Interview with Eko

Posted: August 25, 2015 | Author: Telfinder Fingernip | Filed under: Graffiti, People | Tags: Eko, FlourescentSmog, Graffiti, Hull, MrJoe, Paris, Pinky, Sickboy, skeg, Spam, Whip, Xenz, Ziml | Leave a comment

<Facetime Beeeep>

Spamdog             Hiyaaa

Eko                      Whhhhgk..Hello!

Spamdog             hahaha Alright! How ya doin? <laughing>

Eko                      I’m alright

Spamdog             hahaha <Eko’s big smiley face appears on the screen within what looks like a home studio lair, his beardy face wearing a skipper’s wooly hat and a massive grin>

Eko                      Put yer camera on!!! Eh?

Spamdog             What? Can you see me?……………..

Eko                      awww it’s reconnecting………here, let me turn you in’oo… Ah, there you are…. I can hear you…Let me turn it up on my computer…a-hello!

Spamdog             Hiiii how ya doin?

Eko                      “Poor connection. This video will resume automatically when the video improves”… <long inhaling sound…with trumpet noise from Eko!>

Spamdog             I can hear you……..

Eko                      How ya doing? How’s things?

Spamdog             Yeup… its good. Shall we go on… shall we just go on audio then??

Eko                      <80s yuppy voice> YAHHH we can just GO ON AUDIO!

Spamdog             <same voice> GREAT, I really like… I really fancy that ahahaa

Eko                      amito..<voice distortion>

Spamdog             eh?………………………..gggreat………..what’s going on? ………..<hums to self> hmmm ………..let’s try this again…………..<Facetime Beeeep>………………. <Facetime Beeeep>………………. <Facetime Beeeep>………………. <Facetime Bee… HI!…..

Eko                      Hello

Spamdog             Hello can you hear me?

Eko                      <faint voice> I can hear you

Spamdog             You can hear me?

Eko                      I can hear you YEAH!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?!

Spamdog             No I can’t hear you! What did you just say? Uhuhee hee hee

Eko                      You can hear me!!

Spamdog             Ha, haaah so yeah, how ya doing?

Eko                      I’m alright. I’m not bad. It’s errr school holidays

Spamdog             Yupp

Eko                      Is it school holidays where you are?

Spamdog             Yeah it has been. I’ve been off for like over two months now

Eko                      Holy shit!

Spamdog             Yeah…

Eko                      Yeah… wow! How come it’s so long?

Spamdog             Erm well….Just that’s the way the school holiday works out here

… but anyway, I’ve got two months off it’s my birthday in…erm…thirty….eight minutes

Eko                      Aw no way!

Spamdog             Yeah huhuh

Eko                      HAHAHAHAAAA!

Spamdog             hahaha yeah…

Eko                      No way!

Spamdog             Yeah! I remember… er I was gonna say… I remember when I was living in Bristol and you came down for that…for my birthday…I’ve got a photograph of you looking up… up to the top of the flat when I was living on the top floor. But erm..

Eko                      Oh yeah!

Spamdog             Yeah.. but tell me about how was the Humber Street Sesh thing?

Eko                      It was good fun man. Really nice to meet ermm all those local kiddies. Well I didn’t meet all of them… like..

Spamdog             Wassis name SKAG or summat? SKEG!

Eko                      SKEG? SKEGGY?! Eees nice.

Spamdog             It’s such a wicked tag man!

Eko                      Yeah… erm… he’s cool…Do you know Joe? Do you not know MR JOE?

Spamdog             I know him a lot from online but I’ve never actually met ‘im

Eko                      Oh Okaaay so he’s amazingly lovely as well

Spamdog             Yeah?! huhuh

Eko                      And then there’s another guy called WHIP who’s not online but who is like…

Spamdog             He’s not online?!

Eko                      Ha ha! He’s not online!

Spamdog             He’s not online?!

Eko                      He’s not onliiiine!!! I know!

Spamdog             He’s not aliiive!

Eko                      He’s not online cos he’s not alive…errr… and er…he’s like errr… he’s really lovely guy as well and umm..

Spamdog             hahaha

Eko                      ummm and Graham was kinda going like “well, this dude totally reminds me of SPAM!”

Spamdog             What?!

Eko                      Yeah, well…. Cos he like, well he kinda does and he doesn’t. He does and he doesn’t.

Spamdog             Alright

Eko                      So they’re a really really amazing bunch of dudes actually

Spamdog             Yeah I really like their work. The first time I saw it was when I was looking on the internet for a warehouses video. I’ve been tranna get in touch with people who’ve got a copy of the Heartlands VHS cos I wanna dub it over on to DVD. And the amount of people who I’ve asked who have been like “yeah I’ll do it” and then nothing happens. But anyway I was lookin for that and I typed up “Hull Graffiti Warehouses” and then I found this video of them like you know their pieces, you know, those three you’ve mentioned

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             and they were like fucking fresh. I really liked it. So I got in touch with that, wassissname Joe kid and erm yeah I’ve been chattin with him quite a bit but I don’t know the other guys so well.

Eko                      They’re really really really really super amazing guys

Spamdog             huhuh

Eko                      It was.. I think I needed to go back up North or I needed to go to Hull

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      And erm have like a real erm…like positive really lovely time

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and those guys were just so GENEROUS!

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      just like really generous with their like… they didn’t know us.PINKY knows them quite well. PINKY’s hung about with them all

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and they’re just like us, they just like honestly…just like us lot man

Spamdog             uhahaha

Eko                      It’s uncanny! It’s so weird! They really are..And it was cool…

Spamdog             Is it like the err A Team and the fake A Team (Season 3 Episode 10 Showdown) right?

Eko                      right… I dunno

Spamdog             The way you said that guy was like SPAM uhuhuh

Eko                      Well just like yeah no… well that’s what Graham was like saying… I mean for me they were like just.. What it was it just reminded me of what we were all like

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      yknow like… like… the kind of… friendliness

Spamdog             Yeah, I d…I know what you mean

Eko                     Friendliness and a kind of… warmth that I’d kinda forgotten which was inherent in all of us I think. And I think you know, that’s what people that we met… Y’know especially when we all went to Bristol

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      a lot of people were like “you guys are so friendly” so y’know

Spamdog             yeah. There weren’t kind of barriers. People were like “here’s what I do and let’s get on with it and have some fun with it and bein open about what they were doin

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             and that, that’s hard to find and that’s what makes a good creative group is when you’ve got that… what’s the word…you know…

Eko                      openness?

Spamdog             yeah but there’s another word for it… im struggling, kind of…. (integrity?)

Eko                      ayyy and Batty, Batty was there as well. Batty came up and he was something…

Spamdog             What?!

Eko                      Batty was there, Batty came up yeah. So it was like erm, he stayed with us

Spamdog             tsssss

Eko                      So it was good to catch up with him and erm

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and he was saying how like, “everyone just dances” and I’m like “dude, I’ve said this about Hull for years. Like everybody in Hull goes out and dances and nobody’s stood around, y’know or, or, nobody’s bothered if you are dancing, nobody’s bothered if you are duh-dah-duh-duh-dah-duh-dah-duhrrr” it’s just like everyone gets on with it, this doesn’t really happen in Manchester, it’s because in like Manchester, there’s a…

Spamdog             too cool

Eko                      too cool for school they feel like they’ve got summat to prove

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      everyone’s like out-cooling each other and it’s like… so he’ just fucking danced all weekend and had a really fun time

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and err that was really good to hear cos you know he like.. those guys went to the… although I didn’t know them then

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      those guys all used to go to the Welly and all that stuff as well so…

Spamdog             did they?

Eko                      yeah no, so it was, yeah Batty did… Batty, Dom and TRENT and all those people you know like,, ROYAL?

Spamdog             Oh yeah yeah

Eko                      Yeah yeah so err.. I mean I never knew those guys then I knew them all later in London ironically <sucks air through teeth> so…

Spamdog             Well I was looking at Batty’s like Hold No Hostages thing man it was fucking… yeah… yknow it’s weird how things..　I dunno.. er how thing’s fly by don’t they but everybody says that! Everybody says that and then they’re like <idiot voice> “Oh it’s sooo surprising!”

 

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             but it fucking is. It’s like one minute you’re doing all that stuff and then.. I still feel like those things are still alive in all of us but I feel like.. y’know I just like… that could kick start any moment again. I feel like the same really. How about you?

Eko                      Yeah! I mean that was what was so wonderful about going up North

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      was erm… there was a real…y’knowitwasliketherewaslike… me Graham… Graham…Batty… Pinky and Lonny

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and then loads of other people as well and ahm and a few of my old crew were around and it was like… it was like erm… tch…yeah it was like good, like the good ol’ days man it was err It was a lot of fun and I laughed and laughed and erm you know I paid for it when I came home

Spamdog             hahaha

Eko                      bee’in forty one tranna live that lifestyle but I think you know, I think with err… city of culture thing… I think there’s gonna be lot’s of excuses to be up North you know?

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      Lot’s of excuses to be back in Hull and erm… it’s been a real good precursor. It’s made me kinda go “oh this is brilliant. This is great. Y’know I really wanna come back here, I really wanna meet these guys on their own terms and go painting with them”.. you know… Can you still hear me?

Spamdog             Yeah I can, y’know y’know that I’m recording yah?

Eko                      Oh brilliant!

Spamdog             <Telfinder Fingernip voice> I’m recording you right now uhhh!

Eko                      Ohhh I love it!

Spamdog             Haahahah

Eko                      What y recording with? A tape cassette deck?

Spamdog             Yeah the same one that I did with Kool Herc, yeahhh, no no just with the erm internet, no with Audacity

Eko                      Yessssss Audacity… hmmm. So yeah that was wonderful

Spamdog             yeup

Eko                      Annn I ca… And actually, for the first time ever, <loud> HAH!! </loud> I’m really looking forward to going back whenever we… whatever happens next.

Spamdog             Yeah? Yeah! I wanna go back now!

Eko                      And there is … yeah man

Spamdog             I’m gonna go back. That’s kind of my plan really. I haven’t told anybody but… That’s what I’m gonna do… yup

Eko                      Yeah?

Spamdog             Yea-ah! Yeah I’m gonna go back there. I’ll probably..

Eko                      How’ s that gonna work? What ygonna do?

Spamdog             That’s gonna involve being in Australia for one year…erm… and then coming back after that.

Eko                      You… you you.. you cut out on me then

Spamdog             Can you hear me?

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             yeah it involves going to Australia and then coming back after that

Eko                      right…okay…

Spamdog             to become fully qualified

Eko                      oh right yeah

Spamdog             so yeah

Eko                      right

Spamdog             gonna do it gonna do it

Eko                      And then you’re gonna move the family back to England? Is that the idea?

Spamdog             Dunno dunno yet about that……….so…

Eko                      <booming voice> HAHA !</booming voice> Okaaay!

Spamdog             Hahaa

Eko                      Huhuhu

Spamdog             Anyway…Let’s talk about something else! Hahaha Yeah! So eerm… Tell me about your work. What are you working on?

Eko                      <draws in long breath> errrrrr… so… What am I doing right this minute?

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      or…or…right… What am I doing…

Spamdog             Cos you always said to me, just, you always said to me, like don’t stop doing stuff and I totally did. I’ve totally stopped drawing and I got like I realized I didn’t even wanna sketch and draw and stuff.. but I’ve started doing that in the last couple of weeks and you know I’ve got back into it so I’m gonna do that

Eko                      Yeah. I think, even if you’re just drawing, even… I mean that’s why graffiti’s great.. because with graffiti its pre…with graffiti you’ve got a brief… you’ve got a brief there forever

Spamdog             Yeahaha To get up!

Eko                      I’ve said this before. You’ve just got this brief in front of you whatever it is… With me it’s three letters. So I’m never gonna sit down in front of a piece of paper, a blank piece of paper, and go “So what the fuck am I gonna draw?!”

Spamdog             Well yeah that’s the funny thin…

Eko                      I don’t even need to think man <talking over each other!>

Spamdog             Well that’s the funny thing people always say. Oh writer’s block..

Eko                      Wooh! You’re sounding craaazzzzzy! <distortion on the audio?>

Spamdog             Yeah I’m just saying about writer’s block

Eko                      Ohh right. Yeah, I don’t believe in writer’s block

Spamdog             Yeah I’ve never felt that in terms of being able to create things and it sounds as though you’re the same right?

Eko                      Yeah I don’t ff, I don’t think it.. I think cos like once you draw, cos if you draw then you don’t get writer’s block

Spamdog             Well, yeah I suffer from being a lazy bastard sometimes but not from writer’s block!

Eko                      yeah…YEAH…yeah…oh definitely. I mean sooo listen. I’m still like really into sketchbooks so I’m still filling I’m li…. I’m drawing now while I’m talking to you

Spamdog             Wicked! That’s how it should be, right?

Eko                      I’ll flip those pages to you now

Spamdog             I’m gonna…

Eko                      Yeah so drawing…You know, still drawing lots and lots, butum… so errm…

Spamdog             heheheh

Eko                      I guess erm… I’ve s… It used to be I would draw to inform whatever I was gonna paint.

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      But these days I don’t really…I don’t paint so much, yknow I don’ go out and paint wall so much

Spamdog             Do you still feel like y’wannoo?

Eko                      Sorry. Say that gain you keep cutting out

Spamdog             Do you still feel like y’wannoo?

Eko                      Yeah, I would love to. Yeah. I mean I … I..

Spamdog             Why don’t you?

Eko                      Yeah..no..I mean. The problem is that umm hahhhh <big sigh!>

Spamdog             That’s a long sigh man…

Eko                      yeahh

Spamdog             time?

Eko                      ‘cos it bothers me

Spamdog             Well, th, it shouldn’t bother yuh

Eko                      no it does, it bothers me that I don’t paint

Spamdog             Yeah but none of them guys do.. y’know.. all the other guys, well maybe the Grahams do but like PINKY ZIML and GASIUS them guys don’t paint.. they don’t paint regularly. Like I’m fucking… the only place to paint here, my excuse here right..

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             ..and it’s not even an excuse because it sounds like I’m putting it off and in fact I really wanna paint.. the thing is, there’s no Hall of Fame apart from ermmm, there’s one major one in,, and it’s like two hours to get there on a train and a bus and it’s a major kinda fucking trek to get there ermm

Eko                      yeah.. So I’ve got a similar, I’ve got a similar sort of thing where..

Spamdog             uhhuhu ok yeah

Eko                      where, where, yeah, where

Spamdog             You’re cutting out. Oh bugger. Hello? I can’t hear you at all mate. Oh this is weird. Hello… hello.. <to self> I’ll draw a head. I’ve started sketching… What is going on??? I’ll try calling back…<Facetime Beeeep>

Eko                      Hellooo?

Spamdog             Hey!

Eko                      Heeey!

Spamdog             Hiiiii. That’s better.

Eko                      Yeah. Shavabittttt.. yee go on

Spamdog             No no. It’s alright itwasjust cutting off

Eko                      Yeah it is here as well. So I don’t know what you heard. I can’t remember what I was saying. What was I saying?

Spamdog             Oh. We were talking about something about painting?

Eko                      Oh

Spamdog             Where do you paint? Wanting to paint.

Eko                      ..about walls

Spamdog             Yeah, just wanting to.

Eko                      It’s not like, like oh y’know, is not like, iss, iss not like “oh those guys don’t paint” so you know, it’s just like.. its its ooffh, I’ve still got things I wanna paint

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      It’s not like the thing of going err erm “Oh I should just get out the house, go out and go and paint”

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      Or y’shouldn’t worry about it cos these guys don’t paint anymore

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      duh-duh-duh-da-duhr. Waanna go out and have that physical experience of standing in front of a waaaaall and tussling back and forth with it until it you know..

Spamdog             Until it works

Eko                      until it works or whatever or dunt work or whatever really. Just the thing of going out and erm… erm.. being outside and being erm… cuz I cuz I cuz I draw so much

Spamdog             ye-ah

Eko                      I could go out and paint something different every day

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and that, and that kinda bothers me a little bit that… and I think, and I think what would happen would be actually I would be progressing way way more if erm I painted some of this stuff. Dynuuhr I mean?

Spamdog             yeah I think so. Yeah yeah I do and I I feel the same man. I feel the same about it. I think that you’re similar in that way. Like just that errrmm that connection and I always really liked the social thing about it. We’re talking about people, straight away, you and me. Like, I’m supposed to be interviewing you for like this erm for what is it? Fluorescent Smog or something for SICKBOY’s thing

Eko                      uh-huh

Spamdog             and you know. I don’t know, it’s a bit of a weird thing. When I’ve done interviews before I’ve just typed ad verbatim whatever people have spoken and it comes out pretty cool but in this case the firs.. anyway I was going off track, but the first thing is..

Eko                      mmm

Spamdog             we always start talking about people you and me. I mean. I think that’s a really big thing you know in erm… I don’t know if it comes through in like, your work? What do you think? That’s just a question that I’m thinking up

Eko                      yeah, no, not r.. fff I don’t know man. I think the deal is with erm… dyu mean like.. euerr, dealing w.. dyu mean like in terms of like the social .. dyu mean in terms of like the social think or like..

Spamdog             I don’t know what I mean!

Eko                      ..people who inspire you?

Spamdog             uhuh huh huh

Eko                      well yeah I mean, that’s alright

Spamdog             huh ha I was thinking about you as a person I guess and then I was tranna think if there was some kind of link but then if someone asked me the same question I’m not sure if I could answer it! Err or give them a suitable kind of response so…yeah, but y’know, let’s talk, let’s just talk about that man, let’s talk about what, y’know, how important you think that social aspect is for you as a recreation, as an activity, rather than a end product of something that you make

Eko                      <sucks air through teeth> yeah I know, it’s like going fishing isn’t it?

Spamdog             yeah huh huh huh

Eko                      which kinda trivializes it but I think that’s fine

Spamdog             ye..

Eko                      you know it’s not erm.. we’re not building hospitals

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      or defibrillators .. or like fucking.. erm.. I don’t know, shit people need

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      its purely its purely just for the just for the, its purely like a selfish kind of like endeavour isn’t it?

Spamdog             Yup it is

Eko                      like er…. Which I think you realize when you have kids. When you have kids you realize what a selfish… I mean that’s bein an artist that’s essentially…

Spamdog             your drive

Eko                      you’ve got, you’ve gotta be very selfish about these things. But yeah, I think without trivializing it, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, and I’m not being facetious but I mean like that idea that like yknow that erm errr that is what I love about it. That is one of the things that I love about it. It’s the thing of being outside with people, enjoying, enjoying erm…the space and the erm.. cos you always got to be.. nearly always going to be interested in spaces to enjoy this stuff

Spamdog             yeah right

Eko                      there’s something, there’s something about like standing in front of a wall or standing in a space, in the same place that mebees like I don’t know why, I don’t know how, you become really erm… you get ownership of that space happens really really quickly and you get to know that, you know that little bit of, that little bit of land or that little bit of wall, you get to know it intimately

Spamdog             Yeah you’re thinking about it aren’t you? I always find, I don’t know about you, but when I’m painting I always like to look at the lines underneath and that always like kind of influences what I do. I don’t know. Some people would say that’s kind of biting. I don’t really give a fuck but, like I always look at the kind of shapes a a a and you can see the outline of other peoples’ stuff underneath it ermm

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             but when I’ve been marking out <talking over each other>

Eko                      well yeah that was always a nice thing…

Spamdog             cos I freestyle. You know, cos I’m freestylin’ so I’m sort of following what what I feel like an then I’m s.. seeing things in y’know sort of re… re…. reusing sort of mixing up the shapes that you already see in front of you

Eko                      But isn’t that, that’s quite a healthy little game to play? Don’t you think?

Spamdog             Ye-ah

Eko                      cos youre kind of, because you end up you end up kind of like, its almost like, not drawing with your eyes shut, but you’re almost following a predetermined path and then mixing it in with the present. You’re like time-travelling between two periods! You’re like “Ah I’m gonna…

Spamdog             ahuh huh

Eko                      …follow this bit here and I’m gonna come back to me and what’s in my mind or I’m gonna look at the drawing in front of me….

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      …which was drawn a week ago” you’re like time travelling between all these different ermm…

Spamdog             Cutting things up!

Eko                      ..in…yeah! cutting up cutting back between… I think its… We’ve done that before

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      that’s a really interesting experiment to do when you’re painting isn’t it when you’re painting a wall? And the other one is to nick peoples’ fills

Spamdog             Yeahaha

Eko                      and see if you can like like tastefully integrate parts of peoples’ fills

Spamdog             yeah but people don’t like that’s like an oldskool big no no!

Eko                      <booming> Hha ha ha! I knoooow! </booming>

Spamdog             Are you taking the piss?!

Eko                      I know! We did it, we did it recently and somebody was a bit upset actually

Spamdog             Really?!

Eko                      Yeah, no names mentioned

Spamdog             ahahaha

Eko                      it happened in Bristol. And it was purely meant in a… It wasn’t.. you know, it was… It’s kind of like yeah…It is weird that someone would find that annoying on quite a kind of…

Spamdog             I don’t know but like… <talking over> how

Eko                      …generic

Spamdog             I know it is, and I’ve seen something on TV with EINE talking about how like graffiti writers follow those rules and stuff and it’s a very kind of… as a discipline it’s kind of.. you know, you know e e it’s quite rigid and er you know not… but then… but then I kind of think it’s like a discipline. It’s like a martial art or something that, you know, if you, you know, It’s almost like you’ve gotta have these rules that you can break them, but then you know if you don’t have that then you just, like, you just end up being like a fucking wanker you know! hahaha

Eko                      hahaha

Spamdog             like a lot of fucking erm like a lot of fucking aerosol artists and stuff that, like the people that don’t really get it anymore you know in the same way that you, you lot definitely, your generation did, and me a little bit erm… dya know what I mean?

Eko                      YEAH I do! And and and it and it AHAH HA but it is nice to…

Spamdog             mwuhhaaaa..

Eko                      …kind of go past all that and kind of go… I think that’s what happens when you’ve done something for as long as you have you know?

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      you start looking at it you start going “hang on, there’s more to this than meets the eye” and um and I guess once you erm.. once you erm like I wonder! I wonder actually, once you actually master the can in…

Spamdog             <sniggers>

Eko                      …terms of like…

Spamdog             wh wo who?! haha

Eko                      just whoever

Spamdog             ha ha ha when you said that “mastering the can” I just imagined like I dunno like SEEN “here’s the can…. I mastered it!!!”

“How long’s it gonna take you to master the can kid?!”

Eko                      HAHAHA! No no no look! Alright I’ll backtrack! What I mean is…hahaha once the can Once the can in your hand is forgotten about, meaning that you’re painting with it and using it and it becomes like an extension

Spamdog             oh yeah ok sorry

Eko                      you’re not worrying about you’re not worrying about like the ins and outs of “oh I push the button now and then the line comes out” when you’re younger

Spamdog             hahaha

Eko                      when you’re younger when you first start you’re like “oh right I’ve got to push the button and move my arm at the same at the same time” so once you get past all that nonsense cause you’ve got used to using the can…

Spamdog             That takes a few weeks though dunnit? You know…

Eko                      … <booming> Te heh heee he he! </booming> yeah a few weeks! Yeah man!

Spamdog             A few hours!

Eko                      Oh dude! It takes yeeears that!

Spamdog             Dya reckon?

Eko                      Years and years and years. Yeah yeah definitely

Spamdog             What shall we say? What shall we say? “It takes hours to learn and years to master?!” there ya go

Eko                      Ohhh god…. Yeah…

Spamdog             Whatever

Eko                      So anyway anyway so like um.. What was my point what was my point?

Spamdog             Oh shit

Eko                      My point being that once you get to that place then you start looking at the lines underneath the painting, from the painting before. Or you start looking at the cobwebs that you’re spraying over

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      Or you start lookin at the hole in the wall or you start looking at your feet while you’re doing it

Spamdog             hah

Eko                      You start daydreaming you start time travelling and all the rest of the shit that happens when you become proficient at something and you lose where you are at that moment and you go to that place you know? Where everything kinda flows. So ehm.. y…<Yawns>

Spamdog             Hehehe

Eko                      Huhuhuhuhu What time is there where you are?

Spamdog             It’s erm 23:47

Eko                      What does that mean? At night?

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      What’s that near mid-n… oh it’s nearly y’ birthday okay

Spamdog             yeah nearly my birthday

Eko                      so nearly midnight

Spamdog             a bin listenin’ to some Ninja Tunes Funkungfusion you remember that?

Eko                      huh huh No! I remember Ninja Tunes. I don’t remember that particular track

Spamdog             It’s like an album, compilation album anyway…

Eko                      hmm

Spamdog             that’s off off, off track so…. Erm……….fucking hell let’s paint! Let’s go’an paint! I wanna go and paint

Eko                      Yeah

Spamdog             That’s all

Eko                      I wanna go paint too. That’s it. Can’t do it.

Spamdog             Yes we can!

Eko                      We can’t time-travel properly

Spamdog             We don’t need to do that!

Eko                      We need to inter-dimensionally time travel between you and me

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and wherever you are…

Spamdog             <yuppy voice> We just need one of those USB can, can spray can controllers and we could do an interactive piece with light beams and project it

Eko                      huhuhuh

Spamdog             Maybe in like, a nice café, in London I don’t know </yuppy voice>

Eko                      hehehehe sounds good

Spamdog             smells good… what you drawing now then? I can hear you, I can hear you scriblin away there. I’m sort of drawing with a biro pen now cos I thought that’s a betta way to kindof to like fill in like you know, time as well as talkin. Talking nonsense really, myself

Eko                      yeah well I’m drawin,,, I don’t know what I’m drawing. I’m drawing anything… I’m just drawing, but I don’t know what I’m drawing… so errm… errmm so anyway you asked me earlier what I think I’m doing?

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      ooo…errrr…bin…. Ma…bu bub bubububuuhhh So what have I been doin? I made a sss made this thing with SICKBOY

Spamdog             yeah?

Eko                      So… I don’t know if you know what it is but it’s like a p.. a pipe. Like a erm… old school kinda clay pipe

Spamdog             Oh right?

Eko                      Sooo… yes there’s a clay pipe there’s a clay pipe and er.. and er so the thing with the clay pipes is I kept finding the clay pipes

Spamdog             So hang on a minute…you’re talking about clay pipes and like, isn’t that the logo for this website kind of thing that SICKBOY has done?

Eko                      That’s… that’s more of ermm a smoking pipe isn’t it?

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      That’s, that’s more of a modern, more of a modern wooden bowled err err the shape of that is a modern, well not modern but y’know relatively modern in comparis in comparison to like a clay pipe. You do get modern pipes that are a similar shape to the fluorescent smog logo but yeah I would say that that was more of a… modern pipe. So clay pipe is you know, is kinda the white bone ermmm old.. are you still there?

Spamdog             Ye-ah! I’m still there! Yeah yeah yeah I’m jus yuh…

Eko                      yuh so it’s got like a, so it’s a errr… and they were made in err, they were made they were mass produced. So they were like Clippo™, not even Clippo™ you know we call them throw away lighters. You know throw away lighters?

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      They were made, they were made in erm, they were mass produced and they were made to be thrown away so if you broke um it was no bother you would just peg it and go buy a new one and they cost they cost whatever they cost erm… a penny

Spamdog             Kind of like a corn-cob pipe or summat?

Eko                      Like a what?

Spamdog             Corn cob pipe

Eko                      ………yes, yuh y yeah!

Spamdog             <laugh> and you can chuck it away right?

Eko                      Yeah yeah yeah, well no. This is the thing. They were totally disposable. It was like a mass produced disposable item

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      That’s why you find so many of them. That’s why so many of them turn up on the banks of the River Thames

Spamdog             Oh ok

Eko                      And that’s why they they they turn up in rivers quite a lot err and they just they just turn up in gardens you know, that you dig in and they’re.. I just kept finding them. Literally. “What is this sticking out the gound?! What’s this fucking pipe?!” And I uhm I found one and I like, I fo… I found one.. we were were on Millennium Mills which is this site in London which is this big err.. It’s like a big mill that they use for filming and we were on set doing some bullshit thing to earn some money, and when we were on set. And err I went, we went for a little rest and we were by the docks, these old school docks I found like a load of clay pipes* A load of duck heads…

Millenium Mills

*Clay pipes are commonly found on the banks of the Thames. This blog recounts how one comber, after being attacked by PC monitor lobbing scallies even chanced upon a dress sword alongside these pipes http://100pages.me/thames-beachcombing/hazards-and-clay-pipes.aspx

 

Spamdog             What?! Duck heads?!

Eko                      Like duck heads. Skulls of ducks

Spamdog             Oh skulls, yeah

Eko                      Skulls. Duck skulls…

Spamdog             hahahaha

Eko                      And er we had some fun throwing duck heads at the ducks! Errm and I took these pieces of pipe home. Anyway, this stuck in. You know like, something happens and its mebee like, kinda like a silly thing or a fun thing that happens..

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      but for some reason it sticks in yer brain and it it, er as an event or something. It’s like mebee… I don’t know why… but anyway. So this thing stuck in my mind and I kept finding pipes and I kept finding pipes and I’m like “What the fuck I keep finding pipes” I did a little bit of research and started looking at clay pipes and they’re amazing considering that they are.. that they were a throw away errr object and they were erm they were as cheap as chips and er… and er common. The amount of artistry that went into them yknow

Spamdog             What are they made out of? Wood?

Eko                      No, they’re made out of a clay

Spamdog             Clay. You said yeah

Eko                      yeah like a white clay. There’s various ways they would cast these things erm err… There’s a few places in England. There’s places in Ireland. There’s a place in Ireland well know for making these pipes and people buy them and they collect them. I I I don’t think so many people smoke through them cos it’s quite a harsh, it’s quite a harsh smoke apparently.

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      So so anyways. I have all these bits of pipe hanging around and I was buy.. I bought some pipes and they started t… like these things do, they started turning up in yer drawings erm er.. so pipes and duck heads and duck skulls and beaks were kinda turning up in ma drawings erm and er erm and then I started to like start cobbling these things together in the studio with like little bits of old PEZ™

Spamdog             hm

Eko                      you know PEZ™?

Spamdog             yeah the toys. The sweet dispensers?

Eko                      Sweet dispenser. And so I thought this was interesting because you’ve got like a throw away item that was this clay, really beautifully modeled and then you’ve got these modern throw away objects, these PEZ™ that err similarly a lot of time and energy goes into them there in terms of them being sculpted and erm these two things are both collected. There’s like a hundred years that separates these two objects

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      and they’re the type of thing they’re the type of thing you can find in s.. yknow they’re throw-away again. So I just threw the two things together and made this pipe and designed this pipe errr. And it only existed it only existed as a..as a… as a… erm.. as an art, as an artwork erm. And then I showed it to SICKBOY and I said to SICKBOY “Can we make this?” and erm he, he, he went for it so y’know. So I wanna make lots more of these pipes but I wanted to make… so this thing I’ve done with SICKBOY is probably about as commercial as I get. It’s like a mass-produced, commercial..<says as an aside> it’s not mass produced there’s only twenty five of them </> but yeah, it’s like err it’s like err It’s quite simplistic and oftentimes my work is quite laboured so I like that about this. It’s kind of a simple err stylish, stylistic, stylish kind of… and it’s a beautiful object. This thing is, yknow when you pick it up errmm, it’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful shape. And it feels like it’s…

Spamdog             It’s a clay pipe?

Eko                      So yeah. It’s a clay pipe that is the edition I’m making with SICKBOY. It’s not made of clay. I’ll just say that, put it out there. It’s made of a resin.

Spamdog             ah-aaa!

Eko                      b’cus the process is…

Spamdog             <hullie accent> ahr it’s med of rezin mate!

Eko                      uhuhuhuhhuhuuhuh

Spamdog             Did ya smoke it straight awaay?

Eko                      It’s med of rockie black

Spamdog             heheheheh

Eko                      It’s just all rezin. It’s got little bits, little bits of Darth Vader stickin out of it!

Spamdog             ahahahahahahah bit of bleach to mek it guhr further mate!

Eko                      a bit of vinyl record, bits of old vinyl record

Spamdog             ahuhuhuhuh

Eko                      ahm yeah, so its made of its made of East Hull rockie

Spamdog             hahahahaahah

Eko                      uhahahaHAAUAA! Which would be a really nice, really nice stuff to sculpt I reckon!

Spamdog             It would probably dry more quickly…

Eko                      Yeah…<considering the notion> I’ll have to get a couple of nine bars… and, and sculpt some pipes

 

Spamdog             Ohh…

Eko                      Yeah no, so, yeahhh no and it’s funny actually. I’ve stopped smoking as well.

Spamdog             What? Everything?

Eko                      ..it’s interesting.. yeah everything.. y’know that I’ve pretty much stopped smoking pot weeelll, apart from when I draw sometimes I will smoke pot. But yeah, no I’ve stopped smoking pot, stopped smoking cigarettes erm which has been a big deal

Spamdog             What, you umm like roll-ups and stuff?

Eko                      Yeah yeah. I’ve stopped smoking. About fuckin time I hear you, I hear you say.

Spamdog             No no no, it’s like whenever it happens it happens right?

Eko                      yeah. So that’s what I’ve made with SICKBOY and I’ve made a box with it to erm ahh and there’s umm and there’s a piece of print that that goes in the box with this thing which is kind of a folded map..

Spamdog             <interrupts with nobhead voice> HEEEY! I’VE JUST REALISED! THERE WAS SOME IRONY THERE! THERE WAS IRONY!

Eko                      …<a pause that says “oh god…”> I missed the irony

Spamdog             DID YOU DETECT THE IRONY?

Eko                      No…

Spamdog             The iron… YOU’VE JUST TOLD ME,

Eko                      hahaha

Spamdog             THAT YOU’RE.. you can see it can’t you? THAT YOU’RE MAKING A CLAY… A, A , A , MODEL PIPE

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             AND YOU’VE JUST TOLD ME..

Eko                      {both in unison} THAT I’VE STOPPED SMOKING!

Spamdog             …

Eko                      yeahh

Spamdog             THAT’S IRONIC!

Eko                      ..whu..HAHAAHAA Yes!!

Spamdog             huhuhu

Eko                      hahaha

Spamdog             that’s GREAT! </>

Eko                      that’s out of, that is IRONIC! That yeah…..the mystery

Spamdog             ahahahaha I think that’s great anyway, you were telling me about the map in there?

Eko                      Yeah anyway I’ve made a map, a little fold-out map that is in there with this thing as well. So yeah like, that’s what I’ve done and that’s what I’ve made. So um yeah errrrrrrm. That’s me, yup.

Spamdog             I love you mate

Eko                      That’s me, that’s what I’ve been doing and umm. What else have I been doing? Bit of painting. Not much. Been painting canvasses, not much. I painted a big canvas but it, it really hurt me to do it!

Spamdog             <laughing> How d’ya mean?

Eko                      <laughing> It was painful! You know, sometimes stuff’s just painful innit?

Spamdog             ..like do you mean building it?

Eko                      Well it’s just painful! It’s like “Oh man! What is this?! What is the painting?! This is fucking awful!”

Spamdog             Oh I’ve had that happen a couple of times yeah.

Eko                      “What have I done?! Oh uhhhhhhr no!” Y’know? And you just.. there’s no backing out. You’ve started it, and “auhh I’ve got to finish it”.

Spamdog             Did you salvage it? Did you kinda turn it around?

Eko                      Nooooooo I finished it and I’ve kindav gone I’ve kindav gone “Yeah man, it’s, it’s …. Awful!”

Spamdog             heh!

Eko                      <Booming laugh> HahahaAHAHAAAA! </>

Spamdog             Yeah sometimes, sometimes you’ve.. Don’t you ever have work like that and then you leave it and then you come back to it and you think “That’s fucking amazing! That’s really good! What was I onnabout?! That’s the best thing I ever did!”

Eko                      I think… I think when you’ve made something really quick, that happens to me. So if I make something. If I go into the studio and I make like twenty things in the day, they’re really simple and I walk away and I let’em dry, put em away in the cupboard and then I’ll come back to ‘um. That’s happened to me loads. Stuff that I’ve done really quick and I’ve gone “Oh man! That’s dope! I’ve gotta return to that but I think…I think because I’ve because I’ve laboured over this painting for two whole days ermm… I just yeah, I just, went somewhere that was a waste of time erm and err.. <yawns> but y’know there’s bits of it that I like. Little corner bits that I really like and I should just paint the rest of it white

Spamdog             <laughs>

Eko                      just leave that little bit there. So I might do that there.

Spamdog             When you’ve…when you’ve painted with me in the past you’ve said. You’ve talked about bits that you like painting and you’ve said, I always remember you saying that you really like painting b, blocks and areas of colour?

Eko                      <trying to recall>……..right

Spamdog             and I was like “I kind….

Eko                      <interrupts with booming trademark roaring laughter> HAHAHAHA I love this! People do this to me all the time!

Spamdog             No, I…

Eko                      My mum always… my mum always used to do this to me

Spamdog             <laughs>

Eko                      I wonder if I suffer from like, some kind of dementia?!

Spamdog             <laughs>

Eko                      like some kind of, real intense memory loss… that mebee makes me think that like there’s big swathes of my life that I ought to do stuff..that I don’t even remember doin or knowin about or…

Spamdog             <interrupts> Well, I don’t know but but, but you said it, at the time, you said it with a lot of conviction

Eko                      <finishing sentence>… yeah

Spamdog             I was thinking “Wow!”

Eko                      I’m always told this

Spamdog             <laugh>

Eko                      I’m always told this and I go “wuh..I never said that!” <booming laughter!>

Spamdog             I re…

Eko                      “whatyuonnabout!” My mum would always go ‘a me. She’d say summat like “You really don’t like lamb chops do you?”

Spamdog             pwuhh huhuh

Eko                      “Mum, I love lamb chops!” “You’ve said to me for years that you hate lamb chops! ‘I couldn’t go anywhere near a lamb chop..’” and I’m like “They’re my favourite!”

Just for the record, Eko loves lamb chops

Spamdog             No, you defi…

Eko                      And Casper does it! She’ll say “you said da-duhr-duhr-duhr-da-duhr” What are you onnabout!

Spamdog             Maybe you’re doing it on purpose! You’re just trying to mess with everyones’ head! That’s what it is subliminally.

Eko                      <chuckles>

Spamdog             You’re tranna fuck with everybody that’s what it is!

Eko                      Hnnnnnnnnnn I don’t think so… So what is it I said? Remind me what I said.

Spamdog             Well I’ll remind you since you can’t remember anymore! <laughs> huh huh What was it? We were talking about letters for fill-ins and you said.. I said “I really like doing details, you know I wanna put loads of details on.. little doo-dads and details” and… y’know that was the thing that me an SICKBOY and err PONK were doing at the time and you were like “Blocks! Areas of colour!” and I was thinking “Wow!” err yeah you, you know, because like all the things that you and er PINKY and erm you know ZIML and the other guys, PARIS and XENZ said.. and I always remember them. They always stick in my mind but… yeah they don’t always stick in your’s that’s for sure! <chuckle>

Eko                      <booming lung laughter!> HAHAHAHAHAAHA hahahaa

Spamdog             <laughs>

Eko                      I was probably, I was probably I was probably just being contraire

Spamdog             <laughs>

Eko                      If you were, if you were doin pretty like, wild fill-ins, I was probably goin “na na nah I’m not doing wild fill ins!” I was probably being a cunt going “nah no no no no no nuh”

Spamdog             <laughs> yup just being a rebel!

Eko                      NO NO NO NO NO NO NO it’s gotta be… just white

Spamdog             Just being a rebel, one of those people who wants to say the opposite, whatever anybody says

Eko                      A contrarian!

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      Cont, cont,,cont I can’t even say it! A cron..A con

Spamdog             You’ve gotta be careful how you say that!

Eko                      Yeah…. A cunt

Spamdog             Hahhahahaha

Eko                      yeah… that’s definitely right

Spamdog             No

Eko                      No but yeah but no yeah.<piss take> “Yeah ~ no!” What a load of nonsense!

Spamdog             It is!

Eko                      It is! I think the minute you say stuff like that, you go like “Oh man I really wanna do a really bugged out wild fill in!”

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      <talking over> well that’s always the way innit?

Spamdog             That just made me wanna do lots of blocks of colour and stuff.after that. It’s like “right, I’ll try that one out!”

Eko                      yeahh

Spamdog             and err

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             and what are we..

Eko                      How didya get on with that?

Spamdog             Ermm yeah, I can’t remember. I think that’s a long time ago

Eko                      <chuckles>

Spamdog             So, I’ve never been, I never really, you know ZIML always said to me when we were starting you know like “do your outlines, don’t try to do too many straight lines on them because you can’t,,, you can’t err do it! <laughs> so I was like yeah I won’t do it. You know that’s a good way to do it and that basically became my whole style!

Eko                      What? Straight lines?

Spamdog             No, no! That’s what I’m saying! My whole, my whole style was built on the fact that I wouldn’t be able to do that except one time that was when I did a piece that was total, totally wildstyle and I did that in Korea and that worked really well but, erm I always you know. You didn’t seem to have any problems with it? Drawing straight lines. I could do it now but I feel like I could do anything now

Eko                      <laughs>

Spamdog             I feel like I could do like, you know, even photo realistic stuff. That’s all in vogue now isn’t it?

Eko                      Is it?

Spamdog             Let’s do that all down the side of a building!

Eko                      I think it’s depending on… I think it’s all in vogue.. It’s just dependent on what you errr allow yourself to see.

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      Dyuknowhat I mean?

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      It’s like that, I think it’s like that thing when people go “Oh man! Whenever I look at the kitchen clock it’s always 23:23”

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      Dyu know?

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      And it’s not… it’s not. All it is is when you see it, when you see it you recognize it as being an interesting moment and you bank it. You go “Oh yeah that was it! I saw that!”

Spamdog             Yeaahh isn’t tha…

Eko                      <interrupts> Whenever I, whenever I’m, “Whenever I walk into your kitchen it always says 23:23!” and you go “Well, no it doesn’t. You’ve just remembered the times and you kinda build…

Spamdog             cos its significant

Eko                      like a mish… like a mish… a significance and the mystery of it

Spamdog             well, isn’t that what they say déjà vu is about?

Eko                      same….yeah

Spamdog             cos they say <talking over> with déjà vu what happens is like, you sortta see something and you take it in, and you don’t register it. Then you are doing it and then it feels like, you know, you’ve done it the first time but in fact you’ve actually done it, you’ve observed it, or whatever it is, or done it twice but your brain hasn’t really registered it the first time….

Eko                      …….yeah that sounds about right

Spamdog             yeh

Eko                      yeah definitely and like, I think it’s the same when you’re looking at <Facetime trippy lag distortion > aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaarrrrrrrttT

Spamdog             Woh! Your voice went really mad then!

Eko                      yeah your voice goes weird pretty regularly!

Spamdog             <laughs> hyeahh

Eko                      <laughs> yehhh erm. I think it’s like, it’s always bin’ there but all of a sudden you go “Oh I’m really aware of that style now”. Or I’m really aware of that painter. Or… I think the in’ernet is..is…is class for doing that. Like Instagram, I’m becam.. rr…… really.. I’m really obsessed with Instagram

Spamdog             Me too!

Eko                      Are you still……? An ‘a an ‘a an ‘a think it’s really valuable a.. aa and the reason I think its really valuable is because I’m sfttt<distrortion> ‘am becoming exposed to more artists now, from loads of different walks than I ever have been and I think it’s really interesting becus’ you like… fr.. fr.. When I first started going on Instagram the only people I followed were graffiti writers

Spamdog             Mmmm

Eko                      I’m just like “graffiti writers graffiti writers” and you know when you do that fing where you go to that one where that little… like a little ss… not search tool but it shows you like people who you…

Spamdog             “Explore” or something?

Eko                      …. It shows you people… Explore yeah. It shows you people who you follow, stuff they’re following. And if you just follow graffiti writers then all that you, all that that thread kicks back at you, all that that algorithm gives you is graffiti writers

Spamdog             that’s right and everyone’s thinking about it

Eko                      …yeah. Yeaah. So……so what I’ve been doing is I’ve bin mekkin sure that Ive been following all sorts of different types of artists, and all sorts of different types of people, and galleries, and galleries as well, galleries are really good people to follow, and curators are really good people to follow <inhales breath> ‘cus they like all s.. all manner of shit so it’s broadening. So I’m finding loads of stuff, I’m finding loads of artists that

Spamdog             mmm

Eko                      that I would, never of ever bin open to, or would never of… Cus I don’t go looking for it, I’m not like GASIUS who seems to have an endless supply of people who ‘e’s looking at or following

Spamdog             Yeah! <Talking over> Like tell me about it man! He comes here and he’s like, he’s got his shopping list of like galleries that we’re gonna look at! Like..

Eko                      Yeah

Spamdog             He wasn’t so much like that this time ‘cus he wasn’t like, went and looked at some anime cells and bought a few of them and did a few things like that but erm…yeah

Eko                      yeah. But he’s got a constant list of things that he’s kindof into and that he’s lookin for

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      whereas I’m much lazier

Spamdog             <laughs>

Eko                      almost to the point where I don’t wanoo, don’t really wanna look, it’s actually, for the longest time I thought it was unhealthy to look

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      but actually, no, because of Instagram I’m going “Oh my god! This shit’s incredible wu..well why haven’t I seen this?!” and it’s like “Well, becus you ‘ant ‘bin lookin!”

Spamdog             Yeah! <laughs>

Eko                      You know, you ‘ant bin lookin and you avent bin aware and you avent bin like… You’ve just not been lookin furrit! It’s like the clock thing when you walk in’oo the kitchen all of a sudden I’m looking to see if it’s 23:23

Spamdog             mmm

Eko                      all the fucking time

Spamdog             mm

Eko                      so, l..yeah I’m really fucking obsessed with Instagram and you know the,, I’ve already got a little fear in the back of my mind that “shit, is this gonna go like, is this gonna go like the route of all other… like, photo sharing apps?” so I’m thinking all the way back to…

Spamdog             like Flickr?

Eko                      I’m thinking all the way back to Fotolog

Spamdog             Oh yeah! I remember Fotolog before Flickr

Eko                      Fotolog. Exactly, Fotolog.

Spamdog             That was shit!

Eko                      I bet you… I bet you HONET’s still got a Fotolog!

Spamdog             <laughs> Really?!

Eko                      <laughs> Yeah! Honet’s Fotolog was amazing! Still.. I think it still is. Rosey always had a really good Fotolog. And then Flickr.. Was it then Flickr???

Spamdog             Yeah, it was Flickr and now it’s like

Eko                      Flickr

Spamdog             an Flickr’s dead now. I just stopped paying my subscription for it cos it’s just like a waste of time innit? You know it’s like…

Eko                      Yeees

Spamdog             It’s good for like, I dunno, like putting on groups and like, certain content, but like you say, that kinda chance element of like adding people an then, having the algorithm that will chuck up loads of interesting stuff. That’s what it, that’s what interests me too as well. I spend fucking ages on it. Like looking at all the , all that stuff and then, you know sending d’, also direct messages on that thing is pretty cool as well. Just cos you flip a.. cos you chuck someone a picture..

Eko                      yeah I..

Spamdog             You just chuck em a picture and then let’s have a chat. It’s quite a good way to start a conversation

Eko                      I don’t know how to do that, but anyway…

Spamdog             yeah no, they don’t make it straightforward man. They don’t, it doesn’t, on the interface it doesn’t look so easy but in the top-right hand cor…no in fact. You know when you’re about to upload a picture?

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             yeah there’s a a.. as you’re uploading it

Eko                      s’there is it?

Spamdog             as you upload it you go to like the size, and sort of zooming in and out and all that shit and then

Eko                      yeaah

Spamdog             and you notice that at the top there’s two tabs. One of them’s green and one of them’s blue. I din’t even fucking see it for ages, but then if you click on it. One of them says “Direct” and ermm one of them is like “Followers” or something…

Eko                      ahhhhhhhhh right right, I’m with you

Spamdog             So if you click on that. If you click on one of them then you can get a little sort of tab button where you choose one or multiple people on it and err you can send pictures on it.. so, whateverrrrrr! It’s there

Eko                      yeah. Oh, that’s good. OK. Yeah but no, I kinda already getting…….<line cuts>… feel like oh man it’s…… <line is dead>

Spamdog             Oh no, you’re cutting out! Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! It’s cut ….er…I’m gonna c..call off cus I’m not hearing you anymore….. <Facetime Beeeep>……………<Facetime Beeeep>……………<Facetime Beeeep> <sighs>……………<Facetime connect> Hii!

Eko                      we went.. we lost each other

Spamdog             Could you hear me?

Eko                      No…

Spamdog             Ok…. Wah…yeah

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             Grrreat!

Eko                      So that’s intrestin

Spamdog             yup

Eko                      Instagram, Love it

Spamdog             Love it

Eko                      So, what else? Have you got any other questions?

Spamdog             Oh er…haha <laughs>

Eko                      <booming laugh!> AH AHAHAAA HAAA HAH!

Spamdog             Ok <Mr Important voice> “Have you got any other questions?! Don’t you know I’m busy here!

Eko                      <booming laugh!>

Spamdog             …I’ve got some fucking drawings to do!” </voice> Errrr… I can’t think, you know, er like, I’ve done a few interviews like. Interviews with people who are like, the guy who was doing tentacle porn err anime err in Japan

Eko                      Yeah I remember! Yup!

Spamdog             Yeah and then… we did one with GASIUS and a few other people I always just kind of, think of questions while we’re talking. Ermmm <nervous cough> ahemmm, so let me just have a little think….I’ll have a think then…

Eko                      ohh he’s thinking! Errr, let me ask you a question

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      Is errm, you don’t mek any, you don’t mek any films anymore?

Spamdog             No, we’re mekin ‘em. Me and Si, have bin mekkin a couple of films erm…

Eko                      ‘ave you?

Spamdog             awww the latest one is on the chottomatte dot com err dot co.uk thing

Eko                      okay, okay, I ‘aven’t seen one for a…

Spamdog             aww you gotta see it you gotta see it. You might like it!

Eko                      and who is the, who is the kid you do it with?

Spamdog             Yeah Si, Simon. He, he knows Batty as well! He knows Batty somehow… because he’s from Rochdale and he knows er erm like, Batty was the one who you know, was the sort of link. And we were talking about that and then we were talking about, you know, degrees of separation… the Kevin Bacon thing and then, and then that was Kevin Bacon in the, in the piece, errr d’you remember we did it like aww I don’t know err if you know like we did a piece on the top of the place that I was talking about, on the top of err there’s like a skate park and a graff place at the same time. And we painted Kevin Bacon with breasts in a, in ay onsen bath with Slobodan Milošević

Eko                      ……………..

Spamdog             Have you seen that?…. oh no! <realization that the line must have cut> <Facetime Beeeep>……………

Eko                      Hello

Spamdog             Hiiii What were we talking about? <laugh>

Eko                      errrrrrrm……oh! Simon!

Spamdog             Yeah!

Eko                      ‘E knows Batty!

Spamdog             ‘E knows Batty

Eko                      How does he know Batty?

Spamdog             Errrm……I’m not sure….I’m not sure how he knows him….

Eko                      ‘e din’t study in Hull? He’s not part of Dom and TRENT and all that lot is he?

Spamdog             No, no, he studied in Manchester, he went to Manchester…He’s from Rochdale, he does er Skag, Skagbirds

Eko                      Oh right

Spamdog             Yeah there’s er Heroin Skateboards and errrr he did, with a guy called Foz

Eko                      Yeah

Spamdog             I don’t know and then…I don’t know, he knows Batty for some reason. Err…

Eko                      Well Batty’s from Rochdale!

Spamdog             Well there you go! That’ll be why!

Eko                      Yeah, yup cool. And erm….I noticed some film. Some film that Simon had… are you still there?

Spamdog             Yeah!

Eko                      This is really important. So, he did, he had a little film on his,eughhhgh I think it was on your, on your, on your blog or whatever

Spamdog             Yeah chottomatte

Eko                      And it was him, it was him skating with a Japanese guy and they were doing really fliddy, off-key weird shit

Spamdog             That’s right yeah

Eko                      And they were doing it with er, ab dahhh really nice Velvet Underground track you know, really fucking loved that bit of movie. I really loved it. I was like “Who is this? Who is this dude? Who the fuck is this DUDE?!”

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      Who is this skater? So anyway I found him. I went and found him and youknow, I now know that he’s Go Miyagi and that he’s super-famous

Spamdog             Yeah

Eko                      skater from Japan. No, he’s from ermm

Spamdog             ye-ah

Eko                      one of the islands?

Spamdog             He’s from, he’s from Japan, yeah. I think he’s from Osaka? Or Okinawa I dunno.

Eko                      It’s something like that, and erm, that dude is soooooooooo amazing! ‘E’s so amazing. He just inspires… I mean, you know ees so wi <cut> ggidy <cut>

Spamdog             Oh no it’s cut! Ah go on. It was cutting out a bit then…

Eko                      <intermittent cut>..so it’s weird when you, I think it’s always weird when you get someone <cut>

Spamdog             NOOOO!

Eko                      <responds to “NOOOO!” > No, cuz it’s like, he’s a skater, he’s a skater and it’s like going, a painter going “Oh it really inspires me, listening to like Radiohead duhr-dah-duhr” and it’s like “Oh, shut up!”

Spamdog             <laugh>

Eko                      Banging on about it. It’s like, that’s not what inspires you, other painters inspire you

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      and the world around you, inspires you. But <lets out a gasp!> him. Seriously. He just fucking blows my mind.

Spamdog             I’m gonna have to check him out a bit more then.

Eko                      HE BLOWS MY MIND! He does a really, there’s a really amazing video of him, with his crew, and with some amazing music as well. I’ll send you, I’ll send you the link to that ‘cos he’s just off this…out of this world man!

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      just some of the moves he pulls! Some of the moves, some of the shapes he makes, I’m totally down with. I’m like “yeah

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      yess!”

Spamdog             Is it kind of off-key stuff?

Eko                      Yes, yes completely and utterly weird as fuck

Spamdog             <laugh>

Eko                      And it’s so weird, cos Batty was going on about him, this guy, to me. Batty was talking about Go Miyage as well

Spamdog             Oh really?

Eko                      Yeah that’s so weird that your mate knows him.

Spamdog             Yeah and I think he…

Eko                      <interrupts> so it’s thirty degrees, six degrees of separation is it?

Spamdog             So yeah, that’s what I was chattin’ that’s what I was tranna dribble on about. Wghg You know they’ve got that Kevin Bacon? You know, everybody knows Kevin Bacon within six degrees of separation or something and then..

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             We were talking about it and then I used it, Kevin Bacon with breasts, in an onsen bath, with Slobodan Milošević. And then we painted it…

Eko                      …yeah

Spamdog             yup

Eko                      You painted that?

Spamdog             actually painted tha…

Eko                      he paints as well that kid?

Spamdog             yes, we painted that, cos we were talking about it

Eko                      niiiiice

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      niiice. So what’s the deal there? I mean is there jttttjtttttttjjj… is there no like um.. What’s the art scene there? Cus have you got a high brow, low brow thing going on?

Spamdog             Well it’s a bit weird, basically the mainstream art scene is basically you’ll have on the top floor of department stores, sometimes you’ll have a floor, where they’ll have like an exhibition of some like big, you know, mainstream artist and then you’ll have like, there there most of that shit now is pretty lame and then, then you’ve got stuff that’s in small galleries in like Aoyama or Daikanyama in Tokyo and err

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             but you know, that’s kind of low-key. I don’t know. GASIUS stuff is kind of. First of all he was doing stuff that was kind of like affiliated with a shop or kindof

Eko                      yeah

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      <to someone in the background> yes, I’m on the phone

Spamdog             yeahh

Eko                      yeh

Spamdog             yeah

Eko                      carry on

Spamdog             so, what’s the scene like? I don’t know. Quite… different, it’s quite different. I don’t… I can’t really compare it, cos I don’t know what it’s like in the UK anyway but.. yeah

Eko                      But I mean here, if you wanted to, if you wannn… there’s not as many as there used to be but…

Spamdog             yeah…

Eko                      There are loads of cool, little… galleries <to someone in the background> I said to you go out then </> sorry I was just talking to ma kids < to someone in the background again>I said we could go out and eat if you wanted!</>

Spamdog             Here mate…

Eko                      You dint wanna go out an eat did you? <inaudible reply> <under his breath> oh god…

Spamdog             Mate, we better go!

Eko                      They’re just hungry

Spamdog             yeah?

Eko                      Alright buddy, well happy birthday!

Spamdog             Yeah! Cheers!

---