KANI WDS, STEEL ADDICTED

We have a new interview for you all, from Madrid Revolution for MTN-WORLD, in which they introduce us to another graffiti writer. In this instance, more than it’s not so much his length of time doing graffiti, so much as his hyperactivity on trains that makes this writer from Guadalajara so special. The rest, we’ll let the writer himself tell us:

‘I began doing graffiti in 2002. I was just a little tadpole, putting tags all over the neighborhood. It wasn’t until 2005-2005 that I began to take it a bit more seriously…‘

‘My first trains were in Guadalajara, a station at which I’ve painted many of my mirror train pieces. One day, I painted there all morning, afternoon, and evening, until the guards were so fucking sick and tired of me that they put a price on my head.’

‘I soon got to know other writers from Madrid that would come to my station. It was then that I began to discover the authentic addiction to trains. At that time, I didn’t have a car, so getting into Madrid meant disaster, ‘cos I had to catch a train in and then wait till the first trains the following morning which left at 6 am. Each panel had to suffer. Later on, with a car for transport, it became more comfortable.‘

‘I’ve gotta say that in graffiti, there’s always someone one level up from you, someone who paints more, someone who’s more addicted, who has more experience…so it’s better to be a bit humble and do your own thing without worrying what everyone else is doing. There’s always a lot more to do.‘

‘I remember one time being caught red-handed at my station. I was painting a backjump which lasted 20 minutes. I was painting alone that time. I thought that a friend of mine was keeping an eye out for guards but naturally, he was stoned and didn’t tell me that two train conductors had gotten off the train. They saw me and started sprinting down towards me. I had to do a couple of zig-zags to dodge them until I got to a wall that I could jump. All of a sudden I realized that one of my feet had gotten stuck…but in actuality it was one of the conductors holding onto my leg. I eventually managed to get loose and escape. A few minutes later the place was full of cops and guards looking for me, but they’d arrived too late, yet once again.‘

‘Another fun moment was in Amsterdam at an atcion in the metro. Everything seemed really quiet. We lowered ourselves from a bridge along the roof of the metro and began to paint. We were a bit surprised then, when the electricity went, but no one came so we kept painting until we left the layup, doing tags as went. Suddenly, from behind a tunnel, 8 cops came out and surrounded us, as if we were bulls in a bull-ring. Once more, I had to dodge them with some zig-zagging. I finally managed to jump over a barbed wire fence and escape, but it totally cut my hand up. Not everyone was as lucky as me though…hehe.’

‘I normally try to combine graffiti with a normal life, since you can’t earn a living doing this unless you have someone to sponsor you, as my friend Drem says. You have to “Have control over graffiti, instead of it having control of you”. At certain moments, for me, it was the latter, but you’ve got to try to find the balance.‘

‘I never imagine how my life would be without graffiti. I suppose it would be very boring, monotonous, and lacking in adrenaline. I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world, and although sometimes it’s easy to think that it doesn’t bring anything other than negatives (fines, trials, sleepless nights with no gain, etc…), I continue without any regret.‘

‘Love to my people from Guada and Madrid, they know who they are, no name are necessary.‘