Stormie -- -

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Interview: StormieOne ADS
Interview by: EklipsOne

Q- What do you write?

Stormie.

Q- What crew(s) do you represent?

i represent "ikonoklast" since 1989, it's a crew that formed in the uk and those that represented have fluctuated but the main ones have been system, rough, and juice 126, other writers have joined like arcae that have mad different styles. i also write a.d.s. [all derogatory statements] it's a crew that has a few members we just do our own shit, focusing on that rather than the bullshit that seems to float around this joint. and f.a. [fuck all] it's just a stupid thing, a piss take, i used to really believe in crews and that they should be tight, but then things happened and when it came down to it nobody really looked out for me, so now i only represent with those i've known for a long time, peeps that have proven they can be stand up.

I saw mear had written on one of his pieces "crew before self" I always thought that was how deep crews should be but never got that level back till now.

Q- When did you start painting? Do you still paint?

i started painting in 1984, i still paint, never stopped only sometimes i slowed down 'cause life got in the way. now if i put my shit up by hooking up permissions the buffers spend their time trying to get it off, so i do that and do some other shit that is just for me, not even for other writers.

Q- Why did you start?

When I was young, I was walking around one night and I saw this round sphere floating over a park, it had a strange glow to it and was making sharp movements from side to side, anyway it turned out to be nothing and the next day i went and saw beat street like everyone else.

Q- What was you favorite writing experience?

I've had heaps, from rocking the "showgrounds wall" back in 1985 to dropping tags on trains in other countries, to painting a production with fink and mest a few weeks ago. I've also had mad fun like just watching peeps, like bosh doing a "buff hater" piece, then going back with him to do throw ups after it got buffed, watching peeps rock burners, or just going out and dropping quick ills, of course painting with my close friends and crew are highlights and if rough and system ever get their shit together to come to australia we'd do more of that but not with that shite pommy paint!

Nowadays I document most of my experiences in either my pieces or writing about strange and funny shit for a newsletter for a website called "the dark site".

I had a show in a gallery last year, my first solo joint and the work was snapped up by all kinds of people within two hours of opening the door. it's weird that writing your name on a wall as a kid can give you so many experiences, but you can still get the same kick from catching a tag many years on.

All time standouts are many but the one thing that is constant is a feeling that I did something i'm happy with, like I'm my only competitor, I ain't interested in trying to burn anyone other than my last tag or piece and when I feel like i've done that, it's my all time. This shit is so ingrained in my skin that I ain't like I can ever turn off the tap, sometimes that can be hard too.

Q- What was your craziest/worse experience?

The craziest/worst experience was about two years ago when the buffers were right in my face. An organization tracked me down and employed me to hook writers up with walls and paint etc, and 'cause of this the buffers saw me organizing things often, so they had a face to put shit on. At one stage it escalated to the point that after a buffer had painted over a permission wall I went down and painted a character of a buffer on the wall and he tried to sue me for defamation! anyways it was fun rubbing their noses in it for a while but I got sick of playing their game and went back to my own game, my rules. paybacks can be soooooooo sweet.

That's what is so weak about the buffers I guess is that they can't catch everyone and they really can't do shit, 'cept waste money on paint painting patches on the city. every seen it when they buffer a tag but follow the line, that shit makes me laugh, [most of them are just too dumb to get a real job] so going after writers, and trying to steal our culture is as close as they can get to a life, sad fucks!

Q- How do you feel about U.S. graffiti?

What a hell of a question! graffiti is worldwide and crews are the same, but if it wasn't for new yorkers and the shit they did back then we wouldn't be doing this now, they gave me a voice/weapon. Just the concept of bombing is a trip when you look at it closely, let alone getting into throwups/pieces/wholecars.

Then all the innovation that went on in n.y.c. and later in L.A. too, like when slick and hex were rocking huge walls. I was in Europe when photos of their shit started to flow through, that shit was bugged. I reckon a lot of the major productions that happen nowadays reference that point.

I think that one day someone will document graffiti as a cultural movement and a lot of the milestones will be in the U.S. there's good writers poppin up all over, only a fool would disrespect were it came from.

Q- Have you ever visited Los Angeles or U.S.A.? If so, tell me about your visit?

In 1986 I went to N.Y.C. that was just mad, nutty as fuck. I met writers and watched trains and just freaked.

Then in 1993 I went to L.A. a whole 'nother trip. At first I stayed in a motel near Compton and then somehow managed to hook up with Eklips, it was bugged 'cause I had no real idea of where I was going, I was moving from Europe home to Australia at the time, so I had all the shit I owned in a backpack and got on a bus and headed towards manhattan beach. when i was in Compton two women started arguing on the bus and then went toe to toe, it was on, everyone was trippin' i remember a near blind guy with coke bottle glasses trying to watch and freak out at the same time and it just kept going on, until the bus driver pulled up at the next stop just as a gun was going to be pulled. he just said "you ain't shooting anybody on my bus" and threw one woman off. final got to the beach and waited in a carpark full of trailer homes until eklips rocked up. until that point it had been major poorboy style travel, buses, walking you know lowbudget shit and eklips is lampin' in a range rover! then it was graffiti tour a go-go: motoryard, Long beach, mexican food, ripping anti-graffiti signs of poles in venice, watching movies, eklips' brother's dog "amadeus" [the biggest dog I'd ever seen close enough to smell his breath] nearly eating his other pet a ferret, the graffiti conference in north hollywood [blunts and 40's and watching awr rock shit amongst more nutty burners], seeing ernie's 3'd styles, trying to paint with Tyke, Just 195, and others [but being way to blunted] at Santa Fe [it was lucky the cops rolled in and told us to fuck off 'cause my shit was looking really sad!] We ended up in Long Beach, when I got on the plane to leave I still had one of the signs from Venice in my bag that the airport security went through, the whole adventure was crazy. I loved it, one day I'll do it all again for sure.

Q- How do you compare the old school era to the new generation of writers in your city?

When I started in this city people didn't even know what I was doing [and maybe I wasn't to sure either], racking paint and markers was easier, you just took what was on the shelf, none of this paint orders and different tips. Hitting untouched walls, the buzz of doing and going back to see the first pieces ever done in the city, learning how to use paint without teachers, learning from mistakes. Just writing 'cause you wanted to without thinking of anything else.

The new writers will never be able to experience any of that, it's a different game.

Q- What writer/crew deserves more credit in your eyes for developing the graff scene in you city?

Those that aren't dogs.

Q- The Internet is becoming a new medium for graff artists to expose their work. How do feel about this whole web thing and is it really part of getting up?

The whole viagra/cyber porn thing I don't know too much about it...oh hang on, sorry i misunderstood the question. okay it's cool for documenting the shit that gets buffed and exposure to others, like a quick way of swapping flicks, or like graffiti fanzines were in the eighties. I don't think that it's fully really getting up, but for rubbing it in the noses of the buffers it's all good, kind of propaganda for the revolution.

There is some real crap out there too, but if you've been around long enough you know the shit from the shite. what pisses me of more about it is the dickheads that write other peoples names, information and shit in message boards. buffers read that shit, don't do it or if you want to write your own tag and details go ahead don't fuck shit up for others.

Q- What does the future have in store for graffiti?

Who knows, it could be anything from nutty to boring, but it sure won't be served with fries!

Q-Anything else to add?

Yeah, shouts to: Rough, System, Juice 126, Fink, Mest, Arcae, Please, Spare, Bosh, Part Two, Pock 167, Gio, Susan and Brett, Hobit, Safer, Jaffa, Beni Benz/Raz/Lazy/Rascal/Solo from systematic crew, Zone One [wst], Shrume, Felon, OneMore [fap], and Kwize.

Respect to Eklips and Awr.

And who the hell left a half eaten roasted eggplant in the south east corner of the yard outside the front of that big house down the road from the corner shop in the outer metropolitain suburbs of that little town facing the ocean just past the last turn off for the dump for humanity?

End Interview-