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SEPTEMBER 20, 1998
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ENDSTATION
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ISSUE # 10
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Västerås train station 1998
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Report made by Jeis - IAK, Västerås september 1998. Copyright endstation
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This summer has been one of the worst ever for both cleaning workers, the police and other participants in the struggle against graffiti on trains in the Swedish city Västerås. Newspapers, the local television and other medias often give space for articles and statements about this unacceptable situation. At the same time the police urge that the media shall not show any pictures of graffiti related material. Today endstation decided to do the opposite. We contacted the infamous graffiti writer Jeis from the still going strong IAK crew to let him give you his view of the situation with graffiti in his city.
I am a little boy who grew up on a desert island among crokodiles and "peoplebeer". One of the crokodiles, which I liked best told me that when I get older I shall bomb and destroy under the name of "Jeis". Nowadays i live in Västerås, Sweden and is a member of IAK crew - 5 boys, Rave, Dhem, Swob, Meal and me.
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we still do damage
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A crew should mean friends, good friends, and in IAK it does! People you can trust and count on. I really do trust the guys in IAK crew! Even if we don't hang out as much as we used to, we still do damage together!
I really prefer quantity before quality, but if you can mix them both it's just perfect!
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the name-pieces are taking over
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We've always had a very good unity, even if it is not as good now as it used to. Dhem (Penzil) have moved to Copenhagen, (I really hope you hit the Danish S-trains) and some of the members have slowed down a bit. We are all developing differently and getting impressions from what we see and experience. I am very delighted that we have done so many nice things together. Thanks alot friends! But i can guarantee that IAK is far far away from a non-existing crew. We´re still going strong, however the crew-pieces is a little bit fewer and the name-pieces are taking over. At least for some of us.
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When it comes to trains...
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There are really no problems to do graffiti in Västerås, but I have to admit that it´s quite boring in the long run, at least when it´s about walls. Västerås is relative small town and I know the place as if it was my own backyard. When it comes to trains we have pretty limited opportunities. One yard is not enought. There used to be two yards one year ago, but they have stopped parking trains there.
What keeps me in the graffiti business is the great feeling I get when i paint. It's unbeatable! But what pisses me off is when you have done a wall the piece sometimes get buffed within 8 hours. In Västerås there is a war going on between the buffers and the graffiti crews so we can´t just sit on our asses and do nothing. However the war is getting less serious nowadays. Last summer it was really cool! When the trains got hit you could have your pieces running for days. Me and Side had a piece running for 12 days. This summer people hit trains more than ever and i hope it will proceed that way. GO GO!
One reason why graffiti is such a big thing in Västerås compared to other similar cities in Sweden, I think it because graffiti came here as early as it did. Everybody could see it and get curious. I haven't done graffiti for especially long time, about 3 years. When i started there had been writers in Västerås for over 10 years. Another reason I think, is that most of us (there are exceptions) always have had a nice attitude towards graffiti, not taking it too seriously and do it because you love it.
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Västerås - Stockholm
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You have totally diffrent assumptions in Stockholm, at least when it´s about trains. I´m definately not saying that it´s easy to paint trains in Stockholm, but there are more yards and layups are. I also think that the mentality is diffrent, Stockholm has got more stress. Västerås is more focused on pieces than bombing, in Stockholm they do both of them hard.
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PieceBook is the the part of end- station that is concentrated on walls and freights from Västerås. To find out a little bit more about this city, check the -infopage- at PieceBook.
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i will now give the word to the webmaster of endstation - piecebook
My job here at endstation is to collect photos of walls and freights from Västerås, scan them, and then make an update out of it. I always try to get the newest pieces, because that's what I think people (including myself) are most interested to see. You are welcome to send your own photos, and I would like to thank those that have contributed so far, thanks! At this time I only publish pieces made in Västerås. I Hope you enjoy Västerås and PieceBook!
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