Weapon of Choice - Grafetti Art Magazine

8/7/2019 Weapon of Choice - Grafetti Art Magazine

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ISSUE1-FR

EE-Oct/NOv

09

EpOk & SEpR -taSk FORcE - NIkIll -EvENt lIStINgS& MORE!


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Opening Thur13thNovember 6-10pm

GalleryAn exhibition of new works by

nikiLL

Present

Exhibition runs until the6thDecember2009

14St Michaels Hill Bristol Bs2 8dtBristols No.1Street Art & Grafti Gallery. Support Artist Owned!

www.weAponofchoicegALLery.co.uk


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intro

Welcome to Weapon of Choice Magazine.

weLcoMe to issue 1

Here at Weapon of Choice we decided that wewerent content with just bringing you TheClubnight and then The Gallery So we decided to treat all you

lovely people with another gift from us, The Magazine!Every issue we will be bringing you the freshest up-coming artists from the South West to the South Bronx,music, Fashion and pretty much everything in between! Sostick the kettle on, sit back, kick off your shoes and have aread! Milk, sugars for me please!

Special thanks goes out to: Puma, Dont Panic,Faragher Jones, Lokey, Colin witts, Alice Lowndes,

Threenine, Mr Wolfs and all our supporters. Pleaserecycle and pass this onto a friend.

GET INVOLVED: Send your Artwork, Listings, Photos, Reviews,

Knickers to [email protected] or come vist us at

the gallery. 14 St Michaels Hill, Bristol BS2 8DT. Closed Mondays.

11-6pm All other days except 12-4pm Sunday, 11-7pm Thursday.

Art Director/Design by: Cheba.

Written and produced by: Sam Hoekon, Flx, Rolls Royce

Photography: Zachary Saitoti, Acer1, Lokey

Sales: Claire Morgan, Cheba

Epok & SEpr

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Weapon of Choice event

Recomended

Aug - 6th Dec Arnolni.Markingthe countdown to the 15th UNConference of the Parties onClimate Change (COP 15) openingin Copenhagen on 7 December,Arnolni presents 100 Daysof exhibitions, performances,screenings and debate around issuesof climate change, social justice andthe contested relationship betweenart and activism. With an emphasisupon collaborative practice, eventswill take place at Arnolni, acrossthe city, as well as further aeldwww.100days.org.uk

11th Sep - 1st Nov Bristols CityMuseum & Art Gallery. The End ofthe Line: Attitudes in Drawing Opendaily 10am-5pm.

Sept - 29th Oct. The Bristol Gallery.Myth and History group show.

24th Sept - 24th Oct. Here GalleryYellena James solo show, colourfulabstract drawings reecting organicbeauty and imagination. 108 Stokes

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29th Oct - 28th Nov. Here GalleryPeople of Print - group show ofcontemporary printmakers. curatedby Marcroy Smith featuring MikePerry, Urban Inks, Seripop, Le Gun,Sophie Kern, Halo Halo and more...BS1 3RU.

31st Oct - 4th Nov Center spaceStructure: A Sense of Place.11am 6pm daily. A collectionof photography and multi mediainstallations that will explore aspectsof Bristol from buildings, places,spaces and people to society andculture. Private View: Fri 30 Oct, 6- 9pm

31st Oct Bristol ZombieWalk! 15:00 - 17:00 Route

Not revealed until the day ofevent. search: Bristol zombiewalk 2009 for details or email:

[email protected]

2nd Nov Amoeba Clifton.88photography launch night.exhibition of lithographic & canvasprints. BS8 4AB

4th N v -9 m. Prin Tru th i i ti nf turin 1 l l rt is ts

t suit ll u ts n t st s r isinn y f r th rin s rust. n

l i f f t . u s t n t i nntry. tri tly I I nly il:

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f tur s r in nt r ryrtists Artists in lu in r ni h r s n, J n L i n - n ,us n n, th rin r r,

r li l in , l n run y,Alis n l , t r l r, Arn , ul

r i ht , i h l l L r , i l l ,A y t h ns n h . r u htt th r f r th rs t t i t ur n lys t l ish r is s n ris t l s

r ursi . uil in , nit .i l l n n iu r n 1 .

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deliciously quirky exhibition thatcelebrates Bristol art and designfrom the abstract to the gurativePrivate view: Friday 6th Novemberfrom 6pm to 9pm.

13th Nov- 6th Dec. Weapon

of Choice Gallery present: Anexhibition of new works fromNIKILL.Opening preview 13th

November. 6-10PM. FREE entry,drinks provided. Check out theinterview with Nikill on page 49. 14

St Michaels Hill, Bristol, BS2 8DT.www.weaponofchoicegallery.co.uk

1st Dec - 24th Dec. Here GalleryOne Monkey Dont Stop No Show- xmas group show. affordable printsand small original works - perfect forthe gift giving season. Artists includeMatte Stephens, Julia Pott, AmyRuppel and more. BS1 3RU

Emporium37 Gallery.37 StokesCroft, Bristol, BS1 3PY Variousmonthly events FFI:http://emporium37.blogspot.com/

Monthly Artisan Market.h ri t t . I:hris t ss t s rts u rt r. . u

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Exhibition Listings

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Mndays Grilla Audi(term timeonly) The ofcial UWESU & HubRadio student night! Doors 10pm- 3am Entry free before 10pm / 3NUS The Thekla. The Grove. Bristol

Thursdays Prssur - Bristols BestIndie Night. DJ Mr SteveBob playsthe best indie downstairs. Twee in thePark Upstairs. 2-4-1 Drinks all night.4 after 10, 3 NUS The Thekla.

Friday nights at Thkla n rtatin!please check the promoters websitesfor the latest line-ups and information!

First Friday Th Blast.Purveyorsof the best parties in this fair town,including the legendary Shit The Bednights. The Thekla.

Scnd Friday Hspitality.TheHospital Records night regularlysmashing the drum n bass scene inBristol. The Thekla.

Third Friday Mnky! Knif! Fight!A

ne upstanding ape of the communityproviding electro beats and bass inqu l m sur . Th Th kl .

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Phonics live, Far Too Loud, Culture Shock& more Hosted by Remedy, Koast, Shadzand Frilla. DnB, Jungle, Techno, Dubstep,Breaks, Honeys and more...

29/10/09 Th Blast. Back atLab for a night of epic messiness!!!Nero, D*Minds, Interface, Arsequake,Dubious, Superisk, Shandy + Loadsmore tbc!!! Lab Bristol. 10 till 4am

30/10/09 Dtctivs of Prspctiv.Solid Steel. Hexstatic, DJ Food &DK,King Cannibal, DJ Money$hot,DJ Cheeba, DOP Allstars, The sexpixels, The Thekla 9 adv

3/11/09 Prjct 13. Hip Hop from theP13 crew, every 1st Tuesday of themonth at Mr Wolfs. 9 - 2am 3.

7/11/09 Shakm. The Anti PopConsortium. The Croft, Bristol.

10/11/09 WeAPoN oF CHoICe.

Every 2nd Tuesday of the monthat Mr Wolfs, Live Grafti! Hip Hop,Dubstep, Clothing Giveaways, B-Boys and more. FRee SHoTbefore12! Balanc & Pads, Frilla and mrTBA. ResidentsC-Strik-zandDJB t m x. Mr W lf , St St v ns

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Hop, Old Skool, Garage, Electro andGrime. Kash Honey, Safesoul, DissMiss and Izzy Hosted by... SarahBizzle 2 all night! 9.30 - 3.30mCosies, Portland Square.

4/11/09 Rckstady Dubstp.The clash has naly come.. The twobiggest dubstep promotions in Bathresponsible for bringing the biggestnames in Dubstep to the city nalycome together to bring you the mightybar 9!. 5 Moles Club, Bath 9 - 2am

6/11/09 JIGSAW Liv presentsSmermins Anti-Social Club. Autumntour 2009. Fiddlers, Bristol 9pm-2am. 8 adv from jigsawlive.co.uk

14/11/09 DMC Wrld prsntsWlcm t Bristl With live paintingfrom Inkie. One Cut, Mr Benn,Tribesteppaz Soundsystem, DaveCridge, Queen Bee, Titan Sound, PatFloyd, Skelm. 5 Tickets ROOTED.More on the Door. Proceedss going toMcmillan Cancer Nurses.

27/11/09 All-Liv. Syte & The Sounde.p launch party! Sound Of Rum,Ewan Hoozami, FFTT DJs. The Croft

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ClublIstIngs

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38 - 40. Task

Force Interview

42. Club

Listings

44. The Lobster

Boy EP

1

design & WinYOUR OWn paiR Of pUMas!

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I :48 - 49. Nikill

Interview

51. Puma

Competition

ArtworkbyLorenzo!CoverimagebyByroglyphic

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For information on advertising please [email protected] or [email protected]


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epok & sepr

interviewOn the walls at the Weapon Of ChoiceGallery this month is a two-man showby KTF/ASK Crew members and two of thehardest-painting grafti writers in Bristol,

Epok and Sepr; so we sent Bristol grafti

veteran and Children Of The Can authorFelix FLX Braun down to a local wateringhole to pick their brains over a few ciders.

FLX: Lets start with the obvious stuff:where, when and why did you start painting?

Epok: I started getting into it when I wasabout 6, just through skateboarding really.It was just me and Siren, painting all thetime. We used to travel around a lot, we hitOxford pretty hard for a while but there wasno scene there. It was pretty much just us.So we had to travel to other cities. We used

to go to London quite a lot to paint. Then Imoved to Bristol about 5 years ago, but thatwasnt really to get involved in the grafti

scene, it was more because me and a friendhad an idea to start a company doing screen

printing. It seemed like a natural progressionreally and now Ive settled in.

Sepr: I was always into drawing, but I guessI started at the same time as I got into goingout playing with my mates on our bikes, andgoing out getting drunk in the park and stuff.Wed go out with paint as well. But there

wasnt really a lot of grafti around Filtonand I didnt get the train a lot so didnt seemuch trackside stuff. There wasnt muchapart from some shitty tags. So I kind ofstarted painting in derelict bits of Filtonwhere the MOD is now. It came from justdrawing really.

E: Weve both got solid backgrounds indrawing. Ive been drawing since I canremember. It was always the thing I was

encouraged to do more than anything elseby my parents and my teachers at school, Iwasnt the best academically but.

S: yeah it seemed like a natural thing to


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EpOk & SEpR INtERvIEw

do. Being into drawing and comics andcartoons.

F: On the surface you dont look like twoguys whod hang out, necessarily, but Iguess graftis grown away from being tied

to hip hop these days?

S: If you take grafti at face value it hasnt

got anything to do with any genre of music,it literally is what it is. Theres a massiveparallel between hip hop and punk anyway.

E: I think the punk attitude of just doing ityourself is quite strong with a lot of writers,whether theyre from a punk or a hip hopbackground its making that effort to get offyour ass. We havent got the support of the

masses, were a little subsection of societyand no ones really going to help us out, sofuck it well do it ourselves!

F: How have things changed since youstarted painting? I guess the biggestdifference is the inuence of the Internet,

being able to get up worldwide at the clickof a button?

E: When we started there was no Internet and

no mobile phones, and I think now because ofthe Internet people dont place as much valueon magazines and the old DIY VHS videos andthat, but they were the thing that got me intoit. And you had this copy of this magazine and

that was your bible! That was your only sourceof reference, other than actually going to seeit in the esh. So I think the Internet is a good

thing but also a bad thing at the same time, ifthat makes any sense?

S: I think the Internet has made things lessprecious; everything has become a bitthrowaway. (Yahoo photo-sharing site) Flickris a good example, everyday it changes soyou take less notice of stuff, whereas I canstill remember pieces I saw when I was 0years old and getting inspiration every timeI saw it. Now your lucky if its up for morethan days at the most.

F: But then surely since pieces dont stay up

for very long nowadays the Internet is a formof archiving?

S: Yeah but thats all it is.

E: I think people get it mixed up a little bitwhen you feel comfortable with that beingyour only source of information. When westarted getting into painting it was just forthe photo, but now its not even that; itspainting just to have it on a website for a

couple of weeks and then its gone. And itdevalues it in that sense, but at the sametime it does open it up to everybody andmakes it more accessible, which is good forthe scene.

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F: So do you think its harder to be originalwith the deluge of styles that are being red

at you week in week out on the web?

E: Yeah I think so.

S: I think it keeps you on your toes andmakes you try a bit harder.

F: Are you both fans of art in general? Fineart? Or more popular art like comic book art?

S: Yeah. Comic art and maybe tattoos, butI wouldnt say I get too inuenced by tattoo

art or even art in general.

F: Not necessarily now I mean when youwere coming up.

S: No, for me it was just about the drawing andcomics and cartoons, but I was also alwaysdrawing stuff that was around me anyway.

E: You can be inuenced by anything: nature

or just walking down the street.

S: If like me youre into character-based stuffyour inuences are naturally going to come

from [observing] people.

E: Exactly! Likewise with letters, thearchitecture and the city you live in caninuence you; a lot of the time you see

a space and you know you need to do acertain style to make it look correct.

F: Thats an interesting point. So you paintdifferently in different contexts depending onwhere you are?

E: I think so yeah. For instance if you nd anideal spot to do a throw up then you have todo a throw up there! Anything else wouldntlook right. Likewise a tag, people who aremore into tagging view their environmentvery differently to a person doing a piece.

F: Speaking of which, would you agreethat a good hand style is like the skeletonof a writers style, the bones on which thestructure is built? Presumably youve both


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done all of it we all start out as little toytaggers so Im interested on what you gotto say about style and development of style?

E: For kids who are just getting into grafti,

their rst contact with it is most likely going

to be through the Internet, and theyrelooking at developed burners and wild

styles straight away. But to get to that levelyou cant just jump straight in, you have tobring it right back down to the basics of asimple hand style and then build it from that.I think with painting letters, to have a solid,strong, adaptable style, you have to havea core structure that works and I think thatcrosses over to characters too. You have toknow the basics to be able to progress andpush it to the next level.

F: What about painting characters?

S: If you didnt have grafti lettering you

wouldnt have the style of characters thatyou have in grafti, because it has to go with

the lettering, the way letters are stretchedout and bits are elongated that goes forcharacters as well, you get characterspainted in grafti that you wouldnt get

anywhere else. It has a lot to do with space,like making things stretch and t. You dont

need to do that when youre doing a comic.

F: Staying with the subject of style, lets talkabout inuences and originality. Biting (or

copying) is a serious taboo in grafti, but

weve all done it.

E: No matter how far you push it you cant

claim to be 00% original. Its the same withmusic or any other creative thing you do.Unless youre on a desert island and youhave now inuences around you.

S: But you should always be trying to makeit your own. Its obvious when people arereally biting

E: I think now with the scene in generalpeople are a lot more lenient I dont know

if thats a good thing but I imagine back inthe day if you got called out for being a biterthat was the worst thing! You just couldntdo it Simple as that!I know a lot of the people that I paint with inBristol have another creative outlet outsidegrafti, and it will always cross over, whether

its graphic design, ne art, sculpture; the

more strings you have can have to your bowthe better your grafti is going to be.

F: Lets talk about process. Sepr I knowyoure somebody who draws fast but stillproduces quite nished sketches, whereas

with you its kind of back of a match box


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E: Yeah..! Back of the gas bill (laugh)

S: Sometimes having it all totally sorted anddown to a tee is a great way of getting it tolook how you want it, but at times thats areally boring way of painting. It can be realuninspiring when you know you can paintit how youve drawn it and when you get to

the end youve got nothing out of it and youdont feel anything from it. Its good to getback to the freestyle and maybe not gettingit totally right.

E: Its natural expression and if you try tooverwork it too much in your initial drawingsand sketches thats going to transfer ontothe wall. And if youre drawing consistently,regardless of whether youve got a wallplanned, its just a continuous motion of

expression, and hopefully youll progressas you go along. In terms of process for mepersonally I think youve just got to be openand constantly making a mess. I say that butwhen we plan a production we put the effortinto having a vision that we both share.

S: Its still giving you freedom within acertain constraint.

F: Do you ever freestyle a piece 00%?

E: I try not to take any outline out with me,Ill only take one if Im a bit hung over ordont feel 00% on it!

F: So 99% of the time when you step up todo a burner you dont have an outline?

E: No I dont, if I know Im doing a piece

the next day Ill draw an outline but then Illleave it at home on purpose so it becomesengrained in my mind, which makes youremember your shapes and you surpriseyourself and it keeps the ow going.

S: Most of the time well have a theme and abackground, though.

F: Finally Im interested to get your take onthe grafti scene in Bristol?

E: For me its a good one, its friendly andseems that everyones got the same goals.


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0

S: Even people on different levels andinterests in grafti, the people who are into

illegal stuff and people who are into streetart everyone generally seems to get along.Its a bit more mature [than some places].

E: Its a well-rounded scene, it wouldnt beright if there wasnt the whole illegal scenegoing on as well, and regardless of whatpeople think thats the energy and its rightthere and you see people getting up andits makes you want to get up, whether itspainting halls of fame or going out bombing.Its good that there seems to be a consistentgroup of people, Im not sure why that is?Maybe because of the university, but everyyear theres more and more people coming inand kids getting up. For me thats brilliant.

F: This wouldnt be a grafti interview

without some shout outs, so go ahead.

S: Well all of KTF and ASK.

E: Siren, Mr.Riks, Poer, Molar, Ryder,

Haka. Soker, Kato, Dom, Feek. All theNorthampton crew, NFA Crew, Dazor, Perks,Alta. The mighty 5 RPM. He needs moreprops, hes the one guy Ive met over theyears who sticks stringently to what hebelieves in, and I think that counts for a lot.

S: Not forgetting True, hes a character!

E: Leash, Yuck, Ceaz, RAW Crew. OK Hey.Veir, yeah writes with Germs

Epok & Sepr show Piece, Character / Character,

Piece Opening 16th October 6-10pm ongoing until

the 8th November at The Weapon of Choice Gallery.FFi: www.weaponofchoicegallery.co.uk



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NOOdlES/lIvE MUSIc/djS/OpEN tIll latE

33 St StEvENS StREEt, BRIStOl BS1 1jX. www.MRwOlFS.cOM


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ArtworkbyVideo


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5

Photography by Acer


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6

BUFF MONStER 3

SERIES 2 FIgURES

Inspired by his love of rock and roll andKaiju, Buffs new designs reect a fresh

approach found in his new work. Buffand Mindstyle have come togetheragain to create an edition of 00 setsof 8 gures to collect, in addition there

is one secret gure and one chase

gure randomly inserted in cases. Buff

Monsters Series 2 gures come blind

boxed an are great to collect!

Size 19.99 Availalbe from WoC gallery

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thE gOOdS

SIckBOy RESIN

tEMplES

Sickboy presents his very rst limited

edition Hand-Cast ResinTemples. Sickboys iconic temple logohas been produced as a four-strongseries of high-quality solid resinmodels representing Love, Peace,Happiness and Death. Each editionis a super-exclusive run of 5 each

hand-signed and numbered150.00.Size:0 (w) x 0 (d) x 0mm

(h) Weight:00g. Edition: Four editions of 5

Available from:


aRt & SOUNd

Chris Burton and Gary Thompsonhave compiled a collection of yers

advertising underground partieson the Bristol circuit in the 0s andconducted a series of interviewswith the people behind the leadinghip hop and DJ crews of the day.Many of the artists behind the yers

such as D, Inkie and Nick Walker

have gone on to gain internationalrecognition while many of the crewsbecame well known musicians.

10. Published by Tangent books. Availablefrom WoC Gallery & all good book shops.

pUMa SUEdES

Here at WOC we are ever keento see PUMA delve into their backcatalogue to bring the freshest,revived signature silhouettesand styles... the latest being theSuede, the pack consists of ninecolourways that are being releasedover the next Three months.

PUMA Archive is stocked in all good

trainer independents nationwide includingCooshti Clothing, Bristol(www.cooshti.com) Retail around 45.Check out the Puma competion on

page 51.


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Artwork by EKO - TCF


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This page & top right artwork by Stanley Donwood


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studio


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Above: Toxic - Right Page: Thank God Im An Atheist by Mick Hockney.


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5rpm lives and breathes in Bristol. He is part

of the WHAT collective, and spends his days

creating an owl army, painting and designing for

numerous clients. He will paint on anything and

everything, the bigger the wall the better. If youre

a font freak or a owl lover you will want adopt

him, if not youll want to poke him in the eye...


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Soker


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Recomended

Aug - 6th Dec Arnolni.Markingthe countdown to the 5th UNConference of the Parties on

Climate Change (COP 5) openingin Copenhagen on December,Arnolni presents 100 Days

of exhibitions, performances,screenings and debate around issuesof climate change, social justice andthe contested relationship betweenart and activism. With an emphasisupon collaborative practice, eventswill take place at Arnolni, across

the city, as well as further aeld

www.00days.org.uk

11th Sep - 1st Nov Bristols CityMuseum & Art Gallery. The End ofthe Line: Attitudes in Drawing Opendaily 0am-5pm.

Sept - 29th Oct. The Bristol Gallery.Myth and History group show.

24th Sept - 24th Oct. Here GalleryYellena James solo show, colourfulabstract drawings reecting organic

beauty and imagination. 0 StokesCroft, Bristol, BS RU

10th Oct - 6th Nov Golden Lion.Driftwood, a new collection of worksfrom Adam Meclevy. BS NZ

3rd Oct onwards. KnifesmithGalleryKeep Moving. Featuringthe work of NOM and Kevin EarlTaylor. Upcoming shows include:Natalie Shau (November) andCarles Gomila (December) checkthe website for updates www.knifesmith.co.uk ChristmasSteps. :00 - :00.

16th Oct - 8th Nov. Weapon of

Choice Gallery present: Piece,Character/Character, Piecefeaturing work by KTF crews:EPOKand SEPROpening Friday16th October, 6 - 10pm. StMichaels Hill, Bristol, BS DT.

22nd Oct 6-8pm Art & Soundof the Bristol Underground Book

launch. by Chris Burton and Gary

Thompson. Arnolni BookshopAnd afterwards in the Arnolni Bar

with MC Krissy Kriss and guest DJs(last orders pm) RSVP: [email protected]

29th Oct - 28th Nov. Here GalleryPeople of Print - group show ofcontemporary printmakers. curatedby Marcroy Smith featuring MikePerry, Urban Inks, Seripop, Le Gun,Sophie Kern, Halo Halo and more...

BS RU.31st Oct - 4th Nov Center space

Structure: A Sense of Place.am 6pm daily. A collectionof photography and multi mediainstallations that will explore aspectsof Bristol from buildings, places,spaces and people to society andculture. Private View: Fri 0 Oct, 6- 9pm

31st Oct Bristol Zombie

Walk! 15:00 - 17:00 RouteNot revealed until the day ofevent. search: Bristol zombiewalk 009 for details or email:[email protected]

2nd Nov Amoeba Clifton.photography launch night.exhibition of lithographic & canvasprints. BS AB

4th Nov 6-9pm. Princes Trust

exhibition featuring 6 local artists

to suit all budgets and tastes raisingmoney for the Princes Trust. OneRedcliff St. Suggested 5 donationentry. Strictly INVITE only email:[email protected] for invite

7th Nov - 7th Jan 2010 The Bristol

Gallery. New Contemporariesfeatures emerging contemporaryartists Artists including FranRichardson, Jan Lewin-Cadogan,Susan Bowman, Katharine Barker,Cordelia Spalding, Helen Grundy,

Alison Black, Peter Walker, Arno, PaulWright, Michelle Lord, Nicola Dale,Amy Stephens and Rakhee. broughttogether for the rst time at our newly

established premises on BristolsHarbourside. Building , Unit .Millennium Promenade BS 5TY.

Not an exhibition but worth checkingout Bristol Grafti Blog: bristolgrafti.wordpress.com uptodate on Bristol artists and relatedevents.

7th - 11 Nov Centerspace. HomeGrown Bristol am to 5pm. Getready to be inspired by the cuttingedge of Front Room 009, a

deliciously quirky exhibition thatcelebrates Bristol art and designfrom the abstract to the gurative

Private view: Friday 6th Novemberfrom 6pm to 9pm.

13th Nov- 6th Dec. Weapon

of Choice Gallery present: Anexhibition of new works fromNIKILL.Opening preview 13thNovember. 6-10PM. FREE entry,drinks provided. Check out theinterview with Nikill on page 49. St Michaels Hill, Bristol, BS DT.www.weaponofchoicegallery.co.uk

1st Dec - 24th Dec. Here GalleryOne Monkey Dont Stop No Show

- xmas group show. affordable printsand small original works - perfect forthe gift giving season. Artists includeMatte Stephens, Julia Pott, AmyRuppel and more. BS RU

Emporium37 Gallery. StokesCroft, Bristol, BS PY Variousmonthly events FFI:http://emporium.blogspot.com/

Monthly Artisan Market.

Christmas Steps. FFI:

christmasstepsartsquarter.co.uk8th - 13th Dec Flying Eyeball

present a Major Pop Up Shopexhibition Featuring: Goldie, Eine,Inkie, Shoe, She One, Mysterious Al,Sickboy, Chu, SHOK, Will Barras,Steff Plaetz, Part and more TBC.Cork Street, London Mayfair. [email protected]

11th Dec 09 - 10th Jan 2010

Weapon of Choice Gallery

present: A Christmas adventcalandar style exhibition, artworkcan be taken on the day ofpurchase revealing part of thebigger picture on the wallsbeneath. Artists include: Inkie,Cheba, Jody, Lokey, Soker,

Hoekon, Flo & many more. Arriveearly, or you might miss the wholeshow!

Not Listed? For FREE event

listing e-mail your event to:listing@weaponofchoicegallery.

co.ukprefered format: Date/Gallery/Description/Artists/address.

EXhIBItION lIStINgS

5


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Ziml?

PhotographybyZac

harySaitoti.ClothingDesignerK

atieGlenn.ModelJenniferVincent


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Jody


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Holy Fuck by Dora


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FaShION

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Artwork by Dylan Shipleyfrom his new comicA Rats Tale Out 0th October


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by Haker


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Sickboy


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5


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6

Top left by Shade. Top right by Turroe. Bottom Style by Turroe


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Rolls Royce catches up with rap veterans, Task Force, for a cup of tea and a chat.

Chester Ps resting up with a recently broken leg, Farma G is feeling philosophical.

Rolls Royce: So, what kicked it all off?

Chester P: I started rapping cos he started rapping

(gestures to Farma) but it had a lot to do withIntenz, it was gonna happen regardless, but therewas a fast track.

Farma G: Intenz could freestyle!

CP: He was always battling and on the circuit, hegrew up quicker than us as well, got into situationsthe rest of us felt a little bit too childish to beinvolved in. He was getting into battles with MicSkilla [Skillagan], whos Remus uncle. That wasmemorable moments of Hip Hop for me, obviously

everything evolves from every generation, but thatswhat it meant to us. Farma and Intenz were friendsfor years, and it was a natural progress to follow mybig brother, thats what happened.

RR: What was it like seeing the rise of British

Hip Hop, with people like Skinnyman, Roots

Manuva and Rodney P?

CP: It was beautiful seeing that. Especially peoplelike Roots Manuva, Blak Twang I mean RodneyPs always been successful, from before I was evenbeginning to think about records, Rodney P wasfamous. But to see people like Roots Manuva, BlakTwang and especially Skinny go through in the waythey did is a beautiful thing, we grew up doing the

same things together, we were all rapping in thesame studios, having our weird little conicts and

egotisms. Were all brothers in this game, we camefrom the same segment, the same mind-state andthey were the leading part of that group, besidesus, who were doing active work, but we were fartoo scatty, we werent focusing on business, wewere focusing on music, we were just wild andhence, in the business sense, we might not havebeen as successful as the next people. But thatsthe bullet you bite

RR: What made you write rhymes?

FG: La di da di!

RR: Uncle Ricky!

FG: Well, we were stirred with the notion ofthis whole rap and Hip Hop thing. Youd haveto pinpoint 95, 9, where you had theBreakdance lm phenomena

CP: You had Public Enemy!

FG:It was being publicised a lot in , 5, overhere, that was when people had a mainstream blast

of it, that it was really obtainable. The Breakdancemovie was based around underground kids gettingdown with some upper class kids and there wasalways that mentality. Roxanne, too, The Sagas ofRoxanne, I used to love that album and that was

Photography:zhrySioi&

aer1


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always about conicting views

CP: And Shante would always have her littlebattles.

FG: That was all it meant to us, it was like storytelling. So I think our writing, in the Hip Hopsense, was kind of inspired by the people welistened to at the very beginning.

CP: As well, though, I think people like KRSONE and the rst Public Enemy album,

theyre very political, not necessarily inthe government sense, they were talkingabout some kind of struggle and Ialways related to that. Theres a massivepart of me that couldnt live without that,and everyones cup of tea is a differentthing, if I wanna think consciously about

things that I see and feel around me, thenI dont inict that on no-one else. But I

denitely know that as a youngun I grew

up wanting to battle rappers, I wanted toshow off something that I was good at, cos Ididnt feel condent in life, and things around

me didnt make me proud, for me, it was astruggle to feel any condence and then I found

something I knew I could do, something I knew Iwas witty with and knew I could craft and it justmade sense. It was always about battling until I

grew out of being able to battle.

RR: Yeah I was watching some of the old 5

word freestyles the other day..

CP: Yeah, I still like the 5 word freestyle, Im intothe art-form of battling, theres many levels, butfor me, the best battle you can win is againstyourself, cos thats the only time you winsomething they can never take away.

RR: Do you always win?CP: Ive never lost a battle with myself! I wouldsay Ive lost rap battles, maybe the judges neversaid Id lost, but I think after, if I wasnt me, Idhave probably lost that, maybe there was astigma attached to that and I got through on awhim at times, but in the beginning, when I wasa battle rapper, no one could have beat me andit didnt matter, I wouldve stood against anyone.But I dont do that now, theres enough rappersthat could beat me in a battle now! They used

to be rare like ants teeth, boy! Theres fuckinghundreds of them now!

RR: Farma, youve got a boy, right, do you

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wah BlOw!?


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Photography:zhrySioi&

aer1

feel youve got a responsibility to educate the

younger generations?

FG: Not so much a responsibility, when it comesto music, but in my own head I tend to think a bitmore about what Im sayin. In the early stagesof me being a father, there was a lot more anger,a lot more blame being forced outward, whereasnow Im trying to eradicate blame. Maybe the bestmessage Ive been able to incorporate into mymusic is that there is something worth striving for.You can still have a lot of fun even when yourein pain, you can still learn a lot even when youresuffering and there is always an upside. In LittleMiss Sunshine, theres a quote at the end, Franksays, all those years he suffered, those were thebest years of his life, cause they made him who hewas. Looking at that, suffering subsides when youcan understand it, you get through it. I dont reallyfeel any responsibility except for myself and myson, Remus.

RR: I was over at my boy Tek1s last night, he

shares a studio with Chu, who did your album

art, you guys grew up writing too, yeah?

CP: For me, it was an essential part of being young.

FG: Its been disputed, man, I think people have toquestion and validate and get a feel of authenticity,when people have massive claims that they werethis or that, they should have to back it up. Its nicerecently that certain people, even vindictively, aretrying to put that on us, where was it, who was itwith, all that

CP: I dont even know about that!

FG: Its minor

CP: I can imagine Well, that person might goaround telling everyone hes with DDS, but if hesaid anything bad about me to the DDS boys,

theyd probably whop him in the face, cos thats myfriends, Im nothing to do with grafti, fuck grafti.

At the end of the day, when I used to do grafti, I

walked tracks, I sprayed on trains, Ive done all thatshit, I didnt live and die and eat and shit grafti,

but I dont live, die, eat, shit nothing! Ive got toaccept that when I wake up every day Ive got to be

prepared to admit the way I thought before mightbe wrong and to keep changing and evolving. But,yeah, I did grafti man, I wasnt nothing special, I

ran around with good grafti writers and no-one

ever bothered me, but he was good (gestures to

FG: hes done yards. You know theres some thingsin life no-one can ever tell you you havent done,cos you know youve done.

FG: Yeah, the Graforiginees track on the album is atrue story!

CP: I walked train tracks in roller skates!FG: When youre kids you do nutty stuff

CP: Big up to all the writers though yeah, I lovegrafti writers.

FG: To me, music is just a form of entertainment,for everyone to be I am this, this is me, all the time,youre not gonna get an albums worth out of that,you gotta start thinking outside of the box, whichis why you get people fantasising and writingcompletely off the wall stuff, but its an homage to

the art form and we can talk about as a third partyCP: Yeah, but its like a rapper saying you cant talkabout guns if you aint got guns and then talkingabout Mescaline and Peyote like they know whatMescaline and Peyote are.. But, you know, whatsgood for the Russian kills the German, innit

Check the full interview online at:

www.weaponofchoicegallery.co.uk

0

wah BlOw!?

0


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wah BlOw?

Dark City by FLX


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Recomended

Mondays Gorilla Audio (term timeonly) The ofcial UWESU & Hub

Radio student night! Doors 0pm- am Entry free before 0pm / NUS The Thekla. The Grove. Bristol

Thursdays Pressure - Bristols BestIndie Night. DJ Mr SteveBob playsthe best indie downstairs. Twee in thePark Upstairs. -- Drinks all night. after 0, NUS The Thekla.

Friday nights at Thekla on rotation!please check the promoters websitesfor the latest line-ups and information!

First Friday The Blast. Purveyors

of the best parties in this fair town,including the legendary Shit The Bednights. The Thekla.

Second Friday Hospitality. TheHospital Records night regularlysmashing the drum n bass scene inBristol. The Thekla.

Third Friday Monkey! Knife! Fight! Ane upstanding ape of the community

providing electro beats and bass inequal measure. The Thekla.

Fourth Friday Blowpop. The Thekla.The Grove. Bristol BS

Saturdays Socialism. Leader of thealternative dance music movementwith come of the nest resdients DJs

from such prestigious nights as TheBlast and Byte. Doors 0pm - amEntry free before 0pm / 5 befoream / 6 after The Thekla.

21/10/09 Split Vision. Dubstep, breaks,hip hop, reggae with Flux Pavillion,

Ruckus & Roke, Aeroplane Dope, SA,Sinewinder, Project and more. LAB,

Bristol. 0- am b , 5 after.

21/10/09 Bounce! ~ Ewan Hoozami,Tokin Mandem, Frith Element, bbFather Jack, Tele, Stigg. The Croft.9pm Free Before 0pm / After

22/10/09 PAPOOSE. All dubstepdjs, no dubstep!!! Expect alternativesets, inuences and mashupsfrom

Pinch, Headhunter, Dubboy andForsaken. The Croft 0.0 late tickets / 5 OTD (Tickets available

from Rooted Records & WoC Gallery)

23/10/09 Fracture Clinic. With Dirty

Phonics live, Far Too Loud, Culture Shock

& more Hosted by Remedy, Koast, Shadz

and Frilla. DnB, Jungle, Techno, Dubstep,

Breaks, Honeys and more...

29/10/09 The Blast. Back atLab for a night of epic messiness!!!Nero, D*Minds, Interface, Arsequake,Dubious, Superisk, Shandy + Loads

more tbc!!! Lab Bristol. 0 till am

30/10/09 Detectives Of Perspective.Solid Steel. Hexstatic, DJ Food &DK,King Cannibal, DJ Money$hot,DJ Cheeba, DOP Allstars, The sexpixels, The Thekla 9 adv

3/11/09 Project 13. Hip Hop from theP crew, every st Tuesday of themonth at Mr Wolfs. 9 - am .

7/11/09 Shakoom. The Anti PopConsortium. The Croft, Bristol.

10/11/09 WEAPON OF CHOICE.Every nd Tuesday of the monthat Mr Wolfs, Live Grafti! Hip Hop,

Dubstep, Clothing Giveaways, B-Boys and more. FREE SHOT before12!Balance & Pads, Frilla and moreTBA. Residents C-Strike-z and DJBetamax. Mr Wolfs, St StevensSt. BS JX. 9-am 3 All night.

13/11/09 FFTT XXL. The HaggisHorns, Manfredi Funk Initiative FFTTDJs. Metropolis Bristol.

13/11/09 Impact of the Drop IOTDVs. Bassrock Records. Ed Rushcomes to Bath to play a specialVirus set alongside the likes of PaulBassrock, Wink and the ImpactResidents. /6 Moles Club, Bath,9pm - am

18/11/09 BOUNCE! ~ Task & Skint,

Ratface, Tele, Stigg. The Croft 9pm- Free before 0pm / After

21/11/09 Shakoom 1st Birthday.Stigg & Syntax, Bellatrix and theBoxxetes. The Croft, Bristol.

31/10/09 Subloaded 5thBirthdayPinch, 56, Youngsta,Jack Sparrow Gemmy bb Guido,Moving Ninja, Blazey, MCs: SGTPokes, Dread Mc Upstairs hostedby Ruffnek Diskotek:Dubkasm, Andy

Scholes, Dub Boy, Atki and Beavis.9 Advance tickets tickets @ Rooted& Bristol Ticket Shop 0pm-5am

31/10/09 Dutty Bass. Dubstep,Hip Hop, Old Skool, Garage, Electroand Grime. Kash Honey, Safesoul,Diss Miss and Izzy Hosted by...Sarah Bizzle all night! 9.0 -.0m Cosies, Portland Square.

4/11/09 Rocksteady Dubstep.The clash has naly come.. The two

biggest dubstep promotions in Bathresponsible for bringing the biggestnames in Dubstep to the city naly

come together to bring you the mightybar 9!. 5 Moles Club, Bath 9 - am

6/11/09 JIGSAW Live presentsSmermins Anti-Social Club. Autumntour 009. Fiddlers, Bristol 9pm-am. adv from jigsawlive.co.uk

14/11/09 DMC World presentsWelcome to Bristol With live paintingfrom Inkie. One Cut, Mr Benn,Tribesteppaz Soundsystem, DaveCridge, Queen Bee, Titan Sound, PatFloyd, Skelm. 5 Tickets ROOTED.More on the Door. Proceedss going toMcmillan Cancer Nurses.

27/11/09All-Live. Syte & The Sounde.p launch party! Sound Of Rum,Ewan Hoozami, FFTT DJs. The Croft

28/11/09 Run 003 - lineup TBC. checkFacebook group for updates. Motion

8/12/09 WEAPON OF CHOICE.Every nd Tuesday of the monthat Mr Wolfs, Live Grafti! Hip Hop,

Dubstep, Clothing Giveaways,B-Boys and more. FREE SHOTbefore 12!Awkward and crew. MoreTBA. Residents C-Strike-z and DJBetamax. Mr Wolfs, St StevensSt. BS JX. 9-3am 3 All night.

16/12/09 - The Goodness,Blacksmith, The Hats, TokinMandem, Nik ill and Kahn. entry,doors pm, music kicks off startingwith the goodness doing an acousticset at .5pm @ The Croft.

Not Listed? e-mail your event to:[email protected]

RadIOJagos Beatreats on Passion

Radio Bristol // Tuesdays 11am-1pm podcasted on itunes andjagosonpassionradio.mypodcast.comA mash-up of the best Hip Hop, Soul& Dubstep from Bristol and Beyond.

clUB lIStINgS


43/52

tangent?

Try the Alternative

www.tangentbooks.co.uk


44/52

thE lOBStER BOy Ep

reDLight

Whilst the Redlight name will, for the timebeing at least, be unknown to the majorityoflisteners, the man behind the beats is by no means

a novice. In his original incarnation as DJ Clipz, the

producer and DJ has risen through the ranks to

become one of the most celebrated and respected

artists in drum n bass. Operating at the forefront of

the scene, hes played all over the globe, become

part of the Full Cycle family, launched his own

Audio Zoo label and been responsible for some of

the genres most essential releases of recent years.

Starting afresh with a blank slate and free from any

constraints, expectations or categorization. Clipz has

adopted the Redlight alter ego in order to explore new

musical territory.Redlight unleashed his debut release in August.

Rock The House / Twist Up was a double A-side

single. Rock The House quickly became Carl Coxs

Track Of The Week on Kiss FM and the single won

over plenty of early fans including Skream, Toddla T,

Jack Beats, Goldie and MistaJam. This summer also

saw Redlight play on the BBC Introducing stage at

Glastonbury festival his storming DJ set captivated

a packed and lively crowd and was simultaneously

broadcast live to the nation via Annie Macs Radio

show. Continuing the BBC connection, Redlight has

now been added to Xtras In New Xtra DJs We

Trust autumn line up with his 6x hour transmissions

kicking off on th October.

As well as putting in serious studio time working

on his debut album due out in early 00 Redlight has

recently collaborated with Rusko and fellow Bristol

boy Ben Westbeech, and has produced remixes

for Roots Manuva, Little Boots, Pendulum, Athlete,Hockey and Toddla T.

Redlight The Lobster Boy EP out 6th Nov.


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AndyCounc

ilsoloshowcoming

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thJanuary00WeaponofChoiceGallery


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wallsbyZiml


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The tragedy of izanami by opyight


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WoC: When did you start making your artwork?

Have you always had an interest in art?

Nik: About 9 years ago. I have always been a very

visual person, but it wasnt until my Art GCSE that my

creativity took on a life of its own.

WoC: Who were your earlier inuences & what

inspires you now?

Nik: The whole of the TCF crew played a huge partin my early development as an artist both with their

wisdom and sheer skills, with particularly strong

inuence from Xenz and Ziml. I later found the work

of Will Barras, Mr Jago and Dicy inspiring and eye-

opening and thereof they became strong inuential

forces as my style began to evolve. Bad weather and

newly-bought music inspire me to work (these days)

and help motivate my creativity; gotta have the new

sounds to stimulate the brain matter. However, on a

much grander scale, I am inuenced and inspired by

outer space. In addition to this, a constant subject ofmy creativity/artwork is the sensational feeling that

as humans, we are part of something so potentially

innite. This inspires me to keep progressing and

ignore boundaries.

WoC: Where did the leaf logo and love the leaf

originate from?

Nik: I used to draw/paint alot of trees, leaves and

owers in the early days and so The Leaf was a bi-

product of many roughly sketched versions before

ultimately (spray)painting a more rened version ofit, which resulted in the decision to print it. People

started to comment on how much they would love

the leaf, and this was the birth of the brand. It just

stuck really.

WoC: Your style is very unique and seemed only

inevitable to take that transition onto clothing.

How did that come about?

Nik: It was for two reasons really, rstly the urge to make

my artwork more accessible and affordable and secondly,

I wanted to create a safer outlet for getting my artworkand eventually other artists work about as I knew people

who were being arrested for vandalism; the streets didnt

seem to be the place to do be doing this.

WoC: Can you tell us a bit about the music you

make and do you think that has helped your style

of artwork to evolve?

Nik: Predominantly, the music I make is hip hop,

as I have been interested in this genre of music forabout as long as Ive been into art; Ive always loved

heavy dark beats. It was only a matter of time until

I began making my own beats, I admit that Im a

control freak, and anything I think I can do myselfI will try and do! It started with fruity loops on my

parents vintage PC with a sh bowl screen, using a

mic that looked like an injured dog with one of those

cones around its neck, to sample from the desktop

speakers. The cone was an attempt to block out any

background noise, yeah Im a geek like that. I make

heavy hip hop, sometimes it strays into the realms ofdubstep, glitch or jazz but its all hip hop to me. For

a while now the subject matter of my artwork has

been based around drawings of music equipment so

yeah its helped to evolve my style but particularly

in inuencing my choice of subject matter. Both my

artwork and my music are a representation of myself,

I love technology and I love drawing, the things I

enjoy frequently help to give my work form, the other

times I like my work to be more abstract.

WoC: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Nik: Always a difcult question to answer, it is hard

to say, recently my life has taken a turn in that I have

started a degree in Motion Graphics in London so

now I think in 10 years I will be working on lms doing

visual effects, reecting on the year i went on tour as

an audio/visual DJ. Something along those lines.

WoC: Any last words?

Nik: Always do what you love, be ambitious, and

never compromise yourselfand listen to some hip

hop while doing so!

Catch Nikills solo show at the Weapon of Choice

Gallery, opening preview 13th November 6-10pm.

Running until the 6th December 009.

Love the LeAfWeapon of Choice get down to the bear bones with the artist, clothing designer

and music producer Nikill for a brief chat before his move to the Big smoke...

NIkIll INtERvIEw

9


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5

Design & win your own pAir ofpuMAs!

PUMA are proud to support the Weapon of Choice gallery.

Have you ever seen a pair of trainers andthought Nice but I could do better? Wellnows your chance! Our good friends at PUMA have

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Pumas Mongolian what? I hear you cry..! O.K. heargoes. Mongolian BBQs originated centuries ago in theFar East during feasts for Ghengis Khans Mongolianarmy. At the time, soldiers used their swords to gatherand prepare cuts of meats and vegetables. Then, eachwarrior would use his shield as a pan to cook up a

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And if youve not seen the site yet check it out nowwww.archive.puma.com, click the link at the bottom ofthe page. Now its your job to create the Ultimate kicks.Preheat your creativity and start cooking!

Design your pair of sneaks on the

MBBQ site: mongolianshoebbq.puma.com send

us the picture and the freshest pair of kicks wins!

Send your Designs to: [email protected] date0th November 009.The winner will be notied by the 1st of

December. Terms & conditions apply.

TOWIN:


52/52

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Documents

Weapon of Choice - Grafetti Art Magazine