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This interview
was taken from Bomber
Magazine, issue 17, July/September 1998.
BOMBER: How did you get involved?
RAZOR: In the summer of 1990 I came to graffiti through
some breakers, with whom I used to hang out. The first time
I held a can in my hand was filling out a piece of my friend.
Then I painted my first own pieces with the name SLICK. After
a while I met my mentor, a MC with a non terrestrial intelligence,
who teached me a lot about the attitude towards being a writer
and gave me my name RAZOR.
I started up to make some walls
with this name until I first tasted blood in 1991 while painting
my first train. The first time I always did my actions alone,
but in 1992 I met ZER and we built a team for some attacks.
When we were out to paint once, we met SKIM, we joined our
forces and made an End to End. After some actions we decided
to found a crew. ZER got the idea for the specific name COS
with itīs meaning COLORS ON STEEL. We did a lot together in
ī92 and ī93.
Later I thought it was more safe to change the
name sometimes. So I painted PEKS, ASTRO, CRUSH (these threenames
were given to later COS-members), JUDAS and FLY, which was
my streetbombing-name. Buteverytime I came back to my original
name after a few actions, because it does notsatisfy me and
it is senseless for a writer who is just painting for fame.
In ī93 I did some more stuff in Hamburg and got in contact
with KANDY. He was my partner for that time and we formed the
crew WES (We Express Subversive) together with USW and BENS.
Later I concentrated more on COS again, because WES got less
active. ZER and SKIM retiredfrom trainbombing, so it was up
to me to find some new talents to join the crew. They were
KODIE, CRUSH and ASTRO.
Why are you painting on trains?
There are a lot of motivations for painting trains. First
there is this certain feeling, which is very hard to describe.
It just feels good. Trains are also a very suitable medium
to attract everybodys attention, which makes one famous not
only to writers, especially when one prefers to paint blockers.
I do not only paint for thirteen year old shit-smoking Wu-Tang
writers, but for everyone, who has got a pair of healthy eyes.
It is more fun painting trains compared to walls. I donīt
prepare myself as much for a train as I would do for a wall.
Another aspect is that it takes less paint to do a train.
The walls I would paint must have a high level of attracting
attention, which a train always has. Also does graffiti look
much better on trains, especially on the old german steeltrains.
I prefer them trains for the fact that the style is looking
more shiny than on totally fucked up walls with hundreds of
tags or pieces from one end to the other.
A style on steel
comes different, because the letters are not īflying aroundī,
but they stand on a basis instead, for which I have a particular
liking. A style on a train hardly ever runs the risk of being
crossed out by any other writer.
Another motivation is that
some of the steeltrains were running for years. One negative
aspect on trainwriting is that it is hard to get good photos
and that some vanish even without being pictured.
Can you explain why the kick is worth the risk?
Itīs worth nearly every risk if one earns fame and respect
for it. I do not restrict my actions just on artistical things.
I also do throw-ups and this year I am very fond of inside
tags again. Spreading out my name whereever I go is the deal
and I use every means that graffiti offers to me.
Your pieces look always razorblade sharp, spotless clean,
good style and original ideas, how do you keep up with that?
Doing pieces like I do is just a matter of good preparation.
It takes some time to sit at home and study the letters. Doing
a lot of sketches until one satisfies me. Thinking about an
effect, planning it, before I go out to do it. When I am standing
in front of the train I know how the piece will look like.
Nevertheless it is too easy picking out a black and a chrome
can every time, but I am also ready for every spontanous action.
Certainly I am inspired by others as every writer is, but
I have also other sources of inspiration. Doing this little
bit more complicated pieces is of course a bigger risk, but
I have spied out the yards and know exactly when and where
I can paint for which time. Also I am writing for passion,
so I always have to do something extraordinary. I hate stylestagnation,
so I give my best to kick out some new stuff.
In the last
time the enemy got stronger and the yards are fucked up, so
I am only able to do quicks, which forces me to concentrate
more on walls in the future. I even flirted with the idea
to paint legal to express myself as I want to, without any
restrictions in time. But somehow I have not made it until
now, because I want to paint RAZOR and nothing else, which
is a little bit too risky at the time.
If you had to pick three trainwriters, which names would
that be?
First there is CHINTZ for his big amount of hard bombings,
for which he gets my full respect. I like it, when people
are bombing trains constantly for all the years. Even when
one will not find too much of him in the magazines, he is
one of the most active and original trainbombers in germany.
Others, like JEPSY, do not so much compared to CHINTZ, but
photos of their styles appear very often and are well known
in the scene, for their technics and shiny harmonized color-combinations.
Therefore JEPSY earns my full respect.
Last but not least
I want to pick out a writer from Berlin, because I like that
style in general. I want to name DEJOE, but there are lots
of others. I must say that it was very hard to pick out only
three trainwriters, so I set myself the limitation to mention
only writers from germany, but it did not make it much easier.
How activ are you?
The grade of activity changes from time to time. It depends
on my normal life, that restricts me sometimes in my ability
to bomb. But whenever Iīve got the chance or the extreme urge,
I just go out and paint. No matter if I have to paint alone
or with partners. When I started with graffiti I was more
a loner, which I think is the best and safest way to paint.
With the years I got some partners, with whom I like to go
out and paint. They are not just partners in crime. Most of
them I also like for their character. Having partners encourages
one to do more, which is a positive effect.
Have you ever went to other countries to paint and what
are your experiences?
I have not travelled too much, but I did. I went to Copenhagen,
Amsterdam, Basel and in a lot of places in Germany. I know
every village, where is a possibility to paint trains, in
northern Germany. My experiences with travelling were very
positive. It pushed me a lot and I got some new influences
in style.
I enjoyed myself the most in Amsterdam. The reasons
are the cool hospitable people, the fresh pieces combined
with characters and the three dimensional styles.
How is the situation with trains?
In Hamburg we have got all systems from subways to the ICE.
The development in Hamburg seems to be that in the future
You have to throw cacaopackages towards the trains to do something
that is similar to graffiti.
All the old S - Train - cars will be taken out and replaced
by the new red ones. They build up high fences around the
yards, cameras and stuff like that, which has a certain tradition
in germany.
The Vandal Squad
is also very active. They patrol the yards very often all
day- and nighttime. The yards containing the red ones, are
guarded all around the clock. Eighty percent of the steeltrain-yards
are watched by the BGS (German Boarder Police) and also by
private security with dog-guards in a way that one can not
paint there anymore. The rest of the yards are visited by
the BGS spontaneously. The big subwaysystem in Hamburg is
spotchecked with a high frequency by a private security. I
think the Vandal Squad has an efficiency of nearly 80%, because
a lot of my partners have been busted. But for the most people
including me the good guarded yards and the effective vandal
squad are not a reason to quit.
Certainly there are a lot of
visitors, but I stay undercover and paint with the guys I
am used to. I have made the experience that a lot of people
just write with the so called kings to get up in the scene
and famous. I think itīs better to get the fame through ones
pieces and not for the partners one has painted with. Itīs
the work that counts and not the relationships.
When you look at your life today what are the positiv and
negativ experiences of being a graffiti-writer?
Graffiti is an escape of the reality and the normal life for
me. It has only bad influences on my life, because it is hard
to manage a normal life besides Graffiti. I never had conflicts
with the law when it comes to Graffiti. I allways had the
luck that they catched the others and I was able to run my
lungs out. Compared to others I have not made a lot of friendships
or contacts, because of my mentality. It is the best way to
stay out of conflicts, but to some You seem to be an ignorant
with this behaviour. Graffiti has enriched my life. I am acting
creative with and besides graffiti. Itīs not only letter-designing,
but also other tasks that I try to manage.
How important is it for you to be in a crew or isn`t it?
In former times the crew was more important to me than it
is nowadays. Itīs the fact that the most members stopped writing
or their interest for trains lessened, that made the importance
of the crew decrease. But nevertheless I am still doing crewpieces
as I did all the time, from tags to wholecars. Even if the
other members are not so active anymore they get my full respect
for their actions, styles and personality, and they will be
COS - members forever.
What does the future got in store?
Itīs hard to think about the future for me. Who can tell whatīs
happening tomorrow. The most important thing is to stay original
and being creative.
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