The Red Bulletin September 2019 (UK)

UK EDITION
SEPTEMBER 2019, £3.50
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The culture-shifting artists redefining the city’s sounds

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EDITOR’S LETTER
BRINGING
THE FRESH
In our cover feature (page 40), drag artist Victoria
Sin makes a statement worth repeating: “Not
only do we need our own spaces, but when we
get together we start creating our own culture,
and that’s beautiful.” This philosophy applies to
all 10 of our cover stars – artists who have, in
some way, been shaped by London and who are,
in turn, redefining the city. This month, they’ll be
playing at London’s first Red Bull Music Festival,
a celebration of its cultural diversity, progressive
values and ever-evolving soundscape.
Culture’s malleability to fresh interpretation is
everywhere this issue. At the US Sumo (page 52),
a centuries-old Japanese art form is opening up
to international competitors; flat-track rider Leah
Tokelove (page 30) is laying the groundwork for a
gender-irrelevant playing field; and, as our piece
on the birth of rave (page 32) shows, all it takes is
one fine summer to ignite a cultural revolution.
CONTRIBUTORS
THIS ISSUE
JOHNNY
LANGENHEIM
The British writer/filmmaker
travelled to the far north of
Vietnam with BASE jumper
Tim Howell to document his
attempt to pull off the
country’s first-ever wingsuit
jump. “I’m always interested
in people who live on the
margins,” says Langenheim,
“and Howell is exactly that
– tough, independent and
resourceful.” Page 66
RACHAEL SIGEE
The London-based pop
culture writer is experienced
at interviewing talented
people, but doing so at an
event as busy as our cover
shoot still provided a few
surprises. “What stood out
were the opportunities and
the inclusivity of London's
music scene,” says Sigee.
“All these artists are doing
something totally different,
but they’ve found or made
their own space to express
themselves.” Page 40
Wall of sound: London-based photographer Edd Horder
shoots 10 of the stars of Red Bull Music Festival London
for this issue’s cover feature. Page 40
EDD HORDER (COVER)
06 THE RED BULLETIN

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CONTENTS
September 2019
Leap into the unknown: BASE jumper Tim Howell searches for a launch point in Vietnam
JAMES CARNEGIE
10 Rockin’ in the freeride world:
a sequenced shot in the scorched
landscape of Utah
12 Catching a break: an encounter
with the Antipodean force of
nature known as ‘The Right’
14 Sharp contrast: a BMX image that
puts others in the shade
17 Drop zone: drum-and-bass dons
Chase & Status share four
groundbreaking jungle tunes
18 Curtiss Motorcycles: reinventing
the bike, not just the wheel
20 Call him Mr Marvel: the origin
story of comic-book god Stan Lee
22 China’s Mars Base One: all the
thrills of the red planet without the
risks (if you don’t count pollution)
24 Brad Pitt &
Leonardo DiCaprio
A lesson in longevity from two
Hollywood heavyweights
28 Nick Ashley-Cooper
The earl of endurance talks
adversity and how to survive it
30 Leah Tokelove
The ‘hooligan with pigtails’ who’s
blazing a trail in flat-track racing
32 Birth of rave
Snapshots from the
‘Second Summer of Love’
40 Red Bull
Music Festival
Meet the London artists shaping
the sound of the city and beyond
52 Sumo
Not just big in Japan: the age-old
form of wrestling goes global
66 BASE jumping
Winging it in rural Vietnam
75 Equipment: the most desirable
gear around, from a deep diver’s
watch to a cool credit card and
the smartest of glasses
86 Lure of the wild: join the Kenyan
safari where there’s a photo op
around every turn and you might
get peed on by a lion (optional)
90 Less fitness tracker than fitness
tractor, Tom Kemp’s farm-based
exercise regime is the ultimate
outdoor workout
91 Thinking outside the sandbox:
what Minecraft can teach us
about our planet
92 Essential dates for your calendar
94 This month’s highlights on
Red Bull TV
95 The freewheeling stars of
Red Bull Soapbox 2019
98 Rotor city: ’copter tricks in the
skies of New York
THE RED BULLETIN 09

CAINEVILLE, UTAH
Brand
New
Ancients
Sequence photography is an
increasingly popular art form in the
world of freeriding, but few shots
have ever managed to capture a ride
quite like this one. Taken in Caineville,
Utah, by photographer Chris Tedesco,
it captures X Games winner and pro
rider Tom Parsons in his element.
“I think it’s the combination of the
epic, ancient landscape with the
quality action that makes this shot
so special; the amount of time those
rocks have been there, contrasted
with the in-the-moment energy of the
rider,” says Tedesco. The photo was
nominated for Red Bull Illume’s ‘Best
of Instagram’ category in February.
Instagram: @tedescophoto
CHRIS TEDESCO

11

REN MCGANN

WESTERN
AUSTRALIA
Savage
Swell
When a huge swell moves
through the Indian Ocean, it
can bring colossal waves to
‘The Right’, Western Australia’s
infamously deadly reef break.
Only the most fearless of
surfers take on this beast when
it rolls around, so photographer
Ren McGann knew he had to
capture the moment this rider
braved and conquered the wave.
“This image is special to me;
it's probably my favourite of
all the shots I’ve taken,” says
McGann. “For me, being in
nature is the ultimate goal.
When I take my camera, load
my car and drive off, the trip
begins. Nothing brings me
more peace than being
surrounded by giant waves.”
Instagram: @phlyimages;
@renmcgann
13

FILLINGES,
FRANCE
Shadow
Play
With its clean lines and bold
contrasts, it’s easy to see why this
BMX shot was chosen as Red Bull
Illume’s ‘Best of Instagram’ winner
this March. But when photographer
and filmmaker Baptiste Fauchille
set up his camera at this bowl in
Fillinges, a small town in the Haute-
Savoie region of eastern France,
he had no idea he was about to
take an award-winning image.
“My first thought was to make
a top-shot video with the drone,”
says Fauchille. “Then I realised that
the bowl was really clean: no tags,
no dust. I was able to have the rider
and his shadow come out well.
I asked Alex Bibollet [a rider in the
team of BMXers, photographers
and videographers Fauchille was
with] to do what he did best, and
I immortalised the moment.”
Instagram: @baptistefauchille
BAPTISTE FAUCHILLE/UNICORN WE ARE LEGENDS

15

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PLAYLIST
Welcome
to the
Jungle
Drum-and-bass titans Chase
& Status revisit four tracks
that helped shape their career
When jungle hit the UK rave
scene in the early ’90s, it was
the deep, dub-like basslines
and echoes of Jamaican reggae
culture that set the genre apart
from other breakbeat-driven
derivatives. This was also one
of the reasons why Londoners
Saul Milton and Will Kennard
fell in love with the music as
teenagers. Today they’re
better known as Chase & Status
– arguably the world’s most
successful drum-and-bass act
– and on their latest album,
RTRN II JUNGLE, the duo
(pictured with ‘third member’
MC Rage, left) pay homage to
the genre. Here, they list four
jungle/drum-and-bass tunes
that sparked their passion…
Listen to Chase & Status’
Fireside Chat on Red Bull Radio
on Mixcloud; mixcloud.com
DAN WILTON FLORIAN OBKIRCHER
DMS & The Boneman X
Sweet Vibrations (1994)
Milton: “One of the earliest [jungle]
tunes that caught my attention.
Everything about it – the drums,
the percussion, the dancehall
vocals they sampled – sounded
so different to anything I’d heard
before. This is what jungle did so
well back then: you’d just have loads
of different vibes on one track,
which either didn’t make any sense
or made perfect sense, like in the
case of this tune.”
PFM
One & Only (1995)
Kennard: “In the mid ’90s, Good
Looking Records dominated the
jungle scene, particularly the more
atmospheric style that people at the
time called ‘liquid’. PFM were a group
on that label and had a string of
groundbreaking releases. On this
track they’re using pads, samples
and strings, which was really
cutting-edge and sort of led into
what Goldie was doing with [his
drum-and-bass label] Metalheadz.”
Adam F
Circles (1995)
Milton: “It was around 1996 when
I heard this tune for the first time.
It would have been on a pirate radio
station, and the track shaped my
youth. Whereas other jungle tunes
use reggae or dancehall elements
to go deep, Adam F maintained this
vibe with lavish pads and playful
percussion. Consequently, it
became a timeless classic that
works on the radio as well as at
a rave at three in the morning.”
Leviticus
Burial (1994)
Kennard: “This tune has become
synonymous with jungle and has
one of the genre’s most recognised
hooks. What makes it so legendary
is the use of lots of different samples
to create something new and unique.
The producer behind it, Jumping
Jack Frost, is an absolute legend
and a pioneer of the genre. I just
finished reading his book, in which
he talks about his musical journey.
Highly recommended.”
THE RED BULLETIN 17

CURTISS
MOTORCYCLES
Mount
Olympus
Inspired by Greek mythology
and the world’s first motorcycle
land-speed legend, this is the
last bike you’ll ever have to buy
Electric dreams:
Curtiss Motorbikes’ creations
– with their hyper-futuristic
shapes, monocoque aluminium
bodies, prototype carbon
wheels and touchpad cockpits
– push the boundaries of bike
design. The Zeus (below) is
a case in point
Curtiss Motorcycles is building
bikes unlike anything that’s
gone before. Its electric steeds
– named after Grecian gods –
seemingly belong more in a
sci-fi movie than on our roads.
“We asked ourselves, ‘Why
do motorbikes look the way
they do?’” says head designer
Jordan Cornille. “The bike’s
components have defined its
proportions for the last 100
years. Making these bikes
look like modern-day internal
combustion machines? That
didn’t make any sense.”
The US firm is named after
Glen Curtiss, the inventor and
aviator famed for creating the
American V-Twin motorbike
engine, and for breaking a landspeed
record in 1907 on a bike
powered by one of his 40hp V8
aeroplane engines. Its early
models – the Zeus Cafe Racer
and Bobber – were the kind
of innovation Curtiss would
approve of: 190hp electric
beasts capable of 0-100kph
in 2.1 seconds – 0.7s quicker
than the world’s fastest car,
the Koenigsegg Agera RS.
The new Zeus Radial V8,
however, looks back to
Curtiss’ 112-year-old machine
for inspiration. Its unique
radial V8 design is inspired by
the original V8 record-breaker,
while the cylinders contain
proprietary battery-cell
technology for colossal speed.
“Our goal is to develop
machines that last for ever,”
says Cornille. “We’re saying,
‘Buy one Curtiss motorcycle
and pass it down to your kids
and grandkids.’ Our batteries
will be swappable and fully
recyclable, so you’ll always
have the latest tech.”
curtissmotorcycles.com
LOU BOYD
18

Lee as a security guard in Captain
America: The Winter Soldier
THE STAN LEE
STORY
Hero
worship
If you’re writing a book
about one of the world’s
most gifted comic
creators, there’s only
one person good
enough to introduce it…
Stan ‘The Man’ Lee in Marvel’s Manhattan offices, 1968
“If you’re able to lift this book,
then you truly belong in our
wondrous world of superheroes.”
So says Stanley Martin Lieber,
aka Stan Lee, Marvel’s legendary
writer, editor-in-chief and star
cameo performer in its
Cinematic Universe films. That
he’s penned it in a foreword to
a book that posthumously
celebrates his own magnificence
tells you everything you need
to know about the incredible,
uncanny, amazing showmanship
of one of 20th-century pop
culture’s greatest bards.
At 624 pages, Taschen’s The
Stan Lee Story is a mammoth
tome (with an equally massive
£1,750 price tag), but is still
The illustrated man: Lee in cartoon
form as the comic fans’ hero
barely able to contain the life and
career of a man who managed
to go from junior editor (refilling
the inkwells of the artists and
fetching their lunch at the age
of 17) to publisher of the entire
Marvel Comics Universe – all
while co-creating beloved
characters such as Spider-Man,
Hulk and Black Panther.
Lee reimagined the comicbook
medium, both in how they
were made (developing the
Marvel Method – a collaborative
storyboarding technique
between writer and artist that
allowed comics to be created
ever quicker) and how they
were perceived by the world.
Breathing fun and wit into his
stories and prose, Lee conceived
of heroes who were more than
just strength and brawn; here
were fully imagined individuals
with everyday problems and
flaws – ones that readers could
readily identify with.
The story of the Marvel
Universe is, in many ways, the
story of Stan Lee, so it stands
to reason that perhaps no one
could better explain it than the
man who wrote the origin stories
for more than 200 comic
characters: Stan the Man himself.
“It’s a cornucopia of fantasy,
a wild idea, a swashbuckling
attitude, an escape from the
humdrum and prosaic,” Lee once
said of his masterwork. “It’s a
serendipitous feast for the mind,
the eye and the imagination;
a literate celebration of unbridled
creativity, coupled with a touch
of rebellion and an insolent desire
to spit in the eye of the dragon.”
Lee may have passed away
last November at the age of 95,
but his stories and legacy will
endure. After all, as all True
Believers know, the best is
yet to come!
taschen.com
TM & © 2018 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, LLC, TASCHEN LOU BOYD
20 THE RED BULLETIN

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MARS BASE ONE
Celestial
Simulation
The Martian base that allows
you to live like an astronaut without
saying goodbye to planet Earth
Mars Base One sits in a dusty
arid landscape of endless red
rock, with no sign of life in the
parched fog that engulfs it. But
not everything is as it seems.
This is not the surface of the
Red Planet, but the Gobi Desert
– just 40km from the city of
Jinchang in China’s northwest
Gansu province.
The base aims to simulate
the experience of life on Mars.
Comprising nine capsules –
including a control room, biomodule
(a greenhouse/lab),
airlock room, medical facilities,
recycling unit, living quarters, and
a fitness and entertainment room
– it was created by education
initiative C-Space with the help
of the Astronaut Center of China
and the China Intercontinental
Communication Center.
“Mars Base One allows visitors
to understand what it’s like to
live in closed quarters where
every aspect of daily life must
be controlled with very limited
resources,” says C-Space.
“Water needs to be salvaged and
recycled down to the last drop.
Food sustenance must contain
high protein to keep the base’s
occupants fed and in shape.
And taking a walk outside means
putting on a space suit and going
through the pressurising cabin.”
Open to the public, this
1,115m 2 educational facility may
only be playing make-believe,
but the hope is that it will inspire
the next generation of space
explorers, and help China catch
up with the United States and
Russia in the interplanetary
exploration game.
JONATHAN BROWNING LOU BOYD
C-Space – the C stands for Community, Culture and Creativity – created the base for Chinese teenagers
at the cost of almost £6 million. It will teach them about space exploration and living on Mars
Wheat grows in the base’s bio-module,
a greenhouse/laboratory dedicated
to research into the growth of plants
and animals in the Martian climate
22 THE RED BULLETIN

The Gobi Desert was chosen as the location for Mars Base One as its landscape is reminiscent of the surface of the Red Planet, with
hot dry conditions, frequent sandstorms, and heavy pollution from the lithium mining town of Jinchang, 40km away
Inside the control room. Mars Base One was featured in reality TV show Space Challenge, in which six
volunteers – five of them Chinese celebrities – had to survive at the base after receiving astronaut training
THE RED BULLETIN 23

Brad Pitt & Leonardo DiCaprio
Last Action
Heroes
In the shark pool known as Hollywood, it’s a case
of swim or get eaten. What does it take to survive?
We asked two guys who know a bit in that regard…
Words RÜDIGER STURM
think, “I have the right material and
a great director,” and sometimes it
still misses, but you keep going.
bp: Acting is like being in the ring:
you’re enjoying the fight, but taking
punches. A film is a big commitment
– it’s one or two years of your life.
In a leading role, the preparation
alone can take six months, and then
you’ve got post-production. It’s got
to mean something to me. I don’t
know how much time I have left,
I just want it to matter.
“The most exciting dynamic star duo
since Paul Newman and Robert
Redford” is how director Quentin
Tarantino describes the leads in his
latest movie, Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood. The film is Tarantino’s
confessed love letter to Los Angeles
in 1969 – the year that the Manson
murders shook Hollywood, signalling
the end of the hippy movement;
the Vietnam War was at its zenith;
Nixon entered the White House; and
humans first landed on the Moon.
It’s also the year that Newman
and Redford starred in Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid, a revisionist
Western that – alongside the two other
highest-grossing films of 1969, Easy
Rider and Midnight Cowboy – heralded
a new wave of counterculture cinema.
Enter the protagonists of Once Upon
a Time: an ageing film star and his
stunt double, struggling in the
afterglow of Hollywood’s golden age.
Half a century on, the parallels
are clear. Global unrest and
controversial presidents aside, Pitt,
55, and DiCaprio, 44, could be seen
as anachronisms – the last big-screen
idols in a shifting landscape of
streaming media consumption.
Are they portraying representations
of themselves? What does it take to
stay alive in a carnivorous industry
with younger talent waiting to take
their place? The Red Bulletin asked
the stars for their survival secrets…
“Once you get
in the door, you
have to stand
in the room”
Don’t fear the reaper
brad pitt: There’s a shelf life to
what we do, and we’re aware of that.
It makes us more appreciative of
the time we’ve had. As long as you
find meaning in what you do, it’ll
transition into something else. Look
at the amazing careers of Anthony
Hopkins and Gene Hackman.
leonardo dicaprio: Any career
is a rollercoaster ride; there are ebbs
and flows for better or worse. I look
at this as a long-distance race. Both
of us try to make the best choices
we can, working hard on films that
challenge us and are hopefully
great pieces of art. That’s the best
we can do.
You need to get lucky,
but be ready
ldc: Brad and I talked about this.
You need to be prepared, but also you
need to have that one stroke of luck.
I have actor friends who are still
searching for those opportunities. I
just happened to be in the right place
at the right time when I was younger.
bp: I agree. I feel like we won the
lottery. There are many talented
people out there, but the trick is:
once you get in the door, you have
to stand in the room. We’ve had
opportunities to learn that, find
our way, and make it our own.
Keep your chin up
ldc: I’m ambitious. I grew up in LA
and I don’t come from a well-to-do
background, so I know how hard it
is to get your foot in the door, to be
a working actor. It comes from a need
to satisfy a hunger – not for wealth
or celebrity, but to do great work
that moves me. That’s not easy. You
Be prepared to take risks
bp: I don’t ever like to repeat myself.
For better or worse, I want to keep
moving on. It’s like I’m on a road trip
and I forget something – I can’t go
back, I’ve just got to do without my
glasses or my licence and risk getting
a ticket. I choose projects by the
inexplicable feeling that this next
one is something new and different.
ldc: Martin Scorsese once said to
me, “It’s important to do films about
the darker side of human nature.
Don’t sugarcoat it. If you’re authentic
about the way you portray someone,
the audience will go on that journey
with you, no matter what.”
Always bring your A-game
ldc: Research is the most
underrated part of filmmaking. If
you don’t show up with a wealth of
knowledge about a person and the
way they would act – if you’re not
comfortable in their shoes – it won’t
result in an authentic character.
On the day, the director may change
his mind, or you might. If you don’t
have real intent going in, it won’t
be as good.
Become a strong negotiator
ldc: A lot of making movies is
agreeing on what you don’t want
to do. You have to be blunt from
the very beginning and tell the
writers and directors what you’re
comfortable with and in what
direction you feel the movie should
go. My blunt German honesty [his
mother is German] comes out when
it’s something I really care about.
I hope that elevates it sometimes.
Directors don’t always agree with
me, but not one of them would say
that I ever pull my punches. The
unknown is what you do want to
GETTY IMAGES
24 THE RED BULLETIN

“You need to
be ready, but
also have
that stroke
of luck”
do. You discover that when you’re
committed to the movie.
Respect where respect is due
ldc: My father has always been
a huge influence in my life and
continues to be. I remember being
18 years old and getting a script
about Arthur Rimbaud [1995’s
Total Eclipse, about the 19th-century
French poet]. I was like, “OK, I don’t
know who this person is.” My father
stopped me and said, “Don’t brush
it aside because you don’t know
about it. This was the James Dean
of France at the turn of the century.
He revolutionised poetry and took
on the establishment. Let me give
you a little insight.” Even with my
own production company, I still
ask for his advice.
bp: There’s this view that Hollywood
is solipsistic and needy; that it’s all
about getting ahead. You can’t deny
that attitude exists, but that’s the
case anywhere. I’ve found people in
this industry with thought-provoking
ideas; people who are searching for
meaning and worth through their
storytelling. One of the reasons we
love movies is that they point us in
a direction. I think that defines this
industry the most.
Ride together, die together
bp: Leo and I came onto the scene
about the same time; Quentin, too.
[Pitt won his first major film role in
Thelma & Louise in 1991; Tarantino
directed his feature-length debut,
Reservoir Dogs, the following year;
and DiCaprio made his breakthrough
in 1993’s This Boy’s Life.] We all
have the same reference points;
we’re sequestered in the same circle.
There’s an immediate comfort and
ease. I respect [Leo] and I think he
respects me. There’s also a relief that
you don’t have to carry the whole
thing; you’ve got all-stars with you
who are giving their best.
Tarantino always knows best
ldc: There are few filmmakers I’ve
worked with like Quentin – Scorsese
being another. Their childhood was
so immersed in this art form that
anything you discuss – whether
cultural or political – is in the context
of movies. It’s in their DNA. If any
director were to ask what’s the first
THE RED BULLETIN 25

Brad Pitt & Leonardo DiCaprio
“Acting is like being in the
ring. You’re enjoying the fight,
but taking the punches”
but there was no mention of it.
I was surprised, because I felt I’d
witnessed a true victory. It’s the same
with movies: we often don’t think
about how difficult it is. For me,
that’s success; it’s not just being
recognised as Best Picture.
thing they should do, I’d say, “Spend
two years watching what the hell
people have already done and then
come to the table and try to create
your own thing.”
bp: Quentin’s a purist. There is no
CGI. He wants it to happen in the
moment, on camera. We had to
do this long fight scene with Bruce
Lee [played in the movie by actor/
stuntman Mike Moh], and Quentin
says, “We’re going to do it all in one
shot.” I go, “Oh, man. But you can
do some whip pans, cuts, switch it
if some of the takes don’t work,
right?” He says, “No, man. If we do
it all in one shot, it’s got to be all
in one.” You can debate with him,
but you can’t argue with him.
To know someone, first you
must fight them
bp: There was one director who
made me and my cast mates spar
with each other. He told us it was
to help get comfortable with a daily
level of violence. It wasn’t until later
that he revealed it was also to get us
to know each other. He said you
never learn about someone until you
punch him in the face. We formed
a relationship through sparring.
You push a little, but also hold
back because you’re rooting for
each other. You’re competitive,
but also protective.
Don’t get greedy for
the limelight
bp: Trying to steal a scene is a dead
end. If you’re fighting for that, it’s
a sure way to crap out on the film.
On a great film, everyone’s firing
on all cylinders.
Success doesn’t always
mean winning
bp: I remember watching the
gymnastics at the Olympics in the
early ’90s, and there was a Russian
woman who was supposed to take
it all. But then, 10 seconds into her
routine, she fell. The announcer
went, “What a shame. This is just
horrible.” But she just picked herself
up, persevered and finished the
routine perfectly. It was magical
and inspiring, but all [the media]
talked about afterwards was how
humiliating it was. I looked for
recognition [of her strength and
resolve] in the papers the next day,
What’s gone before will
happen again
bp: Quentin is prophetic, hitting us
with this now – certainly with the
change in our industry. And at that
time America was transitioning.
The Manson murders were a loss
of innocence for our country. We’d
been coming off this free-love ride
of peace and utopia, and then we
saw a dark side of human nature that
made people feel unsafe. Fences and
security cameras were being put up,
leading into the full-on darkness of
Vietnam and Nixon. I don’t need
to say anything about the state of
America right now, about our
leadership and how split we are as
a country. It certainly is relevant.
ldc: Quentin is not only a cinephile,
he’s a great historian. He’s taken
the perspective of two guys on the
periphery of Hollywood, looking
in, and that’s a unique way to view
not only one of the most pivotal
periods in world history, but one
that produced some great cinematic
pieces of art. We’re not only
watching the changing of culture
but inhabiting these old TV cowboy
guys who are now relics of the past.
It’s an amazing approach to this story.
You are what you leave behind
ldc: Movies are the greatest modern
art form. I feel privileged to be a part
of it. I’ve been able to be my own
boss creatively, and I feel fortunate
for that.
bp: Now that I’m a dad [he has six
children], I’m clearer about the
work I want to do. I’m now painfully
aware that my kids are going to be
seeing my movies as they grow up.
I think of how movies affected me
when I was a kid; the ones that told
me something, honed me a little
bit, left that indelible mark. It’s
important to me that I leave
something they’ll be proud of.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
opens in cinemas on August 14;
onceuponatimeinhollywood.movie
GETTY IMAGES
26 THE RED BULLETIN

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Nick Ashley-Cooper
The
noble’s
calling
A triple tragedy
transformed a hedonistic
New York DJ into an
accidental earl – and
a dedicated ultrarunner
Words MATT RAY
Portrait NEIL MASSEY
Even a privileged background can’t
insulate you from tragedy and pain.
Nick Ashley-Cooper discovered this
in 2004 when his father was
murdered by his own estranged wife.
Six months later, Ashley-Cooper’s
elder brother died of a heart attack.
These events catapulted him out of
his career as a professional DJ in
New York and into the hereditary
role of the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury.
Returning to the family’s UK
estate, St Giles House – then a
disused wreck – Ashley-Cooper took
on the mantle of its restoration,
enrolling in the London Business
School and turning parts of the home
into accommodation and an events
space. He also took up running,
clocking up marathons before going
deeper into ultrarunning territory.
Then, in 2009, more outrageous
misfortune struck when he took
an awkward tumble from a horse,
fracturing a vertebra and permanently
injuring his spinal cord.
Rather than accepting a limited
life, Ashley-Cooper pushed himself to
recover and, a little over a year later,
ran a 250km ultramarathon across
South America’s Atacama Desert. He
still walks with a limp, but has a love
of the mountains and, on August 26,
will embark on the gruelling 300km
Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc Petite Trotte
à Léon, ascending the Alps (to a height
of 25,000m) to raise money for the
Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research
Foundation, which aims to find a cure
for spinal injuries. The earl’s life has
been one of highs and lows, but has
his strength been forged in adversity?
the red bulletin: Losing your
father and brother within a year
must have been deeply shocking…
nick ashley-cooper: The way
I lost my father and brother was very
sudden and unexpected. Part of me
was just like, “Wow.” There was
a realisation that you’re just not in
control of life; it has its own path and
you have to adapt to the things that
are thrown your way. I became very
focused. I felt driven and, in a way,
that’s how I channelled the grief:
“Right, I’m going to try to turn this
tragic situation into a positive. I’m
going to do it for me. I’m also going
to do it for my brother and my dad.”
Your sleeve tattoo looks like a
robot arm. What does it mean?
When I was DJing in New York, the
event I was doing was called ‘Robots’.
Part of the rationale of my tattoo
was that I realised I was being taken
down a different path and my life
was changing. But I’ve always tried
to stay true to myself, and I didn’t
want to lose sight of where I was at
that point in time, so it anchors me.
Why did you turn to running?
I find it really grounding. That’s the
beauty of running. It gives you that
space to just think and be alone with
your thoughts.
You turned the derelict St Giles
House into a business as well
as an ancestral home…
No one thought that this house could
be saved. It seemed like too big a
mountain – no one had lived here for
50 years. I used the most simple yet
profound lesson I’ve learnt doing
ultramarathons: don’t think too far
ahead. Break it down into chunks
you can tame, get little victories
along the way, and don’t think of the
whole problem and be overwhelmed.
Meeting Dinah [his wife] – someone
who seemed to be up for an exciting
adventure – it was like: “Why don’t
we just move into a few rooms of this
crazy, falling-down house and then
think of what to do next?”
Though unlucky to fall from a
horse and permanently damage
your spine, you had the good
fortune not to be paralysed. What
was that whole experience like?
It was the toughest moment in my
life, mentally. I felt really scared in
the hospital, not knowing what my
future would be like. It was such a
strong emotion. Then I imagined all
those who have been through harder
stuff, and I was in awe of them. When
I attempted to run again, it felt like I
was running on sand; I couldn’t lift
my legs. Now, I’ve just become so
used to that feeling when walking
– that’s the technique.
Has adversity shaped you?
Adversity is a powerful thing. You
get confidence when you have real
adversity and you find a way to
overcome it. It’s also really important
to know that you’re not always going
to overcome everything, and not to
beat yourself up too much when you
don’t manage to do something.
Have you been surprised by what
you’ve achieved despite having
a permanent injury?
You’re capable of much more than
you think. That’s what I’ve learnt
through all the things I’ve done, from
ultrarunning to mountaineering; that
the limits of what you can achieve
are much further than you think. It’s
for everyone to try to find it. I mean,
my edge is here, but you see some
of the things that people are doing
and it’s insane. I’ve always had that
hunger to try to find my personal
edge, both physically and mentally.
Do you feel your life was destined
to be the way it is?
I’m not one for destiny. Life is like a
wave you ride. You’re never really in
control and, if you can let go of that
notion and just ride the wave, you
get loads out of it and won’t be upset
when something knocks you for six.
Nick Ashley-Cooper is an ambassador
for the Wings for Life Spinal Cord
Research Foundation; wingsforlife.com
28 THE RED BULLETIN

“I became focused
and driven. It’s how
I channelled the grief”
THE RED BULLETIN 29

Leah Tokelove
Success is
no easy ride
Flat-track racing is wild, brutal and doesn’t
have a women’s category. No problem for
this rising star of the sport
Words JESS HOLLAND
Photography JUAN TRUJILLO ANDRADES
motorcycle and adventure festival
Camp VC in Wales’ Brecon Beacons
earlier this month, she encouraged
more women to get into the scene
– something Tokelove actively pursues
through her own women’s flat-track
school, Days On The Dirt. Here, she
tells us why she loves playing rough.
bike stuff. I’ve had some bad
ligament damage and bruises – one
of my knees is permanently swollen
from a crash – but I haven’t broken
anything. As a rule of thumb, I’m a
really fluid rider. I’m a bit like a cat:
I always seem to land on my feet.
Why do you run events specifically
for women?
I know how much of a thrill I get out
of riding a bike, so why shouldn’t
someone else get the same? Yes, I race
against the men, but I love being on
girls’ rides. Every time I go to the track
and see more women, I’m stoked
they’re there. I don’t think there will
be enough riders for a women’s class
for some time – but then, in a sport
like flat track I don’t think we need
a women’s class. I don’t just want to
be the best woman, I want to be the
best out of everybody.
The Hooligan race series is aptly
named. Consisting of street bikes
with no front brakes racing on dirt
speedways, the discipline of flat
track is rough, dangerous and scary.
In this heavily male-dominated sport,
it’s tempting to underestimate the
chances of Lincolnshire-born Leah
Tokelove, aged 21 and a little over
5ft tall. But that would be ill-advised.
Having ridden off-road bikes since
she was five, and raced them from
the age of 13, the self-proclaimed
“hooligan with pigtails” became the
only female competitor in the UK’s
Dirt Track Riders Association pro
championships before she was out
of her teens, and is ranked ninth in
the pro class (at the time of going to
press). But Tokelove doesn’t want to
stand out in that regard. At women’s
the red bulletin: What does
being part of the flat-track
community bring to your life?
leah tokelove: I do think, “What
the hell would I be doing if I wasn’t
racing bikes?” The meets, the places
I get to go, like Morocco and
California, it’s all because of riding
motorcycles. It’s made me a more
interesting, well-rounded, better
person. I’ve mixed with people
I wouldn’t have mixed with before.
It’s a real passion that’s driven me
to be the best version of myself.
What goes through your mind
when you’re racing?
Flat track is over very quickly. I do
a lot of positive visualisation before
I start, because I sometimes feel my
mind drifting when lining up for
ages. But the second the green light
hits, all you think about is who you’re
behind and how you’re going to pass.
There’s not much space, so you have
to be tactical. In some races, towards
the end, I’ll make more aggressive
moves, not really caring if I crash,
just going for it. But if you’re in a
good starting position, you’ve got to
stay focused and not let anyone pass.
Are big crashes a part of the sport?
Touch wood, I’ve always walked
away pretty lucky. I’ve been run over
a few times when I’ve fallen off. I’ve
been clipped, T-boned, just normal
Do you face pressure to play safe?
Yeah. The Indian Scout I was riding
in the UK Hooligan championships
last year was 250kg. I’m 5ft 2in
[1.6m] and everybody was offering
their unwanted opinions that I would
never be able to race that big bike.
I was too small, I was too this, not
enough that. But if I’d passed up that
opportunity, I don’t know where I’d
be now. Obviously I know there are
massive risks riding a 250kg bike.
I don’t need every Tom, Dick and
Harry saying, “Oh, you don’t want
that landing on you.” Of course I
fucking don’t. I’m not stupid. But the
second I got on it, I fell in love with
the way it rode. It was like taming
a beast, and once I had it tamed
we had some unreal riding moments
together. I won on that bike. I got
multiple podiums on it.
How do you find strength to push
against those pressures?
People are always going to give you
their opinion and put doubts in your
mind, even if they’ve got your best
interests at heart. You just have to get
that tunnel vision on, disregard all
the negative comments and focus on
what you want to get out of riding
the bike. One of my favourite things
to say to myself is: “Just be your own
person, do your own thing.” That’s
how I’ve worked it out. Be your own.
leahtokelove.com
30 THE RED BULLETIN

“Riding that 250kg
bike was like taming
a beast”
THE RED BULLETIN 31

Birth of rave
“It was the start of
something really big…”
Thirty years ago, a cultural revolution hit the UK. And the impact of rave – a scene
drawing from the sounds of Chicago and Detroit via Ibiza – can still be heard in music
today. Photographer Dave Swindells was there for the ‘Second Summer of Love’

Tottenham Court Road,
London, July 1988
I’d heard that a street party might happen
after [London club night] The Trip at the
Astoria closed at 3am. So I was thrilled when
this car pulled up with its speakers blaring,
and a few hundred people were suddenly
jumping around, dancing in the street and
on top of the bus shelter, screaming “Street
party!” and “Acieed”. We were right outside
the Dominion Theatre in the heart of London,
causing a party roadblock. The police seemed
to regard it as joie de vivre rather than as
a serious nuisance, but the revellers were
already making their way into a multi-storey
car park below the YMCA, which must have
been pretty freaky for the hapless people
who came to collect their Porsche and found
it surrounded by screaming ravers.
33

Shoom, London, May 1988
It seems amazing now that [singer] Sacha Souter wore this straw hat
without those strands blinding half the people around her – most of
whom were surely a bit smitten. What a look! It’s like something out
of Tess of the D’Urbervilles. I only noticed her that morning because
the house lights were switched on around 5am and everything was
illuminated in their fluorescent glare. People danced on, but everybody
was out by 6am, heading off to RIP on Clink Street to carry on.
Shoom, London, April 1988
In a sports studio off Southwark Street, with mirrored walls, strobes,
dry ice and around 300 people squeezed in, [club founder] Danny
Rampling played amazing acid and gospel house like The Night
Writers’ Let The Music (Use You) and Joe Smooth’s Promised
Land. Amid this maelstrom was [Shoom regular] Andrew Newman,
who treated acid house as an opportunity to dress in style, proudly
sporting a Stephen Sprouse jacket and getting utterly lost in music.
Ku, Ibiza, June 1989
Now called Privilege, this was a superclub
long before British people had dreamt of
such a thing. The club held 7,000 and had
an enormous roof, but it was still partially
open-air in 1989. So when a violent electrical
storm blew in at around 4am, most sensible
people – including the likes of Boy George,
Fat Tony, MC Kinky and Adamski – ran for
cover. Fortunately, there were a few Brits
who carried on regardless, dancing in the
downpour as Lil Louis’ orgiastic track French
Kiss throbbed to a climax for the third time
that night. And when we came out into the
sunshine at 7am, there were about five of the
trendy little Suzuki jeeps in the car park, all
full to the brim and looking like warm baths.
34 THE RED BULLETIN

Tribal Dance,
Sudeley Castle,
August 1990
I was asked to do some Super-8
filming at this rave, so I bought
a vintage camera and headed
west to Gloucestershire. It was
a beautiful warm night and the
rave was amazing, but it was
impossible to shoot on Super 8
film without lights, so after a
while I went back to taking stills,
meeting people from all over the
West Country. This guy stood
out: Joe Bloggs T-shirts were as
massive as their typeface that
summer, and teaming it with
baggy dungarees and big, bright
patterns, complete with a
beaded-necklace whistle, made
him the model raver.

Rage, Heaven, London, 1990
At this club night, Fabio and Grooverider were transforming hardcore house by adding sped-up, chopped-up breakbeats and ever-more rumbling
basslines – elements that coalesced into jungle around 1991 – so I should really have been photographing them. But as I was crossing the
dancefloor, the podium dancers caught my eye. It wasn’t the shell suits that stood out – they were everywhere that summer – but one of the
dancers, Leeco [right], who was performing brilliantly athletic moves in his new Nike Air Max trainers and fantastically baggy trousers. It was
great to hear, when I posted the photo a few years ago, that he has gone on to have a successful career as a dancer and choreographer.
36 THE RED BULLETIN

Birth of rave
The Future, The Soundshaft,
London, March 1988
I’d seen clubbers on ecstasy before, especially at
[outrageous club legend] Leigh Bowery’s Taboo in ’85-86,
but this time it wasn’t the hedonistic demi-monde getting
“on one, matey”. This was a dressed-down crowd who,
like the DJ/host Paul Oakenfold, had been out to Ibiza,
fallen in love with ‘Balearic beat’ and the vibe there,
and wanted to carry on in London. Most were ordinary
suburban kids, and if they were this over-excited on
a Thursday night, Oakenfold’s club name was bang on:
this was The Future, only it was already happening.
Fascinations, Downham Tavern, Kent,
July 1988
I couldn’t believe it when I first saw a gyroscope at an all-day rave.
Whether the kids were on ecstasy or not, being spun every-which-way
was bound to result in diced carrots flying through the air. I was happy
to be proved wrong. The promoter, Tony Wilson, also organised indoor
pyrotechnics and two go-go dancers – from London gay club Troll –
wearing dungarees and performing synchronised moves with fans in
front of the lasers, which was pretty radical in Kent in the late ’80s.
Fantasy FM radio studio, late 1990
Sixteen storeys up in a tower block somewhere in Hackney, pirate
station Fantasy FM was broadcasting to the east side. No one
bothered with NDAs in those days, but I had to promise not to reveal
where their studio was based. I’d been to their storming World of
Fantasy night at the Astoria, and the invitation came from there. I had
dreamt of a shot of the DJs playing in front of a window, with the city
spread out behind them – but, of course, that could well have given
away their location. So instead I took some snaps of DJ Stacey on
the decks while DJ Foxy, aka Mystery Man, who ran the station, got
busy on his brick-sized mobile phone in the background.
THE RED BULLETIN 37

Birth of rave
World Dance, near East Grinstead, West Sussex, August 1989
I set out with writer Alix Sharkey to photograph some of these ‘orbital’ raves [so-named because of their proximity to the newly
completed M25 motorway, which was given the moniker ‘the Magic Roundabout’]. I was worried about whether we’d actually find
any parties, as I’d been out with fellow journalists before, driving around Surrey, encountering police roadblocks, getting lost down
country lanes, doubling back, following convoys, getting lost again and finally having to give up and drive home at 6am. This time
we were lucky, as there were two raves a few miles apart near East Grinstead. At World Dance, they’d brought in these great lighting
rigs and sound systems on huge flatbed trucks, so keyboard wizard Adamski played tracks like N-R-G and I Dream of You live and
around 5,000 people danced all night. We left just as the dawn lit up the horizon.
Dave Swindells, photographer
A London nightlife snapper since the early ’80s, Swindells was
perfectly positioned to capture these pivotal moments in the birth of
rave in spring 1988, when DJs Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling and
Nicky Holloway took their experiences in Ibiza the previous summer
and transported them to the UK club scene. “It was intense and
euphoric, kickstarting parties and outdoor raves, while pirate radio
reached even more people,” recalls Swindells (pictured here, furthest
right, in August 1989 at the second of the East Grinstead orbital raves).
“At the same time, there was democratisation in Russia, the Berlin Wall
was dismantled, the ‘Velvet Revolution’ took place in Czechoslovakia,
and Mandela was finally released in South Africa. It seemed like
oppressive regimes were taking a battering across the world.”
Sweet Harmony: Rave | Today, an exhibition featuring the work of
Dave Swindells and other photographers, is at the Saatchi Gallery
in London until September 14; saatchigallery.com
38 THE RED BULLETIN

It’s a
LDN
Words RACHAEL SIGEE
Photography EDD HORDER

Red Bull Music Festival London
thing
41

Red Bull Music Festival London
July 2019. In a warehouse in Peckham, south London,
10 of the UK’s freshest musicians and performers
gather for the photoshoot you see here. For four weeks
from August 20, they will be part of the first Red Bull
Music Festival London, showcasing their boundarypushing
talents in venues across the capital. Here, they
explain why they‘re involved, what their neighbourhood
means to them, and what their own music represents
Lava La Rue
& L!baan
Wild, wild west
September 7:
NiNE8 Collective,
No Place Like
Home Live
Westbank Studios,
Thorpe Close, W10
NiNE8 will celebrate its
west London heritage with
a workshop, panel talk,
performance, and a clothing
collaboration with ’90s
rave collective MAP. “We’re
doing a showcase of the
older generations we look
up to, who helped pioneer
the sound system culture
here,” says Lava La Rue.
“You have dancehall and,
from that, drum and bass
and jungle, then grime
and a lot of the UK music
we play today. It’s paying
homage to our roots.”
Twenty-one-year-old rapper and
singer Awia Laurel, aka Lava La Rue,
hails from Ladbroke Grove, west
London. The founder of arts and
music collective NiNE8 believes that
cultural and gender diversity are
pivotal to the area’s unique sound.
“A lot of groups are all one thing
– all from Harlem or LA – but that’s
not our vibe,” she says. “At NiNE8,
we have people who are Indian,
Jamaican, Caribbean, Irish, kids who
grew up in Spain, Somalia… We’ve
got just as many female as male
rappers. It’s music where we all
come from different backgrounds
but coexist on one track.
“That’s west London. It has one
of the starkest gaps between superupper-class,
multimillion Kensington
houses and then estates like Grenfell.
But that means you’re exposed to all
walks of life. There’s a generation of
kids who’ve grown up together. You
walk down Portobello and you’ve got
the Rastafarians, the Moroccans, the
Spanish, all in this area together.
That’s what our music is.”
There’s a strong social message in
the lyrics of La Rue and NiNE8, but
she doesn’t see their music as overtly
political. “I don’t think any of us
strive to make political music,” she
says. “It’s just inherently political
because of the lives we live. We’re
rapping our perspectives, and if mine
is, ‘I’m from London, I’m gay, I’m
of colour, I’m working class,’ then
there’s going to be politics in there.
“I love the idea of catchy music
and it being quite politically strong
and people singing it like a mantra.
What you say every day, you speak
into existence, so let people say stuff
that benefits them, rather than,
‘Yeah, I’m from the south, put my
dick in her mouth,’ or that shit,
which is what you get in a lot of rap.
Let’s have people say something
they’re going to speak into existence
every day, and positively.”
Twenty-two-year-old MC and
producer L!baan hails from north
London, but now considers himself
“pretty much local to west” after
getting to know the NiNE8 Collective
through friends.
A drummer while at school,
L!baan – real name Libann Hassan
– joined the collective after chatting
to La Rue in a skate park. “Skating
forced me to explore other parts
of London. And on the way to all
these places, you see and hear a lot
of things. That’s relayed into my
music, because I try to be as versatile
as I can be. And, for real, there are
a lot of artists, painters and musicians
among skaters.”
CLOTHING: L!BAAN: TROUSERS, LIAM HODGES X ELLESSE; TRAINERS, NIKE. LAVA LA RUE: SWEATSHIRT, DB BERDAN
42 THE RED BULLETIN

“We don‘t strive to
make political music.
It’s just inherently
political because of
the lives we live”
Lava La Rue

“My music is a mix.
I don’t want to
think about genres
when I make tunes”
Joe Armon-Jones

Red Bull Music Festival London
“London has a
profound impact on
me as a creative.
It‘s a very
harmonious chaos”
Joe Armon-Jones
& Nabihah Iqbal
The tag team
Nabihah Iqbal
CLOTHING: JOE ARMON-JONES: T-SHIRT, FLAASH APPAREL
Just back from playing at
Glastonbury, 26-year-old pianist
Joe Armon-Jones seems a little
dazed that jazz superstar Kamasi
Washington had joined him on stage
at his Sunday-night gig alongside
Afrobeat band Kokoroko. “[LA
trombonist] Ryan Porter rolled
through, and Kamasi played on some
of my tunes. It was pretty mad,” he
says. “I was directing legends that
I’ve looked up to for some time.”
Armon-Jones is used to adapting
quickly. He plays with different
musicians almost every night, either
as part of renowned London jazz
crew Ezra Collective or in his own
projects. But despite the nearconstant
attachment of the word
‘jazz’ to anything he does, he’s
reluctant to label his music. “I don’t
sound like Miles Davis. It’s a mixture
of improvisation, dub, hip hop, soul,
funk – if I start giving it a stupid
name like, ‘Oh, it’s trap-dub-jazz,’
then it’s like I’ve put a stamp on it.
It would stop me from making
whatever I want to make in the
future. I don’t want to be thinking
about genres when I make tunes.”
The Oxfordshire-born musician
moved to south London to study jazz,
and he cites local DJ and producer
Maxwell Owin as a key influence. “He
opened my mind to dance music. As a
jazz musician, it’s easy to be arrogant
about other music styles because, say,
there might not be as many notes. But
when you go to make those styles,
you realise how hard it is.”
When 32-year-old Nabihah Iqbal
says she has diverse taste in music,
she means it. A childhood Michael
Jackson fan, she spent her teens
dancing to ska-punk at Camden’s
Underworld club, and cites her
favourite recent gig as jazz legends
Sun Ra Arkestra at Dalston’s Cafe
OTO. On her fortnightly NTS radio
show, she’ll play anything from the US
punk-rock of Alkaline Trio to calypso.
“There are no boundaries,” she
says; something that has surprised
those with narrow ideas about what
music a British-Asian woman might
listen to and play. “It’s why I’ve
chosen to use my real name as an
artist,” she says, explaining why
she dropped her previous moniker,
Throwing Shade. “This is who I am
and what I do, and there’s nothing
incongruous about it.”
Iqbal’s own sound is dreamy
and electronic, as heard on her
2017 album Weighing of the Heart.
A multi-instrumentalist – playing
guitar, piano, flute and sitar, thanks
to a degree in ethnomusicology – she
studied to be a human rights lawyer
and sat the bar, but a sideline in DJing
at friends’ parties led her to music.
If music is her first love, London is
a close second: “It’s where I was born
and lived my whole life, so it has a
profound impact on me as a person
and a creative. It’s a very harmonious
chaos.” She grew up near Regent’s
Park and now lives behind Abbey
Road Studios. “I’m channelling the
energy. There are legendary studios
in that area, so I’ve got good music
feng shui. Noel and Liam Gallagher
lived nearby when I was a kid –
I used to see them on the street and
freak out. Once, I walked into a
lamppost because Noel, Paul Weller
and Alan McGee – Oasis’ manager –
were sat outside a café on St John’s
Wood High Street. I was 10 years old.”
September 11:
Round Robin
EartH, Stoke Newington
Road, N16
Created for the RBMF, this
event pairs up solo artists
from different backgrounds
for unpredictable, one-of-akind
performances. So, how
does Round Robin work?
NI: “There’s one person
on stage, then the second
person comes on and you
play together for a bit. Then
the first person leaves and
a new person comes on. So
there are always two people
playing, but it’s random.”
RED BULL: How do you feel
about sharing the stage?
NI: “Jamming with people
on the spot can be a bit
daunting, but it pushes you
out of your comfort zone.”
JAJ: “I like having other
people to bounce off.”
RB: What will you play?
JAJ: “Just keys, man. I can’t
play anything else.”
NI: “Guitar. I’ll take some
effects and maybe a loop
pedal. I play lots of things
a little bit.”
RB: Can you prepare for
an event like this?
JAJ: “You can try to make a
plan, but it’s a bit pointless,
really. Whatever happens,
you’ve just gotta go with it.”
THE RED BULLETIN 45

Red Bull Music Festival London
“The oppressed
dance the best!”
Lil C
Lil C &
Alicai Harley
Galdem style
August 25:
Red Bull Sound
System at
Notting Hill
Carnival
Emslie Horniman’s
Pleasance, W10
This west London park
will host the Red Bull Music
stage for the third year
running, bringing together
the best sounds from the
UK and Caribbean on a bill
of dancehall, Afrobeats,
bashment and rap.
AH: “The Red Bull Sound
System is gonna be lit.
It’s Carnival! I want to give
a show to all those drunk
people. Everyone is going
to be so finished by the
time I go on, I just want to
bring something more here
than I do anywhere else.
LC: “Playing tunes for
girls gets me going.
The dance is led by women.
When there’s a woman
on the decks, there’s
reciprocal joy. I want you to
have fun, and then everyone
else feeds off that energy.”
West Norwood native Lil C – aka
Cesca Ivaldi – credits her corner of
London with her interest in music:
“It’s synonymous with people playing
bashment from cars.” The 23-yearold,
who began her DJ career on
student radio while studying art in
Leeds, is a “kind of self-professed”
dancehall expert. She’s proud of the
scene’s roots, but conflicted about its
mainstream success: “It’s great that
people are listening to it more, but
only a certain number are eating off
it. It annoys me that the money
doesn’t feed back into the scene.”
Her top spaces to play are London
QTPOC (queer and trans people of
colour) nights Pxssy Palace and BBZ.
“It’s like playing for family. I’m bi,
and the energy of queer people is
next level. ‘The oppressed dance the
best’ – me and my friend coined that.”
South London rapper/singer Alicai
Harley likes to mix up her sound, but,
when pushed, describes it as “’90s
dancehall pop in its purest form –
nostalgic, infectious vibes.”
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, the
23-year-old moved to London in
2002. “South London definitely
influences my music,” she says. “Even
though I was born in Jamaica and my
family is Jamaican and my culture is
so strong in me, I’m British, too.”
When it comes to working with
other artists, Harley’s dream line-up
is strictly dancehall (“Buju Banton,
Lady Saw”) with one exception:
“Destiny’s Child”. The influence of
Queen Bey extends to her career
mantra, too: “I always tell my friends,
‘In life, remember you have the same
number of hours as Beyoncé.’”
CLOTHING: LIL C: ALL ITEMS, NIKE

“South London
definitely influences
my music. My
Jamaican culture is
strong in me,
but I’m British, too”
Alicai Harley
47

Red Bull Music Festival London
“Dance music is
an inclusive space.
There’s a common
thread that
unites everyone”
Anz
Anz
& Riz La Teef
Sunday drivers
Anna-Marie Odubote, better known
as Anz, couldn’t be further from the
image of an aloof DJ hiding behind
the decks. The London-born 27-yearold
rarely stops dancing through her
own sets, which she describes as “a
mishmash, a taster of music I like,
from old-school, breakbeat, hardcore
and rave all the way to Afrobeat”. In
person, she has the same exuberant
energy and a huge smile.
Anz began creating and posting
her own music to SoundCloud about
four years ago, and someone soon
messaged to say they wanted to book
her. “I was like, ‘To do what?’ So my
partner and I got a ratty mixer and
a pair of old £80 CDJ-100S CD
players. That’s how I learnt.”
Now, she’s released a debut EP
– Invitation 2 Dance (dedicated to ​
“the boys who used to muscle me
off the decks at house parties”) –
and has just played iconic Berlin
nightclub Berghain. “I was worried
it would be techno-focused and 4/4
serious music, but they told me to do
whatever I wanted. It was 4am to
6am at the Panorama Bar, so I had
a nice slot – although I accidentally
got drunk at the artists’ dinner and
had to have a nap before my set.”
Today, the Manchester resident is
optimistic about marginalised voices
in the industry. “Dance music is a
fairly inclusive space, even if it can
sometimes look like it isn’t. At the
parties I play, there isn’t a sense of
otherness because, whether you go
for this one DJ or genre, there’s
a common thread that unites
everyone in that space. It helps.”
Anz is just as excited to be in
the crowd when her friends are on
the decks. “I’m looking forward to
Afrodeutsche playing with Aphex
Twin [at the RBMF finale at
Printworks] because she’s a friend in
Manchester. Going from us playing
together in my living room to seeing
her play in that context is unreal.”
South Londoner Riz La Teef started
spinning records in 2008 when his
university housemate went on a
foreign exchange and left his decks
behind. His name comes from an
unusual source: the BBC news. “We
used to watch the news for London
every day and the presenter was
called Riz Lateef,” he reveals.
“I thought it kind of sounded like
someone who steals people’s Rizlas.”
La Teef is known for cutting his
own dubplates, and this year the
30-year-old started his own record
label, South London Press. So, what
do people get at a Riz La Teef set? “A
bit of everything: dubstep, garage,
funk and grime,” he says. “I still play
vinyl. I’m pretty analogue. I’ve got
about 3,000 records in my front room.”
Here’s a DJ who knows how to
move a crowd – no matter the size.
“I’ve played Fabric three times. The
first was at about 11pm and it was
just me and the security guard. He
seemed to like it, though.”
September 8:
The Sunday Club
Union Car Park, Great
Suffolk Street, SE1
In the late ’90s, UK garage
was the sound of the
moment, dominating pirate
radio and impacting on
the Top 40. Its epicentre
was the so-called ‘Sunday
Scene’ – a series of
laid-back daytime sessions
across south London.
On September 8, at a
car park just south of the
Thames, Anz and Riz La
Teef will join a host of
garage veterans – including
So Solid Crew, Ms Dynamite
and Todd Edwards – to
revive the party series
and celebrate those glory
days of UK garage.
“Playing tunes alongside
this line-up is surreal and
an honour,” says Anz.
La Teef agrees:
“With so many legends,
it’s going to be quite
interesting finding those
off-piste garage tracks.
Mike Millrain is one of the
best garage producers ever.
Jeremy Sylvester as well.”
CLOTHING: RIZ LA TEEF: COAT, APC
48 THE RED BULLETIN

“I’m pretty analogue.
I still play vinyl.
I’ve got about 3,000
records at home”
Riz La Teef

“It’s our queer
London, one
we were born
of, met in and
celebrate”
Victoria Sin

Red Bull Music Festival London
CLOTHING: SHY ONE: SHORTS, FLAASH APPAREL
“Get started at
Wetherspoons, then
go to Pxssy Palace.
It’s a great night”
Shy One
Victoria Sin
& Shy One
The shape changers
Performance artist and drag queen
Victoria Sin doesn’t need to invent
a stage name – the 28-year-old
Canadian’s real one works just fine
for a multi-disciplinary and genderexploratory
artist who offers a
unique interpretation of drag.
“When I was 17 in Toronto, I used
a fake ID to go to drag clubs and
saw this empowered embodiment
of femininity in a way I never had
before,” says Sin. “I was transfixed.
I always wanted to be a drag queen,
but didn’t know it was something
I could do until I moved to London.
I’m trying to express that gender
and identity are constructed, but it
doesn’t mean we can’t take pleasure
in those things. Through a process of
doing drag and putting on and taking
off my gender, I realised I wasn’t a
woman and came out as non-binary.”
Sin’s Red Bull performance with
Shy One is all about queer spaces,
but these opportunities alone don’t
mean the world is becoming more
open-minded. “Trans rights have so
far to go in the UK, and this is why
spaces like BBZ and Pxssy Palace are
so important, because that’s where
I can be myself,” says Sin. “I live in
a country that doesn’t recognise nonbinary
as a legal gender identity, so
what does that do for me?”
Sin also recognises that the way
femininity is treated on stage is
totally different to how it’s treated on
the street. “Femininity is something
you can wield to make space for
yourself and other people and be
loud and proud. Unfortunately that’s
not always possible, because of the
social context we exist within. My
work is about distancing ideas of
femininity from ideas of womanhood.
They are not necessarily related.”
Given that Shy One’s dad is the DJ
Trevor Nelson and her godfather
is Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B, people
assume they know how the 29-yearold
– born Mali Larrington-Nelson –
ended up being a DJ. However, her
mum was the biggest influence: “She
was a raver and big music lover. She
introduced me to jungle, garage and
broken beat when listening to pirate
radio in her car, and also neo-soul
like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill.”
Having said that, it was Jazzie B
gifting her decks on her 13th
birthday, combined with a mixing
workshop at her local youth club
in Harrow, that led Shy to become
one of London’s most eclectic
underground DJs. “Right now, I’m
definitely playing more broken beat
and jazz,” she says. “Not to look
down on other styles as I play them
all, but there’s a heavy jazz presence.”
Influential on London’s queer
party scene, Shy is part of the BBZ
collective that centres on women and
non-binary people of colour, and
chooses queer collective Pxssy Palace
as her favourite night to be on the
bill. But her eclectic taste extends
to socialising. “Wetherspoons is
somewhere I feel comfortable going
and being able to eat and drink for
cheap,” she says. “I used to take my
laptop and work there. It’s odd that
I, as a queer young black woman of
immigrant descent, often feel more
at ease in spaces you expect to be
most hostile. Line your stomach at
’Spoons and then go to Pxssy Palace
– it’s a great night.”
September 13:
We Know That We
Can Shape Ourselves
Venue TBA
Victoria Sin and Shy One
will be collaborating at this
bespoke event expressing
what it means to be queer
in club culture. Here, they
explain what we can expect:
VS: “This is a meeting of
our worlds, and of the
collectives and artists we
know and love. It’s our queer
London, one we were born
of, met in and celebrate.
Mali does the music that
creates the narrative, and
I activate the words by
performing as this extreme
embodiment of identity.”
SO: “It’s quite cool that
we’re doing the show with
BBZ and Pxssy Palace,
because we met through
their events.”
VS: “When we met, I was
coming into something
that’s unique in London,
which is a party scene that
centres the experiences of
queer people of colour in
ways I’d never experienced
before. Within queer
spaces, places are often
cis-male and white, and if
you’re queer and not those
things, it can be very violent
coming into those spaces.”
SO: “In London, there are
so many of us crammed
into a small scene. There
are a lot of black people
and other people of colour,
and we probably have the
most populous gay scene
in the UK. There are so
many opportunities for us
to have parties.”
VS: “It feels like a moment,
like we’re part of something
special and unique. Queer
people of colour are
realising that not only do
we need and want our own
spaces, but when we get
together we start creating
our own culture and our
own world – and that’s
really beautiful.”
Styling: Hannah Elwell
Hair: Maki Tanaka
Make-up: Emma Williams
Thanks to Copeland Park,
Peckham, for the location
Red Bull Music Festival
London takes place
from August 20 to
September 14. For more
event details, head to
page 93 or redbull.com
THE RED BULLETIN 51

Practised for more than
2,000 years, sumo
is still Japan’s national
sport, but no longer its
exclusive field of mastery.
International competitors
have muscled in, forcing
the country’s wrestlers
to push harder for a place
at the top. Nowhere is this
more evident than at the
largest contest outside
Japan: the US Sumo Open
Words TOM WARD
Photography JEREMY LIEBMAN
Heavy
Mettle
52 THE RED BULLETIN

Byambajav Ulambayar
is a giant of sumo in
more ways than one:
the Mongolian former
pro has won the men’s
heavyweight title at
the US Sumo Open
10 times since 2007

“Sumo is a bit like
American professional
wrestling, in that
it’s a theatre show”
The 19th US Sumo Open – the biggest sumo tournament
outside Japan – attracted almost 5,000 spectators and
64 international wrestlers to the Walter Pyramid arena
in Long Beach, California
55

Norway’s Henning
Westerby attempts
to force America’s
Robert Fuimaono
(with the ‘Bulldozer’
tattoo) out of the ring

Sumo is a heritage
in the midst of being
reimagined for the
tastes of a wider,
global audience
Hiroki Sumi weighs up the
competition. In 2018, the
Japanese sumo was a surprise
entrant in the WWE Greatest
Royal Rumble, a 50-man battle
royale staged in Saudi Arabia
57

Sumo
Viewed from the bleachers, the three sumo
squatting on the basketball court below look
like oversized tan beach balls. It’s an unusual
juxtaposition. After all, this is California –
the arena of California State University Long
Beach, to be precise. Built in the shape of a
pyramid that mirrors the clement sky, this
4,000-seater is home to the Long Beach State
49ers basketball and athletics teams. The
interior of the Walter Pyramid is festooned
with gold and black banners reading ‘Go Beach’, there’s a stall
selling kettle corn, and, whichever way you turn, vendors are
ready to furnish spectators with hot dogs and oversized sodas.
In short, the place is as American as apple pie. All of which
makes the two Japanese and one Mongolian sumo all the more
conspicuous as they warm up against the polished wood and
black markings of the basketball court.
The three athletes are Byambajav Ulambayar, a 1.84m-tall
Mongolian and former sumo pro; the 1.92m-tall Hiroki Sumi
from Japan; and, standing at 1.7m, the relatively diminutive
Takeshi Amitani, the former five-time Japanese National
University Champion. What brings them to town on this mid-
March afternoon is the 19th annual US Sumo Open – the largest
and longest-running sumo event outside Japan. Collectively, its
participants have amassed 18 World Sumo Champion titles and
travelled from as far afield as Japan, Mongolia, India, Egypt,
Tajikistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Norway and Germany.
If the eclectic make-up surprises you, it shouldn’t. More than
any other sport, sumo is a tradition in transition. In Japan, the
best national wrestlers are regularly bettered by a new influx
of Russians, Mongolians and Ukrainians – nations that have
proudly adopted its national sport and set out to dominate it.
So great is the impact of non-Japanese in sumo that in 2017
Japan celebrated its first yokozuna (the highest rank) in almost
20 years: Kisenosato Yutaka. But when Yutaka retired this
January, at the age of 32, a brace of Mongolian wrestlers were
competing for the top spot. This development is indicative of the
changes happening across sumo. In short, sumo is a heritage
in the midst of being reimagined and remoulded to fit the tastes
of a wider, global audience. And nowhere is this more evident
than at the US Sumo Open.
Worth the weight
Two days before the 19th US Sumo Open is due to begin, The
Red Bulletin arrives in Long Beach. Inside the Walter Pyramid,
sheltered from the bright sunlight, we find some of the event’s
most famous competitors weighing in. Ulambayar, the 35-yearold
former pro, tips the scales at 161kg. “I’m so skinny,” he jokes.
As Ulambayar dons a purple floral gown and paces around
with regal grace, 29-year-old Sumi clutches his plentiful stomach
in his hands and climbs onto the scale. At 220kg, he will be one
of the heaviest sumo to compete in the competition. At 100kg,
26-year-old Amitani easily makes middleweight class.
As Ulambayar attempts to score a basketball with a balled-up
towel, Amitani and Sumi form a little-and-large double act, with
the former translating our questions for his towering counterpart.
Perpetually beaming, Sumi – who, in 2018, fought in a one-off
WWE Greatest Royal Rumble – resembles a Japanese version
of Dustin from the Netflix series Stranger Things. Amitani,
meanwhile, is handsome and muscular with swept-back hair and
a cauliflower left ear, one eye partially closed from injury.
“I train very hard,” Sumi says through Amitani. “I benchpress
90kg, shoulder-press 60kg, and leg-press 140kg.” He acts
out the movements as he speaks, fleshy limbs bunching up.
He points to his right knee, where an angry, jagged red line
58 THE RED BULLETIN

The Ukrainians are
particularly deadly in
modern-day sumo.
Pictured: compatriots
Demid Karachenko
and eventual winner
Sviatoslav Semykras
do battle in the men’s
lightweight final
of scar tissue is visible. This, Sumi says, has put paid to his
deadlifting and squatting days.
Amitani’s routine is similar. Back in his college days, he
wanted to bulk up, so he mainlined sushi, ramen and the sumo
staple chanko-nabe – a relatively healthy stew loaded with
proteins such as chicken, tofu, meatballs or fish, plus starchy rice
or noodles, and veggies including bok choy, mushrooms, daikon
(white radish) and carrots – to build himself into heavyweight
shape. Now, as a middleweight, he includes running in his regime.
Last night, the three sumo enjoyed a barbecue at their hotel.
“We had 5-6kg of meat,” smiles Ulambayar. It was clearly a
welcome change from chanko-nabe – to build the body shape
needed for top-flight sumo, the likes of Ulambayar will shovel
down industrial quantities of the stew on a daily basis. Dinner,
“Slapping, leg-sweeping
and pulling the belt are
allowed; punching, kicking
and hair-pulling are not”
THE RED BULLETIN 59

Sumo
Japan’s best wrestlers
are regularly bettered
by Russians, Mongolians
and Ukrainians
meanwhile, comprises lighter fare such as fried mackerel,
noodles and salad. And because sumo is a 365-day sport without
competitive seasons, the diet of a professional wrestler remains
the same all year round.
All of this feeds into the typical Western image of the sumo
as an obese but muscular athlete. Many sumo – especially
the Ukrainian competitors – come from a more traditional
wrestling background, but packing on as much mass as possible
is essential for the heavyweight stars of the show, not just to
add to the spectacle but to make themselves an immovable
weight. The heavier you are, the harder it is for your opponent
to shift you from the ring.
Training with opponents who weigh in excess of 160kg makes
match preparation easier, too: try to stop one of them and your
legs will quickly develop the strength necessary to withstand
their onslaught in the ring. Sumo can grow so large that a
1994 study by sports scientists from four Tokyo universities –
conducted to determine the upper limit of fat-free body mass
in humans – found that the average competitor’s body is 26.1
per cent fat, as opposed to a bodybuilder’s 10.9 per cent.
But to be classified as a professional sumo involves more
than just a big appetite; it requires dedicating oneself to a sumo
stable in Japan and training day-in day-out to compete at the
highest level. Anything outside of that is considered ‘amateur’.
While Amitani was only ever a collegiate sumo wrestler in Japan,
both Sumi and Ulambayar competed as professionals. Now,
all three live in California and, as such, are arguably the face
of the sport outside Japan. With sumo now recognised as an
Olympic sport (though still not on the programme for Tokyo
2020), their services are more in demand than ever.
When he isn’t competing, Amitani teaches in a nearby dohyō
(ring) and regularly performs for television, expositions and
conferences, as does Sumi. Ulambayar, meanwhile, came to the
US in 2007 to appear in the film Ocean’s 13, and he hasn’t looked
back. But the US Sumo Open is not just another expo for these
wrestlers – as well as being the most prestigious competition
outside professional sumo, it’s also a way to keep their hand
in alongside foreign competitors. Ulambayar has taken the top
spot in the heavyweight class 10 times since 2007, while Sumi
won 234 matches during his professional career in Japan.
“Sumo is very simple,” Amitani translates for Sumi. “There
are many people who respect what sumo is, so I don’t mind
if non-Japanese people compete. Sumo is still a minor sport,
and I want it to be more popular. I was a professional for many
years in Japan, but I wanted to show my techniques to more
people. That is why I came to America.”
Our resident Mongolian, Ulambayar, is a man of few words
but deep insights. “I love my sport,” he says. “In America, it’s a
growing sport. The competitors are getting stronger and learning
a lot. I think they respect the culture. It’s difficult to fight the guys
who haven’t been professional. With a professional, you know
their moves. Others come from different sports, like judo, so we
don’t know how they will move.” He shrugs. “But I’ll handle it.”
Brawn in the USA
While the former pros are feeling strong, there are a whole host
of American-born sumo eager to make their names known.
Lightweight Andrew McKnight is a wiry, kinetic Californian
native. “I’ve always wrestled, and sumo was just something to
do,” he says. “I think a lot of guys hope to be a professional boxer
Left: Andrew McKnight prepares his sumo
belt – mawashi – for his first tournament.
The length varies from five to six metres
for amateurs, up to 10m for top professionals.
Opposite page, clockwise from top left:
Takeshi Amitani (JAP), Owen Albers (USA),
Jose Galindo (USA), Sviatoslav Semykras (UKR)
60 THE RED BULLETIN

THE RED BULLETIN 61

Sumi in repose. At 220kg,
he’s one of the heaviest
sumo in this competition
62 THE RED BULLETIN

Sumo
“Sumo is the hardest
sport in the world.
It’s just brutal”
US hopeful Jose
Galindo takes a
tumble in the men’s
heavyweight final
or MMA fighter, but once you accept that isn’t going to happen,
this is a good step down.”
Feeling inspired a year ago, McKnight built a ring in his
backyard and has been practising with his roommates ever since.
This will be his first competition. “I love the traditional side,” he
adds. “In my mind, sumo is like American professional wrestling,
in that it’s a theatre show. It’s nice to see something where the
old ways are respected, even if they no longer make much sense.”
Heavyweight Jose Galindo, meanwhile, got into sumo after
watching Ulambayar body-slam an opponent on YouTube.
Born and raised in Utah and Los Angeles, Galindo used to play
semi-professional football. He’s now a chiropractor by trade
and appears for his weigh-in covered in red cupping bruises.
Like McKnight, this will be his first tournament. “I started
participating a month and a half ago,” he says. Now, having
filled in the entry form and paid the $30 fee, here he is. “It’s
been a baptism of fire,” Galindo admits.
Not every American competitor will be making their debut,
however. Heavyweight Kelly Gneiting is a legend in the sport
and has claimed the US national championship five times.
Gneiting, who weighs in at 197kg, originally got into the sport
after becoming too heavy to compete in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Now 48 and sporting a grey beard, he’s also the only competitor
here to have competed in the very first US Sumo Open in 2001.
“The highest truths are hidden from people,” he says,
philosophically. “One is that sumo is the hardest sport in the
world. It’s just brutal.” He recounts a story of how, during his
time in Tokyo in 2004, he was beating a champion when the
president of the sumo team gave his opponent a signal, which
led to Gneiting taking a palm to the eye. “You don’t do that in
sumo,” he says. “It felt like the kitchen sink had fallen on my
head. Things they wouldn’t stand for in the US or the UK, over
in Japan it’s normal.” He claims that the Japanese team didn’t
like a foreigner muscling in on their sport – an attitude that
Gneiting says was once widespread in professional sumo.
Over the years, though, he believes the Japanese have learned
to “release their baby”.
Andrew Freund is the founder and organiser of the US Sumo
Open and has the frantic energy of the sleep-deprived. Having
spent time in Japan in the early ’90s, Freund began putting on
sumo events in California as a hobby, before organising the
first US Open in 2001. The mix of competitors, he says, has
traditionally been 50 per cent American, 50 per cent foreign.
And 90 per cent of the time it’s the foreign competitors who end
up on the podium. “The US is a little behind the curve in terms
of international amateur sumo,” he shrugs.
Freund explains that the dichotomy between Japanese and
non-Japanese sumo is not really the focus of division in the
sport; the largest contrast is between professional and amateur
sumo. “Professional sumo in Japan is its own entity entirely,” he
says. “When you join pro sumo, you don’t have a vocation, you
don’t have a holiday, you don’t have your own place. You wanna
go somewhere for a day? You have to check with your coaches.
Most of these guys are training 365 days of the year. It’s not like
THE RED BULLETIN 63

“Sumo is very simple…
People in Japan don’t
mind when Japanese
sumo don’t win”
[American] football where you have a season of three [or four]
months, then a down season with free time.”
Ulambayar, he explains, was a professional sumo for five
years. During this time, he got to see his family only once. “Once
you’re pro, you can’t do anything else. And once you retire, you
can’t go back.” But not everyone who practices sumo in Japan
does so within the rigid confines of its heritage – far from it.
“Tens of thousands of people practise sumo in Japan,” Freund
says, “but there are only 600 to 700 ‘pros’.”
The others practise sumo like you might play football. There
are elementary-school teams, company teams, regional teams,
salary men competing after-hours. You might see the Nissan
team squaring up against the Toyota team, for example. “It’s
not about sumo inside and outside Japan,” Freund says. “It’s
about pro and amateur standards in Japan and worldwide.”
In terms of the Japanese response to non-Japanese
competing, Freund admits reactions are mixed: “On the one
hand, there are some purists who say we’re diluting and
corrupting the sport, that these guys don’t know the concepts
of honour and Japanese tradition.” Despite this, there is an
official moratorium on foreigners joining professional sumo
stables, with just one allowed per team. “There are 700 pro
sumo on 35 teams, which means no more than five per cent
of them can be foreigners,” Freund says. “That’s pretty damn
strict. If you lifted that ban, you’d have 7,000 Mongolians
pouring into pro sumo tomorrow.”
Others, meanwhile, think the influx of fresh blood into
the sport encourages Japanese sumo to train even harder.
And Freund believes that the Japanese unreservedly support
foreign participation outside the country. “It’s the Japanese
national sport, foreigners are learning it, and [the Japanese]
take pride in that. Foreigners are learning Japanese culture
and techniques. It’s an inevitable thing once a sport becomes
popularised – people will want to do it.”
Amitani dispatches
an opponent in the men’s
middleweight rounds
64 THE RED BULLETIN

Sumo
America’s Kelly
Gneiting (left)
grapples with
a fellow contender
during the early
rounds in the
men’s heavyweight
division
Lords of the ring
It’s competition day. The 4,000-strong audience is hunkered
down with bento boxes and cans of Sapporo as ritual taiko
drummers perform. These Japanese accoutrements aside, this
could be the crowd for any traditional American sport: eclectic
and not shy of verbalising their enthusiasm.
By the dohyō, a Japanese referee in a white shirt, bow tie
and gloves calmly officiates. Matches frequently last as little as
10 seconds before being won by the first wrestler to either knock
down their opponent or force them out of the circle. There are
82 recognised techniques for doing this, most of which involve
pushing or throwing. Slapping, leg-sweeping, and pulling of
the belt (mawashi) are allowed; punching, kicking, and pulling
of the hair are not.
Beneath the bleachers, the sumo await their matches. Some
sit wrapped in towels, others chat among themselves. The
Ukrainians – an unusually muscular group – are sequestered
in a corner, warming up. Some competitors alternate between
practising moves and napping. McKnight has taken himself off
to perform some Jedi-esque stretches. Ulambayar waits calmly
in his purple gown, eating. The Norwegian team – all blond hair
and matching tracksuits – have set up their national flag in
a corner, like some makeshift Arctic base camp.
The men’s lightweight matches are over in a flash, with
McKnight and the 12 other US competitors quickly ejected from
the dohyō and the tournament. At the climax, Ukrainian
Sviatoslav Semykras launches himself at his opponent’s chest
and, with a half somersault, sends him flying into the crowd
before landing neatly on his feet to claim gold. Not for nothing
are the Ukrainians revered in this sport.
The men’s middleweight competition offers few surprises.
Amitani is the clear master of his class. While others grapple
and shove, the Japanese wrestler deftly sidesteps, tussles and
pushes, using his opponent’s weight against him to claim the
top spot, his second win in three years.
It’s the men’s heavyweight competition that most spectators
have been waiting for. Next up is Ulambayar, squaring up against
the Egyptian Ramy Elgazar, US Sumo Open champion in 2015.
A sumo match begins when the two opponents rest both fists on
the floor of the dohyō, and Ulambayar and Elgazar revel in the
element of theatre by placing just one hand down, then standing
up, stretching or walking around the ring when the other’s
knuckles hit the floor. When they finally clash, the Egyptian
knocks the Mongolian down and out. It’s only Ulambayar’s
seventh loss in more than a decade of US sumo matches.
Newcomer Galindo’s tournament looks set to come to an
abrupt halt as he squares up against Gneiting, but then, all
of a sudden, the veteran is out of the ring and Galindo stands
victorious. It’s an incredible result for someone who admits to
having trained for only a few months.
Galindo’s next opponent is Sumi. They grapple for a while,
then Sumi goes down. The referee, believing the American’s foot
left the ring first, awards the match to the Japanese wrestler. The
crowd boo. A replay is checked, the panel of officials consulted.
The result is reversed and Galindo wins, beating his second world
champion in two matches. As Sumi sits serenely, the victor gees
up the crowd with his arms. “I’ve been to Super Bowls, NBA finals,
and this is more fun than all of them!” says an audience member.
Eventually, with every favourite eliminated, Galindo faces
off against Oleksandr Veresiuk in the final, but succumbs to the
onslaught of the Ukrainian. Resigned to second place, a beaming
Galindo shakes his opponent’s hand. “I feel good,” he enthuses
afterwards. “Going up against Hiroki was amazing. I didn’t think
I’d beat him – I was just hoping to tire him out.” His confidence
newly bolstered, Galindo wants to continue to compete in sumo.
If today’s performance is anything to go by, he could well be
America’s best sumo athlete since Gneiting.
As the day’s competitions come to an end, the Ukrainians
have emerged victorious in every category – both men’s and
women’s – except men’s middleweight, which Amitani claimed
for his home country, the originators of the sport. Results such
as these are becoming commonplace, but Amitani appears to bear
no ill will towards the foreign usurpers, believing instead that
the increase in popularity is good for sumo. “I think it’s great,”
he says. “Sumo is very simple, and many people can enjoy doing
it. People in Japan don’t mind when Japanese sumo don’t win.”
Perhaps, then, the influx of foreign talent into the sport
does not represent a dilution of sumo’s traditions, but rather
a widening of its parameters – and people’s perceptions –
making for a more inclusive sport. “In America, they see sumo
as two fat guys belly-bucking, and they think it’s funny,”
Gneiting says in parting. “But sumo is a legitimate martial art,
and nothing could be further from the truth.”
usasumo.com
THE RED BULLETIN 65

Howell wears a
Phoenix-Fly Rafale
wingsuit – a relatively
large model that’s
ideal for high gliding
and short starts

On a wing
and a
prayer
How far will an elite BASE
jumper go for the chance
to break boundaries in
their sport? For Tim Howell
in Vietnam, the answer
was three days‘ travel for
just 40 seconds of flight
Words JOHNNY LANGENHEIM
Photography JAMES CARNEGIE
67

Wingsuit BASE jumping
Tim Howell isn’t
answering our shouts.
All that photographer
James Carnegie and
I can hear are echoes
bouncing off the crags
and gorges below us.
Howell’s rope, tied to
a hollow rock, snakes
into thick jungle at a
near-vertical gradient.
Somewhere down there is a 300m sheer
limestone face, and he’s looking for it. As
concern sets in, a sudden string of elated
expletives tells us he’s OK. Even better,
he thinks he’s found an exit point.
Howell first saw Vách đá Trăng in
Vietnam in 2017. The 30-year-old British
mountaineer and BASE jumper had been
scouting possible wingsuit routes in lesserknown
locations when a spectacular white
cliff popped up on his Instagram. He was
intrigued. Checking out the BASE jump
forums, he realised no one had ever done
a wingsuit descent in Vietnam before.
Six months later, he and his fiancée,
fellow BASE jumper Ewa Kalisiewicz,
were on their way to Hà Giang, Vietnam’s
northernmost province. Halfway up the
1,364m peak, in driving rain, they were
forced to turn back. With no prospect of
a let-up in the weather, and commitments
back in Europe, the couple reluctantly
headed home. This March, 15 months
later, Howell decided to try again.
We’ve spent three days just getting
here: London to Hanoi, then an overnight
train to Lào Cai province on the northwest
border with China; three of us in a fourberth
sleeper with a young Vietnamese
guy, his face lit by raucous game shows
he watches on his phone all night. This is
followed by a six-hour minivan ride east
along the border to Hà Giang, crossing
high plateaus on dirt roads, and finally
seven hours to Ðông Văn in a bus that
doubles as a postal service for everything
from sacks of rice to four bemused-looking
ducks riding on the roof. When you put
Above: the overnighter to Lào Cai. Below: locals wear masks against pollution
in 72 hours of travel for a 40-second
flight, the destination had better deliver.
Howell scrambles back up to us. There’s
no time to jump today: it’s almost 5pm
and he’ll need a machete to clear the exit,
sort out his gear and prepare himself
for the point of no return, 100 per cent
committed, leaning into the void. It’s a
moment he loves, but it’s not to be rushed.
Still, there’s disappointment. That
morning, the three of us had scoped
out the landing area, clambering down
and then back up a steep muddy track
bisecting steep terraces planted with
corn and cassava, passing huddled
houses of mud and thatch, down to
the banks of the Nho Qué River. After
a pot of bitter green tea and a grilled
sausage from a makeshift market at
a nearby lookout point, we’d headed
up in search of the exit.
68 THE RED BULLETIN

Howell loves to open
new routes. It’s an
explorer’s mentality
The Vietnamese flag flaps in a chill wind blowing
up through the gorges of the Mã Pí Lèng Pass.
This viewpoint was the team’s base of operations

Wingsuit BASE jumping
Top: Bushwhacking to the top of
Vách dá Trang in search of an
exit point. Bottom: Howell uses a
machete to clear undergrowth –
a botched exit can prove deadly
70 THE RED BULLETIN

“I’ve walked
away from an exit
if I didn’t like
the conditions”
Howell, 30, is a former Royal Marine
Commando who has climbed the north
face of the Eiger; Carnegie is an ultrarunner
used to 100km jaunts. Both set a relentless
pace, despite carrying heavy packs.
People don’t climb Vách đá Trăng. Its
flanks – save for the limestone face – are
covered in thick jungle that overhangs
the cliff edge. We trek to the point where
Howell and Kalisiewicz turned back last
time – literally the end of the track. “From
here, we’re bushwhacking,” Howell says
with relish. “We should head for that
seam of rock.” He points to a faintly
visible break in the vegetation.
Without a machete, it’s tough-going.
We scramble through dense foliage and
over crags, loose shaley rock giving way
beneath our hands as vines ensnare us.
We veer left to avoid blundering over the
edge. Within half an hour, we’re covered
in cuts, our trousers torn to shreds. Doubt
creeps in – does Howell know what he’s
doing? By the time he finds the exit, any
preconceptions about wingsuit pilots as
devil-may-care, instant-thrill seekers are
gone. This is methodical madness.
“I’ve already put 10 days’ work into
this one jump,” Howell says that evening
at a backpacker café in Ðông Văn – our
base of operations. “A lot of people are
content to do what they know – you can
head to Lauterbrunnen [in Switzerland],
ride up in a gondola and do five jumps
a day. It’s a lot harder to open up a jump
[create a leap never attempted before].”
For Howell, BASE jumping is freedom.
“There’s no one saying you shouldn’t be
doing that because you don’t have the
right sticker in your log book,” he says,
taking a swig of whisky. His approach is as
much about exploration and finely tuned
preparation as it is about leaping off
precipices. Mountaineering, skiing and
rock-climbing are part of the story. There
isn’t much of the adrenalin junkie about
him – but then, in a sport that requires so
much skill and composure, such headlinegrabbing
tags are often off the mark.
Adventure is a crowded market. As our
appetite for content becomes ever more
voracious, and once-remote places turn
into the next selfie opportunity, the
extreme tends to get amplified. But while
Howell – by necessity – inhabits the world
of sponsorship and social media, his
projects have an old-world appeal. As he
puts it, he’s more inclined to ice-climb
to a BASE jump exit in the Alps than to
double back-flip off a 50m crane. And
he loves attempting new projects,
opening undiscovered routes, being the
first. It’s an explorer’s mentality.
“My dad was a paratrooper; I grew up
seeing pictures of him parachuting in Kenya
in the ’70s and ice-climbing Mont Blanc,”
Howell says. His mother, meanwhile, was
a flight attendant. “She took me on longhaul
flights when I was a toddler, stashing
me in the crew quarters,” he laughs.
At school, he was restless and struggled
to concentrate, traits he thinks are par for
the course with adventurous types: “We’ve
all got stories of not wanting to conform
as kids, not liking to be told what to do.”
So why spend eight years in the Royal
Marines? It provided the chance to travel,
he says, and to develop mental aptitude
in demanding situations, including a stint
in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province,
training Afghan forces to fight insurgents.
Howell uses laser range-finding binoculars and
his smartphone to calculate the trigonometry
of his flight path. He needs to be sure that his
trajectory will clear power lines located further
down the mountain
The next morning, a thick pall of grey mist
hangs low as we emerge from our hotel.
It doesn’t look good for Howell’s flight
today, and the forecast is for cloud all
week. By contrast, the streets are awash
with colour. It’s market day, and
everywhere there are traders representing
the various ethnic groups that populate
the mountains: Hmong, Dao, Nung, Tay.
The tribes wear homespun outfits: hemp
stained with batik motifs, the men in
berets – a legacy of six decades of French
rule. There’s a Hmong village right under
Howell’s flight path, and I wonder what
they’ll think when he whizzes over their
heads. We buy a machete, gear up and
head out on our rented mopeds.
While the other two bushwhack up to
the exit, I head towards a skywalk right
beneath the face to try to capture the
launch from below. But the cloud isn’t
lifting. We chat via walkie-talkie – they’ve
found the exit, an outcrop no more than
a foot wide. Howell clears away brush,
unphased by the gut-wrenching drop on
all sides; when not adventuring, he works
as a rope access technician, dangling
precariously from skyscrapers and bridges.
But there’s zero visibility. All day,
fog drifts across the mountain, lifting
tantalisingly only to descend moments
later. Howell can’t fly blind: it’s an
unknown route with power lines below.
At 5pm, we call it and they head down.
Howell has logged more than 600 BASE
jumps, half of them wingsuit flights.
Around his 300th, he had an accident. He
was with a group at Beachy Head in East
Sussex when he attempted a barrel roll,
a move he wasn’t that familiar with. His
chute got tangled and he hit the cliff twice,
almost fatally snagging the canopy on
a rock. He hit the ground hard and was
lucky to escape serious injury.
“I learnt an important lesson that day
about getting caught up in the group
mentality and being complacent. Since
then, there have been loads of times when
I’ve walked away from an exit if I didn’t like
the conditions, even though others have
been jumping all day without a problem.”
Though a more experienced skydiver
and wingsuit pilot, Kalisiewicz isn’t
unscathed either. At Christmas 2017,
Howell proposed to her on South Africa’s
Table Mountain before a wingsuit BASE
jump. In wingsuit flying, speed is crucial
for lift; pilots can achieve glide ratios
(forward vs downward movement) of 3:1.
But slow down too much and you can
THE RED BULLETIN 71

Having spent a full day at the exit
point waiting for the fog to lift,
Howell launches himself from Vách
dá Trang, dropping vertically down
the 300m cliff face before picking up
enough speed for forward momentum
72 THE RED BULLETIN

Wingsuit BASE jumping
Minutes pass.
“Three… two…
one… see ya.”
And he’s gone
stall. “If you go into a proximity line [flying
close to the floor or walls] without enough
speed, you can’t get out of it,” Howell says.
The couple lost performance because
they were trying to fly together. They
opened their chutes earlier than planned
and, instead of landing on a rugby pitch,
hit uneven turf studded with tree stumps.
“I landed first and then I saw Ewa tumble.
She’d hit a stump that was sheared to a
point like a shark’s fin. It scalped her shin
to the bone.” His military training kicked
in. Keeping his injured partner calm,
Howell carried her and all the gear to
their car before heading to hospital.
Last year was a bad one for BASE, with
32 recorded deaths. One was a friend of
Kalisiewicz. Others were guys Howell had
jumped with. Though deaths are recorded
in some detail, BASE jumps are not, so it’s
impossible to get an accurate fatality rate.
What’s certain is that it increased with
the advent of wingsuit BASE jumping. It’s
arguably the most dangerous sport there
is. Howell is matter of fact about it; he’s
confident in his personal margin for error.
The next morning, he sits despondent
at the viewpoint. Vách đá Trăng’s entire
face is shrouded in mist, impervious to
advances. Time is running out and Howell
begins discussing other options. He scouts
a nearby peak for a possible BASE jump
exit into the gorge below, but the face isn’t
sheer enough. As he slogs back to the road,
Vách đá Trăng hoves into view again. He
whoops abruptly. The fog has lifted and
the summit is visible. He’s got a window.
Howell stands on a lone jut of rock, his
rope held loosely in one hand, a void in
front of him. His suit and BASE rig, about
the size of a child’s backpack, seem
absurdly flimsy, but his face is as fixed as
the mountains. “Call my dad if anything
goes wrong.” Then he’s quiet. Minutes
pass. “Three… two… one… See ya.” And
he’s gone. There’s a flapping sound as his
pockets fill with air, then silence… until
he reappears, skimming the shoulder of
an adjacent peak. Thirty seconds later, his
canopy flares and opens above the river.
Roars of triumph rebound off the ravine.
We meet Howell again as he clambers
back up to the road. He’s with an elderly
Hmong couple who are laughing with
delight, making flying gestures. Aside
from us, they, their neighbours and some
farmyard animals are the only ones who
witnessed this monumental event.
Finally, when Vách đá Trăng retreats
for good behind its veil of cloud, meaning
no more Promethean flights of fancy, we
pack up and prepare for the long trip home.
timhowelladventures.com
THE RED BULLETIN 73

SHAUNA COXSEY
CLIMBER
MADDIE HINCHE MBE
HOCKEY GOALKEEPER
JACK NOWELL
RUGBY PLAYER
WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THE PROS?
BILLY MORGAN
SNOWBOARDER
LUCY CHARLES
TRIATHLETE
BEN STOKES
CRICKETER
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Equipment
Your guide to gear born with purpose, engineered
to achieve, and built with style
OMEGA SA
SURVIVE
The 6,000-fathom
diving watch
Omega’s Seamaster Planet
Ocean Ultra Deep Professional
When explorer Victor Vescovo
descended into the deepest point
of the Earth’s oceans in April this
year, he needed a watch that could
withstand depths of 11,000m and
pressures more than 1,000 times
greater than at the ocean’s surface.
Who better to build this timepiece
than the makers of the first watch
to land on the Moon…
THE RED BULLETIN 75

Equipment
Victor Vescovo knows a
thing or two about daring
exploits. The 53-year-old
Texan is an former naval
officer, aviator and submarine
test pilot. He’s completed the
Explorers’ Grand Slam – scaling
the highest peaks on all seven
continents, and skiing to both
Poles – and in April this year he
descended to the deepest seabed
on Earth: the Challenger Deep
in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana
Trench. And he did it four times.
At 10,994m below sea level,
the floor of the Challenger Deep
is more than 2km deeper than
Everest is tall, with an atmospheric
pressure more than 1,000 times
greater than at the surface. “It’s
an incredibly hostile place,” says
Vescovo. “No submarine had ever
gone to the bottom more than
once. I wondered what it’d take
to construct a submersible that
could do it repeatedly and reliably.”
The answer is around $35million
(£28m) – the cost of his two-seater
submersible, DSV Limiting Factor.
Vescovo self-funded its
construction for his Five Deeps
Expedition, a mission to reach
the deepest points of each of
the five oceans. “I wasn’t even
considering sponsorships.
I wanted total control,” says the
multimillionaire, who’s also a
successful Wall Street trader. But
when Swiss watchmaker Omega
saw that he was wearing one of its
Ocean Seamaster watches on his
first dive into the Puerto Rican
Trench in the Atlantic, it wanted
in. The company’s plan: to build
a watch to withstand the same
external pressures as Limiting
Factor. To do so, it used offcuts of
the vessel’s Grade 5 titanium hull.
Three watches were sent
down to the Challenger Deep with
Vescovo: two strapped to the
robot arms of Limiting Factor and
another attached to one of his
three detachable landers. As he
reached the record-breaking
depth of 10,928m, Vescovo gazed
upon terrain never before seen
by human eyes. “People think
the bottom of the trenches are
barren moonscapes, but within
10 minutes I saw a transparent
holothurian – a sea cucumber
– undulating gently on the sea
floor; 16,000 pounds per square
inch of pressure, just above
freezing, and here was life.”
Twelve hours after Vescovo
began his descent, Limiting Factor
broke the surface, its hull intact
and ready for three more dives
the following week. “I would die in
that submersible if it had not been
built perfectly – pressure will find
a weak point,” he says. “It’s the
same for the watches.” All three
survived their mission in pristine
condition (see opposite).
For once, Vescovo was happy
to accept sponsorship. “Omega is
keeping two of the watches,” he
says, smiling. “I’m keeping one.”
FIVE DEEPS EXPEDITION, OMEGA SA TOM GUISE CHRISTINA LOCK
76 THE RED BULLETIN

Equipment
Building the
ultimate diver‘s
watch
Omega’s Ultra Deep:
an innovative design
that borrows from the
durability of a ship’s hull
and the biology of one
of the ocean’s most
graceful creatures
Sea level
0m
1,000m
2,000m
3,000m
Blue whale
500m
RMS Titanic
(final resting
place) 3,800m
Omega has a long history of
building precision diver’s watches,
starting in 1932 with the world’s
first ever, the Omega Marine,
which used a leather disc as a
hermetic seal and was dropped
73m to the bed of Lake Geneva.
Today’s regular Seamaster Planet
Ocean watches are capable of
withstanding depths of up to
600m, but at 100m deeper than
even a blue whale can endure,
only a diver wearing a US Navy
atmospheric ‘hardsuit’ would
push that limit. However, to build
a watch capable of withstanding
a staggering 11,000m, Omega
had to throw out everything that
had gone before, and create a
new concept inspired by none
other than Vescovo’s own vessel.
The connection between the
crystal glass and the case is
copied from Limiting Factor’s
viewport, which uses a conical
design to spread and minimise
the stress on its surface. The
case is cut from a block of the
Grade 5 titanium used to make
the ship’s hull, and the strap lugs
– an area of potential weakness
on any watch – are modelled on
the cephalic lobes of a manta ray,
creating an open design that can
endure huge degrees of traction.
Incredibly, the watch is only
28mm thick – perfectly wearable
on a human wrist. The wrist the
watch was designed for, however,
is a robotic one, so the strap is
made from tough polyamide with
Velcro fastenings, similar to
those on the Apollo astronauts’
space suits.
To comply with diver’s watch
standards, a safety margin of 25
per cent had to be added to the
Ultra Deep’s depth capabilities,
so at Triton Submarine’s HQ in
Barcelona it was tested to – and
withstood – depths of 15,000m.
When Vescovo emerged from
his first Challenger Deep dive, he
discovered one of the detachable
landers – the one with the watch
attached – had failed to return
to the vessel; it was still on the
bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Vescovo had to decide whether
to leave the watch and the lander
in the abyss for ever. He chose
to rescue it.
Almost three days passed
before conditions were suitable
for a second dive. When the Ultra
Deep was finally retrieved and
checked on the surface, it was
working perfectly, having lost
only a second of accuracy, making
it eligible for Master Chronometer
certification – the highest
standard any mechanical watch
can achieve at any pressure.
omegawatches.com
4,000m
5,000m
Clockwise from top
left: Vescovo; his
submersible, DSV
Limiting Factor,
during an earlier Five
Deeps dive in the
Southern Ocean; the
Omega Seamaster
Planet Ocean Ultra
Deep Professional; a
maquette of the watch
on the robot arm
6,000m
7,000m
8,000m
9,000m
Ceramic rim
with
60-minute
scale
One-directional
rotating bezel
Sapphire
crystal glass
Grade 5
titanium case,
with gripped
crown
10,000m
Challenger
Deep
10,994m
11,000m
‘Manta ray’ lugs
THE RED BULLETIN 77

Equipment
RIDE
Half bike, half beast
Identiti AKA
For more than two decades, UK-based bike-maker Identiti has been concocting fiendish
rides with names such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (that’s two bikes, not one with a split
personality). The outwardly respectable AKA really does hide an inner monster; its frame
employs long, low, slack, progressive geometry and a suspension-free ‘hard-tailed’ rear.
Head into the woods at night and howl it under the moon. identitibikes.com
PLAY
World‘s greatest
Game Boy
Nintendo Switch Lite
Japanese gaming giants Nintendo
returned to glory in 2017 with their
ingenious Switch console and its
blistering games library (mostly
ported from the less successful Wii
U). This lighter, cheaper version
loses the TV output and detachable
controllers (and thus the motion
controls and two-player option),
but is still the best on-the-go games
machine around. nintendo.com
LISTEN
Superstar sound
Kygo A4/300
If the 660-million-plus YouTube
views of the video for his single
Firestone are any indication,
Norwegian DJ and music producer
Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll has a knack
for making tunes. He’s equally adept
at producing headphones, as these
wireless cans demonstrate: clear,
bass-leaning audio; minimalistic
Scandinavian design; and a battery
that lasts 16 hours. kygolife.com
DAVID EDWARDS, TIM KENT
78 THE RED BULLETIN

Equipment
Equipment
SURF
These boots were
made for ripping
Vans Surf Boot Hi
Founded in 1966 by the Van Doren brothers
and best known for its timeless skate shoes,
Californian company Vans has now turned its
talents to a different kind of boarding. This coldwater
boot is made from liquid-rubber-dipped
neoprene that insulates while maintaining board
feel beneath your tootsies. Riffing on Vans’
‘waffle’ sole, the super-sticky underside has
grippy crosshatching, meaning you can forgo
nipple-chafing surfwax and protect your pinkies
from sharp seabed rocks and razor reefs. And the
boot features the brand’s signature chequerboard
motif and skate logo. Because, after all, surfing
is just skating the sea. vans.co.uk
THE RED BULLETIN 79

Equipment
From top:
PROTEST Powelly
swim shorts protest.eu
VOLCOM V Dye Stoney
shorts volcom.co.uk
300 SPECIES Gelato
Geometrico Bondistyle
shorts
300species.com
ORLEBAR BROWN
Thunderball 007
Exclusive Edition
Bulldog shorts
orlebarbrown.com
DAVID EDWARDS
80 THE RED BULLETIN

Equipment
From top:
VOLCOM Simply Solid
one-piece swimsuit
volcom.co.uk
BODY GLOVE Bombshell
Holly one-piece swimsuit
bodyglove.com
PROTEST Peppercorn
surf bikini protest.eu
TIDE + SEEK Aqua Marble
one-piece swimsuit
tideandseek.com
SWIM
I know what
you wore
last summer
Probably something a bit like you
see here, considering the Met Office
declared summer 2018 the UK’s joint
hottest on record (tied with 2006,
2003 and 1976). Don’t get caught
unprepared this time around – go for
this scorchio-ready swimwear.
THE RED BULLETIN 81

Equipment
PROTECT
Where’s your
head at?
MET Parachute MCR
The human cranium is a masterful but fragile piece of organic engineering. This bike helmet
is just as ingeniously crafted, but tougher. The chinbar is magnetically attached – twist the
releases and it pops off, turning a full-face enduro and downhill helmet into an open-face for
better ventilation on long rides. Not that it’s lacking airflow, with 21 vents front and rear.
Inside is a Multi-directional Impact Protection System (MIPS) that reduces deadly rotational
forces during impact, and a Boa Fit System with dials to snugly lock the headgear in place.
The adjustable visor fits goggles underneath and is flexible for added shock absorption.
Designed by brainiacs to protect your brains. met-helmets.com
82 THE RED BULLETIN

Equipment
SEE
Augment your eyes
Focals by North smartglasses
1
We’ve long been promised spectacles with a
digital display, but early efforts have proven
less practical than pulling out your phone
– and they lack the style of regular specs.
These frames are smart in every sense and
deliver messages, notifications and map
directions to the holographic lenses via your
phone’s Bluetooth. Control comes from a
button-and-joystick ring worn on the finger,
or by asking Alexa. But take note: getting a
pair involves a bespoke sizing at one of North’s
two showrooms (Brooklyn or Toronto), then
a final fitting eight weeks later. bynorth.com
3
2
4
6
5
DAVID EDWARDS
PAY
The credit card
reinvented
The titanium Apple Card
The credit card is so embedded
in our psyche, we barely question
its design, but that’s what Apple
did for the physical counterpart
to its new digital payment service.
Ditching the forge-able signature
and CVV on the rear, and numbers
on the front, it features only what’s
needed for swipe or contactless
payment – chip, magnetic strip,
owner’s name – and withdrawals
at an ATM. Not currently available
outside the US, the card is meant
only as a flashy substitute for the
app. Cut from a single piece of
titanium, it is nonetheless a thing
of beauty. apple.com/apple-card
7
8
Front:
1. Apple logo
2. Symmetrical
‘six-pill’ chip
3. With no card
number, each
payment generates
a one-off
virtual number
Rear:
4. Card issuer’s
logo
5. Magnetic strip
6. Titanium is
tougher, more flexible
and 40 per cent
lighter than plastic
Left:
7. A CNC (Computer
Numerical Control)
cutting tool carves
out space for the chip
8. Apple’s logo is laseretched
twice to create
a V-shaped groove
that reflects light
THE RED BULLETIN 83

1 YEAR
getredbulletin.com
£20
BEYOND THE ORDINARY
The next issue is out on Tuesday 13th August with London Evening Standard.
Also available across the UK at airports, gyms, hotels, universities and selected retail stores.
Read more at theredbulletin.com
DENIS KLERO / RED BULL CONTENT POOL

guide
Get it. Do it. See it.
HEADING THE FIELD
If fitness gains are your
goal, says farm gym
pioneer Tom Kemp, you
reap what you sow
PAGE 90
THE WORLD IS MINE
How new AR spin-off
game Minecraft Earth
will change the way we
view our environment
PAGE 91
HOT DATES
Our pick of this
month’s essential
gigs, shows and
sporting events
PAGE 92
GRAEME PURDY
COOL FOR CATS
There’s only one way to
get the perfect close-up
of Kenya’s cheetahs, lions
and other mighty beasts.
A photo-safari veteran
puts us in the picture…
PAGE 86
THE RED BULLETIN 85

G U I D E
Do it
The photographer and his crew get into position beneath an acacia tree for the next dream shot
KENYAN PHOTO SAFARI
WHERE THE WILD
THINGS ARE
Gazelles giving birth, an epic elephant parade, lions peeing
on you – on a photo safari, you can experience all this and
more. Wildlife snapper Graeme Purdy takes us there…
Ican barely breathe. A male lion
has just run past our car on
the opposite side to where I’m
standing, and only now is the
realisation starting to kick in. It’s
pitch black and we’re 75m from
camp on the edge of the Maasai
Mara, using the headlights to view
a pack of shrieking hyenas devour
a dead wildebeest… at least until
the lion arrives to spoil their feast.
When my shaking has subsided,
I lift my camera, but through the
bluster of the wind I hear the thud
of paws. Thrump… thrump…
There’s no roar or warning growl
Purdy has 16 years’ experience of safari photography in Kenya
86 THE RED BULLETIN

Kenya
TRAVEL TIPS
JOIN THE
JUNGLIST MAASAI
Before you pack your camera, here are
a few things you should know about one
of Kenya’s largest game reserves…
Cheetah mothers and their cubs are welcome guests on Purdy’s excursions
Kenya
Nairobi
Maasai Mara
The Maasai Mara covers around 1,510km 2 and forms
the northern quarter of the Serengeti ecosystem.
It is home to many endangered species, including
the African elephant, African lion and black rhino.
All vehicles are open-sided, so there’s nothing between the snappers and the animals
GRAEME PURDY PHOTOGRAPHY RACHAEL SIGEE
as another male thunders by –
down my side of the car this time.
He’s just 2m from me and I feel the
breeze as he runs past. “Don’t
worry,” I say to the person next to
me. “They’re only interested in the
kill, they’re not interested in you.”
In my 16 years of safari in
Kenya, I’ve learnt that for the most
part, the big cats – of which the
Maasai Mara has just about the
highest density on the planet –
aren’t a danger to humans. It’s
the buffalo (notoriously grumpy)
and elephants (unpredictable)
you need to be careful around.
But the whole point of being
here is to get up close and personal
with these animals. I’ve been a
professional wildlife photographer
Once, a lion walked
up and sprayed pee
over us. He showed
us who was boss
for decades, and in the past I’ve
taken guests on photo safaris.
Now, I’m opening them up to the
public, teaching people how to
take pictures of wild animals in
a high-energy environment.
I run two week-long trips in
November, at the start of the rainy
season. Not only does this provide
dramatic, stormy skies, but also
the animals are more active when
PAY
KENYAN SHILLING
1 shilling = 100 cents
£1 = 128 shillings
TALK (SWAHILI)
Naona chui I see a leopard
Hebu
tutafute tembo
Wapi mtoto
wa simba?
Let’s search
for elephants
Where’s the
baby lion?
KNOW
1. The Maasai Mara is near the equator,
so it receives around 12 hours of daylight
2. It sits at an altitude of more than 1,500m
above sea level.
3. The first part of its name comes from its
inhabitants – the Maasai people – and Mara
means ‘spotted’ (as in ‘spotted land’) in
Maa, the Maasai language
4. Wildebeest are the dominant inhabitants of
the area. Their numbers are in the millions
THE RED BULLETIN 87

G U I D E
Do it
Kenya
HAKUNA MATATA
PICTURE
PERFECT
Purdy shares professional tips and
wisdom from his many years of shooting
wild animals in the Maasai Mara
BRING
THREE ESSENTIALS FOR A PHOTO SAFARI
1. “I use a Canon EOS
5DSR with a range of
lenses. My favourite is
a 300mm lens, because
the wide angle suits my
photographic style.”
2. “You can actually do
a pretty good job with
nothing more than an
iPhone camera. I use
Moment clip-on lenses
that transform the view
into wide-angle, telephoto
or anamorphic video.”
3. “Bring twice as many
memory cards as you
think you’ll need. I’ve never
met anyone who has gone
on a first-time safari and
brought too many memory
cards. On my first safari
I took 12,000 photos.
Now I know what to look
for, I take a lot less.”
Purdy says there are no pre-requisites for safari
participants: “Enthusiasm is all you need”
REMEMBER
1. VULTURES EAT QUICKLY
“A flock of 70 vultures can completely strip an animal
carcass in just 90 minutes. If the animal has died of
natural causes, the only way in for a vulture is
through the eye or the bum.”
2. BABY ELEPHANTS ARE CLUMSY
“There are more muscles in an elephant’s trunk than
in our entire body. But babies less than a few months
old can’t control their trunk, so it wobbles and shakes
when they run.
3. HIPPOS NEED SPACE
“The hippo was once regarded as the most
dangerous animal in Africa, because people used
waterways for transport, but generally one won’t
attack you. Just don’t get in its way.”
Kenya’s glorious sunsets provide ample opportunities for that once-in-a-lifetime shot
it’s a bit cooler. Groups of guests
from all over the world make the
45-minute flight from Wilson
Airport in Nairobi to the Maasai
Mara, and we start shooting as
soon as they land.
Our camp has no fence around
it, so animals are free to come and
go as they please. You’re always
walked to and from the tent by a
guide, and there’s usually someone
lurking with a spear, just in case.
Each morning, we’re out in
the Land Rover 40 minutes before
sunrise. All the vehicles have been
customised for photography and
are completely open with the sides
and roof cut away. There’s nothing
between you and the animals, and
you never know how they’ll react.
Once, a male lion walked straight
up to the car and sprayed pee over
us. He showed us who was boss.
Just 10 minutes before the
sun comes up, a great wall of
20 elephants suddenly appears
through the fine morning mist.
All is completely still as they wade
silently through the grass like
something out of Jurassic Park.
The pre-dawn light makes for
an epic photo, but we have only
seconds to capture it. Things
change fast here, so you need
to react quickly.
About an hour before sunset, when
the light is best, we find a cheetah
hunting Thomson’s gazelles. It
doesn’t matter how many nature
documentaries you see, it’s just
unworldly to see a cheetah run
at full pace in real life. We’re all
rooting for her, right up until she
makes the kill. Everyone in the
car wells up. Nature isn’t Disney;
everyone is just trying to survive.
When we head over the hill,
metres from where the cheetah has
just cut the gazelle population, we
see that a new addition has been
born. The gazelles are grazing
with some impala, and this tiny
baby wobbles over to a huge male
and looks at him as if to say, “Are
you my mummy?” The impala
drops its head and nudges the
young gazelle so that it faces its
mother. It’s just priceless.
Immersing yourself in the
wilderness is almost spiritual. After
36 hours in the Mara, you won’t
know what day it is. I’m always
supercharged with optimism when
I awake, knowing so much will
have happened during the night,
and my eyes will be falling out of
my head with excitement about
what I might find.
To join Purdy on safari, go to purdy.
photography/photographic-safaris
GRAEME PURDY PHOTOGRAPHY RACHAEL SIGEE
88 THE RED BULLETIN

ALPHATAURI.COM

Do it
Fitness
Tractor Tom: Kemp is convinced of the benefits of the farm workout. “Anyone willing
to burn up energy outdoors can give it that extra 10 per cent,” he says
FARM FITNESS
SOWING THE SEEDS
OF STRENGTH
Brought up on a farm, Briton Tom Kemp came up with
a barnstorming idea for a new workout regime
One’s origins and the recipe
for success rarely coincide
as they have for Tom Kemp.
The personal trainer was raised on
a 2.43km 2 farm in Stansted, Essex.
“My life played out almost entirely
in the open air. There was always
something going on,” he says.
Exercising at the gym didn’t
appeal to Kemp while growing up,
which is how he came to create
his own form of circuit training
on his parents’ farm – there was
plenty of heavy equipment, after
all. Much of the stuff in a farmyard
is ideally suited to Kemp’s hybrid
of strongman, bodybuilding,
calisthenics and cardio. He
launched Farm Fitness in 2016.
Within only a year, the concept was
being feted by fitness experts as one
of the world’s best gym workouts.
Professionals including Olympic
canoeing gold-medallist Joe
Clarke and rugby league champions
Wigan Warriors have trained
at Kemp’s farm, lifting sacks of
grain, pushing and pulling huge
tractor tyres from A to B, and
rattling long metal chains.
“You don’t need highly
complex equipment or intricate
training plans to be fit,” explains
Kemp, 26. Back to basics is his
motto; simple exercises to reap
maximum yield. But you must
slog until you can slog no more.
farm-fitness.co.uk
“You don’t need
a whole load of
complicated
equipment to
burn up a whole
load of energy”
Tom Kemp, founder
of Farm Fitness
TIPS
WORK OUT
ANYWHERE
Had enough of
sweating it out in
the weights room?
Fitness farmer Tom
Kemp tells us how you
can easily turn your
garden into a gym
WEIGHTS
Anything you can lay your
hands on will do, whether
it’s a sandbag, a six-pack
of water bottles or just
a heavily laden rucksack.
Be creative!
EXERCISES
Raise the weight from the
floor to above your head
five times. Next, walk 25m
forwards and then back
to where you started
while carrying the weight
in your arms. Do this
30 times and then end
with 10 burpees.
REPS
Perform as many sets
as you can manage in
15 minutes, and also
squeeze in a 100m sprint
between sets.
Tyring work: Kemp leads daily bootcamp sessions at his farm
CHRIS PARKES FLORIAN STURM
90 THE RED BULLETIN

G U I D E
Do it
Gaming
MICROSOFT MATT RAY
CONSTRUCTIVE THINKING
BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE
Minecraft may only look like a simple game with Lego-style graphics,
but it’s a powerful tool capable of creating a better reality
EXPERT
PROFILE
MARK
LORCH
MINECRAFT
EDUCATOR
A biochemist, writer
and Professor
of Science
Communication
at the University of
Hull, Lorch has used
Minecraft in his
teaching to build
models of molecules.
He has consulted
with Microsoft to
create a permanent
mod that adds
chemistry to
the game.
It may seem surprising that
Minecraft is the world’s bestselling
game, but, having
shifted more than 176 million
copies, its pixelated graphics
and vague, roaming gameplay
– chopping trees, building
houses and hitting zombies –
clearly dig deep into the human
psyche. Now, the augmentedreality
smartphone version,
Minecraft Earth, has brought
that blocky world into our own.
In truth, it merged with our
reality long ago. The game’s
free-form building-block
mechanics have been used to
mine cryptocurrencies, and
in 2013 Google created a mod
called qCraft that introduced
quantum physics with “blocks
that exhibit superposition,
quantum entanglement and
observer dependency”. Its
potential is limitless, says
Minecraft expert Professor
Mark Lorch. minecraft.net/earth
BUILD A BETTER WORLD
A great example of how
Minecraft is able to
democratise complex
projects is the Block
by Block Foundation
(blockbyblock.org). This
UN-backed project holds
workshops for residents,
where they use Minecraftmodelled
neighbourhood
streets to design their
own improvements –
from children lighting
their walk home, to locals
creating Kosovo’s first
skate park. “If you build
a very accessible 3D
Minecraft simulation,
Minecraft Earth lets players
collaborate on tasks using AR
people can dive in and
start to work together,”
says Lorch. “It removes
the technological and
knowledge barrier, and
all potential risks.”
GO MICROSCOPIC
Lorch has used the game
to create MolCraft –
a virtual museum of
biochemistry, housing
3D models of molecules.
“One of the great things
about Minecraft is that
it’s easily modded and a
good way of visualising 3D
structures,” he says. “It
can do things that other
Other people’s digital work on Minecraft Earth
can be seen through your smartphone screen
molecular visualisation
software can’t – you can
fly around the molecules.
I ran biochemistry
tutorials hosted within
a Minecraft server.”
DIG DEEPER
You may think you’ve
made it in the game
when you build your
first elevator-equipped
pyramid, but such
projects pale beside
the British Geological
Society’s topographical
Minecraft map of Great
Britain. “They created all
of the strata beneath the
map, too,” says Lorch.
“You can go to any point
and burrow down through
the topsoil to see the
limestone or whatever
is there. This opens up
high-level survey data to
a whole group of people.”
TRAIN ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
“Microsoft has Project
Malmo, a platform for AI
experimentation that
bolts onto Minecraft,”
says Lorch. Building a
robot and sending it out
into the real world, only
for it to tumble into the
first pond it comes
across, is an expensive
way to train its brain.
Minecraft provides an
off-the-shelf, easily
customised simulation in
which to set an AI goals.
“The AIs can observe what
you do and learn the rules
about how to do that
themselves – it’s close to
a real-world problem.”
CRAFT REAL OBJECTS
Minecraft is a versatile
open-world sandbox, but
it can reach out of the
virtual. “Minecraft can
spit stuff back into the
real world,” says Lorch.
“There are mods in
Minecraft that allow you
to save your constructs in
formats that 3D printers
can read. So you can
design in Minecraft and
then print it. There’s also
a CAD [Computer-Aided
Design] program that
talks to Minecraft so you
can design stuff and then
drop it into the game.”
THE RED BULLETIN 91

G U I D E
Do it
7to 8 September
Wheels and Fins
Joss Bay in Kent offers some fine surfing.
The only thing that could make the vibe
any more enjoyable is wrapping a two-day
festival around the coastline and filling it
with live music stages, an international
film showcase, a skateboarding
championship, and paddleboarding and
yoga sessions at the beach. Possibly the
most chilled festival you’ll ever sunbathe,
swim, surf and skate at.
Broadstairs, Kent; wheelsandfins.co.uk
14
to 15 September
RED BULL HARDLINE
One of the toughest downhill MTB races just doubled down on its
roughneck reputation, running for two days in a row for the first
time in its six-year history. The brain-and-brawnchild of (possibly
sadistic) pro rider Dan Atheron, this woodland course in the
Welsh hills features gargantuan jumps, drops and a signature
16m road-gap leap. For last year’s event, eventually won by his
younger brother Gee (also a first), Dan dug out even longer leaps.
Find out what fiendish plans he’s formulated this time around.
September
Being Human
This permanent exhibition
explores what it means to be
a Homo sapiens living today.
Divided into four distinct themes
– genetics, minds and bodies,
infection, and environmental
breakdown – it features creations
from worldwide artists, alongside
a gene-splicing kit, and works
from wheelchair design activism
campaign The Accessible Icon
Project. Wellcome Collection,
London; wellcomecollection.org
Dinas Mawddwy, Gwynedd, Wales; redbull.com/hardline
5 13 31
to 15 September
Africa Utopia
This festival celebrates the
amazing influence the culture
of this great continent has had
on every facet of society –
from music, art and fashion, to
sexuality, society and gender.
Live performances, exhibits,
workshops, speakers, black
cinema, a marketplace and even a
fashion show are among the fun,
powerful and thought-provoking
events filling this weekend.
Southbank Centre, London;
southbankcentre.co.uk
August
Jewel of
the Empire
Always fancied a trip on the
Orient Express, but could never
afford it? Here’s a close second:
an immersive experience aboard
a fictional train where a murder
may occur. What is certain to
happen is a four-course meal
created by 2018 MasterChef:
The Professionals champion
Laurence Henry. Catch the train
before it departs for good.
Pedley St Station, London;
funicularproductions.com
SASKIA DUGON/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, STEVE KREEGER, ALAMY
92 THE RED BULLETIN

August / September
20
August to 14 September
RED BULL MUSIC FESTIVAL
22 August
In Conversation
with Spice
The Jamaican dancehall star, aka Grace
Hamilton, earned her stripes in the early
noughties, but took off after featuring on
Vybz Kartel’s explicit single Romping Shop.
Last year, she joined VH1’s TV series Love &
Hip Hop: Atlanta and released her mixtape
Captured, which went top of the Billboard
Reggae Albums chart. In an interview with
BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Sian Anderson, she’ll
discuss reality TV, sexism in the music
industry, and how Grace Hamilton differs
from her bigger, bolder Spice persona.
Subterania, London
Caribbean queen:
dancehall star Spice
has plenty to say
28 August
Object Blue:
Figure Beside Me
The Tokyo-born, Beijing-raised, neo-
Londoner’s music sounds as if it was
made to be played at The Snake Pit, the
fictional nightclub in the sci-fi classic
Blade Runner. Her tunes are futuristic
and primal at the same time, containing
elements of techno, avant-garde and videogame
sound design. To transform her
experimental club music into a one-off,
360° live performance for the ears and
the eyes, Blue teams up with visual artist
Natalia Podgorska.
Saint James Hatcham Church, London
Visionary: Object Blue will bring her music to life
6 September
Coded Language
As the writer William S Burroughs famously
said, “Language is a virus from outer space,”
constantly spreading, morphing, and at
times uncontrollable. A prime example is
Multicultural London English (MLE), one of
its most vibrant forms, born from creativity
and migration, and influenced by the city.
Alongside live music and DJs, artists such
as grime icon Wretch 32, producer Steel
Banglez and poet Bridget Minamore debate
how language constitutes our identity.
The British Library, London
10 September
Normal Not Novelty:
Hyperdub 15 Take Over
Fifteen years ago, Steve Goodman, aka
Kode9, turned his music blog Hyperdub
into a record label. Instrumental in the
evolution of dubstep, the label gave the
music world one of its most celebrated
producers, Burial. Hyperdub has also
excelled as a home to innovative young
female artists. Here, label veteran Cooly G,
new signing Loraine James and rapper
Lady Lykez lead free workshops for femaleidentifying
music-makers.
Red Bull Studios, London
14 September
Aphex Twin
One of the most influential techno
musicians of the ’90s, Richard D James,
aka Aphex Twin, stepped back from the
spotlight in the early noughties, only to
return in 2014 with the album Syro. For his
first London show in two years, he performs
on a custom-built stage featuring lasers
and 306 LED panels with visuals from longterm
Aphex collaborators Weirdcore. The
only catch? The show sold out in minutes.
But it will be live-streamed on redbull.com.
Printworks, London
For more details on Red Bull Music
Festival London, go to redbull.com
THE RED BULLETIN 93

G U I D E
See it
August / September
GET YOUR
PULSE
RACING
For high-octane off-road
motor-racing In Wisconsin,
mountain-biking heroics
in the Appalachians and
championship rallying
through German vineyards,
make a date with Red Bull
TV this month…
1
September LIVE
CRANDON
WORLD CUP
Nestled in the woodlands of Wisconsin, Crandon
International Off-Road Raceway is the ‘holy grail’ of
motorsport venues. This purpose-built facility is the best
in the world and has long attracted large crowds to its
short-course off-road races. Experience all the excitement
of the fourth annual World Cup event on Red Bull TV.
American off-road ace
Bryce Menzies is a
veteran at Crandon
WATCH
RED BULL TV
ANYWHERE
Red Bull TV is a global digital
entertainment destination
featuring programming that
is beyond the ordinary and is
available anytime, anywhere.
Go online at redbull.tv,
download the app, or
connect via your Smart TV.
To find out more,
visit redbull.tv
6to 8 September LIVE
UCI MTB WORLD CUP
FINAL, SNOWSHOE, USA
Snowshoe in the Appalachian Mountains of West
Virginia makes its MTB World Cup debut as the
2019 championship comes to a close. Find out who
makes the winners’ podium and who misses out.
23
to 25 August LIVE
WRC GERMANY
Witness high-adrenalin action through the vineyards
of Germany’s Mosel region. As the first real tarmac
rally of the season, the Rallye Deutschland involves
major set-up changes for the cars. Can Ott Tänak
and Martin Järveoja make it three wins in a row?
DANIEL SCHENKELBERG, JAANUS REE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
94 THE RED BULLETIN

Do it
Red Bull Soapbox
The four Red Bull Soapbox judges (including
Patrick Ladbury, pictured far right)
OLAF PIGNATARO/RED BULL CONTENT POOL (4), LEO FRANCIS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL,
SAMANTHA SASKIA DUGON/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, SAM CLEMANCE
BEST OF SOAPBOX
HOMEMADE
HEROES
On July 7, some of the
craziest, coolest and (on
occasion) most well-crafted
motorless racers ever seen
hurtled down the Red Bull
Soapbox track at London’s
Alexandra Palace. Here, one
of the prestigious judges,
Patrick Ladbury of Great
Northern Rail, the official
travel partner of this year’s
race, lists his pick of the crop
APOLLO 50
“Having taken part in six Red Bull Soapbox races,
you’d think that this team would know the secret
to winning, but their rocket broke in two before it
had even left the start ramp. It was a launch-pad
disaster that nonetheless impressed all four
judges, even though the team didn’t finish.
‘Houston, they had a problem!’”
GAS GAS GAS
“The winners! Apparently these guys make gas
masks for a living – hence the name – but I can’t
help wondering if they should quit and make
soapboxes full-time. They get extra points for
their zombie attack theme, too. As they neared
the finish, they must have smelt victory! Oh wait,
no, they couldn’t.”
RICCIARDO’S SHUEY
“Drinking champagne from your racing boot –
it’s an Aussie thing according to Formula One
driver Daniel Ricciardo. Unfortunately, Team
Shuey didn’t get the pleasure of that victory
celebration, as they were pretty slow. Still, they
finished in one piece, so you could say it wasn’t
completely sole-destroying (sorry, I had to).”
Racers pass through
the Great Northern
Rail train track
MIGHTY MAGNIFICENT MEN
“I certainly won’t be booking flights with this
airline any time soon. This was the best crash
of the day: a complete nose dive, a flip, and
complete and utter destruction of their aircraft.
But luckily there were no injuries, apart from
the pilots’ moustaches falling off. More Wrong
than Wright brothers.”
TEAM TOP CAT
“The youth of today probably didn’t get the
vintage Hanna-Barbera cartoon reference, but
I remember watching Top Cat as a boy as I ate
my Weetabix in front of the TV on a Saturday
morning. I was impressed by this team’s speed,
and I have to give them full marks for driving
almost blind in those huge masks.”
Watch highlights from the race on Dave (dave.uktv.co.uk) and from September 7 on Red Bull TV; soapboxrace.redbull.com
THE RED BULLETIN 95

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96 THE RED BULLETIN

THE RED BULLETIN PROMOTION
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THE RED BULLETIN 97

Action highlight
Blades of glory
Helicopters are 10-a-penny in the skies of NYC, but even the most stubborn of jaws
will have dropped at the sight of aerobatics pilot Aaron Fitzgerald’s practice flips,
barrel rolls and nose dives. But don’t try this in just any ’copter – the Red Bull chopper
has a hingeless rotor that’s made for the job. See the video at redbull.com
The next
issue of
THE RED BULLETIN
is out on
September 10
PREDRAG VUCKOVIC/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
98 THE RED BULLETIN

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

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