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NOVEMBER12
WHO’S ON BOARD? Editor Toby Gray editor@nervemedia.org.uk
Features Editor Victoria Richards Noora Salonen (sub) LaTeesha Osborne (sub) features@nervemedia.org.uk
Fashion Editor Natalie Glaze Grace Williams (sub) Holly Welsh (sub) fashion@nervemedia.org.uk
Sport Editor Dan Welling Oscar Tollast (sub) Craig Rodhouse (sub) sport@nervemedia.org.uk
Entertainment Editor Joshua Iredale Tara May Cox (sub) ents@nervemedia.org.uk
Online Editor Maddie Feltham Lucy Hitchcock
Got it COVERED P49
Check what we’ve got for you this month...
THE VACCINES They’ve been hailed as the saviours of guitar rock at the forefront of a revolution. Fresh from the release of their new album, we caught up with Arni to see just what he thought about that.
online@nervemedia.org.uk
Photo Editor Rachael Sanders photo@nervemedia.org.uk
Proofing Rachael Reynolds Advertising Samantha Stockwell susales@bournemouth.ac.uk 01202 961461
Media Coordinator Joe Tattersall sunerve@bournemouth.ac.uk 01202 961681
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DAVID JAMES
As an English football legend and the 2nd most capped player in Premier League history, it’s fair to say AFC Bournemouth’s latest signing is a bit of a steal. We talk to the man on his move.
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90’s CARTOONS To celebrate the undeniable golden era of cartoons, we look back at the pick of our favourite nostalgic heroes.
Wanna Join?
For opportunities to get involved, whether it be writing, design, illustration, photography or even a spot of photobombing, email editor@nervemedia.org.uk for details.
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AIDEN GRIMSHAW
As an X Factor contestant, you’d expect a certain style from Aiden Grimshaw. But with the release of his debut album, he tells us how he’s ready to wipe that slate clean and start afresh.
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BLOOD RED SHOES
Busy promoting their third studio album, we caught up with the Brighton based duo on their year.
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NOVEMBER12
Word From Your Editor Contributors Writers Jodie Mcewan Ben Tyrer John Gusman Charlotte Gay James Hibberd Laura Eley
Designers Rachel Lloyd Bryony Diplock Emma Cheesman Joanna Poulton Rebecca Shepherd Tanya Yilmaz Alejandra Barbieri
Sure Fresher’s has passed away for another year, the weather looks like the apocalypse is nigh, and we’re all beginning to realise we have the occasional assignment at university, but that’s not gonna stop you living the student life now is it? With fresher flu knocking about like a bad smell, Issue #2 has arrived just in time to don it’s medical hat and present the perfect cure to those introductory hangovers. First up, we talk to X Factor starlet turned singer/songwriter extraordinaire Aiden Grimshaw on why the X Factor title just
Illustrators Grant Corlett Jack Carrington Nathan Hackett Becky Hill Isaac Hoar
Keep Up facebook.com/nervemagazine twitter.com/nervemagazine www.nervemedia.org.uk
doesn’t suit him. Later we speak to electro pop band Fenech Soler and rock duo Blood Red Shoes on their progress. And to headline the bill of top interviews, we chat to Arni from The Vaccines on everything from the band’s status at the front of a rock revolution, to his favourite type of cheese. To finish it all off, we also take a look at the rise of the amateur ‘Iphoneographer’ and its charms, as well an interview with English football legend and new AFC Bournemouth signing David James. Mix that in with loads more features, sport, reviews and fashion for the ultimate student fry up. Toby Gray
The Full Line Up
REGULARS
FASHION
07 Mix Tape
20 Street style
08 Heads Up!
21 Wish list
28 Panda pop quiz
22 Meadham Kirchoff
30 Photo of the month
24 Fashion test: creepers
36 Reviewed
FEATURES
38 Obsessed with Twitter
Important Stuff
54 Milk!
Here at SUBU, we print on 100% recycled paper using vegetable -based inks by Indigo Press Limited, achieving ISO14001 and FSC accreditations.
26 The Lib Dems shouldn’t
OPINION apoligise for the coalition
Nerve Magazine is produced by SUBU (the Students Union @ Bournemouth University. Information correct at time of going to press (October 2012). The views express are not necessarily those of Nerve Media, SUBU or the Editor.
57 Is Twitter an open platform?
Nerve Magazine is printed on 250 gsm silk cover and 115gsm body provided by Indigo printing Press.
ENTERTAINMENT
16 Iphoneography 33 Nineties nostalgia 53 Are you a Grammar Nazi? 59 Top 5: Truly scary Halloween costumes
SPORT 11 Sport Personality of the Year
09 Buy like Bond
40 Georgina Cassar
12 Aiden Grimshaw
42 FIFA rankings
18 Fenech Soler
44 Varsity profile: lacrosse
39 Blood Red Shoes
46 AFCB: David James
49 The Vaccines NERVE 05
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Essential TRACKS we’ve been listening to this MONTH
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING COUGH COUGH The Manchester foursome are back with this incredible single that is the only track that has occupied our headphones this past month. ‘Cough Cough’ is querky, different and catchy; every attribute that comprises a real quality indie-pop tune.
ALUNAGEORGE YOU KNOW YOU LIKE IT Two friends from London named Aluna and George created the rising musical fusion that is AlunaGeorge. Their first single ‘You Know You Like It’ is a popular tune, with its repetitive nature and swirling synths. The song conveys the finest piece of electro-pop around at the moment.
BASTILLE FLAWS Many may have only heard of them in the past few months, yet Bastille are already gaining major attention with the re-release of their debut single. With flawless harmonies throughout, it’s hard not to sing (or at least hum) along. Hopefully this is the start of big things for them...
ALT - J SOMETHING GOOD We love this bands vibe and the ‘folkstep’ genre they’ve been placed under really stands out from a lot of the Guetta-Minaj-esque repetitive chart music heard on the radio at the moment. For all the summer long listening, they’re finally getting noticed now having been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
ELLE VARNER I DON’T CARE A love song without the ‘typical’ aspect, it’s a very sultry tune without being overpowering. It took a few listens for it to move from background music to playlist status but trust us, be patient and it’s well worth the wait.
BROTHER ALI AMERICA IN MOURNING
JAKE BUGG TWO FINGERS 18-year-old Jake Bugg looks like a young Liam Gallagher and sounds like a young Bob Dylan. We haven’t been this excited about a debut album since Arctic Monkeys first outing, and if they’re anything to go by, this boy’s quality beyond his years, encapsulated by ‘Two Fingers’ could be just the beginning to a long, spectacular career.
Head straight to the playlist by scanning the QR code or visit www.nervemedia.org.uk
Brother Ali returns with his latest album, fuelled with the same political anger and frustration that has become his forte. "Terrorism is the war of poor"” rings out as Ali raps about the struggles in wanting a better country you’re too defeated to believe in. This is deep stuff, but well worth it.
DEVIN TOWNSEND EFFERVESCENT/ TRUE NORTH You know a song is going to be good when a gospel choir sings the opening 45 seconds and that is just what this wonderful piece of pop metal does with the help of wonderful vocals, a catchy chorus and massive drums.
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HEADS UP! YOUR MONTH IN BOURNEMOUTH
FRANKIE BOYLE @BIC 23 NOVEMBER CLUBBING
Dub Optic with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry The Old Firestation 3 November
Mr Scruff
O2 Bournemouth 10 November
The Block Party Various 10 November
DJ Fresh
V 16 November
Aled Jones’ Chris Moyles After Party
GIGS
EVENTS
Pavillion 5 November
BIC 2 November
The Old Fire Station 8 November
Littledown Centre
Seal
Mystery Jets
Back to Broadway Bournemouth Fireworks 2012
Coheed & Cambria 3 November O2 Academy Ross Noble 13 November
Motorhead
BIC 6 November
BIC 15 November
Kevin Bridges
The Winchester 18 November
Jack Dee
O2 Academy 25 November
Chris Moyles Live
Ugly Duckling
BIC 7 November BIC 14 November
The Old Firestation 16 November
Ben Howard
The Winchester 23 November
Thin Lizzy
RAM
O2 Academy 29 November
Frankie Boyle
The Old Fire Station 24 November
The View
The Old Fire Station
Them and Us
Craig Richards
O2 Bournemouth 1 December NERVE 08
O2 Academy 16 November
BIC 23 November
The Gallery - AUCB Until 30 November
We heard he balances the mic on his nose: Seal @ Pavillion 5 November
Design Rachel Lloyd
Annie Mac Presents 30 November
A little later than usual: Chris Moyles @ O2 Academy, 16 November
buy like bond Words Ben Tyrer Design Bryony Diplock
5 martini
Featured in… nearly every Bond film from Goldfinger
With the release of the latest James Bond outing SkyFall out now, we thought of no better timing than to celebrate the long tradition of 007 that is shameless product placement. Here are five favourites
It’s weird to think that one of British cinema’s most iconic lines is product placement, but whenever you hear the word Martini, chances are your mind will follow it up with a quick shaken, not stirred. Unlike some of the other examples on this list, this example of free publicity also featured in the original books written by Ian Fleming to highlight Bond’s rather blatant alcoholism – the 007 in the books drinks like eight students rolled into one - while the films have turned the quote into a one-liner dripping with ice cold wit. The company must have been happy either way, just wonder how many bottles of the Vermouth have been sold to people who want to drink like the world’s coolest fictional spy?
4 aston martin
Featured in Goldfinger and Casino Royale
Now pay attention please, as Aston Martin would like you to lust after their classic car for a lifetime. What adult wouldn’t want the British company’s elegant and gorgeous car, while would you know any child whose imagination didn’t run wild when they heard the word ejector seat? Q never joked about his work, but was he a gadget master or an Aston Martin salesman? Goldfinger turned the Aston Martin DB5 into a myth, a car that everyone wanted and very few could afford, while Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale duly tipped it’s cap to the fan favourite stealth advertising when Bond gave the DB5 a quick spin.
3 blu-ray
Featured in Casino Royale
The involvement with Sony was obvious in the 21st Bond movie. While Casino Royale remains a fantastic film – taut, laced with genuine emotion and set pieces that dropped the ludicrous antics of previous Bond movies for that death defying parkour run – it could also be remembered as the world’s most expensive Sony show-reel. Her Majesty’s finest agent only used products that bore the familiar Japanese logo, from the excessive close up on his phone, to the painfully hilarious attention paid to the fact that a security system used Blu-Ray players and discs. It wouldn’t have been surprising if Bond had whipped out a catalogue halfway through to decide what Sony gadget he hadn’t used yet.
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ENTS
2 bmw/ ericsson phone Featured in Tomorrow Never Dies Tomorrow Never Dies shouldn’t be your favourite James Bond film, but credit where credit’s due, it has an absolutely brilliant bit of product placement, a phrase that almost hurts to write. In a scene where Bond drives his car using his phone, causing havoc to a European car park and generally being in badass mode, we all get to pray that someday, we’ll be able to drive a car with a phone. While there is the obligatory close up and lingering shots on logos that almost undermine the action– those marketing dollars are certainly put to good use – it fits in with the action that feels as naturalistic as possible. It’s a far cry from our next entry.
1 omega
Featured in Casino Royale
One of the most intimate and telling moments in Casino Royale takes place on a sparsely populated train carriage. Bond and Vesper are meeting for the first time. They’re trying to figure each other out, probing and prodding to discover each other’s personality. It reveals the ruthless calculation that helps Bond survive and is an early indication that the couple have a few similarities. Then, the very definition of hilariously awful product placement, when acting gives way to gratingly terrible marketing as Eva Green is forced to ask "Rolex?" in regards to the watch Bond is wearing. Craig, admirably beating back the blushes, replies "Omega". It is a subtle as a Bond pick up line and just as unintentionally funny. Sure, it’s a mood killer in one of the most emotionally important scenes between the film’s central couple but you so totally want a Omega watch now, right?
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SPORT
SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
IN THE TOUGHEST YEAR YET, JUST WHO DESERVES THE WIN? OUR SPORT TEAM PICK THEIR FAVOURITES
Ben Ainslie Jess Ennis Mo Farah Sir Chris Hoy Rory McIlroy Andy Murray
Well it’s going to be probably the tightest Sports Personality of Year that I’ve ever known after such an exceptional summer of sport but Bradley Wiggins just tips it for me. In previous years, winning the Tour de France in isolation would probably have been enough to win the award but to back that up with an Olympic gold just a week later is a simply phenomenal achievement. To see a British cyclist performing at such consistently high levels every single day during the tour was not only a triumph for Britain but a triumph for British cycling too. He managed to generate such a huge wave of interest in track cycling and got the British public genuinely excited about cycling for an event other than the Olympics. I just hope that the fact that so much else has happened in British sport since Bradley’s monumental achievements doesn’t see him overlooked and forgotten.
Eleanor Simmonds Sarah Storey David Weir Bradley Wiggins Honourable Mentions Katherine Grainger Victoria Pendleton, Laura Trott Jonnie Peacock
My nomination for this year’s hotly contested Sports Personality of the Year is David Weir, known to his supporters as the "Weir Wolf". The wheelchair racer became one of the faces of Team GB’s Paralympic success, winning four gold medals in the 800m, 1500m, 5000m and the marathon. During London 2012, Weir covered 35.3 miles, survived on five hours sleep each night Let us know and went at a top road speed of 50mph. your choice Away from sport, Weir likes to DJ and plans for sports to pursue it as a career once he retires, but for personality now he has 10 Paralympic medals, including six be sending golds. His decision to have the word "winner" us a tweet @nervemagazine tattooed in Japanese on his arm seems more than appropriate. Now tipped for a knighthood, this year’s SPOTY crown would be the icing on the cake to what has been a memorable year for the 33-year-old.
In the greatest year for British sport of all time, just one gold medal isn’t enough. Andy Murray has that of course when he destroyed the greatest tennis player of all time Roger Federer on Centre Court just 28 days after he became the first Brit to reach the Wimbledon final in 74 years ultimately in a losing effort to the same man. Not content with breaking one record, Andy went one better defeating Novak Djokovic in five sets at the US Open to finally end his wait for a grand slam title and become the first British man since Fred Perry to win a major and the first in the open era. Each of these achievements are worthy of winning the award on their own but together they make a very strong case. The post-match tears at Wimbledon also helped to prove once and for all to all those who don’t know the man, he does actually care. NERVE 11
AIDEN GRIMShaw With his Debut album out now, tara MAY cox talked to the x factor starlet on why he's keen to scrap the reality show title NERVE 12
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et’s start with some background. How has your life changed since x factor? When I was younger I used to go to a theatre school. I wanted to be an actor originally but I didn’t apply to any drama courses so my mum auditioned me for X Factor, and luckily enough I got through. Then after the show I moved to London, was lucky enough to get signed and I moved house so had to learn how to change light bulbs, cook my dinners and do washing which I’m still struggling with! Last year in November I started writing an album (Misty Eye) and here it is.
people is that their music is rushed and you’re just a product of the show, but I’ve had full control of everything that’s gone on and I’ve done all the writing myself and it is exciting. What was the experience like after being signed to a record label? It’s amazing, it’s a big opportunity for a label to have such belief for someone who only came ninth on the X Factor, and what they basically said was ‘Yep you’re signed, go away for two years and do your thing’ and that’s exactly what I’ve done.
What were your thoughts after you were voted off the X Factor? Initially I thought what could have been and I was obviously disappointed. It’s a weird show the X Factor. I always looked at it a bit weirdly because you get so much praise for not actually doing anything much. So now it feels good because so if people ever actually notice me I feel like I’ve got merit for writing my own album. Do you ever compare your level of success to other X factor contestants, particularly from your series? No, I think it’s different. I never really looked at myself as an X Factor contestant. You don’t get another platform like it, it was an amazing experience and I loved every minute of it, but I feel like the way we’ve come off and done everything now it feels honest to me. Maybe the preconceptions of X Factor
October 2010
AIden performed Mad World after making it to the first of the live shows on X Factor
How are you feeling touring the UK? It’s good but it’s weird, it’s a bit different from when I last toured the UK (on the X Factor tour) and I was singing Mad World over and over again. It feels good to sing my own songs. Have you ever been to Bournemouth before? Before we started writing the album I did loads of writing with different writers and producers to get used to it all. It was dead sunny and we came down for two days and these two producer guys took me on an ice breaker trip - we went spear fishing, it was mental. I’m from Blackpool so of course I’m a big fan life near the beach. What has the response been like to new album Misty Eye? It’s been amazing, I’ve had a top 20, it’s been in the top 50 singles and really good
DECEMBER 2010
Aiden finished ninth on the seventh series of X Factor, losing out to Katie Waissel in the sixth week of live finals.
ENTS
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The preconceptions of X Factor people is that their music is rushed and you’re just a product of the show, but I’ve had full control of everything
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reviews, and the things people are writing about it, people who you probably wouldn’t expect to write about X Factor people have been writing about me - and it’s been great. I think it’s going to be a slow process I think it’ll take people a little while to get their heads around because it’s so different. Is there a particular meaning behind the name of the album? It’s loads of thoughts in my head about love and relationships and questioning ideals and everything, it’s not a statement or a fact it’s just the thoughts that lie behind a misty eye.
January 2011
Aiden signed with RCA Records, a flagship label of Sony Music Entertainment. NERVE 13
Words Tara May Cox Design Toby Gray
Would you recommend the music industry and what advice would you give to others? What like a fine wine?! Haha. I’m only 20 and I’m still trying to figure it out myself really. It’s very weird, in my eyes it seems like it should all be really easy but sometimes it gets difficult. Nothing I’ve really done seems very hard, it all seems very logical. I think if you’ve got a good idea of where you want to go and what you want to do then just jump in. I think you’ve just got to remember if you get advice then listen, but always make sure your voice is the loudest one.
APRIL 2012
Who are your musical inspirations? I was a big fan of John Mayer and Damien Rice for a long time. I had a bit of a messed up musical background because my mum used to like Chaka Khan and Simply Red and then my dad was this big punk indie fan of music like The Clash, Dexys Midnight Runners and Oasis. And then you go to college and your friends think its dead cool to play Ian Brown, and then I’d go to my uncles and he was a little bit older than me and thought it was dead cool to play 60’s music. I think you just take the best bits of music from the best places.
Aiden’s debut single ‘Is This Love’ premiered on the BBC Radio 1 Request Show. NERVE 14
june 2012
What are your plans for the future/year ahead? I’ve got 8 more shows in this small intimate tour and then hopefully some other people will want to see it, but I think it’s going to take a while. I think that’s the different thing about our approach, it’s not an in your face thing I think it’s a discovery thing, if people want to give it a listen I think they might be won over – I think it’s great! Aiden Grimshaw’s debut album Misty Eye is out now.
‘Is This Love’ was released and debuted at number 35 on the UK singles chart.
august 2012
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It’s a weird show the X Factor. I always looked at it a bit weirdly because you get so much praise for not actually doing much
Aiden’s debut album ‘Misty Eye’ was released on the 20th, peaking at number 19 on the UK album chart.
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DON’T PANIC
BY TOM BRABHAM tommybrabham.co.uk NERVE 15
S #BUARRIVAL
N PHOTO COMPETITIO THE VICTORIOUS SNAP
Words & Design Victoria Richards Photos Jessica Bracey
CONGRATULATIONS TO JON HEARD WITH HIS WINNING PHOTO IN SUBU’S #BUARRIVALS COMPETITION. AS HIS 4 PART PHOTO ENCAPSULATED EVERY KEY ASPECT OF BOUURNEMOUTH FRESHERS, JON WAS REWARDED WITH A DIGITAL POLAROID CAMERIA. HAPPY SNAPPING!
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W
ith each new technology bestowed upon us, there is always another being developed just around the corner – and being the impatient species that we are, we’re always looking forward to the next big thing. In the last twenty years technology has developed at an amazing rate. It seems like a lifetime ago that the first mobile phones came out, we were using dial up internet and digital cameras were an expensive luxury. Now we have all three of those technologies merged easily into most smartphones coupled with the social networking boom, allowing us to upload pictures directly to our Facebook and Twitter profiles in seconds. Except now, of course, there’s the latest social media fad: Instagram. Launched in October 2010, Instagram is a platform that allows the user to take a picture, add filters and upload to other social media websites. What’s so special about it is that it has grown at an astonishing rate. By the end of 2010, there were already 1 million users. As of April 2012, there are now 30 million users – many of them participating in the popular ritual of taking pictures of their breakfast (not weird at all) - which has aided in bringing about the rather striking new term known as the ‘iPhoneographer’. It’s very basic really: someone who takes pictures with an iPhone. But I can’t help but feel that’s not all the term encompasses. So, what does it mean to be an iPhoneographer or participate in iPhoneography?
Feature
Life Through a Lens
Viki Richards takes a look at the enormous rise in the popularity of online photography and why everyone’s getting involved
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It doesn’t matter what you shoot with, it’s how you take the photograph
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“
the advent of iPhoneography is a brilliant way for everyone to experiment with photography
There are those who rather resent the term, mostly because of the words it fuses together: iPhone and photographer. Professional photographers in particular could argue that the skill of an iPhoneographer versus their own differs immensely – the photographers specifically choose their lens, angle, aperture size and deal with a whole other plethora of variables to achieve the perfect photo. Photographers can spend thousands of pounds on learning their craft and learning the ins and outs of their complex equipment – but it seems that the apparatus used for taking the photo is ceasing to matter, as long as it’s a great photo. Speaking to Bournemouth graduate Jessica Bracey, now a features writer for Professional Photographer and Photography Monthly magazines, and she points to real world examples that suggest perhaps we’re moving on and becoming more open-minded with photography. "There are wedding photographers out there that have even shot the special day on an iPhone and the New York Times featured a Hipstamatic image of soldiers in Afghanistan on the cover!" It seems that the easy transportation factor of the digital camera and the high quality guarantee of the DSLR has been outdone by the iPhone – after all, the iPhone has the advantage of an impressive 8 megapixel camera as well as being your phone. And it’s got Angry Birds. It seems traditional for us all to worry about the advent of new technologies. It happened with radio, TV and certainly the internet, so it comes as no surprise that photographers feel threatened by the rise of iPhoneography as journalists did by bloggers. Jess, however, feels positive about the changes "I think the advent
of iPhoneography is a brilliant way for everyone to experiment with photography and is making the hobby that used to be rather specialist mainstream". You don’t have to look far to see that many people think the same as Jess – there’s even a specialist iPhoneography course offered by Kensington and Chelsea college in London where you learn how to capture the perfect photo on your iPhone – but it’ll cost you £115 to do so. There’s mounting evidence that implies the concept of photography is not only increasingly subjective but also not all in the technicalities. "In hindsight, it doesn’t matter what you shoot with, it’s how you take the photograph," Jess explains "of course all the key elements such as composition, subject matter and colour need to be taken into consideration but these are skills that anyone can learn with a little practise." Ultimately, there are many strengths of the iPhone combined with apps such as Instagram and Hipstamatic. Ease of transportation, plenty of opportunities to alter the look and feel of your photo through adding filters but perhaps the winning feature is simply being able to share your photos in an instant. Instagram allows users to ‘follow’ and ‘like’ what you upload. Jess says "Instagram is a great way of sharing your snaps and is a brilliant tool to share your work through social networking, no wonder Facebook bought it out!" In the end, if iPhone has given the gift of accessibility to a new hobby, definitions cease to matter. In the meantime we get thousands more images to admire and marvel at. NERVE 17
With a hectic year over and a new album in the pipeline for next year, Fenech Soler are only just coming up for a breath. Charlotte Gay chats to the band on their hectic year
C
and spontaneous with it. Because a lot of hampioned in the same indie disco it is obviously is programmed and there scene with the likes of Friendly are a lot of things doing certain sounds," Fires, Delphic and Klaxons, Fenechexplained Ben. Soler’s funky electro pop and synth-bass "Because it is a bit of a process of being guitars have been gaining critical acclaim in the studio and then when it goes to live from both here and across the pond. it’s a completely different thing," said Dan. With NME saying Fenech Soler are "We like to start from the beginning "dancing to the sound of a very different really and start to build it up from nothing beat - they don’t get much more hi-NRG with a live band because than this," and Time Out comthe way we do things live menting "we have seen the future anybody that says and the way we do things on of white dancefloor-scorching touring is difficult the record is a bit different. electro-funk." is all bullshit In the past the group have because it’s like the It’s quite a fun process so we like to give that a good worked with the likes of Marina best fun ever amount of attention, so we and the Diamonds and Example don’t want to rush anything and lead singer Ben lent his vocals to feaor play anything new ture on Groove Armada’s Paper Romance. until it’s right," At their only UK festival gig this year at smiled Dan. the Leopallooza festival in Cornwall, just what can party goers expect from a Fenech Soler performance? "It’s quite a dance orientated set really," started Dan, "We’re playing most of our first record because we’re kind of in the process of recording our second record – we’re right in the middle actually. So we want to play new stuff but we haven’t actually figured out how to do it live yet. We’ve made it, but we don’t know how to play it yet!" said Ben. With the success of their last self-titled album, Fenech Soler’s previous singles have been greeted with a more than positive reception, yet with the perils of being a primarily electronic band it leaves little room for the guys to have any spur-of-the-moment ideas live on stage. "That is half of the thing with electronic music kind of live, is that it’s quite difficult to be off the cuff
“
”
"But the way we play live, even though the majority of it is quite electronic and dance-y, we are still a band and we do still love rock bands. And for us having guitar, bass and drums, that is essentially what we are, we just add in the other stuff," added Ben. So with Fenech Soler sticking mainly to the recording studio when can we expect to hear this awaited new album? "We’re in the process of writing but I think our first single is going to be the beginning of January. I think the album itself will be released in the summer next year, but we’ll be back playing and keeping busy by the end of this year, beginning of next," explained Dan. In past tours, the band have trekked around pretty much the entirety of the British Isles. "Our first tour we did about 30 shows, which is everywhere basically. We were on tour for two months and it was every day, I think overall we had three days off," remembers Ben. With this much travelling whilst being confined to a tour bus, what is the best activity the Fenech Soler boys have to pass the time? "We like to play FIFA on the bus but apart from that, it’s mainly sleeping, partying at night and sleeping," said Dan. "Anybody that says touring or whatever is really hard and difficult is all bullshit because it’s not it’s like the best fun ever."
Words Charlotte Gay Design Toby Gray
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FASHION
STREETS OF STYLE
Fashion photographer Andrea Pereira takes to the streets once more to find London’s most dapper males. With the rise of Menswear and the recent London Collection Menswear shows, our recent street style snaps show exactly why men’s fashion is now at the forefront of the fashion world.
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Design Rebecca Shepherd
BOYS 1/
Imitation leather satchel
3/
H&M have thought of it all when it comes to this imitation leather bag featuring a handle and an adjustable shoulder strap, two outer pockets and one inner pocket. Plus no need to fuss around with buttons as it has a magnetic catch instead. £19.99 from H&M
The no fuss ankle boot is perfect this season. Carrying through the Aztec print seen this summer Stylist Pick has created an ankle boot with a difference. The contrast colours and materials will give your boots that something else, becoming an accessory in themselves. £35 from Stylist Pick
2/ Marion contrast army jacket This Khaki armystyle jacket features contrast faux leather sleeves and a detachable cosy faux fur collar. With student discount available all year round make sure you make a cyber stop to pick up this must have. £49.99 from Missguided
Brady black aztec ankle boot
4/ Knitted chunky fairisle jumper With winter approaching, chunky knits like this will help soften the blow. An attention grabbing pattern for all the right reasons, this jumper is effortlessly cool and comfortable. £45 from Topshop
WISH LI S T
1/ Navy PU sleeve bomber jacket This is one of this month’s biggest trends and River Island has got it right trendy navy outin. Keep an outfit simple and let this contrast jacket do all the work for you. £50 from River Island
3/
2/ T-Shirt with insert triangle This ASOS t-shirt comes in a regular fit featuring a crew neckline and short raglan sleeves. The ASOS brand is designed in their London studio exclusively for them. Pick up this contrast tee online as you won’t find it on the high street. £14 from Asos
4/ Colorado blue suede desert shoe The desert boot is an all time best seller and these treads from Topman once £42.00 now just £25.00, are a complete student steal. Don’t miss out and get them whilst you can. £25 from Topman
Buckled messenger bag This distressed leather look messenger bag available at Zara is just the thing for carrying around all you need for a day at Uni. At just £29.99 Zara have created a bag must have. £29.99 from Zara
GIRLS
Words Holly Welsh Design Toby Gray
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A BRITISH WILDCARD Natalie Glaze delves into the eccentric world of Meadham Kirchhoff; the new bad boy duo of the fashion industry
Words Natalie Glaze Design Gaby Atkinson
M
eadham Kirchhoff are definitely the design duo of the season. After a successful collaboration with Topshop and rumours of a Disney collaboration in the pipeline, this dynamic pair’s unique style effortlessly bewitches critics and fashion lovers time and time again. Meadham Kirchhoff has built a strong reputation as the wildcards of British fashion, which has helped earn them a following of young fashionistas. ‘Uncompromising’, ‘aware’ and ‘individual’ were just some of the words used to describe the enchanting display at the recent London Fashion Week. The Meadham Kirchhoff displays and fashion installations are so much more than fashion shows they integrate a strong sense of theatre and art into their work. This year’s fashion week
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shows escape into romance, bringing a new height to their atmospheric presentations. This time around, their world was about twisted fairytale motifs with a strong influence of Marie Antoinette-style decadence, featuring ribboned bodices, prints with gilt swirls, cavalier hats and highwayman boots. After the success of their Topshop collaboration, the bar was set high for the revival of their men’s line at the recent London Collection Men and they didn’t disappoint. The duo recreated the aftermath of a wild party. Models with an up-all-night air about them lounged in combinations of nylon tracksuit bottoms and faded floral print T-shirts; crystal-embellished chiffon caftans worn over jeans, and chunky knit sweaters layered over striped pyjama pants.
WAS A “ITBEAUTIFUL CHAOS
”
To set the mood, the duo employed the scenography talents of Tony Hornecker amongst the hodgepodge of battered furniture, television screens flickered scenes from ‘90s cartoons and Orchids lay strewn about, hydrangeas lay un-potted on the floor, and roses sat in soda bottles on the mantlepiece. It was a beautiful chaos. Keep an eye on this pair, this London duo has something special, and it’s only the beginning. NERVE 23
FASHION FASHION TEST
CREEPERS
A CREEPY COMEBACK? With the resurgence of grunge, the shoes of teddy boys, punks and techno rockers have returned. Bournemouth University students have their say on what they think of the statement shoe.
HOLLY WELSH BEDFORDSHIRE I can’t imagine that a shoe exists worse than the creeper. I have no idea how they have managed to make a come back. They really are awful. You wouldn’t catch me in them!
CHAY WILSON CAMBRIDGE At first I had no idea what they were. I am not sure if they do men’s, but if they did I wouldn’t buy them! I’m not even sure how good they look on girls but maybe I could get used to it.
SARAH PEDZIWIATR MANCHESTER I think they are bulky and quite manly. I don’t think they suit girls at all. I would probably go as far to say they are the worst shoes ever. Well apart from Crocs that is...
BRIDGET MARIE CONLON BRIGHTON I think they are grim. Certain ‘edgy’ people can just about get away with them. But I personally am not a fan yet, who knows in the future maybe my mind will change but I doubt it.
BEN SAULL-HUNT DEVON NO. Definitely not. Not never. I would never ever wear them. I know they are meant to be quirky and different but they definitely wouldn’t suit my style.
GEMMA MUNDAY SURREY I like them on some people but not everyone can pull them off. I don’t like the ones with the chunky flatform.
FANCY A PAIR?
Underground Round Toe Creepers Topshop £95 NERVE 24
Underground Wulfrun Creeper Black/Leopard Suede Office £95
CREEP CHIC OR FREAK? FREAK Design Tanya Yilmaz
Apollo Single Sole Black Leather Underground £89
NERVE MAGAZINE IS FREE*
RUNNER UP!
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“TO DIGEST IN SOME FINE QUALITY WRITING
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First off, a massive thank you to everyone that took part in the "Nerve Magazine is free" competition; we had some amazing entries that made it incredibly difficult to pick a winner. But congratulations to Kasey Kharkina, whose breathtaking and rather fetching Nerve dress stole the show. She’s not only got her outfit sorted, but she’ll also be the proud owner of a brand new Kindle Fire tablet PC for her efforts. As runners up, Jimmy Ryan and Felicity Adkins win a free ticket to ANY Old Fire Station event this term. Bravo gang!
OUR WINNER! N”
“TO WEAR TO THE OLD FIRESTATIO
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COMMENT
A sorry dilemma: why the Lib Dems should not apologise for the coalition.
I
t’s party conference season and the appetites of British politicos are voracious. All eyes have been on the Liberal Democrats who’ve recently concluded their annual conference in Brighton. The Times conducted a poll mid-conference and published the voting intentions of the public, which placed the Liberal Democrat support at 10%, less than half of the support they enjoyed before the 2010 election. This is reflective of a wider public opinion, which has placed the party in a precarious position. Especially with students, the Liberal Democrats’ reputation has suffered greatly since entering the coalition with the Conservatives. Many argue that the party have sold out their pre-election pledges, party standards and core ideology. By breaking their pledge not to raise tuition fees - which secured the student vote - and with the very public tug-of-war over Lords and boundary reform, the Lib Dems have alienated many of their voters, who have splintered across the political spectrum. This is not encouraging for the party, nor though, is it damning. Vocal unions, journalists and propagandists have already spelled out the end for the Liberal Democrats, predicting their damnation at the next election, expected in 2015. Though there is a media trend to dismiss the Liberal Democrats as the history of tomorrow, a lot can be said for the party’s credibility when proper attention is given. Scrutiny of the party’s term so far does not lend anyone the power to predict the future of the party, and as many strengths can be found as the weaknesses already grasped by the media. An encouraging, yet little publicised fact is that 75% of the Lib Dem manifesto made it into the coalition agreement. For a party who have spent years shaping a party ready for government; this is an incredible achievement also challenging the common assumption that the party ‘sold-out’ to the Tories. Furthermore, they have championed tax relief for those who need it most. 21 million people will
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receive tax cuts this year, with even more people to receive cuts up until the end of the parliamentary term. This is because the party has secured policy that lifts 2 million people out of tax entirely as the threshold increases to £10,000. The pupil premium will ensure that extra funding is given to disadvantaged children’s education, whilst the number of apprenticeship opportunities has increased by 63% under the coalition. The triple lock on pensions safeguards rises in pensions for the elderly and there have been a record number of new homes built. Civil liberties have been increasingly protected by the Liberal Democrats and post offices and green investment projects have been promoted and protected. That is quite a considerable amount to achieve in such a short time, though this does not entirely dispel the crisis of identity and the lack of trust that the party is afforded by the public. The tuition fee rise has tainted the party and weakened Clegg’s public appeal. His apology was not well received by students who feel betrayed by false promises. The truth is however, that the party has been the only one to protect fees. Ever. The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned against fees, but even before the coalition agreement, Clegg worried that it was an unaffordable policy. He was blocked from removing it by the internal policy committee and so it was made into policy, but as part of the coalition negotiations, had to be dropped. The lesson to be learned however, is that no policy is safe until initiated. Clegg should not have promised to protect fees, but the reality is that the party have still achieved a great deal in government. The Lib Dems need to regroup, commit support to their leader and identify their policies and their place on the political spectrum. Only then, once they have gained self-confidence, will they be rewarded with the confidence of the electorate. Clegg should stop apologising and start congratulating the party on its victories.
Words: John Gusman Communication & Media @johndavidgusman Illustration: Nathan Hackett AUCB Illustration Graduate
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The truth is however, the Lib Dems haVe been the only Party to protect fees. Ever
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HALLOWEEN SPECAL
TH THIS MON WE ASK..
IVE
URV S U O Y D WOUL R A HORRO MOVIE?
Q1
You’re on holiday with some friends when an old man informs you that the hotel you’re staying is haunted. You...
A Brag to your friends about how you slept with the old man’s missus, but sneak off to call your mum to hear her sweet, reassuring voice and tell her you love her. B Panic and hysterically try to convince your friends to leave. You know the deal - the weiner always dies in the end because they’re too busy sucking their thumb. C Laugh in his face and repeat what he said in a squeaky, ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ fashion. That’ll show him haunted houses belong in storybooks, not real life. D If clichés are anything to go by, that old dude is pretty damn serious, so you begin preparing your victorious one liners
Q2
You hear a loud, ominous noise coming from down the corridor. What do you do?
A Shotgun not investigating. The world’s not ready to depart with such a valuable asset such as yourself. B Launch yourself behind the sofa, cry into a cushion and update your Facebook status to: "OMG I’M IN THAT HOUSE ON THE ONE TREE HILL LOLZ." C Announce that it’s probably the wind, but go and investigate anyway because you’re ‘ard. D Stay put but call the emergency services. It could be nothing and there’s no point panicking... yet.
Q3
Your friend’s phone rings. The number is unknown. They reluctantly answer it and put it on speaker – all you hear is raspy, heavy breathing.
A Darth Vader? Mickey Rourke? Rod Stewart? Whoever this prankster is, it’s enough for you to slightly soil yourself. Jokes over guys! B Decide its just Liam Neeson checking up you haven’t been Taken AGAIN. C State that it’s probably just a mixed up line – there is a pretty bad storm outside, after all. D Listen carefully to his guttural noises and decide to head to the kitchen and equip yourself. Shit’s getting real now.
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Q4
Q4
Washing your face in the bathroom, you look up and see a masked figure in the reflection. When you turn around, it’s gone. What do you do?
A Near enough crap yourself, then repeatedly call out for the others. Where are they?! B React instinctively by screaming the Pyscho violin screech ‘EEH EEH EEH’ only to realise that mean’s you’re pretty much buggered. C Remember your training and scream out for Biggie Smalls 3 times. Biggie was chilling drinking peppermint schnapps though, so he’s pissed and he turns on you. Bollocks. D Check you’ve still got your weapon and stylishly dive for the exit. Time to make like a hero and get the fuck out of here!
Q5
You’re face to face with the masked man! Now’s the time to...
A Push your friend in front of you and leg it. You haven’t got to outrun the murderer remember - just your mate. B Fall to your knees and attempt reasoning with the lunatic. You’ve offered up your Casio watch and pet hamster Marvin thus far but grovelling is no use. The end is nigh... C Explain to the murderer your Dad works in investment banking, and he could offer a pay off and a luxury condo in Majorca. D Engage in a long and arduous final battle scene, climaxing in some high concept way to ending him. "The only way is to kill him is with his own gravestone - to the cemetery!"
Who Are You? Mostly A’s
You might have escaped for now, but there was no dignity to be seen anywhere in your survival. Watch out, cowards may avoid the 1st few movies, but at around the 3rd sequel – you’re toast.
Mostly B’s You’re really not cut out for this sort of thing are you? Unfortunately for you, the victims rarely survive when all you do is scream. Still, you were probably pretty popular, so you kinda won anyway. Mostly C’s Cockiness and logic have been your downfall, friend. Maybe if you paid a little more attention to those made up ghost stories and you might have survived! Mostly D’s
Congratulations! Remaining calm but careful has seen you through to your survival – just make sure you don’t go holidaying in creepy places anymore, your luck can always run out...
Words Victoria Richards and Toby Gray Design Toby Gray
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PHOTO OF THE MONTH
SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO photo@nervemedia.org.uk NERVE 30
METROPOLIS MICROCHIP By Rachael Sanders
"Taken from the top of the Empire State Building in New York City on an early summer’s evening. It almost looked like you were sitting inside the motherboard of a computer rather than in the middle of a big city." NERVE 31
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Feature
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For most of us here at Nerve, cartoons form a big chunk of our day. We just love them and everyone has a childhood favourite they can’t help but idolise. So we’ve joined forces and rallied the troops to take the best damn trip down memory lane you could ever dream of.
as he seemed to have more of
RULED, END OF.
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He’s not very well known, but I used to watch it every morning before school on Channel 5. He used to slide down a helter skelter to get out of his house. Poppy St Ledger
I used to rush home from school to watch it! GIRL POWER! Lauren Blackler-Hinks
He quite reminds me of one of my favourite science teachers, especially when he had a lighbulb moment. Fond memories! Joanna Poulton Design Toby Gray
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R E V I E W E D FIFA 2013
Credit: sitemarca
All Major Platforms 25/9/12, By Ben Tyrer
So, FIFA is back for yet another attempt at your wallet... Oh who are we kidding, you already own it and have spent all month investing in either the skill games, the ultimate team addiction or just blitzing the career mode. And if you haven’t, then you probably haven’t got plans to any time soon. Simply put, this year’s edition is more of the same, but better. Minor changes to both the game’s cosmetics – shinier menus and matches seem to have more unique animations than last year – and its engine ensures that for the converted, there’s more than enough to dig your teeth into until FIFA 14. Tiny irritations still remain and the new first touch system seems a bit too harsh, but FIFA remains the best football game of the generation.
Credit: Man Alive!
Mumford & Sons
Lucy Rose
The music of the title song, Babel elates you, and the lyrics carry such emotion. The beat, and the joyful ambience which exudes from the tracks practically force you to get involved, be it dancing, musing, or foot-tapping along. You immediately notice the depth of the lyrics, the spirituality, which is tangible in their music, and the pure enjoyment they so evidently have in playing and performing. With the fast paced energetic songs such as I Will Wait and Babel, it’s nice to mix up the tempo of the album with comparatively slower songs such as Holland Road and Not With Haste. The variety of emotions covered in the album, is something that is reflective, joyful, and just very, very beautiful. There is an affinity with the constant joy underlying each track, even if the songs have overtones of sadness. It’s true to life, and not overstated, nor hyperbolic.
Having been compared to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Laura Marling, Rose’s hushed and honeyed tones on her debut album Like I Used To see her come into her own on this beautifully pure debut. Opener Red Face dives into up-tempo percussion before swooping into her sweet and hazy singsong croon. Recent singles Bikes and Lines are edgier and more daring in their content. At times the percussion in the choruses can be overpowering, leaving you wishing for stripped back acoustics and raw vocal, which is exactly what First and Don’t you Worry do. Night Bus is possibly the albums highlight, a four minute story told as if watching her past self from a distance, embellished with such emotion and vulnerability. It’s not hard to see why this young songstress has nearly sold out her autumn tour and recently been signed to Atlantic records. Not bad for 23 years of age.
Babel 24/9/12, By Joanne Ball
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Like I Used To 24/9/12, By Laura Eley
ENTS
Grizzly Bear
Aiden Grimshaw
Shields 18/9/12, By Laura Eley
Pressured to create something of a masterpiece, this follow up fails to deliver much excitement as it half wallows, half skips its forlorn little way through 50 minutes of rose tinted melancholy. Where Veckatimest hit the spot for indie fans, with the timeless up-tempo pop jangles of Two Weeks and Smithsesque crooning on Ready, Able, Shields takes them in a new future direction, laden with smothering harmonies and toying with the psychedelic. If it weren’t for lead single Yet Again and its beautifully textured, shimmering percussion entwined with front man Edward Droste’s harmonies, along with A Simple Answer’s Arcade Fire tendencies, the album would career towards a state of despondence. By no means a bad effort, but worth the wait, we’re not so sure.
The Old Fire Station 23/9/12, By Joanne Ball
A hum of bass and synths pulsed through the Firestation adding to the excitement of the crowd as Aiden Grimshaw made his way on stage. Starting with Hold On, and working through the majority of the Misty Eye material with the performances not overshadowed by lights, special effects, or interesting crowd antics. The overall show was simplistic, and renegade, the focus being on Aiden’s distinctive voice rather than melodic compositions and musical showmanship. He split his original Misty Eye material, with his cover of Sia’s Breathe Me, and it was done beautifully. The night aptly finishing the set with Curtain Call, before coming back for a fun performance of "acoustic bollocks" - as his set list says; the entire band gathering at the fore of the stage for a final song, ending the set on a playful note.
Credit: Charlie Raven Photography
Mayday Parade
The Casual Vacancy
The Old Fire Station 12/10/12, By Joanne Ball
J.K Rowling 27/9/12, By Joanne Ball
A uniformity of "original" clothing, as well as an average age of sixteen could be seen at The Old Fire Station here. The audience got considerably older the close you got to the bar in fact. People - spotting aside, Mayday Parade, with support from The Summer Set, For the Foxes and The Natives was a lot of fun. They kicked off their set with Oh Well, starting slow, but quickly picking up pace and bass. Their songs spanned their whole discography, from Three Cheers, to Stay, which was played with just keyboard accompaniment; ceasing mosh pits, and holding the crowd in a revered silence. Stripped back music seemed to be somewhat a motif of the night The whole evening was packed with bags of energy, and high crowd interaction, creating a great atmosphere.
With the Potter phenomena, which catapulted the author to Literary Queen status, The Casual Vacancy engrosses you from first letter to last full stop. This is different. Chapters are shorter, and written quality is the same, if not deeper and more emotional than Harry Potter. It is not fantasy, but as with all stories, deals with human emotions and reactions to pivotal events. There is the raw emotion of Barry’s wife as she comes to terms with living without her husband. It at first seems odd that JK would curse, or write profanity, but that might be the Potter connotations she labours under. This is an adult book, so the language has grown up a bit. The way that JK tailors the diction of the characters reveals her skill as a writer; she encompasses the multiple personalities, and it really is an interesting read. Design Joshua Iredale and Alejandra Barbieri
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OBSESSED WITH
Illustration Isaac Hoar
So you can have a life, our trusty bird roams Twitter each month to bring you his pick of the action.
Permission granted, but all proceeds to @SheffChildrens please. @Nick_Clegg Our friend Nick Clegg reacts in good humour to the request to post his autotune version of ‘I’m Sorry’ on iTunes. Unfortunately, he didn’t get such a good reaction to the actual apology.
To an awful lot of people, now you understand why we couldn’t just get over it. @Phil_Thompson4 Former Liverpool defender and football legend echoes the pain behind the discoveries of the Hillsborough Independent Panel. Jimmy Saville did an incredible amount of charity work towards the end of his life, just to be sure he could shag Madeline McCann in heaven. @frankieboyle Renowned for his explicit tweeting, but this one really raised the "too far" card. It split onlookers and caused a lot of controversy, probably music to Boyle’s sickening ears.
A British Justice team will come to up to [their address] & give you [Black and Morgan] a...bit of drama by way of reminding you that an English couple’s home is their castle. Say No to heterophobia! @nickgriffinmp Nick Griffin’s unpalatable tweet encouraging BNP member’s to ‘demonstrate’ outside a gay couples house for winning a lawsuit against a Christian B&B for refusing them a joint room. As if this immoral breach of privacy rights wasn’t enough, he showed absolutely no remorse for the comment.
WTF Mitt Romney... :( @BIGBIRD After Mitt Romney declared his love for the iconic Sesame Street bird in the first US presidential debate, this parody account quickly vented his annoyance, leading to 53,000 retweets. NERVE 38
Guys brilliant news. You won’t have to wear condoms anymore, they’re bringing out a new contraception today. FIFA 13. @MarioBallotelli This explains the extraordinary drop in birth rates in July/August - everyone is too busy playing FIFA to make babies.
A good rule of thumb is to never be in Liam Neeson’s movie family. @SethMacfarlane The Family Guy creator notices that Christmas dinner must be awkward round Neeson’s house.
Best ways to embarrass daughter: #8 -Dance “Gangnam Style” in supermarket. @SteveCarell The dance craze that’s swept the nation now being demonstrated by one of comedy’s finest. Now, where’s the YouTube evidence?!
Wow!!!!!!! Did that just happen!!!!??? Unbelievable performance from all the boys today! Seve..... This one is for you!! #Europe @McilroyRory Mcilroy’s reaction to Europe’s incredible, unprecedented comeback in this year’s Ryder Cup. Trailing by 4 points going into the final day, Europe managed to win by just half a point.
Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president,
@KitchenAidUSA This controversial tweet shows exactly the price for over zealous posting on the micro blogging site. The tweet was intended to go to a personal account, but instead went out to nearly 27,000 followers and nearly destroyed a brand with a single click of a button.
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ENTS
BLOOD RED SHOES Laura-Mary from the band talks to Joshua Iredale about the US, Bournemouth and giving fans exactly what they want
F
rom one seaside town to another, Blood Red Shoes have swapped their hometown of Brighton to experience the atmosphere in Bournemouth. After releasing their 3rd studio album ‘In Turn to Voices’, Blood Red Shoes are back in the States, something that they have wanted to do for a long time. "We haven’t really been back since like 2010 so we sort of left it a while because we couldn’t get visas and stuff" Laura-Mary said, feeling quite impressed with the reaction after such a long break. "There has been a lot more people than last time. A lot of people have heard us from the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack. It’s been smaller shows than we obviously do in Europe but it’s been really cool, we’ve been to some really interesting places." "People in the US are quite vocal while we’re on stage which is always really cool. We like the interaction with the fans to show that they are enjoying it so that’s the thing we really love about the US. They are always up for it as soon as we start playing." It’s not all about America though, as the band cross the Atlantic Ocean and find themselves in
Bournemouth for the first gig in their European tour, they are just as excited. Laura admitted "We’ve never played in Bournemouth before" but she had been told good things about playing there. "I heard that it’s a really cool venue." Lined up alongside dates in London, Glasgow and Birmingham, Bournemouth seemed like a pretty unusual stop for the band. Being from Brighton, the pair were used to playing in a small seaside town, just not that far west. "We wanted to do somewhere a bit smaller, a smaller town that wasn’t Brighton" Laura-Mary explained. "I don’t even know how it ended up. We just thought that’s nice, let’s do that!" Unlike other bands who have grown in popularity, Blood Red Shoes do not want to forget about their early work, and they will be choosing a mix of songs from all three albums. Laura said they wanted to give the fans exactly what they want. "There’s nothing worse than going to a show and the band plays stuff that you maybe don’t know that well. Laura did admit however, that the new album was her favourite to produce and perform at gigs. Explaining this was more because of her and Steven’s optimistic attitude to
Words Joshua Iredale Design Emma Cheesman
“
They are always up for it as soon as we start playing
”
crafting songs and how it was "stressful because we had such strong ideas for every single sound that was going to be on this record. We keep wanting to improve every time. Production wise, it was quite stressful because we had such strong ideas for every single sound that was going to be on this record. It was good to have such a strong input in it, get what we want and try something different." As for the remainder of the year, the band are having no time to rest. With touring booked up until February, and recording to do in between, the band will not be stopping for a breather any time soon. "We like to be active. After touring that amount we will probably want some time off but more than a week or so and we start getting itchy feet. We’re such music geeks! We want to keep writing and do what we can." And who can blame them? With Blood Red Shoes growing more and more popular after every gig, we are bound to be hearing more material from the duo very soon. Blood Red Shoes were unable to perform at The Old Fire Station due to illness. A reschedule of the gig was in process at the time of going to print.
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SPORT
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W
hen you think of London 2012, rhythmic gymnastics is not a sport that immediately jumps to the forefront of your memory but the Olympic experience was just as incredible for the six-strong squad of gymnasts that represented Team GB in the capital earlier this year. This summer’s games were the first Olympics to see Team GB feature in the sport and while British rhythmic gymnastics made its way into history, one particular member of the team was busy paving her own way into the record books. Gibraltar-born Georgina Cassar became the first Gibraltarian Olympian when she performed for Team GB in London and the 19-year-old was understandably delighted to have entered national and sporting folklore. "I think London 2012 within gymnastics will always be remembered as the games that created history," said Cassar. "I was the first Gibraltarian ever to compete at an Olympics and was also part of the first rhythmic group to ever represent Great Britain at a games. It was incredible, amazing, unreal. There isn’t just one word to describe it. Having the home advantage really boosted my confidence and filled me with immense pride every time I stepped out with the union jack on my arm." However, simply making it to London was an achievement for the girls whose participation in the games was initially in serious threat when they failed to meet the target required to qualify for the event. A controversial appeal eventually ruled in their favour, and although Team GB’s squad finished last in the competition, Cassar remained positive about their achievements. "I feel honoured. To be part of such a successful Team GB is already such a privilege but to be part of the most
“
successful in history is just unbelievable. We went there not expecting to win any medals and we just wanted our country to be proud of us. The real highlight was being part of the greatest Team GB there ever was. We all have a special connection and nobody can ever take that away from us." Yet for a sport that was relatively unknown amongst the public before the games, the real challenge for Cassar and her teammates was to drum a real tangible interest in a sport that has been overshadowed by the domineering Olympic events in recent times. Cassar was left pleasantly surprised about the level of excitement that rhythmic gymnastics was able to attract. "The British public definitely surprised me with the level of their enthusiasm and support for our sport as we know it isn’t the most popular. I definitely think we’ve managed to raise the profile of our event and that was what we set out to do. So many people know about us now and understand our beautiful sport. I do hope we’ve ‘inspired a generation’ to continue our legacy in Rio." Despite these successes, the future of British Rhythmic Gymnastics is looking bleak. The team has always suffered with a lack of funding and after self-financing their way to London 2012, Cassar revealed she was unsure about what the future held for the girls after the team split up. "I’d to like to tell you we’d be competing in future games, but for now we’ve split up as a group to continue our education. I intend to finish my A Levels finally and then go for the 2014 Commonwealth Games for Gibraltar." "But fingers crossed, British Rhythmic Gymnastics will go on to win medals."
The real highlight was being part of the greatest Team GB there ever was
”
Words Craig Rodhouse Design Joe Tattersall
NERVE 41
SPORT
Words Daniel Welling Design Joe Tattersall
NERVE 42
T
here are very few things in life that unite football fans across the world. One is everyone involuntarily laughs when the referee or linesman falls over. Another is whenever there is a 50/50 call that goes against your team; it is absolutely the wrong decision. And the third is that everybody knows the FIFA world rankings are a complete joke. Now in its 20th anniversary, football’s official list of the best teams in the world have always thrown up some curious and frankly shambolic entities – even after its re-structuring in 2006. The most famous of these were Norway coming second in the rankings in 1995 despite not qualifying for Euro 96 and USA coming into the 2006 World Cup as the fourth best side in the world ahead of Spain, Netherlands and Italy. Today, they continue to dumbfound even the most knowledgeable fan. A look at the current rankings sees Brazil at an all-time low in 14th place behind Croatia, France and Greece. I think we all know we would back the Samba kings if they faced any of those sides. European finalists Italy are in sixth place behind Portugal, Uruguay and - amazingly -
England who despite failing to reach a major semi-final in 16 years find themselves in fifth. Only a month ago they were in their all-time highest position, third. Even we aren’t that deluded to think we are better than Argentina and Holland. No wonder the jokes continue to fly in. Yes, FIFA do currently have Spain at the summit but even they would find it difficult to not drop the side who has won the last three major competitions they have played in at the top. So why are the rankings so troublesome? Essentially, they use a formula that takes into account whether a team wins, loses or draws, added to how important the match is, the strength of the opposition and where they are from over a four year period to create a points score for every side each time they play. The premise was to stop teams flying up the rankings after a one-hit wonder result or tournament and rank teams over a gradual period. In practise, as we have seen, this is folly. Sides like England who are good enough to win their games in the qualification rounds and avoid defeat in friendlies rack up the ‘meaningless’ points which give them a solid plat-
form until the major tournaments. Since you usually only have to lose one match in a tournament to go out, one loss at the most important time won’t affect the points you’ve already gained in qualification. Credit to England for progressing through qualification reasonably comfortably since 2008 as poor rounds in qualifying have now cost sides like France and Italy a good ranking. This method also badly affects host nations. Since they no longer have to play qualification games they miss out on potentially a lot of points. This sees their ranking plummet and by the time competition comes around, they normally are far below their actual ability would suggest. This curse badly affected South Africa, Poland and Ukraine who were thrown into difficult qualification groups for the next global tournament. This side effect could explain why Brazil are slowly sliding down the list which they were perennial top five contenders just two years ago. Other sports such as golf and tennis have also churned out a couple of anomalies and are not immune to criticism themselves. World number ones who haven’t won majors and inactivity punished by a huge drop in ranking are the major bug-bears of these ranking systems. At the same time, their lists are flexible enough to have quickly put people like Tiger Woods and Serena Williams back up into higher echelons where they belong once they start winning again and conversely drop people like Caroline Wozniacki and Paul Casey when they stop winning the minor tournaments. For the FIFA rankings, they have no such luxury with a four year calculation period.
There is some hope in the form of the rival operating system, ‘Elo’. Adopted in 1997 in a direct attempt to explain the curious results of FIFA’s efforts, Elo uses an even more complicated formula than its ‘superior’ but in essence takes the results of a team’s last 30 ‘A’ matches and assigns a cumulative points number to those results. It still has some anomalies such as Mexico being ahead of Italy and Colombia ahead of Sweden, Russia and France but in terms of the top eight, it certainly ‘looks’ a lot more accurate than FIFA. Spain and Brazil are the top two with Germany and Argentina close behind. England, Holland, Portugal and Uruguay make up the rest and as much as we can write off England at major tournaments, we still can claim to be a top eight national side. The problem for the Elo rankings is that only hardcore football fans know they exist and because FIFA is what it is, all the news generated by football world rankings is dominated by them. All jokes aside, it’s important for the integrity of football that their official world rankings ‘look’ right at a glance. Today even a casual fan in China looking at the rankings would raise an eyebrow as to why Brazil in particular are so low and sides like England and Croatia are so high. Two years before they host the World Cup, the greatest international name in the sport is its lowest ebb in terms of ranking all because of a technical flaw in their governing body’s system. Teams shouldn’t be punished for hosting the most watched sporting tournament in the world and that’s no laughing matter. NERVE 43
SPORT
F
or a sport that has only been in existence for two years at Bournemouth University, the accomplishment of playing their first varsity match of the season is some achievement. Both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams have become the newest members of Bournemouth’s varsity programme and will embark on their debut season in the Western 2A division alongside Universities such as UWE and Southampton. For most teams this would be a daunting challenge, but as Dom Garcia explains, although the squad are novices to varsity they are not unfamiliar to competition. "When I first signed up there were hushed whispers of it being a possibility." said Garcia. "Unusually for a university team, we competed in a Saturday league last year and came up against a mixture of well-established and very good city teams such as Bath and Swansea, right through to start-up teams made up primarily of lacrosse novices like ourselves." "I think realistically if we had not had the successes we did last year it may have been hard to justify. But luckily, the men’s team managed to have a very good season, finishing fourth in our league and reaching the semi-finals of the cup." Such is the nature of societies, which is what the team was 12 months ago. Garcia was a complete novice to the sport a year ago but now finds himself as a first team regular. "Truth be told I didn’t actively search out lacrosse as a sport to play, I kind of stumbled across it. I was invited along by a friend of mine
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last year to the try outs ‘for a laugh’ and just completely got the bug for the sport." "It’s a fast paced, 10 aside game. It’s difficult to explain without comparing it to other sports really, you play on a football-sized pitch divided into thirds, the team is set up similar to basketball and the tackling is comparable to ice hockey." Most debutants to the grand scheme of varsity sport would be happy to just grab a win or two from ten games at least and then build on that for next season. Garcia, being the confident individual that he is, is looking for much more than that following a string of promising performances and new signings on and off the pitch. "We are more than ready. After a successful first year under (ex-captain) Ben Piper, we have managed to hold on to a solid core of players and have already made some great new additions to the team." "Probably our biggest step forward this year however has to be the involvement of a guy called Peter Short, a former US lacrosse pro who is now on board as our coach." "With his help and how easy it is to pick up the sport, there is no reason why we can’t be even more successful this coming season." "Realistic expectations are difficult when you know what your team is capable of. But thinking with a level head, I do think we stand a good chance of finishing in the top three in the league and a very good chance of reaching the cup final." "I’m nothing if not an optimist." Words Daniel Welling Design Joe Tattersall
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NERVE SPORT TALKS TO AFCB KEEPER From Exeter to Abu Dhabi and now onto Bournemouth, former England goalkeeper David James talks to Nerve about his 26th year as a professional footballer, his inspiration to sign for the Cherries and the current progress of his foundation Words Oscar Tollast
I
didn’t expect to literally have to get on my knees to speak to AFC Bournemouth’s new number one, David James, but that’s exactly what happened. Meeting in the Cherries’ pre-match warm-up room at the Goldsands Stadium, a lack of chairs and David’s desire to sit down meant I was floor bound. We begin our chat with David summing up his move to the Cherries in one word: ‘strange’. Despite not officially retiring, David started the season without a club, commentating on Premier League football from Abu Dhabi, UAE. David’s contract at Bristol City ran out at the end of last season so he tasked his agent to find him a new club but on his terms. "It wasn’t a desperation to get back into the game, as much as I love it and have been playing for I think 26 years now, which is longer than most of the changing room." After receiving a number of offers, which were not really suitable for one reason or another, he wanted a new club where he wouldn’t have to relocate on his own without his family. David began training with Exeter City earlier this summer, which would last for five weeks. He was grateful for the opportunity to do a bit of goalkeeping work and keep fit but David had a realisation during his recent punditry work. "I was with a friend of mine and I said, ‘this feels like I’ve retired.’" A few days later a call came from David’s agent, asking what he thought about a move to AFC Bournemouth. The club is about 90 miles away from his home, but still presents a shorter commute than during his time at Portsmouth. The connections he made at Fratton Park influenced his decision to sign on at Dean Court, particularly midfielder Richard Hughes. "He told me about the setup of the club, the playing staff and everything. He already whet my appetite in a lot of senses." Hughes came out of retirement to return to the Cherries for a second spell earlier this summer. "As ironic it may be, his sort of coming out of retirement was a bit of an inspiration for me." The midfielder had returned after being out for an 18-month spell, suddenly putting David’s five-week absence in perspective. In his first week, David arrived on Thursday 27th September, trained on Friday and played on Saturday, "just the way to do it," according to the 42-year-old. Not even a week had passed at the club before manager Paul Groves parted company with the Cherries after a 3-1 defeat to
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Crawley Town. The move to Bournemouth had suddenly become even stranger. David has a good relationship with "Grovesy" after working together at Portsmouth but fans had been calling for the sack of Groves for a number of games, leading to a post-match demonstration outside the club entrance following David’s debut. But did players notice the terrace talk? "It’s audible. You’re going to hear it. The political side of the club, I don’t know. I didn’t do the due diligence. In 24 hours, there wasn’t enough time to do that. I know what I can give to the club with regards to playing. If I saw a manager I wasn’t happy with then it is a long way to come to not like someone." David understands the fans’ frustrations, but like many footballers before him, confirms success isn’t instantaneous. Speaking to fans through his Twitter account allows David to empathise with them a lot more. "It’s a different place for me because before I was quite separated from everyone. I’d play the game and go home. I didn’t really involve myself with anyone beyond that." Describing the club’s facilities as better than his most recent previous clubs, Bristol City and Portsmouth, David has no concerns about the club being ‘capable of achieving stuff,’ but what would ‘achieving’ be come the end of the season? "Achieving would be top end of the table and fighting for either play-offs or for even straight promotion. It’s early in the season and there’s loads to be gained." Off the field, David has his own foundation – named after himself – which is an agricultural education setup in Malawi. Established in 2007, a number of street kids and orphans from Blantyre live on the farm site, which educates them alongside farm groups and communities to understand better agricultural techniques. The
initiative frees up more time for people to learn vocational skills and receive a better education "It’s proven we’ve had success and the education they get gives them a better harvest. A better harvest means less chance of starvation. Just to bore you with detail, there is more rainfall in Malawi per annum than there is in Devon. The problem is how it rains. In Devon it comes down quite regularly but in Malawi it comes down in big tranches!" During his summer limbo of not officially retiring but not having a club to play for, David reveals he planned to focus a lot of his time on his foundation. "Pre-signing to Bournemouth I was looking at skydiving and doing all these mad things to raise funds, but although I didn’t look at the contract completely, I don’t think I’m allowed to [do these things now]!" David can’t deny his vast amount of experience will be helpful to the club’s younger players. "I’ve got to watch myself because I sound like the old man (laughs)." His two-year spell at Bristol City provided David with his "biggest learning curve", as he came to terms with no longer being a Premier League player. "Now I’m at Bournemouth, I’m speaking as a player who hasn’t played in the Premier League for a couple of years and going through my coaching badges – which I think is possibly the biggest influence – [I’m] recognising football isn’t just the Premier League." David has 53 caps for England, is an FA Cup winner with Portsmouth, a League Cup winner with Liverpool and holds the Premier League record for most clean sheets, with 173 but there is one thing he’s never done. "Promotion is the only way you can define success in football, if you’re not in the Premier League." His career has outlived many other professional footballers’, but what keeps him playing? "There’s three criteria: (1) physically being able to do something (2) mentally [able] and (3) whether someone wants you to do something for them. The third box had been left vacant in Abu-Dhabi." David has signed with the Cherries until the end of the season. But can we expect him to hang up his gloves anytime soon? "I’m properly conditioned into football and if I can [continue to] do it, [I’ll] just carry on doing it."
Photo Mick Cunningham NERVE 47
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THE VACCINES The four piece London band who have been dubbed as the saviours of guitar rock are back to wage war on the mainstream music chart. Arni from the band talks to James Hibberd about their journey to conquer all
W
ith a charttopping second album, countless festival appearances, and an upcoming headline date at the O2 Arena, the Vaccines are certainly blowing up right now. Almost as soon as they had finished uploading the demo of ‘If You Wanna’ back in August 2010, they were tipped for huge things, quickly
ENTS
developing a fan base that included such star-studded names as Zane Lowe and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. Justin Young, Freddie Cowan, Pete Robertson and Arni Arnason were thrust into the media spotlight, and burdened with the mammoth task of saving guitar music and turning the tide of manufactured pop that threatened to swallow up the charts. No small task, especially for a band so inexperienced and recently thrown together.
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I don’t think there’s anything indie about the Vaccines Three years since the Vaccines were born, Arni, the longhaired Icelandic bassist, is amazed they have now bagged their very own No.1. The band were recording a new B-side in America when the news filtered through that they had beaten their good friends Two Door Cinema Club to the top spot. "We wouldn’t have been upset if we hadn’t got it, but it felt very affirming to have one", he says. "It wasn’t an ambition when we started, but as you grow, your ambitions grow." The latest album Come of Age is a very different beast to their debut, What Would You Expect From the Vaccines? and Arni believes that the sheer amount of time the band has spent together touring almost constantly has brought about the change. " Two years on the road makes you a better unit, and the understanding of each other becomes more intrinsic", he explains. "We were friends that played music together on the first album, and we were a gang that had to play music together for the second. We allowed ourselves to be individuals a lot more and I think it’s a lot more representative of who we are." Arni himself is inspired by his roots back in Iceland more than anything else. "I’m very influenced by people who have been at the forefront of Icelandic music for years. People in Britain wouldn’t have heard of them, but they mean the world to me." he says. Yet, he says that he feels more out of place in Iceland than he does in his adopted home of the UK, feeling a particularly strong connection with Glasgow, saying, "There’s something about the Scottish that makes me weak at the knees!"
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But how does he feel about being one of the leaders of the guitar revolution? Other members of the Vaccines have been outspoken about their competition in the chart battles, with Freddie allegedly claiming that Rihanna isn’t an artist, and slamming popular music for being ‘misogynistic bullshit’. Arni takes a more relaxed view, and argues that Freddie’s comments were a "sound bite taken out of context." He does agree that pop music has become bland though. "I think production values have become more monotonous lately than they have been, ever, but that’s in no way a slight against any particular artist," he says. In defence of the genre, he points out: "There is still a lot of amazing pop music around and I think what makes it interesting is that after all this time there are still songs that can be considered great. That’s what makes pop music valid and vital." The Vaccines themselves would rather be talked about in the same breath as pop stars such as Rihanna, than being classed as another indie band, a term that Arni doesn’t believe fits them. "I don’t think there’s anything indie about the Vaccines. We defy the first fundamental characteristic of an indie artist by being signed to a major label", he says. The pop aspect to the Vaccines is something they have never shied away from, believing that art should be mixed with entertainment in equal measure. You’ll never find them making pretentious 10-minute long tracks about vague concepts, because that’s not what the majority of people want to hear, and that might just be the key to their success. "The entertainment aspect of our
Will The Vaccines be taking advantage of Bournemouth’s lively nightlife after a long and stressful tour? "Absolutely." Looking even further ahead, the band will head off to Australia, South East Asia and then the USA, before preparations for a third studio album will begin. Not forgetting of course, their huge date headlining the O2 Arena in May. Asking Arni about that, he laughs before saying, "Remember what I said earlier about the fact that it’s important to stay in touch with what you’re doing today and tomorrow? The idea of doing the O2 Arena scares the life out of me, but it’s pretty exciting." The arena might not scare them so much, they have supported Arctic Monkeys there, but being the main act on such a large stage is certainly a daunting prospect. Arni is optimistic though: "We’ve been putting together the support bill, and it’s very fun to be able to put together a bill of bands that you love and adore. It’s going to be a great night, and a fantastic array of amazing music." The Vaccines will appear at the O2 Academy Bournemouth on 30th November.
WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE Impress Arni and your mates with your Icelandic language skills! Hello - Hallo Goodbye - Bless Thank you - Takk fyrir I’m sorry, I don’t speak Icelandic - pví miour, ég tala ekki íslensku Where is the toilet? - Hvar er klósettio? Where is the clean toilet? - Hvar er hreint klósettio? I love the Vaccines! - Ég elska the Vaccines! I am not a fan of Andre Villas Boas’ managing style - Ég er ekki a aodáandi af stjórnun stíl Andre Villas Boas
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The cliché that gigs get better the further north you go is disproved by the south coast
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music is something that we hold very highly. We call ourselves pop, and that’s what we enjoy with music." Call them what you want, but one accusation that could never be made of the Vaccines is that they are lazy. Recording two albums, while having an almost perpetually full schedule of gigs, festival appearances and support slots is an impressive fact by itself. Must be pretty tiring though, right? "It’s not really, because you just get on with it. I think it’s important to stay in contact with what’s going on right now, as opposed to what’s going on in two months time. If you pick up the schedule and you start looking at what’s actually going to be going on, you’ll go crazy." The band head off to Europe to start their tour, passing through Belgium, France and Germany before a mini homecoming tour of Scandinavia for Arni, where, according to him, "everything is beautiful: the countries, the women, the people." Then it’s back to the UK for him and the boys, with Bournemouth marking the final leg of the UK section on the 30th November. He is particularly looking forward to it, as he says, "The cliché that gigs get better the further north you go is disproved by the south coast. We always have such an incredible time down here."
Words James Hibberd Design Joshua Iredale NERVE 51
Q& A
In just 5 minutes, we asked Arni the most important questions of life. Prepare to be enlightened.
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Oh Man I love cheese! You can never go wrong with a good cheddar
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You’ve appeared on Soccer AM twice now, who out of the band is the best at football? Justin. I’m really sorry to say that, he doesn’t need to hear it, but I think there’s no dispute.
You’re a Spurs fan, what are your predictions for this season? I certainly hope André Villas-Boas will manage to keep it together this season. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that Spurs may not finish in the top 4. I don’t think it’s going to happen, I think we’ll be slightly below that, I predict 5th.
Favourite restaurant? Wow...um...I can do this...(long pause)
How about style of food then? Ah, OK! My favourite cuisine is either Mexican or full-blown Texas BBQ stuff. Loads and loads and loads of meat. I went to an amazing place in Colorado called the Buckhorn Exchange and they served us loads of meat including something called Rocky Mountain oysters. Do you know what that is?
No idea!
Favourite film?
That is deep fried buffalo testicles! You’d be surprised, it’s actually edible. Doesn’t sound nice, but it is.
Of all time? Let’s say...Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Favourite cheese?
Why? I’m a big Hunter S. Thompson fan and I saw FaLiLV as a teenager, and I absolutely loved it. It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen, and that made me think of the Hunter S. Thompson book. Years later, I’ve read every single thing he’s put on paper so Fear and Loathing has had a bigger influence on me than just being a two-hour film.
Oh man, I love cheese! You can never go wrong with a good Cheddar, it’ll go well with anything. It’s not necessarily my favourite cheese, but it is the one I eat the most. I eat it like 3 times a day.
Favourite Icelandic musician other than yourself? (laughs) Wow! I’d say Einar Örn who used to sing in the Sugarcubes. He’s also got a band now called Ghostigital, who are literally mental. They’re brilliant.
ARE YOU A
GRAMMAR NAZI? Do you use your freakishly strong knowledge of grammar to incessantly judge every wrong usage? Are you prepared and even excited by the chance to correct those poor, pathetic fools on their dirty habits?
Our handy guide will clarify once and for all whether you’re a grammar guru, or a bumbling word numpty. Ever get a severe case of superiority complex for correcting someone’s grammar?
START
Nah, my gift is to be shared, gloating is for wannabes.
Hell yeah, someones gotta’ teach those heathens!
Do you feel it’s necessary to correct misspellings with a ‘*’ on online messaging? People that do that should die.
It would be rude if I didn’t...
I just had steak, chips and beer.
You had chips in beer? INCORRECT USE OF THE OXFORD COMMA.
"I don’t know if I’ll get drunk tonight." – Spot the mistake. That’ll be ‘whether’ instead of ‘if’ as it expresses a condition of 2 or more alternatives, stupid.
Do you ever get annoyed when people put emphasis on the wrong word?
If I just lay here... Pesky transitive verbs – try ‘lie’ here boys.
Yeah, there simple, only idiots get them wrong!
Buh – grammar 101.
Have you ever read (and/ or religiously studied) The Elements of Style by Strunk and White?
Only cover-tocover 15 times.
No, why would that annoy me?
I WANT IN.
Do you know the difference between their, there, and they’re?
They’re questioning it?
(Shudder)
WILL YOU LAY WITH ME! Ahh I love Snow Patrol.
Do you give a flying fuck about grammar? I dabble.
I’m halfway through I swear!
Y wuld i?
DICTATOR
PROFESSOR
PUNTER
PEASANT
Hail the almighty! Not only do you have an impeccable and somewhat creepy knowledge of all things grammar, you’ve committed to being a complete dick about it as well. Your mission to cleanse the pen filth that runs wild is a noble one, but you do realize nobody likes you right?
You are wise beyond your years and hold many an honour in the field of grammatology. This said, your esteemed status hasn’t heeded your insatiable desire to sit up all night on online forums debating the correct usage of the word ‘nor’ with a troll from Leicester.
Not bad. You know your stuff but you’re not one to throw it in anyone’s face. Sure you may not be clued up on the ins and outs of an auxiliary verb or the complete works of Aelius Donatus but you somehow manage to carry on living your life. You trooper.
Well let’s look at the positives; you’re not a Grammar Nazi. Not even close. On the downside though, we’ve got a feeling a caveman could out punctuate you. You can defend yourself as much as you want with, "it’s okay I’m more of a spoken communicator", but just don’t write that down.
Words & Design Toby Gray Illustration Jack Carrington
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If you’re moosively into your indie rock and reasonably priced drinks, with a few outrageous puns thrown in for good luck, then Milk is moore than your cup of extra creamy tea!
PLAYLIST Take A Walk Passion Pit Elephants Them Crooked Vultures Reunion The XX Handshake Two Door Cinema Club Mind Mischief Tame Impala NERVE 54
WIN!
WINNER WINNER BEEF DINNER
1st person to spot themselves on this page and tweet or Facebook comment us "I saw myself @MilkBournemouth in @NerveMagazine #Iwantfreemilk" will win a free t-shirt and free entry! The next 2 will also win free entry!
This month’s best Milk competition was to distinguish what artists these chopped up album covers belong to. Tip: they each headlined a popular festival over the summer of 2012. Can you name all of them? Design Joanna Poulton
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ILLUSTRATION BY BECKY HILL
hillustration.tumblr.com NERVE 56
COMMENT
Silencing the bird: Just how much of an open platform is Twitter?
A
fter its launch in July 2006, Twitter has picked up momentum amongst celebrities and the public on a mind-boggling scale. With over 465 million accounts worldwide, and 11 accounts added per second, Twitter is on course for making the history books. With the dominance of the social network site, the question now comes into play; how much of an open platform is Twitter? Many users see Twitter as a place to express their thoughts but tweets are beginning to carry more weight. The most documented example of this here in the UK has been dubbed the Twitter Joke Trial. On January 6th 2010 after weather related disruptions at airports, Paul Chambers tweeted, "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!" Following this tweet, an off duty manager notified the police and Mr Chambers was arrested by anti terror police. His personal possessions were confiscated, he lost his job and he was charged with "sending a public electronic message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character contrary to the Communications Act 2003". Only last month was Chambers cleared of the charges. As twitter users, it now seems awareness has to be placed on accountability and responsibility for tweets. Things that may have been intended as a joke stand up as evidence in the court of law. Mr Chambers appealed the charges and was backed by Stephen Fry, but it took two years for the conviction to be quashed. Another case which brought about a conviction was Tom Daley vs. @Rileyy_69. In the midst of Olympic fever, @Rileyy_69 tweeted Tom Daley : "you let your dad down I hope you know that". This took place after Tom competed in the synchronised swimming on July 30th, with Pete Waterfield, narrowly missing out on a medal. Tom Daley retweeted the tweet adding, "After giving it my all, you get idiot’s sending me this." Following the tweets, a 17-year-old boy was arrested at a
guest house in the Weymouth area on suspicion of malicious communications. Twitter offences should have twitter consequences, but these have to be made clearer. Twitter is presented as an open platform for discussion and communication; therefore users need to be made aware of the restrictions that are placed upon them. Of the 175 million tweets a day, not all can said to be positive, does this mean Twitter will eventually become regulated or less open? Or will Joe Bloggs be free to report negative tweets made against him to the police? It would seem that celebrities could use the openness of twitter to their advantage, as a place to be unrestricted. In a recent article written by Forbes, Rihanna tops the list of social networking superstars. Rihanna uses twitter to boost her profile and album sales, bridging that all important gap between artist and fans. The proof of that is her album Talk That Talk went back to number one after trending worldwide in August, 9 months after original release. As Twitter is so open, celebrities do have the added hassle of fake accounts, one of these accounts caused a stir once again during the Olympics. A user by the name of @RobertJRDowney tweeted "China has really impressed me in the Olympics. They use the same person for every event. Despite the fact the user acknowledges "I am NOT Robert Downey Jr. – this is a parody account", the tweet was retweeted thousands of times on the basis that people believed it was the real Robert Downey Jr. In cases like this celebrities could be within their rights to take the owners of ‘fake acounts’ to court and press charges for slander. For the most part, Twitter is a place for users to express themselves openly and without inhibition. Due to its vast growth over the years it has become more powerful and a source of information in its own right. With high profile cases hitting newsstands, users need to be more aware of the responsibility that comes with each tweet.
Words: LaTeesha Osborne Communication & Media Illustration: Nathan Hackett AUCB Illustration Graduate
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Twitter offences should have twitter consequences, but these have to be made clearer
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Something
to say?
Get your opinions published by sending your thoughts to apply@ nervemedia.org.uk NERVE 57
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Instead of the cliché monsters we expect every October 31st, how about dressing up as a 21st century scare? Check out our top 5…
TRULY SCARY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES 5
Natural Disasters Why?
Tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and volcanoes are unpredictable, destructive, powerful and unpreventable - which is why these natural disasters could make for the most fearsome Halloween fancy dress. This outfit could be the hardest but effectively, could look the most impressive.
Costume
Seeing as there are too many choices, tornado makes the cut for this outfit. Firstly, wear grey clothing – you need to blend in with the materials you’ll be using. Secondly, get some brass wire from a hardware shop and start to make a coil outline that you can fit in the middle of. Finally, spray cotton wool with grey spray paint and weave it through the brass wire. Slip the costume on, and before you know it people will either run away or start calling you twister.
4
Nuclear War Why?
America, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Britain all have one thing in
common; nuclear weapons. That’s a lot of nuclear power on one planet, and none of us want a repeat of Hiroshima – which is why this concept is one of the most frightening on this list.
Costume
To put an image in your head, think of the Simpsons power plant where Homer works. Get a cardboard box and flatten it, draw out your power plant outline, paint it grey and add on any extra details with a black marker, cut it out, pull some string through on either side so it can rest on your shoulders and voilá! You are now a nuclear power plant.
3
Vladimir Putin Why?
This issue is up for debate, but I think I’m pretty safe in saying that the fact that this man was elected as the Russian President is not only truly scary, but truly terrifying. Conspiracies and his hatred towards the West may be off the record, but I think he’s serious contender
FEATURE
Words: Jodie Mcewan Illustration: Isaac Hoar
for alternative Halloween costumes.
Costume
It’s pretty easy too, all you have to do is get a cheap suit from a charity shop (he is a president after all and needs to look top notch) and then buy a Putin face mask – or alternatively, Google image Putin face mask, print the right size and cut it out, pull through some string and it’s that simple!
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Recession Why?
Recession equals depression. But in case anyone reading this isn’t quite sure why this is a truly scary issue, then let me put it simply. People/countries/ businesses need money – the banks grant loans – the banks go into billions of pounds of debt – the country economically collapses – we’re all left eating Tesco Value lasagne.
Costume
So now I’ve got that clear, what kind of costume could scream out this issue? Well, how about one shop logo that we all miss dearly as a result of the recession, Woolworths aka. Woolies. Dress up in white clothing and smother yourself in ‘Sold by Woolworths’ tape – and just to make it easier for you, I’ve found it on eBay for £1.99, so get on it. Search ‘Sold by Woolworths tape’ on eBay, and Bob’s your recession-ridden Uncle.
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Global warming Why?
It’s an issue that affects everything and everyone on a world-wide scale – we all know about it, we all hear about it and it’s one of the scariest issues on today’s radar.
Costume
If you have any crazy costumes for this Halloween tweet us your top 5 at @NerveMagazine. See you next month!
So how can we turn this problem into a truly scary Halloween costume? Well how about tapping into your creative side and going back to primary school where nothing did it better than paper mache? Create a hollow paper mache earth (you can find instructions on planetpals.com) that you can slide into, put an empty ice pack on your head and stick a thermometer in your mouth – job done.
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