The Red Bulletin UK 10/19

UK EDITION OCTOBER 2019, £3.50

BEYOND THE ORDINARY

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B-Boy Sunni is on the rise

Making all the right moves London Jazz Explosion The Shark Saver Freeride Iran Jason Statham

COMPLETE THE KIT with Michael K aga n + Sta nce

SHOP TH E F U LL C O L LEC T I ON ON L I N E: S TAN C E . EU.COM

@mrkagan / #UNCOVERTHEUNCOMMON / @STANCEEUROPE

POWER TO THE YOUTH “Jazz isn’t dead. It just smells funny,” said Frank Zappa. But young music lovers will probably tell you that jazz is the freshest thing out there right now. And they’ll drop names such as Nubya Garcia, Kokoroko, or one of the other acts who appear in our feature on London’s jazz scene (page 38): young and enthusiastic musicians who prove that every subject constantly needs new impulses to shine. Our cover star Sunni does exactly that for breakdance – in our profile (page 30), the B-Boy talks about how dancers old and young need to come together to help get breakdancing accepted for the Olympics in 2024. Other young pioneers include Madison Stewart, saving sharks by improving the lives of Indonesian fishermen (page 62), while an allfemale anti-poaching unit is helping to protect wildlife in South Africa (page 26). What else is there to say but power to the youth!

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE

NEIL MASSEY

The British photographer is no stranger to shooting bands; earlier this decade, he documented the hardcore metal movement in Saigon, Vietnam. For us, Massey dove deep into London’s young jazz scene. “The best thing about shooting this feature was the privilege of listening in on sessions,” he says. “The Steam Down live sets are life-affirming.” Page 38

LOU BOYD

The Red Bulletin’s Associate Editor says her interview with Madison Stewart, an Australian conservationist who works alongside shark fishermen in Indonesia, has inspired her in the fight to save the ocean’s wildlife.

“Stewart’s story represents a new approach to solving an important problem,” says Boyd. “She’s proving that the only way to make real change is to work together.” Page 62

“Photographing parkour is always challenging, because it’s not really permitted anywhere,” says Alexander Beer of his on-location Urbanites clothing and gear photoshoot. Page 70 04

THE RED BULLETIN

DAVID CLERIHEW (COVER), @THE_DUKE77

EDITOR’S LETTER

CONTENTS October 2019

Get hip to the resurgence of UK jazz with Gary Crosby and co on page 38

08 Crossing platforms: one mountain

NEIL MASSEY

skate stunt is a snapper’s delight 10 Floating points: the paragliding image that’s a photographic first 11 Not to scale: a Russian climbing centre’s video game-like arena 12 Catching the drift: making the most of Hokkaido’s pure powder 15 Lust For IDLES: Iggy Pop’s top four contemporary punk tracks 16 Pimping the piano with Ukrainian band Brunettes Shoot Blondes UK garage legends So Solid Crew 18 revisit the source of their success 20 How PhD student Eleanor Lutz has used her design skills to map out the entire galaxy 22 SeaBubbles: the water taxis that could help alleviate pollution

24 Jason Statham

The danger gets too real for

Hollywood’s daring action hero

2 6 Black Mambas

The women saving endangered wildlife across South Africa

28 SliderCuts

Stormzy’s barber becomes

a Red Bull Amaphiko mentor

30 S unni

The all-conquering B-Boy on his journey from office-floor sleeping to dancefloor glory

3 8 Jazz

Meet the young musicians taking over the London club scene

70 Deluxe gear and top equipment

for urban explorers

80 The best places to hang out when

you take a trip Down Under for Rally Australia 83 How The Sims 4 video game can actually make real life better 84 The Rugby World Cup, The Warehouse Project, Boiler Room Festival and more: unmissable dates for your calendar 85 A round-up of the month’s big events showing on Red Bull TV 87 Destination Innsbruck: slope on over to Austria’s cool ski town 98 ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett and Eduard Nikolaev tussle over parking at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

52 Freeride Iran

Anita and Caro Gehrig embark on an enduro cycling odyssey

62 Madison Stewart

The Australian conservationist who’s looking out for sharks

THE RED BULLETIN

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TIMMELSJOCH, ITALY

Mind the gap Some places in the world are so visually striking it’s as though they were made to be photographed.

And as well as being aesthetically beautiful, this observation platform in Italy’s Eastern Alps looks as if it was built to be skated. So it was fortuitous that photographer Stefan Mahlknecht and skater Simon Neulichedl found each other to create this amazing shot. “I’ve seen this platform many times,” says Mahlknecht, “and when I passed the spot one hazy summer evening, the idea of a skate shot came to mind. A few months later, I was lucky enough to find someone crazy enough to send the gap.”

Instagram: @stefan_mahl

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ÖLÜDENIZ, TURKEY

Here comes the sun “Towards the sun and through a hole in the clouds with Ferdi Toy and Guillaume Galvani,” writes adventure photographer Tristan Shu in the caption to this extraordinary image.

His shot, taken in midair, was part of a project for Swiss photographic company Elinchrom. “We could finally realise the impossible within the adventure photography field,” Shu told his clients after the shoot. “For this project, we could recreate an astonishing photography studio outdoors, with a paraglide, a base jumper and a wingsuit.”

Instagram: @tristanshu

ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Scaling the lights It may look like a still from the 2010 science-fiction movie TRON: Legacy, but this photograph from the Red Bull Illume imagery contest actually captures Russian climber Anna Zaikina as she attempts to scale the North Wall, the largest indoor climbing wall in Russia. Sports photographer Leo Zhukov took the shot last year during a visit to the St Petersburg climbing facility.

“You should make a decision about your tactics from the beginning,” he says of his shooting philosophy.

“Consider and foresee the athlete’s moves, and take the right position at the right time to make the best shot.”

Instagram: @tedescophoto

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HOKKAIDO, JAPAN

Powder daze For any skier worth their salt, a visit to the snowy mountains of Hokkaido, Japan, is number one on the travel bucket list. Japan’s snowfall is the most reliable on the planet, and this shot by photographer Matthias Fritzenwallner perfectly captures the unspoilt powder that can be expected after every fresh dump of the white stuff. Taken at the Kiroro ski resort, the stunning image shows skiing so good it’ll make you long for winter.

Instagram: @matthias_fritzenwallner

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IGGY POP

The filth and the fury The godfather of punk picks four tracks from contemporary bands who capture the original spirit of the genre

HARMONY KORINE

FLORIAN OBKIRCHER

In his band The Stooges in the late ’60s, Iggy Pop sought to strip rock’n’roll down to its bare, brutal bones. In doing so, he became the pioneer of a style of music that would later be known as punk. Today, the 72-year-old is considered to be the godfather of the genre, but Pop has always been more interested in thinking outside the box. On his new album, Free, for instance, he ventures into avant-garde jazz territory; he also acted in Jim Jarmusch’s recent zombie film The Dead Don’t Die and has a regular show on BBC Radio 6 Music. His goal in the weekly radio slot is to feature young artists who are keeping the revolutionary spirit of punk alive.

Here are four of Pop’s favourite tracks right now…

Free is out now; iggypop.com

IDLES

Sleaford Mods

Death Grips

Diät

“When I decided to become a DJ at the BBC, I studied [legendary BBC radio host] John Peel. I read a book on his life. He was the guy who young England listened to in order to hear what was going on in underground music. I try to follow his lead. One band I play a lot are IDLES from Bristol. They’re so wild, really good, especially this song – it reminds me a bit of my old self!”

“Sleaford Mods are not that young, but I would say you’ve got to listen to them if you don’t know them yet.

This is a song about all the fast food in Britain. The video for the track is just a still picture of four cheerleaders wearing sweaters that spell out [the c-word]. That’s a good one. [Laughs.] I like it. It has that very, very scary-ass fucking spirit to it.”

“Death Grips are a very, very hardcore band from Sacramento, California, who mix digital and hardcore drumming with guitar and have a savagely brutal lead singer who’s just out of his mind. If you don’t like it, you know... [pauses and laughs] I play whatever I want – everybody can fuck off! But I think there are certain people I’m going to touch with this music.”

“I read the small [album] review pages in the daily papers, and then I listen to stuff on the internet to see if I like it. Then the algorithms suggest other things that I might like, and sometimes I do. Diät were reviewed somewhere – that’s how I found them. They have a lot of good songs, but I’d pick Dogshit because it’s funny. It’s really got the punk spirit. Go for it!”

Mercedes Marxist (2019)

THE RED BULLETIN

McFlurry (2013)

Death Grips is Online (2018)

Dogshit (2019)

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All together now

This indie-rock band from Ukraine took a 19th-century grand piano and transformed it into a 20-part orchestra

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Listening to a live recording of Ukrainian band Brunettes Shoot Blondes’ track Houston, you would be forgiven for picturing a group of backing musicians in the studio. Behind frontman Andrew Kovaliov’s vocals, you can hear soaring strings and a banging bass drum, as well as a full percussion section, harmonica and organ. In reality, however, the entire track was performed by two people seated at a 19th-century grand piano that has been modified to house an orchestra of instruments.

“We thought it would be cool to invent a piano that included 20 musical instruments,” says Kovaliov (pictured, seated on the right). “The idea was to make something that just a couple of people could play to make music that sounds like a whole group or even a small orchestra.”

With the help of a team of engineers, the band began to transform an old piano, replacing its lower octaves with bass

strings and percussion, and adding devices through which extra instruments can be played inside the case. The finished machine contains two violins, a cello, a xylophone, a kick drum, an organ, percussion and more – played by pressing additional keys and pedals alongside the usual 88 piano keys.

In February this year, the band debuted the completed instrument on live television, in Ukraine’s national selection semi-finals for the Eurovision Song Contest. “Fortunately, none of us in the band have an engineering background or we would never have started working on a project like this,” says Kovaliov. “The biggest challenge was finding the right people for the job. At first, everyone thought we were crazy, but I’m glad we carried on and made this special machine real.”

Watch Brunettes Shoot Blondes perform Houston at: youtube. com/user/bsbclips THE RED BULLETIN

FESENKO MAKSYM

BRUNETTES SHOOT BLONDES

LOU BOYD

The organ and melodica inside the piano are powered by a pump and bellows, and the spinning mechanism from an old sewing machine moves the bows that play the strings

#MORETHANONE

A NEW DEFINITION OF SPORTS SUNGLASSES

The innovative WING technology by Red Bull SPECT Eyewear provides secure grip during sports activities. By moving a small slider on the temple, a second hidden temple extends out and securely hugs the ear. Find out more about the new generation of functional sunglasses on redbullspecteyewear.com.

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WINSTANLEY ESTATE, BATTERSEA, LONDON, MARCH 2001

Following their recent show at Red Bull Music Festival London, two members of UK garage legends So Solid Crew revisit a moment that sparked their careers Harvey (1): “This was the very beginning of everything on the Winstanley Estate, where we grew up and used to congregate. The photo is a promotional shot for our single Oh No (Sentimental Things), introducing all the crew members.”

Lisa (2): “I used to love photoshoots at the very 18

Lisa: “G-Man (5) and I bought a transit van for 120 quid, but it backfired and didn’t drive. We stacked the back with boxes of 12-inch records of the track and sold them from the van instead. We sold close to 100,000 copies.”

Lisa: “Oh No did so well.

It would have been our first number one single but, because it included too many mixes, it went into the album chart

instead. Still charted higher than most albums out there.”

Harvey: “Oxide (6) & Neutrino (7) actually got the first garage number one [Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) in 2000] before So Solid Crew. That goes over people’s heads, but they should get more credit. They’re a part of So Solid, but are still talents in their own right and their own entity away from the crew.”

Harvey: “Garage has never died; our scene looks after itself. You might not see us on TV, but we’ve never stopped working. Between us, So Solid did 95 gigs last year. We worked for it. Unlike the lucky people today with social media, we had to get out there for people to find us.”

THE RED BULLETIN

LOU BOYD

Solid foundations

beginning, because everyone was so shocked when they saw how many of us there actually were. On our first single, it was only me, Romeo (3) and Megaman (4), but when they came to our estate for this photo, every person who was part of So Solid was there – between 40 and 50 people.”

GETTY IMAGES

FLASHBACK

J U A N M ATA

BE IN YOUR OWN WORLD

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AN ATLAS OF SPACE

Information is beautiful

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around 18,000 asteroids, planets and their moons.”

Utilising the freely available data from the NASA Horizons orbital mechanics server, Lutz cleaned and combined various datasets in order to design the stunning print. “It was pretty hard making everything fit in one map,” she explains. “If you look at it, there are a lot of [objects] in the first two billion kilometres from the sun, then everything is pretty spread out.

It took me quite a while to figure out how to get it all into a map that also looked nice.”

Along with this print, Lutz has created A Topographic Map of Mercury, The Geology of Mars, An Animated Map of the Earth, and a map of the Western Constellations, with more in the series yet to come. “I like how the actual data is precise but there’s no right or wrong answer on how it should look aesthetically,” she says. “I just really like research and sharing these cool science ideas with people through design.” tabletopwhale.com

AN ORBIT MAP OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM BY ELEANOR LUTZ

The amount we know about the universe is astounding. Every year, we’re learning increasingly remarkable details about stars and planets that exist millions of kilometres away. Although this abundance of information can feel overwhelming, when the data is translated into a visual form it can be aesthetically pleasing as well as enlightening.

Eleanor Lutz, a freelance designer and PhD student based in Seattle, Washington, has taken information shared online by NASA and the US Geological Survey and used it to create An Atlas of Space, her collection of elaborate and beautiful maps of constellations, asteroids and planets.

Lutz’s most popular work to date, An Orbit Map of the Solar System, is a logarithmic guide to asteroids. “In this map, I wanted to show the path of orbit of everything in the Solar System,” says Lutz, “but there are actually way too many things to display them all. So I picked all of those we know that measure more than 10km [in diameter] – that’s

LOU BOYD

Eleanor Lutz takes astronomical data and creates illuminating pieces of art

THE RED BULLETIN

Lutz’s An Orbit Map of the Solar System shows more than 18,000 asteroids in their exact position on New Year’s Eve 1999

THE RED BULLETIN

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Take me to the river By 2050, there will be more than three billion vehicles polluting our roads. One company believes an aquatic alternative could change the direction of travel

Despite what many Hollywood films would have you believe, the future of travel might not be flying cars but flying boats – fleets of hydrofoil taxis that glide above the water, to be precise. And they could launch in the world’s major cities over the next few years.

Founded by aeronautical engineers and sportsmen Alain Thébault and Anders Bringdal, French start-up SeaBubbles aims to cut inner-city pollution 22

by promoting travel on water.

“Ninety-two per cent of the population breathes polluted air, and in all the world’s big cities you have traffic jams and congestion,” says Thébault.

“Most cities, including London, could use their rivers more.”

Utilising technology he created to build the Hydroptère – a record-breakingly quick trimaran equipped with hydrofoil machinery, which increases speed by lifting the

Alain Thébault, left, and Anders Bringdal, founders of SeaBubbles

boat clear of the water’s surface – Thébault has designed silent, emission-free, electric ‘Bubble’ boats that are hailed via an app.

“I designed the Hydroptère when I was 20 years old,” he says. “For 20 years, I flew over the water with that boat, and in 2009 I broke the world speed [sailing] record. My three daughters said to me, ‘You can be useful with this technology.

Don’t just try to be the fastest guy on the planet. Be useful for the next generation.’ I got a pen and paper and drew my first concept of SeaBubbles right there and then.”

His start-up is now looking for the first location in which to launch its Bubble taxis. “If it inspires more people to take the waterways instead of the roads, it will be huge progress for cities all around the world,” says Thébault. “People will be able to change the destiny of their city, one ride at a time.” seabubbles.com THE RED BULLETIN

FRANCIS DEMANGE

SEABUBBLES

LOU BOYD

Forever flowing Bubbles: the proposed river taxis use hydrofoil technology to travel at speed

NEW

TRANSPORTER PACKS ADVENTUREPROOF PACKS

ospreyeurope.com

Jason Statham

A matter of life and death The action movie star has made his name playing characters who escape extreme peril. But, during one stunt-gone-wrong, that danger got real…

Words RÜDIGER STURM

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the red bulletin: In 2013, you were filming The Expendables 3 when something went wrong.

Can you tell us about it? jason statham: I nearly died.

During rehearsals for the movie, I had to drive a three-tonne flatbed truck towards the sea. I’d never tested this vehicle before and the gears were questionable. I was doing 30mph [48kph] and, as I reached the point where I had to stop, I stepped on the brake.

Nothing. The hydraulics failed and suddenly I heard the most almighty thump from somewhere. I thought I’d crashed into the dolly [cart] where the camera guys were sitting and killed them. I had the darkest sinking feeling.

But that’s not what happened…

No. As I processed that bit of information, I then realised I was going over the edge of the harbour wall and into the fucking sea.

A three-metre drop.

How did you react?

I started to push myself out of the chair so that I could escape. But by the time I got out of the chair and put my hands on the door, the truck had already hit the water.

The swell was like a wave, and the cabin filled within a split second because the window was down.

Did you regain control over the situation?

No. Suddenly I realised I was floating, because I became weightless. I didn’t know where the window was, and my head was banging on the roof. I was feeling around, disorientated, trying to retain some composure. I was swimming, looking for the window, which I finally found. And as I tried to pull myself out, a gun holster that I was carrying on my leg got trapped on the steering wheel.

In that moment, I was literally fluctuating between, “I’m going to make it, I’ve gotta do this,” and, “Oh shit.” I understood what it means to be drowning.

Can you describe that feeling?

My reflex was to try to open my mouth to take in air. But then I realised there was no air, so I closed my mouth.

And then?

I just kept pulling at the water. I scrabbled violently, and it was in literally my last stab at pulling and swimming that somehow my head popped up and I was alive. It was a nasty, nasty experience.

How does such an experience shape your attitude to life?

It’s a real recalibration of everything.

From that day on, I’ve been so appreciative of life and being able to walk on the ground. I think we all need [an experience] like that; one that puts things in perspective.

Instagram: @jasonstatham

So, what was your next option?

Usually you’d take a big breath – that gives you a minute and a half. But because everything happened so fast, I didn’t have any breath. I was submerged and descending into the murkiest, dirtiest water. I started to panic.

TRUNK ARCHIVE

When we speak to Jason Statham, he’s having a typically action-packed summer. In cinemas, the British actor is starring alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw – arguably the most muscular on-screen pairing ever – while on the internet he can be seen nailing the #bottlecapchallenge.

These two acts perfectly sum up Statham, whose physical prowess and tough-guy reputation are no invention for the big screen – the star of action franchises including The Transporter and The Expendables even performs his own fight scenes and stunts. But there have been times when the 52-year-old has questioned the wisdom of this commitment to his art.

“Doing [2011’s] The Mechanic in Thailand, I jumped from the upper level of a boat,” Statham recalls. “I was in the air, had to turn around, shoot the guy and land in a dinghy.

It’s a gymnastic move, a simple hip twist. I did five or six, and it took a good 10 months to fix my neck.

I’m not doing any more stunts…”

This painful experience was no isolated incident, he explains. When confronted with a far more dicey moment in 2013, only Statham’s cool head, stunt experience and secret past life as a diver – he competed as part of the British national swimming team at the 1990 Commonwealth Games – saved his life…

How deep were you?

Probably five to 10 metres.

THE RED BULLETIN

“I was submerged and descending into the murkiest water. I started to panic”

THE RED BULLETIN

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“Our aim was to protect wild animals and empower women”

Doing it for the rhinos: the Black Mambas (including Collet Ngobeni, second left) head out on patrol

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THE RED BULLETIN

Black Mambas

Force of nature The first female-led anti-poaching unit are saving endangered wildlife in their native South Africa Words LOU BOYD Photography JULIA GUNTHER

At the Balule Nature Reserve in South Africa’s Greater Kruger National Park, a team of women are fighting the actions of poachers.

The Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit, a female-led group who patrol and protect their environment, don’t carry weapons or use force, but are very successful. News of their patrols have spread across the world, and since the group’s formation in 2013 the number of rhinos killed in the area has dropped significantly.

The poaching industry in South Africa is enormous: in 2018 alone, 769 endangered rhinos were killed for their horns, while the number poached over the last decade is close to 8,000. Rhino poaching in South Africa is being driven mostly by the demand for the animal’s horn in Asian countries, particularly Vietnam, where it is believed to have medicinal properties; in addition to this, its growing status as a symbol of wealth and success is feared to be increasing the trade.

Black Mambas member Collet Ngobeni fell in love with nature and conservation after seeing rhinos and elephants in the wild while working on a school project. Alongside the other Mambas, she now devotes herself to protecting the rhinos in her community. Ngobeni spoke to The Red Bulletin about the fight against poaching, both on and off the reserve…

THE RED BULLETIN

the red bulletin: The Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit are the first group of their kind.

How did you get started? collet ngobeni: The group formed in 2013 with six people. Our aim was to protect wild animals and also empower women – men aren’t the only ones who can do this job.

There were many people in our community who didn’t understand the nature around them. We wanted to change that.

How do you go about detecting poachers on the reserve?

We’re the eyes and ears of the reserve, and we gather information.

First, a team will go to the fence and check for holes. Animals such as warthogs sometimes dig, and it’s not only a matter of animals getting out – humans can take advantage of those holes to get in, too. We’ll check to see if there’s anything suspicious, such as cuts to the fence or any other marks. A second team will stay at the gate and search for anything illegal in every vehicle that comes in and out. We even go into the bush, sweeping through it and removing any wire traps that poachers have set up to catch the animals.

If you find poachers on the reserve, what then?

We have an operations room where two people sit in front of a big screen.

When one of the Mambas signals, we can see on that screen where in the reserve they are. The Mamba then hides and takes photos on her signal phone, which come through to the office. That’s when we call our armed guard and response.

Is there’s a benefit to women patrolling as anti-poachers, rather than a group of men?

It does help, yes. At other reserves, the men working there sometimes give out information about the area.

Poachers normally don’t know their locations and the area, so they need somebody to give them that information. As women, we don’t give away any information; we are secretive.

Is being a member of the Black Mambas a dangerous job?

We don’t feel in danger from the wild animals. We’re well-trained in how to react when we’re in the bush, and as long as you do what you’ve been taught, you’re safe. The poachers?

They are not there for human beings and we’re not scared.

Do you carry guns on the reserve?

No, we don’t carry any weapons, because we don’t want to take the life of human beings. We can’t choose to protect the life of animals and then close the door on the life of a human being. If we had guns, when we saw poachers we’d want to shoot them.

How could we go home and sleep after that? How could I take care of my own kids knowing that I took the life of another kid’s father or uncle? We don’t want to live in an area of offence and make widows in our community.

Do you think you stand a chance of totally eliminating the rhinohorn trade in your area?

I think that one day it will stop. A lot of people in the community are not informed about it, so we go out and educate people, especially young children, and those kids will take that education back to their home.

The problem is that people think wild animals belong to white people, but that’s not true – wild animals don’t belong to anyone. If we can change that mindset, we can win this battle. Education is the best route to success. blackmambas.org

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SliderCuts

Shaping up society Stormzy and Anthony Joshua trust this man with their hair. Barber Mark Maciver shows that success in business and social engagement are mutually dependent Words HANNAH J DAVIES Photography SAM RILEY

It’s 9am on a busy morning, and Mark Maciver – aka SliderCuts – is hard at work at his barber shop in Hackney, east London, whizzing around a client’s head with clippers and watching the customer break into a smile as he admires his new trim.

Maciver, 35, opened the salon last year, but has been in the business for more than two decades. His story of early determination and paving the way for others has proved inspiring; at SliderCuts, a ‘runner’ scheme offers “a positive environment and role models” to 13-to-16-year-olds from the local area, while apprentice barbers get to learn barbering and business skills from Maciver himself, whose clients include boxing champ Anthony Joshua and rapper Stormzy.

In anticipation of the Red Bull Amaphiko Academy in Bradford, where Maciver acts as a mentor to social entrepreneurs, he talks about his path to success and how Stormzy begged him to save his hair…

the red bulletin: When did your barbering career begin? mark maciver: At school, everybody had a good haircut. Since I couldn’t afford to go to the barber shop, I picked up the clippers and gave it a try. The first time – I must have been about 14 – I ended up cutting all my hair off by accident. But I kept trying and practising on my family.

One day, I went to the barber shop with a friend who was getting his hair done. I was in awe when I saw the barber [shave] a line around and start flicking it out [to fade the haircut]. I thought, “Oh, that’s how

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you do it.” [Laughs.] I’m not really sure what I was doing before then!

How did you secure your first job?

I just progressed and progressed, cutting hair all the time. Then, when I was 18, I got a part-time job at a barber shop. I saw the manager on the street one day and, as a joke, I said to him, “I’m better than one of your barbers.” And he goes, “For real? If you’re better than him, come and take his place.” I was there for 16 years in the end.

How important do you think the barber shop is to you, and to black communities in general?

Most sets of society have their clubs, and the black barber shop is that unofficial members’ club for black people. It’s a place they can be themselves. I have a lot of black clients who work in the City and feel like they have to change when they go there, not because they’re doing anything wrong or the company’s doing anything wrong, just because it’s so different. I find that when people come here, they feel like they can actually just let go, be loud and talk about [the Nigerian dish] pounded yam. [Laughs.]

How key is the social enterprise side to your business?

It’s vital. As people, we have a tendency to look at others and talk about what they’re supposed to be doing, but we don’t always look at ourselves and say, “What am I doing?”

If everyone helped one person, we’d be in a much better situation. It can be as small as giving 15 minutes of advice to a young person. I’d feel like a hypocrite if I didn’t help people.

You have a huge online following – how did you build it?

Social media is obviously very important for businesses nowadays.

But you have to be creative with your content to set yourself apart.

And you have to think about what to put up there. For example, I had the idea of doing a vlog series on selfdevelopment, but I also post videos of my clients showing the technique and the chats we have in the salon.

You have to work with other people to grow, and the odd endorsement from celebrity clients helped me get a bigger and bigger reach.

How did you get celebrity clients to endorse you?

Anthony Joshua saw me on Instagram and reached out. But Stormzy wasn’t from Instagram – that was through [Stormzy’s TV presenter girlfriend] Maya Jama.

She told him about me, then a few weeks later I got a message on my phone just saying, “Yo bro, I need you save me.” I looked at the profile picture and it was Stormzy!

You’ve written a book, Shaping Up Culture. How did that come about?

I did about 10 to 12 episodes of my vlog, which led me to the idea of writing a guide for teens and young adults. It’s about business, selfdevelopment and community, and I talk about how, when you’re on ground level and looking up, you point the finger and know the things that people are supposed to do, but when we get to those positions, we don’t always remember the things we were saying before. The key to it is telling people there’s no such thing as a stupid question. The only stupid question in this world is the one you never asked.

Red Bull Amaphiko is a programme that champions social entrepreneurs driving positive change in their corner of the world. Join SliderCuts and other social entrepreneurs at the UK’s first Red Bull Amaphiko Academy in Bradford on October 6 for workshops, talks and a mini-market; redbullamaphiko.com

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“If everybody helped one person in life, we’d be in a much better situation” Maciver’s book, Shaping Up Culture, is out next month; slidercuts.com

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Sunni side up

He was the child prodigy who ended up living on an office floor. But now Sunni Brummitt has grown into a world-renowned dance battle expert. The 24-year-old B-Boy tells us how he wins bouts creatively and overcomes aggressive stereotypes, and how breakdancing can shine as an Olympic discipline

Words RACHAEL SIGEE Photography DAVID CLERIHEW

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Sunni

Sunni Brummitt has seen both sides of the coin when it comes to breakdancing, and when he says, “There are ups and downs, like any job,” he really means it. Sitting on a creaky office chair at the Centre Stage dance studio in Maryland, east London, he’s pointing out that this interview with The Red Bulletin is taking place in “the nice office”. It was in the other office, the one with the concrete floor, that he spent a year sleeping: “I woke up coughing every day.”

Just two years earlier, Sunni was a schoolboy breakdance wunderkind being invited to fly all over the world to compete at huge events. He was earning enough money to convince him to move to London on his own.

This was before the recession really hit, when street-dance troupe Diversity won Britain’s Got Talent and dancers were in demand.

Then the bubble burst. “I had a couple of years where I had to decide to either be broke and practise or not be broke and not practise,” he explains. “There wasn’t a healthy medium, not for the dance I wanted to do. I could teach, but I wanted to compete. I wanted to represent.”

Sunni is now 24 and only back for a flying visit – literally. He arrived at Gatwick this morning from the Netherlands where he now lives, and tomorrow he’s back on a plane for a week of bouncing between Holland, Austria and Slovakia. No longer sleeping on concrete floors, 32

he’s a world-famous champion B-Boy whose achievements include winning the Notorious IBE, Unbreakable and the UK B-Boy Championships two years running, as well as becoming the first Red Bull BC One All Star from the UK. It’s hard to believe that Sunni – lightly built, full of energy and, when we meet, digging into a tub of Haribo – has almost a decade of dance experience behind him. But he was catapulted to fame when he qualified for the 2011 UK B-Boy Championship World Finals at the age of 15. Happy just to be there and gain experience, he ended up beating superstar South Korean Hong 10 in the quarter-final. Looking back, he compares it to teenage sensation Cori Gauff beating Venus Williams at this year’s Wimbledon.

“It was exactly the same situation,” he says. “It’s still probably one of the most famous battles I’ve done. It went super viral in the B-Boy scene. It was a mad upset, because no one had represented England for about seven or eight years, then I beat a guy who was the favourite to win the whole event and I did it early in the competition. It was actually sad, because he’s my idol, everyone’s idol. The whole of London was screaming, and I was on stage, like, ‘Noooo, sorry, bro…’ I was kind of overwhelmed.”

It was a lot for a 15-year-old to handle, and when asked how he coped, he shrugs: “I didn’t, really.”

The industry wasn’t set up to be navigated by someone so young, and Sunni found himself stressed and under pressure, staying in anonymous hotel rooms in countries he never got to see; meanwhile, his mates back home were sailing through the usual rites of passage, such as throwing

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PREVIOUS PAGE: COAT & JEANS, DOLCE & GABBANA; SHOES, TIMBERLAND. THIS PAGE: T-SHIRT & TROUSERS, DOLCE & GABBANA; JACKET, DSQUARED

“You see where I’m coming from when I dance.

I don’t get angry much”

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house parties and trying to get into nightclubs. He ended up stopping dancing completely for a year to get “silly teenage stuff” out of his system.

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ut ultimately the scene drew him back in, and he had solid support from home. “My mum is mad supportive,” he says, getting his phone out to flick through pictures of them together.

“She is a proper hippy. When she was young, she went away for a gap year and then ended up doing circus for, like, eight years and came back with a kid: me. That kind of explains my mum. She’s crazy, man.”

Born in Malaysia, Sunni was four when he and his mum moved to the UK, specifically south-west England, the area she originated from. As the two of them moved around, living in parts of Devon, Stroud, Gloucester and Bristol, “super-hyper” Sunni filled his evenings with activities.

After becoming bored of football and climbing, he spent his spare time picking up other, more unusual skills thanks to his mum and her circus background. He went to his first breakdance class at the age of nine.

“I did acrobatics all the time with my mum,” Sunni says. “If I had nothing to do, I’d go to her circus base and chill with her and her friends – that was the norm. Looking back now, it was crazy, but I didn’t think twice about it then. I progressed quickly at breaking. I already knew how to use my bodyweight, because I’d been on my hands for, like, five years.”

Although he has danced in almost every context you could imagine, including two years at high-end London club Cirque le Soir (“They called us performance artists, but if I’m on the stage taking my stuff off and dancing, that’s a stripper”), it’s in battles that Sunni really thrives.

Whereas some dancers are known for their soulful performances or their strength, it’s Sunni’s dizzying head spins and creativity (he doesn’t employ any foundation moves) that make him stand out. He’s all about manipulating his body with almost unbelievable ease.

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“The sweetest people ever can breakdance for a year and it’s like they’ve turned into a gangster from the Bronx”

“I’m super skinny and super light.

When I hit the floor, I bounce. With my bodyweight, I fly. But I don’t like the gym. I hate that stuff, man.

I went to a fitness camp once, and there were these two dancers from Japan and Morocco who were really big. We were going around the apparatus, and one guy asked, ‘How many reps can you do on this machine?’ I was like, ‘I don’t even know what this thing does.’”

For Sunni, it’s about more than just showing up and doing the moves. “There’s a difference between being a good dancer and being a good competitive dancer,” he says.

“There are quite a lot of tactics, which no one really thinks about.

You’ve got three rounds, say, and this guy is better than you, but he goes

first. He does a crazy round, but it’s a minute and a half, then you come out and you do 20 seconds. Now you know his next two or three rounds are gonna be terrible because he’s got no recovery time.”

Now that Sunni is travelling to two or three countries a week for contests – judging and competing – and runs workshops, this psychology is something he’s trying to incorporate, and he dedicates time during his classes to talk about how to approach battles. Sunni’s own style is “quite transparent” rather than putting on an alter ego or persona. “People can see where I’m coming from when I’m dancing,” he says. “I don’t get angry much – I’m always smiling or laughing.”

But he knows there are a million ways to win a battle: “You can have one person who does a whole two minutes on their hands and whose feet will never touch the floor, and then there’ll be someone who has no physical strength but is really creative, innovative and charismatic.

You don’t know who will win until you see the battle. I don’t really know what position I’d have to be in to say to someone else, ‘You’re not a real B-Boy.’ If you think you’re a B-Boy, I think you’re a B-Boy. I don’t want to fight with anyone, let alone a breakdancer.”

Having spent seven years living in Newham, one of London’s most deprived boroughs, Sunni is unimpressed by faux-aggression and doesn’t have time for a lot of the stereotypes that come with being a B-Boy. “People have this big thing about what a real B-Boy should look like, and everyone seems to gravitate towards it, regardless of who they were before they started,” he says.

“It’s a little bit hood, a little bit disrespectful – doesn’t take no shit, doesn’t smile. It sends me crazy.

You get the sweetest people ever, people who are so cool, and then they breakdance for a year and turn into a gangster from the Bronx.

You’re like, ‘How did that happen?’”

Six months ago, Sunni moved to Hilversum, a city near Amsterdam, THE RED BULLETIN

TROUSERS, SANDRO; BELT, DOLCE & GABBANA; SHOES, JOSHUA; JACKET, VINTAGE

Sunni

Tactics are key to winning battles, says Sunni: “There’s a difference between being a good dancer and a good competitive dancer”

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STYLING: ADELE CANY. STYLING ASSISTANT: MORGAN HALL. GROOMING: SUSANA MOTA

“We‘re between two eras, between B-Boying being an art form and a pro sport“

Sunni

JACKET, G STAR; T-SHIRT, JEANS & BELT, DOLCE & GABBANA; SHOES, TIMBERLAND

“I’m super skinny and super light. With my bodyweight, I fly.

When I hit the floor, I bounce”

for a quieter life. “In London, I used to wake up to police sirens and go to sleep to police sirens,” he explains.

“Since I moved, I haven’t even seen a police car. It’s just fields and grass.

I feel like I’ve really calmed down now I’m not in crazy London.”

But while Sunni is chilled out, the breakdancing world is in flux, and he’s philosophical about where the discipline currently finds itself – on the cusp of being accepted as an Olympic sport at the 2024 Paris games. “Right now, we’re between two eras,” he says. “For the past 20 years, B-Boying has been subjective: you have three judges, and in the end THE RED BULLETIN

the panel will go this way or that way. But you can’t do that in the Olympics: you’ve got to have points and a breakdown. It’s got to be apparent for people to understand.

And you’ve got people from the old generation who say you can’t break down art. So we’re right in the middle, between it being an art form and a professional sport.”

Sunni is hoping that the Olympics debate will force divided B-Boy generations to come together.

“B-Boying should be really famous, but we just [hold] ourselves back all the time,” he says. “We have no infrastructure, we have no

committee, and there are these constant arguments between people from the old generation and the new generation. Skateboarding and B-Boying started out at similar times, but skateboarders got together and had a common goal, whereas we just can’t get on the same page.

“People say we’re losing the essence of the true B-Boy and of our culture, but I don’t think we’re losing it – I think it’s progressing. And if you love that real B-Boy culture, then instead of trying to stop the new stuff you should work on preserving the old stuff, too.”

Instagram: @sunnisoulmeezy 37

Singer Zara McFarlane has a master’s degree in jazz studies from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and met many of her collaborators at the Tomorrow’s Warriors education organisation

The new old It’s the music of modern London.

But this isn’t a rebirth, it’s a reclamation thanks to a cultural movement that has restored the spirit of the music: freedom, adaptation and inclusion Words LOU BOYD Photography NEIL MASSEY

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Joe Armon-Jones plays with Ezra Collective and Nubya Garcia, a saxophonist he met while studying at London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Opposite page: jazz pioneer Gary Crosby

Jazz

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ubya Garcia and Joe Armon-Jones are in the zone in front of hundreds of euphoric, dancing Londoners.

Garcia joins the dancing as she whoops along to Armon-Jones’ extended, improvisational piano solo – a mix of technical brilliance and style. The crowd bellow, clap and jump as she dives back into the tune with fire, powering out bars on the tenor saxophone with her signature energy and dexterity.

This gig is just one of hundreds performed in London this year by a group of musicians who are spearheading a new movement in UK jazz. For their part, all involved balk at talk of a rebirth. “Jazz never went away,” some of them say, “it’s just that you’re only being told about it now.” But jazz has taken over the capital’s live music scene in a big way. A few years ago, if you were walking down a dark back street, phone in hand, looking for the secret entrance to a railway arch or warehouse, the sounds leaking out would have been techno or house; nowadays you’re much more likely to be listening out for brass instruments, drums and a walking bassline.

This network of young jazz artists have another common link other than the style of music they play: Tomorrow’s Warriors, the non-profit organisation that has been instrumental in their success. Co-founded in 1991 by Gary Crosby – a member of ’80s collective Jazz Warriors – and then artist manager Janine Irons, Tomorrow’s Warriors provide young people from any economic background with a high level of musical training, free of charge, with a focus on BAME and female musicians. “There are many other institutions where young people can prepare to study music for higher education, like the Royal Academy of Music or the Junior Guildhall,” says award-winning musician and ex-Warrior Theon Cross, “but Tomorrow’s Warriors offer the training for free or virtually nothing. A lot of us owe thanks to Gary Crosby.”

“Gary has almost single-handedly changed jazz in London, just by giving us a platform” THE RED BULLETIN

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Jazz

“The fact that Tomorrow’s Warriors are open and free deletes the classism”

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rosby sits in a small, cluttered office in Harrow with Irons, managing director of Tomorrow’s Warriors. Contracts for gigs, music scores and lists of workshops are spread across the desk between them, indicating the huge number of lessons and opportunities that Tomorrow’s Warriors provide for young people on a regular basis. The two co-founders are recalling the birth of the organisation 28 years ago.

“The idea came to me really when I was visiting family in Jamaica,” says Crosby. “I had an epiphany after I was asked by a family member what I was doing in England. He didn’t seem to value what I said, and it made me realise that I wasn’t fully using my talents. There was a side of me that wanted to give something back.”

On returning to London, Crosby started a jam session at The Jazz Cafe in Camden Town for young people who loved jazz but lacked opportunities.

“I was at the point of leaving the Jazz Warriors, and I had the ear of the person who owned [The Jazz Cafe],” he says. “There were a lot of young kids who were living on council estates like I was and wanted to play jazz but couldn’t find the secret door. So I told [the Jazz Warriors] that I was going to set up a company that was focused on younger players who couldn’t get into the scene.”

The jam session grew, then moved to bigger venues and became masterclasses with older musicians such as Binker Golding, James McKay and Peter Edwards tutoring newcomers. By the time many of the biggest names in contemporary jazz walked through its doors as nervous teenagers, it had become a fully rounded educational organisation.

On a sweltering Saturday in June 2019, four of those former nervous teens stride onto the West Holts stage at Glastonbury Festival to be greeted by a massive, sprawling crowd of revellers basking in the sunshine.

Armon-Jones, brothers Femi and TJ Koleoso and James Mollison (trumpeter Dylan Jones is absent) 42

make up Ezra Collective, a band who are, in their own words, “pioneering the new wave of UK jazz music”. As the foursome launch into You Can’t Steal My Joy – a track that mixes jazz, hip hop, grime, afrobeat and reggae – members of the crowd throw their arms and flags into the air, bouncing from side to side with the same energy that can be seen at any of the festival’s pop-orientated stages.

Ezra Collective are becoming used to this level of frenzy at their shows. And not only have they built a reputation as one of the best party-starting acts on THE RED BULLETIN

the live music circuit, each member has other projects, too: Femi Koleoso has just toured with Jorja Smith; Jones has another band, Pyjaen; and Armon-Jones’ second solo album drops this month. What many in the crowd won’t know is that this group didn’t start out as a gang of mates playing in their bedrooms, or meet after years performing on the live scene; they began in an organised youth band at Tomorrow’s Warriors, receiving free tuition as students.

“Gary has almost single-handedly changed jazz in London, just by giving us a free platform,” says THE RED BULLETIN

Armon-Jones. “With a lot of schools and programmes, the people who do the best are the ones whose parents can afford to give them extra lessons outside of the classroom. The fact that what Tomorrow’s Warriors offer is open and free for everybody deletes the classism. If everyone is able to join, the people who do well are those with the best mindset and the best attitude.”

It’s a similar story across the board in the current UK jazz scene. MOBO Award-winning singer Zara McFarlane was at an open jam when Irons

Sounds good: (from left) Zara McFarlane jams with Kwake Bass and Wu-Lu at Hither Green Studios in south-east London

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Tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia is an alumnus of the prestigious Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich, London

Jazz

encouraged her to join the Warriors. Drummer Moses Boyd (who has just co-produced a track on Beyoncé’s Lion King soundtrack album) was a member, too.

Then there’s Nubya Garcia, Rosie Turton, Shabaka Hutchings, Theon Cross, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Cassie Kinoshi, Shirley Tetteh… the list goes on and on. If you’ve fallen in love with a UK jazz musician in 2019, you can bet they started out as a Warrior.

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iversity plays a central role in the story of this cultural shift. “We shouldn’t avoid one of the main reasons why we did this: we wanted to diversify music in this country,” says Crosby. “I remember one night – I must have been only 16 – at one of the real famous jazz clubs.

The wife of the guy who owned the place didn’t know me and said, ‘Do you really want to come in here?

Maybe you should go upstairs.’ Because that was where the funky music was. I could play jazz, I could read music like them, but I had to work my own way through.” Moments like this, along with a palpable lack of people of colour on stage at prestigious clubs and gigs, inspired Crosby and Irons to take action.

“It was really obvious: if you’ve got a group of people who are marginalised and don’t have any access to opportunity, they’ll be invisible,” says Irons. “We decided we were going to make a change, to ensure that all talent had a fair crack at success. We came up with a big masterplan of how we were going to change the world so they could succeed.”

Marian Wright Edelman, an American civil rights activist, famously said, “You cannot be what you cannot see,” meaning that people rely on what they can see in their cultural stories, in their leaders and role models, in order to recognise their own potential. This sentiment encapsulates the plan that Irons and Crosby put into action over the following three decades. “If you want to change who’s coming to see the gigs and picking up instruments, then they need to see themselves reflected on the stage,” says Irons. “We started a change by working with young musicians, getting them trained up and putting them out there. That was the strategy: train musicians, start touring them, put them forward for competitions. Get them winning awards. Create publicity and visibility.”

A decade ago, Nubya Garcia was just another teenager having her first Tomorrow’s Warriors experience. “Someone mentioned that there was an open masterclass, so me and Rosie [Turton] went down,” she says. “Gary was super welcoming and adamant that he wanted us to come back. He was very encouraged to see people like us. I remember it really clearly, meeting everyone like Sheila Maurice-Grey, Moses Boyd and Theon Cross.”

Garcia quickly became a key player in the Warriors, in its Female Frontline band, and also in another all-woman collective, Nérija. “It felt like [Tomorrow’s Warriors] were championing young black and ethnic minority creatives, championing women in jazz and music in general,” she explains.

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“We decided we were going to make sure all talent had a fair crack at success”

Top: Nubya Garcia’s frenetic live show at Cross The Tracks festival in Brixton’s Brockwell Park in June drew a big crowd.

Right: the weekly Steam Down jam at Matchstick Piehouse in Deptford has a loyal following

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Jazz

“Diversifying the scene – that was the real reason behind all of this”

“It was a safe space, like a youth club, where young people became very good friends and were all there for the same reason, wanting to learn as much as they could about a genre that people say is very hard to get into, very far away, very niche.” Garcia is now touring the world, playing huge gigs and winning awards, and she’s just one of a group of women of colour from the Warriors doing so. “Diversifying the scene,” says Crosby with a smile. “That was the real reason behind all of this.”

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heon Cross sits at a table in Buster Mantis in Deptford. The industrial-chic cocktail bar is located in railway arches just off Deptford High Street, an old-school London thoroughfare that hosts a traditional market and features a new gentrified development near the train station. Cross has just spent the afternoon at a photoshoot on the high street. Walking past the market with his tuba under his arm, then blasting out a few riffs on the pavement for passers-by, he seems entirely at ease with his brass instrument on the streets of south-east London. It’s hardly surprising: this is the area where Cross and many of his jazzplaying peers cut their teeth, and is also the location of one of the capital’s biggest jazz nights, Steam Down, where he regularly plays.

On stage, Cross brings a solid swagger to his instrument, creating fresh vibes in his tuba basslines with the suitable confidence of a person who, last year, was cited by the New York Times as a shining light of London jazz, and who is set to play a mammoth sell-out solo show this month at famous east London venue Village Underground. Sitting in the bar now, though, he’s modest and self-effacing as he contemplates the sounds of the diaspora that the Warriors have injected into UK jazz.

“You meet people from all types of backgrounds,” he says, “which is particularly significant in our music because of the city’s multiculturalism and the differences that have been brought over from former 46

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Trumpeter and singer Sheila Maurice-Grey (opposite) formed the afrobeat collective Kokoroko at college with the likes of (this page, from right) Yohan Kebede, Onome Ighamre and Mutale Chashi

Takin’ it to the streets: Theon Cross totes his tuba in Deptford

Jazz

Trumpeter Dylan Jones plays with his band Pyjaen at Corsica Studios in Elephant and Castle

“We all trained in and studied American forms of jazz”

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colonies. Femi [Koleoso] and Ezra Collective bring a Nigerian element; there’s more of a Caribbean style to Sons of Kemet [Theon’s own group featuring Shabaka Hutchings, another famous Warriors export]; and Sheila [Maurice-Grey] and Kokoroko have another type of African element that’s Ghanaian. I’m only a second-generation immigrant, but many of the others are first generation. It’s fresh; we’re still very connected musically to ex-colonies, and that influence is coming through more in our improvisational styles. We’ve created our own style that people are getting behind and championing.”

These sounds of the diaspora are bringing a lot of attention to this group of musicians, but less is said about the years of traditional jazz training, scales, standards and theory that now form the backbone of their music. “That’s what the Warriors provided: a space for us to really train and weight-lift, to ‘get our chops together’ as musicians say,” explains Cross Jazz reborn: The crowd get lively to the Steam Down collective at Cross The Tracks festival.

Opposite page: Gary Crosby tutors the next generation at the Southbank Centre

with a grin, leaning forward in his chair. “You see, we all trained in and studied American forms of jazz and we’re not trying to get too far away from that tradition. That’s very much down to having the home that Gary and Janine made – it enabled us to do the work in our teenage years. When it was time and people started looking for us to record or to play our music, in our twenties, we were wellrounded and versed in all different types of styles.”

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o say that members of Tomorrow’s Warriors are the sole innovators pushing this jazz revival would be misleading; over the past few years, a number of individuals and organisations have added their own contribution to the pot. The Warriors have had the biggest influence in bringing about this new generation of musicians, but collectives like the hugely popular Steam Down – run by multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Ahnansé – and regular jams such as Good Evening have brought the music to the city’s social spaces.

While Tomorrow’s Warriors have been focusing on giving breaks to young jazz musicians, members of another organisation, Jazz Re:freshed, have been concentrating on bringing the music to the public.

Founded by Adam Moses and Justin McKenzie in 2003, Jazz Re:freshed is a movement and record label that has worked for the past 16 years to challenge the perceptions of the genre and ‘refresh’ it for a new audience, with both founders bringing their experience from hip-hop culture to the job.

Playing Jazz Re:freshed’s regular slot at Mau Mau Bar in west London is a rite of passage and, over the years, Moses and McKenzie have seen every young jazz musician in London pass through their doors.

“Before this generation of musicians, the players didn’t have the kind of connection to each other or the kind of community they have now,” says Moses.

“Having these young people grow up together has been an important part of why we’re seeing this interconnected movement; it’s because they’re friends and consider each other as family.”

The organisation acts as a promoter for many of the Warriors, so Moses has a unique, front-row perspective of the changing live jazz scene. “There’s a correlation between black-led bands and more diverse audiences,” he says. “The new injection of youth culture [in jazz] has created a path that wasn’t there before, and it has established a new audience. So when we put on a night with a blackled band, you know that the audience will probably be slightly more diverse.”

Crucially, Jazz Re:freshed and Tomorrow’s Warriors are both reliant on funding to support their work.

“Recognition is one thing, but for organisations like ours and Tomorrow’s Warriors, funding is a major consideration,” says Moses. “The reality is that sometimes we’re working month-to-month in planning what we can continue to do.” Arts Council England was forced to cut its budget for 2018 to 2022

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Jazz

Gary Crosby plays regularly at London’s Southbank Centre

by £156m, meaning most funding in London has been frozen for the past few years, irrespective of running costs. This is a problem that Tomorrow’s Warriors are currently tackling; their funding ended in 2018 and the organisation has spent the past eight months trying to raise enough money to keep its doors open and its services free for members.

“Compared with the huge amount of work that Tomorrow’s Warriors do, and the impact they have had, their funding is not even close to 20 per cent of what they need,” says Moses. “Our organisations, our arts and our circle have always been underfunded. At a certain level, you have to be able to hustle your way through life, and you need to create things for yourself. Tomorrow’s Warriors are amazing at creating opportunities, just being able to do what they have to. It’s a huge testament to them, how they have managed to keep going for so long and make such a massive impact.”

At the time of The Red Bulletin going to print, the Warriors are a month away from their funding cut-off date and around £15,000 shy of their total.

“We’re looking to the future – that’s why we’re called Tomorrow’s Warriors,” says Irons. “That’s the thing about ‘Warriors’ and what that word conjures up. It’s strength, resilience, a willingness to fight for what you want.”

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“The new injection of youth culture has created a path that wasn’t there before, and has established a new audience” THE RED BULLETIN

hether it’s grime-infused tuba lines, afrobeat horns or a room of young people jumping around to a remixed Art Blakey track at 4am, jazz is the sound of the city in 2019. Go to any of the gigs and you’re sure to see recognisable jazz acts in the audience, lending their support. This is a community of mates making music not only for crowds to dance to, but for each other, too. One person you’re less likely to see at these late-night shows, however, is Gary Crosby.

“Nubya’s music, Theon’s music… I don’t really listen to it, it’s not for me,” he says, laughing. “I’m 64 and it’s not my generation! But I don’t give a damn what they play; it’s nothing to do with me. I’m just glad to see they’ve built a career. Actually, I do like some of it… for a bit.”

Instead, you’ll see Crosby bright and early at the Southbank Centre every week, teaching the next group of teenagers who will soon be chasing this generation’s heels; encouraging and empowering young musicians as he has for almost 30 years.

Tomorrow’s Warriors continue to teach the skills young people can use to help them practise, experiment and find their own place in UK jazz.

“All I keep saying to them is: modern styles of music come and go, but if you want longevity as a career musician, you have to learn the basics,” he says. “Learn the blues, because they will allow you to play anywhere. But really that’s not what matters. I believe that the key is expressing to young musicians that this is not just an art form. It’s actually a job. It’s a duty to your community.” tomorrowswarriors.org; jazzrefreshed.com 51

The Gehrigs ride beneath the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran. “The most impressive experience for us wasn’t the mountains or the trails that no woman had probably ridden before us, but the contact we made with the locals,” says Caro. “We can book a flight anywhere any time, but people in strictly monitored countries don’t have that opportunity.

Take advantage of your freedom.”

Freedom riders

Enduro pros Anita and Caro Gehrig took a grand expedition to Iran – an adventure that dished out sweet riding, spectacular scenery, and intense cultural discovery about the life of Iranian women, all captured in a short documentary film Words WERNER JESSNER Photography SIMON RICKLIN

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Freeride Iran

In online searches, the sisters had found what looked like a path to a cemetery near the Turkmenistan border. They weren’t certain what they saw on their screens would turn out to be a trail, but it was real.

“It was one of the most spectacular downhills of the whole trip,” says Caro.

“You see things on Instagram, but nothing beats doing them yourself,” says Caro (pictured right, with her sister Anita). “That’s even more the case in Iran.

Only once you’re there do the questions that need answering occur to you.”

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nown as the Double Trouble Twins, Swiss enduro pros Caro and Anita Gehrig, 32, have ridden bikes all over the planet – but nothing quite like their 2018 visit to Iran. The trip yielded spectacular riding and cultural discovery, as well as a thought-provoking 25-minute documentary, Free Riding Iran.

“Iran turns everything you think you know from the news on its head,” says Caro. “People say the country is strictly Muslim, [but] we saw women in T-shirts, and youngsters offered us home brew in broad daylight. Iran isn’t just black and white – there’s every shade in between.” In particular, the sisters were moved by their rides with local women. “They need permission from their parents or husband to travel,” Caro says. “If a girl rides a bike, it’s an act of rebellion, their chance to be out in the open, unmonitored and independent.

Bikes are freedom machines.

“We still get messages from women we went biking with for a day. ‘Finally there’s someone who understands us,’ they write. That brings us to tears.”

You can find and stream Free Riding Iran on Vimeo, or at freeridingiran.com

Tehran Palangan

Khalid Nabi Gorgan Damavand

Shiraz

Iran

The Gehrigs’ 4,500km journey began and ended in Tehran

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Freeride Iran

The Gehrig sisters ride down steps in Palangan, a village in Kordestan Province, near the border with Iraq.

“People were delighted to meet women from overseas,” says Caro.

“The further we got from big cities, the less Iran corresponded to the clichés we’re given by the media.”

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Freeride Iran

Mules carry the team’s bikes toward a wind gap on Mount Damavand. When the Gehrigs meet hikers along such trails, they don’t get asked for their names or directions, but for their Instagram handles. Facebook is blocked in Iran, so Instagram is the only virtual gateway to the wider world. (The sisters are at @caro_gehrig and @anitagehrig.)

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Freeride Iran

Centuries-old paths that connect remote mountain villages – dry singletrack, essentially – are ideal for this adventure.

“If people and beasts of burden travel on them,” says Caro, “enduro bikes will always find a way through, too.”

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There’s only one bike park in all of Iran. Located near Tehran, it’s a popular spot for local riders, who build trails and jumps and ride the terrain just like mountain bikers anywhere else in the world.

On their trip, the Gehrigs are able to hand Faranak Partoazar, Iran’s national cross-country champion, an invitation to compete in a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event in Switzerland.

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The shark saviour

When Madison Stewart was young, her favourite animals began disappearing from the ocean – now she’s working with shark fishermen to help bring them back

PERRIN JAMES

Words LOU BOYD

Don’t order the shark fin soup: Australian conservationist Madison Stewart has turned the fishermen who hunt for sharks into tour guides aiding the fightback against the animals’ extinction

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Madison Stewart

“I saw a species for the first time that I always wanted to swim with, dead on the market floor.

It hit me really hard”

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veryone has a place where they feel most at home.

For some of us, it’s a house; for others, it’s a certain town or country. For Australian conservationist Madison Stewart, it’s underwater – when she’s swimming with sharks. “I don’t remember falling in love with the ocean,” she says. “I can’t really remember back to a time when I didn’t appreciate the freedom of being under the waves, swimming with these amazing animals.”

Stewart was always destined to feel comfortable under the sea. The 25-yearold was brought up by free-spirited parents – she describes them as a hippy and a pirate – who encouraged her to explore the natural world from a young age. “I originally wanted to be a marine biologist,” she says. “My dad got me into diving when I was really young; it was something I used to do with him. He pulled me out of school to be tutored at home, so we got to dive together more.

I fell in love with sharks at the same time that I started to see them disappear.”

Shark fishing is an environmental problem that has grown massively over the past few decades, with many marine conservationists predicting the loss of many species in the next 30 years unless changes are made. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, almost 40 species of shark are currently in danger due to overfishing, with one in four at risk of extinction. While sharks continue to be vilified in the mainstream

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media as man-eating monsters, the truth is that as many as 100 million of the creatures are killed by humans every year – either in fisheries, as ‘bycatch’ (the name given to anything caught by accident during fishing for other species), or by being illegally captured and stripped of their fins before being thrown back into the water to die.

Although several countries – and several states in the US – have prohibited the possession or sale of shark, China and Vietnam still sell a large amount of shark fin soup and shark meat in their markets and restaurants. Stewart has been fighting this. “I’m such a monster now, I’m desensitised to it,” she says with a dark laugh. “The first couple of times I saw a dead shark I cried, but now I’m just numbed. Recently, though, I saw a species for the first time that I always wanted to swim with, dead on the market floor. It hit me really hard.

Every now and again, there will be something that shows up in a fishery that’s really rare, or really old, or something I’ve only ever seen in a book.

My first experience of that animal will be seeing its body.”

After years of activism and advocacy, Stewart has now adopted new methods in her battle against shark fishing.

Created three years ago, her company Project Hiu (Hiu is Indonesian for shark) is fighting the trade by working with local fishermen, rather than against them, in a small village just off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia. “That specific THE RED BULLETIN

The tragedy of shark fishing was laid bare for Madison Stewart when she visited a village in Lombok, Indonesia, where huge numbers of the animals are killed

KARINA HOLDEN

island is the target of a lot of attention and hate from conservationists, because it’s so easy to film dead sharks there, and what’s happening is graphic,” she explains. “I got to the point where I was sick of going back and not doing anything about it, just taking my photos and leaving. So I decided to try to make a difference.”

Stewart returned to the village with a group of friends and befriended a shark fisherman named Odi. “The very next day, we were on his boat snorkelling and finding out how amazing the local area was,” she says. “[Odi] told us how little he was paid for fishing, and how he had to leave his family for days on end to go out and find catch to bring in some income.

I thought, ‘What if we could replace the THE RED BULLETIN

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earnings of these fishermen with tourism?’ That was the seed that birthed Project Hiu.” The shark-fishing industry in Indonesia has supported many families for generations, and a large number of people on Lombok rely entirely on the money it brings in. Project Hiu revolves around a simple idea: to replace the trade instead of ending it, and to provide alternative sources of income to those working in the industry. “The mentality we’re enforcing is not only directed at fishermen – with regard to presenting them with a sustainable alternative option – but at other conservationists, too,” says Stewart. “We’re showing the need for understanding; that people don’t always kill sharks because they hate them, but sometimes out of necessity, for survival.”

The project is advertised to tourists, and locals are enlisted to give guided tours to groups of 10 in three or four shark-fishing boats at a time. “By employing shark fishermen to engage in these tourist activities, we stop those boats from going fishing, effectively protecting sharks,” Stewart explains.

“Project Hiu is founded on the belief that the solution to this problem lies with the very men who have been raised to kill the sharks.”

The impact of Project Hiu on the wider shark trade has been minimal, and Stewart is a lone voice in a seemingly never-ending fight, but she hopes her idea could be replicated in other countries. “I’m working directly with community leaders and aiming to inject more money [collected from visitors to Lombok] into the school system,” she explains. “For me, the biggest success of the past few years has been the large number of people who have signed up for the trips, and the way that has been embraced by the locals. People can come and see this with their own eyes, see the dead sharks, and then get on a boat the next day knowing they’re saving them. Everyone who has been on a trip has left super passionate and inspired to do more.”

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rom embarking on diving trips with her dad in the pristine ocean around the Great Barrier Reef to leading a high-profile activist organisation, Stewart has come a long way in her field of expertise over the past nine 66

“By employing shark fishermen in tourist activities, we stop those boats from going fishing, effectively protecting sharks”

PERRIN JAMES

Madison Stewart

Chew on the truth: you’re much more likely to be killed by a lightning strike than be bitten by a shark

Madison Stewart

The real Jaws: Stewart also makes films to highlight the plight of endangered sharks

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“I knew I wasn‘t going to stop any fisheries, but I still fought on principle”

you can fight the shark trade just by being a consumer who questions things and doesn’t buy into anything that affects the ocean negatively.”

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ith so much to fight against, the mission to save the ocean and its inhabitants can sometimes seem endless and futile. Can we actually make a difference in time to turn the tide? “Honestly, I don’t know,” says Stewart. “It seems that the more good people there are in the world who are learning and changing, the more industries there are trying to do the opposite. What I definitely do know is, that doesn’t matter. When I was young, I knew that I wasn’t going to stop any shark fisheries, but I still fought on principle. Is there hope? I don’t know.

But, like I say, that doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t influence how we act. I just think that if you’re not doing something to fight these problems, you don’t really belong on this planet.” projecthiu.com THE RED BULLETIN

PERRIN JAMES, KARINA HOLDEN

years. “If I had my way, I would have kept my underwater world a secret,” she says. “But industry and governments have created a void between the ocean and humans, and they’re using that space to take what they want and destroy it. I have to do something.”

Taking decisive action to protect sharks and other marine life doesn’t have to be so literal, however, and Stewart believes that people can make a big difference without even travelling to the coast. “I think that people look at my Instagram sometimes and think, ‘I’ve got to swim with sharks to save them,’” says Stewart. “But the ocean is being affected by literally everybody, even people living in central areas with absolutely no ocean close by.

“There’s shark liver oil in supplements available at the chemist, and you can buy shark bones. There are sharks being sold as pet treats, and there’s shark liver oil in make-up.

Also, shark fin soup is still being sold throughout the world in many different Chinatowns. What I’m saying is that

THE RED BULLETIN PROMOTION

THAILAND TOURISM

AUTHENTIC ADVENTURE Get off the beaten track with a sustainable journey into Thailand

LUKE JACKSON-CLARK

O

ne of the most picturesque places in the world, Thailand offers a huge abundance of experiences to discover – its ancient cities, paddy fields, secret enclosed beaches and famous cuisine entice thousands of tourists every year. While the traditional route around the ‘Land of Smiles’ holds its own riches, the only way to fully understand this country is to throw yourself into its wild spaces and way of life. With this in mind, G Adventures has worked with local communities to create a truly authentic, sustainable and adventurous way to visit the country. With a focus on getting your body moving, your adrenalin up and your mind broadened, the Thailand Hike, Bike & Kayak trip explores the less-trodden side of this beautiful country, showcasing the best local and ecological tourism experiences that Thailand has to offer.

This is a trip for the adventurous among us. Travellers will cycle past limestone hills, ancient ruins and lush landscapes, get their legs pumping on a threeday hilltribe trek in the north, and experience local cultures and traditions through a unique homestay with a local family.

Flying down south for a few days to one of the hidden gems of Thailand, Laem Sak, guests will also spend time with the community who have developed off-the-beaten-path activities based on their local cultures and the region’s unique natural sites.

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Destination Laem Sak: the sea-kayaking adventure is run by Laem Sak Tourism Community Enterprise, which is one of G Adventures’ Planeterra projects

Keeping travel and tourism sustainable is increasingly important, and G Adventures has worked to create adventures that benefit the local population as much as those visiting each destination. One of these Planeterra projects is Laem Sak Tourism Community Enterprise, which benefits 450 community members. Just by visiting, guests

help to support local businesses and the local community. Spend a full day kayaking through waterways and mangroves among limestone karst towers, paddle to ancient caves to view prehistoric paintings, and join the local seagrape farmers as they plant and harvest. This is no usual holiday, it’s a genuine adventure.

Fancy experiencing this incredible trip for yourself?

Enter for your chance to win the Thailand Hike, Bike & Kayak adventure with G Adventures, including flights*. The competition ends on September 30, 2019. gadventures.co.uk/ thailandcompetition *Terms and conditions apply

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The Urbanites Photography ALEXANDER BEER

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Monday to Friday, they sit at their desks, but at weekends they go into the wild without changing their wardrobe. Urbanites want sustainable and stylish clothes that make them stand out. Here’s how to join the movement

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Styling: KIERON WATTS Hair and make-up: CHANTELLE PHILLIPS Parkour athletes: ASHLEY HOLLAND, JENNIFER WILSON THE RED BULLETIN

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SIX PACK Mk 10 5000 LUMENS HANDLEBAR MOUNTED AXIS Mk 7 1150 LUMENS HELMET MOUNTED

guide Get it. Do it. See it.

THOMAS WIELECKI

TRUE GRIT

The inside track on all 325km of the World Rally Championship’s dirtstreaked Australian finale PAGE 80

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GUI D E

Do it

In 2018, Andreas Mikkelsen lost a lot of time in Australia due to a near-crash with a tractor gone astray

RALLY AUSTRALIA

DEEP DOWN UNDER AND DIRTY Australia holds plenty of gravel-covered thrills for World Rally Championship fans and drivers alike. Florian Obkircher buckles up to tackle one messy off-road drive

T

here are birds tweeting, insects buzzing and wind rustling in the trees. It’s the perfect illustration of morning serenity. A dozen or so early risers have taken up position on camping chairs along Rhones Creek Road, a gravel path hewn

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through sumptuous green hills.

The spectators leap to their feet when a dull rumble becomes audible in the distance and, running to the side of the road, their cameras and smartphones are at the ready. The rumble crescendos into a roar. A car

Florian Obkircher with professional rally driver Brendan Reeves

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Australia

TRAVEL TIPS

AUSTRALIA’S RALLYING CALL

Rally Australia drivers cover 325km in 25 stages over four days. Here’s where to get the best view, and what to do away from the event…

Australia The Eastern Dorrigo Way gives amateur rally drivers a taste of the gravelly action

Coffs Harbour Canberra

Sydney

The rally is held in the Australian spring, which usually brings warm, sunny days with temperatures of around 25°C. Evenings are cooler, but still mild.

THE VIEW The best places along the course to get as close to the cars as possible:

THOMAS WIELECKI

Dust to dust: spectators brave the clouds of dirt to get close to the cars

shoots round the bend between the trees – 380bhp at 160kph.

Pieces of gravel hurtle through the air as the car slides into the straight. There’s a moment of fear.

Is he going to make it? Is he going to mow down the barrier with the back of the car? Ooh! He just gets away with it. And then everything goes brown. There’s dirt in everyone’s eyes, nose and mouth.

The thick dust cloud churned up by Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC hangs in the air for about 10 seconds. By the time it disperses, the Belgian has long disappeared over the hill.

Rally Australia, in November, is one of the highlights of the WRC calendar. It’s the last rally

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“It starts being fun when you can slip and slide without losing control” of the season, so this is where the new champion is crowned – and the backdrop, close to the New South Wales city of Coffs Harbour, is as grandiose as it is dangerous.

Toyota driver Kris Meeke explains that not all the hazards are on the track: “When you go out for the recce and you need to go for a pee, you better stamp the grass a bit before you expose anything!”

FLOODED GUMS Deep inside Wedding Bells State Forest, you’ll get to see the cars at top speed.

SIMPSONS RIDGE The cars whizz past you twice here. It’s ideal for families as there are snack booths and portaloos.

BLUEBERRY POINT Two observation points in one: the cars roar up the hill and then down towards the creek.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE How WRC fans get into the rallying groove in Coffs Harbour: AUSTRALIAN RALLY MUSEUM A mobile exhibition of Aussie motoring memorabilia stretching back 60 years, as selected by founder and walking rally encyclopaedia Trevor Shelton.

RALEIGH INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY The professionals use this track 15 minutes south of Coffs Harbour during Rally Australia. It can be hired for drifting sessions and much more.

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Do it

Australia

FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS, PLEASE!

UNLEASH YOUR INNER RALLY DRIVER Ever felt like putting your driving skills to the test away from public roads? This is how you learn to drift and turn your car into a racing machine…

DRIFTING MADE EASY TAKE EVERY BEND LIKE A PRO:

The Aussies can only watch as New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon finishes second in 2018

4 1 1 Steer gently into the curve with your foot down light on the accelerator and get the rear of the car moving.

2 Counter-steer quickly and slow down. The engine braking effect will make the rear so light it swerves.

3 Now steer with your foot on the accelerator. But be careful: if you give it too much gas, the rear will get away from you.

4 Take your foot off the gas to reel your rear back in and gently re-steer.

PREPARE FOR ACTION Three tips from Australia’s Hyundai design team on how to get your car – and yourself – up to speed: 1. TYRES Andrew Tuitahi: “I recommend R-compound or semi-slick tyres to amateur racing drivers – especially in dry conditions when they’ll give you top performance and last for a long time without overheating.”

2. BRAKE PADS Geoff Fear: “Buy yourself better brake pads, rather than investing in new brakes. I recommend Winmax from Japan. As for which ones to get, the higher the temperature range, the better.”

3. SELF-IMPROVEMENT Tim Rodgers: “Upgrading your suspension can be very expensive. My tip would be not to throw your money away on cheap modifications. Instead, upgrade your skills – learn more about your car as it is.”

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The gravel tracks that take you through rainforest and the Outback are among the quickest in the world. It’s spectacular to see the professional rally drivers hurtling through unpaved roads from very close range: feeling your nerves jangle as the cars hurtle towards you, and the gust of air as they rush by just metres away; seeing the waves of mud the height of a man when the cars thunder through puddles. There are plenty of vantage points close to the action (see previous page) but some of them aren’t easy to reach. So, to be sure of a view, book a spectator tour through the likes of rallysportmag.com. Or the more adventurous among you can ask helpful locals for directions.

After three days as a spectator, you’ll be hooked and will want to give it a go yourself. The bad news is that most of the 25 stages are closed as soon as the rally passes through. The good news is that 45 minutes to the west of Coffs Harbour is a 12km section of gravel track where you can test your rally skills. In 2011, this mountainous rainforest route between Eastern Dorrigo Way and Coramba Road formed part of the fourth stage of Rally Australia,

and was won by Norway’s Petter Solberg in a Citroën.

So, how to tackle the gravel?

We asked Philip Rodgers, a former Asia-Pacific Rally Championship participant and now a suspensiontuning expert for Hyundai.

“Driving on gravel is routine in Australia; 58 per cent of our roads are gravel and dirt,” he says. “It’s a bit like skiing. It starts being fun when you can start slipping and sliding without losing control.”

Rodgers says it’s essential to evaluate the surface – red soil is super slippery – and to have sufficient visibility. The main dangers are potholes, rocks… and kangaroos. To make up ground on tracks like these, the professionals make the car unstable and get the rear to slide so that the front of the car is facing the straight even before they’re out of the bend.

That way, they can get their foot down again as quickly as possible, But amateurs take note, warns Rodgers: “You can’t be a rally driver on a public road. This, however, is a great spot to get a sense of the fun that professional rally drivers have on the dirt.”

Rally Australia, November 14–17, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales; rallyaustralia.com.au

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FLORIAN OBKIRCHER

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THOMAS WIELECKI

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GUI D E

Do it

Gaming a bit. I sometimes create a Sim that best reflects me, then I take care of her and play out a life that makes me happy, and somehow it helps a lot.”

Living in Sim: players explore their own identity through the game

THE SIMS

CHARACTER BUILDING For its devotees, The Sims is not just a video game, but a space in which to find solace and strategies that enhance their real lives

ELECTRONIC ARTS

MATT RAY

I

n The Sims 4, you can road test any kind of life you like, giving your character personality traits and idiosyncrasies that simply aren’t available in other video games. The Sims was originally devised and created

by Will Wright, co-founder of the game company Maxis. He incorporated Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into the game, meaning that taking your character to see an art gallery won’t make them happy if they haven’t eaten for two days.

Beyond that, Wright realised that people were beginning to use the game as a safe space to question past experiences, or explore real-life scenarios that seem taboo or out of reach. It’s clear that Wright has greater EQ than most tech bros, which has led to The Sims building a reputation as an inclusive space where players can try on different skins and see how they fit, without facing judgemental comments on their choice of hat – or their gender, for that matter.

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EXPERT PROFILE WILL WRIGHT CREATOR, THE SIMS Through the success of the Sims series, Wright proved his initial doubters wrong, some of whom derided the game as an “interactive dolls’ house”. The latest version, The Sims 4, was the world’s bestselling PC game in both 2014 and 2015.

FROM A TO B The life (or death) of each character in The Sims is determined by a player’s decisions – but, because there’s no real way to ‘lose’, the player is more willing to try different approaches, A/B testing their way through the game. Being coded to real-world psychological insights, The Sims can give players confidence in real life, too. Take the experience of Bianca (@BeeSimsFanatic): “Sims is a comfort to me.

Whenever I feel sad or there’s something going on in my life, I play Sims

DIVERSE UNIVERSE Video games are usually proscriptive – the only options are those the game designers present.

But The Sims enables players to really express themselves. Brooke (@blazdndc0nfusd), who identifies as queer, says, “I’ll never forget when The Sims came out with gender-dressing choices as an option. I felt like I could never make myself into a Sim, because I wear more masculine clothes and dress androgynously a lot of the time. But I’m still femme, so when I was able to combine them to create something that looked like me, it felt so validating.”

CREATIVE ESCAPISM In The Sims, players don’t only create characters; building and outfitting a place to live is equally important. Whole communities have been created around the finer points of interior design, whereas in the real world the barriers to becoming an architect are high. @NelsBuilds says the game even helped her to build bridges with her family. “The Sims has been my creative outlet for almost 20 years,” she says. “It’s helped me to connect more with my architect father. Before my mum died, I could share my stories with her.

The game gives me the inspiration to push my creativity. It’s my home.”

LGBT LIBERATION In the real world, genuine self-expression can be daunting, which is why the non-judgemental space that The Sims provides can be a lifeline for LGBT people such as @enza_fiorentino. “When I wasn’t accepted as trans by my parents,” she says, “I created myself in

the game, hoping that one day I would become my Sim. Today I can say that I am – always.”

VIRTUAL HEADSPACE For many players, the game offers a route to resetting negative patterns of thought and aiding mental health. @LucyBGaming has a history of depression, suffering what she calls “moments” that last for days. “I don’t like being touched or talked to,” she says. “I can’t concentrate and I feel exhausted and stressed. Simple tasks like showering, getting dressed and going outside are a lot harder and not really an option.

Using The Sims, I can distract myself from my own head by focusing on other [pixelated] people’s lives. I build houses, start families, become a supervillain… I wear my brain out and have a good chance of waking up feeling OK the next day, instead of dragging it out and ending up in places I promised myself I would never go again.”

FERTILE IMAGINATIONS Life can throw us a curveball at any time, sometimes leaving a healthy body struggling with disease and disability. The Sims doesn’t care if you can run 100m in 10 seconds or are in a wheelchair; it’s your imagination that counts. This offers hope to people in dark places, such as @Pamtastic721, who, after a two-year battle with cancer and facing another round of chemotherapy treatment, began playing The Sims at the age of 47. “I was in control of something at last,” she says. “I had a world with no cancer, I had a world that operated how I wanted it to – and it was everything to me.

To this day, it is my go-to anti-anxiety medication.”

She’s now a dedicated Simmer and celebrated five years cancer-free in March this year.

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GUI D E

Do it

September / October

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20

September to 1 January The Warehouse Project: Welcome to the Depot

September to 2 November

Nina Kraviz is set to play the Depot

RUGBY WORLD CUP

It’s fitting that the first Asian nation to host rugby union’s biggest tournament is also the home of sumo – another sport filled with gargantuan men slamming into each other. Across six weeks, the greatest rugby nations will battle it out from the city of Sapporo in the far north all the way to Kumamoto in the south. As usual, the All Blacks are favourites (having won three of the eight previous trophies), but England’s recent form puts them a close second. The host nation only joined World Rugby in 1987, but, wherever they finish, this tournament announces them as a major presence in the sport.

9

Across Japan; rugbyworldcup.com

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to 12 October Boiler Room Festival In 2010, a handful of friends threw a party with some DJs in an east London boiler room. They filmed it and streamed it online. Today, Boiler Room is a world-renowned platform for underground DJs, filming sets at festivals and clubs around the globe. This October, the BR crew’s own inaugural festival showcases London’s most vital emerging artists and collectives.

In true BR style, it will all be broadcast live. Copeland Park, London; festival.boilerroom.tv

10

September to 25 October Ocean Film Festival “How inappropriate to call this planet ‘Earth’ when clearly it is ocean,” said science-fiction writer Arthur C Clarke. He would have approved of this celebration of the waters that cover 71 per cent of our world – a cinematic showcase featuring stunning surf footage, deep-sea docs, tributes to the force of the sea, and examinations of its fragility at the hands of humanity. Across UK; oceanfilmfestival.co.uk

4

October to 19 January Into the Night: Cabarets & Clubs in Modern Art Seedy, spectacular, lavish, liberating: nightclubs can be all these things, capturing a time and place. This exhibition explores their history since the 1880s through photos, flyers and film from the likes of Weimar-era Berlin, Harlem’s speakeasies, disco temple Studio 54 and the Tehran underground. Barbican, London; barbican.org.uk

THE RED BULLETIN

GETTY IMAGES, DAVID SEXTON/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

New Zealand beat Australia in 2015

Next to Manchester’s Piccadilly Station, a large railway depot lay abandoned for almost 60 years.

Now, the building is about to start a new life as a multifaceted venue called the Depot. Famed city dance-music promoter The Warehouse Project recently announced that the 10,000-capacity space will be the new home of its 2019 programme, hosting a stellar line-up including Underworld, Nina Kraviz, Skepta, Four Tet and The Black Madonna.

On the opening night (September 20), Aphex Twin performs alongside some of his favourite artists, including Rian Treanor and ZULI. Depot, Mayfield, Manchester; thewarehouseproject.com

See it

September / October Shane McElrath (left) won last year’s Red Bull Straight Rhythm

CHRIS TEDESCO/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, RYAN MILLER/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, JORDAN BUTTERS/DMEC/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

GONNA RIDE LIKE THE WIND

Classic motorbike racing on the west coast of the USA, aerial surfing above the waves of southwestern France, and thrilling drifting in Ireland – just some of the highlights showing on Red Bull TV this month…

5

October LIVE

RED BULL STRAIGHT RHYTHM

The sixth edition of this retro-inspired motorbike racing event returns to the Fairplex track in Pomona, California.

Watch in awe as riders race head-to-head along a half-mile straight track on old-school bikes powered by two-stroke engines. The format is best-of-three, meaning each competitor gets at least two chances to grab victory.

3

October LIVE

RED BULL AIRBORNE FRANCE

WATCH RED BULL TV ANYWHERE

Red Bull TV is a global digital entertainment destination featuring programming that is beyond the ordinary and is available anytime, anywhere.

Go online at redbull.tv, download the app, or connect via your Smart TV. To find out more, visit redbull.tv

THE RED BULLETIN

Red Bull Airborne signs off its debut season among the breaks of Hossegor, France. You won’t want to miss a moment of aerial surfing action as the first champion of this three-stop series is crowned.

21

to 22 September LIVE

DRIFT MASTERS IRELAND Ireland’s biggest motorsports venue plays host to the Drift Masters European Championship 2019 season finale. Irish drivers have dominated pro drifting in recent years – will another country in the European grid end their 16-year undefeated streak?

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Destination Innsbruck

TVB INNSBRUCK/KLAUS POLZER

STUART KENNY

One beautiful Alpine town combines the best action of both city and slopes. And there’s an easy way to explore it all

High society: freeriding the Nordkette with the streets of Innsbruck far below

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T

he second you touch down at Innsbruck Airport, you know you’re onto a winner. Step off the plane and you find yourself surrounded by the Austrian Alps on every side. Front and back. Left, right and centre. Innsbruck is the quintessential mountain city – a real Mecca for winter sports and a gathering spot for seasonaires, students and those looking for the best of the city and mountain life in one stunning package. Innsbruck has it all.

You can get from the centre of town to the summit of the Nordkette within half an hour. A mere 45-minute drive will take you to the lift for the freeriding haven of Stubai Glacier, the biggest glacial snowsports destination in Austria. Some of the best winter resorts in the country, catering to every level of ability, are on your doorstep, one free bus ride away.

The SKI plus CITY pass gives you access to 13 separate ski areas in the Stubai Valley and Innsbruck region, as well as free transport to resorts, and tickets to 22 of the best attractions in Innsbruck – from the Imperial Palace, Ambras Castle or 16th-century Golden Roof, to the Bergisel Olympic Ski Jump, Alpine Zoo, Swarovski Crystal Worlds and more. Three leisure centres and spas will help your legs recover after hitting the slopes or on those down days.

So that’s 308km of pistes on one ticket, and the potential to see a different set of mountains and enjoy a new experience every day.

So, you might have thought you’d seen the best of the mountains when you first touched down in Innsbruck. By the end of your stay, however, after you’ve hit a different resort every day and returned to immerse yourself in the legendary nightlife and culture of the city each night, you’ll realise you hadn’t seen the half of it…

Stubai Glacier

The kingdom of snow

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Resort factbox

STUART KENNY

The appeal of the largest glacial ski resort and most snow-sure shred spot in Austria is easy to see. With a summit viewing platform at 3,210m, Stubai Glacier opens its slopes as early as September and doesn’t shut until June. A total of 42km of groomed runs and 22km of ski routes (including the beautiful 10km Wilde Grub’n route) give the pistes plenty of variety and – particularly on the 60 per cent gradients of the 1.8km Daunhill black – are sure to get your legs burning. For those who prefer to look over the edge, the freeriding is well taken care of, specifically by Stubai’s Powder Department. This comprises 13 mapped-out, off-piste freeride runs that can be downloaded as GPS tracks on your phone, with risk management info to go along with it. When you consider all that off-piste action, as well as the natural kickers and renowned Stubai Zoo snow park – plus the fact it’s only a 45-minute drive from Innsbruck – it’s no wonder that Stubai has become a hub for freeriders and park rats.

Distance to Innsbruck Airport: 43km Elevation: 1,750m–3,210m Total piste distance: 64km Longest run: 10km Difficulty (percentage of blue, red and black runs): 55% blue (23km); 36% red (15km); 9% black (4km).

Ski routes: 22km Number of lifts: 26 More info: stubaier-gletscher.com/en

JULIAN EBENTHEUR, CHRISTIAN VORHOFER

Austria’s snow-sure freeriding hub with beautiful backcountry options

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Destination Innsbruck

THE SKI PLUS CITY PASS Your key to the essential attractions in the Innsbruck region, including: 13 ski areas in the Stubai Valley and Innsbruck area 308km of pistes; 111 lifts and cable cars 22 cultural attractions and entertainment sites in the city of Innsbruck 3 pools and spas Free ski-bus transfers Sightseer Innsbruck hop-on, hop-off bus tour 25% discount on night skiing and tobogganing Children born in 2012 or later go free Find out more at ski-plus-city.com

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Axamer Lizum’s panoramic Hoadl Haus restaurant seats 600 and sits 2,340m above sea level

Axamer Lizum & Muttereralm The golden ticket

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Resort factbox Distance to Innsbruck Airport: 19km Elevation: Axamer Lizum: 1,580m–2,340m Muttereralm: 950m–1,800m Total piste distance: 54km (combined) Longest run: 7km Difficulty: Axamer Lizum: 16% blue (6.5km);

54% red (21.6km); 20% black (8km).

Ski routes: 4km Muttereralm: 32% blue (4.5km); 61% red (8.6km); 7% black (1km) Number of lifts: Axamer Lizum: 10; Muttereralm: 3 More info: axamer-lizum.at/en; muttereralm.at/en THE RED BULLETIN

CHRISTIAN VORHOFER, ASHLEY WIGGIS, DANIEL ZANGERL

A 40-minute free ski-bus ride from Innsbruck will take you to Axamer Lizum ski resort.

There you’ll find 40km of carvable piste, mainly geared at beginner or intermediatelevel skiers and snowboarders. The main attraction in Lizum, though, is its showpiece Golden Roofpark. It’s possibly the best funpark in Innsbruck, boasting features from beginner-level tables to expert-level rails and formidable kicker lines on which to hone your acrobatics. Altogether, there are more than 13m of tables in the Golden Roofpark. And once you’re done there, you can finish up on the 27-feature funslope run, or hop on the extensive freeriding terrain.

The resort also connects with the smaller Muttereralm, a family ski area that’s perfect for an easy day on the slopes. Muttereralm is away from the crowds and only a 20-minute trip from Innsbruck itself, so it’s super handy.

If you’re looking to mix things up for the day, you can even take out a fat bike and tackle the snowy Bikepark Innsbruck. But whatever you do in this resort, you’ll be doing it to sensational views of the city.

STUART KENNY

A formidable funpark with more tables than an IKEA warehouse

Destination Innsbruck

Kühtai & Hochoetz High in Kühtai

Where family-friendly convenience meets ski touring beneath the Sulzkogel Outside the glaciers, Kühtai is the highest ski resort in Austria, at 2,020m. The resort is snow sure from December to April and is full of ski-in, ski-out accommodation. After making the 40-minute drive from Innsbruck, chances are you’ll be able to ski straight from your door to the slopes. Much of Kühtai is family friendly, from the purpose-built drag lifts to the funparks. That’s not to say it’s all simple riding, however; 26.4km, more than half of the slopes, are intermediate level and there are around 10km of black runs as well.

Off the slopes, adventurous skiers will find an abundance of touring options around the Sulzkogel and Pitchkogel mountains, which rise to 3,016m and 2,828m respectively.

Kühtai sits next to Hochoetz ski resort, where you can discover a further 39km of slopes and see as far as the Zugspitze – the highest mountain in Germany.

Resort factbox

•

BE

RGBAHNEN

•

Distance to Innsbruck Airport: 34km Elevation: Kühtai: 2,020m–2,520m; Hochoetz: 820m–2,272m Total piste distance: 88km (combined) Longest run: 4km Difficulty: Kühtai: 19% blue (9.3km); 54% red (26.4km);

21% black (10.3km).

Freestyle: 3km Hochoetz: 33% blue (12km), 59% red (21km), 8% black (3km). Ski routes: 3km Number of lifts: Kühtai: 12; Hochoetz: 12 More info: kuehtai.info/en; oetz.com/winter/ski-areahochoetz.html

High and mighty Küthai is Austria’s most lofty non-glacial ski resort

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A Stubai trinity

Three thrilling resorts that are sure to up your Instagram game You don’t have to go all the way to the glacier to ski the Stubai Valley. Schlick 2000, Elferbahnen and Serlesbahnen all sit in the Stubai Valley and make for a picturesque day of skiing half an hour’s drive from Innsbruck city centre. Schlick 2000 boasts the Stubaital’s longest valley descent and is known for some tough offpiste riding. Elferbahnen offers remarkable views, ranging from the Stubai and Pinnis valleys right back to the Nordkette above Innsbruck, whereas Serlesbahnen is right at the entrance to the Stubai Valley, on the mighty 2,717m Serles mountain. It’s a famous Austrian photo opportunity, and it’s obvious why – the views are stunning!

These three small areas put together provide skiing to suit all the family, with the Speed-Check sure to be a fun highlight of Schlick 2000’s 22km of slopes. Meanwhile, the powder fields waiting above the treelines of Serlesbahnen are perfect for those who prefer to splash the good stuff.

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Resort factbox Distance to Innsbruck Airport: 20km Elevation: Schlick 2000: 1,000m–2,240m; Elferbahnen: 980m–2,080m; Serlesbahnen: 960m–1,600m Total piste distance: 35km (combined) Longest run: 3km Difficulty: Schlick 2000: 54% blue (12km); 31% red (7km); 15% black (3km).

Elferbahnen: 25% blue (0.5km); 75% red (1.5km). Ski routes: 5km Serlesbahnen: 53% blue (3km); 47% red (2.7km) No of lifts: Schlick 2000: 11; Elferbahnen: 4; Serlesbahnen: 4 More info: stubai.at/en/skiing-resorts/ schlick2000; stubai.at/en/skiing-resorts/ elferbahnen; stubai.at/en/skiing-resorts/ serlesbahnen

ANDRE SCHOENHERR, KLAUS POLZER, CHRISTOF LACKNER

Schlick 2000, Elferbahnen & Serlesbahnen

STUART KENNY

As well as the Stubai Valley’s longest descent, Schlick 2000 has all skiing skill-sets covered, on-piste and off (below)

THE RED BULLETIN

Destination Innsbruck

One of the world’s most incredible city vistas: Innsbruck from atop the Nordkette, with Patscherkofel mountain in the background

Nordkette & Patscherkofel

Resort factbox

Heart of the city

From street to summit in the space of half an hour Innsbruck is one of the only cities in Europe where an extensive nightlife and cultural scene is combined with a proper mountain ski resort. The city has its cake and it’s eating it, too. You can get from the centre of the city to the Innsbruck viewing platform at Hafelekar summit on the Nordkette, some 2,300m above sea level, in less than half an hour. The views from here are nothing short of spectacular.

The Nordkette resort, although small, is a terrific destination – the steeps are, well, steep, with up to 70 per cent gradient, making it more Freeride World Tour than après warrior up there on powder days.

The Skyline Park, meanwhile, attracts all the oversized-hoody wearers up from the city bars and, if you’re not so sure-footed, you can get yourself over to Patscherkofel for a slightly easier ride. You’ll find wider pistes here with more accessible gradients. Or tackle the stunning Olympia Run, which descends 5.1km down a 1,350m vertical, offering great views of the city all the way.

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A day in Innsbruck can encompass the architecture of the old town and the soaring slopes above it

Distance to Innsbruck Airport: 4.4km Elevation: Nordkette: 860m–2,334m; Patscherkofel: 1,009m–2,248m Total piste distance: 31km Longest run: 5.1km Difficulty: Nordkette: 4% blue (0.4km); 94% red (9.3km); 2% black (0.2km).

Ski routes: 3.1km Patscherkofel: 28% blue (5km); 50% red (9km); 22% black (4km) Number of lifts: Nordkette: 5; Patscherkofel: 5 More info: nordkette.com/en; patscherkofelbahn.at/en

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Destination Innsbruck

From high-altitude beginner runs to the longest descent in Tyrol You’ll find your Innsbruck SKI plus CITY pass gives you access to some amazing little offthe-beaten-track resorts you probably didn’t even know existed. Oberperfuss/Rangger Köpfl is one such destination, only 12km from Innsbruck. It’s awesome because easy and intermediate runs reach up to 2,000m here, so beginners don’t have to stick to the foot of the mountain and be deprived of the big mountain views. You can also do some nightskiing here on an illuminated 2.5km slope.

Glungezerbahn is one of the smallest resorts in the region but it provides one of the longest descents in all of Tyrol: a mouthwatering 15km beast with views staring straight back at the Nordkette as you go. In Bergeralm, meanwhile, you’ll be presented with stunning views of the Wipptal Valley connecting Italy and Austria, as well as ski-cross courses, fun parks and plenty of red and black runs on some 30km of slopes.

It’s all there if you’re prepared to look for it!

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Distance to Innsbruck Airport: 14km Elevation: Oberperfuss/ Rangger Köpfl: 851m–1,939m; Glungezerbahn: 950m–2,304m; Bergeralm: 1,065m–2,231m Total piste distance: 68km (combined) Longest run: 15km Difficulty: Oberperfuss/Rangger Köpfl: 47% blue (8km); 41% red (7km);

12% black (2km).

Glungezerbahn: 30% blue (7km); 68% red (15.5km); 2% black (0.5km).

Bergeralm: 35% blue (10km); 34% red (10km); 31% black (9km). Ski routes: 1km Number of lifts: Oberperfuss/Rangger Köpfl: 6; Glungezerbahn: 6; Bergeralm: 5 More info: rangger-koepfl.at; glungezerbahn.at/en; bergeralm.net/en/bergbahnen

STUART KENNY

Hidden treasures

Resort factbox

CHRISTIAN VORHOFER

Oberperfuss/ Rangger Köpfl, Glungezerbahn & Bergeralm

Even novice skiers can hit high ground on Rangger Köpfl, or they may prefer the toboggan run (below)

THE RED BULLETIN

GIVES YOU WIIINGS. ALSO WITH THE TASTE OF COCONUT & BERRY.

NEW

GLOBAL TEAM THE RED BULLETIN WORLDWIDE

The Red Bulletin is published in seven countries. This is the cover of October’s Mexican edition, featuring Martha Higareda, co-star of the hit Netflix sci-fi show Altered Carbon.

For more stories beyond the ordinary, go to: redbulletin.com

The Red Bulletin UK. ABC certified distribution 154,346 (Jan-Dec 2018)

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Action highlight

What happens when two petrolheads get into a race for the last parking spot at Goodwood Festival of Speed’s fancy ball? And what if these two motoring fanatics are Formula Drift champion ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett in his modified Lamborghini Huracán and Dakar Rally winner Eduard Nikolaev at the wheel of a 9.5-tonne truck? Watch the video at redbull.com

The next issue of THE RED BULLETIN is out on October 8 98

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Speed thrills

9 & 13 NEWBURGH STREET, LONDON, W1F FILSON.COM/UK

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