POSER : SST RW TDF MTV

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Grew up in Sydney's Western suburbs, had top marks in art classes at school and used to hang with a guy named Kuwi, who later simplified the tag to QE. We used to ride dirt bikes after school and bomb by night.. My first crew was SST (Supreme Spray team) back in 1983, of which I used the tag Hazza. Then moved on to RW (Radical Writers) in 1985 and started tagging Haza85, pretty simple really. By 1986 Radical Writers turned into TDF, (Tour De Future) of which I was given the tag Hardski, the guy who gave it to me thought it was lame but I loved that tag.. By 1988 - 92 I was in a two man crew called MTV (Mad Train Vandals), By this stage I was writing Poser but when piecing a train or wall used all sorts of different tags just to keep the transits guessing. I used Prevoke, Bigshot, Poser and Hardski..

We bombed most yards in Sydney but kept clear of any inner city yards cos we always thought they were too hot, and they were. The suburban yards used be so easy, you could spend half the night in there and cause some major damage. Never touched the silver cars, always the rattlers, in some ways I reckon graffiti died when they were taken out of commission.

How did you choose your tag, any special meaning?

No special meanings at all, just liked the lettering and the sound of it

How did you get in to graffiti?

Started in 1983, just for fun and to be rebellious of course, we didn’t really know the true meaning of hip hop till late 1984.. Then things started getting serious.

Started out painting with a brush and paint tin, so primitive, back then we didn’t even know about spray cans.. What is it that you loved about graffiti that kept you writing?
Fame & Recognition, well at least in Sydney anyways.. The adrenalin rush you get when you’re painting a train is awesome, it’s like a race against time..

But as time went on for me, that adrenalin slowed down. Cos it just got easier over time.

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

I never liked my style really, always looked at improving it.. I’ve always had a public style really cos not only did I not like wild style, it all looked the same after a while so at least you could do variations with public.

Who were your major influences?

Seen is my hero, I love his style.. Nobody compares if you ask me. My mentor would have to be Severe (who) of Sydney, he took me under his wing and showed me the ways.. After that created a good friendship with Jcee and the rest is history.

Paint brand of choice

It’s been a while and I’ve just come back into it, the paint range is phenomenal compared to what I knew when I stopped writing back in 92. My favourite right now would have to be Ironlak, followed by Montana.

Cap of choice

Still working that one out.

What music motivates you to paint?

Old School Hip Hop, Heavy Metal, Grunge.

Memorable mission moment

When I broke my foot getting chased out of Mortdale yards and still managing to get away.. The year was 1987 and because of this I missed out on the battle between Melbourne and Sydney in the factory Vs Music Box the very next day, was supposed to be involved but pulled out cos of the foot.

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

Don't do it.. You're crazy, Nah... Use your head, think before you do anything, plan it out and don't go to where everyone else has been 'cos you'll more than likely get busted.

Anything else to add?

Big shout outs to Amuck (Perth), Spice, Gane2, Joker, Jcee, Kode, Unique, Sevn, Phoe and Frogski.

Check me out at www.myspace.com/hardski also at www.stealthmag.com.  Look under  Old Skool Arkive located in the photo gallery