Jay Musk
Jay Musk is one of my fav Brisbane skaters. He’s the creator of 138 Skateboards which he runs out of his shed–they make nothing under 8″ boards. Musk is an artist and also works on Low Key Productions. Jay is an all-round most excellent person.
I know that art, music (esp. punk rock) and skateboarding are very dear to your heart. How did you come to each? Tell me about your relationship with them.
Through skateboarding pretty much. I started skateboarding at an early age, and through skateboarding I found my love for art and music. I think it started with customising my own skateboards in the ’80s—pulling apart my skateboards and painting them, making them look cool.
With music, my dad had lots of tapes, so there was always new music to listen to.
Early skate videos they always had punk music, ’80s punk was a pretty big influence in my eyes.
Music art and skateboarding are the three things I like and it all ties into one.
How did punk rock and skateboarding affect your upbringing as a youngster?
It pretty much saved my life. It gave me direction, and when I moved to a smaller town, we’d get into trouble a lot. Then we got into skateboarding and music and so we had places to go. We’d go see a band and go skating all day, keeping out of trouble… sort of.
Who were the artists that inspired you growing up?
Don’t know really, we were so secluded from it, I didn’t even know there were skateboarding magazines! Pretty much inspiration from skateboard graphics from that era, companies like Zorlak, Jim Phillip’s Santa Cruz graphics, Skull Skates and Powell Peralta.
In art class you’d see Andy Warhol stuff. Then in high school you’d get what you could from art class (cos it was pretty shit) Basquiat’s my favourite, and early New York street art.
Have you always wanted to be an artist?
No, artist no. I don’t think I’m classed as an artist. I just like being creative and making things my own and customising stuff. There’s so many things that tie in with skateboarding as an art form, it’s such a broad spectrum and I tap into a few of those things I guess for inspiration.
Did you go to art school?
I did art at school, and I did art classes which was pretty much drawing with charcoal. But that’s a bit restricting, not as good as painting in your shed where there’s no rules and no one is telling you how to do something.
Who is our current favourite artist and what is it about them that draw you to their work?
Pushead is really good. I’ve like him for years just because he did heaps of graphics for Zorlak, heaps of skulls and batwings. More on the horror side. Basquiat is still one of my favourites, for the way he did things, someone doing street art and smart enough to get his stuff into a gallery for people to see it.
What type of mediums do you work in? Which is your favourite and why?
Pretty much stencilling because it branched from screen printing. I use to draw a lot, but I sort of got over that I guess. Doing stencils on skateboards, because it’s accessible, you can just cut something out and put in on a board. Now with computers I can play on Photoshop with board graphics but I still like to stick to the basics with the hands on approach.
Is there a medium you wish you could work with but don’t have much luck with or find frustrating?
Screen printing, just because it takes up so much space and the finer points of screen printing are a little bit hard to do at home without the right utensils. Space is the key. It would nice to have a carousel.
Do you feel that there are any reoccurring themes in your work? Tell me about your skateboard company 138? I’m assuming the name came fro the Misfits song We Are 138?
First off, the theme is B-grade horror as I’ve always liked it. I picked 138 as the name as it’s a number so it doesn’t necessarily have a meaning behind it. It’s a number that keeps reoccurring in my life, I love the Misfits, and the number 138 always comes up.
In relation to 138 I’ve heard you describe it as a collective, what does that meant to you?
Well I started 138 as a fanzine and it was a collective of different artists from local and abroad. The idea behind it was to display different people’s works to the people that don’t usually get to see it I guess.
What made you decide to start your own company and not opt for the security of a 9-5 job?
I started it because I had a pile of painted skateboards. I thought I could have them hanging in my house. People started commenting on them and so I saw the potential and started selling them to friends. I had a show at Resistance skate shop with 20 stencilled skateboards and thought I’d continue selling skateboard under the name 138. I still have to have other work to keep it alive, so it keeps me quite busy. It’s more like a side project at this point in time. Still got to pay the bills.
Tell me about the realities of running your own business. What’s one of the greatest challenges you’ve come up against?
Keeping a consistent balance between trying to hold down work, skateboarding and starting a skateboard company properly, the way it’s suppose to be in my eyes.
I’ve heard 138 doesn’t make a board under 8”, why?
138 is more targeted at older skateboarders. The skateboard industry has turned it into little league. I decided to focus on my peers so they have bigger boards to ride. For a while you couldn’t get bigger boards. Now they can.
What’s your favourite spot you’ve ever skated?
The spots we spend time making. You’re down there with your friends mixing concrete making something that wasn’t skateable into something that is skateable. You put in all the work and at the end of it you have a new spot and a sick skate, like what we did at Slimey’s ditch.
I think I read a while back that you had knee surgery due to a skateboard stack. What happened? How did the downtime away from skating affect you?
Yeah it sucked. It was really hard. I was out for 12 months, bedridden for 8 months. It was a long time to be out of action, from skating everyday to lying in bed catching up on a lot of horror movies. There are only so many movies you can watch before you go crazy. I like to keep pretty active so it was quite difficult to be un-mobile. It gave me a lot of time to refine my stencil work. All I could do was hobble around on crutches so it was easier to sit down and cut stencils which worked out great as I ended up having a solo show and ended up selling all my skateboards.
Photo by Ben Challenor
Who is your favourite skater and why?
I don’t really have one, but it inspires me to see some of my older friends still skating, and skating hard. What I like is someone that skates loose and fast. There’s so many aspects of skating it’s hard to pinpoint it. You watch someone and you can just see that its right I guess.
Under what circumstances or mood are you in when you decide, this is time to skate versus this is tie for making art?
When I’m not injured I guess since I was told I have a knee of that of a 75 year old. When it feels good I get to go for a roll, and when its not I get to paint on skateboards so its win-win.
Tell me about your involvement with Low Key?
Norm Higgins and I started Low Key Productions because we made a skate video ‘Brizbender’ showcasing some local skateboard talent. Then we ended up having a video night where we’d premiere videos at a local bar in New Farm. We did that for a few months and then we thought it would be more productive to hold Low Key skateboard events where we would light up the skateboard at night and invite all our friends to come and skate and have a BBQ with no restrictions.
We still are working on some events coming up this year like Spine Damage 2 at Fairfield skate park, and working on getting some more Low Key products available.
On one of the tee designs for Low Key you’ve used a lion, what was the idea behind using that imagery?
It comes from our love for reggae music and the lion ties in with this. The lion is the king of the jungle.
You seem attracted to and to use macabre imagery in your work, where does that affinity come from? Tell me about you love of B-grade horror?
Since I was little I’ve always watched horror movies. I like the adrenalin rush you get from watching horror films, and I like to express that through my skateboard graphics.
Scares off the kids.
Tell me about your favourite art project that you have worked onto date?
The art show I had with Beth Willis at the Fort in the Valley. I made these 6 ft wall rides at the back of the gallery for everyone to skate and get involved instead of just walking through and looking. It turned out to be a really great night.
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on some new 138 graphics. I’ve just got boards into Skatebiz in the city and some customised clothing at Box Vintage at West End. I’ve just completed a series of boards with pin-up girls for commission. Also working on the next Spine Damage night.
You also make a zine called 138. What was you first introduction to zines?
Thrasher magazine had a section in it dedicated to zines so you send away and get zines from different people. Swapping zines with different people.
What do you think of the skateboarding scene today? What can we learn from that subculture?
It’s a big question. There’s so many aspects of skateboarding, there’s little pockets of scenes and different groups. With Low Key we try and bring the scenes together so we can get more things done for the skateboard community.
In the public eye there seems to be a focus on anti-skateboarding so if we can get everyone working together so we can show more positive aspects of skateboarding.
What’s your least favourite thing about the current state of the industry?
The way it treats the skateboarders, not looking after skateboarders properly in my experiences. Not holding events and not focusing on all aspects of skateboarding and trying to make a quick buck. Don’t get me started!
What’s the most exciting thing that you can think of right now?
We’re working towards getting a skate park in the CBD district or Fortitude Valley, and getting 138 off the ground.
What’s your philosophy on life?
Skate and create!
What is your vision of the future?
New knees! Stay healthy, more skate parks and less scooters. More skateboard events, more venues for bands, and to see Bad Brains. Stay true and stay focused.
