Dreos, AOM, LD, MDK interview

I write Dreos and I'm from AOM, LD, & MDK, but AOM is my main crew, it's really more like family then a graff crew and is now becoming business.

anomie1: How long have you been into graffiti?

Well i used to gangbang, and i got jumped into my neighborhood (V. Hillside 12 St.) when i was 13 that was 1993 and we tagged up our neighborhood religiously as well as in rival gang's hood's. At the end of the summer in 94 i got caught tagging and i had some outstanding warrants that ended up putting me away for a while. I got my first taste of what i like to call Hip Hop Graffiti when i first went to a tunnel in Southeast Portland called Prankland and i couldnt believe they could do that with spraypaint, it was pretty much a wrap for me from that point on and i've been painting that form of graffiti ever since.

anomie1: You paint a lot of trains, do you have a favorite boxcar?

It's changed alot over the years, I think nowadays i'm more interested in trains that i haven't got a chance to paint yet like those dope Lamb & Western's (whatever there called) & Tropicanas. Growing up originally in the NorthWest the old Southern Pacific Sawdust cars are a staple to freight graffiti to me and friends of mine which actually don't travel far, so most of the country doesn't know what the fuck i'm talking about.

Do I have any beef? [laughs], yeah i'd say thats an understatement, but I think most writers have some sort of beef so it's really not that big of a deal. I really dislike poser's and I have a problem with not being able to bite my lip. I think people capping people on freights is inevitable, it's to easy for people to get away with it in there little train yard where nobody will see it happen. But to anyone reading this, don't go over someone's graff if you wouldn't say shit in real life, it might just come back to haunt you.

anomie1: So I hear you have a video out, care to speak about that at all? And where can we cop it from?

Yea, We put out the first FeelMode Graffiti DVD earlier this year, and we have been filming for the 2nd and 3rd installment all year long. We have been filming with a lot of really talented writers and big crews so everyone should definitely keep there ears peeled. You can check www.feelmode.com to order your copy or to get more info on our upcoming releases.

anomie1: That seems really fresh, what else in the future can we expect from you guys?

Well we incorporated the Feel Mode name, so now Feel Mode Inc. is becoming a parent company to other ventures we have going, we are working on a wide variety of different things like both a male & a female clothing line, limited edition skateboards as well as a Free Urban Arts & Lifestyle magazine titled XP Magazine, which is due to launch by the end of the year. you can check www.xpmagazine.com for more information about that. Watch out for us in 2006 as we will be doing alot of big things!

anomie1: Where do you think graffiti is going? Good or bad?

Well I have 2 different answers to that question, the writer in me is kinda bummed at the state of graffiti nowadays and I blame that almost entirely on sites like 12oz, it has taken my once favorite pastime and put in in every lil kid's living room or computer room, and led us to really bland graff these days. it's not the same as how magazines were, now people's entire graff careers are showcased online and i just think thats kind of cheap.. but it is what it is. On the other hand I think as graffiti continues to become more popular a lot more writers are making money off graff these days and I think there is still room for that to increase before it fizzles out. In the end history repeats itself so it will once again fade out and only the dedicated heads will stay with it.

Wow, craziest story.. it's hard to think of just 1 because just like most people that have been doing this for a long time over the years they sure add up. I was once shot at a close distance by a cop with a shotgun filled with beanbag bullets while getting caught painting freights, when they yell stop and you don't they don't seem to like that very much. I've also had to jump on moving trains to get away before with the police right on my tail only to have the police radio in to the engineer to stop the train and therefor starting a whole new chase. Getting my head completely busted open by jumping in to a Palm Tree then having to hide in a ditch for hours with my shirt tied around my head to stop the bleeding to avoid being arrested ranks up there too. But i'd have to say one of the winner's just might be this one, a couple years ago me and my homie were fucked up out of our minds in San Diego, i'm talking off a bunch of xanax and tons of alcohol straight blacked out... well we were just walking around tagging downtown on a Friday Night in the famous Gas Lamp District (not something I would suggest) and we are catching tags on this doorway when all of a sudden two cops just ride there bikes right into us, both of us so fucked up we didnt even see or hear them coming, well they grab us and my friend goes down, but the cop was holding onto my jacket and while he was getting off of his bike and I wiggled out of the jacket and started running, mind you this is on a Friday night around 1:45 in the morning so all the clubs and bars are just getting out so there are people everywhere... so there I am running through the gaslamp quarter with cops chasing me yelling freeze or i'll shoot with people all around yelling for me to "go go go" I felt like I was in a movie for a second, anyways so by this time they have about every cop in downtown called over there for this and i'm seriously juking a couple of these cops like barry sanders, well then I see a cop running from the other side of the street right at me, I hurdle a newspaper box and hit this cop mid-air, well my momentum got the best of this cop and I knock him over with my foot landing on his face as I land, unfortunately causing me to loose my balance a little bit as i only made it a few more steps before falling down and getting pounced on and a little beaten up by the cops for making them look like fools in front of everyone like that, in the end I got the regular graffiti charges but was also tagged with assault on a police officer charge for supposedly "kicking an officer in the face". A kind of happy ending to the story is when we got bailed out and got our property back they left the xanax in my friends personal belongings so we proceeded to pop another pill and go grab some beer, some weed and celebrate our quick release.

anomie1:Big thanks for your time. Any Shouts or Fuck Yous?

No problem, thanks for putting up the banner on your site and thanks to everyone who supports me and Feel Mode Inc. Of course i want to shout out my crews, and everybody i get money with, my girl for keeping a muthafucka eatin' good and everyone i meet in my travels. 1 million'