Writer Interviews

 

AMUCK37 : 6108 TPC PRO TDA OMS RA

 

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Ok, I write Amuck37. I started seeing graff in Perth when I was about 15 or 16 and did my first piece in the local underpass in Kingsley in 1987. I didn't get fully into it until the early 90's, everyone in Perth by that time knew me as the photo freak as that was my first tag "Freak". I was a person that liked the look of graffiti but wasn't really artistic. When I was young the people I hung around with at an early age were into crime and shit like that, so I picked up on drawing a lot more, spent a lot of time talking to friends about the pieces we photographed and took a lot of photos.

 

I virtually had photos of everything that was done on every corner of the city in the way of graff for years, then I started meeting half of the writers whos work I had been photographing, and naturally like shit does, it evolves, and I got into painting and everything else that came along with it. Crews that I am in, or have been in during my time as a writer are 6108, TPC, PRO, TDA, OMS, RA. Some of those crews are dead and some of the people are not painting anymore, but I have fond memories of being in those crews and the fun times painting with those people....

 

How did you choose your tag, any special meaning?

It's a good bombing tag 'Amuck' - To 'runamuck', as the guys used to bomb around my area, I started liking those letters and the word really stuck. Ohh, and apart from that, I like the letter U in my tag the most as you can do crazy symmetrical pieces, and 'A's are always cool at the beginning of any tag.

 

How did you get in to graffiti?

I used to sit at the local underpass with a camera and sketchbook, drawing and taking photos. I think that taking photos was the reason I ended up getting into graff, cause I wasn't really into much else, I was a bit of a quiet kid.

 

What is it that you love about graffiti that keeps you writing?

Mostly the fact you can channel your ideas through your pencil onto paper, and then paint them. You are the person creating and developing the idea as far as you like, if you don't like it you can change it, and keep changing it until you are happy with it. It is a medium that is very diverse and you can go about things in all different ways, there are no boundaries. I've never found anything that compares to been artistic.

 

Tell us about your style and how it has developed over the years.

Style is like an identity, you learn it as you get older. You take a bit of everything in your life, every memory, every emotion, every hard time or good time and roll it into one. That's how you become who you are, and why you are what you have become. That's really how you develop your style. Everything around us is a part of us and is part of our style, from fashion to tattoos, to clothes, to where we go out. It's all how you wanna be and the style you wanna become that develops your style towards your goal. It's called influence.

 

Who have been your major influences?

Dash, Shime, Lemon, Showbiz, Puzle, Prins, Kab, Merda, Duel, Tahns, Tense, Promise, Bonk, Phibs, Atome, Reach, Denim. You will notice in the people that I say that I looked up too over the years are mostly the wildstyle writers. They had a mad style, very wildstyle, and I wanted to be on the same level as them. I give them respect for who they are and where they came from......

 

Paint brand of choice

Molotow Premium, Multona.

 

Cap of choice

Alien caps (off the Alien cans), black dots and NYC fatcaps for base fills.

 

What music motivates you to paint?

AC/DC, Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Segar, Hendrix, Creedence.. Anything really but mostly Aussie type rock shit. Anything that's played on the radio is cool, but yeah, mostly rock.

 

Memorable mission moment

All of them really, otherwise I wouldn't write anymore. Meeting new people, painting in new places and painting with people you haven't seen for years is always a memorable thing.

 

Any tips you're willing to share to the next generation of writers?

Go hard and grow strong, treat people how you would like to be treated, stay true to yourself and don't try and be what other people would like you to be...... Apart from that paint everything.

 

Anything else to add?

Check out..
www.myspace.com/amuck37

 

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