual nighties at our local market which we would certainly rock on a night out with a nice pair of mashed up DMs and leggings. KTZ, Kling by Kling, Material Boy, Komakino and www.isaacymanu.com do some amazing giant tees. As for kecks, trousers can come in the harem/ low crotch variety that’s been adopted by the catwalks this season, or head to I Dream of Wires in London’s trendy Brick Lane to get the best Hammertime trews London has to offer, complete with matching bumbags. What more could you want? LIFESPAN: Til the end of deepest darkest winter because this look is so fantastic for layering and generally feeling miserable/ ill and looking good at the same time. Why not wear 5 big baggy tees at a time? Or two pairs of trousers back to front a la Kriss Kross (Jump Jump). In fact the more layers your do the better it can look. Baggy is perfect for lurking around at zero temperature with a mug of cocoa and a pair of giant headphones listening to obscure bleepy future dubstep.

As the legendary Shaun Ryder once said – “It’s gotta be a loose ﬁt.”

Photography by BILLA Styling by NAMALEE Pink boots (left) by IRREGULAR CHOICE, all trousers and bumbag from I DREAM OF WIRES, purple bag by MARKS & SPENCER, all other clothing stylist’s own. Models (l to r): HANNAH HORN, PETER DAVID CAIRNS, AZETA, DUDLEY O’SHAUGHNESSY, DANIEL TURNER

SUPER TRENDZ

iS BACK

SUPER TRENDZ

MEET GIGGS... THE RAPPER AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE NEW DARK MOOD RUNNING THE UK’S ROADS

STATEMENT: UMMMMM!!!! – the sound of the UK streets just got darker... TREND INFO: Whilst you’re gonna still hear grime being played on the back of the bus, and bassline/funky is doing big things still in the clubs, there’s a massive shift going on with a whole new mood & sound exploding on the UK streets right now – reﬂecting the darker times we’re living in. The man at the forefront of this revolution is the recent BET award winning (Best UK Hip Hop act) man pictured here – Giggs aka Hollowman. Every area has its own slang and dress codes (purple in Brixton, colourful Maharishi and beer ice for West London) but now Giggs and his SN1 crew have turned the whole country Peckham (‘Pecknarm’) stylee, with everyone from Birmingham and Manchester dropping the slang (“jheeze!”) and rocking the all black attire. The music is very very dark Hip Hop, both in production and lyrics. Some might class it as ‘violent’ or ‘too road’ but Giggs says: ‘’Ahh, they need to wake up and smell the coffee man [Laughs] because really and truly these things are happening out here you get me and I’m just trying to explain it in a nice way.” That ‘nice way’ is slow, serious and full of intent; proper storytelling delivered with menacing understatement, no frills, no bluster just actual real, raw, direct communication. “Grime is too fast for me” says Giggs, “most of the MCs just say the same things over and over... some joke ting. One or two man spit properly – Skepta is alright.You know what it is – little youths arguing... I can’t take it seriously when I hear

people cussing people’s mums, I don’t understand it. I rap about pain and that’s why I don’t do diss tracks. I don’t call another artist’s name because that’s a whole different kettle of ﬁsh.” Often it takes one breakthrough artist to take a sound over the top, and Giggs looks like the tip of an iceberg right now – “Yeah the underground scene is ‘ard, there are a lot of rappers out there that are sick fam, from all corners, you’ve got Young Spray from North, and Mash Town from East, and there are heavy youngers in Peckham, there are lots of talented rappers out there – people just need to take note and start listening’.’ HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: For true Pecknarm style kit yourself out with some ‘Etienne Ozeki and Dior jeans’ as Giggs frequently bigs up (yes road man do couture as well), order your SN1 T shirt with the slogan ‘Ummm’ or ‘Talking Da Hardest’ on, get some all black Nike Air Force Ones and a black Nu Era and walk around all day saying ‘jheeeeeeeezzzze’ and ‘yeah that’s ‘ard’. LIFESPAN: Whilst the economists debate whether the recession curve will be U,V or L-shaped, all we know is that this thing is now, it’s new, and there’s a whole lot more coming up behind Giggs. As for the man himself, with his LP ‘Walk In Da Park’ out and ﬁrmly on the table, he’s looking for the next step: “Yeah I would like to get a deal but not some s**t UK deal with them talking about £70,000. I’m looking Millions – even a half would do me [Laughs] – but really and truly I’m sure I can make all that money myself, I just hope people buy and support the album but I know mandem don’t want to buy cds, they would rather download it or something [Laughs] but I do hope people support it.”

‘Walk In Da Park’ is out now myspace.com/trapstargiggs

Photography by Tim and Barry Words & interview by Joseph JP Patterson

GOiN ’ARD

oval08_ad_UK2.qxd

03.10.2008

10:02 Uhr

Seite 1

Smart Vodka

For over 600 years vodka has always been produced the same way. That is until a russian scientist developed a new, unique, ground breaking production process called â&#x20AC;&#x153;structuringâ&#x20AC;?. The purest alpine water and alcohol distilled from the highest quality wheat are initially processed separately to adopt a unique crystalline structure, which is specially matched to the human taste receptors. The result OVAL, the super-premium vodka from Austria. Incomparably smooth and harmonious in taste.

Essentially enjoyed straight. www.oval-vodka.com

SUPER TRENDZ

i k s Ru

BEAT

“FUR REAL!” (or maybe not!)

Words by Emma Dilemma Photography by Billa Styling by Namalee Make-up by Megumi Matsuno Hair by Kuni Model Claudia Sinclair Hat by H&M

STATEMENT: “We meet again, Mr Bond.” TREND INFO: There is nothing more ﬁtting for the chilly winter months than hat wearing. Argue that point if you wish, though it would be a waste of time, and you should probably do something more productive – like sell fruit from a wheelbarrow on a roundabout. England is a pretty depressing place to be at the moment. Why not take on some traditions of other countries and capitalise on a bit of James Bond Baddy mystique? There are a number of traditions in Russia. Did you know that it is considered insulting to refuse vodka? It is also customary to go out to celebrate your landlord’s (or lady’s) birthday; where you can’t refuse vodka. Sounds like a riot! We should all move there, now. TO RUSSIA! Please join me in raising a glass of Vimto to the sky, Comrade. Hats though; serious head-warming business. We have covered a number of hats in this very magazine, from D Double E’s ‘Bowler Beanie’ to Skepta’s South American Explorer ‘Panama.’ It is now time to acknowledge a hat trend so wildly popular throughout the globe, a winter revolution is upon us. The hat has never been so culturally relevant. The Far Right in America is worried about Obama leading the way forth to Communism. When asked why they would think this, PresidentElect Obama said ‘They found out I shared some toys with my friends in kindergarden’. Sharing is good though, is it not? Let’s all share toys and wear Russian hats! HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: You don’t need to be a dodgy looking spy to wear this hat, but you should be. Nor do you need to be a member of Socialist Students, although this would, admittedly, give your hat wearing some authenticity. You may also want to team this hat with a copy of Karl Marx’s ‘Das Kapital’ under your arm, and say things out loud on the bus like ‘Workers of the World, unite! You’ve got nothing to lose but your chains!’ Here at SUPERSUPER we don’t endorse real fur, unless you’re actually a bear, who has a perm and can shape your own fur into a hat. “But what do you wear with a fur hat?” I hear you scream in a shrill and cold voice. Preferably a fur coat, lots of gold sovereigns and a gold chain. This would make you look like a character from a book. You might then wish to live your life like a play, muttering asides to an imaginary audience. You could turn your walk to a shufﬂe. This is especially dramatic in moonlight, with a stray cat looking for food in a dustbin, and the sound of distant laughter of a party with a Landlord. LIFESPAN: The prominence of this hat will grow inversely proportionally to the shrinking of the economy and the drop in temperature. One was spotted being sold in New Look not long ago. We need to move forward together and give this hat the recognition it deserves. The home of the Russian hat wearer shall be the home of reason, Comrade!!!

NIYI

London 1 8 You’re looking at the 59FIFTY,® one of many unique designs that is handcrafted to ﬁt your life. Each cap has its own story and thanks to fans around the world, each story has a name. Register online at neweracap.com and you could see your own face in a New Era ad.

Words by Billy Idle

SUPER TRENDZ

BOY DANGLERS 26

– the ears have it!

oval08_a

STATEMENT: “HOWZ IT HANGIN’ ??” TREND INFO: Ear we go, ear we go, ear we gooooo ! ! ! Ok, so while girls have pretty much had the whole earring game on lock lately with bare different looks and styles readily available for them to latch onto their lobes, boys have more or less been limited to the standard ring, emo flesh tunnel, or (for those with enough P’s to splash) the fake diamond cluster stud straight from the mail order pages of Hip Hop Playaz magazine. All this is about to change though because, trust me fam, this winter it’s ALL about the angle of your dangle! The mandem are ditching once sacred earpiece institutions like David Beckham and Li’l Chris and turning instead to the walking fashion bible that is Eastenders’ Pat Butcher (aka Pam St Clement) for pimped out earlobe inspiration! Elton John, George Michael and The Cure’s Robert Smith were all early adopters of the dangly earring flex, pioneering the crucifix and hoop combo that’s gone on to become such a staple amongst iconic Darkwave bands of today like S.C.U.M and Ulterior. As Proto-Darkwavers The Horrors inspired their devoted fans to fix themselves up with Hairspray-happy hairstyles, polka dot garms and pointy footwear, the dangly steez of the aforementioned S.C.U.M et al have caused legions of monochrome devotees to head en masse to the jewellery section of their local Argos to see wha’gwaan with the rings with the dangly crosses attached! Still, if you’re not of a gothic kind of persuasion or are a devout atheist you needn’t be dissuaded from dangling – if this look is about one thing then it’s flexibility, and crosses are just the tip of the iceberg! Once you’ve got your basic ring in place you can pretty much hang what you like from it: skeletons, circuit boards, ornamental pets, bowls of fruit, wind chimes... the world’s your oyster! The real beauty of The Dangle is that it’s a look which marries extreme notions of masculinity and feminity together for a look that’s perfect for our androgynous age of Girls who are boys, who like boys to be girls, who do boys like they’re girls, who do girls like they’re boys... HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: As outlined above, all you need is a ring to get things cracking. Something simple from Argos or Manchester Arndale Centre’s half price jewellery store is ideal and shouldn’t cost you more than a tenner. From there on just define your statement by hanging on whatever object you see fit! PLEASE NOTE: If you’re going for the Cross ‘n’ Hoop Darkwave special then the ring and crucifix should be bought separately – it’s pretty hard to get them as a ready made set and the ones that you can buy are, without exception, waste. Instead just buy a small cross pendant, ditch the chain and hook it up with your hoop – people will be mistaking you for ‘that guy from S.C.U.M’ in no time! LIFESPAN: SS reckons this is a look that’s likely to ‘hang’ around for a while, or at least until dangling one-upmanship kicks in and people start hanging ever more extreme things from the ears and stretching their lobes out of shape! Dangling a rented Benz or R6 Bike from your ear might seem good for the status but the consequences could be ugly – make sure you know your limits!!

“EVEN AMERICAN APPAREL WOULDN’T STOOP THIS LOW” – THE NEW JERSEY CHRONICLE

LOL SPK

i can has new wrdz pleez?!

STATEMENT: “LOL SPK 4 EVA!” TREND INFO: The lolspeak style of writing shot to fame with the Lol Cat craze earlier on this year due mainly to the hugely popular site icanhascheezburger.com (eg 130 million page views in September), which – as you may have spotted on a rainy day – combined a humorous photo of someone’s pet cat with a laugh-out-loud caption, literally written in ‘lolspeak’ – as a parody of poor grammar typical of internet slang rife on forums, blogs, msn messenger conversations and facebooks everywhere. Some people think that this form of “lol spk” is meant to echo the baby talk of which the owners use to speak to their cats. The superimposed text is usually assumed to be uttered by the subject in the photograph, be that cat, mouse or sleb. Lolspeak reaches out further than you can imagine! Did you know that the Russians have an Internet subculture with slang similar in format to Lol speak called Padonki? PADONKI! Here is a definition of the word: Padonki: from Russian: подонок – meaning riff-raff, scoundrel, scum – quite harsh really for a bunch of cats who just want to be loved. Through further research however – we found out that the Russian version of Lol spk was a lot ruder and more obscene than we first thought and therefore cannot be written about in the magazine. Sir Stefan would not approve. HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: On the interweb you will find ‘How to speak lolspeak as a second language in five easy steps’, which are basically: think of what you want to say, then f**k it up in any number of ways. This bit is now called ‘Engrish’-ing it, and comes from the idea of translating English sayings into Japanese and back again, often with amusing results. Whichever way you do it, the idea here is to have fun with language, and to add expression to your saying by the mistakes in it. There is also a site called ‘speaklolspeak.com’ which will tell you all you need. LIFESPAN: Lolspeak is a great examples of a ‘meme’, which is basically an idea that spreads. At the moment this meme is going from strength to strength and developing certain core phrases and words. Maybe we’re on the verge of something massive. We consume information so rapidly these days it’s entirely possible that shorter, coded forms of words will become the norm. Will lolzspk become a modern day form of hieroglyphics? OMG weren’t the Egyptians obsessed with cats – it’s all becoming so very clear!...

C C

STATEMENT: “Shouting Lager lager lager..........feld!” TREND INFO: We all like to dress to impress and there’s nothing more impressive than donning anything by super cool label Chanel, but at a time when most of us have hardly got enough money to feed ourselves let alone spend it on expensive clothes then it’s time to get creative. It’s time to get the scissors, some pritt stick and a whole load of imagination – cut and paste couture is the future. As well as the cut and paste approach, the Chanel logo has also seen a resurgence in popular culture in recent months with cult band and icons of the moment Crystal Castles hooﬁng the logo and reworking it into their own. The embracement of capitalist/elitist logos is not a new thing – we’ve all seen the knock-off shirts being sold at Camden market and the likes around the country (you know the ones I mean, the ones which take the piss out of brands like Pepsi and McDonald’s) – the ones we wouldn’t be seen dead in (even though that makes them more tempting to wear now down at SUPERSUPER HQ). The difference being with this trend though is the fact that we’re embracing labels out of our reach, taking them on and turning them into our own thing – these labels are not better than us – we’re better than them. Cheap chic anyone? HOW TO WORK THE LOOK: In all honesty it’s probably more about the lager than Lagerfeld. The crossed ‘c’s of the famous logo have become a staple whilst out and about in a clubland that doesn’t know whether it’s here nor there. These emblematic c’s have come to represent more than just a symbol of wealth but have become a symbol of aspiration – a symbol that breaks down the boundaries of a class system which (dare I say it) still exists but isn’t politically allowed to. The fact of the matter with our generation is we wanna look good but we don’t wanna pay for it – and more to the matter we probably cant afford to – so what do we do? We either make it ourselves or get a knocked off copy that looks just the same and is probably cooler. Why not try recreating the logo out of an old cereal box or if you wanna go even further, make a pair of Chanel wings out of a cardboard box. Whatever you do though this look has got to look aspirational. Try hard to make sure everything is accurate as possible – Karl wouldn’t settle for anything less so why should you? Imagine walking into somewhere and someone going ‘OMG how much was your Chanel dress’ and you go ‘In total about 27p’ – now that’s fuckin cool and that’s fuckin power. LIFESPAN: Don’t know how long this trend will last, but the way things are going economy wise at the moment – then maybe a while – although it must be said that in times of hardship high couture and the cheapest of brands do well – it’s always the middle ground that suffers. Maybe we’ll embrace other labels other than Chanel – Versace, Comme des Garcons, Givenchy – they’re all within our grasp. Maybe one day we’ll all be force for them to be reckoned with – you just never know with fashion.

Photography by Billa Chanel Words by Dan Szor Lolspeak words by Emma Dilemma

SUPER TRENDZ

logo lovin

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28/11/08 10:56:40

ME_DP

OUT NOW! THERE’S NO TURNING BACK

mirrorsedge.com © 2008 EA Digital Illusions CE AB. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION” and “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

10:56:40

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28/11/08 10:57:07

two see

21 fouberts place W1F 7QE www.twoseelife.com

Rest In Peace February 2009 for more details visit http://twoseelife.blogspot.com petar petrov . preen . jeremy scott . pm . patrik rzepski . rozalb de mura . jean-pierre braganza . 5preview jc de castelbajac . burfitt . hussein chalayan . hannah martin . jw anderson . tillmann lauterbach Jake photographed by John Lindquist

LET’S GET DIGIREAL!

Telling the truth means something different now than it did awhile back, mainly thanks to t’internet. If you put that you’re 100 years old with an income of £250,000 and over on yr myspaz proﬁle, it’s not really a ‘lie’ in the old sense that your mum used to go on about when you were growing up, is it? We’ve always been excited about the creative possibilities offered by the blurring of fact n ﬁction, and it seems other people are getting that way, too. Take the Nokia Supernova campaign for their new 7610 handset – they’ve gone all David Lynch on us & got these gals & guys all over Facebook and stuff, and you can speak with them and text with them and everything and actually get involved with their lives – but the question is, are they ‘real’? They do kind of look the part, we must say...

SUPERNEWZ! Going Up! D.I.S.C.O

Yes it’s back with a vengeance. We suggest the you try the cosmic side

LIEBIANS

Pretend Lesbians. The female attention seeking trait du jour. Oooh – did you really post that pic on your Facebook?!

Jade works in PR

Luca is a ﬁlmmaker

BOUNCERS – dontcha just love em?! We’ve noticed a worrying trend in London’s West End for even the most alternative venues to recruit serious ex Kosovan Army types who are wayyy too ready to pile in at the ﬁrst hint of anything. Still, thanks to the Crossrail project & the dreaded credit crunch loads of venues – Sin, The End, Soho Revue Bar, Astoria, Trash Palace, The Metro, The Mean Fiddler, The Ghetto – are about to close. Soho’s gonna look like a scene from ‘I Am Legend’, meanwhile the phoenix rises in the East, with Jodie Harsh’s Circus moving to Last Days Of Decadence and The Ghetto reopening on Old St.

YOUTUBE www.honeymonsterfoods.com

Wierd to think it didn’t exist when the last US election was held. It’s still our favourite telly – and jukebox

EPIC CRYING

By men. Preferably in front of the cameras. Louise Walsh, we salute you!

& Anna is a model

TOTP XMAS SPESH

Check out somebodyelsesphone.com for further info on how to get involved.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could actually vote in proper elections just by clicking on a pop-up like this one we came across the other day?! And get a laptop! We must say, though, popping up all unexpectedly like that, it did make us think. Do we? Ummm... Would it make us more or less likely to get a laptop if we said yes?

THE SECOND COMING Just when we thought the gods weren’t watching, plans are afoot to build two massive sculptures set to dominate the skylines of the world and put us back in our place. The Colossus in Rhodes was one of the 7 Wonders of the World before being toppled by an earthquake in 226 BC – now it’s set to be rebuilt. The message behind the sculptures will be the same – Peace, with part of the monument made from melted down weaapons. Elsewhere in the world a 17 storey ‘super temple’ topped by a 152 metre tall Maitreya has been proposed in India. The project is designed to last a thousand years without the need of renovation and once built will be three times the size of the Statue of Liberty.

Finally! It’s back – Noel Edmonds’ Christmas Gifts step aside!

SUPERSUPER MEETS THE HONEY MONSTER UPTOWN Well in Harrods, actually – for the launch of the super special, SUPERSUPER Limited Edition Sugar Puffs pack, designed by SuperSteve. Only 500 were made and most of them sold out at the launch, so chances are you won’t actually see one, but we can honestly say they do look lovely – particularly the side, pictured above, with Stefan proudly on display!

WRITING LETTERS

No broadband? Write to your Nan about school, jazz, books, sherry and that nice man off the telly. You might even enjoy it

GIGGS GIGGS & MORE GIGGS...

The future of UK rap, standard. We even paid actual money for his ‘Walk In Da Park’ LP!

HOUSE PARTIES

Yes, staying in is the new going out again! Forget 60s, 70s or 80s, why not be way ahead of the curve and have a 00s themed party? It would be a great excuse to think everyone was rich again, and you could dress up as The Strokes, Fischerspooner or Hear’Say

SUPERNEWZ !

Woi oi

IT’S THE SUPERSUPER QUIZ OF 2008!!! *

2. How much is a Junior Spesh? One pound and ﬁfty pence Tracy A bag of diamonds and 2 pieces of gold bullion About the price of a small island off the coast of Senegal 3. What was the title of the Youtube video which got over 12 million views during the US election? I’ve got a crush on John McCain I’ve got a crush on Obama I’ve got a crush on Huw Edwards from the 6 O’ Clock News I’m being crushed by a baby whale that just landed on me from out of nowhere as I was walking to the bookies to place a bet on Nelson becoming President of the world 4. Which sleb couple divorced recently? Tess Daley and Bruce Forsyth Roy and Hayley Tom and Jerry Madge and Guy 5. What bank got nationalised in the early stages of the big old credit crunch? Northern Rock East is East Southern Comfort Western Super Mare 6. What was the fantastical sports event held in China this year? Robot Wars – the apocalypse Global Pigeon Racers Xtreme The 2008 boat caravan and leisure show at the NEC Birmingham The Olympics 7. What did Jonathan Ross say which caused so much outrage on BBC Radio 2? “He f**ked your granddaughter” “Can you pass me a Kinder Egg?” “Hum Minibus Nintendo” “I think I’ve just had a stroke... please call an ambulance someone, I can’t feel the right side of my body... please, please, someone call an ambulance... I’m begging you... Oh god, someone help me!” 8. Who won the world title for being the fastest driver in the world and not killing anyone? Lewis Hamilton Papa Shango Me Gregg from Greggs the Bakers 9. What music genre rose to prominence in this magazine by taking a nod to the past? Victorian grime Dickensian trip hop Abba gabba Two Tone Tango – an interracial blend of latino spice and passion. 10. Who is the nickname of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson? Bo Jo

Be Jeez Matthew ‘gammon face’ Kelly Bergerac

11. Which ﬁfty-year-old ‘so called’ Italian restaurant chain has temporarily rebranded to ‘Pasta ______’ Mr Chan’s Chinese Buffet Butt Pizza Hut The ‘Labour in Vain’ pub in Stoke-on-Trent, which had to close down permanently due to its racist sign. 12. Which company’s slogan was “Reassuringly Expensive”? Stella Artois Aldi Northern Rock The Big Issue 13. What company’s slogan was ‘Every Little Helps’? Cats in Need Netto Larry’s Laser disk lair Tesco 14. I’d rather have a bowl of ... Coco Pops Used condoms Boiled eggs Credit Crunch

First Prize Winner: SUPERSUPER’s “Beast Of 2008”

15. Who replaced Sharon Osbourne as a judge on X Factor? Cherry Cola Cheryl Cole Nat King Cole A sack of coal

but enough about this year, look ahead with

K-TRON’S NOTES FROM THE FUTURE!

16. Who has replaced Lee Mead as the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Joseph’? Wiley Jo Brand Gareth Gates Dan Szor’s brother who is conveniently called Joseph 17. Which company’s slogan is ‘Impossible is nothing’ ? Adidas Hi-Tec Tiles are Us We Build Time Machines Ltd 18. Which product did Apple bring out this year? 3G iPhone Lady Di Phone (exclusively available at Harrods) Nokia 5110 with interchangeable covers Canon PX850694 Fax machine 19. What was the title of one of Goldielocks’ more recognisable tunes? Who’s been sleeping in my bed Wasteman I really really dislike ginger haired people I am a man and I like BOOOOOOOOOOTY 20. A genre of music that originated up north took London by storm this year. What was it? Bassline Niche 4X4 Maypole Trancing.

(*What do you mean you need answers? – that’s what Google’s for!)

1. Which major hip hop mogul headlined at this year’s Glastonbury festival? Timmy Mallet One half of the cheeky girls Jay Z Sanjay Patel

I am the Network; I am more than a billion minds converged at once, in starburst brilliance, information realised. I witness everything in high definition, super sharp satellite vision. I see all. My thoughts instantaneously animate plasma screen fictions across the universe in hyperreal colour. My dreams stream in real time, translated into a thousand languages, beamed live to the collective consciousness in characters bolder than billboard and illustrated in lazer beam drawn across the sky itself. My emotion could blow the grid in Mexico City; my heartbeat is sponsored by accurist. This new body is incorruptible; this new body was built not born. I exist in a state of perpetual anaesthesia, I feel no pain and I will never know disease – this flesh is beyond the whim of nature or simple evolution. My face is the perfect product, a logotype for the ultimate human form, a testament to the new beauty, symmetrical, profound and sublime. Through bold mathematics I became the icon, and through chemistry I become the demi-god, never aging, a composite ideal hermetically preserved. When I travel I move at beyond light speed and I can bend time to invoke all potentialities; I exist simultaneously in every dimension, a sub atomic voyeur, tripping through quarks and super strings. I cum in binary, hooked up to the divine switch shaking my titanium bones with primal intensity. I understand the secrets encoded in the first moments of reality and I can feel infinity arch magnificent into the cosmos. I look just like you, but you won’t recognise me, I look just like you, but I’m different inside. I’m still on the factory floor in Hong Kong, I’m still waiting to meet you. You don’t know me yet, but you will, I am coded in your DNA, I awoke with the Aztecs, Opened my eyes on the Roman road to conquest, began to dream with the renaissance. I am your future, rebooted, eternal self.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

POP

Photography by David Richardson

Lady GaGa

SUPERSUPER: Hello Lady Gaga! I’m Rebecca from SUPERSUPER, you played our London Fashion Week party... LADY GAGA: I know! I love it in London! And I love SUPERSUPER, you have a great image... SS: As do you! Have you always dressed so unusually? LG: Always. I went to private school [Convent of the Sacred Heart – with the Hiltons!] and we had this uniform, you couldn’t do much with it... but after school I’d play around, and then when I went to college, that’s when I got a band together, and really went to town, making my own clothes... SS: You still do, don’t you? LG: Well, I have my House of Gaga, to make the clothes that I envision. House of Gaga will be making the outﬁts for my tour – they’ll be very couture and elaborate. And we made my TV glasses [amazing glasses with screens on them that show moving images]. They’re all about changing perspectives on pop, celebrity and fame. SS: How do you want to change perspectives on celebrity and fame? LG: I want to celebrate fame and celebrity as an art form – it’s about women who can now dress and carry themselves any way they want to, writing their own fame and their own stories. We’ve always had the

same attitude in downtown New York; people can do it with no money. They’re just the sort of people you look at and admire the way they express themselves, and think “I wanna be like that, too!” SS: Well that’s what your song ‘Beautiful Dirty Rich’ is about, isn’t it – putting together unlikely outﬁts and looking amazing on no money. That’s something a lot of our readers can relate to! What would be your top tips? LG: Yeah! These people are creating their own image. I’d say, to all women, getting a really good hair colour can make a look. And if you’re really broke, just get a cheap, white t shirt and rip it up, cut up the back and slash it. I’ve also been making a lot of hair bows... like, bows made out of real hair. In my early days performing, when I really had no money, I’d buy $3 bras and stick fabric and diamanté and sequins all over them. SS: Does the record company try to tone down your look? LG: Well deﬁnitely in the beginning they thought it was a bit much – they didn’t really get it. But it’s moved on from war! They’ve given me creative freedom and really understand my vision, but I’ve changed a bit too... I’ve become more of a lady! You know, a bit more manicured, better hair... SS: Speaking of manicured ladies... I saw a Youtube of you playing at a Miss Universe Contest! LG: Haha yeah! That was an example of two completely different kinds of girls in one show! SS: Well yes, they were all dancing to you in their bikinis and sashes while you vogued in your PVC and shoulder pads, brandishing a lightup cane... LG: Haha! But I do embrace being a

girl, you don’t have to act like a boy to be cool.... SS: You’ve made a point of letting people know that you’ve worked your way up. LG: Oh yeah, I worked since I was 15 – my mom used to take me to coffee houses to play. Then when I was older, I’d gogo dance on the side to pay all my expenses. And this was early on – being a pop star on the underground scene was rebellious. I think there’s quite a strong pop scene in London, it’s more appreciated, but in New York on the underground it’s more broken up. I really bombed in a lot of clubs. SS: Well you eventually got embraced! Especially gay men. All my gay friends love you and think you’re fabulous. LG: Oh my god I know! I have a really strong relationship and huge support from the gay community and it’s amazing. But you know I don’t want to be seen as ‘camp’. I don’t want to be remembered as a crazy female pop star, rather someone who brought people to gay clubs who would never have gone before – so they can see how much joy and celebration there is going on. When I played at the Fame Ball [when her album The Fame was released in the US] it was cool

because all these huge people from the scene, like Amanda Lepore, came, even though my label, Polydor, is seen as this big, evil label. But they came and were really trusting me with “telling their story.” That’s a huge fuckin’ responsibility! SS: Do you think playing clubs from an early age, and being supported by the people you celebrate, gives you more credibility as a pop act? LG: This is why one of my main messages is that Pop will never be low brow – it’s an art form. It’s up to the audience to decide whether I’m credible, but I really feel that I’m affecting popular culture. SS: How are you affecting it? LG: Visually – I’m obsessed with high fashion and style; musically, seeing fame in a different way... consuming pop isn’t seen as fake anymore. At my gigs I’ll have Britney fans and Patrick Wolf fans, adults and 7 year old girls.

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UNASHAMEDLY, self-proclaimedly ‘Pop’, Lady Gaga emerged from the New York club scene and is now taking on mainstream America and the rest of the world. How will she do? Well – it’s not often one sees a female pop star performing, in enormous shoulder pads, PVC, wearing glasses made of TV screens, and wielding a large, ﬂuorescent cane... especially at a Miss Universe competition!

www.ladygaga.com

AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS LADY GAGA’S ‘JUST DANCE’ TRACK HAS OVER 19 MILLION – YES MILLION! – VIEWS ON YOUTUBE. SHE’S COLLABORATED WITH AKON, SEEN HER DEBUT LP ‘THE FAME’ GO TOP 20 IN THE US, HAD TWO NUMBER 1 HITS IN AUSTRALIA AND IS CURRENTLY ON TOUR WITH THE REFORMED NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK. SUPERSUPERMODEL REBECCA PEARSON CAUGHT UP WITH THE POP SENSATION HERSELF SHORTLY AFTER HER FIRST EVER UK GIG (AT THE SUPERSUPER LONDON FASHION WEEK PARTY . . .

SS: So are you coming to London again soon? LG: Yes! With the Pussycat Dolls. London’s my second favourite place, after New York. London is amazing, elegant, beautiful, and the people are so intelligent. I love SUPERSUPER and I love London!

WILL NEVER BE LOW ! BROW - IT’S AN ART FORM

brand “ WITH THE MOST POPULAR MYSPACE SITE IN THE UK, A CLOTHING STORE IN MANCHESTER MOBBED BY 1000 FANS ON OPENING DAY, A BURGEONING RECORD LABEL, SELL OUT PARTIES AND GAZILLIONS OF ADORING GLOBAL FANS, LIFE COULDN’T BE BETTER FOR BABYCAKES’ (BBYCKS TO THOSE IN THE KNOW) FOUNDER, FACE, CEO & CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MR PAUL GRIFFITHS. SUPERSUPER’S EMMA DILEMMA WENT TO MCR TO SEE HIM AND FIND OUT MORE . . .

SUPERSUPER: For those who don’t know about the success story that is Babycakes can you say a bit about how it all came about? PAUL: Well we started out like 18 months ago selling tees online, but it didn’t really pick up for the ﬁrst 8 months. Then last year it mega picked up, and we got loads of orders. So me and some mates from a town near Burnley in Yorkshire moved to Manchester to open the shop. SS: Sounds easy! So how did you go about opening a shop? P: Well we knew that we wanted to open it in the Northern Quarter [Manchester’s uber trendy alternative shopping district], so we came over and started looking for places. We were organising parties, and met Matt, who worked with us to ﬁnd the location. The party we had on the opening day of the store was when things came together. SS: Why the name Babycakes? P: Ermmm.. I have no idea! Totally random, it’s like the name of the little characters. Have you seen them? SS: Of course! [They’re like little, simply drawn characters in different colours with crosses for eyes, mainly] So when you started off doing the T shirts did you have in mind it was gonna be this big, or did you start off by thinking small? P: Erm, I sort of really wanted it to be as big as it could be, I’m not really sure I wanted it to be as big as it could be, but I still want it to be bigger. SS: How did you come to choose the idea of doing T-shirts? P: Because everyone wears them. If you see someone wearing a cool T-shirt, their friends will want one too. I started off by making 50 T shirts, selling 25 of them and giving the other 25 to friends. And it just grew. SS: The T shirts promote themselves, which I suppose is really pretty handy! Paul: Yeah, they’re so easy to sell

and it’s so easy to grow really fast. People wearing them are constant advertisements. SS: Can you tell us about the other things you do apart from clothing? What about Babycakes parties? P: Yeah, we have these really amazing parties. We’ve had bands like Partyshank and Glamour For Better, and loads of other ones. We’ve got one coming up in Camden in January, and we’re going to Norway next week! SS: Wow! P: Yeah I know it’s ace ain’t it. It’s another way of promoting the T-shirts, plus it makes everything really fun and everyone can meet each other! SS: You do mixtapes as well don’t you? They’re on your website. P: Yeah, it’s mainly chip tune artists... which is artists that use computer game noises. SS: Aka 8-bit... P: Yeah, yeah. SS: So is 8-bit the kind of sound that you want to go with your T-shirts? P: I think they represent each other well. It looks and sounds like it’s supposed to go together! SS: I’m making an 8 bit tune at the moment I’ll have you know! P: Oh really? No way! SS: Way! I’ve got a GameBoy addon on Fruity Loops... I’ll send it your way when it’s done! P: Yeah do it! Ha ha. SS: What’s the message behind Babycakes, do you have an ethos you wanna stick to? P: Everything’s just really fun. It’s always gonna be fun. If it stops being fun we won’t do it anymore. SS: Why did you decide to use yourself to model the T shirts in the beginning? Was it to do with what you wanted the image of Babycakes to be?

P: I didn’t really decide, it’s just easier to model T shirts yourself in the beginning. As soon as they’re printed I wanted to get them online. I just put my camera on a self-timer, on the tripod and took it myself. I hate photo shoots, but it just worked out like that. SS: What do you use to design the logos and graphics? P: Just Photoshop, Illustrator, tablets etc... then we work with the printers; we ask them what they think the best process would be. SS: So have the internet and social networking sites been the key to your success? P: Straight from the beginning we used Myspace and the web to sell them. We’ve built up a massive street team reaching every state in America and town in England. Everyone who’s involved knows everyone else. The street teams organise the parties in their area. Plus everyone is wearing the T shirts in their Myspace pics. People have bbycks backgrounds or have the characters on their page – wherever you are on the web bbycks will crop up. Go on any band page and there’ll be someone wearing one of the tees in their comments. SS: What seperates you from other web T shirt businesses? Do you think taking the step to get the shop has been important in making you stand out? P: Yeah it puts us on the next level. We’re not just a Myspace brand any more. It takes us out of the Myspace generation of sellers. Myspace is ﬂooded with them now, people become immune to it, and take no notice. SS: At what point did you realise you’d created this massive phenomena? P: On opening day the shop opened at 3pm, and when we opened the shutters there were 1000 kids outside. People from all over Europe came and even some from the US. We weren’t expecting it at all. We didn’t even tell people the address. I took a photo of

www.bbycks.com

We’re not just a myspace

the outside of the shop and there was the phone number of a local company reﬂected in the windows. People then rang the number and found out where the shop was! SS: Wotttt?? Mental!! So since you got the shop do you use your website more than your Myspace as your main thing to sell T shirts from? P: Well there’s more content on the website than the Myspace. We don’t have to spam bulletins on Myspace anymore. 90% of the trafﬁc on our website is direct, and 10% comes from the Myspace page. Before it used to be a lot more from Myspace. SS: I just deleted my Myspace page cos it’s a proppa ghost town!! Do you think businesses and bloggers etc don’t need it any more? P: Well yeah, it’s cos there’s thousands of T shirt people on Myspace, it’s completely swamped so people just blank it out. They see right through it. SS: Well your loyal following are standardly gonna go straight to your website anyway. P: Yeah that’s it. I mean our Myspace page is still really active, we always get loads of replies to bulletins n that. Our page is like the most popular page in the UK. It’s just that our website is the focal point now. SS: What projects have you got coming in the pipeline? P: Well we’ve got the whole Norway thing next week, the massive party in London coming up and loads of parties in the US. Probably the most exciting thing is that we’re gonna be launching more products as opposed to just T shirts. There’s gonna be sunglasses and trainers – everything really. We’re on the verge of taking over the world! SS: What tips for success would you give to someone who wanted to get their own project off the ground? P: Think of something that’s fun and stick at it. Don’t expect money out of it straight away. It might take a while for it all to start rolling.

Photography by Kayti Peschke

Paul Babycakes

WORLD

...we’re on the verge of taking over the

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Photography by Tim & Barry

Angela & Vanessa Simmons Vanessa & Angela Simmons

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Our dad is a living legend. He helped create an entire community which is now ofﬁcially known as

hiphop eaten every cake that has inspired us... SS: Let me guess you wouldn’t ﬁt into Run’s House anymore, right?! A & V: Riiiiggghhhht!!!

SS: When SUPERSUPER ﬁrst heard that your label was called ‘Pastry’ we thought that was quite unusual – Sausage rolls and trainers don’t seem to be natural fashion bedfellows? Please explain the name to us ladykittens?! V: Haha!!! Well you are nearly right actually. It is a food thing, it’s not an American slang term for trainers. Basically we both love cake so we thought why not call the label Pastry?! It’s every fashionistas guilty pleasure isn’t it? We’re got amazing names for the trainers – Fab Cookie and Glam Pie, Fruit Tart and Double Delight...

SS: So how do two sisters decide to start a fashion label together then? Surely there’s lots of squabbling that goes on? A:I went to school and studied business communication so we just worked out as the perfect team.... V: And I studied fashion design and was really into the creative side – like the draping of the fabric and all of that stuff. That really inspired me. It’s great being sisters because we don’t have to hold our tongues when we are telling each other stuff and I think that creates a better product in the end. A: Our dad has always taught us this family mantra that it’s family first and business second – we are never going to be fighting over money or an idea because first and foremost we are sisters and that is really important to both of us.

SS: Indeed! We LOVE cake... MMMMMMM. In fact the trainers do look a lot like cakes you’d want to eat. Do you have to do lots of research for your collections – lots of cake eating in the name of ‘inspiration’...? A: Unfortunately we go to amaaazing cake shops and just take pictures of the cakes rather than eat them. If we had

SS: We’ve seen y’all front-rowing it at New York fashion week. Which designers do you like? A: We really like fun designers like Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs, Heatherette and Philip Long – people who have fun with their lines. Gwen Stefani is amazing with L.A.M.B and Harajuko Lovers. Fashion should not be taken too seriously all the time.

We’re kind of building an empire, though! You know how Kimora Lee Simmons [ex-wife of Russell Simmons (who’s their uncle) and head of Baby Phat] had a vision – well it’s a bit like that for us as well. The great thing about doing the TV show is that the audience have actually got to see us build Pastry from scratch, so the label connects with them on lots of levels. And now here we are 2 years later and we are launching in London. We really want to show people that anything is possible – dreams are possible. If you wanna go out and create something then you have to get up and do it – hard work, determination and perserverance pays off in the end. SS: It’s inspiring that you are demonstrating to young people how to build a fashion brand in a kind of step-by-step way because fashion can be quite elitist. Do you get people doing internships with you guys, like we do at SUPERSUPER? V: Yes we are actually going to do a design competition where you can come and work with us at the showroom this summer. SS: What do you think of London? A & V: We love it!!! A: I’ve bought so much stuff from Topshop – there is soo much stuff in that store that it gave me a headache! London is great because people are not afraid to do their own thing – there is so much courageousness here!

footlocker.eu/pastry

as ‘My Adidas’ started to kick in, they found themselves in a stadium full of fans all taking off their Adi’s and waving them in the air – and quickly realised they better get on it, quicktime! So now Run’s girls have followed in the family tradition, by designing and launching a new footwear, accessories and clothing label of their own..

Pastry is onsale now exclusively in Footlocker

ISN’T IT funny how the world totally fixated with the female offspring of rockstars? Say what you like about them but there’s no denying that Kelly Osborne, Peaches Geldof, Daisy Lowe, Zoe Kravitz, Lily Allen, Kimberly Stewart, Nicole Ritchie, The Jagger girls et al rule the sleb rags like a shimmering glimmering daddy’s girl tribe – hot, hip and carefree these girls actually are the dictionary definition of ‘rock chick’: the cute fluffy children of the original cock rockers. At a glance you might think that Vanessa and Angela Simmons are the latest additions to this list, but in many ways they are altogether a very different proposition. For a start their dad is a hip hop legend rather than a snake-hipped guitar hero (though he did once do a groundbreaking Top 10 track in collaboration with Aerosmith) and has true sportwear history pedigree: With their track ‘My Adidas’, Run DMC were one of the very first musical acts to bring overt lifestyle and direct brand references into their music, and kick-started a lot of the way both artists and brands think today. As legend has it wayyy back in the day the major sportswear brands were totally sleeping on the potential of these tie-ups, in particular within the burgeoning hip hop scene. By accident a couple of Adi execs found themselves at a Run DMC gig when,

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YOU MAY HAVE SPOTTED ANGELA AND VANESSA SIMMONS (DAUGHTERS OF HIP HOP LEGEND REV RUN OF RUN DMC FAME) ON MTV’S OSBORNE’S-ESQUE REALITY TV SHOW RUN’S HOUSE. BUT AS WELL AS TV STARDOM – AND HAVING DOING SOME SINGING AND ACTING – THE MIGHTY FRIENDLY DUO HAVE LAUNCHED THEIR OWN FASHION EMPIRE, CALLED PASTRY. ON THE EVE OF ITS UK DEBUT, SUPERSUPER’S NAMALEE CAUGHT UP WITH THE GIRLS TO CHAT CAKES, LABELS & BUSINESS...

a lot of people say we sound like

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MADNESS

but i started off trying to write drum and bass and house music

CROSSING SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE STREETS, MADNESS AND THE GENERAL HYPE SURROUNDING BLUR’S PARKLIFE ALBUM, MAN LIKE ME ARE THE GUYS HARD ENOUGH TO TAKE YOU DOWN IN A SINGLE BLOW BUT AT THE SAME TIME SWEET ENOUGH TO CHARM YOUR MUM AND WARM THE COCKLES OF YOUR NAN’S HEART. SUPERSUPER’S BUSTER BENNETT MET UP WITH ONE THIRD OF THE BAND, JOHNNY (WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE BAND? – YOU’LL HAVE TO READ ON) TO TALK MUSIC, MODELS AND WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A SINGLE DAD AND IN A BAND. SUPERSUPER: Hey Johnny, where’s the rest of the band? JOHNNY: Haha, I’m the only one doing this interview at this moment as we have just come off tour and are not speaking to one another at this moment in time, so I’m afraid your gonna have to deal with me! SS: Haha... Ok then! So, you’ve been gigging for a l’il while now – would you consider yourself an underground or overground band? J: I properly don’t really understand the overground and underground thing to be honest. Obviously we would like to sell records and if that means going overground then that’s what we’ll have to do – I want to quit my job! SS: You seem to have a lot of ambition as a band, is there some kind of manifesto for modern man somewhere in there? J: I just want the band to achieve enough success so my parents can be proud of their son and that my daughter can feel extremely proud of her father. I’m a single dad you see so it’s hard enough just dealing with all that shit, let alone trying to make this the best band in the world. The manifesto is we’re modern men and we wanna take this as far as we can. SS: How did you guys meet, what kind of backgrounds do you have? J: I grew up in Camden Town; my parents stayed together which helped stabilize me compared to some of my mates whose parents fucked them up. I grew up listening to all sorts of music but drum and bass was my thing.

Shabba D, Skibba and Det were my idols and I occasionally went raving to One Nation at Bagleys but I was really scared by all the pilled-up Essex Boys. Me and Pesk went to school together and Edwin just appeared on stage at one of our shows.

middle of the catwalk at the Louvre with the models walking around us – you can’t really get better than that can you? We’ve played all over Europe, the US and South Africa recently. Gigs abroad are deﬁnitely the highlight of being in a band for me.

SS: What’s your role in the band then and does everyone have a personality that reﬂects every side of a modern man living in Britain? J: I sing and write the songs, Pesk does the technical side and Edwin helps out on production and generally looks the best. Personality wise... let’s not go there, maybe the fact that we’re not talking to each other is the answer to that question!

SS: How do your songs translate abroad? Most of them seem very English – did the French would get it on all levels? J: Yeah, but it took the French two years to get us over there, and by which time we’d already done the rest of Europe a few times over. I thought they must hate us or realized that Edwin has a problem with the French but since that show we’ve been invited back three times so I’d like to say a big thank you to the people of France.

SS: What kind of groups inﬂuenced your decision to make music? J: A lot of people say we sound like Madness so I just go with that as I grew up with them but I started off by trying to write drum and bass and house music. SS: You’ve got a very certain look, is this a deliberate, almost ironic take on the ideas of mod and dare I say it... a ‘chavvy’ style, or is this just your own taste from way-back before you even started the band. J: All my clothes were either given to me by my mum, sister or the various girlfriends I’ve had over the years. I’d like to say that I am styled by the women in my life haha. SS: How was your gig in Paris at the JCDC showcase recently? J: Paris was amazing. We played in the

SS: How do you make your tunes? J: I make most of my music in my bedroom like most people these days. It seems like that’s the only way nowadays – unless your in some kind of heavy metal or Abba tribute band. SS: We’ve seen Man Like Me DJs billed a few times, what kind of stuff do you play when you DJ? – or what’s your top 10 right now?! J: We play everything man. We were DJs way before we did the band but realized that making music gives us a much bigger buzz. If I was gonna play some tunes right now I’d probably include a bit of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Marvin Gaye, Womack & Womack – all the classics, then maybe drop in a bit of LTJ Bukem, Congo Natty and Future Underground Nation.

SS: Top of the Pops is coming back for a Christmas and NYE special – do you have any memories of that show? Remember Big Breakfast? We loved that show! J: I wasn’t into the Big Breakfast. Keith Chegwin, Johnny Vaughn and Denise Van Outen... nah that wasn’t really my cup of tea, but Top of the Pops, that was legendary. My whole family used to sit down and watch it on a Thursday before Eastenders. My main memory of TOTP was Mark Morrison coming on wearing handcuffs... don’t ask me why, but from that moment on my life changed completely!

SS: Talking of Mark Morrison – you got any freaky fans? J: Grant Burton you know who you are. SS: How has being a single dad inﬂuenced your life? There’s a lot of talk of the single mums around, do you think dad’s get overshadowed? J: To be honest I don’t really wanna go into all that, but can I just say that it is very overwhelming and I am still trying to work it all out. The one thing I do know is that I love her more than anything in the world. SS: What were the bands best moments of 2008 and what are you looking forward to in 09? J: My favourite band moment in 2008 was getting our manager Henry and to be honest the thing I’m looking forward to most is our album coming out and getting to play Moscow. myspace.com/manlikeme

Man Like Me

Ed johnny

Photography by Billa

Pesk

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cool

i don’t WANT to be

Gemma is on 1Xtra from 8–11am weekday mornings

FORMER STYLIST TO THE STARS TURNED TV PRESENTER – T4, FROCK ME, BIG BROTHER’S BIG EARS – AND NOW NEW RADIO 1XTRA BREAKFAST SHOW HOST, THE SPEED OF GEMMA CAIRNEY’S RISE TO MEDIA STARDOM IS MATCHED ONLY BY HER RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF ENTHUSIASM FOR EVERYTHING SHE DOES. SUPERSUPER’S REBECCA PEARSON TRIES TO KEEP UP!

SS: Ooooh I love your shoes! GC: Thanks! They’re Kickers! Everyone’s wearing DMs but I’m all about the Kickers, they’ve got ones in every colour and no one seems to know about it! SS: How’s it going DJing with Trevor Nelson? GC: Oh I’m not a DJ! I’m deﬁnitely not a DJ! Sorry, I feel really strongly about that! I’m just loving it! It’s just my third week so far. I feel really guilty actually that I’m coming in every week and just loving what I’m doing so much. It is hard too – it’s really tricky thinking about everything I’ve got to say – especially not swearing!!

into the whole thing to start with – my agent said it was my choice, and I thought I might as well. But I just kept getting through, further and further until I was in the last 10, then the last 3! I didn’t win, which wasn’t so upsetting cos I had my own things going on, with styling and stuff but Trevor said that he was really supporting me and heralding my career. He said he really liked my whole personality and style. So he must’ve remembered me from that. SS: Do you have any say in the music he plays? GC: He does his own thing, but he’s always open to suggestions. I’ve got my ‘Gemma’s Alternative Jam’ every Friday, where I play something he might not have heard – though he wasn’t very happy about the idea that he was being educated! We’ve scrapped that! SS: What have you played? GC: I played Mystery Jets – which I got absolutely rinsed for by the listeners! A1 Bassline, which I think SuperSuper really loves. What else.... M.I.A, Suicide... SS: What did you play by Suicide?! GC: 2 Doors Down

I’ve also got to be aware of having no ‘dead air’. So it’s not just really easy, and you’ve gotta keep on top of all the other 1Xtra radio shows, texts, webpages, so we can talk about it on the show – reﬂect that it’s a sort of community. But it’s great, we’ve got a really good rapport, and it’s really easy to chat to him. SS: Did you know Trevor before? GC: Yeah! I was on this competition called Pick Me MTV. I wasn’t really

SS: Oh! It would’ve been funny if you played Frankie Teardrop! GC: Haha yeah! Bit long though! I might play Thecocknbullkid soon, I like her, she’s great. SS: You really stood out on Frock Me, cos, as a viewer, the show sometimes came across as painfully self-aware. But you were there running around, shouting and smiling and being a bit silly! GC: Thanks! The thing is, I get bored if I try to be cool... I don’t WANT to be cool. I don’t care about that.

i don’t care about that!

SS: You helped out our very own Slinky Sunbeam on Frock Me, when he took part in the style challenge, didn’t you? GC: [Cackling loudly] Oh my GOD. He was the most flippin’ mental Frocker on the whole series. MAD!!! It was hard to film though. I thought he was hilarious but my director was totally baffled, and considering how mad some of the other contestants were, that’s saying something. SS: And he went to Philip Normal’s Happy Shack! [SUPERSUPER’s Fashion Fun Editor’s clothing store in Camden Market, London] GC: Yeah, it was all about people going to shops in their local community, not just the ‘cool’ shops. Oh my god, Slinky made SUCH a mess of that stall. I don’t think Philip was very happy. SS: You’ve been a stylist in the past, haven’t you? GC: Yeah, but it wasn’t for me. I was just exhausting myself, and I decided to stop, because what was the point if I didn’t even want to be doing it that much? The amount of work you have to do to climb up the ladder is terrifying. I did do my own stuff, which I loved – with people from my own circle, like my friends’ bands, and Daisy Lowe – we went to Richmond Park and all around her favourite haunts in London. It was all polaroids. It wasn’t placed in any mags but you know what, it was a great day and she now has a whole collection of photos of her in her fave places – she wouldn’t be able to do a shoot like that today without getting mobbed. SS: You’ve worked with lots of bands, haven’t you – any gossip? GC: Yeah, I’ve worked with the Sugababes – they’re not divas at all, they’re just girly girls who like to talk

about their boyfriends, weight and clothes! Actually the worst people are some stylists – I was the assistant of the assistant of the assistant on a Burberry shoot, and at times stylists have literally screamed at me. You’ve just got to laugh, or you get sucked up into the whole world and lifestyle. SS: You’ve had to do some pretty crazy stuff with the presenting too, haven’t you? GC: Oh my god, with Bite [Channel 4 show where 6 girls drive around looking for fashionable and quirky new trends] I’ve done some mental stuff. Like the time I went Medieval sword ﬁghting... these guys take it really seriously, and do it three times a week, including on a Friday night!! SS: And nipple tassles... GC: Yes! How did you know about that?! God that’s so embarrassing. SS: Google! GC: Oh god. Oh well. Yeah, well I was meant to be doing backing dancing for my friend Kate Nash. Sometimes she likes to have all her old friends doing stuff for her like that. But it turned out to be really serious, like with proper dance routines I had to learn – and I am NOT a dancer. But I was about to do it but I had to do this nipple tassel making workshop, which was really cool... and it’s about time to go onto the Pyramid Stage for Kate, but it turns out it’s time to don the tassels and learn to twirl them!! SS: Well it’s another string to your bow! Was it easy? GC: No!!! It’s a really hard skill! And I was so unprepared. SS: You’ve deﬁnitely got your own unique style... any tips for us?! GC: Fashion tips? God, I hate those! Don’t follow tips – be yourself!

Photography by David Richardson

Gemma Cairney

SUPERSTYLiN ’ SUPERSTYL Going Up! BAGGY CLOTHING

Skinny for boom times and baggy for bust. Comforting and playful too

LUCOZADE

Is it just us who thinks glucose is the new Gucci?!

CHARLIE LE MINDU

SUPERSUPER contributor is the hottest name in the world of hair right now

CLUBS WITH EXTREME DOOR POLICIES

Marriage, Ponystep, Klown Klub – if you’re not wearing exactly the right shade of mauve then you’re not getting in!

SEQUINS

Optimism and snazziness on a (size zero) budget

CHARLOTTE OLYMPIA TOO KOOL 4 SKOOL: Penguins in Pugh!

Alice Dellal’s supertalented sister’s skyscraper shoes are a sureﬁre hit

M&S !!! HOOT HOOT !! – I’m back again! Yes you may be all asking where I’ve been. Well the truth of the matter is that I’ve been in tax exile in Benidorm for the past few months. It’s hard work being so rich, fabulous and snazzy – and Mr Brown and Mr Darling should be worrying about saving the world economy and their own skin, rather than worrying about how much super tax I owe. Anyways while away I met some wonderful people especially three sexy lady penguins from Argentina – they’d come to Benidorm from Buenos Aries in search of spiritual enlightenment after becoming hooked on ITV’s hit’n’hip docu-comedy ‘Benidorm’ (I wonder if they get Corrie over there... I must ﬁnd that out hoot hoot). I had so much fun with Tracy, Linda and Babs that I decided to bring them over to the UK when it was safe for me to return. Little did I know that they were going to get scooped up by the Uk’s hottest new designer Gareth Pugh as the star models for his ﬁrst ever show in Paris (Well done GP!). Move over Kate and Aggy. BLT are in town. Expect to see them being papped falling out of a venue near you very soon. Anyways... I present you with fashion news [Bows head, closes eyes and beckons us in with a wave of a welcoming wing]...

Stand strong, we’ve got your back (and your Percy Pig sweets, too!)

POVERTY FRIENDLY PLATFORMS

Matalan comes up trumps again. Walk tall this winter for £14

EMMA BELL

U go grrl! Solo show at LFW, featured in Skins and the BBC’s British Style Genius, now she’s collaborated with Vauxhall to produce this brilliantly bonkers car, debuted at a suitably spangly party with palm trees, candy ﬂoss & stilt walkers no less! 49

LEVI’S

Photography by David Richardson Model Melinda at Next Models

DAMIEN HIRST

WE ALL KNOW Damien Hirst for his cut-up sharks and cows in formaldehyde, dot paintings, and, more recently, for his diamond encrusted skull, but now the ‘enfant terrible’ of the 90s Brit Art scene has turned his hand to the fashion world. Teaming up with Levi’s, Hirst has come up with both a super-limited set of hand-painted jeans, and a capsule collection that will be more widely available in Levi’s stores throughout the world. The handpainted jeans are done using Hirst’s spin painting method, onto seven pairs of original 1947 Levi’s 501s, and are to be auctioned off in the name of charity. Bids have already been received of over £30,000 for a pair, so we suggest you track down the capsule collection instead, which as you can see here also incorporates Hirst’s trademark styles and motifs – and removes any worries you might have of spilling ketchup on your work of art after a night out. Inspired by his new home in Mexico, other pieces incorporate skulls, spots and butterﬂies across tees, hoodies and jeans for both boys and girls. If they’re to your fancy you’d better be quick as they’re damn near sure to sell out – like Hirst himself says: “we’re here for a good time, not a long time”. The Damien Hirst capsule collection is available at CINCH, London. Prices start from £50 for T shirts, £150 for jeans

n i n t h g i L Jim

Dontamble g withdeath! SHOP: thecoldhandsofshoreditch.com

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SALES: joseph@withoutbackbones.com

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myspace.com/lightningjimclothing

GET MY LOOK

starring . . .

LAUREN MEET Lauren (Full name: Lauren Ekua Rudy Intarmah). In her second year studying make-up and prosthetics at LCF and part of the next wave of London eccentrics – once ripping a radiator off the wall in a ﬁt off rage – she’s mad, she’s bad and her style’s totally rad!

“The backcombed blonde wig was bought for Halloween from a bloody AMAZING wig shop in Finsbury Park called ‘Pak Hair’! My pink knitted top looks like the kinda thing your nan would make you for Christmas, but unfortunately I was conned into paying 14 pounds for it from a little vintage stall in Camden. The glittery bow was something I found and pin on to shit clothes because I think it makes them look more quirky… it doesn’t!’’

Photography by AMARPAUL KALIRAI

“I’m wearing a swimming cossie which I got from (hides head in shame) ...BHS! But it was only 15 pounds and sucks in my fat stomach and makes my boobs look half decent. I got the big ol’ black tutu from Beyond Retro last summer, worn with some glitzy draq queen-esque high-waisted American Apparel leggings which I got for half price!! My shoes are from Irregular Choice and are bloody BEAUTS! The FIT patent bag belongs to my lovely ﬂatmate ‘Goosey Lucy’ and it’s an actual ofﬁcial Vivienne Westwood!”

‘‘This is my newest winter purchase, a winter purchase which looks like an oversized piece of road kill and smells like an old wino – due to the fact I spilt cider all over it. The red vest is your bog standard nothing special American Apparel vest, alongside a rag of a skirt that’s so old it isn’t worth a mention. My leopard print, too-delicatefor-me leggings are the best purchase from Topshop ever, and are royally battered and holed, but I don’t have the heart to throw them away ’cos they’re gems. Glasses from American Apparel and brothel creepers from Ofﬁce!”

“I almost died when I saw this prom dress on Brick Lane last new year and paid a whole hundred pounds for it because I’m stupid. And despite the fact I’ve only worn it 4 times, I love it because it’s all puffy and I can spin round in it and knock people over as I walk past them. It’s teamed with a belt from Brick Lane as well – notice how I’ve linked the colours of the spots on the dress with the colours on the belt (SMART). There’s nothing I like more than a good old skool denim jacket, and this haggard one, is one I ‘borrowed’ from my best friend and refuse to give back. My bag was bought from a shop called I Dream of Wires”

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If you’ve been anywhere near London’s fashionable East End recently, chances are you might well have seen one of the multicoloured “evening mask” T-shirts (pictured, top right) from Girls From Omsk. This is, however, merely the tip of their quietly bold offering from the Belgian graphic/fashion collective. SUPERSUPER caught up with head girl Valeria Simiouchkina to ﬁnd out what lies beneath...

(RED)ALERT

UTUBE UTOPIA /// Cartoon Couture’s first lady is back with another snippet of her virtual world with this ‘worldwide web’ inspired capsule series. Concentrating on the online threads we create when using Youtube or Google, they took that thread, created a digital collage and finally printed that onto a T-shirt to make the thread come to life. The colours are rich and vibrant and the contrast between the images makes them all the more powerful. However, they also make a strong social comment on the times we live in, par example baby chimps on fire and words such as ‘WE ARE THE SEED OF A NEW BREED’, making the tees futuristic, yet super timely. It would be safe to say that yet again, the pied piper of the pixel posse has captured our imaginations with a truly inspiring collection. Check www.cassetteplaya.com for video and stockists.

Katie Hillier, accessories genius and designer for Marc Jacobs, is the latest in a long list of musicians, artists and fashionistas to create a limited edition shoe for the Converse 1HUND(RED) artist footwear collection. The shoes, in soft red and white leather, are embellished with 48 studs (on each – yes, we counted!) and have an added innersole that allows them to be remarkably comfortable. 50% of the gross proﬁt will be donated to the Global Fund which will then be invested in African Aids programs, the money will reach the root of the problem and help struggling families. Now you really can be a goody two shoes in both senses! Available at www. converse.com, £59.99

EASTPAK have ﬁnally landed in LDN’s famous Carnaby Street, and offering a lot more than just amazing bags! As well as stocking collections from Eley Kishimoto and Raf Simons, the store’s design itself is based on a unique mix of artistic and musical incorporation into which the store will become an instant hit. Regular music events will soon be taking place and up ‘n’ coming new talent will be able to DJ at the weekends with its ‘open decks policy’. Watch out, also, for the ‘Tag My Pack’ events that will include some of the UK’s most iconic grafﬁti artists tagging bags. Customers are encouraged to join in as well! 1-2 Carnaby Street, London

SUPERSUPER: Where actually is Omsk, besides it being located in Russia? GFO: In my crazy head! SS: So what is the concept behind ‘girls from Omsk’? GFO: The idea behind Girls From Omsk is to redefine the streetwear style through a designwear approch, by adapting its basics to the girl’s body and mixing those basics with more sophisticated pieces in order to offer a funky and edgy wardrobe. SS: One of your crew members studied as an architect – is the idea of structure something that’s prevalent throughout your collections? GFO: You mean Philippe Koeune? Yes, the former architect works as the team’s graphic designer now: from 3D to 2D... he went “flat” so to say... but he is doing fine. Growing a beard from all of the work overload! SS: Haha. You seem to be getting a lot of attention in London WITH LOTS OF many people wearing the harlequin/mask t-shirt. Is London important to you? GFO: London kicks ass! We would love to be sold in lots of shop in London and the UK!! SS: What does the future hold for GFO? GFO: These are tough times for all but the dreams and plans are intact. There are the Girls From Omsk /Kipling bags coming out in February in most Kipling and select shops all over the world. In the more distant future we would like to open chain of shops called O.M.S.K. SS: What City is next? GFO: For spring summer 09 the Girls From Omsk are hitting Austin in the US, York in the UK, Tashkent in Uzbekistan and passing through Omsk obviously... And all this in a Lada! SS: What was the funniest moment youve experienced during your many travels? GFO: When my collegue Philippe’s wallet and passport were stolen in the airplane on our way to Bread and Butter in Barcelona. It was so horrible that we laughed in the face of Life – who can be a real bitch sometimes!!! SS: What’s going on in Belgium at the moment? – are there any other young designers out there we should be keeping an eye out for? GFO: There was Peter Pilotto but he moved to London. Bruno Pieters (head of Hugo Boss now), Sandrina Fasoli, Cathy Pill, and a new colourful and daring designer JeanPaul Lespagnard.

Girls From Omsk words by Thomas Sels & Dan Szor, all others by Dominik E Riddler

SUPERLOVES!

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SUPERLOVES!

z n a i l l i V

SWATCH

Pictured: (Main image) Swatch 007 Baron Samedi; (bottom left) Swatch 007 Oddjob; (bottom right) Swatch 007 Blofeld.

Swiss watch manufacturers extraordinaire Swatch have always been at the forefront of cool. From their origins as a manufacturer of non-expensive, extremely well made timepieces they have strived over the years to always stay ahead of the game. Spontaneous, attractive and effortlessly hip, wearing a Swatch watch is probably the closest you can get to wearing Pop culture around your wrist. As well as working with some of the most credible artists and designers of the 20th Century (Keith Haring, JCDC, and Westwood just to name a few), Swatch can also be credited in creating the world’s tallest watch, which hung over the Commerzbank in Germany in 1984 – how SUPERSUPER is that?! Always up for challenge they are effortlessly evolving, constantly challenging the barriers of just what a watch should be and heir latest offering – the Bond villain collection: one timepiece for every evil mastermind in every 007 film – is no exception. From Doctor No to Le Chiffre, these villains are typically smart and sophisticated – they’re usually just one step away from world domination, remember, and you don’t get there easily! – and sometimes, dare we say it, stylistically even more inspirational than the main man himself (Baron Samedi pictured here is our personal fave) and definitely worth iconising in watch form. In typical Swatch stylee, the collection was launched with a bang – this time invited guests being swooped upon by masked intruders from boats and helicopters while they dined aboard a boat on Lake Bodensee on the Swiss/German/ Austrian border, where the latest Bond film, Quantum Of Solace, was filmed. Prices range from £32.50–£125, visit swatch.com to view the full selection.

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SUPERLOVES!

‘ONE GOAL ONE VISION’ – desclares the he euphoric ethos of AlpineStars and they certainly seem to on the right track. Their vision - to create the best sports and leisure wear available. Their goal – to make sure we’re all wearing it, and to be honest we really really want to judging by this jacket. The grunge looks massive at the moment and is set to get even bigger. Buy this jacket, put on your ‘Fur real’ hat pretend you’re a lumberjack and go and cut down your very own Christmas tree. But please be aware this may be illegal. Also carrying an axe around with you in public can be off putting. Maybe just pretend you’re a lumberjack. PS ‘The Stig’ off Top Gear is a big fan! www.alpinestars.com

ADIDAS x JEREMY SCOTT Back for another season of reality-defying fashion Jeremy Scott and Adidas really prove they rule this colab game! The collection really focuses on the original Jeremy Scott aesthetic – hoodies have ears, tails, and are covered in leopard print! But the shoes are what we SuperLove! A standard high-top Adidas shoe, but in luxurious gold and white leather and added wings (yes WINGS! – and detachable, of course). The other style comes in two colourways and features some ‘shinpad-look-a-like’ tongues – perfect protection for skankin’in a packed nightclub! For more info: adidas.com jeremyscott.com

NO STITCH-UP !

Renowned Spanish brand Desigual is fast becoming a high street legend. With its ﬁrst UK stand alone store smack bang in the middle of Regent Street, the store itself is much like the clothing – daring and creative. Desigual’s Autumn/Winter ’08 range mirrored the brand’s ethos, knitwear being the key focus, using brightly coloured yarn they created interesting and striking colours and textures. Unlike many other high street brands, Desigual isn’t afraid to play with silhouettes, oversized cardigans cut in the diagonal with tight 3⁄4 length sleeves, all help to conﬁrm that they will take this to the next level. Fashion just got fun! www.desigual.com

Photography by: (top) David Richardson (right) Dan Szor

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05-10 DECEMBER 2008 NEC BIRMINGHAM BOOK NOW 0844 579 3178 CLOTHESSHOWLIVE.COM FASHION //CELEBRITIES //BEAUTY //SHOPPING //MUSIC //CATWALK SHOWS //STYLE TIPS

ASLANTURK Transparent trench coats, givin’ you a cyber edge, Blade Runner styles!

BENCH JACKET We are loving this grey and yellow fitted jacket in city inspired print. Reminds us of a Rubik’s cube! Available at www. bench.co.uk, £50

TO&ETHER Is a new series in which Camper will collaborate with designers to create new shapes, new styles but always referencing Camper’s aesthetic. These pink shoes are from Jamie Hayon, world renowned artist/designer. Available at www.camper. com, £170

HL JEANS Co. Ultra-lightweight cotton jacket in a sumptuous check, sneaky embellishments and embroidery add character and style to this already fantastic piece. Available at www. henrilloyd.com, £125 FIRETRAP ‘ATS Legend has it that Firetrap produce the best hats, strong, endurable and seriously warm! This Dogear hat is no exception! Available at www.firetrap. com, £25

ECKO TEE Kings of street wear, Ecko, provide us with another cracking t-shirt with Graffitti motif. Purchase super-huge size for ghetto star look. :) For stockists call 020 7255 9000, £25 LADY LUCK One says, ‘Love me, I’m so sweet’. The other shouts, ‘I’m evil, stay back’. Which one will you be today? Available at www. ladyluckrulesok. com, £13

SKIGOGGLES! Cold weather calls for goggles of the ski variety! Adidas offer us a wide range of colours, from Gold through to Red. Available at www. my1d2.com, £114£124

CLUTCH ME MUCHLEY? Super nifty pop clutch from MCM, kings of leatherwear and chic accessories in luscious brown ‘mock croc’! Available at 5 Sloane Street, London, SW1. £448

VAGABOND LOVE these ankle boots, by favourite Swedish shoe brand Vagabond, especially in flame orange, so shiny, so HOT! Available at www. vagabond.co.uk, £95

BBC PJ’s Super soft brushed cotton pyjamas with BBC logo and back graphic by artist ROCKING JELLY BEAN. Sleepwear for true playa’s! Available at www. bbcicecream.com, £175

ADDICT x ROGUE STATUS Wind-runners took a contemporary twist in this collaboration. Reversible and with AK47 print. BRAPP! Available at www.addict. co.uk, £75

JAMIN PUECH Here at the SuperSuper towers we are going clutch crazy! Jamin Puech have provided adequate tools for our obsession, with an interesting orange clasp detail in high gloss finish! For stockists call 02072213059, £225

GIOGOI Cited by Vivienne Westwood as an inspiration, Gio Goi have been going from strength to strength with their latest goodies. This t-shirt being one of said goodies! Available at 0207 841 3000, £30

MAFIA CONSOLE CREATURES Tiled space invader with silver chain, and so cute. With humble beginnings in Portobello Road, these guys know how to make accessories fun! Available at www. supersweet.org, £9

ALARMING Never be late again with this motorised alarm clock. Alarm goes off, drives itself around your room, haul ass outa’ bed and turn it off! Available at www. firebox.com, £29.95

SUNGLASSES Transparent blue frames for shady games baby. And COLAB supplies the eyewear in a variety of shades, shapes and colours. Available at www. colab.com.au, £105

WATCH OUT! Taking the world by storm, this watch is what we at SuperSuper are craving most. Credit crunch cant exist when you have a watch that is this fly. Available at www. stormwatches.com, £169.99 1 MILLION Inspired by Paco Robanne’s love of gold, this fragrance steals notes of blood mandarine, blond leather and cinnamon. A multitude of layers mature’s when applied and lasts all day long. Definitely not fools gold! Call 02074946220 for stockists, 50ml £32

Artwork by Chris Pollard

RUN’A’WAY LOOK Get the multicoloured layering look, in Basso & Brooke!

THIS CHARMING MAN Thomas Sabo, created the prettiest charm bracelet that is fast becoming a must have for many jewellery connoisseurs. Add and subtract charms at your will. Available at www.thomassabo. com, Prices from £14.94£110

HUMMEL x SWEAR Working together to create an interesting mix of quirky and sport footwear, the two brands really did collaborate, using each other’s expertise and style together as one! Call 02082751170 for stockist, from £70

DR. MARTENS All white traditional Doc Martens, made as part of the ‘made in monochrome’ collection. This boot stays true to the core heritage of the brand and looks ultra slick when teamed with crisp blue denims! Available at store.drmartens. co.uk, £70

BOXFRESH Taking a contemporary look at a classic tennis shoe, Boxfresh have updated it using flashes of colour and their iconic logo print. Super comfy, Super Fresh! Available at www. boxfresh.co.uk, £55

eBOY x GOLA Pixel art collective eBoy have produced their first range with classic sports brand Gola. Expect an array pixel characters gracing footwear and luggage. We love the ‘Olsen’ Habbo Hotel inspired bag! For stockists call 01706 211 111, £30

BOY GANG

&Son is the creative baby of stylists Simon Foxton and Nick Grifﬁths. Having individually designed for the Kickers ‘X’ Project, they have now created an exclusive range for Fred Perry’s Blank Canvas venture. The print references the World War One and Two naval camouﬂage, known as ‘Dazzle’ (designed to confuse enemy submarine’s vision), but has been updated and modernised using a vivid palette. ATENTION! Call 020 7632 2800 for stockist, £110

GIRLGANG

SIX-SCENTS

Illustrator and designer Pinklady is the lifeforce that has created colourful and fun label ‘girlgang’, for those ladies that demand to be noticed and respected. Constantly referencing a past era, girlgang presents the collections with a clear theme and objective, but always giving a touch of humour. Through colour, cut and print the garments themselves speak volumes, stiletto printed leggings, puffball skirts in sheer fabrics and cute zip-up tops create a perfect combination for a classic and playful look. This is one gang that we want in on!

Symrise (leading fragrance company) and Metaproject (creative agency) along with Seven New York’s Joseph Quartana, have teamed up with some of the most inﬂuential designers to create Six Scents: Series One. The series has involved designers such as Gareth Pugh, Bernard Willhelm, Jeremy Scott and Preen, among others, to create fragrances of the wildest variety. Each designer teamed up with a fragrance pro and together they created a fragrance they felt summarised their brands. A percentage of the fragrances sale proceeds will go toward the International AIDS Awareness Education Centre in Belgium and Designers Against AIDs (DAA). Great Fragrances, Great Cause! Available at Selfridges, Single fragrance £46 or full set £858

Photography by Billa Clothes by girlgang Model Azeta at Carpediem

girlgang.co.uk

Let’s be honest, a life in retail leaves a lot to be desired, the hours are long and pay is not so good, there is also a required amount of interaction with the dirty public. One must maintain a cheery and outwardly helpful disposition in order to make that daily target no matter how much you want to strangle someone with a Bernhard Wilhelm scarf, if they buy it you’ve won. However demoralising the world of retail can be, there exist certain exceptions to the rule, in my opinion anyway. Kokon to Zai happens to be one of these miraculous exceptions – it has managed to maintain its integrity and stick to its artistic policy of supporting young designers and promoting talent in London, promoting ﬂedgling designers work next to the larger name brands that pull in the spanish tourists. A typical day in the life of Kokon to Zai involves, rocking up to work at around 11am, or 1pm if your lucky enough to get the later shift, providing that extra time to work of the hangover, once in the shop, the mandatory cleaning and sprucing must be completed, after all we have standards to maintain and things to polish, after cleaning duty there insues a period of calm, most of the sales are made after four pm so its eiother a really die hard fashion student or a foreign tourist that wanders into the shop before that magical time slot, and not to be nasty but niehter of these demographics have the adequate coinage to make a purchase from our hallowed rails, students just don’t have it and tourists are lothe to part with their precious travellers cheques so soon into their trip. Due to a need for exclusivity, we have now instigated a closed door policy, just to make it that little bit more gratifying for the select few that do

by TITUS GROAN

@ KTZ, London

make the cut and are allowed in. So, if there are no customers that I deem worthy of being allowed in, i will have a wander round the shop, straightening rails and generally having a browse, i might try something on, for it is common knowledge that the staff are viewed as part of the shop and are therefore a perfect platform for a bit of visual murchandising and in my eyes that means i get to wear the stuff and it is my right. So at around four o’cloack the shop might get a bit busier so i will have to drag myself away from solitair and watch the sticky-ﬁngered little bastards, just to make sure there are no discrepencies, all in all we get little trouble, but you never know, especially being in greek street, you’d be surprised how many queens go a-shoplifting of an afternoon, a statistic that i found hard to deal with, i assumed, based on my own opinions, that gay men would rather pay for thier fashion, how wrong you can be. So after this rush of late afternoon expenditure, which will hopefully result in a littl e commision for yours truely, we will close the shop at around 7.30 and head of to our individual destinations, be it home to tuck up ready for the next days retail excitements or to some night spot to tell people that ‘i work at Kokon to Zai, you should totally come in, we’ve got some amazing things at the moment that would look great on you!’ either way the fun never stops. Working in KTZ provides me with a variety of interesting experiences, i get to meet new people involved in fashion and many other ﬁelds of interest, i get to talk to my friends and make new ones, i get to wear nice clothes and earn a bit of money at the same time, its great!

“

Confessions of a shop assistant

“

“myspace or yours?!

Fiddy (not 50) is the authoritative grime journalist. A regular SUPERSUPER contributor, she’s also written for loads of impressive mags & papers, has her own blog (chantelleﬁddy.blogspot.com) and has run various clubnights, including top grime night back in the day, Straight Outta Bethnal.

CHANTELLE FIDDY Illustration by ScottMove

ADMIT IT. You never looked at setting up a Bebo account cause you thought it was for under-16s or kiddie ﬁddlers. And when all your friends started jumping from the MySpace boat to Facebook, you were so like whatever... But alas, the day came when you realised that you barely know anyone actually posting on your MySpace wall and you wanted to talk to some real friends. Given we’ve all forgotten how to write letters, send cards, make a phone call and can’t afford credit thanks to our economy ﬂopping harder than a defunct penis, Facebook seems the only logical soloution. But where does this leave the MySpace massive – that’s 117million unique users worldwide – now? Well, if you’re an artist, more concerned with pimping out your page than your production style, here’s hoping your tunes are actually good – in this social-networking wake there’s even less time to sift through the waste a lot of you call music. For the avid music fans and purveyors of beats with mass potential, this is actually a

win-win situation. The benefits of MySpace to an artist were and stll are obvious: with no middle-man between you and the masses, you can be your own PR-comemarketing guru, speak to the fans direct, use your rising play count to secure support elsewhere and draw a few buff tings while you’re at it. Now I’m in no way suggesting MySpace has killed the radio star, but it’s definitely changed the way artists work their tunes. Take for example when MySpace kicked off in my world, it transformed the way grime was digested. Gone were the days when potential consumers relied on music magazine press and radio (illegal and otherwise) to tell them what was good. The internet user became his own DJ: with a world of choice at his fingertips, ready to get air at any second, he discovered gems and shit he’d never thought possible. It also meant a lot of previously unknown acts were able to grab some of the limelight. The honeymoon days of MySpace saw ‘anthems’ coming and going by the week, few singles and a lot of hype.

Although there were other factors involved, journalists effectively became defunct in spreading the word, less and less magazines wanted to cover grime, editors didn’t see the need to cover that guy off MySpace. It was as if the ready accessibility took away some of the magic: grime was no longer untouchable, unreachable or unavailable to all. So where does this leave us today? Maybe I’m putting two and two together and making 235,677, but if we’re spending less time on MySpace, us internet users are effectively able to increase quality control – a long overdue necessity when trawling through thousands of crust cadets asking us to listen to codswallop. No longer will we check MC Doughnuts’ page just cause he asked us. No. We’ll go and look up wherever the buzz is at and be ready to buy if the goods are ready. In these credit crunch times, 60,000 friends, 100,000 plays and no product is really so like whatever: It’s time to sort out the p’s from the boys. If you think about it, there’s never been a better time for such an underground revolution.

“

“What’s with the MC Badman Deathkore Killa – when your real name’s Dave?! by

LOUKIA

IN THIS ERA OF GENERATION COOL, if you love raving, muzzzic with bass, spitting bars, making beats, garmz, skankin out, DJ-ing, or just generally being a socialite of the underworld, you won’t gain any notoriety with a humble name like Dave or Fred or Jane or Mavis. Instead you need a pseudonym. Maybe just an ‘aka’. It’s probably the most annoooyyyyiinnggggggg acronym in the history of abbreviation but sometimes people need a little ‘aka’. Those whose names do them no justice create an alias to be able to get by in life, especially after the 9pm watershed. You better start thinking fast because all the good ones are being taken. Take my imaginary friend for example. He is SO cool. He’s way cooler than me, or you or the coolest person you can ﬁnd in the coolest corner of Coolville. That’s why he’s imaginary. He does bare things. He’s an MC, producer, DJ, actor, stylist and just general jack-of-all-BRAPtastic-trade. His name is Big. It’s short for BigManBadderm anDontGetItTwistedRudeBwoy. This is not actually his REAL name. I was gutted when I found out because it shattered my illusion of how amazing his parents must be. Big’s parents are just as regular as mine. His real name is John. So can you see why he had to change it? Imagine he was MC John though. It’s not exactly the street-est of names. “Blud I swear MC John spits the baddest lyrics on road. Mans differently ghettoooo, trussssst me fam. MC John is the tinggg” doesn’t exactly have the right ring to it does it? The main victims of change-my-namesyndrome are people like John. The man dem. Mainly those involved with my favorite thing – the underground music industry. The (comatose) grime scene and the bangin’ world of bassline are literally alias-central. Even though it’s perfectly reasonable for the artists to adopt an alternative identity to separate their two lives, sometimes simply their choice of name is so extreme that it becomes very difﬁcult for them to be taken seriously. Being a grime lover I roll in circles where people have some of the funniest and most obscure names I’ve ever heard. Some of these grime gurus I’ve known since day so I know the name behind the name.

As well as just starting to DJ, Loukia is a self-confessed ‘nice girl’ who loves going out to raves, playing with language and has an MA in Professional Writing. [‘LOL’ – she says]. She also blogs at: loukiac.blogspot.com

Others I met a minute ago and am led to believe that they were actually christened “Invincible Ghetto Yute” or “DJ Showerman GangSTARrrr”. I understand the point behind these HENCH names people choose. It emphasizes the difference between their personalities even more. Like if you’re name is Trev and you’re an MC and you have bare ﬂuffy kittens at home you’re obviously going to separate Trev the kitten lover from the grimey bars you spit. By calling yourself MC BussLengOnTheRegzzz then no one will EVER guess that you love paint by numbers (my new fave thing) or have a kindle of kittens. In a desperate plight to be more unique however, these aliases end up becoming yet another addition to the cringy and clichéd names that clog up the music index. There are probably a thousand people with the same name as you, so you give yourself a pseudonym that you think will make you sound really cool/hard/ amazing. Sometimes though it actually makes you sound a bit, well, knobby. Let’s be psychiatrists about all this for a minute. The fact is you don’t have to be a DJ or an MC to have multiple identities. Everyone lives a double life. You might be all ‘I just do me,’ and ‘what you see is what you get’, but you know that you are a different person depending on your surroundings and environment. We all do it. When we get a moment alone in our room, when we’re walking through the city or sat on the train on our ones, we say, do and think things another version of our self would never let anyone else know about. We’re different at work and different at play. Different at home and in the rave, gemme? I am yet to don a new identity even though I too have multiple personas going on. When I become a famous sleb, I’m deﬁnitely changing my name. I’m changing it to something really amazing. Something that shows my prim and proper side but at the same time shows the skankin-own-garmzwearing-ravergirl-extraordinaire that I am. Something like “Hunnee Badgyal” is a good one. People will be baaare shook of me and my ghetto name. Everyone will be like – “Rrrahhh Hunnee is amazing innit” or, “Hunnee Badgyal is alottt. She’s alottt.”

Plus its seems that I’ll be able to get away with doing many more things with a name like this, instead of my boring old Greek name that nobody can even pronounce. Loukia Constantinou aka HuNnEe BaDgYaL. (Apparently spelling it with half upper case and half lower case makes it even cooler). Creating a sobriquet for yourself might be something which seems like a minor, but it affects the way people perceive you, the way you put yourself forward and the way in which you lead your various lives. If your social circles, work environment and personal network collide (which is often the case for those in industries like music and the media) well then at least come up with something that’s not so extreme it makes your real name sound like a fart. I guess the rule is this; what you know someone as, is who he or she is. And don’t bother asking anyone what their ‘real name’ is, unless you want to have a conversation like this: YOU: “Wow! I love your name it’s so original and unique but what’s your reeeaaal name?” MC/DJ: “Nah man why you wanna know my real name for? Just call me “Shankzzz” innit. Everyone’s been calling me that since day. Like when I was a day old ‘Shankzzz’ was my ﬁrst word so since then everyone calls me that. It doesn’t matter what my real name is. Actually that IS my real name.” YOU: “Yeh but obviously it’s not. Tell me. Please. I’m just curious.” MC/DJ: “Allow it man.” YOU: “Come on you know my real name. I wont tell anyone.” MC/DJ: “Yeh but I do bare tings innit so u know me how u know me. I ain’t telling u.” *LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL* I’m not being cynical. I just ﬁnd it funny. I mean, I’m all for the creativity of these names (hence Hunnee Badgyal). But the truth is, I really can’t wait for the day where I meet an MC or a DJ or a producer, or someone with some kind of status in some kind of industry whose name is Fred. And whose pseudonym is, MC Fred aka MC I’m-just-a-regular-boy-who-likes-to-dogrime-and-make-beats-and-go-morissonsand-eat-bare-jaffa-cakes. WHAT is more is more original than that... a lie?!

TODD HART

Todd Hart is an überknowledgeable music fan / dj / blogger who was raised in Tanzania and now lives in London. He runs these blogs: dalstonoxfamshop.blogspot.com derfreshcreamy.blogspot.com which you absolutely MUST check out, not least for the free mix that goes with this piece!

!! COMES WITH FREE DOWNLOABLE MIX !!

I BELIEVE the starker contrast a meaning presents, the purer and greater its value. This is perhaps because most of life is rather grey. For this reason I have become obsessed with finding the main message in most “art”. What could the artist have wanted to say the most? What was the primary intent? But I didn’t go to art school or music school and I have approached this question in my own organic fairly uninformed way. I have finally realized the amount of effort spent in most art, which I extend to music and its lyrics, is actually not directed at the message which is easy to distill. An art piece might be highly regarded for its statement about the place of racism in a certain sub-culture. Or a song might be viewed as powerful because it simply expresses basic human love. But aren’t these messages as obvious as a birthday card? Is that amount of artistic effort really primarily for the purposes of conveying such a simple message (even if it is a very important message)? No. I think most art is primarily about something ethereal, about a new way of looking at “what is art?” or about a new way of using light, sound or electronic instruments. But if this is the most important part of art, because it’s really where all the effort goes, then isn’t appreciation of art really a lot more subjective than it seems it should be? How can we as a culture agree on a process to evaluate the market value of something or look at its place in history with any confidence when it’s not really about some stark lasting meaning but rather just about the song’s or art piece’s relative place in a stream of human enjoyment? How can something ever really be silly? Or grand for that matter?

Photography by Bahdan Cap

“

Simon Le Bon, Disco & my 4 year old cousin?

In this spirit, I have contrived a random experiment on meaning as my own art piece below. In the following text every sentence is lifted from a different music blog and there is a music mix which you can download made from songs downloaded from the same blogs in the same order. We can see here the comparison of random verbal meaning with mixed parallel songs/genres. And I don’t really have a message, or not a grand one.

basically a reworking of “Wassup Wassup”) keeping an excerpt of that track makes this a winner. Starts off with the same oom-pah march of Gregory D’s “Buckjump Time”... such a strange rhythm for a rap song – squared-off, the heartbeat of punk or polka or some shit. The brothers from Brentwood Long Island bring us the Jersey nigga with the snot rag up his nostril. Noted ethnomusicologist and all-around incredible person John Collins has written on it a bit.

And now something special for all those darksynth-starved, something you’ve all been waiting for. This will not be a discussion about individual recordings here that are beautiful or ﬁne sounding. (translated from Polish) Members Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes were left to complete it after Roger Taylor left the group. It’s skeletal beat, melodic keys, and chilly vocoder work must be the result of early sunsets and long nights in. After becoming demonised in the 70s in a violent fashion, disco seems to return every eight years or so, kicking and screaming, refusing to die. Attention: A rare pearl. (translated from french) Sometimes it’s amazing how many times a track can have its comeback and then resurface again. The lyrics are all written in Danish, but I get the feeling that the words are not that important, as they are functioning more like topping on the cake. So hey kids, I’ll be spending my day at the beach tanning and then lunch and then shopping. And I’d just like to set the record straight... dude is mad young.

I was also exposed to all kinds of crap. There are those of a similar vintage who embrace said crap nostalgically. I downloaded it, totally forgot about it, and I just realized I needed a password to open the ﬁle. It was like some sort of middle eastern acid-washed troupe from the future-past had landed on Montgomery street: neon-polka-dotted Arabic Casio keyboards, a mini percussion rack that could have belonged to either Jamie Lidell or my 4-year-old cousin, and a bunch of cutouts of safari animals. And frankly, I’m not convinced this blog currently has the readership to necessitate me putting forth too much effort (at this time). So here’s one side of a record. In many ways NDW was the new punk, as teenage angst and guitars were scrapped in favour of Dada and synthesizers. Their music incorporates minimalist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. Just wonderful. I want to have a dinner party just to play his music in the background.

Funky drums, repetitive vocals, handclaps, an old school disco feel and (since it’s

For a listing of the blogs sourced for the essay in the order used and to download the mix, please go to dalstonoxfamshop.blogspot.com.

KETAM

THE DRUG OF T

AMINE

F THE NATION?

KETAM KETAMINE///

THE DRUG OF THE NATION?

IT HAD been a house party just like any other. It was around 6 and things were starting to wind down and, as had recently become the norm for this stage in the night’s proceedings, there was lots of Ket going round. Everyone was just doing their own thing and having a laugh until we noticed that one of our party wasn’t moving a whole lot and had cut his arm several times with shards from a nearby broken vase. As we tried to wake him from his ‘sleep’ we noticed that he wasn’t alone in his curiously unresponsive slumber: another of our friends was on the floor open-mouthed and staring unblinklingly at the ceiling. We realised things had gone waaaay wrong and rang an ambulance. Turned out they’d both OD’ed on Ket. Or rather, as was pointed out at the hospital, Ket cut with a cocktail of smack and GHB. One of them was so far gone that his heart had stopped beating and his parents had to be called by the nurses in case they died. All in all it was some pretty bad shit. But apparently not bad enough to stop two particularly nihilistic partygoers hoovering up the dregs from the bag – despite having seen two of their best friends carted out in an ambulance. Nor was it bad enough to prevent either of those who were hospitalised from doing Ketamine again within a matter of weeks. That not even a dance with death was sufficient to stop them doing K again either says a lot about my friends or about the all-conquering nature of the drug. Probably a bit of both, but either way it’s impossible to deny the rising prominence of this powdery horse tranquiliser over the last few years. Regular Ketamine use has increased fourfold since 2000 with an estimated 100,000 people now using it in the UK, with the drug already more widely used in some parts of the country than ecstasy. OK so Ket’s nothing new – it has, infact, been around since the sixties. It’s not even strictly a horse tranquiliser either (despite what you may have heard or read it’s still frequently used in human medicine and always has been) but, after years of intermittent popularity in London’s squat and gay scenes, it’s exploded big time into the mainstream and its momentum is showing little sign of waning. For the uninitiated, Ket is a tranquiliser known for its properties as disassociative anaesthetic. What that means in real terms is that in small doses it makes you feel like you’re incandescently floating in the air while trying to run in a swimming pool with your limbs on back to front. In bigger doses it’s liable to render you incapacitated, seeing and hearing all kinds of weird psychedelic shit and generally tripping out (this is the state that people are referring to when they’re talking about ‘going into a K-Hole’). What makes Ketamine so different from so many other socalled ‘recreational drugs’ is the relative ease in which you can regulate your usage (if you know what you’re doing). Ketamine is a particularly modern drug in the sense that the short term effects of small doses can be regularly topped up on a ‘pay as you go’ basis. Generally in the context of clubs and public social situations people moderate their consumption by doing it in small ‘bumps’ (very small lines of around 30-50g which produce mild effects and last a short period of time) rather than in full lines, the strength and incapacitating nature of which can all too easily knock you sideways and, before you know it, have you chatting fraff, dribbling all over your

friends and bussin’ out the 1bpm zombie skank inna corner by yourself. Not a good look. Harry Shapiro, Director of Communications at Drugs organisation Drugscope explains the effects of these dosage variants in slightly more scientiﬁc terms: ‘At low dosage levels (around 100mg), the user will feel euphoric and experience rushes or waves of energy. At higher doses (200mg and over) the user will often experience hallucinations similar to LSD and the typical ‘out of body’ experience’.

But why Ketamine and why now? Well, for starters, a lack of anything else about. Whilst Nu Rave – unlike ‘old Rave’ – was never initially about taking drugs, the moment its inﬂuence hit the mainstream coincided with the quality of pills and availability of MDMA starting to decline, and with them the nation’s danceﬂoors suddenly began to wobble beneath the cumulative weight of a generation’s worth of Hi-Tops. With the usual stimulants not so readily available the club kids began experimenting with more underground sedative drugs like Ket (previously perceived by the very same people as something of wasteman’s drug) and, to a far lesser extent, GHB, in order to get their chemical kicks. Such a drastic shift in narcotic consumption meant changes in the cultural landscape were inevitable, and following Nu Rave came increasingly dark scenes which mirror both the drugs and, in a broader sense, the times in which we live – starting with Nu Grave and culminating in the birth of the Darkwave era which we inhabit now.

Jack, a 21 year old from Kent explained to me how Ket has come to be the recreational drug of choice amongst his peer group: “Everyone is over their MDMA honeymoon now and would prefer to do a few lines (of Ketamine) and pop out, rather than drop a couple of bombs (ecstasy pills) and spend all night with a horrible gurn, nursing chapped lips, chewedto-fuck mouths, and brains that feel like they’ve been emptied of any useful content the next day. I guess Ketamine’s sudden availability – in Kent at least – over the past year has also had a part to play. It certainly does seem to be the new drug du jour, everyone seems to be doing it all of a sudden, even kids. At Reading Festival my local K dealer was 14!”

Seeking a sensory synchronicity with their adopted drug of choice many new Ketamine users have turned to slower, sparser musical forms (to better suit the sedative, spaceshifting effects of Ket) in order to get their groove on. Dubstep had already become the soundtrack of choice in the squat party scene and it wasn’t long before Ket had replaced spliffs as the biggest thing in the genre since half-time beats and wobble basslines. The inﬂuence quickly spread from the squat parties to the DJs, to the records, to the clubs, with many Ketamine advocates within the genre likening the drug’s impact on the music to that of ecstasy on the late eighties club scene: “It seems that people have suddenly woken up to the amazing synchronicity between dubstep and Ketamine, which I guess was totally unintentional on the part of dubstep’s originators”, writes one dubstep forum user. “K and dubstep were born for one another, just like ecstasy and acid house... watching dubstep’s sudden boom in squat raves has really reminded me of the lightbulb that went on over people’s heads in 88-92 when they ﬁrst took Es to house music.”

AMINE The issue of Ketamine in dubstep has been hotly contested across the scene’s blogs and forums, and there are many unhappy ravers who want the swaying ket-zombies to get the fuck out of their way and let them get their skank on. Nonetheless, the omnipotent presence of Ket in Dubstep at the moment marks a massive turnaround for a movement that once prided itself on its music-centric vibe; as forum user Bootystep puts it “I remember a time when I could say to people ‘dubstep isn’t about drugs, it’s about the music’, but to the masses this has clearly changed.”

For many others taking Ket is simply part of the more one dimensional British tradition of getting wrecked. With the same kind of mentality as binge drinking, people are going out to clubs, not to dance or enjoy any kind of holistic experience, but simply to get wasted. According to 19 year-old ‘Danny’: “Ketamine’s become a regular, social thing for me now – it’s replaced alcohol for many of my friends as a general all-use drug.” Jack from Kent echoes this sentiment: “Me and my compadres love K even though half the time we don’t have fun on it... [it] makes you dance like a bit of a twat and not really know where you are if you do too much, but if you get it just right it’s all the confidence of drinking heavily without the loss of balance.” Irrespective of any of the ethical and risk considerations that must accompany any drugs vs alcohol debate, it’s hard to contest that sniffing a small line of powder requires significantly less exertion, both physically and financially, than drinking ten pints of beer. Alcohol aside, in comparison with other drugs, Ketamine is relatively inexpensive – the average UK price is around £20 for a gramme. Combine this with its high levels of potency and its appeal for those seeking a cost-effective way of getting wrecked becomes apparent. Beyond this the drug is, in part at least, being widely adopted as a preferred means of inebriation simply because, like anything adopted from the gay scene for more homogenised mainstream use (with all the connotations of ‘newness’ attatched) Ket is currently considered ‘cool’. That Ketamine might better lend itself to a more self contained, introverted sensory experience as opposed to a more communal one doesn’t seem to matter; the club scene in London right now is awash with kids who have the cash to splash on more Ket than they can actually handle, who seem as confused as to why they’re doing it as the people looking on trying to work out exactly why that kid is busting out some slo-mo swimming moves in the middle of the dancefloor and grabbing at the legs of passers by.

Of course there are those users who are in it for it’s psychedelic properties and know exactly why they are taking it. Noted Nu Age guru and counterculturalist Marcia Moore was a conﬁrmed fan, with her book ‘Journeys Into the Bright World’ (1978), – which detailed her personal experiences from the K Hole and and beyond – being the most extensive early resource on the drug and its potentially mind bending properties. Unfortunately for her, one night under the inﬂuence of Ket she decided to get reacquainted with nature and climb a tree, the only problem being that she quite literally never came down – her skeleton was eventually discovered sat on the same branch some 2 years later!

Despite this cautionary tale Ketamine remains popular for its properties as a psychedelic. Peter Glam, a 24 year-old user from London/Berlin recounts one of his typically trippy K-Hole experiences: “You do your line, lay back, take a deep breath and the music comes at you in weighty waves that carry you through tunnels, warehouses and museums in which you are on display for faceless hordes peering at you through the ceiling/wall/ﬂoor (whichever it is at the time). A lot of times people are there, and you have really nice conversations with them, in which you know everything about everything, then realize when a song changes that they were never there at all. I’m forever grateful to the Japanese boys who are always in my bathroom, holding my cloak back as I vomit from too much K, then helping me back into my bed.”

So with such a wide range of both uses and users where is all the Ketamine coming from? No, I don’t mean your mate Dave or your dodgy local dealer. I mean who’s the guy that they’re getting it from, getting it from? And more importantly, who’s he getting it from?? Customs have reported a growing trend in Ketamine importation since 2001, with most of it coming from Asia and India in particular. Legitimate pharmaceutical companies are re-labelling the packaging of Ketamine and shipping it in to Western buyers as an unregulated chemical or under the guise of rosewater and massage oils. Ketamine was only classified as a Class C drug in the UK just over 2 years ago and before then the process was even simpler. Back then dealers (aided by commercial advertising websites aimed at companies wishing to import and export products) would simply purchase liquid Ketamine by the litre, ship it in and then sell it on to club/street dealers at a profit margin of 300%. As cocaine matched the opulent optimism of the early eighties and pills mirrored the revolutionary spirit of rave, a hallucinogenic tranquiliser seems to provide users the mirage of escapism to ease them through the perils of these rather uncertain credit crunch times. In terms of cultural product its influence can be seen in music, with songs written both about it (Kids on K by The Coolness, various Ket-referencing dubstep and electro tunes), and tracks made on it, in fashion trends (you didn’t think those keys everyone’s wearing round their necks were just to help them get in the house, right? See also: ‘Ketamine’ T-Shirts by Charles of London), and in a whole wave of new-psychedelic imagery that’s cropping up right now.

Whilst Ketamine’s socio-cultural impact has been relatively far reaching, its mainstream press coverage to date has been suprisingly muted, despite the fact that much of its use is going on right under the noses of the populist London media. This absence of any distinct controversy, like that which accompanied the late 80s /early 90s ecstasy boom (and the subsequent death of Leah Betts which was linked to the drug), can’t be down to any lack of perceived risk associated with K. If my story earlier wasn’t enough to convince you of the potential dangers of Ket it’s important to note that there have already been several deaths related (both directly and indirectly) to the drug, and recent tests in Hong Kong have proven it causes long term liver damage and memory loss in some regular users. Drugscope’s Harry Shapiro advises that “Ketamine use can also be particularly dangerous if used at the same time as depressant

KETAMINE/// THE DRUG OF THE NATION?

Continued...

drugs such as alcohol, barbiturates, heroin or tranquilisers, as it can shut the body down to such an effect that the lungs or heart to stop functioning.” Aside from these direct physical risks, the rise of Ketamine consumption has also (like any drug widely used amongst the 16-24 age bracket) given birth to innumerable cases of students dropping out of college/uni. “I did my first bump at 14 and am fast losing my childhood to Ketamine” says Ruby, a 16 yearold Ket user “though I can safely say that I would rather be doing K than GCSE’s...” As well as these kind of stories there are also of reports surfacing of users who have become psychologically addicted to the drug to the extent that they have resorted to crime in order to feed their K fix. Tolerance for Ketamine builds very quickly and regular users will need larger and larger doses to get the same repeated high. “My ex boyfriend was hooked on it, spending over £40 a day on Ket for about a year” one girl told me. “It was getting ridiculous. He sold so much stuff to pay for it. Stealing, always being mashed – this is anonymous by the way cos if he found out I would be in so much shit! – but yeah, it was horrific. I’ve tried it myself and it makes you feel like a spaceman. It fucks you up bigtime.” From a sociological perspective it will be interesting to note any changing trends amongst Ket users over the next few years. For now at least, recreational Ketamine use in the club and party scene remains, though widely adopted, a fundamentally middle class pursuit. If Ket is to become the drug that defines our generation, penetrating both popular culture and the public consciousness, then it still needs to transcend this usergroup to become ‘of the people’. A large part of the driving force behind ecstasy’s cultural impact in the late eighties and early nineties was its capacity to bring people together and democratise any perceived social or class barriers, particularly when large scale use was applied to the context of raves and clubs. In contrast, Ketamine’s capacity to bring people together in such a way remains questionable (even in environments where it is being widely used), as does its capacity to assist in attaining sensory synchronicity within a club context. As a more ‘selfish’, self-contained drug, it is, for now at least, probably best to view the current wave of Ketamine use as being defined by our confused, credit crashing-binge drinkingMe-Me-Me times, rather than defining them itself. Like the age in which we live, we have no idea where it’s all going or where it’s all gonna end. All we know is that, right now, Ketamine seems to be everywhere and its influence, and usage, is getting bigger and bigger and bigger...

Drugscope: drugscope.org.uk

Words by BiLLY iDLE

In the course of making this article, SUPERSUPER invited you, our readers, to tell us your thoughts on Ketamine. We had an enormous response, so we’ve decided to run a representative selection here. We should also point out, on the record, that we do not in any way condone the use of Ketamine. Daddy Longlegs, 19 “Ketamine’s become a regular, social thing for me now, it’s replaced alcohol for many of my friends as a general all-use drug. Nothing beats that first line when you come back wrecked from a rave and play some Fujiya & Miyagi tunes! Ketamine gives you the option of a different end to a party; instead of sleep or smoking over a comedown, you can lie back and let your mind crumble...” Natalia, 22 “I have never taken K, but loads of my friends do it and it totally freaks me out to be honest. The strangest thing about it is it seems to be a completely selfish drug, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I remember going out with my K-loving friend and him just falling all over everyone like a zombie all night. It really pissed me off to be honest because I couldn’t speak to him or dance with him or anything. It says a lot about the state of youth today – the idea that it’s cool to experience something that isn’t even enjoyable. It’s not like a lot of these kids have a hard life – on the contrary they are mostly middle class and comfortable. I think that’s part of the problem – it reflects a kind of stupid mediocrity and numbness. It kind of makes me sad that people think they are having fun by doing something isolated and lonely. I heard that song ‘KHole’ by that Ali Love and it made me think he was a complete twat.” Jack, 21, Maidstone “Me and my compadres love K even though half the time we don’t have fun on it. we used to use it as an ‘afterparty’ drug; doing little lines once we were home from a heavy night just to perk us up and bit and ensure we got up to a little more mischief before we crashed out. However recently it’s come into a class of its own with heavy usage all round, some nights out spent on K alone. Makes you dance like a bit of a twat and not really know where you are if you do too much but if you get it just right it’s all the confidence of drinking heavily

without the loss of balance and graceful motor skills. The peak of my use was at Reading festival this year where I was tricked by some bigger boys into doing a massive line, I was standing maybe fifteen minutes before I curled up into the foetal position and claimed I didn’t know anything, occasionally lifting my head to cry ‘what’s going on!?’. From what I remember I thought I had always been in the K-hole & had always been at Reading but the humans around me were completely new to me and I found all their concepts of relationship were ridiculous. Oh yeah and I thought I was going to die. I love Ket.” Vivian, 15 “Special k forever :]! I tried it once. It was this summer actually, when I went to London. My friend surprised me with it because he knew I’d been wanting to try it. Anyway, we tried it at an artsy party. It was a snazzy little powder and I did maybe 3 lines, or 4. After inhaling I felt like I was in slow motion, maybe in some obscure dimension where everything was different, ha-ha. Right after that I went into the K-hole. It sort of just opened up out of nowhere and swallowed me in. I don’t really remember much after that, or I do, but I can’t explain. I know that it was enlightening, like everything was revealed to me and my eyes were opening for the first time. Everything was new.” David, 23 “My friend’s brother fell through an Estate Agent’s window – his parents had to go and pick him up from the hospital so they did a blood test and it was a total shock to his parents. He’s got 3 massive scars on his face now – his face is really fucked. I did it once when i was drunk – it was called ‘eckels’ and I took it not really knowing what it was. I ended up chipping my tooth because I became transfixated with trying to do an impossible form of breakdancing. My friend had to carry me like a wounded soldier all the way home. It’s a totally antisocial drug, it’s not like you can do it as a group or anything. I can understand how you can do it in the privacy of your own home if you are miserable and want to knock yourself out like in a sleeping pills kind of way. But I can’t really see the point of it as a recreational drug at all. It seems utterly pointless to be honest.”

Charlotte, London “People who do too much Ketamine = KETAMINGERS.” Rebecca “Yeah I think Ketamine’s really great. I love to spend hours getting dressed up in a high maintenance outﬁt, and then spend all night drooling on people’s shoulders, leaning on them as they try to keep me upright. I’m famed for my intense yet witty conversation when I’m taking it, which usually sounds something like this....”yyyyaaaarr rbleeeurghhhhhnnnyyyaaaarrrr.” Legalise it now! And then lower the age limit!!” Julian, Brighton “Ketamine is utter SHIT. It’s a sad state of affairs when people need tranquilizers to go out & have a good time. Stimulants like Amphetamines, Coke & Ecstasy at least make you faster & raises your heart BPM/ adrenaline levels a little higher... and grass/mushrooms/acid at least trip you out & warps your visual perceptions/imagination... but K just razes you to the ground & clouds your mind like alcoholism. My friends who think K is cool are complete TWATS, without exception.” Artemis “It’s fucking disgusting. My own tranquiliser, Lorazepam is a lot more fun. I mean, for god’s sake ket is a HORSE tranq! It makes you lick postboxes and whatnot... Never nice” Anonymous “My ex boyfriend was hooked on it for about a year spending over £40 a day on it. It was getting ridiculous. He sold so much stuff to pay for it. Stealing. Always being mashed. This is anonymous by the way isn’t it? – if he found out I would be in so much shit. But yeah it was horriﬁc. I’ve tried it myself and it makes you feel like a spaceman. It’s not good at all. It fucks you up big-time and makes you do things you’d never do. I hate the stuff now. It’s all well and good doing it in that moment but as soon as you’re on it. you can’t wait to get off.” Beaver, 19 “Ket sux!! I know someone who was the nicest, most attractive of the females I know. Then she got into Ket and became the quietest person in our crew – she misses some weeks completely cos she’s mashed. It’s not good brethren!”

Jack, 21, Essex “Ha-ha, I think basically because everyone is over their MDMA honeymoon and now would prefer to do a few lines and pop out than drop a couple of bombs and spend all night with a horrible gurn and all the next day nursing chapped lips, chewed to fuck mouths and brains that feel like they’ve been emptied of any useful content. Although having said that nobody really likes having to try and do lines in a club, always a recipe for disaster. It also compliments drinking, and you are more likely to be funny on K than you are MD, it’s all good and well hugging one another and spending the evening in the smoking area talking but really a night is made by the stories that come from it. And walking around like the dude from ‘Fear and Loathing’ and then almost getting kicked out for trying to climb on the bar is far more of a story than ‘I bonded with Dave’. I guess its sudden availability (in Kent at least) over the past year also has a part to play and it certainly does seem to be the drug du jour – everyone seems to be doing it all of a sudden, even kids. At Reading my local K dealer was 14!” Alex, 20, South London “First time I took Ket I played Pro Evo on the Xbox and I lost all comprehension of the third dimension (on screen) so everything became 2d. I then proceeded to K-hole on my bed. Much safer than 8 pints and a couple of shots of vodka!”

was talking to me for a bit but I didn’t reply. When I asked if I could speak I tried but no sound came out of my mouth. I lay back down in frustration and tried to speak, this time I did it! I then sat back up to see if I could talk like that but I couldn’t, I started laughing silently and my friend pushed me down and then the noise came flowing out, he brought me back up and I was silent again. At the time it was the wastest thing I had ever experienced, it was pretty bad, and I can’t remember how I brought myself out of it, but I knew I had to coz Justice were on in 45 minutes. My first and last to date K-HOLE.” Ben, 17, Durham “I myself use Ket regularly. I use it at the end of a night after other substances (cocaine, E) as you get a buzz for half an hour and then it knocks you out, it also seems to rid you of a comedown the next day. I wouldn’t use Ket on a night out as I don’t think it suits that sort of environment. I class Ket as a safe drug as long as you know the crack and don’t take too much.” Emily 19 Nottingham “The first time I did Ketamine in a club my friends said I claimed to see a massive polar bear with pink lipstick on mowing through all the other club kids. Then I spent a good ten minutes in the bathroom spinning on the spot. Yup it was a gooood night thanks to that horse guy. My thoughts – ‘did you see that? it just flew right up my nose!’.”

Peter Glam, 24, London/Berlin “Ohh! As has been well documented over the years in Emily, 17, Manchester various mediums, I am definitely “I was at Leeds Festival 08, and pro K! Though I must say, I’m not tried Ket for the first time. I did the into people getting so zombiefied first couple of lines and I really liked in public places that they sneeze in other people’s sleeves, shit it, I can remember saying to my themselves or throw up in their friend that I felt okay but my head purse while letting some bouncer felt like it was on the ferris wheel, check their oral cavities (I’ve been floating around slowly. Everything there, it’s not a good look!). was really good until I hit my 4th I prefer to take Ketamine in the line of the day. At first I felt normal comfort of my own home, for the but then I started feeling sick and sought after ‘journey’. had to go and sit down on a chair I take a LOT of Ketamine. There’s and drink some water. One of my friends was saying I was pulling a whole ritual with it as well. My a whitey, but I wasn’t. So I went flatmate and bff Sarah Poppers round to the back of my friend’s and I will set up the room, with tent and sat there for a while interesting things dangling from feeling ill, texting my friend telling the ceiling (like the K KING and her to text her boyfriend (who I was QUEEN – lovely little marionette with at Leeds, and she was back in style puppets she made), lighting Manchester) getting him to come with strange shadows, umbrellas to the back of his tent to come hanging from skylights, etc. and find me. When he got there I Then we get out our trusty Edie just looked at him for a moment, Sedgwick hardback book and and came out with “shit...”. He dump a wrap out onto it, dividing

it into ‘pre-line-previews,’ ‘prelines’, and ‘journey-lines’. We space these out, easing ourselves into the warm fuzzy envelope of anaesthesia. During the pre-linepreviews and pre-lines, we smoke cigarettes and listen to whatever music takes our fancy at the time. Sometimes, I turn on a tape recorder (ie rape recorder) and record whatever garbled rubbish we manage to string together into sentences. These will be used in a series of rape tapes, which I plan to make into a book. When we feel sufficiently fucked, we then begin to prepare for a journey. The right music is essential. We usually go for granddaddy’s album ‘The Sophtware Slump’ or sometimes something by Bjork, Radiohead, Godspeed You Black Emperor, or Sigur Ros. You do your line, lay back and link arms, and take a deep breath as the music comes at you in weighty waves that carry you through tunnels, warehouses, museums in which you are on display for faceless hordes peering at you through the ceiling/wall/floor, whichever it is at the time. And a lot of times people are there, and you have really nice conversations with them, in which you know everything about everything, then realize when a song changes that they were never there at all. I’ll always be grateful to the Japanese boys who are always in my bathroom, holding my cloak back as I vomit from too much K, then helping me back to my bed. If you would like to hear more on my thoughts and experiences, let me know, but I only have 2 minutes and 32 seconds of internet time left before the computer turns off. tschuss! xxx” Ruqy “Hmmm I did my first bump at 14 and am fast losing my childhood to Ketamine! – though I can safely say that I would rather be doing K than GCSEs...” Mark, 19 “Ket is mainly popular now cos it’s so easily available compared to things like Ecstasy which aren’t as much really. As for what I think about taking it, I believe that all human experience is worthwhile, I believe the more you say yes to things, the better! After all, humanity is a curious race, that’s what puts us apart from animals, and what has driven our evolution to the point where we ourselves could be the creators of the next universe. lolz deep!”

‘

With all the high-brow talk of art commissions, beautiful shows and progressive electronic music it can be easily forgetten that we are dumb rap fans and really, really UNCOOL

–Dom Sum

WHY Franz Ferdinand, you may ask? Well, it was wayyy back in 2002, when the snake-hipped retro slicksters were repping Glasgow on the world stage that two pals, Dom and Martyn, really started to feel the urge to DO SOMETHING. “I was an audacious observer at lots of Glasgow’s best shows,” chuckles Dom, but there was precious little opportunity in the clubs for the duo, who were pushing and listening to a new underground hip hop sound. “We had to start something, we needed to bring everyone together. There were a group of rappers, producers and DJs that had nowhere to play out. The city is such an inspiring and vibrant place. A lot of the time now we get attention from the media about the whole DIY thing, but it didn’t seem like it at the time, although I suppose it was.” LuckyMe don’t believe in luck. They are straight up hustlers: “The harder you work the luckier you get” explains Dom. Unsurprisingly, for a creative powerhouse founded on music (the art came later) and friendship, the first incarnation of LuckyMe was the original LuckyMe night, held at an intimate pub called Stereo, in Glasgow’s West End. With enough creativity, hunger and determination, from these humble beginnings another alternative culture began to build. “When we started off we had absolutely no idea about the technicalities of running a club night. We flyered grass roots, hand drawn and photocopied, and it just grew and grew” says Martyn. However, within a couple of months of opening, it soon became the city’s favourite underground open mic night, the intimate venue giving the world its first sightings of some of the brightest and most innovative young talent around – talent that has since spread its influence around the world. At the centre of the movement are the producers; Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Martyn and Mike Slott. Dom and Nadsroic a female MC/singer, are all vocalists. As well as working individually, they collaborate together under aliases such as Heralds of Change (Mike and Hud Mo), Surface Empire (Dom and Hud Mo) and The Blessings (Dom and Martyn FineArt). The sound that began to emerge was idiosyncratic, certainly. A fresh, dream-like, crackling interpretation of hip hop, taking sounds you think you recognize but rendering them completely new and organic – the birth of a star in space, the sound of crunk being played through an speaker 1,000ft under water... “When we met Hudson Mohawke he was pretty young. He and Dom began working together straight away – which went on to influence the crew and build our name” explains Martyn. As Dom puts it: “we arrogantly thought we were good enough to play out and build a rep.”

LuckyMe ROLL CALL

NAME: RUSTIE, 25 (ABOVE) ENDZ: SOUTH SIDE OF GLASGOW ROLE IN LUCKYME: MUSIC ARTIST SOUNDS LIKE: BOHOOM CHICKA BEEP BOP.....CHSSSHH CHSSSH LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: OUR LITTLE TOUR OF AMERICA TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: BAD SCIENCE EP ON WIREBLOCK & A DEBUT ALBUM IN THE PIPELINE FOR WARP

NAME: ÉCLAIR FIFI, 26 (ABOVE) ENDZ: LEITH ROLE IN LUCKYME: DJ SOUNDS LIKE: A JUMBLE SALE LOOKS LIKE: OLIVE OYL INSPIRED BY: ORIGAMI, PYRAMIDS, DELIA DERBYSHIRE, COFFEE, SEABIRDS, BERNARD FEVRE, ELECTRIC COMPANY, KIDS TV, IVOR CUTLER, LATIN FREESTYLE, BACTERIA, DANCING GIFS, CRISPS, TIE-DYE DOORAGS LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: SIMPLY JOININ THE TEAM TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: ANDROIDS AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE NAME: MR COPY, 20 ENDZ: SOUTHSIDE, GLASGOW ROLE IN LUCKYME: THE 4/4 MAN SOUNDS LIKE: BASS, BLEEP, SIRENS, WHITE NOISE INSPIRED BY: THE 4 SEASONS, BIG SOUNDSYSTEMS, APPLES TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: VARIOUS REMIXES AND RELEASES THIS YEAR AND NEXT. THE MPC LIVE SHOW!

Left, top: Ivor Williams, Poster marking the anniversary of the death of J. Robert Oppenheimer, inventor of the Hiroshima Warhead. Left, bottom: LuckyMe All Seeing Eye logo

LuckyMe are a Glasgow based multislash creative collective whose numbers and global rep are growing day by day. SUPERSUPER’s Emma Dilemma caught up with founding friends Dominic ‘Dom Sum’ Flannigan and Martyn ‘FineArt’ Flyn to chat fame, fortune cookies and Franz Ferdinand...

Left, top: Ivor Williams, Poster marking the anniversary of the death of J. Robert Oppenheimer, inventor of the Hiroshima Warhead. Left, bottom: LuckyMe All Seeing Eye logo

“A bootleg is throwing two things together. At the time there was a lot of talk about crunk being on the way out, and we wanted to subvert it so we did the visual representation of high fashion and dirty ghetto music, thrown together.” – Artwork for LuckyMe’s ﬁrst release: Hudson Mohawke’s ‘Oops’.

Although everyone works pretty much alone, they exchange a lot of music. Hearing things the others have done – and now, seeing what the others are doing – is hugely inspiring creatively. There is a combined will from each for the success

Aside from the aural – what of the visual? Currently LuckyMe has a galaxy of friends who make art. Colin Faulkes, Christina Kernohan, Ivor Williams, Pete Marsden, Innes Maran and KonxOm-Pax. Along with Dom Sum, of course, who adds – “They are making us look dope”. Focusing on fine art, print, web, photography, fashion and video design, it is another story of humble beginnings, as Dom explains: “The Art side of things came in to play because I needed to hand draw some flyers for our night. When we started releasing stuff [Dom and Hud Mo] under the name of Surface Emp we did our own sleeve, which was also hand illustrated. I was at the Art School and meeting friends there, and at parties around Glasgow. There’s a lot of cross collaboration between visual communication elements in the graphic, design and illustration areas. It’s an organic process. The Art Directors of LuckyMe are people who I’ve known for years. Like Vixy who runs Oddities clothing and does stuff with LuckyMe – I used to do graffiti paintings for her shop when I was 15. It was ironic because when I went off to uni, to the Art School, they immediately beat out of you things like skate design graphics and graffiti, and you realise that there wasn’t much merit in the graphics you’re into. Over the four years I was there graffiti fonts got completely panned and streetwear was turning into this ugly monster. So we were still making hip hop based music, but moving away from it visually as we learned more about design – we didn’t want to be predictable. Everything I did in my degree I brought back to LuckyMe. I’d met some fine artists too, at exhibitions, and when we were doing mural paintings in bars. With all the high-brow talk of art commissions, beautiful shows and progressive electronic music it can be easily forgetten that we are dumb rap fans and really, really uncool!”

I asked Dom if the artists within the LuckyMe collective are chosen to reflect a particular ethos or style. “Not at all. It’s totally natural. Christina recently set up camera for two weeks on her own on a Norwegian off-shire Island. Her work was about human memory preserved in void, abandoned space – you wouldn’t associate it with Rustie and Hud Mo’s mental music, but that’s our peer group. Rustie likes Christina’s photography and we’re all friends. This is what LuckyMe is about. It’s about the people in it – the people are LuckyMe. I never wanted to curate it – we don’t head hunt people with a purpose. We like them as people and we admire their work.” Admittedly, this is the only way they know how. It may seem naive, but they have found the best way. “It’s all new to us. We don’t know the evils of networking to try and get press, or humoring useful people. We’re just being honest and it’s cool the way it is”. It’s a world apart from the networking that goes on at some London music nights, but they have noticed LuckyMe, says Dom. “Yeah. We like London. I guess it just works in our favour to be in isolation. We have our own influences. And if we lived in the home of the industry we wouldn’t have had to learn all the shit we do between us. We have made our own micro industry up here. From our distributor to our press agent – we are based up here doing everything with our people”. I’m sure in many ways it’s quite beneficial to be outside the London scene, keeping a certain mystique and being able to focus on doing your own thing. “Why even compete with London?” adds Dom. “I’m sure there are gigs which have about 40 industry heads in the crowd having a good time, and you’re not likely to get that up here, but so what? We’re quite happy doing stuff from here and focusing on building our rep.” And with that, do they have any last words of advice? “Whoa! I’ve never given any advice before... I’d say make sure you only involve people who you 100% believe in and that there is a shared sense of humour and drive to succeed. Pick your opportunities and don’t copy what other people are doing. Eat lots of fortune cookies. Follow exactly what they tell you to do. You are luckier than you know.”

This page top left & opp page bottom right: Heralds of Change – Secrets EP on All City Records. This page top middle: Dom Sum artwork for Mike Slott featuring Muhsinah – Flunky 45 on All City Records.

of the other. “I’m more excited about receiving new music from anyone within LuckyMe than I am about anyone else I can think of in the world!” says Martyn. LuckyMe functions like an innovative cooperative of understanding and advice, bouncing their creativity off each other so as to further their fresh eclectic output to the globe. Dom explains “Yup, Second that. We occasionally ﬁnd ourselves together in the same room with a spare hour and we churn out some music but really it’s like a big game of battleships. We make songs alone and then drop them onto a private forum where we get feedback. We swap ideas and ask about our mixdowns on each other’s systems. It’s a nice way to work for a bunch of busy dweebs.” On a recent expedition to Croatia, Hud Mo left this blog entry for his friends: “Airhorn update, been too long again, missed you crazy bastards. I’m writing to you as I stand bang in the middle of an orchard in Croatia, in the baking afternoon sun, being attacked by geckos and enormous butterﬂies, with the drone of horrendous dubstep in the distance, and all for 1 bar of intermittent wireless signal, pretty fucking snoooky.”

All photography by Christina Kernohan

(Continued) APPARENTLY Hudson Mohawke had been freaking his mates out with how good his music was for a long time. Was the addition of Hud Mo the moment they realized that this could be the start of something special? “He was definitely a catalyst to how seriously we take this and the possibilites for us and our label” says Martyn. “We met Mike Slott around the same time. It’s definitely been a meeting of sensibilities and musical respect for each other. A few years ago we added Nadsroic, Mr Copy, Rustie – who like Hudson, blew us away with what he was doing when we first heard him. Then we added Dema and Jay Prada. Then last year we added Eclair Fifi, American Men and Tiago. We basically want to have everyone locally that we think are dope, funny and inspiring to us to have on board”. The crew roll like Chamillionaire. Deep – but also wide. Scenes may try to claim them, bloggers try to name them, but they don’t set out to be included in any bracket, pinpointed as a single label or entity. ‘Wonky’ is one label that’s been thrown their way. Their feelings about this are best summed up by the following entry on their blog: “30.10.08. All depressed today because we went in a record shop in London and they have a ‘wonky’ section. Shit.” If Optimo’s techno/electro mash-up was the club sound of Glasgow circa 2002, then today it’s the collectives’ night, The Ballers 5ocial Club, that has become a mainstay of Glasgow clubbing, booking like-minded pioneers of technicoloured bass such as Darkstar, Subeena and Joker; artists unafraid of pushing the boundaries and creating their own distinct sound. I asked Jay from Darkstar what he felt was unique about the Glaswegian contribution to the music world. “I’m really into what Rustie and friends do, and I think it’s a really fun angle on hip hop... or whatever you want to call it. It makes people listen because of how advanced it is sonically, but also the vibe it creates, it’s very unique... The Ballers 5ocial was cool to play at, they have a lot of fun up there. The crowd were into what I was playing, from 2step to crunk to grime to house... it was nice to be so versatile and be appreciated”. Bill for bill, this is one of the most innovative nights in Europe. “Our guests show up in Glasgow and it’s just us” explains Dom. “Just a few key people picking them up and taking them to the hotel. Then they see the venues we use – all small and select – and they wonder what all the hype is about. I think our hype proceeds us and it misrepresents the size of Glasgow’s venues. But it’s our crowd and our scene here that is so special. Everyone loves being surprised in our city. Our crowds are live and there are as many girls as guys. Everyone is a DJ, a producer”.

This juxtaposition of ﬁne art and rap is something which was brought together by LuckyMe’s ﬁrst release: Hudson Mohawke’s ‘Oops’ with help from the Wireblock Label. The artwork was a beautiful Parisian supermodel with the face of crunk king Lil Jon showing his grill. “The idea of a bootleg is throwing two things together. We’re sardonic bastards and at the time there was a lot of talk about crunk being on the way out, and we wanted to subvert it. So we did the visual representation of high fashion and dirty ghetto music, thrown together. We were keen to make the aesthetic ghetto club, kinda disco sleeze vibe. It was a simple 12” with no varnishes. When we do substantial releases we want it to look as valued as possible – I know the guys at Stuff Records are the same – the hand-sprayed effect so that people know they have hold of something special”.

All photography by Christina Kernohan

LuckyMe ROLL CALL (continued...)

NAME: FINEART, 28 (ABOVE) ENDZ: EDINBURGH VIA INVERNESS ROLE IN LUCKYME: MANAGING DIRECTOR, 1/2 OF THE BLESSINGS, SOUNDS LIKE: GRUNGY HYPER SOUL INSPIRED BY: NEW MUSIC, CAKES AND BISCUITS LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: OOOPS LAUNCH AND SONAR TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: BLESSINGS EP EARLY NEXT YEAR AND LOTS OF REMIXES. NAME: TIAGO, 1010101 ENDZ: ZZ9 PLURAL Z ALPHA, UK AND PORTUGAL. ROLE IN LUCKYME: MUSICIAN, ARTIST AND GENERAL ANNOYER SOUNDS LIKE: NUTZ! (NUTZ SOUNDS LIKE CRAZY! CRAZY SOUNDS LIKE WEIRDO! WEIRDO SOUNDS LIKE... WHATEVA!) INSPIRED BY: DON’T REALLY KNOW. I COULD SAY THAT THE MUSIC AND WORK OF PEOPLE LIKE SA RA, DICK RAIIJMAKERS, KING TUBBY, DIGITAL MYSTIKZ, SPACEK AND PRITCHARD, MTUME, DAM FUNK, JAY DEE, BOB MARLEY, BONGA, FERRO GAITA, AZYMUTH OR CARLOS PAREDES, ARE ALWAYS PRESENT IN MY MEMORY OF WHAT I FIND SO UNIQUE ABOUT

MUSIC. BUT TO BE TRULY INSPIRED BY SOMETHING, TO ME, IT IS MORE MEANINGFUL TO SAY THAT I NEED TO BE ACQUAINTED, OR RATHER REALISE, THAT THERE IS NOTHING ELSE I COULD BE DOING BUT WHATEVER IT IS THAT I AM DOING. THAT BRINGS ME A SENSE OF PURPOSE AND DIRECTION THAT I TAKE TO DO WHAT I DO. LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: BEING LUCKY! TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: THE ULTIMATE QUESTION FOR LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING (WE ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER: 42) NAME: PETER MARSDEN, 25 ENDZ: EDINBURGH ROLE IN LUCKYME: VISUAL ARTIST LOOKS/FEELS LIKE: SKY, HILLS, TREES, BIRDS, CRANES. FEELS LIKE GOING HOME INSPIRED BY: NATURE LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: DOM’S GOT ONE OF MY PAINTINGS... IN HIS HOUSE! TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: WWW.MARSDENARTWORKS.CO.UK

NAME: MIKE SLOTT, 27 (ABOVE) ENDZ: NEW YORK VIA GLASGOW VIA DUBLIN ROLE IN LUCKYME: LOVE PRODUCER SOUNDS LIKE: LUCKYME INSPIRED BY: LUCKYME LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: LM US AND CANADA TOUR, PLAYING IN A JAZZ SPACE CENTRE IN AMSTERDAM

LAST WEEK, RUSTIE LEVITATING OVER CARS IN MONTREAL TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: FLYING LOTUS REMIX ON WARP, MIKE SLOTT EP ON LUCKYME, 7” FT MUHSINAH ON ALL CITY RECORDS, MACHINE DRUM REMIX ON NORMREX

INCLUDING COLLABORATIONS IN MUSIC AND FASHION ALONG WITH MY ‘DUSTY’ PERSONAL WORK. LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER B+ FROM LA LOVING MY PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE VINYL SLEEVES FOR HERALDS OF CHANGE RELEASES AND OTHER LUCKYME PRESS. TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: LM ARTICLES IN MANY LEADING MAGS FEATURING MY PHOTOGRAPHY AND MY UPDATED WEBSITE LAUNCHING EARLY DECEMBER WWW. CHRISTINAKERNOHAN.COM IT WILL INCLUDE MY RECENT EXPEDITION TO THE ARTIC CIRCLE TO PHOTOGRAPH ANOTHER BUILDING LAYERED IN DUST!

NAME: VIXY RAE, 34 AND RISING AS FAST AS SEA LEVEL (ABOVE) ENDZ: THE WOMB ROLE IN LUCKYME: MOTHERSHIP SOUNDS LIKE: HIPPY FOLK, BUT RECENTLY, QUITE FRANKLY, 70% TECHNO 30% RAVE LOOKS/FEELS LIKE: JUMPSUITS, ROLLER SKATES & FUROSHIKI SCARF/BAGS. CHECK NEW SEASON ODDITIES. MOS DEF 100% COTTON. INSPIRED BY: MY FRIENDS, SUNSHINE, ART, HOT COFFEE..... LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: MY LITTLE PRINCE SAUL AND ODDITIES CLOTHING TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: TRAFFIC MOSTLY AND ODDITIESCLOTHING.COM – ONLINE STORE LAUNCHING IN JANUARY

NAME: SCOTTT CHEVROLET, LATE 20S ENDZ: GW ROLE IN LUCKYME: AMERICAN MEN RHYTHM SOUNDS LIKE: NYC IN 2777 LOOKS/FEELS LIKE: NIKE SNEAKERS ON SLIM, YET AGEING HIPSTERS INSPIRED BY: RUSSIA AND BOARDS OF CANADA LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: THIS INTERVIEW! TING TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: THE ANNOYING FEMALE ONE AND THE STRANGELY OLD MALE ONE

NAME: INNES MARAN, 25 ENDZ: EDINBURGH ROLE IN LUCKYME: ART DIRECTION VISUAL ARTIST / IM FASHION LOOKS/FEELS LIKE: IF VINCENT CASSEL WAS INTO STREET WEAR INSPIRED BY: GIRLS WHO STARE LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: CREATIVE COLAB WITH LUCKYME ON PHOTO PROJECT FOR A LUCKYME EXHIBITION TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: IM FASHION’S CURRENT PROJECT ‘MIRROR FACE’ AN INTERPRETATION OF SOME CLASSIC JAPANESE UKIYO-E PRINTS, AND UPCOMING ‘WITH THE BAND’ A RETURN TO THE BAND T-SHIRT USING A MIXED BAG OF LOCAL DOO-WOP AND SOUL BANDS. CHECK THEM AT WWW.INNESMARAN.COM NAME: CHRISTINA KERNOHAN, 26 ENDZ: NORTHERN IRELAND (CURRENTLY BASED IN SCOTLAND) ROLE IN LUCKYME: PHOTOGRAPHER/COLLABORATIVE ARTIST (YOU ARE LOOKING AT MY PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS ARTICLE!) LOOKS/FEELS LIKE: ETHEREAL/ BEAUTIFUL, HONEST AND USUALLY PRETTY DUSTY INSPIRED BY: BEAUTY IN ‘UGLY’ SPACES, NOTICING LITTLE THINGS THAT MOST PEOPLE MISS, I ALSO GET OVERLY EXCITED ABOUT ABANDONED DISUSED SPACES. I ENJOY WORKING IN ALL SPECTRUMS OF PHOTOGRAPHY;

NAME: NADSROIC/CIORSDAN BROWN, 22 (ABOVE) ENDZ: INVERNESS/GLASGOW ROLE IN LUCKYME: PROVIDER OF FOOD/PACIFIER/VOCALIST SOUNDS LIKE: CHEWBACCA INSPIRED BY: FAMALAM/FRIENDS/ FISH/FROLICKS/FLOWERS AND EVERYONE IN LM AND BEYOND LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: PLAYING AT THE ROBERT JOHNSON IN FRANKFURT...MAYBZ (THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING...) TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: SELF-TITLED EP OUT SOON, 7” TO FOLLOW ON OSCARR RECORDS, WORKING ON VARIOUS TINGS IN JAPAN... NAME: ALEX LAURENSON (DEMA/RKGB), 34 ENDZ: GLASGOW ROLE IN LUCKYME: PRODUCER/DJ MYSPACE.COM/DEMADOGGYDOGG INSPIRED BY: THE LUCKY ME PRODUCERS, JAZZ DUDES LIKE AHMED JAMAL, ROY AYRES, JACK BRUCE, BOBBI HUMPHRIES TO HIPHOP PRODUCERS LIKE MADLIB, DILLA, PETE ROCK, DIAMOND, DORIAN CONCEPT, PURSUIT GROOVES, THE

LIST REALLY GOES ON... LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: MOVING TO BERLIN FOR 3 MONTHS TO WORK ON SOME MUSIC FOR LUCKY ME AND REMIX SOME OTHER DUDES... IT WAS ALL SUN, MERC’S & BBQ’S TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: NADSROIC – STEP BACK – DEMA & WAJEED REFIXXXXXXXXXES NAME: IVOR WILLIAMS, 23 ENDZ: EDINBURGH ROLE IN LUCKYME: GRAPHIC DESIGNER LOOKS/FEELS LIKE: BAYER, ALBERS, MOHOLY-NAGY INSPIRED BY: GEORGES PERÉC, ROBERT PIRSIG, WILL HOLDER LM CAREER HIGHLIGHT SO FAR: JOINING UP WITH DOM SUM AS A DESIGNER FOR THE LUCKYME FAMILIA (V. HONOURED) TINGS WE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR: CIVIL UNREST, DEN HAAN

HUDSON MOHAWKE (ABOVE)

Illustration by Joel Cooper

THE ALEX & JAMES GUIDE TO PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT! Good After Eve, This is Alex Wenterton and James Ipirus! We are two humble employees, like yourself, for that neverending time thieving machine known as ‘earning a living’. Recently we both fell victim to Identity Theft and went from going to bed one evening as ourselves, to waking up to ﬁnd that we were respectively Lord Asbury the Third’s Chief Peacock, and a lesser known brand of ﬁshcakes. It is as a result of this that we have decided to write a short pamphlet detailing to you how best to go about protecting yourself from the same fate. Here we have outlined a number of different steps that you may like to follow in preventing this corruption of your individuality: How do you tell if someone is an Identity Thief? An Identity Thief will have many faces. That is their trade. They have even been known to dress as foxes and root through your rubbish. Beware all foxes! Should you see a fox you suspect of being an Identity Thief then place a large chalk cross on your window. It will not help, but the distraction is always pleasant. Protect your documents! We would recommend any of the following courses of action to keep your personal identity papers away from evil mittens.

Should you have any enquiries please direct them by mime to the following address: Alex and James Staple Bending Department Organum Building Somewhere near a road England

1) Place them in a paper bag and bury them at a crossroads. (NB: This also works for the disposal of warts!) 2) Hide them in a lit fire. 3) Give them to someone else to hold. This should not be an Identity Thief (see above) or anyone wearing braces... We just don’t trust people that can’t hold up their own trousers... We trust them as little as we trust people who enjoy swingball... As little as a three legged man whose snuck into a school sports day... We trust them as little as a paper contraceptive... We... Well, we just don’t trust them. 4) Protect a recently deceased relative! A Funeral at the company where we work is pronounced ‘Fun-eral’ (it is a comic celebration of the deceased one’s life) and can be a stressful time for all, in having to arrange the necessary elements of a Reverent Clown, jelly, cake and of course the deceased’s possession piñata. Though grief may be forever at the cat flap it is important to remember that the deceased can also become a victim of Identity Theft. It can be avoided in one very simple step... Steal it yourself and when creditors come calling insist that dear old Auntie Marge was a very big fan of blowing the giro on weekend trips to Amsterdam. 5) Set up a false identity for yourself! Here is one that Alex uses regularly: Name - Ding Ding McCabe Age - Concern Address - Somewhere near a road, England Credit History - Fruitful Interests - All the musics, Robert Marley, Pink Lloyd, Jimmy Hedgebricks, Bread Zeppelin and of course some modern fashionable genres like “Punk Clepto”, “Helter-skelter Jazz”, & “Electro Finger Snap Pogo Drum and Fish Bass” So there we have it Alex and James’ sure fire ways to beat identity theft. But no doubt some of you are thinking “If my nose was upside down would it spurt collected rain water when I sneezed?” or “Do bees poo?” or more relevantly “I’ve already had my identity stolen. How do I get it back?” Fear not! Here’s what to do... Check yourself before you wreck yourself! Are you sure your identity has been stolen? Could you have been left on a night bus? Might it have slipped down the sofa? Did you lend it to a friend and tell him not to crease the spine or fold the corners? No? Have you too woken up to find yourself named something improbable like Leonardo Chafinchi? Then follow our three step plan... 1) Panic. Being English may restrict your panicking to muted sounds but go for broke and wail at anyone within ear shot. (Warning friends may not recognise you as you are no longer you) 2) Use telefonons to fone people. If you convince enough of them who you are then perhaps you will be you again. I believe Double Glazing Employees work on this principle. 3) See point one. Thank you for taking the time to read through this important pamphlet and we hope that armed with all this information you should be safe from Identity Theft! Love, Alex Wenterton & James Ipirus

Slinky Sunbeam S Wondering what adventures that lovable scamp/man-about-town/ The More Assured bassist Mr Slinky Sunbeam has been up to lately?? Then READ ON to find out!!!

I never knew the identity of my real parents, I wasn’t adopted, it was just that whenever I got home from school they put masks on and pretended to be Spanish. 80 minutes remaining.. It turns out my mum was a ventriloquist that was always throwing her voice. For ten years I thought the dog was telling me to kill my father...Speaking of papa, I vividly remember my dad coming home one evening and telling my mother he’d been made redundant and would probably never be able to work again due to his age .Then he sat down and wailed at the top of his voice - It was probably the wrong time to have played the drawing pin on a chair joke.

Lee’roys Rhino (the early years)

Taken by Pixie

Levinson

Backflipping bore.

I grew up with my parents in a very rural part of England called South London, and I have many nostalgic memories of the games I used to play. A friend of mine called Chipper Williams invented breakdancing whilst trying to steal the wheels off a moving car...I also recollect the time I begged my mum to buy me a pet chinchilla. As expected I immediately lost interest in the backflipping rodents antics, and Mrs. Sunbeam was left with the responsibilty. Exasperated she said, “How many times do you think that chinchilla would have died if I hadn’t looked after it?!” “Only the once” I replied whilst closing my eyes and waiting for the inevitable smack. The whole event took place whilst food shopping. Why do parents always take their children to supermarkets to smack them?.. in one T.V. campaign it shows a women reprimanding her own backside, by slapping it and saying “Thats Asda price.” I think that this encourages parents and should be taken off air immediately. 70 minutes remaining... Corpral punishment runs wild through my family. I can call to mind another situation. This time I had been sent to bed for dismantling the television. Five minutes later I called out “Mu-um!” “What?”My mother shouted back perturbed. “I’m thirsty” Said I. “Can you please bring me a carton of Um-Bongo?” ‘No’ she said. “You’ve had your chance. Lights out!” roared back the lioness of a mother. “And if you ask me again I’ll smack you legs, Lights out !’” Five more minutes elapsed. “Muuuuuuuuum!” squeaked the annoying whelp of a child which is myself “What?!” exploded mother Sunbeam “When you come back in to smack me can you please bring me a carton of Um-Bongo?’

I never got that carton of Um-Bongo, and the following day they were discontinued. I just looked out my window and saw my next door neighbor Farmer Lee’roy walking a pig with a

wooden leg. He has all sorts of weird animals, but recently won an award because he’d been outstanding in his field. Apparently he keeps a constantly beating kingfisher down his pants, but thats probably just a rumour which he doesn’t want printed in a magazine. 60 minutes remaining...

This morning I had to shoot one of his wretched rhinos in my dressing gown...quite how he fit into my dressing gown I’m not sure, but sadly I had no alternative. He was vexed and aggrieved and I could tell the leathery skinned beast was about to charge because he said “Will that be all sir?” Farmer Lee’roy has a short fuse, and is very protective over his daughters. He insists on vetting all potential boyfriends before they’re allowed to go on dates with them. One evening the doorbell rung and there stood a small boy in a Miss Marple hoodie. “Hi my names Joe. I’m here for Ro, we’re going to the show, is she ready to go?” Lee’roy called down Flo and off they go. Another boy arrives. “My name’s Freddy, I’m here for Jenny, we’re gonna get spaghetti, is she ready?” The farmer called down Jenny and off they go. A third boy appeared “Hi, My names Tucker...” and the farmer shot him. 50 minutes remaining... Lee’roy is also barred from the National Health Service. The last time he went to see his GP the doctor approached him holding a syringe and said “Don’t Worry, Its just a little prick with a needle” “I can see that” replied the farmer. “I’m just wandering what your going to do with it.” We both share the same General Practitioner named Dr. Octagon, and I had to visit her quite recently with a tale of sorrow. I said “I’ve got a rash” she said ‘I’ll be as fast I can” I said “I’ve got a heart complaint.” She said “Murmur?” I said “mememememmeme” I said “I can’t stop singing sex bomb.” She said “That sounds like Tom Jones disorder” I said “Is that common?” She said “Its not unusual” 40 minutes remaining... As I traipsed out of of the doctors quarters they were handing out free prophylactics. I politely declined seeing as condoms aren’t completely safe. Last time I was wearing one I got hit by a scooter, and besides I have no need for them. My own personality is a strong contraceptive as it is. The last time I had a girlfriend was two years ago, and she asked me out in a crowded lift....it was total blackmail. Whilst meandering back through London, listening to Girls Aloud during the fading sunlight I remember pondering; Who would win in a fight between Beatrix Potter and Enid

l u f r e d n o W Blyton?...Well Enid Blyton has gang mentality (famous five, secret seven) so she has the upper hand surely? Whereas I belive Beatrix to be quite prudish. If they were both alive today then Enid would wear hoop earings. Beatrix wouldn’t even have her ears piecrced. Blyton would loiter in the Croydon Whitgift Centre, and Potter would have a dustbuster, wooden panelling in the bathroom and her catchphrase would be ‘excuse me your sitting on my pinnie’. 30 minutes remaining... I followed my thoughts on fiction writers into thew new multi-complex gaza which was ceremoniously opened by the son of God earlier this annum. Iis called ‘Jesus Christ Superstore’... I don’t think it would be impertinent to say that I’m not particularly enamored of these huge emporiums. I think if you’ve seen one shopping centre, then you’ve seen a mall...but nonetheless I was here with an objective which must be fulfilled. My bedroom collapsed last week and I need to mend it. Striding into the hardware store with my chest puffed out like a valiant warrior, I glided up to the counter as if I had wheels for feet. “Hello, can I have some bolts please?” said I. “How long do you want them?” said the the shopkeeper who looked a bit like Michael Jackson when he was black. “To tell the truth” I replied “I was rather hoping I could keep them” I powered into the next store which was a boutique that only dealt in clockwork toys. I sauntered towards the vendor and whispered in his face ‘”What are you...some sort of wind up merchant?”...before storming out as If I was Che Gevera during the revolution. 20 minutes remaining... I took a wrong turn by the dry cleaners which has a huge sign hanging in the window reading ‘Drop your pants here.’ and ended up walking into a fancy dress party. Instantly realising I would get slung out for not having a costume, and quite wanting to stay and nibble the canapés, I grabbed the girl next to me - threw her over my shoulder and announced: “I have come as a terrapin.” The host bounded up to me in a cantankerous fashion. “Well if you’re a terrapin, then who’s that on your back?” “That?” I said with vigour . “Thats Michelle” However the confrontative gentleman’s attire was far more alarming, and could not go unquestioned. “What about you?!” I glared into the eyes of the host who stood completely

d l r o W

unclad before me except for a bit of clourfull tinsel tied round on of his testicles. “Well what the hell have you come as?” I shazzamed. “I’m it” calmy replied the gent “I’m the fancy dress ball.”

Playing Saxophone for Girls Aloud in ‘The Promise’ music video.

10 minutes remaining... That was too much to take and I wanted out of this sadistic wonderland. I lashed out of the shopping precinct and into the Butlins next door. I’d had a busy day and I wanted to treat myself to a night in. Unfortunately the room service was terrible. I ordered a hot chocolate, and they sent up a Cadburys Twirl with a box of matches. I flung my self down the stairs in a desperate bid for freedom; landing in a heap at the base of the reception desk. I scrambled to my feet and stared the bellboy in the eyes. “Can you check me out please?” the porter looked me up and down and said “Sure baby, you’re not bad. Not bad at all...” whilst sliding a departure form across the counter and winking lasciviously at my face. I snatched the note from his grubby mitts, and entered the relevant information. Where it said ‘Sign Here’ I wrote Pisces. When I finally arrived home I got confused and kicked in my own front door. I stole my TV, ran away, and then ran back. As I walked into my lounge I was like “Damn it, we’ve been burgled!...well its lucky I stole this telly on my way home”...I suffer from the kind of madness which makes you put a hat on while driving a car, but nothing compares to the embarrassment I experienced on Friday. I was watching my stolen television with the parents when suddenly there was a no-holds-barred explicit sex scene, I didn’t know what to do so I just carried on watching Homes Under The Hammer and tried to ignore them...When they finished, cleaned up, and put the cattle prod away I expressed my love for cookery and mother if she knew where I could get a good quality food mixer from. She said “Kenwood?” I said “Great. Do you know where is he?” “Thats not funny replied my mother....its just annoying. What do you really want?” “I want to find a constructive way to end this article” “Why don’t you end on a song?” “a song?” “Hang on...isn’t this counting down to something?”

“Oh for fucks sake”. And on that bombshell I bid you so long, farewell, Auf Weirdersehn Goodbye. I hope I have ...

Lots of Love and Slinky Sunbeam X X X

1 minute remaining. “I’m not sure. I’ve been trying to ignore it to be honest.” 100 minutes remaining.

DO WE NEED ANOTHER As Stars of X Factor take Number 1 slot in the UK singles chart with their version of Mariah Carey’s ‘Hero’, Dan Szor asks – what exactly is a hero now, and what place do they occupy in our modern world?

IN today’s modern and fast paced world, words, titles and ideas seem to be passed around so flippantly that we’re at the point where the actual idea behind the word or title we bestow upon a person runs the risk of becoming worthless. The increasing rise of pop, celebrity and mass culture in recent years has led to a blurring of the lines between who actually merits these awards and titles. Now let’s face it – being called a hero is a massive honour and I suppose in some ways we’re probably all someone’s hero or, hope to be. It’s just that these days it seems increasingly easier to become ‘a hero’. What’s the difference between a hero who saves the entire population of a country and one who goes on stage on a Saturday night and belts out a corrupted cover version of a well known song? The 20th Century was probably the century that saw the biggest shift in terms of heroism. It didn’t get off to a good start with two World Wars in the first half of the century, followed by another 50 years of constant conflict, distrust and the real threat that we as a species had obtained the power to wipe ourselves out countless times over through a constant build up of nuclear armaments and other weapons of mass destruction. Was the 20th century a century of fear in which the idea of a hero needed to exist as a form of escapism from a world that seemed to offer little hope? Were we forever hoping that there would be someone out there watching our backs and making sure that everything was going to be fine? So what exactly defines a hero? Is a hero someone who can fly, or see through walls with X-ray vision? Or, to quote Mariah, does a hero lie in you? Can we achieve hero status by dying young at the age of 27 like Kurt, Jim or Janis or is a hero someone who overcomes many things and lives to the grand old age of a hundred without doing little more than staying alive? Well the literal meaning of hero is protector, defender and guardian. It derives from Greek

HERO mythology and originally described a demigod – the offspring of a mortal being and a higher god. It all seems a bit romantic – the idea that your mum may be called Barbara and works as a dinner lady down at the local primary school whilst your dad is Zeus – king of the gods and ruler of mount Olympus. As we pass through history, the idea of a hero seems to have become more watered down. There’s still the concept of some kind of higher being at work through strength and courage, but the idea of a god-like heritage seemed to be replaced by a belief in a god out of reach of the mortal conscience, a god that must be pleased, served and worshiped by the so called hero. To compare oneself to a god became blasphemous – it all got a bit humble. You only have to speak to Joan of Arc to understand that – if she hadn’t been burnt at the stake 600 years ago that is. By the start of the 20th century, the idea of a hero had morphed once again. This time through the rise of entertainment and leisure – particularly comic books and the rise of Hollywood as a tool of escapism. New heroes were created, though this time they were entirely created by the mind of man. The humbleness had gone – it seemed like god wasn’t watching anymore, these superheros were in a league of their own: they were the gods. From his debut in 1938 Superman was the first in a long line of fictional heroes to posses ‘super powers’ – powers that set them apart from us mere mortals. We would recognise them through their Lycra costumes, tightly drawn across their bodies to reveal their rippling physique. We would distinguish them from each other by their distinct trademark – from Batman’s Bat to Captain America’s shield. Were we aspiring to be these people or were we just supposed to be in awe of them? We could never be them but we all wished we could. Products of popular culture, the Superhero came to define a bygone era of chivalry and bravado, but if we strip the idea down to its most basic of forms,

then the one factor we have to acknowledge is that they didn’t exist. These were purely figments of the imagination drawn up merely to entertain. They were never going to save us from the top of a burning building, they were never going to push back that meteor that was heading straight towards New York, with the capability of wiping out the human race. The whole idea of a Superhero is seriously flawed. Had we all been duped? Were we putting all our hope into something or someone that never existed? If you’re still waiting for Spiderman to come and save us, then sorry kids, you’re going to be waiting an awfully long time. Maybe it’s time to reflect? We’ve come to the conclusion that a Superhero doesn’t exist. No? But heroes do? But scratch the Super from in front and we’re left with a hero – a protector and defender fighting for the good of man. Are the stars of X Factor willing to defend me in my hour of need? Will they go the extra mile for me? – maybe using their collective choral warble as a weapon against the Dark Lord Emperor Simon Cowell? I asked my Dad who his hero was the other day. First off he stated some bizarre prog rock, in his eyes ‘god’ – but on further reflection he changed his mind. He changed his mind to Pani Ponikiewska (that’s Mrs to me and you), his godmother. Only recently while attending her funeral did he find out that during the Siege of Warsaw by Hitler’s Nazi forces that she was a resistance fighter. So whilst Superman was gracing the covers of comic books in the US, she was carrying ammunition and messages through enemy lines under the guise of night – battling for a cause she believed in. Yet at the same time she was battling against a cause that someone else believed in. Did the soldiers that died due to the information and ammunition that she smuggled across enemy lines merit the same ‘hero’ classification as well? Is your hero my hero and my hero yours? The guy who scored the winning goal in the cup final is a hero

to some, but to the other side he is the enemy – it all depends whose side your on – and who wins. Don’t forget that history is generally written by the winning side. Modern times have called for modern takes and new ideas about what actually constitutes the title. The soldier that dies in Afghanistan due to a suicide bomber – both of them, depending on which way you look at it, can be classed as a hero. Both were carrying out actions that they believed in. Is herosim only valid when it’s in the name of a just cause? And if so, who decides what is just? Karl Marx argued that history is determined by the massive social forces at play that come about by class struggles and not by the individuals by whom these forces are played out. Update this to a modern context. Why should all the glory be placed onto the president who ‘won’ the war. Aren’t the heroes the people who voted him in, the people working behind the scenes and the soldiers that undertook the task? On the flip side of this though, it leads the president totally naked, in a position of blame. If it all went wrong he could be an anti-hero. Maybe the whole idea of a hero and heroism is so perfectly flawed. Maybe heroes can never win as their motives and actions can always be questioned. Take for example Barack Obama – the first black President of the United States. He’s already achieved hero status – yet he was voted in by a population that wanted a change – a change in government that sent thousands of heroeses to fight against opposite heroes abroad. He has yet to prove himself as a leader and prove himself to the world that he merits this status. Only time will tell. Is the title of a hero just so easy to achieve nowadays – in the troubled world that we live in are we just yearning for a hero to come and save us all? Do we just want something and someone to believe in so that we can sleep safely at night? Welsh siren Bonnie Tyler once famously sang ‘I need a hero’ and to be honest, deep down, we probably all do.

CULT HERO

SiGN of the

“We never wanted to be Topshop”

TiMES

SIGN OF THE TIMES WAS BORN OUT OF HOPE. RIDING HIGH ON A WAVE OF POST-ACID HOUSE EUPHORIA IT STARTED OUT AS A HUMBLE STALL AT COUNTERCULTURAL MECCA, KENSINGTON MARKET. PROVIDING A PLACE FOR SOME OF THE MOST CREATIVE MINDS IN LONDON AT THE TIME TO SELL THEIR WARES, BUY TICKETS FOR CLUBS AND GENERALLY JUST TO HANG OUT FOR A CHAT, THE SHOP SOON BEGAN TO PUT ON THEIR NOW LEGENDARY PARTIES. HEARD IT ALL BEFORE? SEEN IT ALL BEFORE? THAT’S WHAT THEY THOUGHT – ONLY THEY HADN’T, THE JOURNEY HAD ONLY JUST BEGUN... Words by Dan Szor

A COUNTRY ON THE CUSP OF RECESSION. A country that’d lost faith in a government that had held power for over a decade. A dissatisﬁed youth gone awry and a generation seeking an alternative – sound familiar? No this isn’t 2008, this was 1989. The similarities between the two are uncanny, but the biggest difference being the UK had just witnessed the biggest musical/social/political/ underground youth upheaval since punk – and it had just gone overground. The seeds of social and cultural change had been sown. A new sound had entered the ears of a generation, sailed through its brain – triggering new thoughts on values and existence – and settled in their hearts. This was acid house. In the midst of this explosion back in 87, a small clothing label had been set up by Fiona Cartledge – the label, entitled ‘Sign of the Times’, started out by selling Jesus jackets (see opposite) and vintage smiley faced badges – not knowing at the time that this classic, simple and ever optimistic design would come to sum up a movement that

believed they had the power to change the world through sound, movement and a forward-thinking vision. A working class/suburban force had risen, far removed from the decadent poses of London’s West End dress up scene. The vibe was unity, the feeling was ecstacy and it was also the drug. In a small gym in Southwark, South London, a club called Shoom had opened and was soon to become the temple of this new sound. Just like the walls that were falling at the time in Eastern Europe, so were the musical and social boundaries that had surrounded British culture for too long – male, female, black, white, gay, straight – it all didn’t seem to matter any more. A change had come, and everyone who touched, heard and tasted this change was left wanting more. Fiona ran her own clothing label. After her epiphany at Shoom she decided to open up a shop in Kensington Market of the same name – Sign of the Times. An abstract vision of counter cultural consumerism, the market and the store were to become the focal point to everything that happened in the

“We decorated the shop in a seaside theme and then Bjork, in front of all the press, jumped on the sandcastles to open the shop!”

bjork opens the covent garden store

lovin it! – jefferson hack in his pj’s

the chemical brothers – back then aka the dust bros

bay city rollers in a cofﬁn

“

turner prize-winning artist jeremy deller

The big thing about acid house was that no one gave a shit about what you did, how much you earned, what your race and sexuality were. All of those things ceased to matter 90

rosie the rave granny!

pete burns

“

post acid house days. The store gave new designers and artists an opportunity to sell their wares, but also sold tickets to raves, fanzines and mixtapes – the very fuel that kept the vision afloat. Far removed from the clone shops that dominate the high streets of Britain today, SOTT was a living organism. As Britain sunk deeper into recession however, it became clear that in order to survive the shop would have to branch out. They decided to do parties. As revolutionary as the shop itself, the parties took the essence of the acid generation and applied it to what was the present. The ethos was all about fun and dressing up. Over the years many DJs, artists, designers, performers and cultural commentators, who would go on to be hugely important and influential, would attend. From Bjork to Leigh Bowery, they all came in their droves. This was their playground, this was their moment. This was their Sign of the Times. SUPERSUPER caught up with SOTT founder Fiona Cartledge to talk about just how influential and fun it all was, and also how it’s not necessarily a bad thing for culture that Britain and the world sinks into uncertain financial times.

leigh bowery

SUPERSUPER: So Fiona, how did it all begin? FIONA: I had stalls at Portobello and Camden in the 80s. I was selling original 1970s clothes as at the time there was a disco craze – not dissimilar to what seems to be burgeoning now. I unearthed a load of 1960s smiley badges, huge 4/5 inches across and started to sell them. The badges were selling mainly to the disco crowd when suddenly by the end of 87/early 88 they started selling to all these young suburban boys in baggy clothes and I couldn’t understand why, as they were not my usual customers. I asked around and friends told me about these underground clubs in south london called acid house clubs. I was 27 at the time and thought my clubbing days were behind me. A friend called Stephen Bradley told me about Shoom and said I should go. I said I’d seen it all before but he said “no not this” so i went. SS: What was it like at Shoom? F: When you came into the club you could hardly see in front of you. The smoke machines and the heat just hit you smack in the face. Everyone was in baggy clothes going mental. Danny Rampling was the DJ and the music he played was deeply spiritual – it was like there was a religous fevour on the dancefloor Once in you danced till dawn and made friends with everyone, which was very different from the posing and posturing in the fashion clubs of the West End. The E’s opened people’s minds and you’d feel uplifted and fantastically creative – my head was always bursting with ideas after Shoom. At the time I was making ‘Jesus jackets’. They were these big patchwork jackets with Jesus on the back. I sold them in ‘Big Jesus Trashcan’ which was a fab shop in Ken Market selling religious and masonic inspired fashion and lots of early rave gear. It was amazing as I began to see people wearing my clothes at Shoom, Spectrum and all the raves. SS: So how did the shop come about? F: It was at Shoom where I got the idea to open a shop. We set up the shop in Kensington Market in 1989, which sadly is no longer there. It was on Kensington High Street, which is such a bizarre street in itself. It was this huge building leftover from the 60s and 70s which was split up into units for people to sell their wares. So many culturally important people worked there over the years – Leigh Bowery had a place there with Rachael Auburn for a while and apparently Freddie Mercury used to run one of the stalls as well. It was surprisingly easy to set up a stall. All you had to do was put a months rent down and then you could set up a fashion shop in there, but because subculture was the culture people would set up a punk stall, a mod stall, a Goth stall, stalls selling people’s own creations, record stalls – everything. Someone even did a Clockwork Orange shop. The lady who opened up Kensington Market afterwards went on to open Hyper Hyper, which was much more focussed on young designers and higher fashion, but because they were opposite each other, Kensington High Street became this Mecca for younger people who were into fashion and music. This was the place to be – this was the hangout. SS: Was it more second hand clothes or peoples own creations? F: It was a total mixture. Basically you could do whatever you liked as long as they liked your initial idea in the first place. People came from all over the world. You name any famous celebrity or band at the time then they probably visited. There weren’t many cool jobs in the 80s – it was usually either labouring, factory or office work, but luckily I managed to get one of the coolest jobs in the world. With Sign of the Times, I’d tried to give the shop a nightclub type of atmosphere. People would come in with their flyers and magazines and basically it became a centre for this kind of culture and a hub for the

whole of the underground network. That’s how i got to know so many different and varied people. SS: Was there a lot of competition? F: Haha there were a couple of other people doing a similar type of thing but they were kind of catering for a different market. There was Mash, who were huge at the time, but they were catering for the more commercial side of the acid house scene, there was another shop called Bond who catered for the more designer crowd and then there was us. I would say that Sign of the Times catered for the more club end of it. SS: Did you sell anything else apart from clothes? F: We sold all the club tickets as well. There used to be queues stretching all the way out the door and down the street. I remember this one time we got the ‘Go Vicinity’ jeans in, that the Happy Monday’s wore when the whole ‘Madchester’ thing happened and you’ve never seen queues like it – it was just mental – and all for a pair of jeans. We predated

Primark and their queues by years. The same thing happened when Boy’s Own T-shirts were in – everyone went mental. SS: How did the recession of the early 90s affect your business? F: There’s a lot to be said about recession when you’re young because it can make everything a lot cheaper. One of the reasons why I started doing clubs was because the shop started to slow down and I needed to make more money to keep it afloat. It was 1990 and I was starting to feel the bite. I was selling tickets for other clubs and someone said to me ‘why don’t you start your own club?’. The first Sign of the Times club was a Christmas party. Once I got known for doing successful clubs I was offered three floors at places in Mayfair, incredible venues that you couldn’t have got when times were more financially stable. I soon realised that in a recession people often need to party harder as a relief from the stresses and strains of day to day life in an economic downturn. Lots of my crowd were losing jobs, in negative equity and in business break-ups but they all wanted something to look forward to and to dress up for, so the parties started to take on a punky glam attitude. SS: So the shop continued alonside the parties? F: The shop became a focal point for young designers. Because so many fashion students were coming out of college to no jobs and no work, lots of students had to start their own businesses to survive. We gave them advice and a place to sell. Graduating during a recession can be a great thing as it forces you to work that little bit harder or be that little bit more creative to survive. It was great for the shop as we always had new and unusual things to sell and did one offs for many bands

including Bjork, Courtney Love, Pulp and many many more. It was a hand to mouth existance for all of us, except maybe the DJs, but we all met incredible people and there was a feeling that you could do anything if you were brave enough. SS: Didn’t Bjork open open your shop up for you when you moved to Covent Garden? How did that come about? F: We met her just after she had split from Sugarcubes and moved to London to go solo. I don’t think she knew many people here and she would come into the Ken Market shop for a chat. Ken market was a very special place for this and it attracted loads of bands and DJs from every genre who’d hang out in the cafes and go to the multitude of record and clothes shop – it was a bit like camden stables market but all under one roof. People would come just to hang out and chat – Primal Scream, Weatherall, Paul Weller, Izzy Blow, Kate Moss, Michael Hutchinson, Helena Christianson, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Nina Hagen, Nora Lydon, Paula Yates, Mark Moore – all the movers and shakers of club and rave scene would pop in. As for Bjork, she used to love the clothes as they were quirky and not available on the high street and she was also into supporting new talent. On her first tour she wore a lot of Joe Bates’ shredded dyed cheesecloth dresses with the extra long sleeves in red. She also bought a lot of the more extreme T-shirts and accessories. When I opened the shop in Covent Garden we asked her to open it. We had a Blackpool theme and Jeremy Deller (Artist who went on to win the Turner prize) who worked in the shop part time and Sidone Barton (became Alexander McQueen’s PA and now helps Stella Mcartney) drove to Blackpool, did a photshoot and brought back a load of sand which we made into sandcastles outside the door. We decorated the shop in a seaside theme and then Bjork – in front of all the press, jumped on the sandcastles to open the shop! After that we had a massive party inside which Bjork filmed for her video. She was good fun and very down to earth. SS: So Courtney Love used to come down aswell, it sounds like this was the ultimate place to be? F: Haha looking back now it certainly does. We had a lot of beer sponsorship, which Jefferson (Hack – later founder of Dazed & Confused magazine and Kate Moss’ beau) often helped us with. Although they rarely gave us money we had a lot of free beer which we were constantly giving away inside the shop. Haha, always a good way of drumming up business in a recession. Courtney Love either wore Jeremy Deller’s “my drug shame” or my “booze hell” T-shirt at some festival and came back to get more stuff – she was super crazy as you’d expect from a rock and roll diva but I loved her. SS: You mentioned this Punk/Glam attitude and from looking at the photos, there seems to be a more avant garde/ anti fashion edge to it all. F: We once did a party and we got one of the Bay City Rollers (The 70s boyband) to come out of a coffin. I think that sums it up. Kitsch colour and craziness were the order of the day. It was all about fun. It didn’t matter how old you were or what you

were actually wearing as long as you had a good attitude. There was this old lady called ‘Rosie the Rave Granny’. She was a pal of Frazer Clarke and part of the older Zippie crowd who were hippies from the 60s that had embraced new technology. She was wild and came to all my parties. She was in her mid 60s/early 70s. She apparently kept a mini trampoline by her bed which she used to use. She famously got on stage with Flowered Up when they played at one party and performed in our fashion shows. Nothing mattered apart from having a good time and that was the beauty of it. SS: Did you have a favourite party? F: Ooooh that’s a very hard one as there were so many – we held over 60 events in total, but I would say that the most famous was Suzy Wong in August 1994. The line up was fantastic – Paul Daley from Leftfield, Mark Moore, Sasha, and the Dust Brothers who went on to become the Chemical Brothers. It was funny because we had to pursuade them to play the main room as they wanted to do the back room because they weren’t confident enough. Most of our parties had themes and the theme for this party was a Chinese/Asian theme. We got a Chinese dragon with 3 men inside from the Chinese association in London to go round the club freaking people out. We had rollerblading bodypainted giesha girls and a great drag act on at midnight haha. The decor was all in Chinese of course and most people had made outfits especially for the night. The flyer was also a chinese dragon mask. Somehow touts got hold of the tickets and were charging £50 outside for them. Leigh Bowery turned up amongst many characters. It was the ultimate party and that’s what the parties became known for – fun, characters, fashion, cutting-edge music and getting wrecked. SS: The parallels between then and now are there, but how would you say they differ? F: The biggest difference is how global everything is nowadays. I mean in the late 80s it was still pretty exclusive to go on holiday in Spain. I mean really exclusive. Now through social networking and through the Internet you could be communicating with someone in Tokyo as easy as you can be speaking to the person at the desk next to you – and that was never possible before. That’s changed the way people think massively. Also I think people’s brains have speeded up. Someone’s done tests which state that younger peoples brains are speeding up because of all the technology they’re embracing, which is causing them to think faster – but at the same time is making people more autistic as they’re not able to do simple humanistic tasks and recognise facial expressions and the likes. But that’s just natural selection I suppose. If computers are going to be used even more then that’s the way the brain adapts. In all fairness though, life was slower then. One of the differences I’ve noticed from doing things now and doing things then was that back then we had a lot more time. When I first opened the shop people wanted tea breaks, an hour for lunch and not to work past five o’clock – I mean who gets those privileges nowadays? SS: When did you realise it was over? F: Basically my shop shut in 1996. All the rents had gone up as the money had started to come back and debt carried over from the recession meant that I had to close the shop. Around this time anyway things had begun to change dramatically. Trip hop was in and everyone suddenly became very serious, people started to dress down. Suddenly all the colour had gone and everything became very serious and career focused – the fun element had gone. SS: Was this not just people in your particular scene getting older?

F: Obviously my crowd were getting older but it wasn’t just that. The younger crowd coming through had a different attitude. I think every generation has a different mood and by this time the mood had definitely changed. Prices were rising and people realised they had to get their shit together. It wasn’t fun anymore and more importantly it wasn’t cool to be fun anymore – all that bright colourful stuff was deemed to be wrong. The whole energy had changed. I actually wrote on the front of the shop ‘This is no fun anymore’. SS: Like the last Sex Pistols gig in San Francisco when Johnny Rotten declared ‘Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?’ – is that what you felt? F: I never felt like I’d been cheated because we hadn’t, it just became no fun. Everything became so corporate and we’d always been so anti corporate, from our design aesthetic to the way we ran the business. We never wanted to be Topshop. SS: So you’re about to have your first SOTT party since back then – how did that come about? F: It was all down to Facebook! Because we’d all lost touch with each other and then now, through this tool that you young people take for granted, we’re all able to find each other. Talking to people you haven’t seen for years is a big deal. The fact that acid house was such a unique special thing to go through meant that people formed very deep friendships, but through life moving on people became seperated. The number one thing that people have said when buying the tickets for the reunion from me is that they just want to see each other. All the different people who made things happen at the time will be there. SS: Would you say that that was the underlying ethos of Sign of the Times and acid house in the first place – to bring people together under this collective feeling of unity? F: Absolutely. You see the 80s were a very fractured decade – people were very separate. The big thing about acid house was that no one gave a shit about what you did, how much you earned, what your race and sexuality were. All of those things ceased to matter. As long as you had a baggy T-shirt, a pair of trainers and sweat pants then that’s all that mattered. All that 80s status stuff became irrelevant. A lot of people couldn’t handle that actually. It seems so normal now but it at the time it was as shocking as punk was. I mean I had friends that were in the fashion business who used to shout at me ‘Why are you going to these normal horrible clubs’ – they couldn’t understand that all the stuff that they thought was so important was now completely irrelevant. They couldn’t just walk in there with their Gaultier shoulders, go to the VIP lounge and swan about looking fabulous – suddenly no one gave a shit, and that was quite scary for a lot of people. SS: I’ve only been living in London for less than a year, and I’ve already noticed a shift backwards towards this time, with kids thinking they’re VIPs. F: I’ve noticed this as well. We never had a VIP lounge at Sign of the Times – saddo’s corner with a bit of velvet rope around it. I think that’s where the hippy values with a punk edge came into play. The other thing to remember is that a lot of the people involved on the early acid house scene were from the ‘Mutoid Waste’ crowd. Basically they were this massive bunch of eco conscious new age travellers who roamed the country putting on free parties, making crazy sculptures and being incredibly artistic – they were recycling way before anyone else was. They were basically hounded out of the country due to rioting with the police and so forth. A lot of them ended up in Italy. SS: Why were they hounded out, and why Italy? F: One of the Italian provinces gave them some free

land. They were literally chased out of Britain. They weren’t allowed to park up and were made to keep moving all the time. Thatcher was so worried by the political strength of what was going on. People were rioting all over the place – those few years were very anarchic – more so than you can imagine now.

“There’s a lot to be said about recession when you’re young because it can make everything a lot cheaper” SS: I can’t really imagine my generation getting up and doing anything really, but maybe that’s because recent times have been quite easy. F: There’s not so much of the ‘them and us’ mentality that younger generations back then had with the government anymore, but on the other hand, with the economic climate like it is, who knows? I think though that your generation would do it in a different way, utilising technology as a tool for social and political change. You’ve got to remember that that wasn’t even there for us, so the only way our voices could be heard was to go out there and riot. SS: It’s amazing how far you got though with so little technology in terms of organising and promoting parties – it all seems so easy now. In our last issue one of the main features was ‘Everyone’s a promoter now’, it seems that it’s gotten a whole lot easier. Do you agree? F: When you think about it, it’s amazing how Wayne Anthony, one of the big promoters of the time and the guy who wrote the book ‘Class of 88’, managed to get 20,000 people in one place without any technology apart from a few phone boxes and the occasional drug dealer having a mobile phone the size of a brick – it’s just quite amazing. SS: How important was pirate radio? F: Pirate radio was of great importance. Everyone used to listen to pirate radio. They were set up on top of the tower blocks across the whole of London. This was one of the very few places you could get information about what was going on and where it was going to happen. SS: Haha your getting me all excited now. F: That’s the thing though, it was extremely exciting! Another thing to remember is that popular culture is so mass now, but back then it wasn’t so available. You didn’t get all these TV channels, you didn’t get all these style magazines. You got The Face and i-D and that was it, and even they were late to catch on to what was going on. SS: Would you say that we’re living in a kind of post-post pop culture at present? F: Exactly, everything’s so available now. You can get things through your iPod, phone, computer – everything. Back then you had to actively find out about things and people did. It was like a secret society in that sense – and in a way I think that’s what made it all that more special. I’ve promoted this whole reunion sitting in my front room in my pyjamas – you couldn’t do that back then. I used to stand outside clubs at 4 in the morning handing out flyers, as it was all about flyers in those days. Flyers were the whole means of promotion for the smaller raves.

Every generation has its good points and bad points. Your generation has a lot of things that are fantastic that my generation would envy, but there are some things that we had that you haven’t got. One of the big things is your access to global travel, which started to happen later on. SS: Would you say that what you were doing and the whole acid house scene in general was more anarchic than punk? F: I went to punk gigs in 1977 when I was 15 and it was quite a small scene. Overall I would say acid house was more anarchic than punk but rather by accident than design. It was certainly much bigger in terms of how many people were into it. When the authorities clamped down on the raves, many became illegal in order to carry on, but this was more to keep the parties going than to actually challenge the establishment. It became a cat and mouse game with the police. Also the raves were promoted by pirate radio stations that were always being shut down and that was part of the excitement – in the rave days you would often turn up to parties to ﬁnd they had been shut down or had moved location. Word of mouth was key as this was pre internet and mobile phones – it was a proper underground scene, you had to work to ﬁnd out info and that’s why the groups we formed were so tight knit.

Leftﬁeld - Not Forgotten Primal Scream - Don’t Fight It Feel It (Scat Mix) My Bloody Valentine - Soon (Andy Weatherall Remix) Lemon Interupt SUPERSTAR - Big Mouth Gat Decor DJ MARK - Passion MOORE’S DSK TOP 10 - What Would We Do SOTT TRAX Bjork - Big Time Sensuality (Justin Robertson Remix) Helicopter - On Ya Way Robert Owens - I’ll Be Your Friend Jesus Loves You - Generations Of Love

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Who is Barry M? Look at his colours, relish his textures, gild on his glitter and lick on his lipgloss cos whoever he is, Bazza’s a bleedin’ genius.

GWEAN STEFANI HARAJUKU LOVERS

I frikkin love Gwen Stefani and Gwen Stefanu frikkin loves Harajuku girls. She frikkin loves them so frikkin much that she’s created her own sweet smelling Harajuku Loves fragrances – five little Harajuku dolls to adorn your dressing table. Frikkin genius. hlfragrance.com

TOM FORD BLACK ORCHID BODY CREAM

If you weren’t intoxicated with Tom’s sex-in-a-bottle EDT then get even higher on this souffle of a body cream. Slather the rich lotion all over your limbs and you’ll get more compliments than Tom Jones on a SAGA cruise. £52, 0870 034 2566

STEAM CREAM

At first I wanted this tin of Steam Cream as it reminded of the Alexander McQueen union jack clutch that my bank manager, quite rudely, would not extend my overdraft in order for me to obtain. But now I want it cos it’s filled to the brim with a fantabulous moisturiser that results in a super dewy complexion.

SUPERHERO BEAUTY SECRETS RAINBOW BRITE Hi guys, I’m Rainbow Brite. How do I keep myself looking so f*cking fabulous? Well my glowing complexion is thanks to Palmers luxurious Cocoa Butter lotion (£2.75, boots.co.uk). To get my super-long lashes, I slick on two coats of Bourjois Clubbing Masacara (£7.95, bourjois. co.uk) in black which never smudges, even when I’m raving. To get my rosy cheeks, rub in Becca’s Beach Tint in peach (£19,cultbeauty.co.uk) . To finish off my look, I stick on star-shaped beauty spot from Stargazer (£2, stargazer-products.com). Ciao for now Super Dupers! Rainbow xx

LAURIE LOVES!

MARIAN NEWMAN INKREDIBLES

Spritz on The Body Shop’s gorious new Japanese Cherry Blossom EDT – fresher than a bunch of bum-grabbing rude boys at carnival! £14, thebodyshop.co.uk

Marian Newman is the dan gargan of nails. Her Loubotin manicure had fashionistas selling themselves for an appointment at her salon and her new pop art designs are causing the same cuticle craving chaos. Get a bit of Marian in your life with her new Inkredible nail pens in ten wicked water based opaque colours that dry in seconds. £22, mariannewmannails.com

STARGAZER

SMILEY BEAUTY KIT

This swanky lil beauty kit is a box full smiles for all your cosmetic emergencies. Full of joy, mirth (and Smiley Eau de Parfum, Bath Pills, Body Gel and Smiley Rubbing Friction) this cute contraption is the closest you can get to happiness without a prescription. smileyworld.com

Stargazer’s collection of neon polishes, shadows and lip colours are buffer than an oiled-up video chick. Team up dark defined eyes with SG’s hot pink lipstick (135) and a set of fluorescent orange talons (103). You’re guaranteed a swell time til that lippy wears off.

f o Look h t n o m e h t NARS RED SQUARE MATTE LIP PENCIL

Hot darn honey! Clean out your cellular’s address book and erase all those crappy ringtones cos you’ll need a couple of gigs memory free for all the numbers you’re gon accumulate once you slick on a couple of coats of this miracle pencil across your pout.

Go too far with your makeup this season.Think harlequin eyes, powderpuffed faces, Aunt Sally cheeks and giant beauty spots! Take inspiration from Emma Bell. She used this technique on the models in her last collection. Facepaint is a must. Forget about the natural look - its all about doing the opposite. Why not try pencilling round your designs for that added fair factor. Candyfloss anyone?

MISSONI CHOCOLATE PERFUME

If I was a chocolate I’d like to be a finger of Fudge or maybe a Twix or maybe a Ferrero Rocher or maybe a… Stop! Argh! Thankfully I don’t have to deal with this cocoa conundrum no mo cos I had a word with my mates at Missoni and they kindly created a delicious scent that will leave you smelling like a chocolate-coated tin of Cadbury’s finest in Willy Wonka’s factory during a Malteser storm.

Super Tips TOMATO KETCHUP (to correct hair colour) A few weeks ago a lovely yardie woman called Marcia, who was wicked at weave but not quite up to scratch on her colouring skills, dyed my roots green. This would have been fine had the rest of my hair been green but alas it was ash blonde. As I fought back the urge to vomit, I rang my mum who told me, and I quote, to, “Put some ketchup pon it!” Mumma went on to explain the alkali in the red stuff would neutralise the nasty green mess. A quick trip to the Chicken Cottage next door and six tomato sauce sachets later, my hair soon settled to a far more suitable shade and the green was no more.

RIZLA (to combat shine) I was out at some Nike bash in Oxford Circus one night when I recoiled in horror as I glimpsed a chip pan shine across my forehead in the unforgiving reflection of a sneaker display cabinet. My fabulous friend Rene observed my trauma and as I dabbed my face back to matt with a MAC blot sheet (not cheap at £10 a pop) he enquired, “Why the f*ck don’t you use Rizla babe? It does exactly the same thing and it costs 47p!” You do the math…

KOOL AID LIPGLOSS (to look like a sex god) OK this is one of the ones I nicked off the net and I tried it and it’s flippin lush. Take a couple of teaspoons of Vaseline, microwave it for about seven seconds and mix in a teaspoon of Cherry Kool Aid (for a dark pinky red) or Strawberry Kiwi flavour (for a bubblegum pink) and you’ve got yourself a finger licking free lip gloss! Genius!

diary of a

L E D O M r e p SuperSu This Month! Rebecca talks life, love & gym phobia!!

Hello there! I hope you’re all keeping yourselves well. Modelling’s been going rather well so far this month, plus I’ve been going to the gym and doing exercise classes (such as ‘dance’ with the best instructor ever, Ron (Mr Motivator! Honestly he is black and brummie and wears spandex; add a bumbag and we’re there!)). I also got a boyfriend! I had been noticing how all my friends have been ridiculously, smugulously coupled up (NAMALEE AND SHIRANI I MEAN YOU IN PARTICULAR!), and now I find myself in this position! He asked me out at the last Illegal Seagull, where SUPERSUPER coverstars Battlekat played. It’s great, so far we have been to the zoo, museum, a picnic, heavy metal bar, Dr Who exhibition, Notting Hill Carnival (after which I accidentally got unattractively drunk. He played one of his favourite songs of all time and apparently I put my hands over my ears and shouted “THIS IS SHIT, I ACTUALLY HATE THIS,” way to go!) So this is all a nice new development. Back to modelling. I love my new agency, First. And they are so tolerant of me. When I started, it was with this mindset: “I am going to be mature and grown up, so that we have mutual respect.” How did this morph into them playing ABBA songs so that I can show them the dance routines I learnt in Ron’s class? As I said in the last diary, I really needed to lose a bit of weight after 3 university years of non-stop food consumption and minimal exercise. Well, it’s taken a bloody long time and it’s still an ongoing process, and other agencies might’ve got a bit impatient with me by now but they’re so supportive! I had to go in and have polaroids of me taken in my undies and I got really anxious about it, but it wasn’t too bad in the end. I just need to curb my addiction to Flumps. This lady, Kristin Vicari, added me on myspace and asked whether I would come to her studio and have polaroids taken of me in some of my favourite outfits, for Bedhead hair products. We’d get £200 for showing up, and more if our piccies got chosen. Get paid for showing off, having photos taken of me in my favourte clothes (mainly Philip Normal’s creations)? I really had to think long and hard about that one. I got Namalee and my boyfriend the job, too, and what a laugh. I’m pretty chuffed with the pictures, and so were my agency – a big problem is that most of the pictures in my portfolio are from 2004. See, since then, I’ve gotten quite a lot of ‘commercial’ jobs, which means the money’s ok but I tend to be wearing beige chunky knits in them and pulling mumsy faces, so it doesn’t go in my book. But the pics Kristin took have gone straight in my portfolio and as the main pic on my ‘comp card’ which is like a business card – but instead of your office number, it has your bust measurement and shoe size. I had such fun with Kristin, and her pictures were so good, that I ended up doing another shoot with her a coupla weeks later! She had asked me if I could cycle, and I thought this meant there’d be a couple of pics of me perhaps standing next to a bike. No no! When I got there it turned out we were cycling all up Hackney canals to the shoot location, where I would freeze my arse off, lying in leaves and standing up trees in summer dresses. It’s ok though, you can survive the cold if you know you’re gonna get good pictures and the team’s lovely, as in this case. It’s when the team are really unsympathetic and come out with things like “can you stop shivering?” or you’re not getting paid and you know the pictures will be crap that it’s torturous. Cycling! I haven’t done it in years. What great exercise….but how incredibly uncomfortable! This

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is not the first time that my fanny has suffered for modelling. Two particular instances spring to mind….having to slide down a bannister in a net skirt for an hour, solid, was agony. And the time I was a body double (where I met Nam), and had to sit on a unicycle that was attached to a revolving stage, waving my legs around like I was flying…I was nearly crying. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had cried though, seeing as another model’s head was going to be stuck on my body! Ooh! I did my second wedding shoot yesterday. It was for the imaginatively titled ‘Brides’ – Britain’s no. 1 selling wedding mag. The shoot started at 7am (I live in Morden – an hour away – so had to get up at 5. Yikes!) I had breakfast on the shoot – they had these mini salmon bagels. And the male model some as well as coffee and cigarettes. And then found out that for the first shot, we’d be running along the pavement outside the Natural History Museum and proper kissing! So that was fragrant. The photographer apologised, saying, “Sorry, it’s 8 am and you’re having to snog a bloke you’ve never met before,” to which I classily replied “sounds like an average Saturday morning in Morden if I’m honest.” There were 10 shots, and quite a few of them were kissy, so I got quite comfortable, in fact I forgot I wasn’t with my boyfriend and accidentally started stroking the male models bum, oops! Right after the shoot I had to rush off to the Cotswolds to do some more leg modelling for Per Una, it is sort of boring but you do get to stay in a nice hotel, and it’s easy money. Had a shoot for Mexx in Amsterdam yesterday…That’s one of the best things about modelling – last minute travelling. I’ve never been there but it seems like a great place, from what I gathered from the 24 hours I was there. The job was yet more silly face pulling! It’s really my niche market. Oh no!!!!!! I just got dumped!!!! I am really embarassed about writing all that stuff earlier now. He got drunk and shagged someone else then dumped me…. bollocks! When he told me I was very upset and crying - but at the same time, I was thinking things such as “I’ll have to start getting the night bus to Morden again and it’s nearly winter,” and, “I wonder if I can still DJ,” (I am Djing with his best friend at the next Illegal Seagull) so I can’t really be that devastated. In fact, if I’m honest with you, I was making jokes about it with my parents half an hour later. Overall, I was much more upset when Select, my previous agency, dropped me earlier this year. Philip Normal never liked him….the next one is getting vetted by my favourite stall-holder! I am not a bitter person and I have just moved on….however everyone is allowed a little passive-aggression now and then, and I have worked collaboratively with Emma Dilemma to customise a photo of him on Paint. Enjoy. Right, I have to go pack, I have a busy week ahead of me…a shoot for designer Belle Sauvage, for Dazed & Confused tomorrow, then off to the Cotswolds, then a shoot for L’Oreal!

myspace.com/velocitygirl1985

SUPERSUPER STOCKISTS email fashion@thesupersuper.com for more info

Photography by Billa

SUPERSUPER at the Clothes Show Live 8 0 0 2 c e D SUPERSUPER takes a trip to Birmingham this month to partake in a megatastic style hoof at The Clothes Show Live – which is celebrating its 20th birthday this year. Soooo obviously we are going to bring a massive razzledazzley fashion cake with us because we all know that fashion and cake go together like... erm.... ham and sandwich!! From 5–10 December, Birmingham’s NEC is going to be the place to beeee – lookout for fashion, models, slebs (last year we got to hang out with Ziggy from Big Bro and dressed him up in purple KTZ leggings – which he loved btw!), model scouts, catwalk shows, shopping, make-up tips for owls and owlettes – all under one snazzfangled roof. SUPERSUPER will be hosting our very own Offbeat Boutique there for the ﬁrst time so make sure you come on down and say hello! Maybe bring a hooty horn to peep in our faces too?! We will have plenty of famous SUPERSUPER magazine faces on our Clothes Show Live escapades so don’t be shy – come and sing us a song even! Other highlights you might fancy include Anita’s Vintage Fashion Fair and The Maybelline Image Catwalk in association with Company magazine, which will be showcasing the hottest newest designer talent. See you in the front row?! Infact it’s gonna be a total magazine love fest with the likes of More! Magazine also hooking up with Gatecrasher Club DJ Bar to help them out with the tunage. So when you’ve made it up to the Birmingham NEC and successfully

parked your spacemobile, come and find us in The Purple Zone – (errr where else would SUPERSUPER be? Durrr!!). But if it’s advice about making it in the industry that you are after take a nifty detour to Blue Zone and visit The College Forum in association with Drapers, to get advice about careers in fashion. The Pink Zone houses the Superdrug Hair & Beauty Stage which will teach you how to nail that hot glittery club-badger eye make-up you’ve been practising. Or wander over to Colin McOwl’s favourite area The Black Label Zone if you’re feeling like you wanna do some designer spending. The Red Zone houses the avant garde and clubtastic looks so head on over there to grab some mash-up party wear bargains. And finally, you can fall on the floor and demand an enormously spiritual massage complete with scented candles at The Wellbeing Zone, in association with Zest magazine. Yippppeeeeee. As you all know The Clothes Show Live is all about encouraging new talent and The Design Awards are back with some totally amazing prizes. The Young Stylist of the Year, in association with Maybelline New York, will see their styled outfits paraded on the catwalk at the show, whilst the winning design of The Young Designer of the Year in association with asos.com will be modelled on stage too. With top prizes also going to Fiorelli’s Young Accessory Designer of the Year, Nikon’s Young Fashion Photographer and Young Artist of the Year. No mistaking, You will see it all here first at The Clothes Show Live – so get ready for a fashfun-fest you will never forget...!! Clothes Show Live will take place at the NEC Birmingham from 5 - 10 December 2008. Tickets are on sale now and are available from the box office on 0844 579 3178 or online at clothesshowlive.com

55 DSL www.55dsl.com ADDICT www.addict.co.uk ADIDAS www.adidas.com AITOR THROUP www.aitorthroup.com ALEX MATTSSON www.myspace.com/vonfistlip ALTAMONT APPAREL www.afour.co.uk AMERICAN APPAREL www.americanapparel.net ANOTHER LABEL ANOTHER BOY www.blyszak.com ANTIK BATIK www.asos.com ANTONI&ALISON www.antoniandalison.co.uk ARMAND BASI www.armandbasi.com ASLANTURK www.aslanturk.eu ASHISH www.ashish.co.uk AVSH ALOM GUR www.avshalomgur.com BARRY M www.barrym.co.uk BASSO & BROOKE www.harrods.com BENCH www.bench.co.uk BENIFIT www.benifitcosmetics.co.uk BERNARD WILLHELM www.kokontozai.co.uk BETHAN WOOD www.woodlondon.co.uk BEYOND THE VALLEY www.beyondthevalley.com BILLINAIRE BYS CLUB the Hideout 02074374929 BOLONGARO TREVOR www.bolongarotrevor.com B0XFRESH www.boxfresh.co.uk B-RUDE www.b-rude.com BUTLER & WILSON www.butlerandwilson.com BROWNS www.brownsfashion.co.uk CACHAREL www.chacharel.com CALVIN KLEIN www.calvinklein.com CAMILLA STAERK www.camillastaerk.co.uk CAMPER www.camper.com CARAT www.carat.cc CASSETTE PLAYA www.cassetteplaya.com CHEAP M0NDAY www.cheapmonday.com COLAB www.colab.com.au CONVERSE www.converse.com COOPERATIVE DESIGNS www.cooperative-designs.com CORE SPIRIT www.worshipcore.com DESIGUAL www.desigual.com DICKIES www.dickies.co.uk DIESEL www.diesel.com DIOR www.dior.com DR MARTENS www.drmarten.com EASTPAK www.eastpak.co.uk ECKO www.ecko.com ELEY KISHIMOTO www.eleykishimoto.com EMERICA www.afour.co.uk EMMA BELL www.irregularchoicestore.com EROTOKRITOS www.erotokritos.com ETNIES www.etnies.com FARAH www.faraheurope.com FENCHURCH www.fenchurch.com FIREBOX www.firebox.com FIRETRAP www.firetrap.com FORNARINA www.fornarina.com FRED BUTLER STYLE www.fredbutlerstyle.com FRED PERRY www.fredperry.com FRENCH CONNECTION www.fcuk.com GI0-G0I www.gio-goi.com GIRL GANG www.girlgang.co.uk GIRLS FR0M 0MSK www.girlsfromomsk.be GOLA www.golaclassics.com G-STAR www.g-star.com GSUS www.g-sus.com H&M www.hm.com HENRIK VIBSK0V www.henrikvibskov.com HL JEANS Co. www.henrilloyd.com HOUSE OF HOLLAND www.houseofholland.co.uk HOXTON BOUTIQUE www.hoxtonboutique.co.uk HUDSON www.hudsonshoes.com HUGO BOSS www.hugoboss.com HUMMEL www.hummel.dk HUNTER www.hunterboots.com I DREAM 0F WIRES 68a Cheshire Street, E2 02077394481 ILLUSTRATED PEOPLE www.illustratedpeople.com IRREGULAR CHOICE www.irregularchoice.co.uk ISSEY MIYAKE www.isseymiyake.com JEAN CHARLES DE CASTELBEJAC www.jc-de-castelbajac.com JEREMY SC0TT www.jeremyscott.com JAEGER www.jaeger.co.uk JAMIN PUECH www.jamin-puech.com JSE CASTR0 www.castroestudio.com J W ANDERS0N www.j-w-anderson.com

KAREN WALKER www.karenwalker.com KENZO www.kenzo.com KICKERS www.kickers.co.uk KILLAH www.killah.it KIND www.kind.com KLING BY KLING www.iwantkling.se KOMAKINO www.komakinodesign.com K-SWISS www.kswiss.com KTZ www.kokontozai.co.uk LACOSTE www.lacoste.com LADY LUCK RULES OK? www.ladyluckrulesok.com LAZY OAF www.lazyoaf.co.uk LEVI’S www.levi.com LEVI’S VINTAGE www.levi.com LEVI’S RED www.oki-ni.com LIBERTY of LONDON www.liberty.co.uk LIK + NEON www.likneon.com LINDA FARROW VINTAGE www.lindafarrowvintage.com MAC www.maccosmetics.com MAFIA www.supersweet.org MAKIN JAN MA www.makinjanma.com MANISH ARORA www.manisharora.ws MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA www.martinmargiela.com MARKS & SPENCER www.marksandspencer.com MARKUS LUPFER www.markuslupfer.com MATT & NAT www.mattandnat.com MCM www.mcmworldwide.com MICHALSKY www.michalsky.com MISS SIXTY www.misssixty.com MULBERRY www.mulberry.com NEW ERA www.neweracap.com NOKI www.kokontozai.com NIKE www.nike.com PAC0 RABANNE www.pacorabanne.com PASTRY www.pastrykicks.com www.footlocker.eu/pastry PAULE KA www.pauleka.com PAUL SMITH www.paulsmith.co.uk PEOPLES MARKET www.asos.com PENFIELD www.penﬁeldusa.com PEPE www.pepejeans.com PHILIP NORMAL www.philipnormal.com PRIMARK www.primark.co.uk PUCCI www.emiliopucci.com PUMA www.puma.com RANDOM BANGLE russelljbarratt2@hotmail.com RAY BAN www.ray-ban.com RELIGION www.religionclothing.co.uk REEBOK www.reebok.com RUI LEONARDES www.ruileonardes.com SILVER SPOON ATTIRE www.silverspoonattire.com SIV STOKLDAL www.sivstoldal.com SIX-SCENTS www.sevennewyork.com SONY www.sony.co.uk SMIFFY’S www.smiffys.com STELLA MCARTNEY www.stellamcartney.com STEPHEN JONES www.stephenjonesmillinery.com ST0RM WATCHES www.stormwatches.com SWAROVSKI www.swarovski.com SWATCH www.swatch.com TARINA TARANTINO www.tarinatarantino.com TATTY DEVINE www.tattydevine.com T-BOOK www.t-book.com TERRY de HAVILLAND www.terrydehavilland.com THOMAS BURBERRY www.thomasburberry.com THOMAS SABO www.thomassabo.com THE0RY www.theory.com TOM BINNS www.tombinnsdesign.com TOPSHOP www.topshop.com TO-ORIST www.to-orist.com TOY WATCH www.toywatchusa.com TWEEZERMAN www.tweezerman.com TWO SEE www.twoseelife.com UNDERGROUND ENGLAND www.underground-england.co.uk UNIQL0 www.uniqlo.com URBAN OUTFITTERS www.urbanoutﬁtters.co.uk VAGAB0ND www.vagabond.co.uk VANS www.vans.co.uk VERSACE www.viviennewestwood.com WRANGLER www.wrangler.com Y-3 www.adidas.com/y-3 YES NO MAYBE www.yesnomaybe.co.uk YMC www.youmustcreate.com ZONE 7 www.myspace.com/zone7/vintage Z00 Y0RK www.zooyork.com

SUPERTECH!

Compiled by

George Cook

tech@thesupersuper.com

A Concept for Christmas! (The PSP/ iPhone hybrid by matbrady1.googlepages.com) Dear Father Christmas...I’ve been extra good this year! In exchange for my model behaviour I require the following!! Please note...the elves might wanna get started now!

Sony DPF-D100 - £199 www.sonystyle.co.uk The name of this glossy little 8 x 10 frame is horribly unimaginative, although it’s features are anything but! It even has a “smart orientation” sensor so portrait and landscape images will display the right way round!

MyVu Shades - starting at $199.95 myvu.com These video sunglasses connect directly to your iPod for an overwhelmingly exciting visual experience. Perfect for dodging the paparazzi and catching up on the latest episode of Desperate Housewives all at once. Your so Lady GaGa!

Sony Ericsson Xperia – from free on contract www.sonyericsson.com Sony Ericsson have chosen to move in their OWN direction! The Xperia is amazing for so many reasons, the screensaver for example. It's animated aquarium, however, if you miss a call, a new fish appears!! If your phone is on silent, a fish will turn grey! Now that is originality and we applaud you Sony Ericsson!!

Zero Gravity Micro R/C Car - £29.95 firebox.com The future is here...in a way. This toy car has the ability to climb the walls!! If we can just figure out it's secret then we'll be one step closer to an actual Batmobile!!

Tuttuki Bako - £15.00 Somewhere in Japan We all love a good poke! Now with this Japanese box of abuse you can push an innocent digital panda off his swing! Excerise your darkside.

T-Mobile G1 – from free www.t-mobile.co.uk All we need mention is the "Shop Savvy" feature, which allows you to scan a barcode on any product and it will return better prices both online and at other stores! You can also forward a Wish List to your friends...just in time for festive season!

Ego Editions Plain Leather Laptop £5000.00 ego-lifestlye.com Anybody who has spent quality time in the Wonder Room at Selfridges has made acquaintance with this luxurious techno goddess! She runs Windows XP or Vista and has interchangeable covers. Santa baby... slip an ego under the tree, for me!

Hello Kitty C1 - $890.95 geekstuff4u.com This lovely little laptop is giving you a 120GB Hard Drive & a sexy little 10” Display but to be fair, it’s a Hello Kitty laptop...I believe this is all the information we need.

Blackberry Storm from free www.vodafone.co.uk/storm The latest addition to the Blackberry family features a touch screen and has a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus & auto-flash! It has 1GB of memory but you can expand this with microSD cards. A beautiful development from earlier models, Blackberry are really moving in the right direction.

Solar Vertical Lamp – price on request www.yankodesign.com In times of financial and environmental crisis we should not be forced into darkness! Nor should we be forced into hideous lighting design!! BEHOLD the Solar Vertical Lamp which, in essence, are blinds, lol. However, LEDs are built into the panels, you can choose from ornate chandeliers to art deco table lamps.

I-pod Nano – from £109 www.apple.com/uk Finally, a colour to match every outfit. The newest rendition of the I-pod Nano comes in nine different colours and with either 8gb or 16gb of memory. Now there is no excuse not to be coordinated.

Poloroid POGO Instant Mobile Printer - £99.00 www.PCWorld.co.uk This mini printer is so snazzy you don't even need ink!! It uses special "ZINK" paper that holds the colour and the magical machine just charms it out!

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s SUPER ’ i n a r i h S SCREEN

Merry Christmas Screen Queens!!! If you don’t know which of the classic Christmas films to choose, then let me be of assistance. “A Muppet’s Christmas Carol” is one of the all time greats, as is Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands”. Both are filled with costume ideas for Christmas parties! I will be watching (and stealing my latest look) from “Elf” starring Will Ferrel. For any of the haters out there...”yes he is funny!!!” You’d have to be dead not to laugh when he jumps on the Christmas tree! Now on to more pressing matters. My latest gripe is with certain soap opera’s script writers. Now I love Eastenders but as a part Asian girl I have to ask: what’s with all the clichéd ethnic families? Are we living in the 50’s? “The Ahmeds” were introduced to apparently get away from stereotyping, but already we have endured storylines such as the mother bringing shame on her family and being set on fire and the daughter leaving Walford for Pakistan in order to discover her roots. Now don’t get me wrong I’m sure there are some people who can relate to these storylines- but what about the rest of modern Britain? There are many Asian people growing up in Britain today (myself included) who have never worked in a cornershop (hello Corrie), don’t wear “ethnic” style scarves (Easties again) and aren’t given a curfew by their domineering parents who worry about “what the community will think”. I watch these programmes and think “why can’t the Asian girl be the slut for once”?!!! It seems ridiculous that the USA have just elected the first Black President and yet here in Britain where we’re oh so proud to be open minded- we can’t even represent our own people in the name of entertainment. Even programmes aimed at young people don’t appear to be getting it right. Take “Skins” - was I the only one who didn’t find it funny that the black MC character in Skins was actually posh? And this is a programme written by “young people”?! These days racial lines are becoming more and more blurred, and being one of the “blurred” myself I don’t expect to switch on my TV and see a white man’s perceived idea of what I must be like based on the fact that all he can see is “brown”. I have a number of mixed race actor friends who are quite simply losing their ambition to act anymore because they are sick of auditioning for stereotypical roles. It’s the same in theatre. My friend recently said to me “I was on my way back from auditioning for the Lion King, fingers crossed, God I hope I get the part of the monkey!”......Nuff said.

REVIEWS

RETRO TIP! Beyond the Valley of the Dolls If you’ve never seen a Russ Meyer film before, this is the one to watch. The seventies cult director packed this story of an all-girl rock group with melodrama, horror, sex, murder, comedy, oh and sometimes it feels like you’re watching a musical! The film follows the girls as they travel to Hollywood and envelope themselves in a bizarre, hedonistic world guided by the fabulous producer “Z-Man”. It all seems thoroughly “groovy” until they discover the dark side to fame and fortune, which seems to be that handsome, strange music producers might end up having a big pair of tits underneath their ruffle collar shirt! Apparently the character of “Z-man” was loosely based on Phil Spector but you might be more likely to associate him with Russell Brand! It’s as bizarre as it is beautiful, the girls the tunes are as good as any “Duffy, Buffy or Fluffy’s” retro songs today and the clothes (and lack of them) are a feast for your eyes. Watch it immediately and then myspace me to tell me I’m not wrong for fancying “Z-Man”!!!!

h Gabriel Bisset-Smit

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Gabriel Bisset-Smith (writer/actor/director) is a man on a mission. The Royal court commissioned him to write a play – in which he tackled the menopause and facebook! “They were expecting some young/race related/London thing but you don’t want to do that all the time.” It’s with a mix of self confidence, ambiguous looks and sheer determination that make Gabriel Bisset-Smith a force to be reckoned with. I met up with him to find out more and to discover if he is indeed “the future”!!! SUPER SUPER: So Gabriel, how did you get into this acting, writing malarkey? GABRIEL: “I trained as an actor but before I went to drama school and I used to write plays for this radio station called Resonance Fm, and then when I came out of Drama school I carried on acting but I kind of thought plays were really shit! Loads of TV and loads of theatre, I thought so much of it was rubbish so I just continued to write and it seems to have really taken off. I don’t know if you’ve seen that new show ‘Britannia High’, but that’s a prime example of how TV’s run over here. It’s a rip off of an American show and I think it’s created by a 60 year old bloke! There’s one black character and I saw his storyline coming up and it’s like someone gets shot on his estate etc...I mean that’s like the plot of Fame in the 80’s, they might as well call him Leroy!!! SS: Funny you should mention that particular subject because I have a bee in my bonnet at the moment about the bad representation of non-whites on our screens. What’s your take on the subject? G: When I wrote my first play I wanted to write a “race” play that wasn’t about people with “issues” necessarily but was more about modern culture and people who are mixed race dealing with identity and having no past

and sort of a “no race” because everything in theatre seemed to be just tokenistic, if it was about Asians they were Muslims dealing with terrorism or if they were Black they were living on an estate and the Whites were usually middle class. Its a complicated system because the theatres need to embrace writers from ethnic minorities but then sometimes they allow too many shit plays to get through because they’re trying to be politically correct. When it comes to TV I think it’s about 10 years behind. Americans do it but we don’t seem to have enough ethnic writers within the industry. I think even if you’re white writer within television you should try and write an interesting ethnic character. Even if you do it badly a younger person can watch that and think ‘I’m gonna go into TV and do that better’- at least they see a place for themselves. My little brother is half Indian and he’s always saying how there are no characters on TV for him to relate to, I just think it would be interesting if the main guy in a show like Skins for example was black or Asian. SS: Why do you think so many of these writers seem so out of touch with young people? G: During TV meetings I’m often the youngest person in the room by quite a long

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

If you’re looking for a non traditional Christmas movie- catch this spooky rerelease of the 1931 classic ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. We all know the story: scientist drinks potion that turns him into grizzly beast. What is interesting about this version of the film is just how much of the story is about sex (remember: it was 1931). Dr Jekyll is totally driven by sexual desire. The scariest beast imaginable apparently looked quite a lot like “Ronaldinho,” which gave the film a different feel for me as he’s one of my ultimate crushes! It is a brilliant example of one man’s struggle for freedom: whilst controlling his animal instincts within the constraints of Victorian London. Beautifully shot, and wonderfully acted- go and see it whilst you can! Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde opens 12th Dec at FIB Southbank, other venues tbc

CHOKE Choke is the second of Chuck Palahniuk’s novels to be brought to the big screen (Fight Club being the first). However, Choke is nothing like its predecessor. But it is just as brilliant- one of those rare moments where a movie manages to be hilarious and horrendously sad all at once. The film centers around con-artist/sex addict “Victor Mancini” (Sam Rockwell) as he tries to raise money for his sick mother (Anjelica Houston). The scam is this: dine at a posh restaurant; pretend to choke and get saved by some rich dude who feels so great about themselves for “saving” you they continue doing so by sending you cheques!!!! This, alongside “sex- aholics” meetings, working as an 18th century servant in a theme park and not knowing who his father is makes “Victor” a very confused boy. With so many themes- such as loss of faith, addictions and love- it is a wonderful portrayal of modern life. In order not to enjoy this film you would have to be an alien from 1853. Choke is out now.

shot and I’m also probably the only person in the room who’s watched a lot of television, people always say “Oh you can’t get away with that on television and I think, have you seen an episode of Soprano’s when they beat a prostitute to death?!” You can get away with anything on television. Nowadays via the internet etc there’s such a wealth of information coming in kids are so far ahead of plot and everything. You can’t fool them anymore; you have to come up with really unique stuff to keep them interested. Its why TV’s missing out to computer games cos the plot in things like Grand Theft Auto are so incredibly dense, really complex so why then would they sit down to watch Skins and be interested? SS: What kind of things inspire you? G: Loads of telly inspires me, The Soprano’s, The Wire, Deadwood. I read a lot of books more than plays; I like Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore. I try and take in everything. If anyone says something’s good I’ll go and check it out straight away whether its Gossip Girl or the West Wing, I mean how can you make truly original ideas if you haven’t seen everything that’s already out there? In terms of directors I like Chris Nolan, Kevin Spacey- he gave me a standing ovation once!!! Music is probably the thing

that inspires me the most. Lionel Richie’s “Hello” is literally the basis of one of my plays. SS: So what are you up to at the moment? G: I’m part of the core group at the Soho Theatre so I’m writing a play for there and that’s my racist farce and I’m doing this play up in York which is about Incest. I’m also doing radio play called “The Black Bono” and working on a couple of TV ideas, and a kids TV show called “White Mike”. I think the racist farce is the most “out there” one! Its all really exciting, the reason I think I’ve done so well is the state that television etc is in now is pretty bad and I don’t mean this arrogantly but it’s all for the taking now. At the moment everyone’s doing this soft entertainment, with no meaning behind it. It’d be so easy to make a show that’s just got that little bit of how it is nowadays and it’ll just be so much more. My dream thing to do is a television show that is funny, seemed like the lightest thing ever but actually had real meaning. It’s a hard thing to do but if done well you could literally capture the entire country. I get the distinct feeling that this guy might just do exactly that!

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my step dad, the milkman, shagged my mum, made a cuppa (while whistling) and left a bill on the kitchen table. He never overcharged.

done quite a lot with his life. After he explained about his immigrant-chic style, I was brimming with pride. I mean, I thought he’d just buggered off, but apparently he’d spent £60k with private investigators and solicitors trying to find me. That’s how dedicated he was. He’d travelled the world three times and even knew how to use chopsticks. Plus, he’d been to Spain. And he was WELL intelligent – he had five Masters degrees. Nowadays, he was taking a bit of time for himself between consultancy jobs. When I met him, it was his day off. He said it was nice to not have to wear designer suits once in a while. We met up with his friends in another bar a bit later on. He told me that some of them had colourful lives but that I shouldn’t judge them. I tried not to, but they were all sooooo fantastic. One was a pilot. Another was a surgeon. They had taken the day off to meet me too, Dad said. I was lucky, lucky, lucky. One of the guys explained we were in the VIP area and pointed to a ‘keep out’ sign beside our stacked chairs. I bought the first round, so as not to be impolite. The pilot asked me if I wanted to sit in his cockpit. The surgeon showed me his knife. Everything was going swimmingly. I can’t really remember much of the rest because apparently some chav spiked my drink or something. But, much later I was back on the train home. Crying sweet tears of happiness. Complete. I think about that day out with Dad pretty fondly. Since then, I’ve been back to visit him a couple of times to show him how I can be a good daughter, but I’ve got a lot to live up to. We always have a blast and never seem to leave the pub most nights. He’s really popular, but he’d never admit it. Once, we got thrown out of a pub for being too happy, he said. Nowadays, Dad’s settled down a bit. He told me that he couldn’t party all his life, unfortunately. He’s living with an old widowed lady in her dead husband’s bungalow. Dad says it’s not as nice as he’s used to, but she needs the company and he’s sick of rattling around in his four-bed place. You’ve got to hand it to the guy, he’s ALL heart. I think he’s in love. His 80 year old girlfriend says he’s a very passionate man, physically. But I just think he’s generous. I’m one of his seven children and he is my Snow White. The guy just can’t stop giving. You’ve got to love that kind of commitment. Hi ho.

by Pauline Grifﬁths

DIDN’T KNOW MY DAD. He used to stop at the flat for about 20 minutes every few years with additional kids. He looked like Russell Hammond from Almost Famous; all tattoos and burgundy leather trousers. Apparently, his relationship with my mum was all about the sex. The guy just wanted to be free, I think. When he rocked up at our estate for the last time, I was fourteen. Mum had gone and got herself arrested, so I told him to bugger off. At the time, I was sure his disappearance was a temporary thing. But 14 years passed and I didn’t hear a peep. I felt guilty wanting to know him. Sometimes, no amount of Trisha can level out the feeling of ‘not knowing’ important shit like that. Plus, everyone had their own stuff to deal with. Mum was getting anger management and sis was taking an overdose. I was out cold with nothing to do but ponder. In the background, my step dad, the milkman, shagged my mum, made a cuppa (while whistling) and left a bill on the kitchen table. He never overcharged. In my final year at uni I found an Uncle (my Dad’s bro) in Germany and flew out to meet him. That guy was an ex army dude in his forties and tried a bit of rape on me one night when I was sleeping, so British Consulate flew me home, business class. It was dead exciting. Then, one day, my phone rang and this slurred voice said: “Hey baby, it’s Daddy”. All I could think was: “Fuck, I don’t even recognise his voice.” I was sure I would have. But I didn’t. He sounded a bit like Paul Daniels. After a few days of back-andforth incoherent rambling (apparently, every second counts), curiosity got the better of me and I jumped on a train, hoping, SuperTed style, that Mother Nature had left me special powers. That day, in a bar, I met a stranger who shared my eyes, genes and mannerisms. No, let me rephrase: That day, in a pub, I met what looked like an old shabby homeless guy. He was clutching a carrier bag of possessions and wore dirty ill-fitting clothes like the Thriller zombies. Oh, and, it transpired that I was the as to his dominion. Yep, we are all winners, you know. “Hi Dad,” I chirruped. “Baby, it’s my birthday!” replied the bum. “Buy your daddy a pint, there’s a good girl.” Well, what can I tell you? Firstly, the down-dressing was a ruse. Dad said he didn’t like to intimidate the riff raff, so my respect for him rocketed there and then. I could tell he’d 132

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REAL LiFE STORY

It’s

Super Art

MODERN MYSTICISM but where’s the magick

with my metal lunchbox collection. Violette however reflects on a whole different level of devotional obsession. Focusing on the aftermath of ritual violence, his sculptures isolate the horror. The galloping white horse projected onto a veil of mist at his recent show at Maureen Paley suspended disbelief through it’s miraculous floating in space, but then disrupted this though a juddery cut in the film loop - raising suspicion towards the entrancing vision. David Altmejd uses crystals in a very un-bling way; refusing to adorn, they burst out of his hybrid werewolf figures in a perceived supernatural process that even Mystic Meg would have a hard time explaining. His monsters represent the ever widening gap between perceived reality and imagined fantasy. Mirrored crystalline forms jutting from innards assert a undeniable presence of energy- these are vested objects, strident in their visceral power. The general mood is escapist - fantasies elude the starkness of everyday life and empower creative action. Instead of staring at the grey concrete pavement, we are gazing up at the galaxy past the sensible and into a place where anything can happen. Woah now I sound like a Hairie! Maybe Crystal Carvell is alive in my Art…now where did I put my lightning rod?

Artists Talk Will Tuck

Image by Ban ks of Mau reen Pa Violette, cour tesy ley, Lon don,

It was never meant to be this way. As a Nicky I am the embodiment of a NickName - everyone’s cheeky “Oi! Mate innit!” But I’ve eluded my true destiny. When I was born my dad wanted to call me Crystal but my mum wouldn’t let him because she thought I’d get bullied at school. (They were both Hairies; Hippies but with more hair.) I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be Crystal Carvell - jewel encrusted Stripper / part-time Wizard / Unicorn Trainer. Iconography is back in a big way. In our seemingly empty times it provides a sense reason to the disarray of our Post-modern lives. Crystals traditionally symbolise potential as they are diamonds in formation. Now days they are graphic icons of Bling culture - adorning everything from fingernails to mobile phones. This plays on the irony of value which is easily perceived yet blatantly empty. This popular phenomena is not exclusive to the real world, it’s huge in the Art world too. At the moment, there is a pervasive interest in mysticism and spiritual iconography. But what makes it Modern is the irony; his work admits to it own construction and revels in it. Mark Titchner’s hypnotic spirals suck you into another dimension whilst his authoratative posters (some of which can currently be seen on the London Underground) prompt the viewer with slogans like “IF YOU DON’T LIKE YOUR LIFE YOU CAN CHANGE IT!” Despite their graphic format these slip past the blatancy of advertising, encouraging you to think outside of the everyday, towards more existential universalities - the human condition, death and things like that. Banks Violette draws upon subcultural myths , particularly Norwegian Black metal. I remember being a teenage Goth into Marilyn Manson and taking it very seriously

Will Tuck’s work is Plastic Power! I’ve always been enchanted by his immaculate airbrushed paintings, where cupids flutter around Barbie dolls and Manga girls recline in pink gunk. This all encased by a hard candy supergloss! it’s triple deluxe overload, but is this a fantastical Utopia or an excessive Dystopia? I invited him to my studio to find out…

With Nicky Carvell

myspace.com/nicolacarvell

Coming Up!!!

Adele Morse

Mark Titchner - Young God(Jc Silver), 2008 , courtesy Peres Projects, Berlin Los Angeles

Mark Titchner - Church of Glory 2008, courtesy Peres Projects, Berlin Los Angeles

recently Will Tuck was an Wait C re in The Futu ewery Br an um Tr e at th om. t.c ai w an thefuturec

Adele Morse Recently featured in the Saatchi New Sensations show at the Truman Brewery, Adele’s hybrid creatures exude a pathos which is at once sinister yet beguiling. She states “As an only child I spent most of my time creating a dream world to live in.”; this is extended to nightmarish ends through her taxidermied creatures which seem uncannily alive. On entering one of her environments you are immersed in a fantastical yet disturbing world; it’s dysfunctional domesticity; think Mallory’s house in Natural Born Killers. This is Art of the Dark Wave and it’s enticingly sinister. – myspace.com/adelemorse, saatchigallery.co.uk/4newsensations Mark Titchner - Plateau Aurora Borealis If you happen to be in Berlin (as most of the creative youth are these days!) Check out Mark Titchner’s first solo show at Peres Projects. Again touching upon the mystical, the show is described as ‘descending’ upon the gallery space. Expect atmospheric spiritualism made concrete through the symbolic or maybe a crashed flying saucer?! – 1st November-31st January, peresprojects.com David Altmejd As you can tell by my earlier mention of him, David Altmejd’s monstrous sculptures have hit the mystical zeitgeist and revel in it. His recent show at Modern Art was a spectacular infusion of mirrors, crystals and fur exuding a sense of psychic energy. If you’re quick you can catch his two sleeping giants in their lair at Tate Liverpool, just try not to wake them up or they‘ll ’av ya! David Altmejd is part of the group show MADE UP, at Tate Liverpool until 30th November 2008; tate.org.uk. GSK Contemporary I’m really excited about this series of events. From Spartacus Chetwynd’s series of ‘Ladies nights’, to Bank’s Violette’s burnt out church, east end afterparty venue of choice Bistrotheque will host also their pop up restaurant FLASH. This multilayered event is both rich in content and spectacle and there’s a late night bar to lubricate the debauchery - YES! 1st November - 19th January. royalacademy.org.uk/gskcontemporary Andy Warhol - Other Voices, Other Rooms This show delves behind the surface of his silkscreened portraits of stars into his lesser known video work, even through to his time capsules. Abstract environments have also been created for you to experience the work in rather than just view it. In the current Post Pop climate, this insight into Pop Godfather Warhol is especially relevant. We love you Andy! – hayward.org.uk -7th October - 18th January. Scott King Emerging from Sleaze Nation in the 90’s, Scott King’s work tackles that whole taste issue from within. His screen prints of popular icons such as Madonna and Cher concisely comment on political power. Awkward through their amusement, my favourite pieces are his porecelain busts of political leaders camped up to the max through diamond studded collars and make-up . He will be showing at Herald Street Gallery in December.- scottking.co.uk, heraldst.com First Thursdays Ever wondered where all us Art Skool Kidz go on a Thursday night? Probably not, but if it’s the first Thursday of the month, were likely to be hanging around East London drinking free beer and socialising at the galleries in Time Out‘s First Thursdays programme. The concentration is on Vyner Street where it turns into an Art safari - I nearly fell off a raft in a swamp once-no joke! – firstthursdays.co.uk

Nicky: Hi Will! What are you up to at the moment? Will: I’m working on some large paintings on Aluminium, themed around Rococo paintings. They’re photoshopped compositions taken off my own photographs and stuff taken off the internet. I then project a slide of the composition and work with an airbrush. I have a high gloss sheen coating which I get done externally, so Gary in Tottenham does the final layer. Because it’s industrially done it’s completely immaculate, so it looks like a brand new car. N: About the supergloss; it’s seductive and sucks you in, but at the same time quite repellent and excessive. Do you want people to get absorbed and enjoy your work, or do you want them to be pushed out of it and made self aware? W: I think a combination of the two, but moreso the latter. I like the idea

that you’re confronted with this completely flat surface and there’s nothing beyond that. A lot of the subjects within the work deal with the surface of things. I was using toys a lot because they have this sort of .. N: Plasticity? W: Yeah so there’s nothing but the surface, nothing external. N: It’s quite grotesque in a way; the figures are pumped up and over exaggerated and the colours are oversaturated as well. W: It’s that whole idea of trying for something and not getting it because you’re trying too hard. It’s pushing all the buttons at once. I use the bright colours to give this overload - I want paintings which aim for seduction and does all the little things which ought to seduce, but doesn’t manage it and fails. With the girls there’s something not right; they don’t work as erotica and everything

sort of fucks up at the last minute. N: Where do you see your work progressing to? W: I want it to be more saccharine; more luminous pink! I’m trying to get to the point of bombardment. I’ve been looking at all the different car painting techniques and the pearlescent and holographic effects which can’t be done on canvas, but which open up on metal. N: Do you like Pimp My Ride?! W: I do but I don’t! I like what they do but I hate myself for liking it! N: It is just ridiculous but it’s not apologetic at all, that’s what I enjoy about it. W: Yeah, I look at a lot of things that are outside of Fine Art. The airbrush thing has it’s own closed off culture. It’s still people being creative but not operating with the same rules as the Art World. I find a lot of that more interesting than Art sometimes!

133

Words Dan Szor

www.estrelladamm.com

BARÇA

DOES DOES

BRiTAiN BRACE YOURSELVES Britain there’s a new guy in town, destined to liven up your local with a load of Latin love. Estrella Damm, the most popular beer in Spain, is coming your way. Rumour is that in España you don’t go to the bar and say ‘Can I have a beer please?’, instead you declare ‘Give me an Estrella’ – no questions asked. If Barcelona were a beer, then it would be Estrella with both so perfectly reflected in each other. As Barcelona continues to grow as ‘the’ party city of Europe, so does Estrella’s reputation as the beer to drink at the party. Sponsors of Barcelona FC, and established 132 years ago – Estrella have had time to understand their placing in today’s marketplace. They are not the establishment, and they probably don’t want to be. Estrella are simply the alternative. They know what they are and they know what they stand for. Barcelona born and bred – the beer comes straight out of the oldest and only surviving brewery’s left in the city, a city with a reputation for going out late and coming back even later – or earlier depending on which way you look at it. Translated, Estrella simply means star and it most certainly is. Rapidly becoming the beer of the stars and more importantly the most exciting and creative future stars. If there was a beer to be seen and be seen with then you know you’re in safe hands with an ice-cold bottle of Estrella Damm. You’ll be seeing a lot more Estrella in the not so distant future as they have her eyes firmly fixed on the UK. Trading in the Mediterranean sky for an all round drearier one, Estrella are ready to teach us Brits a thing or two about how to party with their very own take on Catalan cool. If you stand for freedom fun and creativity then this is the beer for you – anyone up for the lambada?

134

I think what many don’t understand is that a life without flavour is very, very grey. Drinking and dining out can show just as much self-expression as an outfit. Taste is subjective. But there’s not reason why a few pointers aren’t useful. So, keep it flavoursome. Doublethink your next easy purchase and scan the back bar of variety to find something that suits your mood and personality. KNOWING YOUR DRINKS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Right now, premium parteh drinks are the trend. There’s so much that gets added to this mix. Whether we’re sipping the newest gin cocktails from teacups and making a tea party, or simply opting for the best quality beers to ask for at the bar, we KNOW what to order. Global liqueur sales rose by 1.4% last year, according to a review. Traditional liqueur brands can be seen re-inventing themselves as mixable and show they’re just as great in cocktails as in the days of drinking things neat. Things like Chartreuse, Curaçao and Crème de Violette are now re-emerging in classic cocktails, while obscure new brands are also being created ranging from real fruit-infused vodkas to the smoky flavour of peated whisky. Versatility is what it’s all about. IMAO it’s better to get a bottle of something from which you can make loads of different types of drinks, rather than just the one ready mixed same old same old. We don’t tend to think about adding milk, water and sugar to tea for the sake of taste, we just do it. But, see, one of the most popular drinks we consume is not readymade, it’s versatile - we always get to state our preference – stronger, sweeter, black – I reckon we like it this way too. This is the kind of mindset the cocktail revolution has embraced and made its friend. In Japan, people are getting educated about cocktails. We need to stay on it too, please.

s ’ a v a SUPERfl

With Jessica Harvey

Draw me a drink - Rum and tats Ahoy there!!! Sailor Jerry spiced rum. This drink was named after tattoo artist Norman Collins - or ‘Sailor Jerry’ as he was more fondly known. Jerry travelled the seven seas and opened his first tattoo shop in Honolulu's Chinatown, influenced by Asian art and culture. In the UK the tattoo shows will be held in at King Tut's in Glasgow, Cargo in Shoreditch and Trio in Leeds, so keep your eyes peeled. The tats look great on bottles, glasses, clothes, shoes and pretty much everything. You’ll know them when you see them.

TRENDS

“

HELLO comely connoisseurs!!! It’s time to take stock of which drinks are shouting loud and clear at the end of the year. So, to pin down a few trends in the coming months, I’ve been visiting all the best places and watching carefully what’s being served and supped to make sure we all know what to order. Lately, I’ve been stuck in a money booth, stuffing dollar bills down my shirt with Bushmills whiskey or seen swinging on a loveseat, sipping Beefeater 24 with fireworks exploding overhead.

Creamy Goodness Wipe yer chin, love Baileys is on fire right now. No longer just a wimmin’s brand, no longer just a drink for the mums - Baileys has just kicked off more global domination, this time reminding us how sensual it is. Yes, sensual. The ad uses images of lips, which is about as risky as it’s likely to get. But we still like it. You can get Baileys with a hint of Coffee from Asda over Christmas. Good for when you’ve run out of After Eights and the conversation turns dull, dull, DULL

SEU CONNOIS

TOP RETRO TIP IF IN DOUBT FAIL SAFES

GET: Moet & Chandon’s Dom Perignon – rated timeless superior Champers. GET: Patron Tequila. Don’t down it, mix it up. GET: Grey Goose vodka. NOT for plebs. Easy to find in good bars and clubs.

Keep it continental Quelle est la mode? Stella Artois 4% is a triple filtered and super smooth Belgian lager, nothing like its 5% “wifebeater” cousin. It’s a completely new recipe, see. 4% is out there to remind us all that some lagers can hit the class notes. Think 1960s French cinema avec la French Riviera. All the ads are en français too. You can get a draught version in bars now as well, tbh, it commands a bit more respect than average lagers and the taste is right on the money.

Super-distilled Ciroc vodka is distilled five times and is smooooth. It’s made from French grapes that are hand-picked after a late harvest. Last year, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs started endorsing Ciroc and began calling it the ‘Official Vodka of New Year’.

Passoa (& lemonade/orange juice) Bring some sunshine to your life!!! This is a passion fruit liqueur. It’s big in Puerto Rico, Holland and Belgium and tastes like the sun. It’s GREAT in cocktails.

CANER

G&Tea Beefeater 24, super-premium gin, made with Japanese tea among other botanicals, is one of the most exciting new drinks around currently. Drink it from a teacup, don bowler hat or feather boa for the occasion. The launch involved burlesque trapeze artistes, fireworks, antler-wearing magicians, fire-breathing mechanical horses, drag queens, chanting monks, cabaret and Jade Jagger DJing in a sawn-off Rolls-Royce. You get the picture.

Sambuca (shots) Aniseed-flavoured and very chavilicious. “Wansome ‘bookah?! Wansome ‘bookah?! Eight shots of ‘boookah and some change for the fag machine, mayyte.” The shot that people order when they don’t know what to order. Usually bought by flash with the cash lads looking to round up the 6th pint.

milky. Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon cocktail is a combination of absinthe and iced Champagne. Absinthe is 45%-75% abv, so go easy!

Grand Marnier - orangey niceness 40% alcohol The Grand Esprit cocktail uses 25ml elderflower cordial poured over ice in a tumbler. Then, top up with soda Absinthe/the Green Fairy water and add a slice of orange and Poured into a glass over which a a strawberry. Done. For pitchers slotted spoon is placed. Put a sugar increase the ingredients four times. cube on the spoon and pour cold The 2008 limited edition bottle water over the sugar so that it drips comes wearing a red coat with a fur into the drink and it gets clouded and collar and can be ‘undressed’.

Cognac (say Conn-yack) has made a comeback. It’s French brandy and something the caners would never understand. It used to have a really dusty middle class image, but now, Cognac is both old and nu skool. It’s a memory drink. You drink it and you remember the time when… Oh, yes. With Busta Rhymes’s "Pass the Courvoisier" and Devino Fortunato’s "Cognac Loungin'" Other brands are being lifted out of obscurity. Henny (Hennessy to the bartender) also scores highly. Back in the day, we’d save it for the after dinner schmoke, but now we drink it on the rocks. It’s not too heavy and won’t leave you bloated. Drink it to stand out. Ask for: Martell, tonic, and ginger. Or, go with a quality XO Cognac floated on top of lemonade. MINTED: Favoured by The Queen and pretty much any star with cash to splash, a bottle of Rémy Martin’s Louis XIII Cognac is the best money can buy. It’d set you back thousands for a bottle, because not only does it come in a Baccarat handblown crystal decanter, but also because, dear friends, it’s not a drink, IT IS A POTION. The limited edition 'Spectaculaire' comes in a decanter embedded with a diamond and sells for around $43,800. There are also less than 800 Louis XIII Black Pearl editions in dark crystal carafes in existence. It took three cellarmasters to live and die creating the Louis XIII masterpiece. You can taste it for up to an hour after a sip. It’ll give you goosebumps fer sure. ALTERNATIVELY… L'Esprit de Courvoisier can be bought from Harrods or the Ritz. It’s around £5k a bottle, so pretty extortionate (make sure you’re not buying). It comes in numbered hand-cut Lalique crystal decanters and there are just nine out of 30 bottles left in the UK.

“

43 Switch & Sinden Present

OUT 1ST DECEMBER On December's FABRICLIVE 43, the unstoppable genresplicing DJ/producer Sinden has stepped up to represent Get Familiar, his bimonthly FABRICLIVE club residency with Dave 'Switch' Taylor. A thumping representation of the unconventional, no-holds-barred programming that Switch & Sinden bring to each club night, with FABRICLIVE 43 Sinden merges the freshest sounds in bass-heavy clubland: dancehall riddims, grime, bassline, ghettotech, Baltimore club, dubstep, his signature skewed slant on house music, and everything in-between that bangs.

ALBUM AVAILABLE 17TH NOVEMBER IN ALL GOOD RECORD STORES

Forthcoming in the series: John Tejada, Commix, A-Trak www.fabriclondon.com

DJ/MC SET AT SHOREDITCH STUDIOS 22ND NOVEMBER WWW.BURAKA.TV

fabric back catalogue titles available at amazon.co.uk at ÂŁ7.99 for a limited period. Subject to availability

MONDKOPF

( D E C L A R A T I O N O F ) P R I N C I P L E S O U T

N O W

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F O O L

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SUPERMUSiK! Bigger than a pea, it’s

BUSTER B rbennettlondon

myspace.com/buste

angsting GOT AN EAR-FULL with all my OKAY SO LAST ISSUE YOU eth post com t wha Well ia. med m mainstrea over the jacking of nu-rave by the but with a darker rave cally basi was that se, cour of nu rave? Lolz, nu grave and the on and nu-visions of the inner mind edge, spurred on by pony medicati t of men base the in s room rience in small apocalypse, that people would expe tin foil. However, in red cove was h whic d Roa a certain strip joint in Hackney and s all about being a bit deeeeeeeeep Dark Wave is all the rage now, that' clothes and black and k blac with nting rime expe , thinking about the recession isn't it? We moody'. It's all a bit predictable white photography 'cuz it looks e going wav next the is n e in waves, so whe all know music and revivals com er and skip it? corn the nd arou t's wha t emp to rise, and why can't we just preorts we out for the ﬂying cars, and the telep Because I for one, am still holding were all promised as kids.

the future, know is that I am obsessed with If you know me, one thing you'll there a little get to s way for ing look ys alwa be it a utopia or a dystopia, I'm it up, like a the future, in the aim of speeding faster. So is it possible to predict k out the crac ', mag tic it a go, let's play 'mys self-fulﬁlling prophecy? Let's give e! com to s thing into look and crystal pyramid (yea I do have one) I'm e, then... Nu Brave? This is the term So, Nu-Rave, Nu-Grave, Dark Wav p grou a be d coul e Brav Nu . thing the future' (in giving to this whole new 'look to us nd arou ently curr des, ignoring what's of people jumping ahead a few deca t's going wha ling tack and , ssion rece the like the knowledge that it will pass,) al reality e travel, quantum computers, virtu to arise the future; genetics, spac hoven meets Beet like d soun to g goin is e and all that jazz. I think Nu Brav led with urg Concerto meets Wampline pick Trance, or perhaps The Brandenb word. On the other hand en spok and hs synt ed warp bizarre, experimental, amo-opera and braver' would experiment in scre perhaps a dystopian viewed 'nu epic violins, with kled sprin 's mic guitar solo medieval death metal with cataclys no. harpsichords and minimal tech ained ple all of history, and not be restr The fashion of nu brave would sam ld take wou rs rave Nu-b ury. cent 20th of the to merely the over-rinsed styles h Bowery, s Naomi, Blade Runner and Leig inspiration from Gareth Pugh, Klau holographics and rs, ecto proj ile mob ics, fabr re but mix those styles with futu displays tto blasters and in built lighting computerised clothes with mini-ghe Stonehenge. like tions loca ble suita in as oper ready to hold open air

ts of rave well, brave! Expect to see the sigh Dancing to Nu-Brave would be ms and visuals all syste e strob onic raph quad s, culture, smoke machines, laser interactive l with clubbing seen more of an taken to the next co-ordinated leve ing would danc s Mas 'air.' 'put yer 'and's up inda performance than a place to just and the Vogue ics tron Tech ine imag , style l make a comeback, future dancehal ke. The oom cloaked in laser-art and smo Skank meets an 18th century ballr is based on 'epic' style le who the if ge; chan to venues of course would have ts to ty warehouses and grotty basemen then we'd have to move from swea . rave nu-b the for ble suita es spac palatial, cathedral like n extremist next style could be nu-cave, whe Of course, I could be wrong, the s in time instead of ward back go to ded deci have lentil bashing climatologists in zero carbon footprint forward, and forced us all to live will be animal skins, ion fash the caves. In which case, itive drums, boneprim of tion bina com a ic mus the venue, caves. bashing-bass and grunts, and the

Polaroids by Buster

Buster B's Top 5 Future Predictions

1. Water the ne w oil! Homes be come off-grid and gene rate hydrogen fu el at home from wa ter. No more pollution, lentil bashers take up embroidery. 2. 1km high cit ies, no land left! So let's build up and up ! SUPERSUPER Towers opens its teleport for visito 3. Nanotube lad rs. der to the moon ! And in other news, Buste r's club on the mo opens its doors! on Peaches Geldo f seen with new Skoda hover-chair. 4. Robot Fashion Week opens in Japan, Vivienne Westw ood Jetpacks a must have. 5. Alien Contac t! SUPERSUPER Makes contact with ET, The Optimism Manif esto is uploade d onto the uni-web.

SO WOT IS…........ Brocking out to Bassline or bustin’ out a dutty skank or two to a bit of 8 bit is all good for some, but where are life’s more sensitive souls going to get their party on??? Where’s the hangout for those skinny literary types who are more up on their Nietszche than their Niche?? Well, it turns out they’re all holding hands, getting loaded on ﬁzzy pop and doing the cha-cha twist down at their local Tweepop night! ‘OK… What the hell’s Tweepop?!’ I hear you cry. Well, pull up a seat and let me break it down for y’all…

TWEE

Words by Billy Idle

TWEEPOP isn’t a NEW new sound by any means – infact much of it’s overriding aesthetic and sound is based around rose-tinted, nostalgic nods to the past – but it’s enjoying a massive resurgence of late thanks to the rise of nights like London’s (and now Glasgow AND New York’s) ‘Twee As Fuck’, as well as the growing popularity of acts like Theoretical Girl and Slow Club. Tweepop is the perfect tonic for an indie scene that’s become increasingly bogged down in aloofness and self importance. It’s warm, inclusive and, most importantly, it’s fun! The roots of the sound can be traced waaaaaaaay back to the early eighties and a tape compilation called C86 (named after the cassette which it was recorded onto, as well as the year it was released) which was given away for free by an unmentionable music weekly back in the day when it was still worth reading. Most of the bands featured on the cassette had never been heard of before or since, but their unifying sound and spirit was of gigantic importance – this was a compilation that was truly greater than the sum of its parts! The strangely uplifting, melancholic lo-fi Jangle-pop of C86 borrowed the best bits from Motown, Punk, 60’s girl groups and The Velvet Underground, and welded it all together with a wistfully romantic lyrical sensibility. Listening to the tape is kind of like re-experiencing those tentative moments of innocent childhood romance all over again – that blushing first kiss, or the first time you held hands with your schoolyard sweetheart; as with 8-Bit it seems that in these post-post modern times we are increasingly seeking solace in music that evokes memories of more simple, naïve times.

Pains of Being Pure at Heart

myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart

Conan Mockasin myspace.com/conanmocksin Vivien Girls myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

Slow Club myspace.com/slowclub

l Hatcham Socia myspace.com/hatchamsocial

Since the birth of the movement in the early eighties various bands and artists have drawn inspiration from the template of Twee (Kurt Cobain was a huge fan of originators like The Pastels and The Vaselines) and helped keep the flame for the movement burning, but now the sound is back in a big way and it’s influence is wider than ever. So far reaching infact, that Darkwave pioneers The Horror’s have apparently ditched their whole Gothic schtick in favour of a new Tweepop direction on their upcoming second album! If those rumours turn out to be true then Faris and Co wouldn’t be the first Darkwavers to have dabbled in Twee – Rosie and Sam of Ipso Facto cut their musical teeth in the backing group for scene figurehead Amy Tunnidge, AKA Theoretical Girl, while roll neck and cardi loving Scots Hatcham Social are embraced by both movements. London’s hippest indie night spot White Heat recently booked the Twee As Fuck crew to host their fifth anniversary party and even Peaches Geldof has dabbled in the Twee sound via the band This Tawdry Affair! Over in New Yoiik Lower Eastside hipster hangout The Cake Shop (record store and cake shop upstairs, bar and live venue downstairs) is proving a fertile breeding ground for a growing scene of transatlantic Indiepop/ Twee, with bands like the Vivian Girls and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart having bonded there over a shared love of obscure 7 inches and baked confectionary. As the Tweepop movement continues to expand on the back of an ever growing global network of DIY fanzines, club nights, blogs and even festivals one thing is for certain – the sound is only gonna get bigger and bigger. So, give that checked shirt/dress an iron, strap on a pair of Buddy Holly glasses and go shake a leg to a bit of Tweepop!

Running a record label, putting out an accompanying fanzine AND promoting the night that has been so integral to tweepop’s recent resurgence, the ever-busy ‘Twee As Fuck’ crew have got their fingers in many a musical pie! Luckily for us they were able to find a window between making rosettes and baking cakes to answer a few Supersuper questions! SUPERSUPER: Tweepop seems to be blowing up right now – what’s going on?! PAVLA KOPECNA (Twee As Fuck): I think it's partly because of the deterioration of the "indie" genre into a commercial joke - a lot of people have been trying to get back to the roots of what "indie" really meant and rediscover it for the joy of the music, rather than a scene or a style. And in London I think there's been a bit of resurgence in interest for bands like Josef K and Orange Juice from the kids that were briefly excited about The Libertines and The Smiths a few years back. In another way though, I think anyone who discovers tweepop has to fall in love with it - some of it is just pure joy, that I think a lot of people simply haven't been into to it before because it was too niche a genre for them to have known about, but as soon as they do they're in love. Hopefully we've helped to introduce the music to a new audience. SS: Certain parts of london club scene can be quite aloof and impersonal, Twee As Fuck Seems to have quite an inclusive vibe - would you agree with this? P: We definitely try to be inclusive. We're all about being nice and friendly and having a good time because it's fun, not because it's cool. Hopefully that's a breath of fresh air in London, where, as you say, the club scene can be less about enjoying yourself dancing and listening to fantastic music and more about having to make a statement. SS: You seem really keen on making your nights an all encompassing experience - what kind of things do you do to make them special?? JUDE GEORGES (Twee As Fuck): We make things - mixtapes, cupcakes, fanzines, T-shirts, rosettes, compilation CDs, that sort of thing. Then we give them away. People seem to like it! But the most important thing, of course, is to only book bands and DJs you genuinely love. That always goes over well! SS: You guys already seem to be expanding really well with the night,

Every movement needs an iconic figurehead to lead from the front. In Tweepop this role is filled by the fantastically fringed Theoretical Girl (aka Amy Eleanor Turrnidge) who, like The Horror’s and Ipso Facto before her, hails from sunny Southend-on-Sea. Supersuper donned their finest cardi and sat down with Amy to discuss all things Twee over a cup of tea and some cakes!

SS: People seem to be saying lots of nice things about you and your music right now, how long have you been writing songs as Theoretical Girl? THEORETICAL GIRL: That's nice to hear!! I've been making music as Theoretical Girl for three and a half years - although I only really count the last year as prior to that I was crap! Now, my songwriting is getting a little better. I'm getting there anyway! SS: What was it that drew you to the Tweepop/Indiepop sound in the ﬁrst place? How did you get into it? TG: It's been quite a natural progression really. I used to write angry scratchy post-punky stuff which has gradually become softer, more melodic and slightly more twee. There's always been an element of twee in there, but lately it's been coming out more and more. I like the twee sound as on the surface it's upbeat, but dig a little deeper and there's often some kind of dark undertone. I always draw from lots of different sounds so will always have some punky songs as well as the twee ones. SS: That whole sound is undergoing something of a resurgence right now - there seem to be more bands, club nights etc than ever - why do you think this is? TG: Twee used to be a bit of a dirty word! But it seems that these days’ people in general are more open to different styles and sounds. When I was a teenager, everybody liked

why start a label as well? J: Two words: Comet Gain. We never really had any plans to set up a label, except in a daydreamy 'wouldn't it be great if…' kind of a way. But Comet Gain have been our favourite band since forever, and when we heard 'Love Without Lies' wasn't slated for UK release we felt we had to remedy the situation immediately; probably the universe would have been rent asunder otherwise. SS: What have you got lined up/ planned for the label? J: We'd love to set up a 'Singles Club' type thing. Four or five releases a year maybe, split singles possibly. SS: What would be a good musical Pavla’s Top 5 Twee starting point for anyone looking to get Accessories into the Tweepop sound? 1. A home made rosette P: For me the starting point has been Rough Trade's Indiepop One. That will 2. An apron probably shock some of the more purist of tweepop afficionados, but it's true. It's 3. Paperclip earrings a great overview compilation of some of 4. A home made badge the bands that made that sound their own. As for new bands, I can't recommend The 5. A cute-as-a-button bag for your favourite Pains Of Being Pure At Heart enough they're what Twee as Fuck is all about to 7"s. me, and also have a look at The Bobby McGee's, Hatcham Social, Liechtenstein, The Margarets, Slow Club, Love Is All, The Wave Pictures, The Pocketbooks and the very lovely Theoretical Girl! Pavla’s Top 5 SS: To what extent and in which ways Tweepop records do you feel Twee As Fuck is continuing the DIY tradition of the original indiepop 1. Pains of Being Pure scene? At Heart: Young Adult P: It's hard to say, as I think things are Friction very different now with the internet and the culture - I think things are less 2. Comet Gain: Love politicised and rebellious now then they Without Lies were then. I'd love to think that we are continuing the DIY tradition in the sense 3. Hatcham Social: So So that we simply go out and do things we 4. Happy Making Sexy love; start a night, create a fanzine, set Kids: Sisters Are up a record label, even if we're not at all Forever qualified to do it and even if everything we do is a huge learning experience. 5. Orange Juice: Blueboy It's been tremendous fun so far, and I'd heartily encourage anyone to go out there and create/ put on/ put out whatever it is they love too. myspace.com/tweekasfucknight

Twee As Fuck Fanzine

one sort of music and wouldn't even consider listening to anything else. Music listeners are much more open minded now. Twee has been embraced! SS: Tweepop seems to be quite a inclusive movement, with at least as many girls involved in terms of both bands and audiences. Would you say this was true and, if so, do you think it is a reaction against anything in particular? TG: I think girls have always been a big part of most musical scenes but maybe twee music is a little more feminine than other styles. It allows you to be extra girly, bows and ribbons and cups of tea and cakes, that sort of thing! SS: I understand you used to be in a band with some of the girls from Ipso Facto, is this right? TG: Yes. Rosie and Sam were in my backing band for a few months, back in the days when they wore colour! It was inevitable that they'd go off and do their own thing as they're really talented girls. Rosie is the best female guitarist I've met. SS: What are your goals with your music - where are you looking to take it? TG: My only aim is to be the best songwriter that I possibly can be. I'm not interested in acclaim, money and am deﬁnitely not into fame, which is lucky really as it's highly unlikely that any of those things will happen to me! I would like to be able to write songs that people will still like in 20 years time.

myspace.com/iamtheoreticalgirl

TWEE AS FUCK

photo by Pavla Kopecna

Pavla Kopecna

Theoretical Girl

?? !

E POP

Ollie from london’s ﬁnest indie disco White Heat’s ‘Tweepop Floorﬁllers’

1. Primal Scream - Velocity Girl. 2. So Cow - Moon Geung Young. 3. Hefner - Hymn For The Cigarettes. 4. My Bloody Valentine - Sunny Sundae 5. Vivien Girls - Where Do You Run To?

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Yes yes SUPER people welcome to my showaa page! Coverin grime, bassline, dubstep, electro, funky and everything in between... plus watch out for my sidekick section-where different peeps talk on who they think iz big in the game right now.

BASSLINE VS AFRICA

AS IT IS TV are one of the names that always come to mind when I think of Bassline raves, having started up originally as a TV production company consisting of Clive (Da Farda) and Don P, producing shows for the BBC, they decided in February 2007 to hit the dance floor’s of the UK underground. With a following of thousands, the brand has now just elevated it’s status by taking it on holiday, now you might be thinking the typical Malia, Ayia Napa... They took it one step further and are hitting the Motherland, Gambia, Africa. They will be heading over on the 12th November, if you’re not too late you might just be able to catch a flight over and join everyone. Artists that will be performing over there will include, Northern Line Records’ and one half of the Crazy Cousins, Paleface, 1xtra’s DJ Q, ‘You Wot’ mic man MC Bonez, DJ Murkz from Manchester, Marcus ‘Ayia Napa’ Nasty (middle name will change after the trip I’m sure) Wolverhampton’s No.1 DJ Apostle, new star on the block DJ Ironik, B.O.D.R’s Sick Made Man, ‘Might Be’ star Gemma Fox and more. ‘’Well I have been to Ayia Napa three times and Malia twice and it was too aggressive and a lot of trouble and the main thing I didn’t like about the two places was the racism from the local people,

B.O.D.R

myspace.com/bigondaroadz

JP’s

all the and Black British and English people were being treated really bad and we were the people that bringing the country money. So my dad made me come with him to Gambia one time to see what the motherland was like because me being from an England and Jamaican background we are always taught that Africa is nothing and it is full of Aids and poor but when I went there it was a different story, yeah there is poverty but it is really nice over there and most of the stuff you hear over in England about Africa is rubbish talk. So me my Dad and my Dads close friends decided to do a trip, I knew I had the following from the UK and I was confidant I could get some people to follow me there to do a raving holiday and it’s worked, there isn’t as many as there would be that went or that still intend on going to Ayia Napa but it’s a start everything starts small then builds up, so next year will be showaa, then the year after even better, so try come and see something new ‘’ Said promoter Don P. So we all like to buss a skank, but you can do that anywhere and if I were to go to Africa I wouldn’t mind going to see about my history and see how much of a great country it is, ‘’When we go there we will be going to St .James Island which is where they filmed the film ‘Roots’ years ago about slavery. We will be going to touch and see live crocodiles

B.O.D.R (Badmans On Da Road) consists of main members Asher, Tezz Kid and Sick Made Man, with many affiliates including Slick Don, Crookz, Monsta and more. With Sheffield being one of the homes of Bassline music with nightspot including club Niche, B.O.D.R were some of the first few to move from spitting Grime bars over Bassline, having started off in the Grime scene with tearing up raves such as the UK’s beloved Sidewinder, these guys have been around for a hot minute. Asher is known for his singing over grimey productions aswell as MCing with his signature bar ‘’Sprayyayyy’’, Tezz Kid is known for his lyrical content and Sick Made Man is the hype guy that gets the reloads in every time, they’re also the ones that got the whole Bassline scene singing ‘Browninnnn’. Having already being featured on Ministry of Sounds ‘Sounds Of Bassline’ compilation album mixed by Niche allstars Jamie Duggan, Shaun Banger Scott and Nev Wright, which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and being one of the main features on DJ Cameo’s BBC 1xtra show, B.O.D.R are definatly one of the Bassline scene’s big players.

Tim & Barry Pic

“

Jammin’ with JP

Don P

and go to the monkey parks the local schools and seeing what life is like over there, so its not just about raving its about culture as well as fun.

As soon as AS IT IS TV touches down on the dry England soil, it will be time to start planning for the second annual Official Bassline Awards. With the success the first award show that took place January of this year, they intend to make it bigger and better next time around. The categories include, Best DJ, Best Up and coming DJ, Best Producer, Promotions, Best Artist, Best MC and Song of 2008. The event will be held at Swindon’s Apartment nightclub Friday 23rd January 2009.

sline To vote for your favourite Bas t visi or 92 739 564 act, text 078 myspace.com/asitistv_pr

Jade Dragon

myspace.com/asitistv

myspace.com/jdrags

regular

XX!! TOP TNRichAolla Manners -

South Londoner Jade Dragon has been around for a hot minute now, mainly spitting on Hip Hop this guy and his crew Market’ Ting have put the work in from being at every Fashion and Music party networking to performing at many events across the UK from London to Bath and Bristol. When MCing Jade usually works with alot of American sounding beats but he remains true to the UK and fully reps turning every track around to make it his own. Now Jade is bringing out a clothing range called ‘Skin and Bone’ and no doubt he will have the whole network that he seems to be apart of screaming for it.

DJ Q Ft. e Forgive M s Vol 1 - BASSic Burgaboy Ft Tinchy Stryder id Craig Dav r love? ou Where's y Grinstar - No & B a m m Bo e Rave h T Beef In pid Dumm - Get Stu Grinstar o c ashy. m Bashy - B Beast k Chipmun rrell I know this is supposed to be a page full of showaa undery Kim Bu b g in yth n g it.) A o d ground stuff, brap brap and all of that jazz, but there comes ic is in spel Mus o (G a time when an act outside of that scene catches my eye. The Kemistry, consisting of Kemi, lead vocalist and song writer, Smokey an MC and Producer for the group and Bare Grime & Bassline camera skengmen, Beats who DJ's and produces. Kemi (who if you didn't know Tim&Barry or otherwise known as already is the hussie that Co runs Mindie) has a very soulTimooothy and Bazmondo have a ful voice which sounds haunting with her sometime very T-shirt out that is doing too much for dark lyrics over 80's Soul, Hip Hop production. Smokey me at the moment. It has their big reminds me of a more raw version of Professor Green, with white signature logo on the front and his catchy lyrics and Bare Beats produces the music with comes in Black or Red, when your mixing elements from Jazz and Soul to Pop and Hip Hop. in a rave people will look at you and myspace.com/thekemistrymusic They class themselves as mix between Massive Attack and nod like yeah you know Tim&Barry Tricky. Their first EP is out December 1st so go support are alot. Get to knowwww! Buy From: dobedo.co.uk some alternative shizzle!

UP & Comers

Garm Of The Month!!

THE KEMISTRY

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myspace.com/timandbarry

Colin Burgher aka BURGABOY is 18, from Manchester, he has made his mark in the ‘new’ sound they call Bassline. With his signature extra wobbly bass in his production mixed with sweet sounding female vocals to the more MC, Grimier type tracks, Burgaboy has become one of the names you always mention when talking about BASSLINE!. When did you get into music? I've been listening to music since I was very young but I started producing at the age of 14. Who inspired you to make music? Kanye West was my main inspiration. I've been inspired by alot of music from old school soul to rap but I have to say Kanye West's ‘Through The Fire’ inspired me to start producing. What type of music was getting played in your house when you were growing up? My parents are both Christians so alot of Gospel music was played but I listened to alot of rap and R&B too, from my brothers CD's. My Dad listens to soul and jazz too. Does some of the music you listened to growing up influence some of the music you make today? Definitely, because I was always listening to soul and Kanye West, I used to sample alot when I first started producing. I still use the same kind of melodies in my Bassline also. What got you into making Bassline? I went to a party one night with my friend and they were playing Bassline. I was just loving the Bass and the way the crowd reacted, so I just started making it from then. Did you make any other genres before you started to make Bassline? Yeah I was making Hip Hop at the start, and then I started making Grime. I also made Ragga and Reggae. Your a DJ aswell what do you prefer djing or producing? I love DJing because I like seeing people react to my tunes, but nothing beats producing. Do you see Bassline as a genre that will stay around for a long time? I don't see why not, as long as the styles keep changing then theres always something fresh to be heard. You have a mixtape called 'BASSics Vol 1' coming out, what can people expect from that CD? Burgaboy lol, It's for people who haven’t heard much of me to hear my tunes and become familiar, and also for people who already like my music to hear the best of Burgaboy. What's in the pipeline for B B B B B B Burgaboy? Well after my mixtape comes out I want to release a single and make a video, after that maybe even get signed.

JP’s Sidekick

This month Jayga Rayn, speaking on the Dudez that make things out of Lego?!?!

Tim & Barry Pic

BURGABOY Words by Joseph JP Patterson

myspace.com/burgaboypros In an age where hedging your bets and multi-tasking is an invaluable asset, not many hold a ﬂame to the Lyrics4Lyrics boys. Their style is a fresh take on the much overdone 'bling' trend, combining ostentatious gems with LEGO-brick manifestations of pop culture icons, lending heavily from cartoons and old school gaming characters, such as Mario, Spiderman and even Spongebob Squarepants. Although on the surface it just seems like ironic kitsch, they epitomize a generation of urban kids who are a far cry from their blacked out Nike hoodie predecessors -- a movement pioneered by Black artists such as M.I.A, The Cool Kids, and Niyi. You can spot their instantly recognizable apparel on a range of artists, from Sway and iLLAMADi to Pharrell and Lethal B. As their conﬁdence and name grows, expect to see bigger and better things from the L4L boys in the future.

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ace

mysp

Leif S telepathe V myspace.com/leif

Brooklyn is burning hot right now! Not only is it home to several of the bands featured in last issues East vs. West feature (repping for the eastside obvs) it’s also the stomping ground of girl/girl ‘process pop’ duo Telepathe (whose album is one of 2009’s most hotly anticipated) and synthed-out tropical terrorist Leif, who recently graced the UK (and the stage of iHeart NiYi) while on tour with Dante and Rye Rye. These two acts have been fam from day, having met years ago through Shannon Funchess from the band !!! at a time when she was collaborating and performing with Telepathe’s Busy and Melissa. As Leif tells it: ‘I went to a D.I.Y. show held in a industrial park’s worker’s bar, which had been converted into a venue full of amps and subwoofers, somewhere far out in Brooklyn. They were opening for Black Dice, but their set stole the night and we been chillin’ since then!’

Words by Billy Idle

SuperSuper hooked them up for a catch up chat midway through Telepathe’s ‘Mad Decent Tour’, where they’re sharing an enviable bill with Abe Vigoda, Diplo and Boy 8-Bit. In the words of Bob Hoskins ‘It’s Good To Talk’!

LEIF: Heeey girl. The Mad Decent tour - how's it going? BUSY GYONES (TELEPATHE): Hey Leif! The tour is rad so far. So many kids coming out every night to the shows. Diplo is so fun and generous, we seriously stay up late and dance to his set, and then all go out after the show and dance some more. The Abe Vigoda guys are old show mates of ours, played with them every time we've been to L.A at The Smell. It's a really nice vibe. We're all on a bus together for the whole month, so we have to all get along, and bus life is actually a really fun way to tour - we sleep so well in the cozy bunks! Last night I crowd surfed during Diplo's set wearing a pizza costume!!! L: Dude you're coach busing it!? that's tops! B: How's everything with you? What are you working on now? Performing anytime soon? L: Everything's well up here. Not doing too many shows, just friends parties until December/ January. Touring was so crazy with Rye Rye and Dante; I want to wait until it can be at least that good again. I'm trying to catch my breath and record the album right now, between classes at least. I need more gems for my live set. I'm putting out the 'Black Magic' single digitally in December though. I heard the name of your album is "Dance Mother Fucker" -with the space after 'mother'...

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B: Yeah, we're calling it Dance Mother Fucker or just "Dance Mother" for short. We wrote that on these t-shirts we made for a Halloween show last year and liked the way it sounded. It's cryptic and has several meanings for us. in some ways it's really aggressive, some ways elegant. I can't wait for the album to come out - it's been a process. We just ﬁnished the last song for it a couple weeks ago, nine songs total. every song stands up on its own, but there's a continuous ﬂow to it. L: Is "Threads & Knives" going to be on it? That's my favourite song. B: Yeah, "Threads and Knives" will be on the record, it's part of a trilogy called "Crimes and Killings". Tell us more about the tour with Dante and Rye Rye. Where did you tour? How long? L: The tour was all of Scandinavia, mostly Stockholm and Copenhagen, and then the Notting Hill Carnival in London. It was for a month although it was only 10 shows, 6 with Rye Rye. I had so many days off. Dante would have to leave for the next show days before us to start cooking, and we'd just roll up the day of the show and play the shortest sets ever. We both only had like 5 or 6 songs, hehe. B: that tour sounds rad. Scandinavia rules. did you play in my hometown, Oslo? Touring in Europe is so different from touring the U.S…

athe

telep .com/

L: What?! I had no idea you were from Oslo! Is Ryan (Lucero, sometime Telepathe guitarist) on tour with you? Is Telepathe officially a three now? B: Ryan's not on this tour with us, he got busy this fall with his other band, Mirror Mirror. They just put out a record, so we brought our friend Eliza, filling in on guitar. I think we might start touring with just Mel (the other half of Telepathe) and I for awhile. It seems easier for now, maybe go towards a more electronic performance with lighting, unless a friend really wants to come along and help us realize the music live. Are you up to any dancing or performing with dance?? How do you feel your dance background relates to making music? L: It's funny that you guys are touring with Diplo and Mad Decent and I was touring with Rye Rye - how fitting! Reminds me of when you guys asked me if I would come play with you on a tour and I couldn't because I was still in high school. Was so pissed! I remember when you and Mel said your exploration with production was an attempt to make dance music. I didn't get it then, but I think I finally realized you didn't mean strictly club music. I recently decided I was going to choreograph my senior thesis to your album. For my music, I'm going to be doing a lot of choreography to help with visuals- the live projections and the videos. The goal of the music I want to make directs corporeal movement at best - I'm sure you guys feel the same way!

WE ARE

Copycats are 3 heavily fringed, self confessed ‘disturbed teens’ who hail from the industrial north, or more specifically the former cottonpolis that is Manchester. They make spazzed out, electro-pop-core and sound like they’re having the most fun in the world doing it. They’re a ubiquitous presence on Myspace and in the underage scene and recently won the Skins unsigned competition to support The Teenagers. Super Super caught up with the band to see if life really is grim ‘ooop norf’! SS: Your music seems to be a real mash up of different sounds and ideas - who or what inspired you to pick up instruments and become Copycats in the first place?

SS: Yeah it’s funny you should say Test-Icicles, you remind me a lot of them in places. They always seem to have been a much more influential band than they were given credit for. Do you get that comparison a lot? Is it annoying or flattering?? Alex: Personally, Test Icicles were probably the raddest thing ever. There aren't many bands that were that unintentionally cool as a fourteen year old I wanted to be in Test Icicles more then anything in the universe ever!

myspace.com/wearecopycats Nick: We all love em, so any comparison to them is sick. Not sure if we actually do sound like them or not but it’s not the first time I've heard someone say that.

got kicked out of the venue about 30 seconds after playing out set though, the bouncers found out that we were under 18 and showed us the exit.

SS: So what's it like being a young band in Stockport/Manchester - is there much of a scene going on up there for music like yours? Everyone outside of the city always expects Manchester bands to sound like Oasis or whatever!

SS: You also won the Skins unsigned competition to support The Teenagers - How was that?

Alex: Oh man, don’t get me started on Oasis, jeeeeeeeeez my hatred for them.... Jake: The crazy fan in Toronto should have given them both swift K.O whilst he had the chance! Nick: There are a few good bands around in Manchester - Sir Yes Sir and The Witches to name a couple, and some good venues (Deaf Institute, Sankey’s) and promoters too. But there’s not much of a scene, not for bands like us anyway. SS: Have you gigged much outside of Manchester in London etc? Nick: Played in Nottingham twice, both times have been sick, we know a band there called Catch collective who are proper sound guys, playing with them is always enjoyable. Played once in London at club 333, which was great. It was my first time in London and I thought the place was swanky as. I probably should mention that we

Nick: Pretty strange that we won that one, seeing as we didn’t have that many votes. But than again most of the other bands were shit. Some guy went sick at us because we won when he got the most votes, pity, would have been pretty funny to see a freak with a gameboy playing Enter Shikari covers at Sankey’s (the HUGE Manchester warehouse venue where the winners played)!! SS: Are you fans of the show (Skins) at all? Do you feel it paints an accurate picture of the lives of people in your kinda age bracket? Alex: hmmm, its alright to watch if your bored I guess, I’d have to say fans of the show just make it look like the shittest thing ever "OMG SKINS LOL11!!!" Nick: I never really watch it, its pretty corny... Jake: I could never sit through a whole episode really, wasn't for me. I suppose it does relate to teenage life in a way though... random parties turning sour and what not...

Words by Billy Idle

Alex: I guess for me back in the day it was Nirvana or something, but then I discovered Test Icicles who I thought were amazing, then there was Klaxons who were another awesomely fun band. I guess those two really got me making music just for how awesome it seemed to be in a band. More recently I’d say it's been Metronomy who've inspired me with their/his genius song writing. Aside from that, I always seem to find bands / songs that excite me monthly which I guess I go about recreating or something.

MiSS

Words by Naida

Odd

mysp

myspace.com

Kid

/chantypoeye

game! There’s Goldielocks, The e female rapsters in the London thre fab the of ts, rose one is D KID MISS ODD the same generation, there bou Miss Odd Kidd. The trio all from one ing prov e stag on ther CockNBullKid and Natalie, aka toge all wave in 2006/7 performing rave new ial’ has isoc Kidd ‘Ant Odd the Miss with their heads household names. club that launched a dozen, now the most up ing hott n bee has h the best acts to come out of the whic ‘Sweat’ cool lately with her own single with John Taylor been harvesting some serious Odd Kidd has also teamed up Miss . ond bey and LDN in ts new debut solo n’s Joh on ured coveted of underground nigh s and feat scenes resident producer king ‘Chanty Poe.’ uise disg new his of Punx Soundcheck, the electro er und R!) track named after SUPERSUPE a has FYI got a track ich ’s (wh she hh’ but , ‘Yea m aves albu of global airw up with ‘Sweat,’ a single worthy Naida sat ! oors fl ce dan the So, not only has Natalie come on z vibe Yeahh earning some serious ’s Poe nty Cha Elizabeth on e, g’ logu Ban g Cata os ‘Ban called Closer, The Arg with Odd Kidd for a flick through down, calmly (we like to hope) ut rappin and wotnot. Duke section and a chin wag abo NAIDA-How was your gig last night? MISS ODD KIDD- It was really good, it was sold out and really busy. Lots of young people having a good time. It was really good. And I was sensible and home in bed by about 2.30am, as opposed to being carried home drunk and waking up fully clothed with my shoes on... NAIDA- Lolz.( We've all been there) So how would you define your music style? MISS ODD KIDD- Well it's kind of electo/synthy with a hip-hop influence. Party music I guess, or light-hearted social commentary. NAIDA- Yeah, on your myspace it's described as showtunes/electro/ religious.... MISS ODD KIDD- (Smiles) Yeah 'religious' is one of the options when you're putting up music, so I was taking the piss. I wanna get some bible bashing Americans into me, lol. NAIDA- You're not signed yet are you? MISS ODD KIDD- Not yet. I've got a single coming out with Pure Groove and I'm on a comp and various other things but not actually signed. NAIDA- Do you think it's because you're hard to pigeon-hole into one style of music or category? MISS ODD KIDD- I just think it's difficult with the way the music industry's going at the moment.

idd

soddk

m/mis ace.co

My music isn't very poppy, it has elements of it, but it isn't just about that, and even signed artists who are fundamentally 'pop' artists are finding it difficult. It's getting harder. NAIDA- It could just be me, but there seem to be a lot more girls doing their thing at the moment than in the past. What do you reckon? Is this fourth wave feminism picking up from where the whole Riot Grrl thing left off? MISS ODD KIDD- Well I think girls have always, and consistently been a bit more quirky and experimental, or at least girls get received better at that, and to a certain degree can get away with it more than guys. NAIDA- Yeah I think I agree. The stereotypical gender definitions of femininity do seem to allow a bit more freedom for women to be more quirky than men. Quirky men are often emasculated because of it, but quirky women are sort of empowered by it...So are you London born and bred? MISS ODD KIDD- No, I'm from Portsmouth. NAIDA- Daaaan Saaaaf MISS ODD KIDD- Ha yeah daan saaaf. I've been in London for ten years. I knew from an early age that London is where I'd end up. I can remember coming up to London to visit, and everything just seemed so big, so exciting and vibrant, compared to Portsmouth, which is

pretty quiet in comparison. I just knew London was where I wanted to be. NAIDA- You're all over the shop at the moment..Sheffield, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris...What's it like travelling around? MISS ODD KIDD- Yeah I've played abroad a lot, Italy, Scandanavia, Helsinki, Sweden, Paris...yeah I love performing abroad, and I get really well received. The thing that I always notice is the difference in audiences. I've found people in wider Europe to be a lot more receptive, perhaps even more so than London. There's less reservation. NAIDA- I'm really interested in people's approaches to laying down tracks… Do you write the lyrics first, then the sound? MISS ODD KIDD- It really varies. I generally write the chorus first. It'll literally just come to me. I'll be on a train, in the bath, on the toilet… NAIDA- Lol MISS ODD KIDD- …wherever really, and it starts from there. Or I could be walking along and I might say something to someone as a joke, and then use it later as a lyric. Or I could just be playing around with a drum beat and piece things together that way. NAIDA- Let's talk influences... Missy Elliot, Nas, Madonna, Red

ahh

I wanna get some bible bashing Americans into me

You can get a copy of Miss Odd Kidd’s latest single’Sweat’ on puregroove.co.uk out Nov 3rd. Chanty Poe’s debut album ‘Yeahh’ is available now on Hottwerk Records, and available via Juno Downloads.

Hot Chilli Peppers, Peaches, Shystie to name but a few. In a Utopian world, who would you most like to collaborate with? MISS ODD KIDD- Umm.. Probably Prince. And the Knife. (Naida-oh my god, Miss Odd Kidd and the Knife, that'd be sick!!!) NAIDA- What's more important to you, the vibe of the music and getting people moving, or the lyrical content? MISS ODD KIDD- I think the lyrical content. The lyrics would bring out a certain vibe anyway, and if people read that vibe then it's gonna make them want to dance. I naturally gravitate towards dancier music anyway. That's what inspires me. NAIDA- So it's not just a case of "I just wanna make music, I don't care what it's about"? MISS ODD KIDD- No, the content is really important; it adds a dimension that's relevant to me. NAIDA- Have you always wanted to make music? Some people know from birth what they want to be. It makes me jealous. When I was ﬁve I wanted to be a mermaid. MISS ODD KIDD- Lol. God no, I've gone through fazes of wanting to work in computers..tennis player...I was in the cadets, but that was only to go on the free trip away. Now I work in an ofﬁce, and as a waitress, when I'm not working on new tracks.

NAIDA- By the way, 'Weed, wine and wankers' is quite possibly one of the best song titles ever, seriously, ever. I think you should win some kind of award. If there ever is a Supersuper song title award, you're getting it. MISS ODD KIDD- Aww thank you. NAIDA- So, tell me about 'Sweat' and 'Bang Bang' MISS ODD KIDD- Well, Sweat's the single that has been two years in the making. It was produced by Goldilocks, she had this beat and we kind of worked on it together. People got into it really quickly... it was played on Radio 1, it was gonna get used for a video game...I mean it didn't happen, but just to be thought about was pretty cool. It's been big for me. Generally it's the one people really wanna hear. I started working with John Taylor on a track called 'Dress & Shoes,' that's how 'Bang Bang' came about, I wrote the lyrics while I was there in the studio! NAIDA – So you do a lot of dance/rap crossover stuff now, is that your new direction? MISS ODD KIDD - I've always been more inspired/attracted to the more dancey side of hip hop/ electro anyway so I guess it's just a natural way for me to go… My boyfriend is a DJ so I tend to go with him to a lot of techno/electro clubs.

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ellen allie n.de

A uniﬁed Germany called for a uniﬁed sound – that sound was ELLEN ALLIEN. SUPERSUPER Wonder Woman Jobot caught up with Ellen in her native Berlin to talk black and white optimism, about her time in London and more importantly…pandas?

ellen allien

JOBOT: Hello Ellen Allien!! SUPERSUPER are big fans of yours. How important are the themes of optimism and positivity to you? ELLEN ALIEN: First I have to say I am from West Berlin. Before the wall came down me and my family were really depressed by the modern history of Germany. I think I felt a bit lost, like I didn't know from where I came from. When the wall came down I moved to the East Berlin and I flipped out completely. I met so many cool people during this time. We tried to build our own islands within a society - happy islands – forgetting our surroundings and trying to open the doors to a new light. Something we created ourselves in order to distinguish ourselves - to feel different from our parents and grandparents - the Second an Cold War generations. I am also melancholic person aswell melancholy for me is also the link to light, because without melancholy there is no light and vice versa. J: Is it true that one of the first places you encountered electronic music was in London? EA: Exactly! It was the Acid Jazz times in London when I was living there. I used to party at the Wag club. It was awesome to see all these different cultures dancing together – unified by the music. I left London because I missed my home. When the wall came down I stayed in Berlin – it became so cool. For me, London was a very important learning experience for me - back then London was THE place to be. J: London is currently experiencing a ‘dark wave’

d or W

moment - almost like a backlash to Nu Rave, with everyone wearing a lot of black and white. How does it make you feel when you wear black and white? EA: Black and white are my favourite colours. If I feel very creative and very happy I put black on because it gives me space – kind of like a void I can move into. I wear colours to look and feel better. I ﬁnd you see a person's face more if they are wearing neutral colours – it’s harder to hide. J: So If black and white are two of your favourite colours to wear - would you rather DJ to a room full of zebras or panda bears? Who do you think would give you the best reaction? EA: Haha, Pandas of course! I really love their eyes. They are so important for our rave scene in Berlin - we are all pandas, especially on Mondays if you know what I mean. J: Haha so with that in mind would you say that as a person you are an early person or a late person? EA: Haha I always wake up late! I try not to part too hard but I am always late for appointments. I’m like an owl. SUPERSUPER loves owls don’t you? J: Indeed we do. Oh and one last question - when you lived in London, where did you live – I might make a pilgrimage? EA: Haha I lived in Fulham, which was a bit far out. I loved taking the night bus back. It was very special for me to travel at this time - seeing the city and people in a different light. We don’t have many night buses in Berlin.

Bustmeeetrs

A1 BASSLINE

BUSTER: Yo Christian! So How come you've suddenly started wearing a mask? I mean, we can see your face on yr MySpaz proﬁle innit! But respect tho, masks are a DJ's best fwend,The Bloody Beetroots dig that look, But It doesn't take much investigating to ﬁnd out your one half of Partyshank tho! A1: Well at the start I wanted to keep it a secret but that didn't really last too long. I don't really wear it much anyways! B: So what happened to Partyshank, divorce? A1: Nah, lol! We are still doing our thing. We are writing new tunes at the moment and not gigging as much until we have new material, watch this space. B: You're a lad from Essex then, do you think people in the north, where bassline's from, will be pissed off your playing at their game? A1: I was born in Orsett and spent some of my childhood in Ockendon, and then moved to the

Croydon area when I was about ﬁve. As for the people up north I can't really see why they would be pissed off , I have inﬂuence from not just niche garage. I listened to all types of garage as a kid. Getting beatz from my local record shops like Big Apple and Swag Records in Croydon. Also my dad managed Dem 2, we done a couple of tracks ages ago, but nothing happened from it due to personal reasons. B: Essex is like the raving Mecca Bingo, Sinden, Herve, Prodigy, what is it about Essex lads that makes them such ravin titans? Oh and Croyden hey, that must be why you've been working with Frankmusik, Croyden the new Essex! Goldielocks is from there too innit. A1: With Essex it's probably due to being surrounded by girls with fake tan and bleached blonde hair! They are in the masses there and make every geeza content! Frankmusik is really safe and writes great music as well. I've done a track with him

with Partyshank and we done a remix for him. Maybe we will work together in the future on something. Would be interesting, Bassline Frank! B: This might sound rude, but do you think your name was a bit short sighted, I mean, once Bassline is over, are you going to have to change it? I mean it's a pain getting new myspace proﬁles innit, all that clicking, we are gonna be a whole generation with RSI in out index ﬁngers! A1: Ha! Well the name actually comes from the preset cubase synth. Hopefully people won't get bored of bass in tracks. I make a lot of different styles so I should be alright J B: Ah safe den! A bit like the old 808 names being jacked n used in band names like supersuper favourite '808 State.' It's like a tradition, respec' the tech! Your style is kinda like mash-up meets baseline, yeah? What kind of music do you like to add to the mash?

myspace.com/a1bassline A1: The EP is kinda straight up bassline garage, but a lot of my newer tunes are a lot slower, more house like with inﬂuences of bassline. I feel for me around 127-130 BPM is about right. I'm getting old, 140 BPM is just a bit too fast sometimes, but not all the time ha!!! B: Lolz yeah I see where your coming from? So what's your set up then? A1: I just use 2 CD decks. I used to spin on records but with getting new tunes over the internet from people and being able to make a tune on Monday and have it mixed Friday to play out, it makes more sense. I think the most important thing is good tight mixing, tune selection and playing fresh music. B: So we've been stalking you on myspaza, we've seen that you've been playing all ova the world! Even in LA, I bet you've had some wild times! A1: I have only recently started to play out as A1 Bassline, but I've played some cool parties. I've done

Nocturnal in the US, which was mental, got to play with like DJ Craze and Digitalism. Also played before ZTrip out in the States. I recently played a house party with Andy George and Urchins, was in a basement and it got ﬂooded, ﬁre engines turned up. It was mental! B: Your manager Tony, he's a bit of a geezer ain't he, are you related? A1: I don't actually know who this man is.

Check out A1’s MySpace proﬁle for DJ dates near you, and info on his new EP ‘Girl Thing’ coming out on Meal Deal Records featuring Safﬁe on the vox!

Pick of tha Month FRANKMUSIK ‘3 Little Words’ EP Released on Island Records 24th of November 2008 myspace.com/frankmusik

Check it out, singed to Island Records, one of the biggest labels out there; we told you Vincent aka Frankmusik was going to be hooge! And if you haven't seen his Tom Hanks' 'Big' styled video for '3 Little Words' beaming out to millions, where he dances on a huge light up keyboard on YouTube, go tube it! '3 Little Words,' is Vince's second EP after 'Frankisum' which was his own DIY release, straight out of his Croydon home, above his grannies house! So forget manufactured, this is real 100% home-grown pop, not a Simon Cowel in sight, in fact, if Vince met Simon, I wouldn't be surprised if he knocked him one for crimes against pop, or should I say 'Blade Runner Pop.' "WTF!", we hear you cry, well that's Vince's brand of pop. We think that Blade Runner Pop which refers to Ridley Scott's epic, futuristic movie about synthetic humans and retirement is all about the realness of his lyrics, the kind of dystopian, more human than human love anthems Vince manages to bang out on a daily basis from his studio. Vincent, not only manages to pack an Obamapunch with millions of pops fans, but he also manages to galvanize the underground dance floors as well, a rare flair, no, strike that, unique talent in a time when the two dance floors are divided down the middle. Remixers include L-Vis 1990, Paper Faces and Black Strobe, certainly an eclectic mix reflecting Vince's bulging musical intelligence! Take it from the VOICOMP, expect to see more and more of this supersuperstar as his rise to legend continues!

V.V. BROWN 'Crying Blood' Single out November the 3rd on Island Records www.myspace.com/vvbrown

'Crying Blood' is a pretty horrifically sad lyric, but for some reason this 50's styled break-up anthem just makes you wanna get up, defiantly, like you're in The Sound of Music and move it like Tina Turner in a chain mail dress. It's another pop gem for you in this reviews section, good pop is obviously like buses! V.V. Brown, a snazzy looker, is surely set for chart success with this song and its string of remixes ranging from the bliptastic 8bit mix by Dust Brothers and Hannah Holland's jackin' batty dance floor mix. V.V. Brown, like Master Shortie and Frankmusik, also in this review section, is a song writer, performer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, surely pop is saved!

FILTHY DUKES 'Tupac Robot Club Rock' Single Released 3rd of November on Fiction Records www.myspace.com/ﬁlthydukes

Filthy Dukes have been smashing up dance floors since their first release 'This Rhythm' back in 2007. Now they are back, with a taste of things to come from their upcoming album 'Nonsense in the Dark' out in 2009. 'Tupac Robot Club Rock' is a track engineered to get you dropping ass on the floor and jacking your pelvis all ova. Not wanting to put all their eggs in one basket Filthy Dukes have got some of the hottest remixers du jour out on this, with Plastic Little, L-Vis 1990 and Oliver $ taking full glory for the best jobs.

BOOTS Judge A CD By LITTLE Remix EP released soon on Sixsevenine. Myspace.com/littlebootsmusic It’s Cover.

SANTOGOLD ‘Say A-Ha’ Released on Atlantic Records 17th November 2008 All Formats www.myspace.com/santogold

Is it just me or is Santogold aka Santi White everywhere at the moment?? Seems like I can’t open a magazine/ cross the road / review some singles without her popping up somewhere! Not that I’m complaining mind, especially when she’s making skanked out new wave pop that encourages listeners to make like Alan Partridge and ‘Say A-Ha’ like she is on her new single!! O.K, so there’s a slim chance this song might not be about Norwich’s favourite late night radio host, but this doesn’t necessarily make ‘Say A-Ha’ any less of a genre defying pop winner than any of Santi’s previous singles A-ha indeed!!

This issue we have chosen this delightful little offering from girl of the mo, Little Boots. First let's talk about the wolf, well clearly Little Boots has a raging pagan-woman of the night, running wild within her, as expressed through the energy of the lightning bolts, the all too cliché sign of power! Now let's move onto the triangle thing, well jump on the bandwagon why don't you! Her owl spies obviously saw our new cover! Oh, and do we see a little Hubble telescope action there? Yes we do, well brownie points for the use of intergalactic powers, but don't hold your breath little boobs, I don't think our alien friends will be tuning in just yet. Just kidding little booty, we love you and yr cover.

s ’ a r a K

LA ROUX 'Quicksand' Single Out November 24th on Kitsune 12" and Download www.myspace.com/larouxuk

CHARLI XCX ‘EMELINE’ / ‘ART BITCH’ Emeline/Art Bitch XCX Records EMMS Publicity – junior@ emmspublicity.com

La Roux aka Elly Jackson, the mightiest redhead since Simply Red, is a Brixtonite, that probably explains how she manages to add a dirty electro edge to her shizzle yer shoulder-pads supreme brand of super-pop, and still remains effortlessly cool. With infamous new romantic venue'The Fridge' on her doorstep it's no wonder she's the latest in the tradition of exceptional British synthpop, following in the footsteps of the Eurythmics and Depeche Mode. Kitsune really know how to pick up the future greats, if only they heard Cilla Black all those years ago.

16 year old Charli XCX’s second single ‘Emeline’ (named after her imaginary friend/alter ego) is a little bit electro, a little bit eighties, a little bit dark and, unfortunately, a little bit like every other one of these kinda tunes that’s been released over the last 6 years or so. Luckily ‘Art Bitch’, the more laid back half of this double A side package, has a lot more to offer. Coming on like a demonic cyborg Kate Nash after a particularly messy night down at Calling All Tribes, Charli pays tribute to her ‘Art Bitch’ friends over a backing track that sounds like Alphabeat on a sugar crash.

GANG GANG DANCE ‘Saint Dymphna’ LP Released October on Warp Records All formats www.myspace.com/ ganggangdance

ZOMBY 'Where were you in '92?' (Werk Discs)

Saint Dymphna, the new album by Brooklyn types Gang Gang Dance is an album of extremes. It can be light and heavy, abstract and concise, minimal and busy - usually all at the same time!! Blissed out synthn’s and ethnic percussion sounds pierce through textured layers of ambience in a musical melting point that’s reminiscent of fellow Warp stablemates Boards of Canada sounding off against laptop folktronica whiz Four Tet. For optimum listening results switch your lights off, strap your headphones and let the music paint pictures in your mind and guide you through the halls of your consciousness. Deep stuff!

CHART

Zomby is taking a short hyper-dayglotastic break from smacking it in the dubstep world to give us all little history lesson. Some 'rave education for the yoof dem'- if you will! While you were a glint in your mum's eye, Zomby and pals were out 'AVIN IT LARGEEEE at a warehouse around the corner! This album manages to bring the vibe up to date for 2008 (a bit like wot that nice man Obama has done with America!) And yet somehow, Zomby successfully manages to mash up old and new shiz (b-more, rave stabs, breaks & grime, with some strategically placed wobble.. PLUS MORE!!) The whole album is straight ﬂamez, each track a different emotion to the next , and just as dope. What makes this special is that it's a lot of laughs for your money, and you can have a shandy and a dance without being self conscious…. or having to think. Cop dat!! SS Loves: Track 03 'We Got The Sound'

ATL HOODRAT AKA SOULJA GIRL REMIX!!! The well deserved Hoodrat Of The Year award goes to this girl YT 'GETTI PON TRUSS' Remember when Snow did 'Informer'… this may be his reincarnation JELLUZZ 'HOLD ON' Catchy beat and chorus to match-DUN' KNOW! THE LITTLEST HOBO Childhood memories never sounded so good N-DUBZ FT CHIPMUNK 'DEFEAT YOU' N-Dubz…everyone's guilty pleasure

DJ CHARTS DIPLO'S ALL TIME GREAT TRACKS! (USA) www.myspace.com/diplo

Placebo - Aria Dead Prez - Hip Hop Curtis Mayﬁeld - Runnin from the Darkness Rotary Connection - Black Gold of the Sun Radiohead - Karma Police Burial - Archangel Black Sabbath - Planet Caravan Daft Punk - Around the World Neil Young - Heart of Gold Africa Bambaattaa - Planet Rock

MASTER SHORTIE 'Dead End' Single out November 10th on 'Odd One Out' Records www.myspace.com/ mastershortie

THE TEENAGERS (LDN/PARIS)

www.myspace.com/theteenagers Serious grime fans and ghetto boys would probably dis this to shit, but Master Shortie isn't looking to be ghettoised as an 'in the know' underground artist. At 19 years old, Shortie is a self styled and self managed Myspace-gen DIY one man band, releasing his own records and taking control of the whole process, which we think deserves respect! 'Dead End' is Shortie's attempt at grindie, following in the footsteps of Leathal Bizzle, Dizzie Rascal and Hadouken, which is clearly who Shortie would like to be levelled with. The tracks cool, it's relaxed and well, forgettable, but thumbs up for effort.

Lykke Li -Little Bit (Loving_Hand_Remix) White Lies - Death Metronomy- Heartbreaker (Kris menace Rmx) The Teenagers - Feeling Better(Minitel Rose Rmx) Yo Majesty - Booty Clap

RAFFERTIE (BIRMINGHAM/LDN) www.myspace.com/raffertie

Raffertie - Stomping Grounds VIP Toast - Puppy Phat The Squire Of Gothos - Tripple Drop Stagga - Salanar Dub_Raffertie - Wobble Horror!

DRUMS OF DEATH (LDN)

www.myspace.com/drumsofdeath4eva Drums Of Death - Work Ya Neck Peaches - Sucker (Drums Of Death RMXXX)_ Peaches - I Feel Cream (Drums Of Death RMXXX) TV On The Radio - Dancing Choose Reso - If You Can't Beat Them

PETIT FLO (NORWICH / UK)

www.myspace.com/killamanbiro Tiga-Future – Mind Dimensions AC Slater – Jack Got Jacked (Jack beats Remix) Housemeister – What you want (Siriusmo Rmx) Proxy – Raven (Polymorphic Rmx) The Bug – Insane

SHRAG ‘Shrag’ Released 19th Jan 09 CD/ Download on Where It’s At Is Where You Are www.myspace.com/shrag

ONETIME'S (SUPERSUPER CLUB RESIDENT/ LDN) www.myspace.com/shewouldratherbewithme

The rather unoriginally named ‘SHRAG’ by Shrag is a collection of the Brighton based 5-pieces A and B sides to date, made available for the first time in digital quality CD format. The band cover a range of LOL-tastic themes across the album, from 90’s crushes to anthems against teen pregnancy, but don’t get it twisted y’all - Shrag are no novelty outfit. With their punky Lo-fi fuzz and DiY ethos this band will be as well received by the ‘serious’ music fan as those looking for a more casual pop fling. Pretty much every one of the 10 tracks featured on this CD is a straight up indiepop classic so whatcha waiting for? Get involved yo!

Buster B’s Credit Chart

Filthy Dukes - Tupac Robot Club Rock (Filthy Dukes Kill Em All Remix) Mystery Jets - Half In Love With Elizabeth (Foamo Remix) Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat (Fake Blood Remix) TC - Where's My Money? (Caspa Mix) Shwayze - Buzzin (AC Slater Remix)

WE'RE NOT COOL DJ'S (LDN)

www.myspace.com/wearenotcool81 Proxy- Raven Late Of The Pier- Bathroom Gurgle [Duke Dumont remix] Style Of Eye- Ona Bjork- Dull Flame Of Desire(Modesllektor Remix For Girls) Joe & Will Ask?- Bleep

SUPER

SUPER STEREO EVERCLEAR-LOCAL GOD Naida dug this out whilst getting ready to go out for a night on the tiles and some after parties in the stables. She assures us its "pure musical adrenalin with the attitude of a south central gangster". It's on the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack CD, which means she has that CD, which worries us, after she told us about her obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, well each to their own! GRACE JONES – HURRICANE FEATURING HER NEW SINGLE ‘CORPORATE CANNIBAL’ Good old Gracey’s back – dominating the superstereo with ‘Corporate Cannibal,’ probably the best credit crunch anthem around, which is taken off her new album ‘Hurricane’ Being the D-IV-A goddess that she is, she’s Addam, our beauty editor’s favourite. But blates she would eat him alive! HAVA NIGELA (YEAH THAT JEWISH SONG) You’ll know it when you hear it. This is the famous Jewish and Roma song that rings out from Bar Mitzvah’s across the world. Roughly translated into English it means ‘Let’s rejoice’ and has the somewhat controversial beginnings as being, for want of a better term, the theme tune for the British Victory in WW1 Palestine. KATE BUSH - THE MAN WITH THE CHILD IN HIS EYES Soft and magical like cupcakes, here’s Kate with a delightful ditty about a man….erm…with the child in his eyes! You may feel confused about the message but you will be comforted by the probability that unlike the other Bush (“there’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, over them there mountains y’all’) she’s actually dropping some serious knowledge yo!

U-N-I -K.R.E.A.M A Wu Tang classic is reworked with these West Coast rappers for their catchy “K.R.E.A.M (Kicks Rule Everything Around Me)”. Self indulgence? Hardly. Don’t we all love our kicks?! Check out their mixtape “Fried-Chicken and Watermelon”! It sounds better than it would taste-trust us!

MINTY – USELESS MAN Minty are the 90’s unheard musical hero’s. It was the decade that gave us boy bands and girl bands en masse but Minty was a dolly mixture of tranny-freaks, club kids and the ﬁercest of the undergrounds bull-dog tempered outcasts! Useless Man, more of a piece of art than a single was begat!

PLANNINGTOROCK Nina Simone - Feelings Kevin Blechdom - I am nasty Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (Hot Chip rmx) Vangelis - Chung Kuo Frank Zappa - Peaches and regalia

YOUNG JEEZY – The Recession SIMPLY RED – Monies Too Tight to Mention AFRIKAN BOY – One Day I Went To Lidl SONNY & CHER – Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves YOUTUBE – Bush & Brown Spoof– Candle in the Wind / Credit Crunch Anthem LIZA MINNELLI, Joel Grey from the 'Cabaret' Soundtrack – Money THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS – Poor Jack PINK FLOYD – Money ABBA – Money, Money, Money 10CC – The Wall Street Shufﬂe

REVIEWS & CHARTS

SUPER

MIXTAPES

BURGABOY BASSic Mixtape, Volume 1 Bassline/Bassline/Bassline myspace.com/burgaboypros TODDLA T The Ghetto Blaster Dancehall/Zooloo House/Ghetto Jacker myspace.com/toddlat HOTLINE DJ'S Blood On The Danceﬂoor Acid-pop/Bootleg/Mash-up myspace.com/hotlineclub OLIVER $ Made to Play Podcast Minimal/Electro/Arabic-Acid! myspace.com/oliverdollar VENOM & DAMAGE Frenzy Bassline/Speed Wobble/Hype myspace.com/7yeezie

149

SUPER DJ NotShy

DJ y

myspace.com/DJNotSh

SS – So Si, where are you from! Big tingz have been ushered about u! I'm originally from Birmingham where I started to go clubbing when I was 16. I started DJing after winning a set of decks and got into the other big scene that was exploding back then, Hard House. Within a year I'd got a residency at a pre-club bar for a night called Sundissential. I loved the high energy of the music and the community that went along with it. After Hard House I moved onto DJ Hip Hop but now I'm moving more towards electro. SS - What do you think the next big thing in dance music is? Trancehall has our bet! Erm... ME!!! Ha, I dunno there are

Words by Emma Dilemma

Thunderclaps

myspace.com/thunderclapsmusic

A badman duo tearin up the UK with their epic grime riddims.. big tings a gwan for this pair. A storms brewing… and there’s no place like home!!! SS: Who are Thunderclaps? T: A two man megaforce production unit. SS: Where are your endz?! T: We're repping Reading, UK. Big up 2nd Drop Records, XS Distribution, Ejectorseat Records, Deadly Hunta (the voice that adds all the hype and introduces each MC on Judgment Day) Shanky Da Grime Lion. _ SS: How would you describe your sound? T: Our is sound is a HEAVY HEAVY sound. It's powerful. There's always melodic movement and an emotional energy to our beats, sometimes there'll be an epic feel or sometimes the beat will just smash you in the face and nick your oyster card. SS: Where can we hear you out? Do you DJ? T: We dj all over the place, we play a mixture of grime & dubstep but hiphop too…whatever we're feeling really - we've been doing a lot of radio shows recently. In the last few weeks we've done take-over shows for Pyroradio.com, Diesel-U-Music radio and features for BBC Asian Network and 1xtra. We've just put them all up at myspace.com/thunderclapsmusic so you can listen from there or download them to enjoy at your leisure. SS: How did 'Judgement Day' come about? It's got quite an apocalyptic vibe & seems quite ﬁtting at the moment innit! T: Driff found this CD with Verdi on the front cover and thought he looked like a showaman. He was on the front looking like he was gonna draw skeng. It turned out to be a good look because that CD had the sample we used for Judgment Day. Everyone we played it to was going nuts for that beat. We got Matt from DAT Sound onboard and he helped co-ordinate the artists and we recorded them at his studio in Leyton. SS: What releases have you got in the pipeline? T: We're working on another all-star line-up on a beat that people are getting more hype for than Judgment Day so that should be ridiculous when that drops. We're putting out some grimey dubstep beats…on a Joker type vibe, then there's a bootleg project we're calling Bootstrap Vol 1. The bootstrap beats should be circulating by the time you read this…a storm is brewing.

loads of new sounds and styles coming out at the mo. Fidget has breathed some much needed new life into the scene and made it a lot more bass heavy. I think something new is gonna pop up in the next 6 months or so.

Not Shy’s Top 5 All Time Fav Tunes!

SS has stalked those DJ booths and found some class act throbbing gristle for you this issue! Si Edkins aka ‘Not Shy’ , the DJ who’s been climbing up the ranks quicker than you blow a rave horn, and ‘Till You Vomit’, the VJ that does exactly what it says on the tin. Si Edkins, an accountant by day, (you gotta hussle the rent someway!) has played all ova da place including at Warboy’s ‘Between the Cracks’, Hoxton’s newest offering for uberhedonists, rude boys and party-harders. With his willy-wonker basslines and nu era style you can’t miss him!

to try and shake things up a bit.

SS - What's your danceﬂoor ﬁlling secret? I think you've gotta be really into the music that you are playing. There are loads of DJs out there who just SS - We've heard a lot about Warboy's download the top 10 tunes from new night 'Between The Crack's,' charts. It's gotta be fun and have a didn't you play at the launch party? good party vibe. I don't take myself What was that like? too seriously behind the decks and It was an awesome night. I knew I think that comes across when I'm playing. Jim for a bit after seeing him in and around the scene. He took a chance on me and asked me to open at the BTC SS – So where can we catch you launch party. We tore the place up playing now? and it was a proper roadblock outside. Calling All Tribes every Wednesday at The Ghetto, This Is Not A Rave, It's moved venues now going from and Trailer Trash. strength to strength. It takes people like Jim to push the scene forward and SS - What do you secretly do behind

-Tamborzuda (Rave New World Mix)- Sinden & Count Of Monte Cristal -The Dawn – Tony De Vit -In The Morning – Junior Boys -HiJackin' – HiJack -Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats Remix) – AC Slater

the DJ decks? Now that would be telling.... Recently I've been playing with Lego and here's one I made earlier. SS - Have you got any funny stories about any gig's you've done? The first time I DJed in the club Sundissential, I got a nosebleed just as the DJ before me was playing his final tune, and for some reason the dude wouldn't play on. So I had my mates running around to find loo roll and I played most of my set with half a roll of Andrex up my left nostril. I never found out who the guy was playing before me but I still haven't forgiven him. Maybe I'll re-introduce that style to Shoreditch? Haha

Till You Vomit, aka Bjornar and his crew are a new catch for SUPERSUPER, currently living in East London, Bjornar has been supplying The SUPERSUPER Club with some extremely funny visuals. His style is a mashup of classic 70's style tennis strip teases, vogueing and the all too familiar epileptic flashy internet gif-athon provides a smorgasbord of imagery like no other! SS: Heisann Bjornar! (Bjornar is from Norway, home of, SUPERSUPER's favourite cheese trio 'A-Ha'!) So, your visuals are different, like many VJs work, You aren't focusing on the digital imagery of the Internet, you use a lot of ripped footage from TV and film, why is this? Bjornar: I've always found inspiration at flee markets, in the video library and searching my through my grandmothers old video collection! Searching for that kind of footage which people find fascinating, the kind you just want to look at it again and again. The ambition is to bring old hidden treasures back to the masses. SS: Is there an importance to your visuals, do they have a subliminal message or are they simply flashing images to get people dancing? Bjornar: What I love about making visuals is that I am in a position to set the atmosphere in the club. I can change it from being a sterile and impersonal to a space full of movement and colour. I want to present images that make people feel a certain way.

SS:Your visuals are quite funny to watch, do you think of yourself as a bit of a comedic VJ? Bjornar: What fascinates me is usually quite crazy stuff, things that's shocking. I guess my visuals tend to be funny J SS: Who are you working with at the moment? Bjornar: We have shown our stuff at concerts for bands like Kap10Kurt, Jerry Bouthier, Ufﬁe and Feadz, and now that I've moved to London I've gathered fellow Graphic students JENNY HIRONS and ZARA KIM at Central Saint Martin's to keep the group alive. Were regularly showing our stuff at Across The Pond (Electricity Showrooms), and now at the SUPERSUPER Club.

SUPER

Till You Vomit

myspace.com/tilyouvomit

Some of Till You Vomit’s visuals!!

SS: Is being a VJ a viable career, can you make a living from it? Bjornar: It's hard, at the moment it is a hobby I do on my spare time. I sometimes get cash doing it, and that's cool, but that's not the initial motivation.

h at Check out ‘Till You Vomit’ VJ’s once a mont POND THE SS ACRO and Oslo, CLUB LIPSTICK in h. mont the of ay Sund third every ditch in Shore

The Thunderclaps ft Ghetto, Orriﬁce Vulgatron, Shameless and Deadly Hunta – Judgment Day is out now available from all good record shops on 12” (with an Ill Bill vs Vista dubstep reﬁx) and digitally through all the major playas.

Where’s My Ravin Kru? I don’t know about you, but personally I find waiting for the weekend to come around again can be pretty long. Luckily Manchester’s Monday Murkage is here to provide respite before those post Sunday blues get a chance to truly take hold. Throwing the genre rule book out the window the Murkage Cartel serve a mash up of dutty grime, electro, party anthems and badderman bassline to an ever enthusiastic crowd of punters at Manchester’s One Central Street Venue. SuperSuper caught up with the Murkage Mandem (well actually one of them SUPERSUPERstar DJ Natalie ‘Esqueezy’ Esquire in order see wha’ pop for the night!!

SUPERSUPER: So, how did you all start in the first place, what was the background to the night? Natalie: I'd been playing in clubs a little before Murkage, mainly force feeding pretentio-electro scenesters with booty bounce and b’more. I made a lot of people want to vomit. I met David Lewis (Murkage founder) through playing an earlier party he threw called Nang! Guess it went from there really. SS: Who does Monday Murkage cater for - Do you have an average punter or is it quite an eclectic vibe? N: I'd say it catered for anyone but ‘trustafarians’ (Trust fund kids with dreads) – they don't seem to gel with the idea of music and fun occurring at the same time. SS: So what's been the best and messiest Murkage so far? NE: Hmmmm....the Skepta party was pretty amusing because every next man was trying to get their Ecko Red clad bodies onto the stage to get a grainy snapshot with him on their Sony Ericsson. Skepta just kept saying 'Moss Side, Moss Side' over and over again. Hilarious! SS: What's the Murkage line on all this electro grime going round at the moment post Wiley’s Rolex Sweep?

Do you see it as a good thing or a bad thing? NE: This electro grime game is pretty tiring. The Rolex Sweep was one thing but I think the Dizzee/Calvin Harris collab was the pits. And Wiley's just gone west and started spitting down a vocoder, making tunes about girls that are glowing. Now everyone seems to be jumping on that – and going down the Indie road. Master Shortie's 'Dead End' is just horrific. It's like getting dumped in Hull with no money or mobile phone. "I know you like electro?" That ones definitely not in the record bag. SS: What makes the nightlife in Manchester special/ different from other UK cities?? NE: Manchester nightlife is different to other cities because of tired out clubs like 5th Avenue and too many people still eerily obsessed with the Madchester scene – move on! Either that or people go to R&B clubs or waste student nights with bad sex references in their promo, usually to dress up as naughty nurses. But Murkage and a handful of other nights are coming through with a bit of sanity so if you know where to go it's not all doom and gloom!

Esqueezy’s TOP 10 Clubs 1. Feadz - Cold As Feadz 08 2. Kid Sister - Get Fresh 3. Chase & Status - Eastern Jam 4. Tigerstyle f. Vybz Kartel, Mangi Mahal and Nikitta, "Balle! Shava! (Sinden Remix)" 5. Tittsworth - WTF (feat Pase Rock & Kid Sister) 6. Platnum - Love Shy (Crazy Cousins Remix) 7. T.I. feat Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne - Swagger Like Us 8. Late Of The Pier - Bathroom Gurgle (Drums of Death Bassline Boy Remix) 9. Evil 9 feat El-B - All The Cash (Mumdance Remix feat Jammer) 10. Malente & Dex Hyperactive (Rivastarr Remix feat Jammer & Frisco)

Hit-List

TOY’S R US When: Tuesday, January 27 2009 Sounds like: Nothing else Theme: Good toys gone bad!!! H.E.N.C.H, Bristol (The third Watch out for: Buzz Lightyear with Thursday of every month) Woody getting off with Little Bo Peep! Sounds like: Techno / House / Electro / Where: Russian Bar, Kingsland Road, Old Skool / Garage / DnB / Dubstep London Who: Pirate Soundsystem, Zed Bias, Casper C, Chef, Pinch, Blazey & Scarz, Pace Yourself Faggatronix, SLT Mob & Joker Where: The Magnet, Liverpool Watch out for: Weasel Sounds like: Jungle, hip hop, soul, funk, Location: Native, Bristol drum and bass, dubstep Link: myspace.com/byteclub Past guests: DJ THC, Jack Sparrow, Ruckspin, Doc Strange, Boy That BODYNOD Scratch, Horza, oddFellow Sounds like: Garage / Bassline / Dubstep Link: mypace.com/paceyourselfmate / Grime / 4X4 Who: Slimzee, El-B, Durrty Goods, Chibuku Horsepower, MJ Cole, Geeneus & Quiet Where: The Barfly, Liverpool Storm When: 6th December Watch out for: Buggsy Who: Plump DJs, Evil 9 (live), Jeru The Location: Native, Bristol Damaja (live), DJ Yoda & Schlomo, Link: bodynod.co.uk TC & MC Jakes, No Fakin, The Beat DONUTS Monkeys Sounds like : Bassline / Garage / Dubstep / Electro / Dancehall / Hip Hop / Grime Nuke Them All’s 1st Birthday Who: Dexplicit, TS7, Loefah, Ghetto, What: Alien Mother-ship Rave ! w/ Seb Chew, Oneman, Skull Juice, No Thunderclaps, Niyi & more.... Requests, Tomb Crew & Martelo When: Saturday 13th of December Watch out for: DJ Spiney Where: The Lightbox,6a Lambeth Place, Where: The Tube, Bristol Vauxhall, London Link: myspace.com/donutsdances Links: myspace.com/nuke_them_all

SS: Who would be your dream Monday Murkage guest? What would your dream location to host a night be? NE: Monday Murkage needs to get a little bit more American with the guests. I think something like a Cool Kids DJ set could be the one, in a plush venue with mad status drinks. But I guess it just rests on whether there's enough demand or recognition for acts from the punters – that's the most important thing.

Catch Natalie Djing weekly at Monday Murkage @ One Central St in Manchester

Nuke Years Eve What: The Brain Box w/ Raffertie, SuperCollider, The Coolness & more... When: Wednesday the 31st of December (New Years Eve of course!) Where: Images Strip Club, Hackney Road, East London Links: myspace.com/nuke_them_all

Doctor/LadyLykez/Dot Rotten/Diamond Ft Sofia Romain perf. FlyAway + More Music Policy: Grime / R&B / Pop Venue: Carling Academy Islington, N1 Centre 16 Parkfield Street Time: 6pm - 10pm Tax: Limited £5 Tickets, Call: 07949869291

Klown Klub Kristmas What: The home of post-crunch art, extreme dressers and experimental entertainment with a full size bouncey castle on the dancefloor! When: Saturday the 20th of December Dress: Klowns, Kristmas etc Where: The Bethnal Green Resistance Gallery, Bethnal Green, East London

FWD Vs Rinse Date: December 31st Acts: Kode9/Geeneus/Youngsta/Zinc/ Marcus Nasty/Headhunter/Luke Envoy/ Slimzee/Spyro/Chef/Tippa/Crazy D/ Flowdan Music Policy: Grime / Dubstep / Funky House Venue: Plastic People, 147 Curtain Road, East London Time: 9pm - 5am Tax: £20

Mucha Marcha Date: 5th December Acts: Man Like Me/Vincent Vincent/ Ark of The Covenant/Moodie//Dolphin Meat/Miss Odd Kid Music Policy: Alternative / Pop / Electro / Grime / Dubstep Venue: Proud, Camden Time: 8pm - 2.30am Tax: £6 b4 9 More After Biggafish Date: 13th December Acts: N Dubz/Ghetto/Nu Brand Flexx/

Urban Nerds Date: December 31st Acts: The Bug/Flo Dan/Coki/Cottie & Cluekid/A1 Bassline/Flirta D/DJ Magic / Roachee + More Music Policy: Grime / Dubstep / Garage / Funky House / Reggea / Hip Hop / Drum&Bass Venue: Cordy House, Curtain Road Time: 9pm - 4am Tax: Tickets £25, Call Ticketweb on: 08444 771 000

myspace.com/thesupersuper

Whaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;gwaan down in clubland?

billa

photo

! NAMAZONIA

welcome to

“

WHY SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS RATHER THAN DRUGS IS THE KEY TO A REBELLIOUS EXISTENCE THE 21ST CENTURY...

MAYBE I AM ONE OF LIFE’S ANOMOLIES – a peculiar and unusual glitter-sprinkled challenger from another planet. I have never taken drugs and vow I never ever will. I don’t know quite how I got to to this stage in my life without having dabbled – indeed I have immersed myself in the fashion industry and the heart of London underground clubland with enormous gusto, enthusiasm and I rarely stop dancing when I go out. So I guess it will be quite a surprise to those who probably thought I was off my tits all that time, to find out that I wasn’t. Not even once. I am just an insanely enthusiastic and shameless booty shaker, and Lucozade always does it for me. I have never wanted to do what is expected of a ‘crazy eccentric’, an artist or a rebellious person and taking drugs is exactly that, it’s absolutely what’s expected in todays surface ‘cool’ culture. My mind has always been naturally ‘altered’ and I just never fancied actually losing my multi-coloured marbles, seeing as they are off the straight and narrow, wonky as-you-like already. In fact I’m sure you’ve often seen my marbles rolling down the road in a synchronised experimental post- century dance, laughing joyously as they roll past you on the street. But you’ll be pleased to hear, the important thing is they always return to yours truly, safe and sound. It always upsets me when highly creative people end up destroying themselves – self destruction is all to much of an easy trap to fall in to and I think that these days it’s important for such people to demonstrate a bit of that inner strength that certainly lies within them if they’d just take the time to work hard enough to find it. Once upon a time at art college I handed in some enormous paintings – a kind of strange psychedelic mish-mash with animals, shapes and monsters in a kind of collage – a technicolour scene, of course. I guess you could even describe the style as ‘proto-fluro’ : ) When people looked at them, they said it made them feel sick and giddy which pleased me greatly. The characters were intensely scribbled in pure pigment oil pastels, vibrant as fuck in red, green, orange, yellow, fuschia, eye-poppingly outlined in

myspace

.com/nam alee

expressive bold black lines. I was very proud of my work – a combination of influences had inspired me from the Italian Futurists to Paul Klee and Cezanne to my nutty circle of friends who were the cherished inspiration, not that it was that clear to most people. When it came to parents’ evening, the ‘concerned’ tutors warned my parents that I was most probably taking acid. Of course I took ENORMOUS offence at this idiotic gesture, always thinking it was such a cliché to assume someone with a wild and vivid imagination has simply got to be taking acid or some other hallucinogenic drug. Not true at all. Infact I don’t know where my imagination comes from – it just flows from within like a constant stream of preposterous clown fishes – without reason or logic but plenty of fruity loops. I find it ridiculous that people are so cynical to believe that people with never-ending imaginations can’t exist naturally. My hero Salvador Dali once famously said” I do not take drugs, I am drugs” and I was offended that the narrow minded teachers could not see that I was clearly an avid disciple of this same school of surrealism. After all apart from getting kicked out of my lessons all the time for masterminding a few mass giggle fits I have always considered myself to be a total square, much like Spongebob Squarepants himself. From that moment onwards I vowed never ever to become a cliché. I fantasised that I would be the most rebellious square the world would ever know!! Having read countless books on art and music scenes from Warhol’s Factory with Edie Sedgewick and Ultra Violet (incidently one of the only non drug takers on the scene, and one of the few who can actually remember what really happened), to punk rock (it’s well documented that The Sex Pistols went tits up when Sid Vicious got into heroin) and the rave and club scenes of the late 80s/ early 90s, to Michael Alig and the US clubkids, one single theme rung true – things seemed to go pretty swimmingly, until drugs came along and ruined everything. Different scene, same old story, over and over. Yawn. No offence but to be honest I usually end up bored to tears upon hearing friends’ more recent accounts of drug taking. Last century I can see how drug taking seemed exotic, brave and rebellious because in the context it was taken it was, and with the birth of rock and roll it certainly seemed that escapism was the answer. But here we still are, with capitalism having swallowed every piece of potent rebellion rock n roll had to offer and turned it into a style commodity from every angle, and now we can’t see the wood from the trees. Now when everyone is trying to escape the world around us, including your middle-aged uncle, his wife and her cat, doing a few lines of coke, just seems horrifically generic. The world is blatantly is a much worse state than it was 5 decades ago and surely running away cannot be the answer for right now. And have you noticed how everyone’s got the same homogenised drug story, from the hippest London kid to your mate from back home – the recreational drug tales are ALL THE SAME. Drug use has become so blasé, so whatever, so mundane, so ultra everyday. People all over the country are doing it, just to get through the ‘pressures’ and relentless boredom of modern life. But surely there has to be another way to making them feel inspired – Spirituality anyone?!!! Let’s do some communal dance therapy or potato painting instead because the truth is recreational drug usage today is no more rebellious or glamourous than taking a headache pill. How strange that we seem to be so obsessed with the value of objects, designer handbags, mobile phones and expensive clothes but yet every weekend those same consumers are willing to risk their heath and lives for some skanky horse tranquiliser cut with Persil and your dad’s dandruff for under twenty squid. It’s as if the very notion of life itself has become simply just another game to be played as flippantly as a shoot em up on your Xbox. It seems no one can remember what it feels like to be in the real world anymore, because they don’t spend enough time there. Me and Spongebob would love you to come back and join in the good old fashioned fun times!

EASTPAK Store - 1 CARNABYSTREET, LONDON