In the first interview for the new year Concrete Fetish was granted a chance to speak to the elusive Jedi. A force from the north side known for his well travelled body of work and fresh style in the 00’s Read on for a conversational interview by your humble host and remember to drink water because it’s really fucking hot right now. Q: First of all, thank you for taking the time to speak to me, I appreciate you taking the time out to answer a few questions. What was the first place you saw graffiti and who was up at the time you were getting into it? J: The first piece of graffiti that actually caught my attention would be the Pubes fire extinguisher tags at Woolloongabba when I was about 11. As for who was up, before I started to write I would always see white out tags by a guy that wrote Vedas wherever I went. But generally I would watch the walls from the train and the main few that are etched into my mind from that time are Rob, Kova, Tyes, Eikas, Eibs and NCB. Q: Vedas, I remember him well. He was probably one of the first guys I saw up here pushing what could almost be considered anti style. I actually only found out recently that “Vedas” is the sanskrit word for knowledge. They’re a series of books that form the basis for Hinduism. Note the Greek inspired letters on the top left tag Great lineup to be inspired by. Tyes and Eik are and remain true heavy hitters So that was probably mid 00’s? J: Around 2003 - 2006 Q: So were you living inner city at that point? J: No I was still a filthy little North side delinquent at that point I hadn't quite decided to start painting but I was up to no good. Q: So how did you actually start writing? Second part - how did you choose your word? J: Funnily enough I was shown a copy of Another Day at the Office and that really set it into motion. I think seeing that the people I was seeing up on the trains and train lines were making movies on it seemed kinda cool. I came from surfing as a kid so it kind of resonated with how local gorms will always make their own movies. As for my name, it was just something I wanted to write. No real special meaning to it aside from that I liked Star Wars as a kid. Q: Good movie - I only ever got youtube bootlegs of it though. It has a Sofles section I think. Did you ever see The Killing of Brisbane? That upset a lot of people when it came out. J: Killing of Brisbane was another great one yeah. Q: Was your word choice any relation to the guy who wrote Yoder ar around the same time? J: I remember a Yoder from the Gold Coast area but no. Oh also for inspiration - I had completely forgotten about the Albion Mill Q: Oh you also watched the mill get gradually painted and torn down over a few years? J: Yeah, it was a sad day to see it go. Q: Jumping forward a bit - What crews were you down with back in the day, I heard you were a founding member of GBH? J: Yeah one of the four main ones, basically just a bunch of mates from the same area. Mainly CLK and LCA but a few people here and there Q: What do you remember about those years when LCA/GBH/CLK etc had a stranglehold on the lines? J: I wouldn’t say we had a stranglehold but we were about. Q: Any memorable stories? J: Oh there's a lot. Multiple conversations with train guards while painting. Listening to workers spot wholecars over UHF and all the random dumb things that generally take place on a mission. Q: I can only imagine they wanted you to fuck off? J: A chrome d2d was happening and the guard was cool as long as we were out of the way once the train started moving/ We generally approached it in a civil manner and they didn’t care too much. Q: That's wild, I’ve seen the flicks floating around cyber space I think. J: That was just when I was really starting to take graffiti seriously Q: What did taking it seriously look like? J: Just doing it any chance I got, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing but all in all life is for living. Q: Do you feel you’ve gained anything from your painting career? J: Debt, stress and a whole lot of damage to my lungs. Q: Actually? With regards to the lungs J: Oh for sure. I painted a lot of drains and they don’t ventilate too well sometimes. There's no way I don’t get some kind of cancer. Q: I talked to a real old school guy about that once. He reckoned his doctor was just outright baffled at how fucked up his lungs were. J: No surprise - the old paint was bad. Q: Mostly auto paint - real chemical shit. What paint did you generally use? J: Anything I could get my hands on. A lot of rustoleum, plastikote and laks. Q: Man I barely saw any Rusto back then. J: We knew a place that had all sorts of American paint for cheap - was a good spot. Q: So before we met through our mutual friend/ I had been over the years gradually retracting your steps all over the Northside. A kind of mythos of the travelling Jedi had been constructed in my mind. I’ve always wondered what made you focus on pushing drains and bridges so hard in particular? J: To put it simply I got sick of being buffed so I figured I’d rather paint something that might hold up for a few years longer. Q: It sure as hell worked. I’ve found plenty tucked away. Did you mostly run solo, and did the creative process change as a result? (More time, less stress) J: Nah, I was generally always with at least one person, Glen and I did a majority of what is about drain wise. Creative process never really changed. I liked the concept of having a kind of piece that was like a sticker, quick and efficient. Q: That's an interesting take on things. Did you sketch/hit the books much or was it all off the top of the head? J: Mostly off the top of the head, I never really got into sketching as my brain won’t stay concentrated on what I’m doing. J: I guess my thought process was why spend hours drawing when I could go do some tags or paint or something. In my mind at least that means more than spending my time drawing Q: So do you feel you have gone through graff and kind of come out the other side? Like, is it’s time in your life as an interest done? J: Oh mate, that's a tough question. While I’ve been MIA for close to a decade I don’t think I’ve really come out the other side, the love and passion is still there. I just struggle to find the time now Q: I feel it’s not something you can turn off. You’re always looking at the world differently, for whos up, spots, colours, shadows that look like tags out of the corner of your eye haha J: Exactly, I still keep my eye out Q: In the time that you were taking it seriously - what influenced you, internet, mags, videos? J: Movies were the main one without a doubt. If we weren’t painting we’d generally be hanging out at someone's house watching something graff related. Q: We’re almost out of time - any shout outs? J: Nah. If they know they know. Q: Thank you for your time! Shout out to Antonio and Drails for helping set up this interview