In the ilovegraffiti.de series of interviews, we now present Towns of the RT crew London.
Towns, how you spend your Christmas and new years eve?
Lots of alcohol and good food, getting pissy with my fam for Xmas period, then spent New Year getting twisted off Cognac with the team and falling asleep on a Hammersmith and city line train at 6am going back and forth until I woke up. Good times!
Whats up in 2010? We have heard of an big RT Europe Tour?
Yeah 2010 is looking big for us, we have some amazing cities to travel to on our tour and are working alongside some strong local and international brands to create as many events and walls as possible. This is something we have been planning for a while now under the surface and it has been officially launched a couple of weeks back on www.molotow.com and www.representlondon.com. Stay locked on both these sites for updates. Anyone organizing jams or events in these cities or close by give us a shout via : info[at]representlondon.com.
Ok back to basics, RT is a young crew, when you have started doing graffiti?
We all started very young rockin a spray can in one hand and dummy in the other still strapped with nappies and shit! People generally think we are much older than we are so when they meet us they don’t really believe our age. I have been writing around 10 years similar to my whole crew but this isn’t very long in the grand scheme off things. Were on some 4th generation shit! Its all good though.
The London Graff Scene seems big, whats your review on Graffiti in London the past 10 years?
London graff used to be inspirational for me as a youngster coming up. Growing up in west London with crews like VFL, SDF, GFS and DDS reppin hard in all aspects of graff made me want to make a name for myself. At one point graff in London was thriving and it wasn’t too long ago. Recently we had a massive buff campaign with the government spending millions just to remove history from the tracks, all you see now is brown roller paint and the occasional chrome and black dub here and there. Since then I have calmed down a bit and have been working on styles and developing letters. The buff has turned London into a similar scene as New York with everybody throwing up and taking it to the streets.
Because of the size of our city there are very few writers that can claim all city status. The ones that have always stood out to me are COSA and ZOMBY DDS/FBS…they are the most dedicated bombers around in my eyes. Real talk
Graff here is very hostile and I think it’s renowned for having a lot of conflict between rival crews and writers. But I guess this is just part of graff and we live and learn from altercations. RT have a lot of beef but sometimes you just have to brush these haters off and move on. I mean of course it would be better to settle shit over a hot cuppa tea, but we have also had to give and receive beat downs. Its all good, were in this shit and aint going anywhere.
Personally I think London has been lacking inspiration and with a lot of people now serving serious jail time, graff has definitely slowed down. Competition for spots and bigger challenges has grinded to a halt and this effectively makes the scene stagnant. Im sure one day we can bring it back to what it used to be like, the good old days haha
You have won the Write4Gold with your crew in Liverpool and Euro Finals, any storys to share about that experience?
Where do I start, Write4Gold has been a blessing! We have had some good times traveling from city to city as a crew. Hooking up with some really cool people on our travels, some of them we connect with regularly despite being from different countries. There are too many good times to mention and we have been through it all with W4G, twice to Splash festival and numerous qualification rounds. And it all came from one of us entering as a kind of joke, not on a serious tip, never thought we would actually beat 40+ crews from around the world. There were some talented writers competing for the title. Big shout to the W4G Team, Copenhagen connection, LDK and TMD the World champs!
Beside that you have done a lot of promotion moves with Molotow last year, the product review videos etc. How come and do you really think its necessary explaining such stuff online?
My relationship with Molotow is purely based on moving shit forward, its not just you give me cans and I do nothing but paint pieces. I’m sure other brands are happy to do this, but I have come to realize that its not about that for me, I don’t really need the paint. But Molotow have chosen to support me and I am very grateful for that, the reason for the product reviews was to make an audio and visual analytic review in a professional format. Nothing like this had really been done before on a serious level.
The realization of importance for people to relate visual and audio recorded videos is a step in the right direction for spray paint brands in general and Molotow.tv is the first to do it seriously. Sometimes people forget that some haven’t used these products before, just because the premium cans is so well known. I am simply demonstrating its assets and features in a more intractable format, working alongside my media partner Chris Read.
I fully rep Molotow because I believe in their products and I if I didn’t , I would never do these things with them. As I said before Molotow=innovation. We will have more promo work with them next year so I’m looking forward to testing some new products before they are released.
The professional attitude is also a big factor with me and Molotow , I hate workin with slack ass jesters that don’t give a fuck!
Molotow+Friends is an amazing project to be part of and gives me an opportunity to collaborate with fresh writers all the time, all over the world. Shout to all peeps that were down with MAF last year.
The projects that are launching this year with Molotow are no joke, something to look out for! Serious moves!
Whats your view on that biting topic. Where is the difference between biting and inspiration in your opinion?
The whole biting thing is a big issue I think, some people are violating. Piracy is a platform towards developing your own style. Be real, everybody would be lying if they said that they never bit someone’s style at some point or another in there graff career. But at the same time you reach a stage where you can branch off and push your own thing. Biting will always be an issue and is also an important stepping stone for all the kids out there. 2009 was an amazing year for graff with some new techniques coming out like Netching and Cracking, and these will pave the way for future developments too. Its just a cycle, but you can tell if someone is straight violating!
To create the perfect style is impossible because you will always be lacking in a certain area. But you can get damn close. Personally its all about reppin what you like, and building letter structure before technique. There’s no point sprinkling glitter on dog shit ya heard! There is a very fine line between biting and inspiration and the difference is that most people that bite are at a early stage of their career but once they realize what its all about this all changes. Unless you are just a raw pirate, then action needs to be taken and you will soon get exposed.
Biting and developing keeps the scene moving but I think some people are so advanced that people find it very hard to replicate their style without making it look very obvious. Style has no roots these days which is a problem, everybody is biting everybody all over the world, its madness!
All generals were once soldiers, you follow the rules and adapt to become an extension of what type of graff you rep. Or you can create a whole new concept style like fellow Londoner ROID, big shout to him for what he did In 2009!He pulled out these master pieces and people didn’t know what the fuck was happening with graff.
Its moving in a new direction now and I think the more unique styles that come out the harder its going to be for people to get away with biting.
Whats your opinion on this “Robbo vs Banksy” Issue?
I don’t have much to say about this issue, I don’t really give a shit to be fair. All I know is ROBBO is an veteran and respect is due. Banksy is hated upon for some reasons that I agree with but people like him are slowly opening the doors for graffiti being a more accepted culture generally which is beneficial for some aspects of graff. I think Banksy should be charged with his illegal activity like the rest of us though. He seems to have some special treatment that I don’t agree with.
A lot of street artists are calling themselves graffiti writers and this is also an issue. Only a hand full of people can both be big in the commercial aspect and the underground movement, but “street artists” cannot step into the graff world without getting beefed! If you have paid dues to the game you earn rights that the way I see it.
The Towns Sound Advice, 5 Tracks you have listening to the past days?
1. J.dilla “wont do”
2. The Clipse ft Pharrell “ I’m Good”
3. Large professor feat Nas “Stay chizzled”
4. Ghostface killa “mighty heathy”
5. Royce da 5’9 “ Boom”
Stay chizzled, good luck for all your projects, say hi to all RT mates and thanks for the little interview, anything to add?
Yes I would like to thank ILG, a big holla to the team, the ATG generals and everybody that knows me around the globe, Roll on 2010!
[...] I got a quick interview over at ILG, check it here! [...]