Constructive destruction VOL 1

There are a number of Freight graff dvds out there at the moment, I was lucky enough to get my hands on four of them, here’s my review of the first….

Constructive destruction VOL 1

I like freights, there’s something about the way these old cars trundle across the good ol’ US of A that makes me want to go there, spend all day in a layup out in the middle of nowhere in the hot sun painting car after car, I don’t imagine it’s an easy thing to achieve but easier than say painting the Bucharest subway or hitting a clean train in New York City. Freights to me seem all about the fun side of graff, painting with your mates, having a beer and finding out someone 600 miles away has seen your stuff running, in this day and age it’s a welcome return to the old school values of graffiti i.e benching, collecting /trading flicks and meeting like minded people. There seems to be a respect for the giant box cars and engines that is rarely found elsewhere, writers know their “Golden Wests” from their “Tropicanas” or their “Reefers” from their “Rail boxes”, its almost on a level of…. dare I say it “trainspotting”!!! there’s a geekyness to all this that I love, there’s still the element of destruction but as the title of this first DVD suggests its “constructive”.

Basically this first Vol from the Construct guys is a benchers wet dream, living in Devon, UK, I cant really say I’ve got much experience of watching live art roll by, plenty of walls get covered but our freight trains are pretty much non existent so I’m grateful to the guys that go out there and get this footage so that the rest of the world can see it to. Having said that after I’d seen all the freights roll by and the movie was over I didn’t really want to watch it again but I guess this is the downside of watching a benching DVD. The quality of the footage and the graff is great, old favourites of mine like MBER, DIAR, GONER and ICH are all over this alongside to many more to mention here, I also liked the little flashes of naked ladies, which seems to be a welcome standard in most graff dvds these days, I thought the soundtrack was for the most pretty good but some of the tunes sounded like 1980s Heavy Metal, most of which wasn’t good then and def isn’t now. What little bits of live painting there is didn’t really impress me but it was good to see something different after watching 40 odd box cars go past. Essentially this is a great dvd but a bit of a one hit wonder, it’s not something that I would watch again and again, like for example “Affiti Grey” but it’s def worth checking out

Spacehop says 3 out of 5 Hopstas…. buy it if you love a bit of benching from…..

http://www.myspace.com/constructivexdestruction

Die Slow 2, history of violence, Keep six, Doug, Label, Surgen and now Big Miles return to give us more of the Canadian street bombing, freight hitting SDK experience. Like I said for D.S. Vol 1, I first found SDK on You tube with this vid of Keep 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_RqMQyBAIw&feature=channel_page

I thought this was a sign of great things to come but like the first DVD I just ain’t feeling it on this one either. It starts with some sped up shaky camera action that kind of made my head hurt as I tried to watch someone go around slapping up stickers, then, as if it was all building up to this moment… Doug puts 3 small tags up on a wall in broad daylight. I’m not saying this is lame just not what I expected after such a crazy build up. Keep six hits a freight next, it’s big and its silver (the piece not the freight) but the Keep six quality I was expecting just wasn’t there, he saves the day with his trademark “Keeper” tag though and then it’s straight into Doug hittin up the streets, the Pawn broker’s throwie is sick and it’s obvious this guy has got his letters down, Label comes next with some street and trackside tags and throwies, all good but a bit similar to the stuff from Vol.1. Then it’s Keep 6 with Nacs, they hit a freight and this time he’s on point.

After a brief intro to new boy Big Miles it’s back to more LBL throws followed by Surgen hitting freights but like Keep’s first silver, this gold piece just don’t do it for me, the silver piece that follows ain’t much better, WUFC SDK this is not. After a few minutes of nightime footage that reveals a STOMPDOWN KILLERS huge roadside silver there are some still pictures of the work of Big Miles, the pics look great but then we see him paint with Surgen in a freight yard sandwiched between to trains which means you never get to see the finished piece which is annoying after watching them paint it. Label returns with another ok silver freight then we get to see what Big Miles can do, he seems to like writing “Tax This” everywhere and like all the SDK guys his handstyle is amazing but as a piecer, for me, it’s not that great, the SDK are bombers, they get up and get up everywhere for which they deserve extra credit but wether this is enough to make a dvd out of I’m still unsure. Next is a section featuring Nacs who produces the best thing on the DVD so far, a huge silver and black piece but then its back to Big Miles and his hand styles followed by a session with Nacs and Surgen at the freight yard, it’s obvious that these guys can paint so I don’t know if they got nervous being filmed or something but once again I aint feeling it. Next we go on a boat cruise (no really!) Where the SDK have some fun drawing on a selection of lovely ladies and then apart from some more footage of Surgen tagging that’s about it!!

To sum up, like I said the SDK are bombers and they do the whole writing on freight trains and road sides in broad daylight really well, they’re definitely hardcore but I get the feeling this has gone to their heads and what we get as a result is a dvd about how “hard” they are, how much weed they smoke, how much whiskey they drink and how many ladies they can get on their boat to draw on rather than just showing off the skills they obviously have, I think they have been sucked into the whole gangster lifestyle a bit to much and they come across as a bit wannabe, that said though when I bought the DVD it did come with a fly “silver” chain which I will definitely wear the next time I go Gang Bangin!!

3 out of 5 Hopsta’s ….think about buying it if you like bombing or you want a fly “silver” chain.