Road Dogs Tv Interview
Thank you @roaddogstv for having me at the studio for this interview!
Facilities and equipment provided by Long Beach PADNET.TV
Transcript
Susie Q: What’s up RoadDogs TV. Welcome back. This is Susie Q and we are here at Patnet Studio with special guest Maxx.
Vicky Vicious: What’s up you guys I’m Vicky Vicious from Heavenly Trip to Hell. Thank you for sticking around and watching this show. We’re super excited to have Maxx here in the studio today.
MAXX242: I’m super excited to be here. Thank you!
Vicky Vicious: So, tell us a little bit about what you do.
MAXX242: I am MAXX242. I am an illustrator, an artist based out of Southern California. I started out through graffiti art, which now is kinda recognized now as street art. I’m became a street artist / a muralist. Kinda a jack of many trades. I do a lot of different types of art.
Vicky Vicious: Wow! That’s amazing!
Susie Q: How did you get started in doing art though?
MAXX242: You know, we used to skate… and just paint shit… and then, um, dude honestly, that was the thing. We were skaters. I was just talking to you guys about being outcasts. We were the outcasts of society, of the world, even to our families.
Vicky Vicious: Especially to the families!
Susie Q: YES!
MAXX242: When we grew up, it was different. We had no support. We had no family. Nobody at home. So we would go skate. We were our own family. We were little punk rock skate kids in our own family. So we started painting on shit. And then I recognized that, hey, even though you’re telling me I’m fuckin’ nothing, through skateboarding and graffiti, I became somebody. And now, no matter how much somebody told me I was nobody, I was fuckin’ somebody.
Vicky Vicious: Woooooow, that’s amazing!
Susie Q: How did it evolve from the graffiti to illustration, and everything else that you do?
MAXX242: So when I was little-little I loved drawing. I grew up with G.I. Joes and Transformers —
Susie Q: YESSSSS!
MAXX242: And He-Man and Robo-tech and that type of art, cartoons and movies. So I was always fascinated by the art and the colors and everything. So living in Los Angeles, California, seeing all the graffiti art, I was so intrigued by it. So I was always super into art. So when I got into graffiti art, I didn’t really want to get in to destroy, even though that was kinda the idea, I wanted to paint graffiti to create. So we would find abandoned old water towers and we would paint the biggest murals we can. So, going from that, it was very easy to transition into doing canvas painting. It’s how I got more into fine art and illustration, although illustration always called out to me more than anything.
Susie Q: What is your favorite medium to work with?
MAXX242: Ah, that’s a tough question. Uh, I’m going to say spray paint.
Susie Q: Haha, once the spray paint, always the spray paint.
MAXX242: It’s just, you know, the thing is it’s just very free. It’s like skateboarding. So graffiti and skateboarding had a lot of things in common. Even though you had your crew and your family, it was you versus you. There was no rules. You just went and did it. Whatever you wanted to do, whatever you can think of, you can do it. That’s why I think graffiti is always going to be my biggest love when it comes to art.
Vicky Vicious: That’s amazing! And what do you do now?
MAXX242: I do a lot of shit. But I do illustrations for bands, that’s the main thing that I do. So I work with bands like Metallica, Blink-182, Guns N Roses, uh, I just did one for AC/DC, WuTang Clan… So I work, well, that’s mostly what I do. Like this year, I think this year is probably the year I worked with the most amount of bands. So that’s my main thing.
Vicky Vicious: So how can our viewers see your work.
MAXX242: On instagram, is probably the best way, MAXXER242.
Vicky Vicious: You have your portfolio and pictures on there?
MAXX242: Yeah, all my art.
Vicky Vicious: How did that get started?
MAXX242: The way that I got into everything was really, again, everything came from skateboarding and graffiti art, but I made friends with these people that worked at a store called the Electric Chair, in Riverside.
Vicky Vicious: Yeah! We know the Electric Chair!
MAXX242: So it was like this little punk rock type of shop, an alternative shop. So this store catered to all us little weirdos. So I became friends with the people there. Like, they were fucking awesome. They were so cool. And they were friends with a band that I really liked at the time. I really enjoyed this band called the Aquabats.
Vicky Vicious: Yes! I love the Aquabats!
MAXX242: They were storytellers, like I loved their fucking music. And so they knew them and so, I think it was my friend Carrie who called me one day and she was like “hey, the guys from the Aquabats are going to be here. You should come in and show them your artwork!” ‘cause I would do drawings of the Aquabats.
Vicky Vicious: Nice!
MAXX242: And so I go in and I meet Christian, the lead singer, and I met their drummer, Travis Barker. And so he was like dude, I fuckin’ love your work, you’re a graffiti artist, and I was like yeah, and he was like, if you ever have any shows, let me know and I’ll come out. So I txt him and I was like hey, we’re doing this show at the Barn, if you want to come out. So he showed up with his friends and everybody and I was like holy shit… this is rad.
Vicky Vicious: He’s here, haha.
Susie Q: He’s actually here, haha.
MAXX242: And so like, we became friends. We started talking and we became friends. And that relationship, that friendship with him, was really the key to everything. I worked with him, and then I started working with clothing lines, because at the time, he was still with the Aquabats. So I knew of this artist, known, his name was RiskOne, Kelly, is his name. He’s from LA. He was one of the first graffiti crews in Southern California. I knew he was going to be at a show called ASR. It was like this skateboard, sports-alternative show. So I went and showed him my portfolio, and he was like “what are you doing tomorrow?” And I was like (WTF!) and he was like come to the studio. And so I started working with him. And between him and Travis, that was like my way into everything.
Vicky Vicious: Woooooow, that’s amazing! And when you say you invited Travis to a show, what do you mean by that?
MAXX242: We actually would do little art shows. At like coffee shops and stuff. So we met the promoters at the Barn, it was this dude, uh, Bill Fold, actually? He’s actually pretty well known now, I think he does Coachella?
Vicky Vicious: Wow, ohhhhh, you know … that LITTLE SHOW Coachella! HAHA!
Susie Q: Ohhh, just — Coachella! HAHA!
MAXX242: Yeah, so I was friends with Bill and this other guy Warren, and they did a lot of stuff . They were a part of this group called 98 Possé. They were always like yeah dude, whenever you want to do something. And so I met a couple of dudes who were rappers and breakdancers, and we came up with this thing, this hip-hop show at the barn, and that’s when Travis came out. Interesting thing about that though, I got knocked out by the end of the night. There was a big fight that broke out and I ended up in the hospital.
Vicky Vicious: Oh no! HAHA. How did that happen?!
Susie Q: Yeah, tell us that story!
MAXX242: I do not remember! Literally! You know like they say, you get knocked into tomorrow. I literally was at the show, opened my eyes, was in the hospital.
Vicky Vicious & Susie Q: WOWWWWWWW!
MAXX242: But yeah, that friendship really kicked off everything. From there, once people knew that I was working with that company, it was called Famous Stars & Straps. I was the first artist there. I became an Art Director, a Creative Director of the brand. Once people knew I was there, a lot of companies started reaching out to me. What happened is I developed this black and white style of inking. And this is where I started utilizing the digital tools. So I started using Adobe Illustrator in a certain way, and a lot of other artists were like holy sh—wait that’s different. And so they started mimicking what I was doing, and then a lot of the guys who knew who I was like Bobby Hundreds and Bobby Tribal, and then there was another guy Jim Thebow. Him and Tommy Guerrero created a skate company called Real Skateboards up North in the Bay area. His buddy Ricky, he reached out to me and was like, you wanna do some skateboard art? And I was like are you fuckin’ kidding me?! It’s like my dream!? So they believed in me, and they went big. And I did a whole series of boards for them.
Vicky Vicious & Susie Q: WOWWWWWWW!
MAXX242: And they took out ADs in Thrasher Magazine and Juxtaposed Magazine, and they put my name on it. Companies like that who really believed in me and just put me out there. That’s the whole thing, just marketing, even today.
Vicky Vicious: What do you think about the new technology now-a-days?
MAXX242: So technology will always be the best tool and it can always kill a culture.
Vicky Vicious & Susie Q: YES.
MAXX242: And that’s the problem. These tools are really good, but they’re also gonna —
Vicky Vicious: They’re also killing us.
MAXX242: Like Ai for instance, it’s going to make it so people don’t even need graphic artists or artists. So it’s kinda scary, but at the same time there’s something to be said about humans wanting to feel human. A lot of the people that I work with will not tolerate or accept Ai art. They need the story. They need the human. And so, that’s the good thing. But there’s companies that just aren’t going to care.
Vicky Vicious: But I mean, it is helpful right?
MAXX242: These tools are very helpful. Whether you’re talking about the programs that we utilize on the computer, Photoshop, Illustrator, Clip Studio, they’re very very helpful. They’re tools. They’re all tools. And even Ai. I’ve seen a lot of artists start to reference Ai. And I’ve done it myself, I’ve looked at Ai images and referenced Ai. It kinda pisses me off, I’m like fuckin’ computers put out the most beautiful fucking images, it’s like holy shit. And so then I’m like… I never would’ve thought of that.
Vicky Vicious: Right, you can also use it.
MAXX242: Exactly. Alright so now I’m like… ALRIGHT, LET ME DRAW THAT. FUCK THAT.
Vicky Vicious: Well it’s good that you have that kind of view on it. Because it is true. Everything that’s coming out as far as technology is, very helpful, these are very good tools that we have, but I do see kids now-a-days just being stuck on the phone all day and not even living their life. Like, you were out there skating, out there meeting people, out there making friends, making your own family. These kids don’t know any of that.
MAXX242: Yeah, it’s definitely a different time, just for humanity, for society, for our communities, it’s just a different time. But I think that’s where we need people like us. To guide our kids or community. That’s one of the things I love about what I do with graffiti art and street art and mural making, if that I actually enjoy creating murals for communities. So a lot of times when I get hired I either get hired directly from the owners of markets or companies and I get to create something. And a lot of the times, they leave it up to me. I paint a lot of things for the hispanic culture. Ever since we were young, the Day of the Dead was one of the most fascinating holidays. It just had that feel. It’s the entire feel of life and death.
Vicky Vicious: Celebrating death as well.
MAXX242: Exactly. So to me, I was very attracted to it. So we started drawing all these skulls and skeletons and things like that with the roses and the flowers. And so, I got kinda recognized for doing that. And so I painted a lot of murals that have to do with the hispanic culture, the Mexican culture. And so I’m super thankful for that. It’s been fun.
Susie Q: Anything new that you’re doing?
MAXX242: I have like 20 new things that I’m doing. Haha.
Vicky Vicious & Susie Q: YEAAAA-HAHA!
MAXX242: So I started working with my buddy from Riverside. He does Riverside Dia de Los Muertos. And it’s pretty big, like thousands of people show up for it every year. He asked me to partner with him and do all the merchandise for it. So I get to do all the artwork, but right now he’s like, we need to do the advertisement materials, the ADMAT, and I’m like ahhhh shit, I’m like dude… I’m like a month out with art right now - give me a minute – so, that’s the biggest challenge for me. I still have to make sure I make X amount of dollars. And in doing that, some jobs that I take aren’t really about money. So there’s jobs that I take that I don’t make that much money from, and I don’t care.
Vicky Vicious: For the love!
MAXX242: I love doing it! But then I have to fill that time in with jobs that do make money. So my schedule is literally like, as soon as I wake up, and then I fall asleep at my computer. An then I wake up in the middle of the night like… yeah, I should probably go to bed now.
Vicky Vicious & Susie Q: Yeah, hahahahaha.
Vicky Vicious: Well, it’s a lot of work, but I mean, I’m sure it pays off one way or another.
Susie Q: Yeah.
MAXX242: I think for me, it’s just, every time I finish a piece I look at it and I’m like fuck, I’m stoked on it — now let’s move on to the next one. I’m super thankful. I’m doing a lot of things this year.
Vicky Vicious: Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. We’re super excited to see all of your work. Tell us again, your Instagram.
MAXX242: My Instagram is MAXXER242.
Vicky Vicious: Do you have any advice for the kids out there that are watching, that are thinking about getting into this business?
MAXX242: The only thing I’d say is, it’s not easy, it’s hard. But whatever you want to do inside, just do it. Don’t let anyone tell you yes or no. Just do it. You keep doing it. You keep growing. Eventually you will get to where you need to be.
Vicky Vicious: Alright! You heard it here first! Road Dogs TV. Again, thank you for coming in!
