Buck

MAXIMUM EXPERIENCE, MINIMUM EXPENDITURE

IN YOUR Our guide to:

LIVING RETRO
ROOM... GAMING
Homegrown gigs
MANLY
Are you man enough
to face our MAKE-UP:
TAN-O-METER? Where to draw the line

10 tunes Fake glasses,

quiffs and tats:

£10 IS BEING A
dickhead
COOL?

THE NEW

ENTREPRENEUR
ISSUE 2 £2.00

Why Neil Cocker is

making waves in the
design industry
STAYING IN : GOING OUT : STYLE : GADGETS : CULTURE
Top 10 for a Tenner...tunes
Rhianna - S&M
Censored video? Check. Controversial
lyrics? Check. Raunchy performances?
DEFINITE check. We’re not just loving
this song for these reasons. No, not at all.
Honest.
£0.89 - Play.com
Jamie Woon - In The
Night Air
A haunting mix of dubstep and
soul is displayed in Mr Woon’s
first cut from his debut album
Wayfaring Stanger. Sting fans may
notice the riff sounds a little like
‘Englishman In New York’.
£0.89 - Play.com
Wild Beasts - We Still
Got The Taste Dancing
On Our Togues
The Wild Beasts are set to tour
again when new album Smother
is released in May, so now is the
time to reacquaint ourselves with
Hayden Thorpe’s countertenor
tones.
£0.79 - iTunes
Adele - 19
With all the praise for Adele’s new album 21,
it’s easy to forget what a spectacular record
19 was. Remind yourself what her songs
sounded like before they were murdered by
X Factor wannabes.
£3.99 - Play.com
Foals - Spanish Sahara
Fresh from its Best Single triumph at the
NME Awards, now is exactly the right
time to appreciate this track in all its
gloriousness.
£0.79 - Play.com
Everything Everything - Final
Form
Having spent the majority of their acclaim
re-releasing previous tracks, Everything
Everything officially release this new track
on April 4, but it is available for download
now.
£0.89 - Play.com
Single of the Week
The lovely people at the Apple store give
away their favourite song every week on
iTunes. It’s a great way of discovering new
bands, and the majority are actually pretty
decent.
iTunes - FREE
Two Door Cinema Club -
What You Know
The fifth release from the Irish lad’s
debut Tourist History is up there with
their best for sheer danceablity. You’ll
be bouncing about to this at your
local indie disco before you know it.
£0.79 - Play.com
Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers
The Swedish songstress has made her
latest track available for free though
the MP3 blog aggregator, The Hype
Machine. This understated, tribal,
synth creation is hopefully a taster
of things to come on her upcoming
second album Wounded Rhymes.
Hypem.com - FREE
Chromeo Ft. La Roux - Hot
Mess
This genius track passed by without so
much as a mention when it was released
earlier this year. The rejigging to include
Elly Jackson’s vocals remind us why we
still love La Roux.
£0.99 - iTunes
 EDITOR’S LETTER

CONTENTS
02 TOP 10 FOR £10
Buck takes you through the
best current music you can get, 08
all for under £10

04 UNCLE BUCK PART 1

The original Buckster’s guru
guides on how to reinvent
your wardrobe with the top 10
trends for spring

06 COVER STORY:
RETRO GAMING
Nostalgia rules - we show

Welcome to the second

issue of BUCK magazine
you how to host a cool retro
gaming night 08 WORKING ABROAD:
SKILLS TO PAY THE BILLS
How to make a living halfway
around the world taking
photos of beautiful ladies
BUCK is back and better than
ever this week. As you may have
realised, we aim to give you all
10 COVER STORY:
NEIL COCKER
Interview with the man
behind Dizzyjam.com and
the tips and advice you could
Plastik Raygun records
possibly need to make sure your
money goes further and gets you
the most out of life. 06
On the agenda this issue: we
show you the insider’s guide to
throwing an awesome gig from
13 BOOST YOUR EQ
Mark Brayne tells us why
Emotional Intelligence can
help us guys get further
your living room, explore the
best way to earn cash abroad
doing more than just fruit 14 GROOMING SPECIAL:
GOLDEN BOY
Want the ultimate man tan?
14
picking or bar work, and even Here’s our product guide to
have team member Marc test so glowing brighter than the sun
much fake tan that he glistens
like a Christmas turkey.
With travel, grooming and
20 16 GROOMING SPECIAL:
MALE COSMETICS - MADE
UP OR WASHED OUT?
We look into the world of
entertainment bursting from guyliner and manscara, from
this issue’s seams, all you need goth to glam rock
to do is relax and enjoy while we
try before you buy. 18 STAYING IN: HOUSE GIG
Bored of movie nights? A gig in
your living room could be the
way to go
Team Buck

22
Web: buck.jomec.co.uk 20 DICKHEAD’S NIGHT OUT
Our guide to London for empty
frame, skinny jean and low cut
Twitter: @buckmagazine vest enthusiasts
Facebook: Buck Magazine

BUCK is brought to you by:

22 THE DAILY GRIND
Self-proclaimed ‘Caffeine Kid’
Will Corby tells us how to
make great coffee at home
Kieron Allen. Ed Bolla. Scott Carey.

26
Joe Dart. Harriet Davies. Sarah George.

24
UNCLE BUCK PART 2 BUCK REVIEWS
Robert Leedham. Sian Lewis. We review the latest films,
Your faithful companion takes
Ash Percival. Danielle Richardson. music and TV and rate
you through skipping your way
Clemmie Robinson. Lucy Thackray. whether they’re worth your
to peak fitness and energy-
Marc Thomas. Anna Ward. Heledd Williams time and money
filled recipes
UNCLE BUCK

TOP TRENDS
FOR SPRING Uncle Buck: Your
Four key looks to update your tired wardrobe savvy & suited uncle

Spring is just around the corner and London Fashion Week has got everyone talking about a new wave of expensive trends and
designer labels. Buck however, knows you needn’t spent a bomb to refresh your wardrobe ready for these four key high
street trends for spring.

The Hoxton Gent

Topman, £12

Topman, £12
River Island, £26.99

Ben Sherman, £31

Traditional English heritage materials mixed
with playful colours and accessories create the
perfect look for any wannabe “dickhead” (see
page 20) wanting to get noticed on the scene.

Topman, £85

Topman, £40
The Indie Rocker

Next, £75

Topman, £20
While the staple leather jacket and military
boots remain from winter, update this classic
look with the addition of a statement t-shirt.

Zara, £59.99

4
 UNCLE BUCK
The Britpop Lad
Uncle Buck
recommends...

Topman, £14
Topman, £26 Inspired by the popular 90’s brands Ben
Sherman and Fred Perry; bring this trend bang
up to date with carrot-fit chinos and suede
boots to prevent any Oasis-reject comparisons.
TASSEL LOAFERS
While some may be waiting patiently for the first sign
of any sun so that they can haul out their deck shoes,
don’t act in haste. The deck shoe may have been
massive last summer, but footwear in spring/summer
’11 is all about the tassel loafer.
A hard soled tassel loafer is a timeless classic and
will look great with a suit or a shirt and smart trouser
combo at any time of year. Conversely, a soft sole will
provide a casual look, perfect for evenings chilling
out at the pub. During the cooler spring wear them
with woollen socks and slightly rolled up slim cut
jeans or carrot-fit chinos. And when the hot weather
finally rears its head, forget the socks and roll ‘em
chinos up even higher.

Five of the best

ASOS, £35
River Island, £29.99

The Retro Urbanite Dockers, £48.50 (www.shoes.com)

Nike, £43.89
Topman, £42

Try bright graphic tees and structured den-

im to create this streetwise look. Finish with Topman, £50
hi-tops to channel your inner Tinie Tempah.

ASOS, £40 (www.shoes.com)

Topman, £38

River Island, £44.99

Zara, £49.99
 Retr-owned!
Buck travels back in time to find out how you
can have an awesome retro gaming experience
At Buck, we are all children of the
80’s and, like many, video games were an
integral part of our childhood.
The world of gaming can be daunting,
and if you’re not sure where to start then do
not fear: Buck has produced this expert
guide to inform and inspire. We think it’s a
great idea to relive your childhood and get
involved in a worldwide community.
Happy gaming guys, and remember to
keep it retro.
About our expert:
Tom Amato
We had a chat with Tom who has been co-
running ‘Otakuzoku’, a retro video game
and comic store based in Cardiff, for one
and a half years. He is a very passionate
gamer and knows the retro games industry
like the back of his hand. He tells us how he
got into the business:
“When Gamestation stopped doing
retro games a couple of years ago all
the stuff went onto eBay. Now eBay is
6
An old favourite; Mario Kart played on a Nintendo 64
wonderful, I use it loads myself, but it’s not
really conducive to general browsing or to
impulse buying.
We wanted to take some of the products
from the internet and put it back onto the
high street where there is a tactile, tangible
presence, where you can rummage and
not necessarily get pressured into buying
anything. We were going for almost like a
‘museumy’ experience.”
The growth of retro
gaming
With the launch of consoles like the
Nintendo Wii, the very nature of gaming
has been re-established so that it is
quite different from the good old days of
lounging on a sofa round a mate’s house
and steering the hell out of your avatar of
choice on the TV.
Tom: “Retro gaming and gaming itself has
come of age. People are now looking back
at its earlier building blocks, which didn’t
happen a few years ago because all that stuff
was contemporary then. It is getting an
increasing amount of exposure too: things
like virtual consoles, (software which
allows you to play retro games on your
latest console), and things like Retro Gamer
Magazine show there is an increasing
appetite for it.”
Where should I
buy retro gaming
stuff?
Tom: “Other than specialist retro gaming
stores, eBay is a good guide for relative
value. We get a lot of guys now who come
into the shop with smart phones and the
first thing they do is price match us to
online outlets. This was annoying at first
but, hey, if you have the tenacity to do it,
then more power to you. It’s a great tool so
we have to be very competitive. So, broadly
speaking, when we get an item in we will
price it by its completed listing on eBay and
then undercut it by a good few pounds and
Plug in and play
Don’t have any consoles? Fear not! Here’s a guide to the best systems that you can just plug into your TV and play:

Atari Classics - Plug n Play TV Games Sega Ultimate Portable Console Street Fighter - Plug n Play TV Games
amazon.co.uk - £18.99 amazon.co.uk - £28.95 amazon.co.uk - £12.99

This 10-in-1 Atari console includes The Sega Ultimate Portable console has If you’re a Street Fighter fanatic then
classics such as Centipede and Space not only 20 awesome Megadrive classics you’ll love this perfect recreation of Street
Invaders - simple gameplay at its best but can also be used on the go! Fighter II with matching fight pads

offer the cheapest we can so long don’t necessarily want that kind of mix.
as we make our money back on the You want something a little broader and a
original item. little friendlier.”
We are very careful to be
competitive with online prices, and Retro oddity
by that same token eBay is a very
good resource at working out any The tools to create simple games are
given value of any game.” readily avaliable these days and more and
more increasingly bizarre games are being
Top games released as a result.
One such game is the recent free version
Tom recommends:
of The Great Gatsby, based upon the
Super Hang-On - Sega Megadrive Hilarity ensues when playing Goldeneye’s ‘big head’ mode seminal American novel. Players assume
Outrun - Sega Mega Drive the role of Nick Carraway, the narrator of
Super Monaco GP - Sega Megadrive with it but this was just never really made Fitzgerald’s novel.
Super Mario World - SNES particular clear when the console was The game draws inspiration from video
Castlevania 4 - SNES available. They are more successful now game classics such as Castlevania and
Buck recommends: because they are far cheaper, and they now Megaman sees Carraway jumping his way
Mario Kart 64 - N64 have the facility to mod between different through Jay Gatsby’s mansion, the sewers
Goldeneye - N64 console regions.” of New York City, the Long Island Railroad
Crash Team Racing - PSone and the beaches of posh West Egg. He
Powerstone 2 - Dreamcast Buck recommends: Nintendo 64 battles butlers, hobos, flappers, leaping
Street Fighter II Turbo - SNES Buck Team Ed says: “The N64 is just a alligators and the disembodied glasses of
Buck Team Ed says: “I was totally blown really fun, social console. There are loads of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg along the way, attacking
away the first time I played Goldeneye and great games and it is really easy for anyone with a boomerang hat.
Mario Kart 64. They set a new precedent to just pick up and play.” To play head to: greatgatsbygame.com
for multiplayer console games. Frictionless
sliding on one knee in Goldeneye and the Top tips for
seizure inducing Rainbow Road level on hosting a retro
Mario Kart were brilliant!”
gaming night
Awesome consoles
Tom: “The successful gaming nights we
Tom recommends: Sega Mega-CD have done have tended to be the ones where
“My favourite console is the Mega-CD. It’s there is something for everyone there. If
basically your normal Megadrive with a CD you just go for one game then it’s probably
drive attached. This gives it greater sprite going to be a little bit niche, but if you
scaling, (2D animation), capabilities and have a wide variety of things and ideally a
super CD quality music. mixture of people, then that is a great start.
When you explore the Mega-CD in A large proportion of the gaming market
detail you see it’s full of really wonderful tends to be male but that can be quite a
Japanese games that have been translated toxic atmosphere if it’s a very large number
Watch your step Nick, Gatsby’s not gonna pick you
into English with wonderful packaging. of twenty-something blokes with black
up off the train tracks
There are lots of really high quality products t-shirts and modest personal hygiene, you
7
 5
SKILLS TO PAY
THE BILLS ABROAD
Remember the time you saw the world as your oyster? You were brave, fearless and roamed from country
to country as you pleased. Or did you? Chances are you saw a Teaching English as a Foreign Language
(TEFL) qualification or bartending as your passport to world domination and ended up living off rice.
Sounds like you could use some tips from five guys who know better...

PHOTOGRAPH BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

If you’ve ever picked up a camera and taken a decent shot this might be your route across the world

One success story is So, what has inspired him in his

Ukrainian photographer
hotshot Alex Dani who moved
to Bilbao, Northern Spain in
2008 with his ambition to be a
fashion photographer, and he
is now lucky enough to take
photos of stunning women
for a living. He started out
taking classes in photography
and studio lighting and
later worked as a fashion
photographer’s assistant in
Milan, as well as working in
Lisbon, Paris, Madrid, Rome
and Venice.
career so far?
Alex says, “People inspire me,
I just see some unique features
in a person and propose to take
photos.” However, his access
to beautiful models varies, “In
the Ukraine it is easy, in Paris it
is easy, but in Bilbao it’s more
difficult as people need to know
you personally.”
Previously, he has been exhibited
in the RA Ukrainian Art gallery.
Check out his work online at
www.alexdani.com

Alex Dani and his bevvy of beauties

SAVE THE ANIMALS

Forget all those ‘Gap Yah’ try-hards, you can get the real deal if you’ve got a background in conservation

After graduating in Marine Programme which funds

Geography, Ben Goss started
work as a marine researcher in
Greece. He explains, “I got the
job at Archipelagos Institute of
Marine Conservation.
“I went out as part of the
first year through my university
which offered it as a part of a
sandwich year course and they
liked me, so they asked me to
come back for a second time.”
The non-profit organisation
also sorted out Ben’s funding.
“They put me in contact
with the Leonardo Da Vinci
practical projects in the field
of vocational education and
training.” The programme
sorted out Ben’s flights and
supplied a cash contribution of
500 Euros for six months.
Now Ben’s enjoying a
completely new lifestyle. “The
best parts are the people, I’ve
met people from around the
world, and I’m getting involved
in something I love doing in
the field.”

Everything’s A-OK in Sideras Bay, North Aegean Sea

8
GET A SPORT INSTRUCTOR QUALIFICATION
Picture the scene: you teach some hot snow-boarder girls how to master a black run for a couple of hours and later you spend your hard earned
cash on beer at the ski lodge. Life could be worse...
Hugh helping a student get on board
If you have multimedia journalism skills why not follow Richard George Mooney’s lead and let your talent take you as far as the Middle East...
Richard is currently working
for KAUST, that’s King
Abdullah University of Science
and Technology, as their
Multimedia Content Producer.
He says, “The fact I won a
YouTube award for my Susan
Boyle interview really caught
their attention.”
The modern Arab University,
which controversially allows
men and women to study
together, was attracted to
Richard’s forward thinking
attitude. He points out, “I’m by
no means the perfect
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT A BUILDING
If all else fails make your mark on another city, literally
Peter pulls his design together
multimedia journalist, but they
like the fact that I learned new
skills beyond the ‘traditional’
journalism skill-set.”
Richard says living in an
international community has
made it easier to adapt to a
different culture. “I’ve made
friends from all over the planet
and got to do some of the
biggest interviews of my career
including the Vice President of
Pixar, a leading NASA scientist
and a former Nobel Chemistry
Prize chairman.”
Richard’s also enjoyed
Hugh Halford-Thompson has
been a tennis coach in France
and most recently a snowboard
instructor in Whistler, Canada.
Hugh worked in Canada
for four months. “I signed up
with Flying Fish but that was
a mistake because they take
50% and pass you on. They
passed me on to Yes Tours
[www.yesinstructor.co.uk] who
were brilliant. The cost of my
instructor course was £1600,”
he says.
The money in return was good,
OFFER MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM SKILLS
travelling in his free time.
“I visit Jeddah a lot. I have a
lot of Saudi and Arab friends
there. Other than that, I’ve
been snorkelling out on the
Red Sea a few times and
travelled to Istanbul and Dubai
for short breaks.”
He concludes that any
obstacles have been worth
facing, “I won’t lie, it’s tough,
really tough at times but it’s
also been the most amazing
experience of my life. Truly.”
Architect Peter Sagar won
the first round of a global
design competition called
Sukkah City. The brief was to
radically reinvent the ancient
sukkah, a temporary wooden
structure built by Jews in
commemoration of the Exodus
from Egypt. Peter was given
$10,000 to cover materials and
associated expenses and the
winners’ work was displayed in
Union Square, New York last
September.
Peter was the only successful
foreign entrant. He says, “The
advantage of being the only
winner from the UK was the
experience; if I had done a
similar competition
in London I would not have
$11.30 per hour plus tips. “Most
tips were drinks or dinners. I
got a total of $300 cash tips
over the year and about $3000
in drinks and dinners.”
Hugh has advice for
anyone interested in being
a snowboard instructor in
Whistler, “Get there really
early or else you won’t get a
bed. It took me two months of
staying on peoples couches and
floors before I got a bed in staff
housing. I got there at the end
of November.”
Richard in traditional dress
met so many new people.”
On the other hand,
the distance was also a
disadvantage. “It was very
difficult to organize everything
from the other side of the
Atlantic. As the project was
constructed almost entirely
from timber, I had to learn
the ways in which timber
is dimensioned and sold
commercially in the US.”
Altogether, Peter spent
two weeks in New York, but
certainly not as a tourist. “I
felt like I actually experienced
the city in a very genuine
way.” Moreover, he’s made
connections in the Big Apple
that no amount of bartending
can match.
9
THE NEW ENTREPRENEUR
BREAKING THE RULES
Neil Cocker has proved that you don’t need suits, stuffy meetings and
a lottery win to start a successful business...In fact, he’s started two.
As the man behind Plastic Raygun Records and Dizzyjam
custom t-shirt printing company, Neil Cocker is not your average
entrepreneur. He is totally grounded, and always on the lookout for
a new opportunity.
“If you don’t mind my saying you seem to be able to basically
start your businesses with no money. Is that genuine creation?”
“That’s obviously not unique to me,” says Neil Cocker, the
entrepreneurial mind behind revolutionary t-shirt printing
company Dizzyjam, “I’ve always had a certain frustration that if I
did have an investor or backer, I could have done everything that
I’ve done ten times better or ten times quicker but there’s also
something to be said through not being able to take any shortcuts.”
It’s this DIY attitude and clever usage of available resources
that has made it possible for the average Joe without a marketing
degree to his name to make his millions -- or at least be massively
successful.
But how did the 36-year-old get from university graduate to one
of the most remarkable new entrepreneurs in the country in just a
few years?
“Like everybody else who graduates, I ended up going to work in
a call centre,” Cocker says. “I’d done work experience while I was a
student at a load of record labels, through a contact at Acid Jazz,
who at the time were one of the biggest independent labels in the
world, I’d been referred to the guy who runs the Toucan Club in
Cardiff.
He was looking for DJs for his new club and I pretended that I
was a funk DJ because I had a load of funk records and thought
‘How hard can it be?!’ That was it. The start of the next decade of
my life really.”

“I pretended that I was a funk DJ and

thought ‘how hard can it be?!’”

Over the next ten years, Neil DJed to tens of thousands of people
in over 30 countries all over the world with Matt Callanan, under
the name Phantom Beats.
“Basically for four or five years, every weekend I was in a different
country: Japan to Australia, all over Europe, America, long tours
over there,” he explains, “I think I DJed in about 30 or 40 different
countries over the course of those years.”
“I’ve had some of my best adventures and antics with Neil
when we DJed and produced together” says Matt, the other half
of Phantom Beats. “We got to travel from San Francisco to Sydney,
meet some fantastic people and play our tunes to crowds of
thousands. We also ended up with lots of stories and memories
that money could never buy. He [Cocker] was key in our success,
mainly down to his brilliant networking and his skills when he was
helping to run the Plastic Raygun label.”
It was during this time that Neil and Matt spent touring the
world DJing and selling their records that they realised they were
missing a trick.
“I was getting to meet producers all over the world and in London
and they were giving me their demo CDs,” Cocker reminisces, “so
we actually started releasing other peoples music and got even
Neil Cocker wearing one of his own Dizzyjam design creations

11
 bigger through cherry picking the best stuff.”
It was when they came to the realisation that by meeting so
many incredible artists on tour that they decided to start their
record label. Plastic Raygun records was one of the most successful
record labels in the world in the breakbeat genre.
“We got nominated as one of the best record labels in our
genre in the world, several awards,” Cocker says, “Matt and I were
nominated as the best DJs in the world for breakbeat, which was all
amazing.”
It must have seemed as if life couldn’t get any better for Cocker –
but one day when he walked into the Plastic Raygun Records offices
to find business partner Steven Robson working on a new track,
everything changed.
“He was producing this track and I thought, ‘That’s great --
it’s nothing like the stuff we’ve released on Plastic Raygun, but we
should send it to a few people.’ We sent it to Radio 1 Wales with
Bethan [Elfyn] and Huw [Stephens] and they played it and it just
so happened that that week it was being broadcast to the whole
of the UK,” Cocker explains of the track 2 People by Jean Jacques
Smoothie. “A guy from a major record label heard it in London and
said, “That’s amazing! You should phone us up.’ Within a couple
of weeks we’d signed to a major label and had a top ten hit within
12 months. That was the pinnacle of our public acknowledgement.
It was a rock’n’roll couple of weeks for me. I was in America and
phoning at 5am asking whether we are in the charts. I had to take
a step back and see that I was on tour in San Francisco phoning my One of Neil’s archetypal Dizzyjam designs for Hong Kong Ping Pong

“Working with Neil is sometimes
like dealing with a force of nature;
both exhausting and inspiring.”
label to ask if we had a top ten hit. That was unreal.”
Eventually the travelling lifestyle became a bit too much. This
combined with the dawn of the illegal download era where people
started pressing pirate vinyl records and selling them on, brought
Plastic Raygun Records to a grinding halt in 2004.
Like Icarus, Cocker discovered that if you make your own wings
and fly too high, you’ve got a long way to fall. Where the ex-DJ and
record label owner differs from Greek myth, however, is that he
didn’t spend too long on the floor.
“For a couple of years I did a whole bunch of stuff.” Cocker explains
with a list as long as his arm of cultural networking events such
as NOCCI and inspirational conferences like TEDxCardiff. Here
speakers are given a stage to deliver an interesting presentation on
what they’ve done in technology, entertainment or design.
TEDxCardiff co-organiser Claire Scantlebury says of Cocker,
“Working with Neil is sometimes like dealing with a force of nature.
He gets an idea or decides he wants something and just keeps at it
until he gets it. I find it both exhausting and inspiring.”
It’s at the end of this period of invention that Cocker came up with
the idea for Dizzyjam, a t-shirt printing company which works with
bands to create merchandise to sell for fans.
“We get people to upload high-quality images which our site
processes and then it creates a preview of the t-shirt, which is in
a shop with a unique URL, you can send fans to the URL and they
buy direct from us and we deal with the billing, we do the printing
here with our various bits of machinery and we dispatch direct to
the fan,” he says, “then we send the 25% of the retail price direct to
the band. If you compare that to what you get from the sale of a CD
in HMV, you get 8%”
This fair deal ethic is just one thing that has won Neil Cocker a
good reputation. It’s also one of the most obvious indicators of the
new entrepreneur: honest, fair, profitable and innovative.
“I’ve recently realised that for me personally, the key to
entrepreneurship has just been management of two things: time
and self-doubt,” he says humbly, “If you can get on top of those two
things then I think that’s half the battle won.”
Neil Cocker is an incredibly humble man for someone who has
achieved as much as he has by such an early age. Although his
businesses haven’t made him millions quite yet, it’s the savvy use of
money that makes him stand out.
In fact, Cocker says that if he had been given a bunch of money by
an investor and told to create Dizzyjam all over again, he probably
would have wasted the money.
“If and when Dizzyjam blows up and the next project comes
along and I can just go, ‘Here’s £50K to start that company’ and I
drag it up kicking and screaming, I’ll actually be dealing with a bit
more knowledge and be a bit more savvy than if someone had just
given me £50K and said ‘Start Dizzyjam’ – I’d probably have wasted
£45K on unnecessary stuff.” he claims, “Whereas now, if anyone
wanted to invest in Dizzyjam, or we suddenly got a lot of money,
we’d probably spend it a lot more wisely because we’ve learned
what we really need to do because everything has to be
accounted for.”
“The final nail in the coffin was that we were just about to release
an album that we thought was amazing and the best thing we’d ever
released and the distributor went bust, all the copies were sat in the
distributors office, we were owed thousands of pounds,” says the
business wizzkid sat across the table with a sober voice, “We only
finished paying off Plastic Raygun 18 months ago.”
So from small time blagger finding his way into the local DJ
circuit, Cocker’s journey has taken him to stardom and then back
down to ground level with detours into the music business and
inspiring people in business along the way.
After all that, it is so inspirational that Cocker can still say, “Some
days you’re like, ‘We are so going to conquer the world and we’re
going to be bigger than any other company ever,’ and then the next
day, ‘Oh no! We’re going to be bust in two weeks time.’”
If it’s true that fortune favours the brave, then Cocker shouldn’t

12
SHARPEN UP
YOUR
EMOTIONS
AND YOUR LIFE
Intelligence isn’t just about being a know-it-all. Psychotherapist
Mark Brayne tells BUCK how improving our emotional
intelligence will lead to a happier and richer life.
Ex-BBC journalist Mark Brayne has been a practising
psychotherapist since 2003. He reckons that if men learn
to understand their own emotions, their relationships and
happiness levels then these will all improve tenfold. Sound a bit
like psychobabble? We gave Mark the chance to convince us that
getting to know your feelings can be manly too.
What exactly is emotional intelligence?
Traditional education stresses the importance of intellectual
intelligence, or IQ. However there’s a great deal of evidence that
it’s not IQ that helps us succeed in life primarily, but emotional
intelligence - EQ.
Because we are fundamentally creatures of evolution, and
therefore social animals, how well we
do in life, professionally and personally, “Humans are fundamentally
is fundamentally a reflection of how
well we’re able to negotiate our social
emotional beings,
context. not thinking beings”
We can do social relationships well or
we can do them badly. If we do them
unconsciously we may be lucky and be very good at relationships.
However, most of us blokes are not quite so good at relationships
and we tend to get into some pretty dreadful scrapes. If we want
to be happy and have a rich, rewarding professional life, it’s a
good idea to understand our EQ.
Okay, but worrying about emotions isn’t exactly very
masculine, is it?
Based upon observation, research and clinical work I think
that all of us know that men don’t do feelings as well as girls do.
We’re not designed by evolution to be the same.
We’re designed to go bring in the antelope while the women
look after the house, the children and social relationships. And
it’s not politically incorrect to say that - it is a fact of evolution.
We’re not intuitively, instinctively as good at emotions as girls
are.
As blokes, we can’t change our fundamental evolutionary
focus, but we can take emotions seriously. There’s lots of new
neuroscience research proving that humans are fundamentally
emotional beings, not fundamentally thinking beings.
We operate from our feelings and our emotions. Therefore, we
need to take emotion and our nature as emotional creatures
incredibly seriously.
So being a macho Clint Eastwood-type man in day-to-day
life isn’t good for you?
It’s important to acknowledge and explain that a great strength
of the male psyche is being able to put away a lot of distress
and get on with the business. So don’t throw the baby out with
the bath water, don’t chuck out all the good things about being
male.
But be aware of the importance of emotional skills, because it
will improve your relationships, your work, your desirability as
an employee and your quality of life. Plus, you’ll have a hell of a
lot more fun!
Many men have been brought up in a social or family context
where a stiff upper lip, boys don’t cry attitude is standard, which
means that growing up can be painful.
Are men and women really that
different?
Some sociologists say that it’s all a lot
of rubbish and actually it’s all down
to society. There is conditioning from an early age: boys are
supposed to play with trucks and girls are given dolls. But saying
that boys play with certain toys only because they have been
told to is 98% crap.
There are girls who are good engineers and there are blokes who
are absolutely brilliant on the girly side of things, but on the
whole, the sexes are different and that’s a cause for celebration,
not misery.
How can we use emotional intelligence to help in difficult
situations?
By being aware of your feelings, and knowing what a feeling is
like inside yourself. It is important to develop ‘mindfulness’, or
awareness about this.
In other words, in s moment when, for example, a certain
person is really pissing you off, it’s key to be able to be both in
the feeling, but also have a perspective on the feeling and be
aware of both how much of an arsehole thst person is but also
how much of you response to that person.
Take a deep breath, count to 10. Think before you act. Check
your feelings before you act or say something stupid.
It all boils down to mindfulness.
For more information on Mark’s work, visit
www.braynework.com
13
CHALLENGE BUCK

The Urban Dictionary Definition: Man Tan: A word used by men wishing to explain that they are not gay, feminine or black-wannabe, though they are tanned.
THE
GOLDEN BOY
Tired of hearing comments about your pasty complexion?
Sick of children crying at the sight of your translucent skin?
Entertaining the thought of using fake tan? Well, why not use
Buck’s new, revolutionary device: The Tan-o-meter
CHALLENGE BUCK

This week, Buck has challenged staff writer, Marc Thomas to prepare his skin for
summer and test out a variety of fake tans. He finds out whether bigger bucks means better
tan and our Tan-o-meter will help you distinguish between looking dark and looking dyed.

This fake tan had an extreme orange St Tropez has established itself as one of the
tint and rated badly on the tan-o-meter, top fake-tan brands, but despite it being the
priciest of the bunch, according to Marc,
says Marc: “It’s streaky and it turns your
it definitely isn’t the best: “St Tropez was
hands orange. The effect is certainly
rubbish! It came out as a grey, shiny foam
instant, but it also made me look like a
that left a swamp-like mess on my stomach
tiger with a pigment problem.” which then had to be scrubbed off. Save your
pennies and avoid this brand.”
Rimmel Sun Shimmer Instant Tan, 125ml
St Tropez Bronzing Mousse, Self Tan 240ml
(£5.99 Boots)
(£30.64 Boots)

It’s the cheaper of the two saints, but St

This daily body lotion is great for
building up a gradual tan and for
moisturizing your skin. Marc says:
“Although it’s meant to take a long
time to develop, it got a better and
quicker result than some of the other
instant tans, such as the St Tropez
mousse. It smells alright too.”
Tropez’ less expensive counterpart also failed
to impress Marc: “St Moriz had much the
same effect as the other St, in that it wasn’t
very good.”
St Moriz Instant Self Tanning Mousse, 200ml
(£4.25 from Amazon.co.uk)

Johnson’s Holiday Skin Body Lotion, Marc’s top tanning tip

250ml (£5.10 Boots) “Wear gloves, moisturize beforehand, and
when applying, go against the direction of
your hair growth to prevent the fake tan from
BEST showing up in the hair follicles.”
BUY

THE TAN-O-METER
Once you have slapped on your man-tan, place your arm
against our handy tan-o-meter to ensure that you are
more 007 than Oompa Loompa.
Scorched Orange

Sunkissed Latte
Roasted Mocha

Toasted Hovis
Baked Ginger
 GROOMING
SPECIAL

WARPAINT: MAKEUP FOR MEN

For years now men have been used to taking care of their skin, applying moisturiser here
and there, maybe even dabbling with a bit of fake tan. But there’s one final taboo in male
grooming left to be conquered… Buck opens up the male makeup box.

Concealer
Perfect for covering up dark circles, blemishes and spots,
concealer is supposed to give you flawless looking skin. It comes
in a variety of forms, such as a lipstick-style stick, or a liquid pen.
It can be applied by dabbing a few blobs onto the area you want
to cover up and gently rubbing it with your fingers.
Ask most women which concealer they favour and they will
answer Yves St Laurent’s Touche Eclat (£23), and luckily for
the boys, a few years ago the makeup giant started producing
a male equivalent. It can be a touch expensive though and
Clinique’s New Anti-Blemish Solutions Clearing Concealer,
which rehydrates skin and is also medicated to prevent further
blemishes, comes in cheaper at £11.50.

Guyliner and Manscara

A reel of male celebrities have been spotted sporting a spot of
guyliner in the past, and it is now the most popular of male
cosmetics. You can really go for whatever look you want with
guyliner – a subtle line on the bottom lid will give you that deep
and brooding look, while a touch of manscara will extend your
eyelashes and draw attention to them without being quite so
obvious.
On the other hand you can go all out and make your eyes as
dark as you want them. Myego’s Kohl Eyeliner for men gives a
smooth black line with an intense matte finish and is available
for just £9.

16

Powder
Men have 20% thicker and oilier skin than women and as a
result are much more prone to shine and grease. Powders such
as Menaji’s Anti-Shine Powder, available at £20.50, will blot
out excess oil and grease, creating a flawless matte look to your
complexion. Menaji’s in particular contains protection against
the sun and will boost your skin’s health with added vitamins.
Many are available in different tones to suit different skin types,
so be sure to select the one nearest your skin tone.
Buck’s Ziggy Stardust model, Ash, gives his verdict on being made up: “I loved the feeling of someone playing with my face, it was
so relaxing. I can see why some men would wear makeup. Although the looks created on me were a bit extreme, the concealer was really
good for covering blotches and spots and you couldn’t notice it. The guyliner was interesting, but I agree that it actually makes some men
look more attractive, such as Johnny Depp and Russell Brand. I probably wouldn’t wear it, but a touch of manscara brought my eyes out
more without being really obvious. I’d definitely draw the line at blusher and stuff. I think the key to men’s make up is subtlety.”
The history of male make-up
M etrosexual. You’ve heard the term. You don’t quite
remember where or when you first heard it, but that’s
probably because it’s been bouncing around the British
vernacular for quite some time now. Seventeen years, in fact.
‘Metrosexual’ (a concoction of ‘metropolitan’
and ‘heterosexual’) was coined back in 1994
by BBC journalist, Mark Simpson, but it
wasn’t until the noughties that the term
really came out of the closet.
In 2002, Simpson branded David Beckham
the metrosexual poster boy, after which point
both the word and its implications became
increasingly popular. Indeed, ever since the
day Beckham wore a sarong, metrosexuals
have been popping up everywhere. You’ve
seen them; you may even be one. The
metrosexual takes pride in his appearance;
he’s fashion conscious, he styles his hair,
and he may even wear cosmetics. He’s a man
who’s in touch with his feminine side, and
he’s a man who’s man enough to admit it.
But is the metrosexual attractive to women? The answer,
apparently, is yes. Former ladies’ man Russell Brand, and his
legion of conquests prove that guyliner, coiffed hair and a flair
for fashion clearly go down well with the opposite sex. So why,
in what could be described as the golden age of metrosexuality,
aren’t more men wearing make-up?
GROOMING
SPECIAL
BEST
BUY
Lip balm
Most of us are susceptible to chapped and dry lips in harsh
weather conditions, but most men never bother to do anything
about it. To keep your lips kissable, there are a range of male lip
balms on the market that lock in essential moisture and provide
protection against the harmful effects of the sun. Jean Paul
Gaultier does a range of three lip balms for men depending on
the look you want to go for (translucent, light and dark) each
available for £12.99. If you are looking for a cheap, quick fix, then
Vaseline tins (£1.32) are a good bet.
Over the centuries, men have often dabbled with cosmetics. In
Ancient Egypt, make-up was in no way gender-specific, and men,
like women, wore cosmetics as a means of denoting social status.
Similarly, during the Roman Empire, the shade of lip paint worn
by a man signalled his social rank.
And the trend didn’t stop there. Men have
put make up to artistic use throughout the
ages. During the Renaissance, for instance,
both the women and men of Edward IV’s
court wore lip rouge, and by the 18th century
English men were tarting themselves up with
white powder, blusher and beauty spots.
Even as recently as the 80s, 90s and
noughties (think glam rock, grunge and
emo respectively) men have been playing
with cosmetics. From the lightning bolt
emblazoned across David Bowie’s face to the
dirty kohl lining Kurt Cobain’s eyes, make
up has graced many a man’s face over the
years.
If you’re thinking that all the above sounds
a bit feminine, don’t forget that men also have a history of
wearing cosmetics in a bid to assert their masculinity: Celtic,
Māori, Aborigine and Masai tribes each have a long history of
decorating their faces. It remains to be seen whether influential
stars like Depp will have a longterm effect on this century’s men.
17
 STAYING IN
. ..
Gig...
Action stations
Sure, it would be nice to have
some friends to come to your
in your house to watch all the awesome
music you’re going to be
presenting, but really, even if
LIVING ROOM
they don’t turn up (although
you can be pretty sure you’re
a massive social outcast), you
only need two things to put on
a house gig.
First, a house. It could be
BUCK gives you all the tips you your girlfriends, your parents,
need to throw a homemade folk fest your great uncle Arthur’s. It
doesn’t have to be yours but
having the room is vital.
It’s Friday night and you’re tired after work. You can’t be bothered Second, some music. Let’s
to see what’s on or trek it to town to watch a concert. Throw a face it, you’re never going to get
house gig instead! Morrissey into your living room
Putting on a gig can seem like a daunting idea. You pay for the to do an acoustic cover of There
venue, book some bands and print the flyers all in the hope that is a light that never goes out.
you sell tickets - but only your mum and your best mate buy a Don’t dismay. You can ask your
ticket. So what do you do when you love music more than your left mate to come over and cover
arm and you want to be the next big promoter? Start small - put Damien Rice songs instead.
on a gig in your living room.
18
Dos and Donts
As with all social occasions,
there’s some etiquette to
follow. You’re a young man
putting on a soiree - don’t print
invitations. Unless you’re also
getting a petting zoo for your
house gig, but that might be
overkill.
Do make drinks. Get the
maximum value for the
minimum effort by buying a
rubbish bin from the corner
shop and fill it with fruit juice,
ginger beer, lemonade and
lemon cordial. Trust us - that’s
the recipe for a winning punch
bowl and people will ‘liven it
up’ with anything they bring to
your gig.
Don’t leave your strip lights
on. Turn the lights low, string
out those fairy lights and then
give anyone who says they’re
too feminine a dead arm.

Get your compadres to dig out those guitars for a laid back session
Be nice ...
You’re the MC (Master of
Ceremonies) for the evening.
Introduce the acts you’ve
booked to play your house gig.
It’s polite to say what you like
about them and even if you’ve
booked them because no one
else could play your night, you
should find a reason to like
them.
After you’ve done all of those
things, sit back and enjoy the
party. You’ve worked hard and
all your hard work will pay off.
Don’t be offended if people
want to leave after the music
is over and go to a pub or bar
instead.
If you like the taste of
organising house gigs, you
could try putting on a small gig
in a bar and offer the bands a
percentage of any money you
make on the door as payment.
MT
A few friends and a few
more drinks for a great
evening
How it should be done...
Radio 1’s Jen Long tells Buck how she first
started putting on house gigs in Cardiff
How did you get in to staging house gigs?
“The gigs started as I was writing for Kruger and we thought it
would be really cool to have a summer fete party and I said, ‘Why
don’t we have bands playing in my garden?’ and we booked (the tea
and coffee arrive). We had this summer fete party and Sam Isaac and
Luke Leefield were doing this tour of living rooms and barbecues,
so we booked them and The Hot Puppies headlined and it was all
acoustic in my garden and it was kind of amazing. I was just moving
house and all of my furniture was in another house so it was a big
and empty with a barbecue and loads of people came. I remember
the Hot Puppies playing in the garden acoustic and neighbours from
the houses behind coming out and sitting on their roofs in their
gardens to watch. I thought, ‘This is kind of magical and amazing.’ I
used to get stopped by people outside Clwb and Ten Feet Tall about
2 years after that gig saying, ‘You used to live in Talworth Street
didn’t you? and that band played in your garden!’ I’m always just
like, ‘Yeah, wicked.’ So that’s why we started doing gigs – just in
peoples houses.
“I remember neighbours from the houses
behind coming out and sitting on their roofs
in their gardens to watch”
“That was the first one. We did another one with the Rumble
Strips in Bute Park which is kind of like one of the most hilarious
gigs I have ever been to. It was a beautiful summers day and the
sun was shining. There was about 75-100 of us sitting around,
having picnics, drinking cider, having fun. Rumble Strips started
playing and then a few people started giggling and no-one could
really work out why. It caught on and then everyone in the crowd
realized what was funny and everyone starts laughing. The band
are playing and they get really confused, ‘Why is everyone laughing
at us?’ Then they turn around and clocked what was going on and
started cracking up as well. Basically, about thirty foot away from
where the band were playing was a total scally couple: tracksuit
bottoms, orange
peel tan skin.
He’s lying on
his back on the
ground and
she’s there, just
a bra on, riding
him… in the
broad daylight
in the middle of
Bute Park. Literally everyone is laughing watching them. Henry St.
Drummond blows his trumpet like brooooo! And then she literally
pauses. Looks over. Dips her sunglasses to look at us. Puts them
back on and keeps on going. It was horrific but hilarious at the
same time. Then I moved into a flat which was difficult to put bands
on in so… Then I had a band and we just wanted to play house
parties, so we just borrowed friends PA s and set them up in other
friends houses.” 19
 BEING A
Do you play synth? Wear a low cut vest and have a sailor tat?
Look like you have an indeterminate sexual preference, all whilst
wearing something retro around your necklace?
If the answer is yes to any of the above, then the chances are you
are a dickhead. But fear not: being a dickhead is cool. Or so a
satirical YouTube phenomenon would have us believe.
Defined by their raving retrosexuality and never straying from
the pretentious comforts of East London, the Shoreditch Twat has
become somewhat of a laughing stock thanks to the musical skit
‘Being a Dickhead’s Cool’ that’s gone viral online.
While the bars and clubs of Hoxton, Shoreditch and Brick
Lane have become a notorious hangout for trendy Wendy’s and
indie Sindys, once you scrape past the pseudo-intellectual artistic
bullshit reputation that precedes the aforementioned dickheads,
you too will realise that this part of London is actually pretty fun.
20
IS COOL
So we say embrace the irony and prepare for a dickhead night out
of your own.If you’re going to fit in among a sea of asymmetric
haircuts and 80s retro and 90s fusion clothes, you’re going to need
to look the part. It’s just as well then that East London is home to
a plethora of vintage markets, pop up shops and stalls.
Dickheads spend hours rummaging through rail upon and rail
of clothes at places like this, and while they may pick out some
skin tight purple leggings teamed with a Daffy Duck blazer, you
can actually pick up some real bargains that you may want to
wear on a regular, everyday basis.
Some places will even charge you on the weight of the stuff that
you buy, meaning that you can often get more for your dollar.
The key to true dickhead chic is to wear that facial hair proudly,
hold your coiffed head up high and just do it with conviction.
Ready for the challenge? follow our easy guide on the next page.

LOOK THE PART
Brick Lane Market,
Shoreditch, London E1 6PU
Make your way to the streets at the top
of Brick Lane each Sunday, as they are
always lined with hoards of people selling
their second-hand wares. It’s a vibrant and
lively environment. You’ll also have the
opportunity to grab a bite to eat at one of
the many trendy ethical restaurants in the
area, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Beyond Retro,
110-112 Cheshire Street,
London, E2 6EJ, 020 7613
3636
This place is a dickhead’s haven. The
owners claim that they “never lose sight of
the essential cultural nostalgia, intrinsic
to the Beyond Retro world”, whatever that
means. Basically, everything is really neatly
organised and pretty cheap.
If you quite fancy dressing like a
dickhead more often, then learn how to get
the look on the High Street in our Uncle
Buck section on page 4.
GET YOUR NAME ON
THE LIST
You will have to get used to a lot of synth
based indie or electro pop meets southern
hip hop on your dickhead night out. But
first, practise your dance moves – spend a
lot of the time looking at the floor whilst
pouting moodily, pretending that you
think the music is shit and the club has
totally sold out, while actually you’re loving
every single minute.
To achieve this asymetric look,
rub some lard into your hair and
stand in a very strong wind DICKHEAD HOTSPOTS
While in the capital Shoreditch Twats
are generally mainly confined to, err,
Shoreditch, that doesn’t mean to say
that they aren’t anywhere else in the
country. Here’s our pick of nationwide
places for you to release your inner
phallus-shaped tendencies without
travelling. So grab that cap and bare
that man cleavage at these hangouts.
Cardiff Art’s Institute, 29 Park
Place, Cardiff,
029 2041 2190
Thekla, 40 The Grove Bristol,
Bristol BS1 4RB,
0117 929 3301
Oakford Social Club, 53 Blagrave St,
93 Feet East
Reading, West Berkshire RG1 1PZ,
150 Brick Lane, Shoreditch, 0118 959 4267
London
E1 6QL, 020 7770 6006 Sunflower Lounge, 76 Smallbrook
Queensway, Birmingham, West
Famous for its Sunday night parties, this Midlands B5 4EG, 0121 632 6756
club caters for those with a penchant for
Dance, Electro House, and Indie. Happy The Brighton
dickheads all round, then. Coalition, 171-181 Kings Road
It also serves food and has a huge terrace, Arches, Brighton
perfect for drinking away summer after- BN1 1NB,
noons with your indie mates. Beer prices 01273 772 842
start from £3 and entry varies from night
to night.
The Cockpit,
Bridgend House,
The Macbeth
Swinegate, Leeds,
70 Hoxton St, London LS1 4AG,
N1 6LP, 020 7749 0600 0113 244 1573
It may look like a pub from the outside, but
it is host to a variety of club nights and live
music acts, including DJs, cabaret, jam ses-
sions and performance art (if that sounds
wanky, that’s probably because it is).
Expect to hear anything from Dubstep,
Techno, Electro, D&B, House, Electro and
Hip Hop.
Entry is between £2 to £8, with beer prices
starting at £3.80.
The Old Blue Last
38 Great Eastern Street, Lon-
don EC2A 3ES, 020 7739 703
This pub is owned by the hipsters at Vice
magazine, hence why the pub is often
referred to as ‘The Vice Pub’, so expect this
place to be the epitome of Scene.
ive band nights attract huge crowds and
the atmosphere can range from chilled to
carnage.
Drinks are pretty cheap too with spirits Tight trousers, bright colours
and mixers starting from £3.50. and visible nipples is a clas-
sic, timeless dickhead look
21
 THE DAILY GRIND
Coffee chains may dominate the high street but men like Will Corby, aka the Caffeine Kid, are
bringing the brown stuff back to the streets. BUCK investigates how to make the perfect cup.
Wisdom from The Caffeine Kid
Will Corby is a professional barista who
not only prepares and serves coffee but
also sources beans from around the world
for Mercanta, a specialty coffee importer.
He doesn’t stop there - on weekends he
runs a gourmet coffee market stall based
in Cardiff.
Will has also competed in the UK Barista
Championship for the last four years. This
is a national competition to find the best
barista in the UK. Will placed 12th overall
last year and hopes to finish even higher
this year after winning the South-East
regional heat in January.
Will said “I became interested in coffee
after a trade show in the Midlands where
I saw and tasted some fantastic coffee.
When I experienced that I just wanted to
start learning about it. It was inspirational.
I wanted to learn about coffee and
understand it as a food stuff and as a
produce item, not just as a drink.
I wanted to see how it developed, how
it grows and how it’s processed, the
methodology behind it.”
22
“Producing good coffee is like
making fine wine”
“It’s quite common these days for someone
to go to a wine shop and say “I like a
cabernet sauvignon or a pinot noir.”
Overall, people understand the variety
of wine that they like. It’s going a similar
way with coffee. People are beginning to
understand varietal type and processing.”
“Like wine, coffee is produced in specific
areas of the world. Central America, the
northern parts of South America and
Africa are currently the best known and are
amazing growing regions to go to.
When making good coffee, where the
beans are grown, the soil type and the
rain fall are all important and will help
determine its eventual flavour.
Once the cherry (which contains the bean)
has grown, and has been picked at the
correct time, you can process it in several
ways which will produce different tastes.
In Ethopia, for example, they might just
dry the cherry out and then crack out the
bean from the inside.
In Brazil you might squeeze the cherry
until the bean pops out and wash all the
mucus off.
These different methods will create
different flavour profiles within the coffee.
When the coffee actually hits the UK it
is in green form and needs to be roasted.
This again will have an affect on the
eventual flavour.
Obviously it also depends on what your
barista does with the coffee too. “There are
many different steps to perfect the coffee,”
Will explains.
The roasting process
“Every coffee bean is roasted to a point
when it starts popping like popcorn. Then
it’s ready to taste.
At this stage the coffee cuppers (tasters)
and roasters will try it and work out what
it’s going to taste like. From this they can
decide whether to roast for long enough to
make it light, medium or dark in colour.
The best coffee in the world is very light.
With light coffee you just get it just
dark enough so you get some really nice
shadows forming in it. You end up with a
really nice sweet coffee with sort of gentle
flavours like chocolate or caramel. These
are the beans we tend to use for filter
coffee.
A coffee with more body but less definition
and maybe a little more acidity will
probably work better as a medium roast
because this will get rid of some of the
acidity and create a nice balanced flavour.
Medium and darker roasts tend to be
better for making espresso.”
Big coffee chains aren’t all bad
“It’s interesting - Starbucks were really
the chain that brought coffee as people
think of it now to UK shores. So as much
as people might always say they don’t like
Starbucks and as much as I battle against
them in a different way, making my drinks
smaller and by using different coffee for
example, they have done a lot to benefit
the industry.
It is a very interesting position to be in
because on one side I’m trying to help
independence and I’m trying to be an
independent myself and produce really
high quality products.
[I take pride in] great customer service
and to have a real level of interaction with
my customers, but from the other side of
things, chains like Starbucks have really
produced the industry ready for me to
work in.
I couldn’t have happened 10 years ago.
Chain coffee shops still do a lot of really
great things for the industry, and although
the coffee you get can vary quite a lot from
store to store, that is the nature of being a
large company.”
The essential principles to
perfect homemade coffee Top Coffee Gadgets
1. Ground your coffee fresh With the help of the Caffeine Kid,
“Coffee starts to go bad within five minutes
Buck provides you with a list
of being ground. So you can imagine that of some of the best coffee making
if a coffee has been ground a month or so,
that’s going to have a negative effect on the
gadgets available online.
quality of taste.”
2. Use the freshest milk possible
“I recommend using Cravendale milk
because it stays fresher for longer. The
way that they produce it means that the
proteins stay in a more solid form once
opened. You get a much tighter, richer
sweetness called the microfoam in your
coffee which tastes great.”
3. Get the best coffee for the
equipment you have
“When buying coffee for home, go for a
lighter roast if you’re going to be using
a cafeteriere or filter. With an espresso
machine, go for a medium roast.” Aeropress Coffee
Maker. £17.99 - cream-
supplies.co.uk
Perfect homemade coffee
“At home I tend Bialetti Moka Express
to use either an Espresso Maker, 6 Cup
aeropress, which £30 - johnlewis.com
is really fun to
use and really
easy to clean, or
a one cup filter
can (see left). BEST
These are little BUY
ceramic baskets
you put on top
of a cup. You put your filter paper in, you
weigh your coffee, put your water over the
top and you get a cup of filter coffee freshly
brewed. They’re absolutely stunning. I
really enjoy those.”
The manliest cup of coffee in
existance?
Kitchen Craft Le’Xpress
“To be honest, a good big mug of filter
coffee in the morning that has been
Cafetiere with Glass
seasonally produced with fresh beans that Jug, 3 Cup, 350ml
have been freshly roasted and grounded is £9.18 - amazon.co.uk
perfect. No sugar or milk: I don’t think you
can get anymore manly than that!”
23
 UNCLE BUCK
BUCK UP,
SHAPE UP
and GET FIT
Looking for ways to burn calories without
burning a hole in your pocket? Get skippy

9FT ADIDAS LEATHER

You may not be fussed about carving out a grid-like stomach or SKIPPING ROPE
nurturing a pair of bulging biceps, but it’d be nice to get rid of £14.99
the hint of beer belly for free, right? www.proboxingequip-
Look no further than a piece of string attached to two bits of ment.co.uk
wood. Simple but truly effective, the humble skipping rope is an
excellent device which will help you look lean and feel fit.
It’s certainly old school, but rope skipping improves muscle
tone, increases stamina and is generally a brilliant form of
cardiovascular exercise. It’s also a great way of burning fat, with
ten minutes of rope skipping typically burning between 70-110
calories.
Whether you skip in your living room while watching TV or out
in the garden while listening to your iPod, skipping can be done
AMPRO ADJUSTABLE
whenever and wherever suits you best, meaning it’s easy for you
LENGTH WIRE SKIP-
to build quick, effective spurts of exercise into your day.
PING ROPE
And the real beauty of skipping? Bar the initial price of the
£9
skipping rope, every session is free! Plus, the better you get at it,
www.ampro.co.uk
the more foot combos you can try out to keep it interesting. If it BEST
was good enough for Muhammad Ali... BUY

FITNESS ALTERNATIVES
Running is one of the best forms SPEEDO AQUABEAT: £65 Described as the definitive
of exercise. Not exactly breaking www.speedo.co.uk instrument for athletes and
news, but it’s worth pointing out musicians, the NSD Powerball is a
that running comes at no cost. In new gyroscopic exercise tool used to
which case, it may be an idea to exercise the wrist in order to build
invest in a good pair of trainers, palm, forearm and finger strength.
like these shiny numbers.

Swimming’s great, but the

monotonous melody of hearing your
head dunk in and out of the water
can get a bit tedious. Luckily, Speedo
made the wonderful Aquabeat, a
waterproof MP3 player. All together POWERBALL from £13.99
NEW BALANCE £69.99 www.nsdpowerballs.co.uk
now: Sing when you’re swimming...
www.shopnewbalance.com

24
BIG NIGHT UNCLE BUCK

OUT?
Don’t have to slow down your social life for a health kick:
smarter eating will see you through the heaviest night out

Alcohol is well known for causing low blood sugar levels and dehydration, leading to an
increase in appetite. This explains why after one too many pints you may experience
sudden urges for kebabs and trips to Maccy D’s, no matter the distance.
Next time you’re heading out, try cooking recipes that will provide you with longer
lasting energy. Here are two low-cost dishes that will keep you going all night long.

Energy charged curry Healthy apple crumble

SERVES 4 SERVES 4

150g onions 150g butter

300g aubergines 500g fruit (apples, peaches or pears)
300g mushrooms 100g sugar
2 cans chopped tomatoes 500g oats
100ml red wine pinch cinammon
400g rice pinch nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cumin 100g sultanas (optional)
teaspoon paprika
teaspoon tumeric
4 turkey breasts
Fry the onions until golden. Melt 100g butter in a pan and caramelise the sliced fruit in the
Dice the turkey breasts and add to the pan. sugar untik soft and golden.
Chop up the aubergines vegetables and add to pan. In a separate pan melt 50g butter and brown the oats.
Add the spices, cans of tomatoes and a generous glug of red wine. Mixing in the cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add mushrooms and let sauce cook for five minutes Lay the fruit out onto a baking tray.
Stir the curry sauce, bring the heat down to low and let it simmer Optionally mixing in sultanas for an extra sugar substitute.
for approximately 20 minutes. Cover with the golden coloured oats.
When you’ve got 10 minutes left, put the rice on to cook. Bake in the oven on a low heat for approximately 40 minutes.

25
 FILM Ironclad
Don’t take this film too seriously; it’s an all-action medieval siege tale
with no substance. Paul Giamatti fails to impersonate a British monarch.
Furious about having to sign the Magna Carta, giving rights and freedom
to his men, the king sets his sights on seizing back absolute power.

The only obstacle between his mercenary army and London is Rochester
Castle where a rebel Marshall (Brian Cox) and a few other men hold out
against them. Two hours of gore follows: sword fighting and axe hacking
are the blood swilling weapons of choice. Watch this film for a laugh, but
don’t expect any sweeping, epic scenes.

Rating:

MUSIC Gruff Rhys: Hotel Shampoo

“I thought that as I’m getting on a bit, the time had come to buy a suit
and record an album of piano ballads.” Gruff Rhys explains. “However,
I got bored, the record diversified and evolved – things turned out a bit
differently.” Gruff Rhys’ self styled “mature piano ballad album” does
not stick to the brief. Instead the record meanders between genres:
lush psychedelia, a hint of prog rock and straight up pop tunes are all in
the mix. The album’s peak is the opening track. ‘Shark Ridden Waters’
is a brilliant, brilliant song. Written from the point of view of a shark
closing in on its prey, the 60’s sampled, shimmering melody ebbs and
thrills. The rest of the album does not hit the heights of the opener. More
conventional, if well crafted, pop tunes are the order of the day.

Rating:
Reviews by BUCK

GIG Hjaltalin @ Buffalo Bar, Cardiff, 05/03/11

Does the rest of Icelandic music suffer under Sigur Ros’s weighty corpus?
It was almost inevitable that Hjaltalin, a bi-lingual Icelandic group with
lush soundscapes and airy instrumentals, would be compared to them. Do
they suffer for it? Like most bands in the world: probably yes.The seven-
piece are carefully arranged across Buffalo Bar’s mini stage as they kick
off a short set. The stage is so small it’s hard to count them all: one - lead
guitar, two – lead vocals, three – violin, four – drums, five – piano, six –
bassoon and, is there a seventh? Yes, seven – bass.Throughout the set I’m
trapped between two views: are Hjaltalin (a) really good, or (b), being arty
for the sake of it and actually a bit boring? The first track builds gradually
towards a multi layered dissonance which suggests the latter. Track two
however forces a rethink when it shifts from sombre poppy beginnings
to a soaring freak out chorus with some tasty streams of violin. The rest
of the set fits this sort of pattern as the music ebbs between listenable
mediocrity and heptagonal glory. It’s just a shame they don’t dwell more
on the good stuff.

Rating:

26
 PATAGONIA The film was greeted by applause from all
corners of the small auditorium, marking
Marc Evans’s Welsh/ the success of a movie which many thought
Argentinian road would never get off the ground. In a quick
movie Patagonia Q&A with the cast and director following
opened this week, the premiere screening, Marc Evans
starring Matthew described the movie as a labour of love.
Rhys of Brothers and Patagonia has always had a somewhat
Sisters and husky mythical place in his heart and making a
singer Duffy. film about the Welsh nation’s relationship
with this far-off region has been a tempting
BUCK hit the the
project for some time.
glitzy premiere at
Patagonia is a geographical region
Cardiff’s Chapter Arts
straddling the Chilean/Argentine border,
Centre to report
just south of the imposing Andes mountain
back on what all the
range, where Welsh settlers have lived there
fuss was about.
in their thousands since 1865.
The evening itself was topped off with
an intimate musical session from Grammy-
award-winning Duffy and the exceptional
Joseph LaDuca.
The film’s original score was composed
entirely by LaDuca on a 12-string guitar,
which perfectly accompanies the many
fantastic sweeping shots, of both the
Argentinian desert and the contrasting
plush landscapes of Wales.
Put simply, this is two road movies
running parallel to each other: stories of
one woman seeking her past and another
woman seeking her future. Through this
the film puts an exodus in stark contrast
with personal odyssey.
The film clearly influenced by road
Reviews by BUCK
movies such as Sean Penn’s American
odyssey Into the Wild and Alfonso Cuarón’s
Y Tu Mamá También, which also focuses on
the central plot device of a love triangle.
Patagonia also feels influenced by the
multi-stranded films of Alejandro González
Iñárritu, but the two sides of Evans’ story
lack the connecting thread of Iñárritu’s
work, and end up feeling somewhat isolated
from one another.
Patagonia is driven by character rather
than drama that at times leads to a lack of
pace. As Evans himself says, “I think of it as
the perfect escape movie for a wet Sunday
afternoon.” It is heartwarming, intimate
and warm rather than packing any real
dramatic or emotional punch.
Of all the performances it is young
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart who steals the show
as Alejandro, displaying a subtle depth of
feeling in his portrayal of a boy seeking a
life path as he sheds his innocence along
the journey of the film.
Alejandro’s relationship with Cerys,
an elderly woman seeking her origins in
Wales after a long exile in South America,
becomes the most effective storyline in the
film. Developing slowly throughout the
film and provides its funniest and most
tender moments.
Duffy, unfortunately, feels like a
marketing tool, and as the film wears on we
wonder whether she will feature significantly
at all. She finally reappears at the films
dénouement to forge an incomprehensible
relationship with Alejandro that lacks the
tenderness required in the circumstances.
Despite these misgivings there is something
about Patagonia that really resonates.
Between the long, lingering shots, the
touching score and certain standout
performances, something manages to
take you in, and by the end you will find it
irresistible.
Rating:
27
 BUCK issue two in words

BUCK SAYS...
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BEST BARGAIN
?

“A suit from Suits “An Americano from “A £12.50 all-you- “A hoodie from “I got £30 worth
Direct. It cost £131 Starbucks for £2, can-eat buffet at Zushi. www.play.com. It had of beef jerky after
(reduced from £190) because I stayed there I don’t think they been reduced from drinking too much
for a full suit and all morning.” realised I was picking £60.99 to £17.” at a Cider Festival. I
shirt. It looks good almost everything chatted up the guy at
on too!” off the conveyor belt the Martins Jerk meat
over four hours!” counter and got 20%
off, and a free packet.”

- Thomas Bray, 20 - Thomas Evans, 24, - Ross Burns, 22 - Leon Smith, 35 - Martin John, 20
Student Retail Student Painter & Decorator Student