Stories about London, Culture & Creativity

This week Tom Inkfestish Blackford came over and we had an amazing chat. Tom is an artist, an illustrator by trade and also paints graffiti. He came into the culture from a different angle and it was great to hear the journey. We chat about North London, getting into Manga, clubbing, drugs and being a self-employed artist. We also chat about mental health and have a really open and honest conversation. A really great chat, this is his story of London, Culture and Creativity. Enjoy!

Harry Conway is a photographer, used to be a graffiti writer labelled The Million Pound Vandal by the UK press and is from Kensal Rise. He’s run through a couple cultures on his route to creativity. He’s a big lad, covered in tattoos, sports a vest in the summer months and could be intimidating if you saw him jump out on you on the Bakerloo line with his camera but when chatting to him it breaks down all perceptions and it was really cool chatting to him about his influences and experiences in his story about London, Culture and Creativity.

This week I have Olivia Skalkos on F24. Olivia is a true artist and for work is a production and project manager for the Moniker Art Fair and we caught her just before, Moniker having it’s first NY show.
I met Olivia when she worked at Chrome and Black, London’s premier graffiti supplies store where she would pick colours for the writers quite often. She came and filled in the gaps about what she did before to what she does now from her obsession with art and her passion on producing work with artists.
This is her London, Culture and Creativity story.

This week’s chat is with Novar FLIP a rapper, journalist and host of The Flip Life Show on Pyro Radio. We’ve known each other for years but really got to know each other alongside another good friend, Snail when we were all in Brighton and I had the Shop. We have loads of mutual friends including North London’s much beloved Mud Family, and I’ll never forget that he got me on one of his record covers with Old School Don Crymien. He did a dope illustration, I crowed it with a hand style. It was great catching up and talking with him this week, this is his experience with London, culture and creativity. enjoy.

This weeks chat is with Micall Parknsun, Husband, Father, lyricist and producer.
Parky is from Kilburn, North West London, where I’m from. We’re the same age and know the same people but didn’t meet until the mid 2000’s when he walked into my shop in Brighton. It was dope chatting about the manor and hearing about his experiences. He’s been at the game a long time and worked with a wide array of rappers and producers. We talk about the early days and meeting his to-be wife. Travelling, late nights and good times with friends. This is his London, Culture and Creativity story.

This weeks interview is with musician and producer Simon Franks from London’s very own, Audio Bullys. I met Simon in 2009 whilst painting in East London, but I’d know of him for years having been a fan of his music since the early 2000’s. A pleasure to have him round and have him share his stories about growing up in West London, getting into skating and music, meeting graffiti writers and the forming of Audio Bullys. Dope having him round, enjoy!

This week’s conversation is with Jamal Peace. I met Jamal about 8 years ago and immediately noticed he carried loads of energy and although he wasn’t doing what he would end up doing currently, I knew he was on a journey that was to include culture and creativity. We chat about travels abroad and living in other countries in his youth with the family, going back and fourth to London and roaming the city. Living up to the working class notion of getting a trade and then finding creativity through culture. Jamal’s story is dope, he’s a travel bug, a creative and for the people. Enjoy!

This weeks conversation is with Mr Met, the Mayor of Shepherds Bush.

Mr. Met is a legend in West London. There are not many people I meet in the or on the peripheries of hip hop, graffiti and London underground culture that haven’t heard of or don’t know of this man. This is an amazing story, Met’s journey is one of many struggles and adventures but he’s a strong minded and family orientated person and he brings us through a load of crazy events and how and he is The Mayor of Shepherds Bush. Enjoy!

This week’s chat is with Ed Tizer. Ed is a London culture animal and you’ve probably seen him everywhere at everything, I met him in 96’ on the 31 bus route when he asked if I wrote.. we’ve been mates ever since. Ed brings us to America and fills us in on his early years there with his brother and moving to Brixton in South London where he grew up. He tells us about travelling about the city in the 80’s and 90’s and what led him into culture. He’s had a long and varied career in the UK underground scene and we get loads of the story. Big Up Ed! Here’s his London, Culture and Creativity story

This week’s chat is with Done London’s Will and Tom. You have probably seen their clothing gracing peoples bodies with nods to the London Underground and you may have also seen their stickers and pieces about the place. Had a great chat with these two about their journeys, the cultures being chosen and working in a creative world in any way they could in order to be in the position to take an opportunity and go for it with setting up Done. Great story about  their interactions with London, Culture and Creativity.