Hearts Challenger
Words by Dan Jude
Think you’ve got a weird job? Think again. 28 year-old Lo, founding member and one half of Heartschallenger, spends her life driving around the world in pink ice-cream trucks making groundbreaking electro and selling ice-cream, vinyls and a whole host of other trinkets and tit-bits. ‘It all started when I was 14’, Lo confesses. ‘I went to this rave in the desert and took way too many drugs, and I was like: ‘I’m gonna build a fucking truck and I’m gonna take it to loads of parties,and places where you don’t expect to see an ice cream truck, like outside of a punk show at 2 in the morning, and it’s gonna be amazing.’’
14 years later and Lo has well and truly achieved her acid-induced dream. Now with her army of trucks spreading across the world at a rate of knots, global domination is just around the corner. New York, San Francisco, Miami, Tokyo -you name a party hot-spot and she’s been there with her ice-cream van overflowing with goodies. Next stop? London. ‘I totally want to move to London.’ she declares. ‘They have the best Candy there!’
Selling everything from zines to 7-inchers, exclusive limited-edition T-shirts to obscure desserts picked up around the world, Lo describes the Heartschallenger ethos as an escape from reality. ‘I hate being surrounded by crowds of people, so I wanted to create these bubbles to hide in, and bring magic to people so that I could disappear like an urban fairy-tale within them’. 5 years after it all began, Heartschallenger have now established themselves as a living urban legend.
More than just a shop/sound-system/2-person party on wheels, DIY trailblazers Heartschallenger also aim to bring a message to their loyal followers. ‘Choose your own adventure. People think that’s just a super-optimistic thing out of a kid’s book, but it’s not. It has a deeper meaning in that the stuff that you invest your time and energy into today really does affect the path that you’re on in the future. Anything is possible.’ Living proof of this mantra, Lo has achieved everything she ever dreamed and then some. ‘I dropped out of school when I was 14, and I’m 28 now and doing what I love! How many people can say that?’
So next time you spill out of a party off your rocker at 3am and see a pink ice-cream van blaring ear-drum-shattering electro, don’t panic. You haven’t gobbled some dodgy beans, and you’re not hallucinating - you’re just witnessing the hedonistic genius of Heartschallenger. Head on over, and not only will you be able to gorge on some serious snacks, but you might even be able to get hold of something you’ve always wanted. ‘The most amazing thing is that everybody that comes up is able to either find something that is a nostalgic item that they haven’t seen since they were a kid, or something totally new. It’s so diverse and so random, and that’s the beauty of it.’
www.heartschallenger.com
Interview: Dan Jude
Posted Wed, January 14, 2009
Comments on Hearts Challenger
Wow, i’d love to spill out of a party in the early hours to find the lovely pink ice-cream van.
Hopefully coming to a place near me :)
Posted by: rebeccaclementine | 06/02/2009 at 21:41