The Red Bulletin April 2014 - ZA

1 4 - p a g e g a m i n g

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s i rv i n c e n td j, p i o n e e r , i n n o vat o r

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beyond the ordinary

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WINGS FOREVERY TASTE.

CRANBERRY. LIME. BLUEBERRY.AND THE EFFECT OF RED BULL.

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Our feelings can lead us to do really

crazy things Pharrell Williams, Page 34

Welcome You have in your hands a very special issue of The Red Bulletin. Whats that? Isnt every issue special? of course they are, but this one is guest-edited by none other than Pharrell Williams. He got lucky, now hes happy, and for this magazine hes curated a selection of his favourite people and things. Were also delighted to bring you an in-depth interview with musics most wanted man. meanwhile, Ryan Sandes is preparing to set a fastest known time for the Drakensberg Grand Traverse, an epic crossing of the highest mountain range in southern Africa. Back at sea level, Sir Vincent of Khayelitsha is redefining the art of social entrepreneurship. We hope you enjoy the issue.

Day of thunDera day and a night at americas race-season opener, the rolex 24 at Daytona

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THE WORLD OF RED BULL

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Deep thinkerThe freediver who, on his journey to reach world-record depths, wants to expand his mind and yours

24

62gaining the eDge How do you up your game if youre already world-class? Mountain-biking dynasty the Athertons reveal all

racing seat Infiniti Red Bull Racings new man Daniel Ricciardo reveals that sometimes being an F1 driver can be a bum rap

secrets of successAn access-all-areas look at the making of the RB10, the 2014 Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula One car

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at a glance

to tame a DragonRyan sandes and Ryno griesel attempt to set a fastest known time for the remote 210km Drakensberg Grand Traverse

48

Bullevard 10 gaming special

A 14-page tribute to the games we play: the best, the hardest, the ones weve loved and whats coming next

Features

24 Plunging the depthsFreediver Guillaume Nry

34 Pharrell WilliamsUnder the influence with the man- of-the-moment master collaborator

48 Ryan SandesGoing the distance and then some over rugged mountain terrain

54 Start your enginesTribal fans, deadly manoeuvres and last-minute gasps at Daytona

62 to the next levelGee and Rachel Atherton on earning that extra one per cent

72 the township beatSir Vincent of Khayelitsha on how his social upliftment philosophy works

76 F1 2014 previewCan Sebastian Vettel become the world champion five times in a row?

action 86 travel Rock climbing in Rio 87 training Get fit for Formula One88 party Art and hip-hop in Abu Dhabi89 my city A street artists Miami90 enter now Wings For Life World Run92 music Bombay Bicycle Clubs top tunes94 new games Infamous: Second Son96 save the Date Unmissable events98 magic moment Real-life halfpipe

aPRil 2014

06 the red bulletin

Contributorswhos on board this issue

The Red BulleTin South Africa, iSSn 2079-4282

The Red Bulletin is published by Red Bull Media House GmbH

General Manager Wolfgang Winter

Publisher Franz Renkin

editors-in-Chief Alexander Macheck, Robert Sperl

editor, South Africa Angus Powers

editor Paul Wilson

Creative director Erik Turek

Art directors Kasimir Reimann, Miles English

Photo director Fritz Schuster

Production editor Marion WildmannManaging editor Daniel Kudernatsch

Chief Sub-editor Nancy James

deputy Chief Sub-editor Joe Curran

Assistant editors Ulrich Corazza, Werner Jessner, Ruth Morgan, Florian Obkircher,

Arek Piatek, Andreas Rottenschlager

Contributing editor Stefan Wagner Bullevard

Georg Eckelsberger, Raffael Fritz, Sophie Haslinger, Marianne Minar, Boro Petric, Holger Potye, Martina Powell, Mara Simperler,

Clemens Stachel, Manon Steiner, Lukas Wagner

design Martina de Carvalho-Hutter, Silvia Druml, Kevin Goll,

Carita Najewitz, Esther Straganz

Photo editors Susie Forman (Creative Photo Director), Rudi belhr (Deputy Photo Director),

Marion Batty, Eva Kerschbaum

Repro Managers Clemens Ragotzky (manager),

Karsten Lehmann, Josef Mhlbacher

head of Production Michael Bergmeister

Production Wolfgang Stecher (manager), Walter O Sdaba, Christian Graf-Simpson (app)

Advertising enquiries Andrew Gillett, +27 (0) 83 412 8008,

[email protected]

Printed by CTP Printers, Duminy Street, Parow-East,

Cape Town 8000.

Finance Siegmar Hofstetter, Simone Mihalits

Marketing & Country Management Stefan Ebner (manager), Elisabeth Salcher,

Lukas Scharmbacher, Sara Varming

distribution Klaus Pleninger, Peter Schiffer subscription price: 228 ZAR, 12 issues,

www.getredbulletin.com, [email protected]

Marketing design Julia Schweikhardt, Peter Knethl

Advertising Placement Sabrina Schneider

Oce Management Kristina Krizmanic

The Red Bulletin is published in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand,

South Africa, Switzerland, UK and USA

Website www.redbulletin.com

head office Red Bull Media House GmbH,

Oberst-Lepperdinger-Strasse 11-15, A-5071 Wals bei Salzburg, FN 297115i, Landesgericht Salzburg, ATU63611700

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+43 (1) 90221 28800 Write to us: [email protected]

ryan sandes and ryno Griesel in the berg is next-level endurance stuff jazz kuschke

jazz kuschke

Living near the mountains in Sweden, its no wonder Fredriksson is noted for his mountain bike and ski photos. A senior staffer at Powder and Bike magazines, he keeps himself almost as fit as the athletes he shoots. I ski more than 100 days a year and the same riding my bikes, he says, or else I would never be able to keep up. In Fuerteventura, I was constantly running around the hills to shoot Gee and Rachel Atherton. It was a lot of fun. Turn to page 62 now.

As an adventure sport photojournalist

whos been on assignments in Indonesia, Angola, Malaysia, Runion, Mozambique and beyond, you might say Kuschkes seen it all. Yet he found the scope of Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesels Drakensberg Grand Traverse genuinely surprising. This is a next-level endurance challenge, but its not so much about the distance or current record, its about the altitude, terrain and weather all the variables of the Berg. The story begins on page 48.

Finlay Mack ay

Frdric Pelatan

After photographing Shaun White and the NBAs Indiana Pacers, the Scot was tired when he arrived in LA to shoot Pharrell Williams for our cover. Not that anyone noticed: the GQ and The New York Times Magazine regular hustled the Grammy-winner through several set-ups in an empty downtown. Pharrell was easy-going and simple to shoot, says MacKay. The biggest challenge for me was the LA sun. My pasty Glasgow skin burns very easily. Guys a trouper: see page 34.

The author of a book about rugby and many articles

about the wider world of sport, Peletan dove deep into the life and times of Guillaume Nry, one of the worlds best proponents of freediving. The two Frenchmen enjoyed a remarkable conversation about the limits of human endurance and the notion of BASE-jumping underwater. Competition in freediving is important, but is secondary to the aesthetic: it has to be beautiful, says Peletan. Come on in, the waters wonderful on page 24.

Mattias Fredriksson

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SHOES ARE BORINGWEAR SNEAKERS

@converse_AfricAwww.converse-sA.co.zA

D o n t j u s t s e e t h e m , b e t h e m

next-level actingNow that Oscar-nominees go virtual, is the games/movies divide sealing shut?

Is it just moonlighting or a journey into the future of acting? Juno and Inception star Ellen Page lent her talents to PS3 adventure Beyond: Two Souls, contributing body movements, facial expressions and emotions to the leading lady, Jodie, in the same way actors are motion-captured for movies. (Footage of the game was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival last year.) Willem Dafoe co-stars; together, their characters try to solve the riddle of life after death. The in-game action is typically Hollywood, as is the scandal that comes with it: online pics of a hacked version of the games shower scene, without the TV-movie friendly steam.

A virtual Ellen Page in Beyond: Two Souls (main pic) after motion-capturing (inset) that mapped her body and facial expressions and made the data for her virtual doppelganger

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A L L T H E B E S T

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS In GAMInG Sentimentalists have good reason to celebrate in 2014, with a bunch of anniversaries marking the debuts of influential and iconic software and hardware

nintendo dS When it appeared in 2004, the DS brought to mind old Game & Watch handhelds. To date, about 154m have been sold, second only to PS2 sales (155m).

tetriS On June 6, 1984, in Moscow, Alexey Pajitnov finished a game the world is still playing: over 100m downloads, with the hundreds of millions on all formats.

FiFAThe first one didnt even have a year: 20 years ago, FIFA International Soccer launched one of the most successful games series ever.

SiM CitY You build and run a city, and then, if you like, monsters destroy it? An idea that, 25 years ago, people said was crazy, but has proved one of the most durable.

neS This grey box became a hit in Japan in 1984; America followed a year later and the Nintendo Entertainment System brought video games into the world.

SeGA MeGAdriVe Its now 25 years since Sega wowed us with what was then a staggering 16-bit console and the worlds fastest blue hedgehog, Sonic.

GAMe BoY It had a weak processor, a simple black-and-white display and no backlight, and yet it was a global hit on launch in 1989. Nintendos greatest-ever product?

PLAYStAtion In 1994, the battle for supremacy between Nintendo and Sega became a three-way. Sony released the first PlayStation and left both in its wake.

. . . F O R M I L L A J O V O V I C H . Every two years, the creatures from Resident Evil make a comeback. Its a welcome sight, because no one hunts zombies as beautifully as Milla. It is no shock to learn that the movies most successful female action hero has been borrowed from a video game. What is surprising, as our picture shows, is that shes offing the undead with what looks like a NES Zapper. Her sixth RE flick is in mooted for release next year.

THAnK YOU, ZOMBIES...

Undead reckoning: Millas five resident

evil movies have grossed US$916m

worldwide

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miSSing linKSHow an art professor and young hacker dad made Lego compatible with everything

Interoperability: thats what its called when things made by different manufacturers work with each other. Once an IT buzzword, it has now found its way into childrens toy

boxes thanks to Golan Levin, a university professor from Pennsylvania. Levin and his colleague, the designer Shawn Sims, have invented the Free Universal Construction Kit (please dont use the acronym), an arsenal of 3D-printer-made connection parts for 10 popular toy construction sets, including Lego. When my son was four, he tried in vain to put together a car from KNex and Tinkertoy parts. That gave me the idea, Levin explains. He and Sims then needed a name for the project, and it took a whole pitcher of beer to come up with one. They have made the plans for the connection parts freely available. There are print-on-demand services where you can order them, says Levin, but its more fun to play around with a 3D printer yourself and your child will enjoy it too. Lets raise another glass to the hackerspace. thingiverse.com/uck

g o w i t h t h e f l o w

what ShoUld i PlaY neXt?So many games, so little time. Choose your next one here

Do you like shooting people?

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Are you the centre of your world? Do you like to play from a first-person perspective?

Do you like sport, but actual running is a bit too much bother?

Are you a world-builder who would like to build and rule your own kingdom?Do you like to hit

your opponent with weapons that seem realistic?

Would you get annoyed if someone rampaged through your lovely kingdom?Are you over 18

and capable of losing without insulting your opponents mother?

Are you a strategic thinker and team player who likes to measure up against others?

Do you like to explore enormous game-worlds in the hope of discovering new things?

Would you like to give up the rest of your life and spend all night and all day playing games?

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BikE to thE fUtUREWhen sci-fi- and sport collide, theres always that guy who looks like a Daft Punk Power Ranger

Thrown to the air Trials Fusion is an offshoot

of Trials, the worlds best motocross games series.

Gripping gameplay, futuristic feel, incredible

visuals: out later this year

i s i t o u t y e t ?A R e yo u F o R R e A L? W H e N WA s t H At ? H o W D i D i t H A p p e N ? H o W D i D i t H A p p e N ?

p L o t t W i s t W H At s N e x t ? W H At H A p p e N e D N e x t ?WA s t H e R e A s e Q u e L? A N o t H e R o N e ?

tAg L i N e t H A N K yo u , 1 9 9 0 s ! W H At s t H e p L o t ? WA i t. i s N t t H At H oW D i D i t H A p p e N ?

Cambodia, 1970. A lone US soldier is clearing a minefield. All he has to help him is a cryptic map full of numerical codes.

Game makers Hasbro had already successfully transferred Transformers to the big screen. And so Battleship was launched in 2012.

One of the most successful first-person shooters would surely work on the big screen. But watching it was like watching someone play Doom, badly, and not letting you have a go.

$ 4 2 m b u d g e t i n 1 9 9 3 s a y s :

y e s , v e r y r e a l i n d e e d .

The first of two films appeared in the cinema in 1995 and was in keeping with the spirit of the game. Fans enjoyed the aliens-versus-humans thing and the fight scenes were OK. The 1997 sequel was terrible.

J u s t . O n e .

M o r e . M i n e .

Director Andrzej Bartkowiak found the crux of the game killing beasts in hell too unrealistic. So his idea for the 2005 film was to kill monsters on Mars instead.

. . . R i h a n n a ? Y e s , i t i s .

S h e s g o t a g r e a t v o i c e .

Nine different scriptwriters and an untried directing duo made one of the biggest cinema flops of the 1990s out of the 1980s favourite video game.

The human race is threatened with extermination by technologically superior aliens. No hope of survival. How do you think it all turns out?

D e n n i s H o p p e r , i n

h i s m o s t a b s u r d

r o l e a s a w i c k e d

b l o n d l i z a r d m a n .

Director: Michael BayScript: Charlie Kaufman The soldier: Nicolas Cage The captain: Tyrese GibsonThe wife: Gemma Arterton The buddy: Peter Stormare

P a u l W S A n d e r s o n ,

w h o l a t e r g a v e

u s t h e R e s i d e n t

E v i l s c r e e n

a d a p t a t i o n s .

T h e R o c k

O t h e r H a s b r o

p r o p e r t i e s o n t h e

b i g s c r e e n : F u r b y ,

M y L i t t l e P o n y ,

P l a y - D o h .

Mario, aka Bob Hoskins, went on to appear in Nixon, Spice World and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties. But tom Hanks was happy: hed wanted the part of Mario.

Our heros nerves fail him on the very last mine. Theres a white flash, an explosion, and Nic Cage wakes with a start. His face has aged by 40 years. Hed fallen asleep at his desk.

A f a n - m a d e w e b s e r i e s

h a s l e d t o r e b o o t t a l k .

I t s s a i d t h e r e w e r e

p l a n s f o r D o o m 2 .

B u t t h e r e w e r e

p l a n s f o r D o o m t o

b e s u c c e s s f u l f i r s t .

P I X E L P I C T U R E S

WHEN GAMES BECOME MOVIESHollywood is fighting to keep its audience because theyre all at home playing

games. Four of these five films really exist: one wed like to shoot ourselves

B U L L E V A R D

W h a t s w r o n g

w i t h y o u , d r a m a q u e e n ? R I H A N N A I N B A T T L E S H I P

C A s t & C R e W W H At s t H e p L o t W H o p L Ay e D B o W s e R ?W H o s t H e s tA R ? W H o WA s D i R e C t i N g ?

He WAS ABANDONeD By everyONe. BUT UNDereSTiMATiNG A MAN liKe HiM COUlD Be yOUr lAST MiSTAKe

Nicolas cage

B I GS C R E E N

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IBMs Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997, the first time a computer beat a world chess champion. Now there are mobile phone apps that would thrash Deep Blue and the greatest grandmasters. Checkmate, humans!

This Asian strategy game has more moves than there are atoms in the universe. A human go-masters ability to assess territorial advantage at a glance lets him outfox the best computers. In your face, motherboard!

Driven by Kasparovs loss to Deep Blue, Omar Syed devised a game his young son could understand, but which a computer would find hard. After 10 years of human-CPU match-ups, soft flesh still beats software.

VSM A N V S M A C H I N E :

W H O S B E S T ?L E T T H E B O A R D G A M E S B E G I N !

Fred is GMRs best friend, and eats cake over the keyboard to annoy him

GMR is Freds best friend, but

never helps Fred with his maths

homework

In 2007, after 18 years of development and cracking draughts mathematically, a team of scientists at the University of Alberta unveiled Chinook, a program that will never lose, and almost always win, against a human player.

f R E DG M R

f R E D : 0 | C H E S S | G M R : 1

f R E D : 1 | D R A u G H T S | G M R : 2 f R E D : 2 | A R I M A A | G M R : 2

f R E D : 1 | G O | G M R : 1

B u L L E V A R D

p L AyA G A I N ?

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Pong First gaming hero is a thin rectangle

Space Invader8x8 pixels: a legend born

1 9 9 5

1 9 7 2

Bomberman Insurgent version of Pac-Man

Donkey KongWorld went ape

for a barrel of fun

Guybrush Threepwood The wit tiest

games star of al l -time

Link Poor guy. Star of a series named after Princess Zelda

The prince with no nameThough in the

2010 movie, hes Dastan

b u l l e v a r d

Super Mario Here he is: It s-a me!

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video gameslegendsThe men, women and monkeys who made history

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1 9 9 9

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SteveBack to the

star t: a real hero made

of pixels

Lara CroftIs it OK to have a crush on graphics?

Master Chief Helmeted harbinger of al ien doom

b u l l e v a r d

1 u p & u p & u p

Gordon Freeman The strongest, si lent-ist t ype, he never spoke

Chell Absolutely

not your usual in-game babe

Old into gold: Michael Johansson made The Move Overseas, the installation he presented at the last Beaufort04, the triennial art expo in the Belgian town of Zeebrugge, using second-hand household appliances and furniture he bought locally

B U L L E V A R D

B L o c k p A R t y

REAL LifE tEtRisWell stacked, Sir: Michael Johansson has got to be Swedens tidiest artist

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A quick look at game-gadget history tells us theres a fine line between a white

elephant and a white-hot tech triumph

Power glove In 1988, what was meant to be the future of controllers turned out to be cack-handed. Only two compatible games were made.

virtuAl Boy Nintendo (see above) promised us a 3D virtual world back in 1995. What we got were red, flickering LEDs and headaches.

oCuluS riftThis time its for real: a virtual reality gaming headset, financed by Kickstarter. Might we see them, at last, in 2014?

theres a capacity crowd here tonight

Schoolboy defending

theyve only come here to park the bus

A good time to score

every game is a cup final now

it was handbags, really

the manager must have read them the riot act at half-time

He had no right to score from there

im not exaggerating it could be 10-0

it was easier to score

im going to make a prediction it could go either way

Hes given 110 per cent

these two teams know each other inside out

the first goal is going to make all the difference

there are no easy games at this level

what on earth was he thinking?

No love lost between these two

Surely the referee could see that

this is a dangerous free-kick

Stonewall penalty

And its in the back of the net!

weve seen those given

time is slowly running out for them

Absolutely unbelievable

the referee is looking at his watch

F u l l h o u s e o n m at c h d ay

tV FootBall BingoNext time youre watching the match, cross out these tried-and-tested phrases when you hear them. It wont take long to get the lot

B u l l e V a r d

Bingoal!Bingoal!

y o u r e c h e c K i n g m e

o u t , a r e n t y o u ?

d o w n l o a d t h e s e n o w

ANgry BirdS go!your furious feathered friends

in a kart-racing game with the expected, one-more-go pull

toP eleveNover 12 million wannabe mangers cant be wrong:

the best mobile football sim

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B U L L E V A R D

1 9 7 2 MAgnAvox odyssey processor: none (40 transistors) ram: none (but later 64 bytes) colours: 2 black and white most successful game: Table Tennis

1 9 8 3 nintendo enteRtAinMent systeM processor: 8-bit with 1.66MHz ram: 2KB colours: 54 (25 on screen)most successful game: Super Mario Bros

1 9 8 8 segA MegA dRive processor: 16-bit with 7.61MHz ram: 72KB colours: 512 (64 on screen)most successful game: Sonic The Hedgehog

1 9 9 6 nintendo 64processor: 64-bit with 93.75MHzram: 4MB colours: 16.7m (32,000 on screen)most successful game: Super Mario 64

2 0 0 0 sony PlAystAtion 2 processor: 64-bit with 294.9MHz ram: 32MB colours: 16.7mmost successful game: GTA: San Andreas

2 0 0 5 xbox 360 processor: 64-bit TriCore processor, each with 3.2GHz ram: 512MB colours: 16.7 millionmost successful game: Kinect Adventures

2 0 1 3sony PlAystAtion 4 processor: eight 64-bit processors, each with 1.6GHz ram: 8GB colours: over a billionmost successful game so far: Killzone: Shadow Fall

N A , S U p E R !

T o T !

T h E N U m B E R g A m E S

powERLifTiNg Each generation of games machines brings huge leaps in tech: in 40 years weve gone from 64 bytes to 8bn

22 the red bulletin

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T I P S F R O M T H E T O P

SLADE PRESTwIcHThe 18-year-old surfer, tipped for big things, knows his games, too

FIFA 14 Im responsible for all goals and tactics, and for some reason, I find that really exciting. It makes you think about your next move before youve even passed the ball.

IRONMAN Hes my favourite character in Marvel Heroes I always use him for any mission. He can fly, his weapons are super-sick and hes human. So I dont think hes made up like Hulk.

RAYMAN LEGENDS As you unlock the five themed worlds, the stages expand in unexpected ways with different traps and music. Sometimes the game changes from 2D to 3D, which makes it more challenging.

M O B I L E G A M E S | | | R A T E D F O R y O U | | | I n T E S T c O n D I T I O n S

S U P E R M A R I O A R T

GAME OVERWhat happens when Marios lives are all used up? And what were Princess Peachs last words to him?

Polish artist Kordian Lewandowski carved Game Over (2008) from a 2m-tall block of Styrofoam. He was

inspired by Michelangelos Pieta, a statue of Jesus in

the arms of Mary

I T w A S A - M E ,

M A R I O !

PAPER tRAIN Get trains through an intersection safely. Simple idea, but will have you punching the side of the basin in frustration.

BADLAND A smallest-room favourite: each level of this side-scrolling platformer only takes two minutes, thus ideal for fleeting visits.

DEvIcE 6 A surreal thriller that uses words and images to drive a hybrid of short story and video game. People will be banging on the door.

the red bulletin 23

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The freediver who, on his journey to reach world-record depths, wants to expand his mind and yours

Words: Frdric Pelatan Photography: Ian Derry

24

The most magical moment is when I escape gravity. It is liberation. It

is breaking loose

Our sport is enormously demanding from a physical point of view, but I dont feel that its dangerous 26

Guillaume Nry, freediving philosopher:

My only fear is fear itself. Once it sets

in, you lose your cool and serenity

As a child, Guillaume Nry dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Now he defies gravity in the other direction

Aesthetics are important in

freediving. What you do has to look good

29

Guillaume Nry is pushing and dragging a trolley stacked high with luggage down the corridors of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. His young daughter, Ma-Lou, hangs off his back like a little spider monkey. Alongside them is Julie Gau tier, girlfriend and mother, filmmaker and Nrys confidante and freediving partner. The Nry clan is fleeing the French winter to spend the next four months in French Polynesia: only a 25-hour journey separates them from paradise. Ma-Lou is now old enough for her parents to get a good nights sleep and things have been going well recently from a sporting point of view, the one-time world-record holder, having improved one of his many French freediving records at

We have to fight hard for every metre. Thats the challenge, the fascination

30

Search nery base on YouTube to see

Nrys BASE-jump dive into the worlds deepest underwater

sinkhole in the Bahamas

A single breath is all Guillaume Nry needs to dive to a depth of 125m

where he died, of what was later said to be pulmonary oedema: capillaries bursting under pressure and filling his lungs with blood.

The whole community is in shock, Nry says. Our sport is enormously demanding, from a physical point of view, but I dont feel its dangerous because we have to stick to all these safety procedures. Or should I say I never used to feel it was dangerous? Of course, now I wonder what to do. Does it make sense to carry on?

Does this mean that one of the worlds best freedivers now fears the deep?

My only fear is fear itself, he says, matter-of-factly. Once it sets in, you lose the cool and serenity you need as you fight for every extra metre. In fact, we have to fight so hard for every extra metre that we can never afford to tense up. Thats the challenge, the art, the fascinating thing.

A few years ago, in another part of the Bahamas, Nry himself got into severe difficulty.

I dived down to a depth of 80m, doing the breaststroke. When I came back up, I couldnt breathe, my whole body was tense and I was spitting blood. It was more than five minutes before my breathing returned to normal.

Unlike Austrian freediver Herbert Nitsch, who suffered the consequences of a 2012 accident, or Loc Leferme, who died in training in 2007, Nry has resisted the siren call of the ultimate category of freediving, No-Limits, in which aids can be used to dive down next to a guide line, usually a weighted sled on the way down and inflatable buoyancy aids on the ascent. The temptation has been strong, but his girlfriend has managed to dissuade him. She was pretty unequivocal about it. She said, Its OK if you want to do it, but you have to know youll be doing it without me. Nry readily agreed with that ultimatum. Competing is fascinating, but its only scratching the surface. Aesthetics are the really important thing when it comes to freediving. Aesthetics are affirmation; what you do always has to look good.

When I was a kid, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut and was constantly looking up at the sky. Then one day I saw a documentary about freediving legend Umberto Pelizzari. That was the first time I was confronted with a completely different world. Nry and a friend would challenge each other on the school bus: first one to breathe loses. Back in his room after school, Nry would rest his arms on his body and hold his breath for five minutes. He was 14 and hoping to discover far-off galaxies, but he would elude gravity by going down, not up.

Following the online success of the short film Free Fall, which he and Gautier shot together, Nry feels he is more able to convey to others his fascination for freediving. (Narcosis, the couples latest short, is being shown at European film festivals. Gautier operates the camera, following Nry into the depths.) The most magical moment is when I escape gravity. It is liberation. It is breaking loose. I fly with my arms open. At those moments I am completely calm. Everything around me becomes one and I become part of that whole.guillaumenery.fr

the World Championships in Kalamata, Greece.But the 31-year-old Frenchman is broody and uncommunicative, as he has been for several weeks, since Nicholas Mevoli, a vi deo producer and experienced freediver from New York, died while taking part in a competition organised by AIDA, freedivings international governing body. In May 2013, Mevoli became the first American freediver to pass the 100m mark in the Constant Weight category diving down alongside a guide line, but not touching it, while wearing fins. Four months later, he won the silver medal in the same category at the World Championships. On November 17, 2013, in the Bahamas, during an attempt of a 72m Constant Weight Without Fins dive, Mevoli reached his depth and resurfaced as planned. He then fell unconscious in the water during his resurfacing procedure and was taken to hospital

I am completely calm during a dive. Everything around me becomes one

33

Whether in a Japanese sculpture or the smooth style of a BMX street rider, the Grammy Award-winning producer finds inspiration everywhere. Favourites from his current list are featured over the following pages as Williams guest-edits The Red Bulletin

pharrell

Designer, musician, artist & producer PhARRell WilliAMs is one thing above all: a master collaborator

34 the red bulletin

predictsthe future

But first, he talks about channelling his curiosity, what the music industry took years to understand and what he hopes women will get from his new album

Interview: Andreas Tzortzis Portraits: Finlay MacKay

I find the magic in trying to just blend different worlds together and mix it up

If your voice is like velvet and people are used to hearing you in things that would be conducive to a velvet voice, I would say, Lets try gravel music

36

he man in that hat is as cool as you like, his voice above a whisper but not much more, holding forth on the trouble with success, the absurdity of hit-making and why people dont feel anymore. Forty years on this earth, 23 of them creating the type of music that has soundtracked house parties, breathless and fumbling late nights and slow cruises through the neighbourhood, Pharrell Williams is still, remarkably, nailing it. Two global hits in 2013, Get Lucky and Blurred Lines, netted him four Grammy Awards, including his second Producer Of The Year award; another party-starter, Happy, appeared on the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack and won an Oscar nomination, and an award for its innovative 24-hour music video.

But then theres that hat and what it reveals about the taste-making gene Williams possesses. Reminiscent of Malcolm McLaren and the Worlds Famous Supreme Teams 1982 video for Buffalo Gals, its a Vivienne Westwood piece that first appeared on the shelves of the shop she and McLaren owned in London. Now tweeted, mocked and memed the world over, its almost as if Williams planned it, which hell assure you he didnt, because nothing he does follows a plan so much as appears to him at the right moment, ready and willing to bring him success. That includes his new album, Girl, his first solo project in eight years, which will probably fire our collective synapses far beyond 2014.

the red bulletin: What are you looking for when an artist walks into your studio? pharrell williams: It is three things. It is, one, what they walk in saying they would like to do. It is also their energy they are naturally giving off. You know, whether it is a cab ride or it is an argument or something that they have on their mind. And then, third, it is the way that they actually sound and their vocal tone. I always try to make sure that there is some interesting juxtaposition. So if your voice is like velvet and people are used to hearing you in things that would be conducive to a velvet voice, I would say, Lets try gravel music, if that makes any sense. So there is some interesting alchemy there.

And the magic is when you are able to marry those elements together. Like, Man, I didnt know peanut butter and chocolate could go together. Yeah, it is called a Reeses Cup. But you would never know unless you tried it.

So that is where I find the magic, in trying to blend different worlds together and mix it up.

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P H A R R E L L S F A V O U R I T E S

They look like toy figures. They are the same size and made of the same material. Yet unlike regular play things, designer toys are not to be played with. Theyre to be collected. They are the bridge between pop culture and high culture, between comic fans and art collectors. These toys are produced by reputable designers and artists in small, expensive batches, making them highly collectible in a very short space of time. A small Mickey Mouse skull-and-crossbones figure by American artist KAWS can fetch prices similar to that for a second-hand car. The Design Exchange Museum in Toronto is now giving these plastic miniatures their first large

exhibition. This Is Not A Toy runs until May 19 and shows the origins of this culture dating back to the 1990s, from early urban vinyl works by Hong Kong designer Michael Lau to detailed miniatures by renowned artists such as Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara. Designer toy collector Pharrell Williams is co-curating the show. I remember exactly the first time I saw these figures. I felt like I was a child again in a shot, says Williams. The designer toy culture has introduced me to new artists. From Jeff Koons to KAWS. It was like pushing open a crazy portal into another world.dx.org

# 1Coarse False Friends 2010

T H I S I S N OT A TOY Design

Since Im forever a student, Im always looking for interesting people, places and things. Feeding my curiosity is key. I love searching for new things that can

change my perspective on how I see the world. If your brain isnt constantly learning, youre doing yourself a disservice. Im a big believer in pushing yourself

to explore new worlds that challenge what you perceive to be true. Take a look at some of my favourite inspirations right now

Who doesnt love toys? Whether youre a child or a big kid like me, a great toy

can instantly bring a smile to your face. This museum

exhibit proves why designer toys are a new platform for fine art expression. It speaks

to the kid in all of us.

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In pairing and trying, there seems to be no fear of failure whatsoever. Mmm hmm. Do you fear failure at all? Because looking at your track record, you seem to be very consistent from success to success. What? The fear that maybe something isnt working out. Maybe this track isnt going to hit. Maybe that clothing line isnt going to work. Do you think about it in those terms? Yeah, I dont even understand that. My mind cant even process that. And has it always been like that? Yeah. When you love something, what are you scared of? I suppose you are scared of negative reaction. Well, if you are thinking about fame and success, yeah. Well, if youre on top, I guess the fear would be losing that, right? Losing that touch. Right. But if that is your main concern, being on top, then you probably should find another business. Because our business works off emotion, and it is not really easy to quantify it outside of what it is.

It is like saying, Well, are you afraid of how the ball is going to react to the ice hockey rink? No, because that is not what it is meant for. The puck is for that world and the ball is for another world. Emotions are just emotions. So when a song works, you should just be thankful, because that is not why you do it.

So any kind of success that I have ever had on a song is not my doing. So you dont do it for that, because I cant control that. I do it because I feel like it feels good and it may resonate with other people. So it is not really good to mix the idea of what success is and the purity of why you do something.

Unless, define success. Big or huge? That means that after I have done what I did or anybody else that has made their contribution to something, success means the people voted, they requested, they shared it with a friend, they purchased it, they downloaded it. And they did it in large numbers.

That is what success means. I have nothing to do with that. I cant control it. I can only control what I do.

When I was young, yeah, I looked at it differently, because I looked at a lot of people who quantified their happiness by how successful they were. And

If being on top is your main concern, then you probably should find another business. Because

our business works off emotion

the red bulletin 39

Delicate, all-encompassing choral singing begins. Then comes a gentle piano chord, some hissing beats and an elegantly smoky, instantly captivating voice. Banks takes no prisoners. As soon as you hear the first few bars of her London EP, you know that this 25-year-old artist from Los Angeles is here to stay, because her songs represent a long overdue link between warm, soulful RnB vocals and ice-cold electronic music. It is minimalistic, glittering and sexy,as if Lana Del Rey had spent a night in the recording studio with James Blake.

Even though Banks only released her debut single a year ago, she can already count names like Pharrell Williams and Katy Perry among her fans. Perry declared her love

on Twitter last year not a bad career boost considering Perry has more than 50 million followers right now.

Jillian Banks her full name has been making music since the age of 15. It began with a friend giving her a toy keyboard, which was supposed to help her get over her parents divorce, an aid to help her process her emotions. And it did just that. It worked as a self-help tool for a long time, something she did just for her. I could let everything

BA N KSSinger- songwriter

out in my songs. Insults, secrets, aggression it was incredibly liberating, she told Billboard magazine in June of last year. And then I was hooked.

She only shared her music with the rest of the world once she had completed her studies, uploading her song Before I Ever Met You to SoundCloud. Zane Lowe discovered it and played it on his BBC Radio 1 show. His advice was, Listen up, Banks is gonna be the next big thing.

A self-fulfilling prophecy. Within months, Banks had a record deal in the bag, lingerie company Victorias Secret had used her song Waiting Game in its new advertising campaign and in January of this year, the BBC shortlisted Banks for newcomer of the year in its Sound of 2014 contest. The contest has been a reliable yardstick for new talent and in recent years has foretold the breakthrough of artists including Frank Ocean, Adele and Florence And The Machine.

Banks has now somewhat withdrawn from public life in her adopted city of London to work on recording her debut album, which should appear some time this year. Working with her in the studio are flavour-of-the-month electronic producers Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Lil Silva and Shlohmo, the latter working with her at the mixing desk on her latest single, Brain.

She only hears all the fuss about her indirectly. Social networking isnt her thing. She is happy to leave that to her management team. None of which means that she doesnt care about her fans. She even published her private phone number on Facebook, adding: If you ever want to talk, call me! So have there ever been times when she has regretted being so open?

Not yet. Most people write really nice messages, she told MTV. What I like best are the text messages where people tell me my songs helped them when they were feeling lonely.

For those of you thinking you might want to reach out, go right ahead.

Her American number is 001 323 362-2658.hernameisbanks.com

B A N K S TA K E S N OP R I S O N E R S . H E R M U S I C

I S M I N I M A L I S T I C ,G L I T T E R I N G , S E X Y

# 2

P H A R R E L L S F A V O U R I TE S

Theres another girl, Banks, whos crazy. So good.

She is something special

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like everything else. Then yeah, but I like the different stuff anyway.

And you know what? I am not the only one. There are so many people that love different things. That is why I like the concept of a phone, you know connectivity is a huge part of it, too. But where the device companies are really smart, they realise people wanted to customise things, because individuality is everything.

Your house smells like what you want it to smell like. It has been customised by you. Can you imagine only three furniture layouts for everyones home in the world? Yeah, it is funny; music is kind of like the only place where there are people that believe that delusion, that there is a formula. I guess you can lump Hollywood into that as well. Yeah, but there are festivals that celebrate indie filmmaking that dont celebrate indie music and not with the type of visibility that they do in the film world. And film also has the advantage of playing with two senses, whereas music is just auditory. That is why the business of music has had such a slump, because they always thought it was in the song first.

But you know, as the paradigm is shifting, everybody is starting to realise that kids want a visual. That is why YouTube gets more audience than any radio station collectively. But youve always thought visually, havent you?Yeah, but most musicians are the same way. I am no different. Hence the term the blues. You interviewed Spike Lee and talked about the importance of using Public Enemys Fight The Power as the main anthem in Do the Right Thing. How can songs contribute to the feeling that you get from film? Well, film gives you two different senses. It is curated. With music, some of it is left to your imagination, what you want to picture in your mind. With a film there is a curated direction by the point of view of the director and the music that is under it. So those two are working in concert to sort of take you to a place that the director has intended.

So film sort of has the jump on it, but I think the music industry is catching up, because all of the indie artists are just like, I dont want to leave it up to your interpretation of what I am feeling when I make this song. I would like to show you. So you are watching all of the indie kids make the best music, because they are thinking about music 3D, the way it has always been intended. Is there an album or artist that you think is doing it particularly well? Well, you know what? Even on a big popular level there are some artists that have figured it out. Look at Beyonc. Her visuals were so strong that the only marketing she did was either tweeted or she put something on Instagram.

I am not exactly sure of the method that she chose, but she just dropped the whole thing. She just put out a bunch of videos and her songs and was like, Here. It is my art. No gimmicks, no campaign. And it has really honestly caused the record industry to sort of take notice well, the

nobody wants to work really hard and not get recognised for it.

You want to be appreciated for your work. But there is a fine line in appreciating your work and doing super well and you getting hooked on that. If you get hooked on success, you are screwed. How did you manage to avoid that? Well, I have been doing it for a long time, and I realised the thing that always gives back to me is my curiosity for how I can find new chord progressions, new sounds. That is how I am rewarded, because I cant control anything else.

So when something is successful, that is what you guys always see me saying thank you for all of the time, or I put my hands together, because I want you to know that I know where it comes from, and point up.

You know, we are vessels. We are straws. We are not the juice. And anyone that believes that, those are the people that end up, you know, losing their minds later on in life or being unhappy.

I dont have to be the juice. I dont have to be the glass. I dont have to be the coldest part of the whole entire thing, which is the ice. You could be that. I am just happy to be a part of it. Are you the facilitator? I am a part of it. I am a participant. The minute that you claim you are a facilitator, well then you are the all-powering. And are you? If everybody that made a song gained that kind of power, then I mean, what would this world look like?

That is why everything is fair, right? We all play a part in it. It is like an ant farm or a beehive. Everyone has their job. My job is to just listen and sort of try to channel it through, but it is coming from somewhere else, hence the term channel. So I am thankful when songs become what they do, because it is not my doing. There are some producers out there who think its possible to manufacture hits; that a chord progression, a certain hook sung by someone, will guarantee success. Sure. You dont subscribe to that? Well, not unless you want to get in the rat race and compete with everybody else and hope that your song makes it to the top when it sounds just

I dont have to be the juice. I dont have to be the glass. I dont have to be the coldest part of the whole entire thing, which is the ice. You could be that. I am just happy to be a part of it

the red bulletin 41

smart ones because there are still cocky ones that are like, Oh, well that is Beyonc. But those are the old guys. The ageless ones are the ones who are just thinking forward and they realise that he who occupies the majority of your senses with something that is irrefutable wins. Did you struggle with the structure of the record industry when you started?I was a child. I had no idea what was going on. All I knew is what drove me then is what continues to drive me now, which is music that I am like, Whoa, that feels amazing. I just love the feeling of great chord structures and great melody and lyrics that just touch you, you know? Youre releasing a new solo album, the first in quite some time. Why now?I didnt know it was time. I never know anything. That is part of just being open. When things are too predetermined, I have never really had success with that. It is going to be this, this, this, this and this. That is all ego. And that is all you sort of rely on, because your ego is basically your experiences and then you have your memories of your experiences. And the way in which your mind, as a librarian, goes back to refer to this information is where your ego, where you can sort of measure or quantify what your ego is. Well, I know such and such and such and such, so therefore

Have you ever heard that phrase, God laughs at our plans? And that is why. Because when you think you know, you can be blindsided by something that is completely left of centre and just change your whole thing.

I have learned I am 40 now so I have learned to not do that. I have learned to just be open and just experience things. And when something strikes me, go get acclimated with it instantly, because I may not hear it again. Because what are the odds? There are about seven billion people on the planet. And just because that is a lot of people doesnt mean that the odds are in my favour.

So there is no such thing as knowing. You just have to be open. So I try so hard. You know, I really work at just sort of trying to be egoless so that I can be open and not miss important morsels of music and points of view, new ways of making music.

If I go in there so predetermined, then I am completely blocking everything that could have been the best thing that ever happened to me. So when I have learned to just be open and just experience

Everybody is starting to realise that kids want a visual. That is why YouTube gets more audience than any radio station collectively

42 the red bulletin

things. And when something strikes me, go get acclimated with it instantly, because I may not hear it again

David Rabi Torres and Davey Leavitt have been working together since 2010 under the name of Cyrcle, bringing together two disparate elements of the art world graffiti and graphic design through massive motifs and fine details. The Los Angeles-based duos simple style has taken many forms over the past four years, such as the time they painted the front of a house in delicate woodcut style, or when they recounted American colonial history using outsized, detailed, pop-art prints, or when they cut up their own artwork and then put it back together in a jigsaw-like honeycomb. When it comes to creating their art, the only rule for Torres and Leavitt is there are no rules.

The ReD buLLeTin: how did your collaboration get off the ground? ToRRes: When I met Davey, he opened my world to the design and the elements of type and really clean sophisticated design. I was just running around in LA, trying to paint walls, do graffiti and stuff like that. We shared similar values and a conceptual dream of what

CY R C L E Artiststhe sculpture to communicate? What materials can help communicate that? LeAviTT: Its an exciting moment in the studio every time we get a reason to buy a new tool. It started with the worst brand you can buy at the local hardware store. And then you get a DeWalt and everything changes as far as how precise you can get with your angles and cuts. Right now, were saving up for a laser machine. Thats going to be our new tool that were excited to have. Just doing it all ourselves, were going on YouTube figuring out how to do it.

Your motto is We never Die. Pharrells band n.e.R.D. stands for no one ever Really Dies. is that just a coincidence? ToRRes: It is, totally.LeAviTT: But I mean, its not in a sense that if thats his mantra, thats the type of person he is. Its similar to the type of people we are. We can relate to his style. He could be just a hip-hop artist or he could be just a producer. But he does everything and hes always open to changing as an artist. Just like us.cyrcle.com

P H A R R E L L S F A V O U R I T E S

# 3

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we wanted to do with our work. I didnt just want to do graffiti and he didnt just want to do design. You paint walls, make short films and build skull sculptures out of flowers. is there a recurring theme in Cyrcles work? LeAviTT: Personally, I never wanted to be stuck in one style because thats not my style of living. Im a really manic bipolar person, because Im changing all the time. I love change. In order to grow we have to find new tools and then we have to learn how to use them.ToRRes: The process for anything we create starts with an idea, a concept and a message. Then we figure out how to visually communicate that message. Thats where the work will continue to change, because its not inspired by a style, its inspired by an idea. Thats what frees us to do so much different stuff. What do we want

If art doesnt have purpose, whats the point? This is

something Cyrcle understand very well. Theyre committed to

creating poetic visuals that grab your attention. Cyrcle

take street art to a new level of creativity that elevates the

style to new heights.

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I had the awesome opportunity to work on the first Despicable Me, I had to listen. As much as I felt like, Oh, you know, I can make songs and whatever. No man, they had a direction. They knew what they wanted. And in that process, I learned more about reaching more people or just opening songs up. OK cool, so you think the music is there. You think the lyrics are there. Cool. Is it as accessible as it could be? Was that line sung as good as it could be, so that it is clear and the diction is clear?

In other words, is the music legible to peoples interpretation? It might not be, because your ego told you that you killed it. But if you could remove your ego and only use your feeling, that is when the best stuff comes out. Has that been a difficult lesson to learn? It was a great lesson to work, because that is how Happy came. Because I swore out that I had it nine times in a row, nine different songs for that one little scene. Nine? Yeah. And it was only until I was completely out of ideas, no more ego, right? Because what I knew about Despicable Me the first time is that [Gru, the main character] is mean and duh, duh, duh, so therefore and it was a mistake.

So it took nine times to sort of get it through my head that I needed to be open and realise, OK, yeah. Gru was a mad guy in the first one. He is happy now. So how do you write a song about somebody being happy and just having a relentless mood about it? And then the song came. But you had the basics of it? I didnt have anything. That is what I am trying to tell you. The basics are where the ego comes in. Remember, you have to be open. But surely you have to start with something. Zero. But that is crazy, because youve built a career of knowing it and of having it. No, I built a career of loving music and sometimes becoming intoxicated by things working out and sort of thinking it was me. And it wasnt me. A hit song is

not your doing. The song is your doing. The hit is made by the people. You cant lose sight of that. What purpose does the new album serve for you?I was just given the opportunity and, you know, when asked what I wanted to make it about, I went with the feeling. So I did decide with my eyes closed. But what does that mean? Did you just ask your own follow-up question? Yeah. That was a rhetorical question. What does that mean? That means not, Oh, I am so good. I can do it with my eyes closed. When someone says that they are doing it with their eyes closed, what they are ultimately saying, what that really is supposed to mean, is that you didnt think about it and that it was second nature because you were going off a feeling.

I went off of feeling. I didnt look around peripherally to see what this person was doing and what that person was doing. I went inward so that I could go upward. So I made it with my eyes closed, which means the litmus test was when you close your eyes, does it work for you there? That means no outside influences. So I made all of the music just based on feeling, not thinking. Because every time I have ever thought too much in my whole entire life, I have fked it up. So you think, What does euphoria sound like? What does sadness sound like? What does giddiness sound like? I mean, you are ascribing sounds to emotion. Yes, but that is what all musicians do. That is not singular to me. We just all do things our way. And your way is who you are. The way of doing things is what makes you who you are.

In other words, we all speak English, but somehow you use the words differently than I do and you use it in your way. Your way is your fingerprint of who you are as a person. A lot of us make music the same way. It is just your way is more specific to who you are as a person. Do you know what I am saying? I do. I also think it is interesting how you have never been afraid to indulge interests, directions. What do you have to lose? Failure? If you are concerned about failure, then you cant make no good music. Why is the new album called Girl? Well, there is major purpose in there. But let me switch gears on you. Let me tell you my intentions aside from the content is the feeling so that we have a through line between how I make music. So at

A hit song is not your doing. The song is your doing. The hit is made by the people. You cant lose sight of that

the red bulletin 45

Down Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, in the Queens borough of New York, weaving in and out of traffic on his BMX bike, Nigel Sylvester wasnt earning much street cred.

People called me a white boy and made fun of me, he says. They didnt understand the culture. With the typical path to BMX stardom unavailable to him, Sylvester seized on the power of YouTube. He made videos showcasing his freakish ability on a BMX bike as he carved up New York. Sponsors followed, including bike-makers Brooklyn Machine Works, who, last year, reached out to Sylvester via one of their investors: Pharrell Williams.

THe reD BulleTiN: What does Pharrells involvement mean to your scene? Nigel SYlveSTer: It started with skateboarding. Seeing someone like him embrace that, it automatically made it cool and acceptable. Kids in the hood start to ride skateboards and youd never, ever seen that before. Hes just that influential in culture.Why? Hes a producer and music drives culture so much. I hope the same happens for BMX culture. Ive been a fan of Pharrells for a minute, and hes been embracing BMX culture for

n i g e lsy lv est e rBMX rider

What kept you in it?I liked the freedom, dude. It was the best way to express myself. As a child, I was into art and music and played basketball and football, but there was something about the bike that I was really into. It was a feeling I had at that early age and I practised at it and I was good at it. I saw results. And I saw dudes like [BMX pro] Dave Mirra, who took it to such a height, and I was like, If he can do it, then its possible. But coming from where I came from, I had to put my own perspective on it, my own life story, and my neighbourhood and background into it, and it came out differently. I took a whole different route.What was that?The traditional way is you work hard to get sponsored and you ride contests and the more you win the bigger star you are. For me growing up, I didnt have access to contests and I didnt have access to the skateparks that these contests were based on. So I had to figure out another way to get myself out there. Luckily enough, street riding was becoming very popular, where you

P H A R R E L L S F A V O U R I TE S

# 4a long time now. He rode bikes in the Provider video [N.E.R.D, 2001] and I remember seeing that when I was young and thats another reason I stuck with BMX, because I saw someone like him doing it as well. On that level, that made it more cool for me. I saw someone who looked like me, doing it.Why was that important? Actual BMX culture wasnt popular at all. People called me a white boy and made fun of me because they didnt understand the culture. So I definitely had like those naysayers and haters, but I stuck with it and was able to make a career out of it.

rode rails and used what was provided to you. I was using my neighbourhood to ride and express myself. It was like NYC was the canvas and I painted my picture on whatever it offered me. I was able to mix riding with the lifestyle I was living into music, into art, into fashion and I put that into my riding. Whenever I put a video out I made sure to include that, and I was able to attract a different type of people and get eyes on what I was doing. And big companies saw that and they were like, Wow, this kid is different. I didnt ride in the X Games. I used the internet and word of mouth.What do you hope your collaboration leads to?I want to give kids an opportunity to aspire to be part of that brand and just do good by the industry. Im hoping that teaming up with someone like Pharrell, we can get it out to the masses and show the world what this BMX culture is about. People have this one image of it. Theres one type of person you think that rides BMX bicycles, but its not true.nigelsylvester.com

I wa s u s I n g t h e n e I g h b o u r h o o d t o

e x p r e s s m y s e l f. I t s l I k e n y C wa s

t h e C a n va s

Anyone can ride a bicycle, but how many

people create art with it? When Nigel Sylvester leaps into the air with his BMX

bike, its beyond just entertainment. He

approaches his craft like a mad scientist who pushes the limits of

whats humanly possible.

An

dr

eAs

Tzo

rTz

is

on that and just try to make something that would be real stimulative. To resonate with women? Oh yeah, totally. Totally. Women have been so good to me and my career. What do you need to understand about women to write songs for them? Well, I think most of the time we hear songs that are written at women versus for. You know, it is like most products. It is not really for them, it is just marketed at their insecurities. It doesnt really fit her hand like that though, does it? It is not really the smell she truly prefers, it is just what your old, antiquated corporate statistics tell you.

But where are you doing these consensuses and with what types of women? My thing is, lets start doing things with them truly in mind, truly in mind. That is not writing something at her. That is writing something intended for her.

And the only way to do that, the only way to really sort of figure out if that works or not is based on feeling. That is what she is going to tell you, what she really feels. Are you trying to demystify that otherness in women? Is it kind of about trying to understand it or cater to it? I just want to make music that ladies, the girls, listen to and they feel an escapism. That is my intention. Sometimes I think that success comes from being very calculated and being very smart and not getting too involved. Yes, like Steve Jobs. He so geniusly brought that product to the world; it is called a computer. But we are human, and that is what a computer will never be able to do is feel. That is what still makes us the superior species on this planet. So you are a curator of feeling? At this moment. Has it been different earlier in your career? Yeah, because, like I said, when I realised that thinking is not my path and feeling is for me, I started to realise that people are so dismissive about other peoples feelings.

I have always felt music since I was a little child. But I realised that it was the key probably in the last 10 years. Because before that I just wasnt thinking. It was like private flights, Ferraris, jewellery, all of those things that mean nothing. Ferraris get old. They depreciate in value the first time you drive them. The same as a Honda Accord. You have got to trade it in in two years, because in four you have lost a lot of money. And I appreciate the car, I do. I still do. But that is not what it is about. You cant take that when you go. You take your feelings with you and your experiences that gave you those feelings. And also what you gave others. That is the wealth, man. An experience. The coolest thing that you talk about is your trip somewhere where you went and you had a good time. The first thing that you talk about it in terms of your description, Man, it was awesome.

the genesis I knew that the criteria was festive, celebratory, and I wanted everything to feel urgent. So I worked really hard. Urgent is an interesting word to use. Urgent just means like, Man, what is that? Stop and listen. Shooting, always shooting for unique and undeniable. Always shooting for that and using the feeling as a compass. We are so dismissive of our feelings. Yet most of the time when you hear about them in songs, unless it is a real good singer-songwriter, it is always generic. But your feeling is connects to your spirit that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We have feelings. Our feelings can lead us to do really crazy things or really amazing things.

You can tell when someone is standing behind you, even if theyre not making a sound. You can feel it. You can walk into a room and you can tell when someone doesnt like you. You can walk in a room and you can tell when there is something going on between two people.

It is a feeling. But we are always so dismissive of it. So with this album I intended to capitalise

Our feelings can lead us to do really crazy things or really amazing things

For more on Pharrell and his passion for BMX culture, check out The Red Bulletin Presents on YouTube

the red bulletin 47

48

w o r d s : J A Z Z K U s C H K E p H o t o g r A p H y : K E l v i n t r A U t m A n

The Red Bulletin meets Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel

as they attempt to set a fastest known time for the Drakensberg

Grand Traverse, a 210km journey on foot across remote

mountain terrain, with no support and very little sleep

to tAmE

A drAgon

he Drakensberg is Southern Africas highest and most iconic mountain range, and its towering basalt peaks, rock-art adorned caves and remote valleys have commanded reverence throughout history. Opinions differ over whether the Voortrekkers dubbed them Dragon Mountains because they believed dragons to live in the misty valleys, or because the ranges spiky profile resembles that of the mythical beasts back. Perhaps a clue lies in the more traditional name uKhahlamba, or Barrier of Spears in Zulu. What is certain is that while the lower slopes and streams can be safely explored by fun-loving eco-tourists, the higher reaches are best left to well-equipped, expert mountaineers.

Among this high-altitude club, an obscure challenge has developed over the years: to travel on foot, carrying all your own gear and without receiving any form of support, from the north to the south. It has become known as the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and is the mother of all hikes. Its a trek that usually takes an experienced hiker some six to 10 days to complete. Trail runners Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel are planning to make the journey in less than two.

From the acknowledged start at the Sentinel car park near Witsieshoek, the pair will have to navigate more than 210km

T of rugged mountain terrain to the finish at Bushmans Nek. Along the way, they must summit six of the most prominent peaks south of Kilimanjaro (for an altitude gain of over 9,000m) and will seldom drop below 3,000m above sea level. Imagine running from Cape Town to Hermanus and back, non-stop, while holding your hand over your mouth and nose, and climbing the equivalent height of Mount Everest. Sandes, whose legs have carried him to high-profile ultra-trail race wins on every continent in the world, has no illusions about what lies ahead.

Mentally, this is the toughest thing Ive ever attempted, says the Capetonian, who set a speed record through Namibias Fish River Canyon in 2012. (Six hours 57 mins for what is normally a five-day hike).

The Traverse is just so long and so far and so slow. Most of the terrain is really not run-able either youre on the edge of steep cliffs with no options around the side. On average, youre probably doing about 5kph. Mentally, that just smashes you. You might think, OK, cool, Ive only got 20km to go If I was trail running, I could do that in an hour-and-a-half to two hours, but up there, its about four.

Sandes plans to overcome the challenge like he does ultra-distance races: by breaking the hike down into smaller goals, taking it one peak at a time.

The first peak comes after about 8km, Sandes explains, but the second is about 50km further on. So, 10 hours to the next peak and all the terrain looks the same its beautiful, but its monotonous.

The sheer magnitude of the task has left the prolific race winner with a

TEN HOURS TO THE NEXT PEAK: massive distances and hostile terrain will make for slow going during Ryan Sandes (above and right) and Ryno Griesels attempt

50

Mentally, this is the toughest thing Ive ever attempted Ryan Sandes

philosophical approach. Ive learned that ego isnt going to get us very far, he says. Im not doing this to break the record. This is a personal challenge I think it would be cool to run from one end of the Drakensberg to the other, and I want to see how far I really can push myself.

he Berg is bloody awesomely big says David Bristow, author of Best Walks in the Drakensberg, and a Traverse veteran. If you look at the Berg side-on, it has

a helluva rugged profile. Each one of those high points represents a ridge and every dip a ravine, so what youre doing is just climbing ridges and ravines. All day long. The terrain is also incredibly rugged. There are these huge alpine grass tussocks, which will definitely pose a problem for running. You could easily twist your ankle on that, easily break a limb.

Not the kind of challenge, then, that you just pencil into your diary, lace up your trail shoes and go tick off. I felt I had to pay my school fees, spend some time in the Berg and kak off a bit through a few recces, says Sandes. I didnt want it just to be Ryno taking me on a glorified guided running tour of the Drakensberg.

When Sandes and Griesel run through the gate at Sentinel car park in March, they will have done four comprehensive reconnaissance trips, and close on two years worth of planning.

For Sandes, the strength needed for the power hiking and slowish scrambling fits his training programme perfectly. For Griesel, it is the biggest goal of his year and hes been putting in big road mileage in Johannesburg and training in the Magaliesberg over the weekends.

Over the years, the record attempts have evolved from traditional hiking to speed hiking (going faster and lighter), and then it moved into adventure racing, explains Griesel who, along with Cobus van Zyl, set the existing record of 60h 29min 30sec in April 2010. This is the first time,

T Sentinel Car Park

leSotho

South afriCa

Mont-aux-SourCeS

Cleft Peak

ChaMPagne CaStle

Mafadi

giantS CaStle

thabana ntlenyana

buShManS nek

More haSte, leSS SPeed:

without the correct planning,

equipment and nutrition, Sandes

and griesel will struggle

ukhahlaMba drakenSberg

Park

52

as far as we know, that the Traverse is being approached with a running mentality.

Griesel has an adventure racing background and is in charge of navigation, logistics and keeping the attempt within the rules and mountain ethics of the Traverse. Griesel believes that, aside from navigational skills and mountain running prowess, what will set their attempt apart is less sleep and lighter loads. Were taking small, 12-litre packs with no tents or sleeping bags, so we dont actually have the facilities to sleep, Griesel half-jokes.

For an adventure racer, 45 hours without sleep is not out of the question, but Sandes will need to close his eyes at some point. When youre exhausted on a normal trail, you can kind of switch off. But with the Traverse being so technical, you have to be alert all the time, he says.

Sandes is planning two or three power naps of 20 to 30 minutes each, and hes hoping to push it to at least 18 hours before he needs the first one. If its raining and cold, we wont be able to stop, which is why were not cutting corners, he says, having realised the need for proper waterproof gear after being caught in severe weather on a recce in October 2013. Were going as light as possible, but at the same time if you run into trouble, you have to be able to get yourself out.

heyre going in March when the weather should be good, says Bristow. Its the best time but its still susceptible to heavy cloud along the escarpment edge. You

can get horribly lost. Fall off the edge The runners will be carrying GPS

devices and waterproof maps, enough food to last them for 60 hours, as well as a Yellowbrick tracker that has a panic button should things get critical. A film crew shooting documentary footage from a helicopter will act as emergency back-up, but at no point during the attempt will they have any communication with the runners and they are only allowed to assist if a rescue is required.

If the March mist does persist, its likely GPS wont work and the helicopter wont be able to reach the runners anyway. If something goes wrong, you can be pretty much stuck up there for a week if the weather closes in, admits Sandes.

But thats just the type of challenge he relishes, and hes well aware that no ones going to be taming any dragon. Its more about spending some time tracing its back, on its own terms, and hopefully rewriting the record books in the process.redbull.co.za/draktraverse

The Drakensberg granD Traverse runs from norTh To souTh, sTarTing aT The senTinel car park perimeTer fence anD enDing aT The bushmans nek borDer posT perimeTer fence

Way poinTs incluDe

The chain ladders mont-aux-sources summit (3,282m) cleft peak summit (3,277m) champagne castle summit (3,377m) mafadi summit (3,451m) giants castle summit (3,314m) Thabana ntlenyana summit (3,482m: the highest peak in southern africa) Thomathu pass must be used to descend to bushmans nekprevious Traverse recorDsapril 2010 60h 29min 30sec ryno griesel and cobus van ZylDecember 2009 61h 24m 11s andrew porter December 2008 3 days, 9 hours, 52 minutes (81h 52m 52s) stijn laenen and andrew hagen1999-2008 approximately 15 documented unsuccessful attemptsfeb 1999 4 days, 9 hours, 39 minutes (105h 39m) gavin and laurie raubenheimer

D R AG O N S R U N

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thun derday of

Racing into the night by the light of the Ferris wheel: the hours before midnight are the best

w o r d s : w e r n e r J e s s n e r p h o t o g r a p h y : J u l i e g l a s s b e r g , M a r c e l o M a r a g n i

Cr

edit

: thun der Tribal fans, deadl y manoeu v res and last-minute gasps at the Rolex 24 at Day tona 55

grandstands tremble as the field goes into the first lap

56 the red bulletin

Linda Vaughn is missing from the start. In years gone by, the garages and boys bedrooms of America were graced with the formidable vision of Miss Hurst Golden Shifter. For almost half a century, the blonde was a obligatory-yet-welcome presence at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the full-day race at the legendary racetrack which traditionally kicks-off each international motorsport season. This year, however, she has decided not to attend.

But pretty much everyone else is here. Former Formula One drivers, sportscar greats, gentleman drivers and showbiz stars form a colourful contingent in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA, contending with the super speedways oval for a day and a night. After the start-finish straight they turn towards the infield, to the east and west horseshoes, before once again tackling the oval with its exaggerated curves, clocking in at over 300kph.

The modest self-assessment of the Daytona International Speedway:

The World Center of Racing

Until his 70th birthday, you could usually see Paul Newman at the start; two Andrettis have won here, as have Al Unser Sr and Jr, Hurley Haywood and Chris Amon. The career of Infiniti Red Bull Racing technical genius Adrian Newey really took off here in 1983, when the young designer turned a March sportscar from a design write-off into a surprise frontrunner in double-quick time. Only engine problems in the 23rd hour prevented Neweys drivers from waking up the day after with a new watch on the bedside table. Winners of what was began as the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1962 are awarded a Rolex Daytona watch; the prize-givers splurged for naming rights in 1991.

For all this history, 2014 represents the start of a new era in US long-distance racing. The countrys two rival racing series, GrandAm and American Le Mans, have come together and agreed on joint rules. This years Rolex 24 was the first race of the new United Sportscar Series, and 68 cars divided into four classes revved their engines at the start.

The top tier, Prototypes, is a walkover for the representatives of the erstwhile GrandAm against the open sportscars of the American Le Mans series. The Daytona prototypes share the lead among themselves. They may say that constancy trumps sheer speed in long-distance races, but here its full speed ahead from the first lap, says three-time Daytona winner Memo Rojas. Twenty-four hour races have become long-range sprints.

Mechanics endure short bursts of frantic activity between waits that seem to stretch longer and longer

57

The northern infield campsite is home to the younger, louder fans. Theyre a good match for the cars that thunder past at 300kph

FireFighters take stock oF the campFires situation, just to be sure

The Daytona International Speedway is huge. The tens of thousands of spectators here on the last Saturday in January are simply lost in grandstands that can seat 168,000 and which tremble as the field goes into the first lap. The differences in performance are so great that the first lapping comes less than 15 minutes into the race the circuit is a 4km oval and thats after the worst of the jalopies, the home-made family projects with a lot of heart but little else, are stricken from the field at registration. Because things are dangerous enough without them.

At 4.58 in the afternoon, after a driving time of 2 hours and 47 minutes, leader Memo Gidley laps one car and smacks straight into another, the number 62 Ferrari driven by Matteo Malucelli. The impact of Gidleys Corvette DP into the back of the Ferrari is so powerful that everyone fears the worst.

At this point, the cars are driving into the setting sun, for a moment you cant see anything at all, says one driver, describing conditions. The race is stopped and Gidley has to be cut out of the wreck of his car. The race has long since

resumed when news finally comes that the two drivers are responsive. (Gidley would go on to spend 12 days in hospital, and endure surgery on his broken left heel, elbow and leg, and a compression fracture in his back. Malucelli was kept in overnight for observation.)

Accidents are inseparable from the Daytona experience, as much a part of the legend of this race as Linda Vaughn, as who sings of The Star Spangled Banner at the start, as the Mass in the media centre on Sunday morning and as the camping area in the infield, which is

Tyres, fuel, wipe the windscreen, clean the cooler done. Thats the pit-stop in an ideal world, but its rarely that easy

the red bulletin 59

divided into three areas: wild north, rich east and conservative south.

In the north, between turns three and four, are the lads, the party animals. They brought beer and small tents in pick-ups, SUVs and other vehicles with a whiff of the farm about them. They also came with plenty of wood for the campfires, which tend to blaze a little brighter round here. Firefighters regularly take stock of the situation, just to be sure. Its not even midday before the tent ropes claim their first stumbling victims, who bawl their disapproval. The unmistakable sound of couples coupling issues from a few tents.

Things are very different in the south, the home of RVs (recreational vehicles)

In the last 15 mInutes theres a dramatIc compressIon of the fIeld

60

and those who appreciate the finer things in life. These vehicles have a bedroom, a kitchen and a closet, and the dead animal is sacrificed to the gas barbecue rather than open flames. Here, the cuts of meat and the paunches of those grilling them tend to be larger than in the north. These are experienced campers. Most of them have flatscreens elegantly worked into the bodywork of their mobile homes. Territory is carefully marked out; awnings block the view of the track. Its an idyllic holiday home set-up, with thundering eight-cylinder engines as a backdrop.

But the big money is over in the east. Not that there are any people

here theyre presumably off somewhere getting food but theyve left behind a full car park, neatly delineated. The largest is the Porsche car park. You can pick out your dream 911 by colour or model; every combination imaginable is here. The true connoisseurs come here in their 928s or maybe even an early 1600 Super. The plump Panameras and Cayennes, mere urchins in the eyes of true racers, have to park elsewhere. There are also plenty of Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs, although they seem a little banal here in the heartland of American motorsport. The Rolex 24 has always had a touch of the European about it, reflected in the racegoers rides.

Half past four in the morning is a good time to charge. While mechanics slumber in orthopaedically dubious positions, drivers wander absent-mindedly through the paddock with toothbrushes in their mouths and the last party die-hard out in the campsite has been silenced, out on the track its time to mount an attack. The major teams have old hands behind the wheel, who have gone through the night in double shifts, exchanging places with the super sprinters. Even if the track temperature means that there will be no record times, this is no time for taking prisoners. The Porsche junior Klaus Bachler, just 22 years old, steps out of his Porsche 911 after a flawless run. His team arent sending him off to bed, but to a debrief in the command bridge. Lads like him have a lot to learn. Its nights like these which turn young hopefuls into true racing drivers.

he race gets dramatic once again shortly before the end.