CHANGING THE WORLD ONE DAY AT A TIME. No they don't want to be called the ice cream truck people. Or at least if you want to be on their good side, don't do it. They are Leyla and Ben of the Heartschallenger/Heartsrevolution franchise. Sure you may have seen them or read about them but
DO YOU REALLY KNOW THEM?
If anything they are a new kind of entrepreneur. Self made and developed straight from their own pocket. They do whatever they want however they
want to do it. One thing is definite; anything they do is fresh, new and bound to take over. When I first met Leyla and Ben, our mutual friend Joy
invited me for dinner with them in Brooklyn. She briefly said they had pink ice cream trucks that went all over the world stopping outside parties to inform the in-the-know who they should know next. She also mentioned how they had this band that made songs relating to the theme of the trucks. What can I say, I had been in London with limited resources leading me to losing touch. Waaayyy out of touch, apparently.
REVOLUTION WITHOUT DANCING IS A REVOLUTION NOT WORTH HAVING. Leyla kindly (modestly as well) explained to me what exactly Heartschallenger is. I though,
"ooh, ice cream, toys and a beat," that would get a girl weak in the knees with a combination like that. Apparently I was not the only one, apparently
everyone was falling for Heartschallenger. I came back to Toronto and people were saying to me, "you met the HC crew?!" "You know them?" "Yeah, of course."
Well, excuse me.
Leyla and Ben are possibly the sweetest, hardest working couple out there. In late august, days before the initial date for interview
I was outside a famous NY party (I refuse to glorify it so it will remain nameless) having a rather shit night. All of a sudden from the
distance I saw a pink boxy truck pulled up in front like some sort of superhero saving me from a nightmare of a night (if batman swapped his bats and
cape for unicorns, popsicles and hearts). There was Ben serving orders of sour patch kids and strawberry shortcake popsicles (favourite). This is what made
me really understand what Heartschallenger is. It can't be pinpointed but it has something to do with memories of childhood, "kidults" and wanting to eat your ice cream and dance with it too.
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE. So finally after all of us had synced our crazy travel plans, texted, called, messaged and scheduled, I found myself sitting
across a table with Ben and Leyla at Katz's Deli on the corner of Ludlow. I watched them playfully eat a pastrami sandwich and chicken noodle soup three weeks after the original planned date. There's something magical about the two. Perhaps it's just the way you can tell how perfect they are together, how Heartschallenger could only be Leyla and Ben. For Heartschallenger, dreams are not all made of corporate ladders and expense accounts, keeping the childish enthusiasm; dreams are made of novelty toys, popsicles, discoballs and dancefloors.
Heartschallenger is love, a little innocent, and a little cheeky.
JOIN THE REVOLUTION.
m-t: Where did you both meet?
We both worked at a hotel in downtown LA, the Standard, Ben worked on the roof.
m-t: How did you come up with the Heartschallenger franchise?
Leyla always wanted to have an ice cream truck, so Heartschallenger came first, then Heartsrevolution happened when Ben quit
his band and wanted to do something with music.
m-t: How is it being in a business partnership as well as being together?
hard...
m-t: How do you feel about the press you've been getting?
L: I used to singlehandedly track down the press, I had a list of international magazines I wanted us to be featured in. two years ago I hired a PR agent,
the other day I was like You know what? fuck everyone. It's like junior high all over again, we're like, "Hey we're doing something cool" but it's not about how unique your product is, fresh, or individual, it's all about who your friends are , who you know, I lost faith in a lot of people in the different press,
there's just definitely a respect issue.
m-t: I am obsessed with the C.Y.O.A. video (Jean Demery x Bastien Lattanzio x Guillaume Berg), how did you feel when you saw the finished product?
L: we loved it, you know, we have the ice cream trucks and this was the first time after the trucks that we saw Heartschallenger visually come to life. I have all these videos in my head that I don't actually have the tools to create and
finally there was this tangible product that just worked.
B: usually when people collaborate on something it just doesn't work, so when we saw the video we were excited.
m-t: What’s next for HC?
We just sent a single to pase rock to see if he'll mix it, we're going to do one more single, then releasing a compilation of C.Y.O.A. remixes off HC
records (heartschallenger's record label), distributed exclusively with urban outfitters. We're going to get a lot more trucks and tour a lot of festivals
in the summer.
(not to mention HC will be ringing in the new year in tokyo)
m-t: Now that you guys are almost settled in NY, do you like it better than LA?
YES
m-t: How’s the response you've gotten overseas?
L: We used to handle the mail orders ourselves and it was crazy how we would be getting these orders from everywhere, Taiwan,
Brazil, Berlin, it's so cool how someone who just has internet and lives in the middle of the nowhere and still can get this package of
stickers and toys. New York has been so gracious to us, whenever I feel like not doing this anymore it always gives me a reason to keep doing it.
One time I had driven up to Studio B in the truck and I then just was outside of the truck just talking to this French girl, and then I saw all these
kids running up to truck saying things like, "oh my fucking god I read about these kids, they're fucking cool". LA just doesn't give a fuck.
m-t: What makes someone beautiful?
L: minds and hearts
B: when people are genuine, when you're doing something like this, when you meet people it gets harder and harder to find that.
You don't know What their motives are so integrity as well.
m-t: Who’s your favourite person?
L: myself
B: Michael Jordan
m-t: Favourite person on the scene
L: kid sister seems dope
