Bread + Butter Barcelona - Jan 07

Yo yo yo yo yo - sorry peeps for being away from the computer so long! Been very busy booking up the Monorex/Secret Wars diary for next 12 months....so far so good




Lots of things to tell you about - first of all our little business trip to sunny Barcelona for the coolest trade show on the planet (Bread + Butter).

We were asked to come on over and paint two sections alongside She 1, who rocked it! We took a team of 5 which included artists Alfamale and Teck 1 - We decided on a seperate theme for each....Inside we dropped a Secret Wars style battle piece that was obviously Black and White and included some crazy mutant circus characters. While outside we dropped a spray piece that had the guys characters in the forefront with a brown and yellow city scape of Barcelona (See pics).

We were there for a total of five days and had a super time with all expenses paid!! Met some cool and well respected peeps like Jeff Staple and his right hand man Nico - plus went to a shed load of free parties where drinked flowed at a constant rate.....Alfa had probably 7 drinks on hand at any one time.

Didn't get much time to relax and see the city as the show was full on but I did sneek off at one point to go and check out a large castle on the mountains that was one eery ghost town....eventually we found some peeps and bought some calimari!

All in all the trip was a major success and hopefully exposed the artists aswell as Monorex to the thousands of people who came and saw........meaning big things for 07!

Thanks to Andy @ Edding for supplying the juicy pens we needed to paint the masterpieces and a big up also for the flights....

Another shout out to Peggy @ Bread and Butter for getting us involved and being such great hosts for the five days we were out there....see you in the summer!

Monorex / Matsuri Xmas dinner 07

Mmm, there is nothing better at Christmas time than a good roast dinner and that is exactly what 35 lucky Monorex/Matsuri friends had the chance to munch at the bi-monthly event entitled Chilly con Carnage.





The event aimed to bring together lots of creative people to London’s Below Zero bar, made famous for its frozen Ice Bar upstairs. Although it’s probably the fifth in a line of events held at the Below Zero bar in Heddon St, this one had a little bit of Christmas flavour with champagne reception and lip-smacking buffet dinner for those who bought tickets in advance.




With a menu of turkey with stuffing, roast lamb, ham, salmon, pumpkin, roast potatoes, Foccacia bread, coleslaw and mince pies, fruit and lush chocolate brownies for dessert all the guests ate together around a horse-shoe shaped table with the Christmas tree taking centre stage.





Not only was the dinner a real success, but also the guests went away feeling like Christmas had come early, with every single person going home with their very own present. Nike trainers, Ipods, DVDs and Hulger phones were just a few of the cool and quirky prezzies on offer.



After dinner with most of our bellies fit to burst the party began with DJ sets from the Patchwork Pirates, and the Geisha Disco Boys. The music played late into the night with even a 16year old beat boxer stepping up to impress the crowds. He had an absolutely amazing set that just blew everyone away.




With Pens in hand it was a chance for the artists to have a little freestyle doodle on the specially purchased canvas. All four artists came up with some pretty masterful pieces, especially the artistic styles of Wen and Morgasmic, who having only just been introduced on the night blended very well together.







Everyone went home feeling very merry and slightly sizzled due to the buy one get one free drinks offer open throughout the night.


Gabriella Weekes

INSA SHOW @ BEST!

Went along to the Insa show the other night at Best and saw the talented man's new masterpieces - Everything looked really fresh and it looked like he sold 50% of his art in the first hour or so....

When I got there it was one big que for the Bandana give away - I missed out on this by 4 peeps! but hey ho you can't win em all. I am sure those kids were there 2 or maybe 3 hours before - it felt like being in the middle of a Bathing Ape que.....

Good show, nice booze and met many cool people!

Teck 1 paints fabric!

Yo just a quick update to explain where we have been the last couple of weeks!



We were invited down to the Love Music, Hate Racism gig @ fabric alongside babyshambles and co - so we got Teck up on a little stage painting a canvas in front of the indie / grime kids!

Quite funny watching Teck get props from young girls asking for him to tag their arm etc....



Good night tho and a big thanks to Dave and Olivia for sorting!!!

Secret Wars - Inkie and 5683 go through to Q finals...

5683 EDGES PAST C’BON WHILE INKIE SMASHES RICH T TO A PULP…

Another super hectic night down at secret wars HQ – with hundreds of people crammed in the venue (Juno) the guys got underway and did not disappoint – with 4 fresh and completely different styles thrown on the wall….first up was 5683 vs C’bon who replaced Polio at the very last minute due to family reasons – so big up to C’bon for free styling a super duper piece based round love and hate.

Monorex invited the Patchwork Pirates and DJ Skunkboy to drop the beats plus we had Cpt crunch mixing some tunes to in a cameo appearance – a perfect music combination for a fierce battle environment.

5683 drew a grim reaper stooping over a boy with polio (pre planned idea), it looked amazing and set the tone for the rest of the night with Inkie and Rich T going head to head. After some split and very confused judges tipped for 5683 the night had a small interval – the monorex boys decided to add a whole load of extras to this secret wars and all future gigs, with C’monts being drafted in to host the night and a freestyle beat boxer to rev the crowd up before round 2!!!! Both hyped and excited the sweaty and loud crowd to the extent of them shouting for Inkie and Rich T…so round 2 commenced with two hot favourites up against each other in round 1 – who would win? Only time would tell.

Inkie made a super quick start, bubbling with magners he literally covered his side of the wall with his classical inspired girl montage – leaving Rich T still on his outlines…..over the 1 and a half hours this was always the case with Rich T struggling to catch up and cover more of the space, at some points of the battle Rich seemed to turn and stare at what Inkie was painting in awe or just pure shock….answers on the back of a postcard!!

With the battles over the crowd were interested to find out who would take the last spot in the Secret Wars Q final – and with the judges for the first time explaining their answers, the crowd got an insight into their thoughts…..and after a dramatic 1:1 vote for each artist – up stepped Jude (Opus Dopus) who dropped the Inkie bombshell, sending the crowd into fits of cheers!!

So may the Quarter finals roll on!!

Next battles – December 16^th

Mr Shrew vs. Teck1

Gustav Balderdash vs. Okkle

WWW.SECRETWARS.CO.UK

Stussy sample sale and gear up to Secret Wars!

What a hectic friday this was but enjoyable in a sense....from start to finish I was on my feet walking somewhere or emailing/phoning someone!

I am just glad I have one of those good ol Blackberrys, otherwise I would be lost and out of work. But hey all is cool and I rocked it - so nothing to worry about there.

Ok so here is a quick break down of my day:

• Woke up / showered / Emails (20 of them) / Picked up a delivery for Secret Wars
• Designed stickers/ badges/ flyers for Secret Wars street campaign
• Organising events schedule for next year
• Met Taka (Matsuri) to pick up flyers for Chilly con carnage / Went to Juno to poster walls
• Stussy sample sale/ Beer with Teck 1 / Bagels for dinner
• Home/ More emails and planning of Secret Wars tomorrow

Anyway I bought myself 4 x Stussy tees - some for xmas pressies and a couple for me! :) a mans never got enough fly T's...

signing out - need some extra sleep for a long day on the battle field @ Secret Wars, so see you soon.

Blacktronica - Rock Tha Bells!

Went down to check out the docuementary about Wu-tangs last gig together....It was a funny and entertaining film with some great real life characters (ODB's crew), this gig was a real feat to pull off and it ended up being ODB's last gig before he died one month later!

This film basically followed the organiser "Chang" around showing the audience the stresses and strains of setting up something as big as this!

Hopefully this film drops on DVD but I doubt it as it seems very low budget....

Anyway if you get the chance to see it - do it!

Word

Shakes gig @ 93ft East

Got invited to attend the Shakes & Man like me gig down at 93ft East – went pretty well with a decent size crowd in attendance to see them both perform….Not sure about the Man like me crew tho as I thought only 1 out of 6 songs was worth buying…But what the guy lacks in musical ability, he makes up for in showmanship with a crazy leap onto the roof while rapping his lyrics to a hungry hip hop crowd!



Well done Shakes – you rocked it once again!

Alfa paints a space invader wall for Creative X

Here are some flicks from a job we did on Friday, it is not Alfa’s normal or favored style but he definitely pulled it off in some style.



He stuck to the brief and produced a wicked little piece that the client loved – well done mate and may the challenges keep on coming.

Over and out

Terry

Yo just a quick one as I’m completely exhausted from a full on Monorex weekend!

Here are the pics from the Below Zero Ice bar where we dropped our 3rd Chilly Con Carnage but this time in conjunction with our Japanese friends Matsuri...



On a cold but sunny day we managed to get down 14 or so artists to paint canvases through out the day and then we all went inside for a special little party that had visuals by fcflow and music from the pirates and geisha disco boys.

Holla!

Next one will be our Xmas special and we have 50 tickets available for the dinner before the party - three course super meal with champagne.....yeah baby! So drop me an email to enquire - studio@monorex.com

http://www.monorex.com/

Secret Wars - Featuring Sickboy, Wen, Alfamale and Inkfetish!

Another two battles down - with one more heat to go before we head into the Quarter finals.....



Saturday was one night to remember, raising the bar once again with Wen and Sickboy kicking things off on the left side of the wall. From the starting whistle things were exciting - with Sickboy refusing to get up and start, allowing his opponent (Wen) a head start that he said he needed.



The crowds again only keep growing with Juno having to reject to at least 100 people on the door!! Sorry people....:) we will be getting a bigger venue for series 2!

The results from battle 1 were there for all to see - Wen dropped a sick piece, with his characters curing Sickboy with little injections....while Sickboy chose to just doodle his usual quirky style....The judges voted Sickboy!! Controversially...with crowds booing and cheering :)



Battle 2 was another tasty line up which could have easily been a final...with Alfamale up against Inkfetish, there piece was even more intense with both sides preferring to go all guns blazing!

Inkfetish dropped a pumpkin head character stabbing a little Alfa doll, while Alfamale drew his grim reaper pulling the strings on Inkfetish's Pinocchio character in high heels :)....so funny!



At the end the judges voted Alfamale 2:1 - but I would have to say that battle really raised the bar as most people thought they planned the piece being that it gelled so well.

Anyway until next time.....see you on the battle field!

http://www.secretwars.co.uk/