Interview with: DRAST

Who are you, where are you from and what crews do you rep? 

Hello I’ve been known as Drast Rock, Drast One, Drasteroni, but everyone just calls me Drast.  I’m originally from Canada, but didn’t start writing until I moved to Los Angeles – my teams are the Can’t Be Stopped Crew (CBS), Twisted But Gifted (TBG), and The LORDS.

How did you first get into graffiti?

I moved to L.A. from Canada in 1990 and was blown away by what I was seeing all over the streets, rooftops, and freeways – especially the heavens.  In the small city that I’m originally from, the only graffiti I was used to seeing was just plain 80’s vandalism; punkrock and metalheads would throw up their stock-tip sketches of their favorite band logos, skulls, and what not; and the skaters putting their Rat Bones logos or other skate graphics in the ditches, also you could find the typical expressions of love like the “Joanie hearts Chachie” type shit.  
 

When I moved to L.A. I wasn’t in contact with any writers when I started admiring and paying attention to graff.  My friends and cousins at the time all thought it was gang writing, but for some reason I noticed there was a difference.  I started recognizing names repeating themselves wherever I went; different colors, tags, bubbles, throws, and pieces, and then it clicked.  Each of these names I’ve been seeing around town are individual heads getting up, not gangs.  
 

I still remember my pops driving down the 5 freeway with me staring out the window struggling to read all the tags and throws flying by, then seeing a huge splash of color.  They were 2 four-color pieces (Panic and Pale) right on the freeway wall – how the hell did they do that?!  How long did that take?! A week or so later we drove passed the same spot and it was gone, buffed over.  I was thinking how terrible it was that all that work had just vanished, like that.  Then driving by that spot a couple weeks later, bigger, and with more colors, were 2 new (Pale and Panic) pieces! I was blown away! 
 

So I started imitating all the twisting letters I’ve seen around, but it wasn’t until I went to a buddy’s hardcore band rehearsal that I actually saw some kids, who I’ve seen up around town, writing on a dumpster; later finding out that there are all walks of life that write.  Those who were into hip hop, rap, rock, metal, punk, hardcore, long-hair, black, white, yellow, purple, poor, rich…  It resembled the whole 80’s skateboard culture I grew up in; different people, demographics, several races, all into the same thing.  We were all down for the same shit, we were all down to destroy.  I was instantly hooked.

  

How long have you been in the game?

I started tagging in 1990-91, bumping into some CBS heads around ’92-‘93: Skate, Tren, Ares, Axis, Phever, Exist and Mear are the ones I remember from hanging out at one of the crew houses.  I was a blackbook toy (decent pieces on paper) who only caught tags and never painted any of the pieces I’d sketch ever since I got busted within my first year of writing.  I popped in and out of the game through the 90’s, hitting trains and catching spots – all with tags or whack throws I considered pieces – but not until I got serious and started piecing in yards in ’95.  Then I got put on CBS by Axis in 1997.  I got popped, again, in 2001 and pretty much quit, except for the random tags and scribes I’d still catch while drinking at clubs and bars, but nothing in paint.  I began hanging out with a rougher crowd, helping homies with their hustles, getting into the occaisional fights, drinking and doing a shitload of drugs was my new thing for nearly the next decade.  It wasn’t until a bunch of misfortunate altercations that got me out of that lifestyle, as well as being amazed at how far my old graff friends progressed that brought me back to graffiti.  So I started up again in 2010, and have been trying to play catch up for all the years I missed.  I mainly paint legal walls and do mural work now, as well as work on putting paintings and drawings together at home.

If you could describe your style as a cereal, what cereal would that be and why?

Damn, I really don’t know.  When coming up with letters I mash-up sharp and bubbly styles and always with some heavy chunkiness.  I try to make them look good without color, as if I’d paint it in black and white, also making each letter hold their own; like if someone snatched an individual letter out of my name it would still flex on its own – not needing any extra flashy backup from the surrounding letters to make it look dope or hide the how plain it is.  I guess that’s just oldschool letter structure to me – remove all the fancy colors and bullshit and see the architecture of a piece… the outline.  Just make them lean, dance, and flow. I don’t know what cereal that would be considered, maybe Cap’n Crunch?  Every time you take a bite it’ll slice up your mouth!

What kept you painting while others may have taken different avenues in life? 

I can’t really answer that.  I was a prime example of those that quit.  As I mentioned earlier, I would drift and get caught up in crazy shit; drinking and doing drugs for days – sometimes weeks straight – being a hooligan, nothing productive, just causing trouble.  I don’t think I painted anything from 2001-2009, maybe 2-3 pieces tops.  Besides spending some time at county jail, I believe coming back to graff and creating art saved my life.  It’s funny thinking back to how my mom used to punish me for using spray paint… now she embraces it and supports my art and what I’m doing. 

What is the craziest thing to happen to you while painting and/or bombing?

One of the craziest things that happened was in the late 90s when we got rolled up by gangsters in the L.A. River.  I was with Aura and Deas and we were a painting an abandoned box truck on the side of the tracks when we totally got caught slipping – didn’t even see them coming.  Deas and Aura were painting one side of the truck, while I was hitting the other.  Out of  nowhere there were 4 guys sweating me and maybe 5 guys sweating them.  I could hear them on the other side talking it out, while I was trying to talk one of the guys out of them taking all of my paint, but that I’d give him my can of white after a couple of highlights.  Then I hear that Deas happens to know one of the guys on their side of the truck and they’re all chattin’ it up for what seemed like hours, while I’m still trying to hold on to my cans without getting jumped.  Luckily they finally came around to my side of the truck and everything got squashed and we finished our pieces with only giving up a half can of white. Who knows?  The whole thing probably lasted only 10 minutes haha.  Also the usual: getting chased by yard bulls, ducking under trains and getting away, and the handful of times shaking the cops, but I’m sure most writers have those same stories.

What is next in the works for you?

Paint, paint, PAINT… For my graff it’s definitely more collabs with friends and crew, more characters and background work.  The more you work with others and their styles, the more you enhance your own, as well as become better at planning out a wall.  For my art work, paint and expand more in composing layouts, characters and subject matter.  Both my canvas work and graff, I believe, support each other and feed off of one another.  I’d also like to travel to more countries and different states – travelling and painting is the best!

Favorite city to paint in?

I’ve never had a bad experience painting in other cities (knock on wood).  Anywhere I can paint is a good city to paint in, but I’d have to say that painting in Bangkok with the homie Chip is at the top of my list right now – Thailand is such a beautiful country.  Hometown L.A., San Francisco, and San Diego are always good too.

What comes first for you; the letters, the colors or the theme? 

Letters first… Always.

 

Favorite paint?

Mtn 94, Montana Gold and Black.

If you could collaborate with anyone who would that be?

I always thought, if they sprayed or were alive today, Caravaggio, Hieronymus Bosch or Michelangelo would be pretty damn sick.  I ‘d like to rock a big wall with those fellas. 

Scarlett Johansson or Rihanna?

Well… Scarlett Johansson if she was black, and maaaybe Rihanna if she was white, hehe.  I think I’ll just stick to my all time favorite – my wife, Erica.