Bombing Science: Give us a little history of the MOS events in Montréal.
Louis: This year will be the 4th edition of Meeting Of Styles Montreal.
It started in 2006 when my uncle Criz156, who had started painting on the regular again after moving to Montreal, heard from the international Meeting Of Styles crew that they would be interested in getting down in Montreal. Criz was painting all kinds of burners with Zeck in 05-06 in Montreal, and had started a Montreal chapter for the 156Allstarz crew just months before, with the blessing of O.G. JonOne of course.
Personnally, I had been throwing bunch of graffiti and non-graffiti related events for a couple years, and Zeck had always taken part in these. You need to understand how solid Zeck is, he’s the fucking champ. Not only does he manage to take good care of his sons and family, he also paints an average 600 pieces a year + freelances all over the place.
Between Criz’ connection to the MOS core organization (much deserved props and best regards to Manuel!), Zeck’s attitude and style, my ambition to throw soulfull jams, and our networks combined, we made the events happen.
We will keep on keeping it happen, with little to no funding and lots of heart, because the writers who bless us with their presence are legends of the game and put in their time and soul into the artwork.
We also take pride into throwing quality parties and giving the artists a chance to meet and discuss outside the direct context of a mural. And in that train of thought, DJ Sagewondah has been helping us big time by curating a producing popping joints at night.
BS: Do you have any special guests or events for this year MOS?
Louis: This year is a very special event for us as we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of NYCity’s own TC5ive crew. Numerous members of the crew have confirmed their presence. We’re very fortunate to be building the project with them and the artwork available (www.tc5-30.com) will be crazy fresh. Along with them, writers from Montreal, Toronto, Porto-Rico, Paris, NYC, NDG, Boston and further will be painting the walls.
Our focus and intent in 2009 will be to offer more and better wallspace to our Montreal peers and friends. We focused on being good hosts to our out-of-towner buddies last year and some Mtl heads were left out.
It surely will not be the case again this year and we’ll be ready to show the world once again that Montreal writers Burn.
BS: Tell us a little bit about the team behind the Meeting of Styles in Montréal.
Louis: As aforementionned, the core crew is made of Zeck, Criz, DJ Sagewondah, and myself, Louis Cinq A.G.
This is a good opportunity for us to thank everybody who has had a strong positive impact on the event. First off, to all the artists, hats off! We thank you for investing your blood sweat and beers into our project. It is your art, your skills and your drive that push us to put this together.
All the positive people around us who contribute to setting it up, buffing the spots, promote the venture. Snipe (Evidenceclothing.net), Fluke K6A, PhilGoodMovie.comYoung Jake, Skore, Olly, our girlfriends for the trials and tribulations, MOS international up in Europe, SPONSORS.
BS: Do you think the event will be back at its previous spot (Ste-Catherine / Bleury) when they will have completed the constructions over there?
Louis: Yes sir. They’re trying to have us back. Downtown loves us. We’re negociating our advances and guarantees.
BS: The Under Pressure event was presenting its 14th event this month. Do you feel there’s enough room for 2 events like this in Montréal?
Louis: Damn right. And I’ll collaborate with any third party trying to set up some next tip.
BS: The 30th anniversary of the TC5 crew looks promising. What can we expect to see at this event?
Louis: The Cool 5ive is the fucking truth.
Check out www.tc5-30.com as we are currently publishing one interview per day with members of the crew.
Know the history. Respect the style.
BS: A lot of graffiti events had a lot of troubles in the past 2 years finding sponsors to make their events happen. Scribble Jam in Cincinnati and Style in Progress in Toronto were even cancelled this year. Do you have any problems with this at MOS? Is the community is supporting you enough?
Louis: It is impossible to seek decent profit by throwing a graffiti jam in America. Well, it’s probably possible, but we’d need to step our lobbying game up and get some serious endorsements.
We get no money from the city nor governments in any wat. We are VERY thankfull to our sponsors, private business who dare investing money, time and effort in our project.
Everything we can’t cover goes to my credit card and we end up figuring it out.
If you are in Montreal, YOU MUST COME DOWN TO THE PARTY, Friday September 4th.
Buy something, help us out. www.tc5-30.com.
BS: Do you have something you would like to say to people who will attend the event this year?
Louis: Say word. And tell a friend about us.
