Interview by C. Walker

Bombing Science: What do you write and what crew(s) do you rep?

Sectr: SECTR - Hw, Fypt, Pm

BS: What got you interested in graffiti and what were your first experiences?

Sectr: I spent allot of time growing up in New York City, and it was impossible not to notice the large amount of bombing that was especially prevalent during the early to late nineties which directly influenced my initial interest in graffiti. I began by catching lots of marker tags, placing stickers everywhere, and evolving threw a number of different names.

BS: I don't know what age you were etc., so this question may not be relevant - Growing up in both Nova Scotia and New York must have given you quite a wide scope on the graffiti world - do you think that the dual experience influenced your development as a writer?

Sectr: Absolutely, I was heavily influenced by the full on all city attitude of New York, and the differences associated with painting in a small city environment.  Additionally, I started taking writing seriously around the mid nineties and was actively painting in both locations until the early two thousands.

BS: What is your favorite surface to paint on (I suspect I already know the answer to that one!)? and what are your fondest memories in the many years that you've been writing?

Sectr: Honestly, I don’t have a favorite surface to paint.  I’ve painted on pretty much all surface types around the world, including many different transportation systems and the North American freight system. Also, I do a healthy amount of gallery work and have experimented with a variety of different mediums and surfaces. I’ll mention a few of my fondest memories: Shanghai, China - painting illegally along a tributary of the Yangtze river with massive barges and various boats traveling less than fifty feet away from me, intersecting with one of the megalopolises huge intersections including a huge open subway line, streets and a huge highway all of which had view of the wall during thirty five degree celsius heat and extreme humidity so thick with pollution you could taste it.  Gradually, a crowd of roughly sixty or seventy Chinese started to amass wondering what was going on. It was a surreal experience. China is definitely one of the craziest places on the planet and extremely interesting to paint. It’s important to realize that it’s a rapidly growing global power not to be ignored.  Within twenty years they’ll have the worlds largest economy and a massive urban art and graffiti scene.  Many extremely interesting works will arise out of this country in the future and I will certainly be returning. 

La Paz, Bolivia - solo street bombing in very dangerous areas while being under the influence of various narcotics, hitting the clubs, going back out, and watching the sun rise in areas a so called normal person would not want to be caught dead in.

New York City - probably shouldn’t be mentioning this but lets just say subways, solo missions, business suits, briefcases, hardcore.

Sao Paulo, Brazil - bombing a massive multiple level underground highway tunnel complex with a myriad of homeless people, shanties, high speed vehicles, and police rapidly approaching with guns drawn! Honestly, I can’t believe I made it out of that one unscathed! For those that know, turns out that the police thought we were up to something completely different, bah! In my opinion, the Brazil graffiti scene is the largest in the world and becoming the most advanced.  I have countless other stories from this massive incredible country.

Copenhagen / Kobenhavn, Denmark - subway painting and the various military style missions that involve successfully bypassing the various counter measures including infrared goggle wearing guards, motion detectors, guard dogs, and fences to name a few examples. Of course, not all areas are like that but one or two I painted were!

Banff Alberta, Canada - painting a train track location deep in the Canadian rockies dodging canoeurs and kayakers in order to capture a beautiful photograph upon completion.

Valparaiso, Chile - exploring and painting a city unlike any other. The cities hundreds of years old, and located right on the coast of the South Eastern Pacific ocean. Twisting and turning alleys and houses made out of decaying metal built right on top of one another completely cover the surrounding cascading mountains that lead right into the ocean. It’s here that I painted and captured a photograph of my most favorite illegal street piece featuring favelas, a church, the pacific ocean, my piece, and the expanse of the city jaggedly venturing into the Pacific.

Lisboa / Lison, Portugal - solo bombing and painting the entire city for a week by myself. 

Caracas, Venezuela - I don’t want to mention to much because it’s one of the hidden gems of the global graffiti scene.  Painting here was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I’ll absolutely be returning many times.  Billboards during the middle of the day, dodging bullets, never carrying any valuables to limit your risk of getting jacked, bombing basically anything during broad daylight, praying you don’t get accosted by the incredibly corrupt military or various other security forces, and mixing oil paint with gasoline because it’s cheaper than buying a bottle of water!  Lastly, the incredible amount of adventures and time I’ve spent exploring North Americas vast box car freight system.  Those are only some of the more memorable moments I have experienced thus far during my painting career with many more to occur.

BS: Are there particular influences that you draw from in your work?

Sectr: I have many influences related to my art, which primarily includes graffiti, photography, and film.  In particular, I would mention technical hard edged design concepts and elements with solid colors that influence my graffiti work.  Also, I’m really into film and watch allot of it.  In terms of my graffiti art, I’m especially influenced by science fiction, their futuristic ideologies and the overall looks of the films.  Also, I attend a lot of contemporary gallery openings, and visit a variety of different types of museums all of which I gain influence from. Lastly, I travel extensively exploring different cultures and landscapes and assimilate these experiences into all areas of my art process.

BS: What other artists- graf or otherwise- do you most admire?

Sectr: Any artist thats on top of their game and really pushing the limits. Even if I’m not necessarily into their style or medium I’m most certainly paying attention to what their doing.

BS: What sort of music do you listen to and do you draw any influence from it for your art?

Sectr: I have a broad range in music taste and it certainly influences my creativity.  I listen to the following types of music the most and in this order: Hard Electro, Electro, various African, Hard House, Hard Rap, Southern Hip Hop, Dub Step, various Indian, selected Cambodian, Contemporary Jazz, Psy-Trance, Barock Classical, and Classical.

BS: Why the name SECTR?

Sectr: Similarly to my art endeavors, I am as equally interested and focused in another area, the global financial system.  I’m amazed at how everything is connected, how it functions, and the endless possibilities that exist to make money in order to live a free life, and refrain from being castrated by the global elites monetary system of slavery.  Sectr represents my interest in the financial sector and the name I’ve chosen as a graffiti artist.

BS: Do you have any favorite pieces that you've done?

Sectr: I wouldn’t say favorites but there’s certainly a few that stick out. The first being the largest piece I’ve ever painted which is in Santiago, Chile. It’s roughly the equivalent of one city block in length and fifteen feet high. A number of pieces I painted in Valparaiso, Chile overlooking the city and the Pacific ocean.  Some killer productions I’ve done in Berlin with Disco, some huge killer freight pieces, and some illegal pieces I did in Taipei, Taiwan.

BS: What are your goals for your art?

Sectr: To continue painting around the world, being able to successfully and comfortably live off of my art vis-a-vis gallery shows and rewarding client projects, and continuing to be involved in my other areas of creative interests including photography, film producing, and clothing design as examples.

BS: Are there any big projects in the pipeline? Any ambitious projects that you'd like to undertake?

Sectr: Currently, there’s no major projects directly in the pipeline. However, there’s certainly some very ambitious projects I’m thinking about and have began organizing the preliminary concepts for. These involve forming new companies, producing additional video projects, clothing, internet projects, photography, large murals, and graffiti missions.

BS: So, Tell me about the production company, Rail Side Films? What projects have you worked on thus far, and what are the future plans?

Sectr: Rail Side Films is a small independent production company I’m the producer of.  I’ve organized team sizes ranging from four to ten depending upon what stage of development a project is in.  To date we have successfully released two graffiti related DVDs, and a short documentary which premiered in various film festivals winning awards including best short documentary. Future plans include making more graffiti, and urban art films.

BS: It's been over a decade since you developed Lounge 37- congratulations. How is it going and what have been your proudest achievements so far?

Sectr: Thanks for the congratulations. Upon Lounge37’s inception we were one of the first graffiti oriented websites and boasted an impressive daily unique IP address hit volume. Over the years we created a massive online graffiti image database from around the world, a successful clothing company, a hugely popular message board, and experimented with leading coding languages to mention a few accomplishments. Unfortunately, what eventually led into a four business partnership was wound down in 2008 as all of us decided that ultimately our interests were heading in different directions and not enough focus was being applied to the business.  One of the concluding decisions was to leave the site still accessible to the public with little to no updates being made. Long term, I plan to eventually revive the business with a new focus.

BS: You've exhibited in galleries too- have you enjoyed this experience and is your approach different when attacking canvas as opposed to steel or stone?

Sectr:  I really enjoy exhibiting in galleries and each show is different. Additionally, I have also curated a number of shows which is another different mind set.  Yes, exhibiting in galleries for me is a different approach and depends upon the premise of the show. For example, I’ve shown video work integrated into abstract installations painted directly on the wall, worked with technologists and assisted designing plastic guns containing wii controllers that shot digital animated pieces of art onto blank digital canvas’s, numerous gallery installations painted directly upon the confines of a space, as well as showing traditional canvas work.

BS: I found 'Reefer Madness' immensely enjoyable- a couple of questions- How long was it in the making?

Sectr: Reefer Madness, for those that aren’t aware is a documentary about the graffiti artist Fatso, and his adventure to find a specific type of rapidly disappearing refrigerated box car named Solid Cold. The documentary graffiti film was released in 2008 and was filmed off and on across North America during a span of approximately ten years. The film features 100% refrigerated box cars which made it very difficult to capture footage because of the rarity of these specific types of freights.

BS: Did you experience any difficulties- from the law, other writers, train geeks, etc. during or since the filming?

Sectr: Other writers and train geeks no, the law, unfortunately, yes. There’s one specific instance involving lots of money and very serious jail time which I’ll refrain from going into detail about.

BS: Have you guys had any luck with catching a Solid Cold since?

Sectr: Ha, no, no one on the team has! Sadly, their pretty much gone forever and if we were making this video today I seriously doubt we’d be able to find one.

BS: I thought the soundtrack was dope- aside from some great hip-hop I was totally stoked to hear Genghis Tron and Isis- were there differing opinions between everyone involved as to what tune rocked a particular scene?

Sectr: Of course, which is a regular and expected occurrence when working in a team especially on a long intensive project.

BS: Having travelled extensively, where have you enjoyed the most?

Sectr: No place qualifies as the most.  However, after having travelled extensively to many countries and areas around the world certain instances come to mind: China, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Canada, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Copenhagen, Germany, the Amazon, the Rockies, the Andes, the Bolivian Salt Flats, the South West Pacific Ocean, and the Californian and Canadian East Coasts are all places I’d like to highlight because of the combination of their various factors such as food, their respective wilderness’s, art scenes, cultures, people, party atmosphere, physical appearances, and graffiti scenes.

BS: In terms of graffiti where do you think has the most interesting flavors or refreshing attitudes towards the game?

Sectr: Each place I’ve explored and painted has its own factors which make it unique.  However, their are certainly places that can be highlighted in terms of interest and differences.  For example, Sao Paulo, Brazil - with a population of roughly thirty million is one of the largest cities in the world, possibly even the largest depending upon what statistics your using or whom your talking to, and has an absolutely enormous and debatably the most dynamic graffiti and art scene currently in the world.  Most of the worlds best spray paint brands are easily accessible from a few graffiti shops, tags, bombing, pieces, and productions cover everywhere, and a unique type of graffiti is extremely prevalent and covers literally everything in Sao Paulo, Pixacao.  Pixacao covers nearly every surface of the gigantic city all the way up to the tops of skyscrapers. Many styles found here are unique to Brazil and even Sao Paulo.  Amazingly, you could paint a new spot everyday for the rest of your life in Sao Paulo.

Spain - the entire country is full of graffiti and a great place to paint. Lots of excellent writers doing their thing and there’s always something to do here. Germany - in my opinion this country has the most graffiti of any country in Europe. There’s a million writers, tons of worlds best spray paint readily accessible, and the talent of many of the artists is mind blowing.  Shanghai, China - a very young scene with lots of promise for the future.  The city is one of the largest in the world with a population size similar to Sao Paulo’s except it’s totally different.  It’s a concrete neon Mandarin futuristic space station stretching as far as the eye can see with unlimited opportunities to paint. 

Taipei, Taiwan - a great medium sized scene with lots of great places to paint and many new works.  Copenhagen, Denmark - a great place to paint cleans and catch them rolling, more than once!  As mentioned, I would really like to refrain from mentioning this next instance because it’s probably one of the worlds best kept graffiti secrets but I think I have to. Caracas, Venezuela - definitely one of the worlds most craziest countries and cities and also home to one of the worlds most vibrant graffiti scenes. You can paint pretty much anywhere during broad daylight, there’s no available traditional brands of spray paint, yet the scene is totally out of control in one of the worlds most dangerous cities. Aside from attempting to paint, just venturing outside to do anything is an adventure!  If you want to say you’ve done something crazy in life, paint Caracas, good luck!

BS: Any interesting stories- either graf-related or otherwise- from your travels?

Sectr: I’ve already mentioned a few graf related stories but, honestly there’s so many more. I’ll summarize a few more graf stories and then some non ones.  Hiding under passenger trains while they were turned on, getting in lots of crazy chases around the world, painting the inside of in service subway trains with lotsa people in em, exploring the massive tunnel and subway system of New York, and the satisfaction of finishing huge complicated productions. Here’s a small selection of some non ones:  waking up in a hospital in Shanghai, China and having absolutely no idea how I got there... then running the hell outta there and getting in a serious chase! Baa Ha ha ha! Ohh maan that was a close one, whoah. Swimming in the Amazon river deep in the Amazon rain forest with all sorts of wild stuff such as the worlds most dangerous spider, snakes, cayman, parrots, jaguars, monkeys all over the place, and the worlds highest concentration of insects.  Mountaineering 6000 meter glacier snow capped mountains in the Bolivian Andes with ice pics and crampons, exploring Anghor Wat and shooting machine guns in Cambodia, traversing sections of the Peruvian Andes and visiting Machu & Wayna Picchu, rock climbing lime stone Karst formations in Thailand, getting completely lost in the Thai rain forest, venturing down the Mekong river in South East Asia, climbing portions of the Grand Canyon during winter with no one around, various train hopping escapades, driving really fast on racing bikes in various cities, all the insane crazy partying I’ve done around the world including my number one ranked party experience in Rio de Janeiro at a free favela cocaine drug dealer sponsored party with guards younger than me patrolling the event with AK47’s bouncing off their shoulders pointed in the air, while dancing amongst scattered stadium sized speaker walls stacked five or six high and roughly ten wide blasting Rio Baile Funk, in a crowd of roughly three thousand, containing the hottest girls on the planet, all rammed into the serious of alleys, and streets that constituted the party, doing some really crazy financial shenanigans for all the various financial corporations I’ve made profits for, and accidentally having sex with transvestites in both Thailand and Brazil ... ba ha ah ah aaa! Yeah right! Ha ha, just joking. I threw that one in incase any of my relatives are reading this, especially my father. He still doesn’t believe me that I didn’t do it, ha ha ha!  The easiest way to avoid that problem is to just do the oL quick feel up!

BS: Shouts?

Sectr: All my main amigos! You know who you are! However, I’ll mention a few that currently float to the top.... Nick, Nitchie, Josh, Dj Sputnik, Dwight, Jessica, Jeff, Daryl, Alison, Scheize Kopf, the Toronto Crew, the West Coast Ladiez, the East Coast Ladiez, the South American Ladiez, the New Yorkerz, and the Asian Gang! Lastly, here’s some websites to peruse:

http://www.sectrart.com - Visual Art (requires a serious update)
http://www.railsidefilmsonline.com - Producer
http://www.lounge37.com - Co-founder

SECTR