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1. What initially got you involved in graffiti?
I saw walls painted with graffiti in the music video for 'Everybody Walk the Dinosaur'. Straight after that I did my first drawing of graffiti on paper. It said 'Scott' my name. Soon after that writers started 'tagging up' in my area, and I became obsessed by these scrawls. I was really young and didn't know anyone else that felt the same about it as me, but I soon found my local hall of fame. I used to go down there just to hang out and look at the painted walls. I wished I could get involved. I used to search the ground for nozzles and tried to find old used tins of paint with dregs left in so I could have a go. Soon after that I graduated to Secondary School, (age 12) bought the book 'Spraycan Art' and began to suss out who the writers in my school were. From there I learnt Graffiti the traditional way, the way of the original New York writers. The Mentor & the Apprentice. I was first apprentice to IKIE a local writer who I still get up with, he went to my school but is 3 years older than me. I have also been apprentice to REAKT Who I met through IKIE a few years later. REAKT who now writes RUIN or THIRD-EYE taught me a lot, I owe a lot to both those guys. I would also like to thank TOXIC and the DESTROYERS. ERASE, ZHAR-JAZ, PART2 and the original S.D.T. crew. |
2. Do you prefer being commissioned for work or as it were 'keeping it real' by working illegally?
I don't prefer being commissioned. Painting somewhere without permission can be great, but my favourite type of painting is somewhere in-between, see I am not content with just tags, throw-ups and dubs, I've been there, done that and it left me feeling like I had more to give. I think you're 'keeping it real' if you're giving as much as you can for the cause. For me this means a bit of everything. I like to give my all and get really involved y'know, take my time and consistently produce 'burners'. This means I paint a lot in places that are semi legal, or overlooked by the authorities. |
3. Some writers would say writing graffiti for a living or being commissioned is selling out, how do you feel about this point?
I understand why some people say that you're a sell out if you always do commissions and nothing else. If you're an active writer that still gets up, doing commissions is good practice and great for your supply of paint. (Believe me!) As for graffiti for a living, .. I wish! The confusion surrounding this matter stems from people's perception of the word 'graffiti'. When you've done a huge full colour 'burner' with characters and background designs - the works . . . you've spent all day at the wall and used 40 tins of paint - then someone calls it 'graffiti!' . . . the same word they would use to describe a single tag scribbled by some 'toy' on a bus shelter, that's wherethe 'G' word causes confusion. There are a few different elements that make up thegraffiti scene, there are different types of writers that want different things. At one end of the scale you've got taggers, people who just tag on anything and everything and the other end of the scale the spraycan artists who lost their tag, or stopped writing it for some reason or another and now only paint commissions or canvases |
4. Have you ever had any of your work crossed out by other writers or had confrontations with other writers?
'Toys' always 'dog 'our pieces, especially in East London. I try not to make confrontations with other writers, if you want to battle we will have it out on the wall in a contest of style, that's what it's about for me man. I think it's a shame graffiti writers carry weapons and gas and stuff for defence against other writers. Yeah I've been 'lined' before it was of major significance for me, it got me motivated man!
I haven't really been involved in that much battling. Certain people vex me but I'm a calm kinda guy so I can keep my cool with most writers . . . . we are all in the same boat and we could be sailing on . . . y'know what I mean!
Once when our crew was painting over a lot of writers, I dedicated the wall to them saying . . . . 'back in the day we used to say 'Peace' to the writers whose burners we went over.' It wasn't just to keep everyone we went over sweet, I really meant that there should be a little more respect for the next man - y'know what I mean, if you can't respect other writers, how can you respect yourself. |
| Brave One interview by slatorious |
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