European Courier Messenger Championships 2012

18 Jul

Written By

I spent five years pounding the streets of Glasgow as a bike messenger. It's a pretty liberating if slightly brutal existence and having done my time I am proud to call myself an EXenger and hooowl every time I see a messenger - for I am know as Teen Wolf. In recent years there's been a lot of interest in couriers and the whole scene that surrounds them. Couriers are generally sound, hardcore eccentric types that prefer to operate off the grid. This 'sub culture' has become pretty popular, the amount of fixed wheels on the city streets is testament to this, plus the bags, the one rolled up trouser leg, chains, sprocket tatoos yadayada... There is a perceptible 'cool' that has been lifted into the main(ish)stream, hipster, art school culture that seems to be on the rise everywhere. In reality being a courier - especially in Glasgow - is harsh; physical strain, boredom, repetition and the thankless customers aren't that cool day on day. I guess it's the rebellious punk attitude that's attractive, living in parallel to the rat race but working independently to the corporations. In truth I loved being a courier, I love riding my bike and when you can be arsed riding fast in traffic on a fixie with nae brakes it's a proper, full on buzz. However it seems to me that most folk don't see the hardship and grind that messengers deal with day in day out, they see the cool shit, like the bikes, the fashion, the punk ethos and fail to recognise the reality of the job.So with these videos things get redressed a little - I hope. Yes the vibe is very punk but these folk are genuine messengers (in the main) and this is what happens when you get them together to make it video. It was magic craic and we had a classic time, a lot of people saw this and thought we were just louting around terrorising Edinburgh in truth we didn't really bother anyone but this is the perception and it's fun to play with. This video ended up getting banned and I had to re-edit it and remove all the sponsors logo's which was a shame as the original got 12,000 views on youtube. I revelled in this mind you and it made me think I'd struck a nerve with the blatant nature of it. The championships itself was a total washout, Scotland did us proud and brutally hammered everyone with rain and wind in the skanky industrial scuzz hole of Seafield (leith) that the council had let us use. As one of the boys (Tom) said this is a pretty good representation of what it's like to be a courier in Scotland and he's bang on. So hopefully I've done my own wee bit to redress the hipster, boho bias that messengers are subject to at the minute, though in truth this fashion is pretty much the only thing that's keeping the scene going in Glasgow, there certainly aren't a lot of courier jobs going.Music on the promo is - Take a Work for a walk week (Joe Quimby - lead singer was a messenger in my time) His lastest project is pretty RAD, analogue guitar soundscapes with Iona Kewney the bendiest courier alive dancing like a mad yin. Get it up yi. http://www.ionakewneyandjosephquimby.com/Music on Championship video is - Love and Holidays by Zomh (i.e ME)http://www.ecmc2012.co.uk/