Fact Interview

LostInTheMood & 45RPM

Big up to 45RPM for the interview.

1. Who are you?

Im 45rpm From the WHAT crew based in Bristol

 

 

 

2. What do you do and how long have you been doing it?

I paint on things as it seems to make me happy, the bug kicked in in 1999 on train trips to London watching Zelda tags go by.

3. What crews do you rep?

The WHAT crew, Im a big believer in sticking to one crew, you should drink and paint with your crew members. I socialise with all my crew on a regular basis and count them as my best mates. Not only that but they inspire/push me daily.

4. What got you into graffiti?

I’m rubbish at everything apart from Art, its fun to misbehave so you put the two together. Naughty boys club. What other art form lets you paint so big and so freely. Il get in to Watercolours when I’m older.

5. Favourite writers?

Seno FKF inspired me so much as a nipper and still does to this day. A true King

Petro, Ive always loved his style also his photos are next level.

And recently Lugosis TUFF from Italy and Mike DFM from USA. Styles for miles in everything they do! my new favourite writers. Go check there stuff.

6. Any crazy chase stories?

The one that shook me up the most was getting chased by a mobile CCTV van years ago, I ran and ran for ages down loads of back alleys in Bristol, just as I thought id got away, I ran down an alley between two old factories and jumped in to a door way. It was the wrong door to jump in to as it had three blokes trying to break there way in to the factory, One grabbed me and they started to go through my pockets and were asking for my phone etc. It was a double stroke of bad luck, but I spat out that they needed to get running themselves as I was being chased by two coppers on foot. This totally changed there tune and they all jumped in an old van, and burnt off with one in the back with the doors open as they sped away, the dude in the back shouted Cheers fella!. So one minute mugging me the next thanking me, so random! I then had to remind myself to start running again. Getting in to my house I had to wake a flat mate up as I needed to pour out the story. All for a tag…

7. Do you rather bombing or piecing? Why?

Bombing, its guaranteed to make you feel better. Bombing everyday keeps life’s monotony at bay. I think thats a saying…

8. What are your 3 favourite pieces you’ve done?

Id say the wall section on my site are the pick of the pieces I still don’t mind! Sometimes the loosest quickest thing is my favourite.
thebearded45.co.uk

9. What are your 3 favourite pieces by other writers?

This Petro piece I snapped in 99

Seno from same time

And a Skel

The first two blew my mind as a sprog and I looked at the photos I took daily so there so ingrained in my mind ( pre internet ) so my photo album was my life. And the third is so clean and has so much flow that it ticks my boxes as perfect graffiti for me.

10. How would you describe your style?

Stupid, Loosey Goosey. Cider fuelled, nonsense . Id like my pieces to look like I had fun doing them.

11. How did you get involved in The HangerOne Project, what was it like painting a plane and did it ever fly after that?

Hangfire sell paint in Bristol, I’m a regular and they brought the subject up, I nearly bit there hands off! Its going to be hard to top that.
And no it didn’t fly, I’m guessing the paint would come off, its parked outside there office on the runway like a stupid billboard!

12. Favourite country you’ve painted in and why?

The last one is always the favourite as I only like the last piece I painted! San fran last year involved probably the best 48hrs of my life involving painting, tattoos, strippers, bacon, painting, booze, painting, strippers, ice-cream and missing my flight

13. Top 5 tunes?

This is my top 5 played tunes on my computer so I can’t argue with that

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, I’ll cut you down

Electric Wizard, Funeralopolis

Minor threat, Minor threat

Electric Wizard, Satyr ix

Pissed jeans, false jesii part 2

 

14. Other than graff, what do you like to do?

Travel, take photos, and paint, there my three favourite things and they can all be combined.

15. Film or digital?

Film, Digital does nothing for me, its like it has no life. I get as much of a kick out of taking photos of the before and after a mission or a boozy night with film, its addictive. I have a film I need to finish this week that I’m gagging to see, you don’t get that with digital.
All the stupidness I snap is on here
45rpmwhat.tumblr.com

16. Favourite letter and colour?

Im a sucker for Orange a nice retro one, I love the Terry orange colour in that new Sugar, thats the latest winner for me. And any letter thats not R, P or M the worst letter combo ever…

17. Beer or weed?

Cider! I dropped the weed years ago, now I’m Tony two tokes on special occasions.

18. Top 3 graff movies?

Not that fussed. Would be old ones that got me as a kid so Dirty hands and Network terror.

19. What plans do you have for the future?

Keep painting, keep drawing, I still feel like Ive got so much to learn, Im not actually that good, so keep painting!

20. Any last words or shouts?

Massive shouts to all my painting mates, you know who you are!. Im so lucky with the shitbags I get to drink and paint with, especially my WHAT boys and everyone in the Gin for the boys club. Plus the misses as she lets me do all off the above, she’s a keeper.

Last words would be practice makes perfect. its true, I’m still practicing daily…

LostInTheMood & Kem5

Huge shout to Kems for taking the time to do this interview.

1. Who are you?

-Greetings! I write Kem5, Kems or Kemr depending on the day. I currently live in the North Eastern part of the United States.

2. What do you do and how long have you been doing it?

-I’ve actively been writing graffiti since 1995. It has grown from a childhood interest into a lifestyle. I never thought I would be still writing as an adult but this is the path life has chosen for me. Everything has a purpose so I don’t really question it. Graffiti has been a journey filled with experiences that no money or education could offer.

3. What crews do you rep?

I push UPS, FLY ID, 3A and PYC. I suck at remembering to put up crews and that’s a terrible thing. Sorry guys 😦

4. What got you into graffiti?

-I’ve been into graff for as long as I can remember. As a child I would ride the train and look out the window at passing trackside spots. I often wondered where it came from or who did it? When I got home I would try to draw what I had seen. I made piles of sketches that depicted my interpretation of graff. Oddly enough I went through grade school and never met any one who wrote.

In high school I started skating in the city. Some of the kids that I hung out with were into tagging, mostly with paint pens. They would hit up spots as we skated around the city. None of them took it seriously it was more of a mindless activity to do in passing. One day I met this kid named Lenin who airbrushed tees at the mall. Airbrushing interested me greatly because it was the closest thing that resembled spray painting. Randomly I asked him if he knew of any writer’s? To my surprise he quickly pulled out a black book and showed me a bunch of outlines he had been working on. Instantly my eyes burned and I wanted to know everything.

From the start I chose the name Kem One it had no specific meaning but I liked the way the letters looked together. They were easy to stylize and didn’t require a lot of space on the wall. I remember doing my first Kem piece on the tracks near my folk’s house. The color scheme was so toy; I choose white, silver mauve and true blue. It took me 15mins to paint this burner of a piece. When I was done, I stood there in amazement. “That shit was hot”! Well…..not really, it was straight garbage. Some days I miss being a toy everything seemed much easier.

Shortly after that I dropped the “One” and started writing Kem Five out of respect for the original Kem? At that time I wasn’t sure who the original Kem was but I assumed he existed. I was told this was proper graffiti etiquette? To this day I have no idea why I picked 5. I guess it doesn’t really matter, today I mostly write “KEMS” or “KEMR” because it allows me more options.

5. Favorite writers?

Tough question. I have to many favorite writers, I will list the few that come to mind: Wane, Sento, Dondi, Dem’s, Roids, Zoer, Dem 189, Futura 2000, Demote, Sno, Totem2, Rage, East, Kwaze, Doves, Jive, Sp One, Large, Niche, Zek, Bacon, DZ, Druid, Hews, Virus, Serve, Ges, Gorey, Sofles, Oger, Yes2, Seb, Ewok HM, Much, AST, Supe, Stae2, Aroe, Sofles, Vibes.

Crews that I’m a big fan of: TATS, TCI, HM, FMK, Creatures, FC, HSA, GT, Adult Entertainment Crew, VTS, Dirty Thirty, Love Letters,

6. Any crazy chase stories?

-My chase stories are lame so I am going to bring up the dead body story…. again.

The first body I found, scared the shit out of me. I was crossing this saltwater marsh by the highway trying to check out a possible spot. As I jumped over a flooded channel I almost landed on what I thought was a bag of clothes. In the fading light of the evening, I slowly made out the shape of a human figure but I was not certain. The body was so badly decomposed to the point it was unrecognizable. The chest cavity had been inflated from all the gases and the limbs had withered to the bone. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. The scene was fucked and I quickly dipped out of there.

When I got back to the city I ran into some friends and explained what I had seen. They didn’t believe me and wanted to see the body.  So we returned back to the marsh as night was starting to fall. As we ventured out scenes from “Night of the living Dead” keep flashing through my head. I thought at any moment we would be mauled to death by a zombie. Using a dimly lit flashlight we found the body laying face down in the dirt. For some reason the smell this time around was unbearable. My friend’s girl began to freak out and started puking everywhere. We preformed a quasi CSI autopsy with a stick and left before it ate our brains.

The second find was not as exciting. Rath and I were painting an abandon army base near the city. While cutting through the woods I noticed two covered figures lying in the entrance of a bunker. Right away I knew something was up and tossed a rock into the entrance. Flies began to scatter but there was no movement, we decided to keep things moving and avoid the whole situation. A few days later I saw on the news that a runner discovered two dead bodies right were we had painted. For many years the murders remained a mystery.  Just recently it was discovered that a mentally ill kid from a near by group home murdered the two homeless people as they slept. The world is fucked, look out for each other and beware of zombies. LOL

7. Favorite country you’ve painted in and why?

-Hands down Canada is one of my favorite places to paint. There are plenty of things to rock and everyone is chill for the most part.

8. Do you rather bombing or piecing? Why?

That’s a tuff question because I enjoy both, there totally two different experiences. Piecing is a mental escape where you can zone out and not think about anything for a few hours. You have an infinite amount of time to experiment with different colors and techniques. Bombing is more instinctual and organic. It’s all about the moment and doing what comes naturally. It’s important that all aspects of graffiti experience are explored. Sorry for the shitty response it didn’t really answer the question.

9. What are your 3 favorite pieces you’ve done?

To be honest I hate most things I’ve painted and the sight of older work makes me cringe. It took me some time to pick three favorites and even now I’m second-guessing my selection.

I painted this quick piece with Wane in the fall of 2009. For some reason it sticks out in my mind, I really like the letter structure and colors.

This piece was painted in 2010 at Art Basel it’s probably in my top five. The background is so over the top, I’m not sure what’s going on.  I think I lost my way for a second.

This is not the best thing I’ve painted but it’s memorable?

10. What are your 3 favorite pieces by other writers?

This is my all time favorite photo even though it’s a bit expected. It blows my mind that the architects of graffiti had no reference for what graffiti looked like. They were basing everything off their own visions of what it should be. This photo is the definition of graffiti to me

11. How would you describe your style?

I have a technical style that is letter driven. I have always been an advocate of emphasizing letter structure and not whoring out a piece with tons of color. I try to base all my pieces simple styles and carefully add in extensions where needed. I love high contrast color schemes filled with subtitle details. When selecting a color scheme I try to find colors that tell a story and create mood. The more foul looking the color scheme, the better. My obsessive nature for technical lines came from what I saw happening in NYC and Connecticut in the early to mid 90’s. During this time Connecticut was a hot bed for experimentation, writers were not afraid to try anything. It would not be un-common to see pieces with glowing orbs and tornados in the fill. Writers would even go to the extent of using “Hex” or “lightening” caps to do in-lines on both the 3D and the piece, a practice that is hardly seen today.

Over the years I’ve worked hard to evolve my style and keep it relevant but true to its roots.  My attitude towards graffiti has changed with age and now I paint for the sheer enjoyment. I don’t really give a fuck about the politics anymore.

12. Top 5 tunes?

My current top 5 tunes is an odd mix so don’t judge me…. LOL.

-Kendrick Lamar “Money Trees”

-The Jesus And Mary Chain  “April Skies”

-Flying Lotus -any track off “Until The Quiet Comes”

-XX “Intro”

-Hendrix “Peace in Mississippi”

13. Other than graff, what do you like to do?

I love taking photos even though I’m a bit of a hack. Growing up I read a lot of skateboarding magazines and was inspired by the epic photography. The idea of capturing a moment on film strangely appealed to me. For one of my birthdays my folks got me an automatic Olympus camera. It was one of the best gifts they ever gave me I still use it to this day. I have this motto that “you didn’t do it unless you have the photo”. Since the 90’s I pretty much photograph everything I came across. I have thousands of printed images and even more digital ones. My photo collection is a giant mess.

14. What did you think of the Irish scene while you were over here?

From an outside point of view I was really impressed with the Irish scene. Over all it had a nice mix of styles and a good energy. It was great seeing so many new kids putting in work but still having active older writers to balance everything out. I think it’s a huge accomplishment that you have such a healthy scene in such a small city. You guys have a better scene than some cities in the United States.

15. Favourite letter and colour?

The letter E is by far my favorite letter. There are unlimited options as to what you can do with that letter and in the end it always looks badass. I am a sucker for chrome though technically speaking I think its considered a metallic. Regardless, Chrome is my weapon of choice because it’s “honest”. You can’t really hide behind chrome like you can with colors. It’s bold, straight forward and there’s no faking it with chrome.

16. How many trains have you painted? And any good stories from painting them?

I’m always down for steel. Whether it’s cleans or freight’s there’s nothing better than seeing chrome getting fogged onto panels. Starting out I painted a lot of freights. I did mostly panels but in the early to mid 2000’s I got obsessed with painting whole cars. I’ve never kept track of how many I’ve done but recently I did a rough count of photos and there were about 250+ whole cars.

To most writers out side of the United States freights don’t mean much but once you paint one it becomes very clear why there so significant. There is a certain romanticism attached to freights that needs to be experienced in order to be understood

17. Top 3 graff movies?

-Style Wars with out a doubt!

-The Grifters Video part 3 very entertaining.

-The Warriors not a graffiti movie but still bad ass

18. What do you think of the internets effects on graffiti?

Like all great technological advancements there are both positive and negative results. The Internet brought the graffiti community together allowing writers to communicate instantly on a global scale. The days of doing photo exchanges have now been replaced by immediate access to webs sites, blogs, and social media. The process of graffiti has been sped up to a dizzying pace.

I started writing during the pre-internet age so I’ve seen both sides of the coin. Personally I believe the greatest injustice the Internet did to graff culture is kill the sense of discovery. Graffiti these days is pre-packaged and ready to go. You don’t really need to figure anything out everything is at your fingertips. Nothing is special or sacred everything is aired, quickly digested and left for the next big thing. I often miss the days of nerding out to mixing colors and finding new spots. These moments have become a rarity. I fear for generations ahead where their whole lives will be consumed by the Internet and social media. It’s such a false sense of reality.

19. What plans do you have for the future?

I just want to chill with good peoples and paint. Life is way too short and it’s passing me by quick. We need to live every day to the fullest. I’m trying to get more organized to better live up to this saying. I have a couple of projects in the works for the coming year hopefully they will come to fruition.

20. Any last words or shouts?

I want to thank Lost In The Mood for giving me the opportunity to share some of my thoughts. I also want to apologize for taking 8 months to do it.  Big up to my crew, friends and Liz for putting up with me. I feel blessed to have met so many amazing people along the way. I wish the very best for 2013.

Follow:

All Chrome Flickr

All Chrome Instagram

All Chrome Tumblr

Vice Interview With Rick Indeo

Check out the interview with Rick Indeo on Vice, where he talks about trying not to get shot just to take photos of people painting trains. Have a look at his site and tumblr for more of his stuff.

LostInTheMood & Wasp

Shout out to Wasp for doing this interview.

1. Who are you?

I Write WASP OLS / CNB

2. What do you do and how long have you been doing it?

I like scribbling on walls and i’ve been doin it on and off for years but seriously for about 6-ish years.

3. What crews do you rep?

I’ve been paintin with OLS for about 3/4 years now. Its a small crew which is good. We do all the usual crew shit (fight,BOOZE,eat,CREEP,paint) its pretty tight knit.

I also paint with CNB, but thats more of a lifestyle than a crew.

CREEPIN ‘N’ BOOZIN FO’ LIFE

4. What got you into graffiti?

Haven’t really got one of those cool graff stories, just grew up with a couple of guys that did it, and they would tell me how they got up at 3.am and went to paint a spot. I thought it seemed cool so i snuck out of my house one night and tried it, haven’t looked back since.

5. Do you rather bombing or piecing? Why?

Bombing by far. Much better buzz! illegal pieces are were its at, but they don’t last the buff so aren’t worth the drama and are better kept on legal walls. Don’t get me wrong i don’t have a problem with painting legal walls, their fine for chillin out with mates, but thats not the point of paintin, i much prefer the adrenaline from being on tracks or in an abandoned building or some shit like that.

6. Who would your favorite Irish and non-Irish writers be?

IRISH- i think every writer that came up around the same time as me (and everyone after) has had their styles heavily influenced by DCW whether they realize it or not, so I’d have to say DCW,

Also i really like some of the stuff UEK has been doing lately.

Oh yea and MSO crew.

NON-IRISH- way too many to name but OKER,SKREW,SCAN,STARE,TOX,MQUE,GUSTO,ADEK,JA,REVS but their just the well known ones, theres really too many to name.

7. Any crazy chase stories?

Lots. i suppose one of the crazier ones was when i was in Paris paintin with CESK, doing a shutter, painting away without a bother, finished up and a cop car pulls around the corner, they sped up so we ditched are shit and ran. We separated a bit  while crossing a busy road, nearly ran down a dead end but turned, running alongside cesk, we sprinted down a different street and straight ahead a cop car blocked the top of the street, tried to turn back but there was too many cops. got thrown on the ground and beat around for a while.

8. What do you think of the Dublin scene right now?

Fine i suppose, kind of quite at the moment compared to last year when there was alot of people goin out and keepin active.

9. Other than graff, what do you like to do?

Booze

10. What are your 3 favorite pieces you’ve done?

11. What are your 3 favorite pieces by other writers?

12. How would you describe your style?

Ever changing.

I like sharp, legible stuff (loads of Montreal stuff) and i like sloppy, thrown together and repetitive. So i try different things all the time to see what i like…. haven’t found it just yet though.

13. Top 5 tunes?

Anything by NAS really, but heres a few more:

14. Whats your ideal job?

Astronaut

15. What’s your 3 favourite colours?

Black and white, then chrome. Yellow one strokes all the way.

16. What do you think of the internets effects on graffiti?

Doesn’t phase me in the slightest, its handy looking at shit on the net but i much prefer cycling around or riding the train seeing stuff in person.

17. Beer or weed?

CREEPIN AND BOOZIN

18.Top 3 graff movies?

Prefer books/ cheap zines but i suppose:

State your Name

T.rouble Makers

MTN diaries 1

19. Any plans to travel to paint in the future?

Lots

20. Finally any last words or shouts?

EAKS SYSE TASE2

KEO Talks About MF DOOM

From Getnloose.

Cesk Interview

Usual Suspects are at it again! Got an interview with Cesk, read it here. Also with some unseen flicks from his trip to Paris.

Crept Interview

Nice little interview with Crept over on Usual Suspects. Read it here.

Lecs Luther Or Rejjie Snow?

LostInTheMood & Apose Part 2

Been nearly a year since we last chatted with Apose. Have a look at what he has to say for himself!

1. Who are you?

Whats up i’m Apose!

2. What do you do and how long have you been doing it?
Well I paint, i’m always trying my best to come up with new creative ideas! (hard to do)
I’ve been at it for almost 5 years, but at the beginning never took it seriously until about 3 years ago!

3. What crews do you rep?
I rep GTK which is the crew me and Bet started up in October 2009,
it was pretty much the two of us until recently, we let one of our good friends Same/Jaws into the crew.
he was painting ages ago but gave up and now he’s back so its pretty cool!4. What got you into graffiti?
i don’t have a huge story like some people all i can really say is, that i fell into it by chance cause who knows what i’d be up to otherwise!

5. What do you think of the scene in Ireland at the moment?

I have a lot of respect for the people that are out there painting all the time and never “taking breaks”

Its really hard to give the irish scene a status after travelling so much and seeing so many different scenes,
But overall i guess its a tight scene which is cool!
lots of cool shit been produced by alot of people!

6. Who would your favorite Irish and non-Irish writers be?
That’s a hard one man, there’s so many people with so many different and cool ideas that i find it hard to have a favorite!
but if i had to name a few irish boys that kill it,
it would have to be, Dusto, Bryte/Pace, Deks, Esko, Rask, Crept, Euros, Crap and to finish it off Baqsr!
there’s alot of good writers but i can’t name everyone either or i’ll be there all night hahaha!
7. Where did you disappear to for the last few months? There was no sign of you on flickr or any new pieces until now?
few reasons,
1 would be that i just wanted to keep my shit to myself for a while.
2 would be that i had alot happening in my life and i completely forgot about flickr!

8. Any crazy chase stories?

I’ll just tell the funniest one when myself, bet and reak (dpk) went out to paint tracks far out the city which was fun you know started off nice and chill painting and drinking beers, when we were done we had the stupid idea to paint a commercial truck which was on the side of the motorway,
we didn’t really know how to get there, it was dark couldn’t see shit and all we were doing is walking through field for ages trying to reach the highway….
now at that point the two boys were pretty drunk, i only had 2 cans cause i didn’t have the money for more, so we finally reached the spot anyways hit it and on the way back bet got really paranoid because it was dark and he was drunk and he thought that the horses who were actually sleeping in the field were looking at him wanting to kill him! The thing is, that retard starts running and shouting like mad which actually wakes up and scares the horses in the field, and guess what they started fucking chasing us down the field!! some scary shit…. some laugh though i’ll never forget that night it was some laugh!  i know you would have preferred to hear a sick chase story with the guards but come on we’ve all had them we all know what there like!
hope you enjoyed!

9. Having been to so many countries around the world, how many have you been to, to paint? Can you name them?
To be fair i never plan to go painting when i travel it just happens because i get sick of sight seeing and all i ever want to do is paint! i think the only places i’ve been to that i haven’t painted are French Carabean islands, India and Egypt, India was cause i couldnt find paint anywhere and Egypt is cause when i went there i was on a boat going down the river Nile for 2 weeks (dacent experience to be fair)
otherwise yeah i’ve been to a good few places like that i’ve painted,
Canada ( Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver )
America ( Seattle and New York )
China ( Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an and 2 other cities with weird ass names )
Czech Republic ( Prague, was wayyyy too cold man -17 degres so i did’nt get to paint there )
France ( been there too many times so im not gonna list them all but yeah Paris, Marseille,
Spain ( Barcalona, Malaga and Seville )
Portugal ( Lisbon, Faro, Ohlao, Porto, Fatima (weird place don’t go there or at least don’t do what i did and stop off to sleep there) )
Finland ( Helsinki also very cold )
and finally the UK!

10. Top 5 tunes?

I unfortunetly can’t provide you with links but i listen to alot of stuff,
mostly French old school rap, alot of hip hop and breakdancing beats a bit of trip hop and a fair bit of the electronic stuff!

11. What are your 3 favorite pieces you’ve done?

1.

2.

3.

12. Beer or weed?
No comment!
13. Other than graffiti, what do you like to do?

I like to sleep and cook food even though i’d never eat it, but my girlfriend likes it so i guess it’s safe to eat and sex, along with going to the aquarium ( i love sea life) and sketching
15. Top 3 graff films?
1. War 2
2. Quality Of Life
3. Piece By Piece

16. What’s your favorite mode of transport?
Metro without a doubt, not because of the graff but i grew up in paris and the metro amazed me every time i took it, and its so handy to get around!
I would love one in ireland!
17. Having changed up your style a bit since the last time we talked, how would you describe it?
Experimental! i dunno man i don’t want to settle for a style i just want to keep pushing my work to the next level every time as much as i can and to make it look fresh and clean every time! (easier said than done)
18. Whats your ideal job?
i’d love to be a professional snowboarder, but i doubt that will ever happen! so ideally i’d like to have a job that can support my horrible paintin habits, keep a roof over my head and some food on my plate!

19. Any plans for the future? Travel? Paint?
Alot more traveling will be done, ill keep my next locations secret for now because i don’t know myself if i’m going for sure but i can say that i will re-visit Spain and France very very soon!
20. Any last words or shouts?
Big shouts to RTM! the boys really inspired and helped me since the begining! GTK and the ToyCrew
also shouts to people i’ve painted with and will be painting with in future and shouts to all the people i know!

Stay fresh and  keep painting!