What do you write?
THE WITNES, AWR, NASA.
Tell us a little about yourself… How long you’ve been painting and who you’re down with etc.
I‘ve been painting since 88. I mostly scrawled back then, but I remember getting a hold of a lot of spray paint around 89-90. I was a young Tyke only a junior high school student. My main influences were mostly the people I met and was tight with thorugh my older brother Sumet. He fortunately put me down with guys like Krush KSN, Eklips AWR MSK, Mystic and Phever TCF, Rich NASA crew, I also was down and learned a lot from other cats like; Agent, SelfOne, Myte, Pose, Saber, Revok, Rime, Dabs, Myla, Augor, Risky WCA, The7th letter, LRG, Bama, Ekla, Crayola, Perl, DDT, and so many others, I could write pages…
So what brands of paint did you use most frequently in the early years?
I would say Krylon, because in the late 80s I was lucky enough to use the wide range of colors like Jungle, Chippewa, Hot Pink, Plum, Aqua Turquoise, Avocado, and I liked Ultra Flat and Semi Flat Blacks back then also! Krush turned me on to using the glossy blacks a little later also. I used Rust-Oleum American Accents a lot when they came out with Grape, Indian Spice, Moss, and the other flavors. I used to mix a lot of my own paint after the good colors were discontinued. But that took a few years when Agent, DTE from Chicago came to California and showed me this incredible secret! I loved to mix Jungle Green like colors, or Icy Grape shades…
^Classic Piece Breakdown: Tyke rockin’ the vintage cans!!
Are you a can collector?
Yes, and I’ve recently been re-addicted to collecting cans. When I was in high school I started to call every place within a 100 mile radius looking for dead stock. It was fun before the internet for me. It was incredible finding discontinued treasures, sometimes after searching so hard. A lot of spots were burnt, and it was rare finding stuff in my area. My best finds were a few cases of Jungle Green, Pastel Aqua, and an Icy Grape paper wrap.
^Tyke in Italy.
Can you still find old paint stock in your area?
I don’t think there is much, but to be honest you never know. It’s like finding a fossil, if you look long enough, you may discover one. I’d like to think that there are still some out there, decaying or chilling… still undiscovered.
Any good racking stories?
Not really. I came up on shopping carts full of Krylon from a no-named corporate house depo store. Sometimes I would grease the dude in the back door to let me slide through if I showed him a receipt, just any old receipt… it was better when 2 parties got over at the same time.
Any favorite old paint stores?
Lumber city, Crown Paint, Standard Brands and Home Depo. Also… Rompage Hardware, I used to get all the good flavors of Krylon from there back in the day!!
Best discontinued paint, and why?
All discontinued paint is good to me! My favorite is Krylon Jungle Green, I love that color. Especially because I would rack ‘em or use them… I also like Hot Pink, Icy Grape, and old Rust-Oleum like Cascade Green, Lime Green, and then there are colors that are so rare I wish I had like Pineapple Yellow, Hot Raspberry, Peacock Blue, and so many more.
^Revok & Witnes mash it up Star Wars style…
Any good racked cap/can combos?
I used to rack the Testor brand tips in Sav-On stores or at Standard Brands. Tips were very hard to find when I was young. My favorite were the white Testor tips with the dot and the arrow on the top! Also, Krylon gloss use to have great tips to rack, and the glass cleaner tips at the market were good fatties!
Worst paint ever award goes to?
All new krylon!
What are some of your best painting experiences?
I’d say painting at LEVITZ yard, BELMONT TUNNEL, MOTOR yard, Huntington Beach walls and the bombing I got away with when I was young. But recently I’d say traveling and meeting other writers leaves a good memory to me. Places like Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Toronto, Mexico City and of course near home in Los Angeles, Orange county, or San Diego.
How do you feel about the brands of Euro paint and their impact on the scene?
I’m down for them. The paint is great and the color selections are over whelming! I don’t really collect them for some reason, maybe
because if think they will be around forever… but I certainly use them, I like Montana Gold and Black, mtn45s, and Ironlak… as far
as their impact on the scene it’s all good to me.. the more paint the better…
Any current/future projects?
I am doing some colabrotives with LRG, (Lifted Research Group). I worked with LRG on a few things like shirts, documentries on painting, and a few other ideas. Also I’m doing some new walls with The 7th Letter Crew and working on a few projects with Mickey Avalon, I like his music and his art is also awesome. I have a new line of vinyl toy spray paint cans called ‘THE CANMANS’, with great guest artists such as REVOK, POSE, DABS, MYLA and CRAYOLA in the mix for creating art for their own limited edition ‘CANMAN’ figure! The figure is also a jar so you can stash your tips and other goodies…!!
What do you think of CMC documenting the history of spray paint?
I think its great! I really like seeing pics of old cans and other peoples collections. I’m just afraid that it will make the demand higher, thus harder to get old cans because too many people are hunting for them! But seriously, I can’t hate, I appreciate the fact that you guys share your gems with the rest of us…
^Tyke, LA 1995.
^Tyke, Commerce LA, 1995.
Any specific West Coast paint that you really liked?
Zynolte’s TOUCHE line!.. (I think Zynolyte made it, and they’re from Compton I think..??)
There’s a few methods of mixing paint out there, what was yours?
Yeah, I would use the caps of a certain products that had a connecting straw, like WD40 but better! WD40 caps would leak and be very messy, so I would get boiling water, place the dark color about 3/4 down in hot water, wait a minute, and then shoot all that hot paint in that lighter color can…. and then – wham bam thank you mam! You got yourself a custom color of 24 oz of paint!
If you could choose a few cans to have on your shelf, what would they be?
I have Jungle Green and Icy Grape, on my shelf right now, but of course I’d like all the other flavors with them… like Pineapple Yellow, Hot Raspberry, and the older Krylon also.
Any other comments?
Thanks to all my family and friends. Peace to the GODS..
