The second installment of The Culture Vault see’s us catching up with Justin Lees of Rad Store. You will see a lot more of this sort of stuff coming under The Culture Vault heading, we are working on building a database of the freshest stores and labels, not only in Aus and NZ, but around the world, so where ever it is you find yourself, you’ll know where to hit up when you want to deck your shit out!

I suppose you could say Rad Store is among the new wave of stores that we are seeing (or becoming more common) here in Australia,  if you chopped up a little bit of skate, a little bit of street,a little bit of boutique and mixed it through with a whole lot of style, culture, art and conceptual idea, then packed it in and rolled it up in to one big, fat, juicy, sticky…Store, you’d have Rad.

Check these guys out, you can find them at Shop 5/185 Darby St. Cooks Hill (Newcastle).

Firstly, thank you so much for your time, what’s been happening?

No worries. Well most of my time is spent between home with my daughter and my girlfriend, who is pregnant with our second child and at the shop. So I haven’t been doing much lately, although I did manage to duck off to Sydney for a night for the Vans Bowlarama and to catch up with a heaps of mates from Sydney and Melbourne which was awesome. I actually went to see Gallows & AFI on Tuesday night, that was real sweet. I would really love to see Gallows in a small venue.

For those who don’t know, can you tell us a bit about yourself and what it is that you do?

Hi I’m Justin and I’m a gambler. In my spare time I help run RAD into the ground with Cal, paint, graphic design, take pictures but most of all I’m a father.

What were you doing before Rad, and how did that lead you in to what you are doing today?

I was running my own label for around 6 or 7 years. Then I went OS for a while, travelled around the US and Europe. Then came home moved to Melbourne to further my Graphic Studies and work a General Pants then moved back home to Newcastle to be with my girl and our little girl and open up this shop with one of my best friends.

As for Cal, he’s been doing retail for a while now, working a few places around Newcastle and then he lived in London for a while and when he came back we just got to chatting over a couple of beers and I mentioned I wanted to open up something when I came back up to Newcastle and he was keen so we just started on it and finally got it up and running.

I guess Rad is part of a new wave of stores we are seeing in Australia, what’s your vision for Rad?

Remember Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash and the NWO, yeah that’s sort of like us. We have massive plans, hopefully we can open up a few more stores around, I wouldn’t mind doing a concept gallery in Newcastle, sort of like the Monster Children gallery and maybe a chain of brothels, who knows. There’s heaps of other stuff we want to do. I personally want to open up like a real cool piano/rock bar and keep it clear of dickheads. We’re also gonna keep doing our limited RAD tees and throw in a few hoodies and crew necks for good measure, maybe some basketball shorts.

What’s been pumping through the speakers of late?

In the shop we’ve been throwing down to AFI, Angels and Airwaves, Gallows, Brand New, Thrice, The Manzingers Lil’ Wayne, Jay Z and a bit of Slipknot. I’m always down for some 90’s lovin’. Heaps of Pop-core too, SYG, FYS and the likes.

Who is your typical customer at Rad?

A lot of our friends come in and shop there and they’re all RAD. Other then that though we haven’t really found our usual customer yet, being a very, very young shop but from what we’ve seen so far it’s the people like their shit fresh and I know every one wants something that no-one else has. Of course we get your die-hard Vans fan in all the time too.

What’s in your pockets right now?

Drivers licence, My phone, Cash cards, The Newcastle Police and a couple hundreds bucks.

Why “Rad”?

Ever seen that movie RAD about a young BMX hopefull who gets a chance to go up against the best in the world but has all the odds stacked against him? He gets the girl while ‘Send Me An Angel’ plays in the background and a lot of the soundtrack is made up of John Farnham songs that you’ve never really heard. It’s probably the best BMX movie ever made, yes better then BMX Bandits, I said it. Well we chose the name RAD because it’s a cool word and how many times do people say it? Nothing to do with the movie, I don’t even think Cal has seen it. I have, I really love it but can’t find it on DVD. Someone send me a copy care off the shop.

Do you find it difficult owning and operating a store with the brands you carry when the economy is, to put it simly, up the shit?

I find owning a shop difficult full-stop. Fun at the same time. It hasn’t really affected it that much I guess. Although we are just coming out of Feb which is always a bad month for retail at the best of times but it can’t be affecting it if everyone is opening a shop these days, it is the cool thing to do…right Nev?

Favourite sales pitch?

Buy that shit or I’ll get the Ultimate Warrior to come around to your house and gorilla press slam you.

How does a typical day in your life unfold?

Wake up and play with my daughter, have a coffee and some breakie then shower. Open up the shop and sit on chatroulette, hoping to come across some of our friends sitting there with their swords out. Maybe pay some bills, update the blog, twitter and facebook and all that. Look at a few different blogs and labels to keep up with things. Maybe do a couple of designs for RAD tees. If need be work out a few orders and check to see if we need any re-stock on vans. The good thing about us is we don’t re-stock tees once we sell out of it thats it. Quality over quantity! So I never have to worry about that but always looking for a new label thats doing something we’re down with or something fresh from one of our current labels. We actually found a label, Pass Port, we’re about to stock through here, so thanks for that.

Usually Cal and I will split our days in half which is good so if I get a chance I’ll go and shoot a couple of photos or try and fix up something around the house. I’m thinking about getting into gardening.

What are your views/opinions on the World and Society today?

We could be here forever so I’ll keep it short. Religion fucking blows, stay GODFREE. Stupid drunk violence is causing the loss of a lot of great things, for example the closing of the Tote in Melbourne and soon to be the Arthouse, two great live venues and the ironic thing is these places never actually have violence happening there. More and more people are becoming followers pretending to be these people that don’t give a fuck. Bands like 3oh!3, millionaires, short stack, yes I’ll jump on the hate short stack bandwagon for a minute, and the like are trying their best to ruin music, thank fuck for Gallows, the Bronx, Bad Religion, Fucked Up, Brand New and young local bands like The Hollow, 50 lions, and Amity Affliction who are keeping shit real. Then there’s the people that get tattoos because it’s the in thing or seen as tough, these are the same people I’m sure we’re going to see at getting them removed in about 5 years. There’s a lot wrong with society. Jim Lindberg said it best, “Society, we all know there’s something and we’ve known it all along”

Name 5 things you always take with you on your travels.

iPod, iPhone, Lappy, Underwears, Thongs for the car or plane.

Any up coming projects or happenings that we should know about?

Ummm we are having a good friday BBQ out front of the shop, haven’t fully decided on the details yet. We have a couple of new RAD tees coming out soon, hopefully get some friends of mine Andy Murphy and Nate Gamble to do a design or two. Over Surfest we have a thing going where if you spend over a 100 bones or 150 bones you go in for a chance to win a one of a kind surfboard by our friend Jye Byrnes who owns Surf Factory, www.thesurffactory.com.au, Cal helped design the board and I will be doing the graphics on it. We also have some sweet stickers coming out that pretty much say fuck Cal and Pugga. Oh and we will be stocking Nudie within the next month or so which means we will be the smallest account in the Southern Hemisphere, I think thats something to be proud off.

Word association, you know the deal, say the first thing that comes to your mind when you read the word.

Australia – Racist

Kevin Rudd – HumptyDumpty

America – Kevin Bacon

Obama – Fading Hope

Religion – Godfree.

Time – Flies

Greed – Money

Humanity – What?

Peace – War

Freedom – Furniture

Art – James Drinkwater.

Rad – Badass.

Life – Scott Herrmann

Happiness – Daughter.

Rad Store Crew Says:

Praise be to Kevin Bacon.

Where can people follow what you’re up to and view your work?

We have numerous social networking things going on, www.wearerad.tumblr.com is our blog. www.twitter.com/radstore is our twitter account. Both Cal and I have our own personal blogs, www.hopelessinutah.tumblr.com and www.puggashiv.tumblr.com and we have a fan page on facebook which you can find here,  we have a 4 star post quality, we rule.

Hopefully we’ll have a proper site sometime soon where you will be able to buy direct from.

Last words, shout outs?

Come in and say hi to us. Maybe bring us a coffee, although Cal will have a de-caf, I’ll have a white with one.

Must say thanks to both Cal’s family and mine, my girlfriend Leah and our little girl Nikki and Leah’s parents. Adam Della-Grotta for standing in while we go to showings, Scotty Herrmann for his life guidance, Drew Hamilton for his one and only shift, still waiting on that report you wrote. Travy for his half day shift and modeling. Maso, PJ and the boys for the help building shit. Ryan Nix for being an incredible human. All the crew with RAD tatts. Mel at Down Under Tattoo, Franck at Aces Wild Tattoo. Dane Tutty. Mike “seawolf” Galvin. Nick Sullivan for the couch and advice. Al Hawkins, Boxy and Jason at DC. Cam at Vans. Dan at Rebel 8/the Hundreds. All our other brands and the people we deal with, have made it very easy for us. Tim and Tiff at Abicus. Robbie at Drift Bikes Newcastle, Dan Kish, 1ovakynd, Brook and Greg at Sabre and everyone that has helped us out.

Callan Lynch refused to take part in this interview due to his religious beliefs.

*Callan Lynch is not the slightest bit religious.

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Yo! So the the head honcho’s at thslfe have just recruited me to help out with predominantly skateboarding adventures and hopefully a few good yarns with the locals here in sunny Canberra too. This is my first post so fingers crossed it works out alright…
Ill start off with some photos taken from the the recent Girl skateboarding team demo at Eddison park. Here are some of the locals ill hopefully get the pros up tomorrow. Stay classy.

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Before I begin my rant on what was an awesome weekend, I have to extend a huge thank you, congratulations and props to Andrew Montell and the rest of the crew at Acclaim Mag, you have created the best thing that has ever happened to streetwear in Australia,  Buffet the corner stone in the building of a broader community amongst Asia-Pacific streetwear aficionados, , which in my opinion can only be a good thing and something that you cannot put a dollar value on, I hope to see this event continue to grow in the future, as I am sure it will.

Friday saw us dragging our arse’s out of bed at 5am, to catch a bus at 5:30, which inevitably was late and then transferred across to a different bus which left at 5:50, bus trip for about an hour then smashed down the worlds shittest coffee at Seymour train station, got on the train and rolled in to Melbourne some time around 10. It was cool coming through the suburbs on the train, slowly as you got closer to the city the graff gets better and better, there are definitely some burners along that line!

“If you can’t sell it, you have to eat it, that’s why i want to open a bakery in my store” Frank Liew’s philosophy on having too much product

After a bit of a walk around Melbourne city, we arrived at Buffet, Friday was industry and media only, which was good as it made it a lot easier to network and talk to everyone, I put some faces to names and sussed out what everyone had on offer, and damn! There is some fresh shit coming up this season!

We hung around doing the whole meet and greet deal and talking shit for most of the day, then headed off to LTRHDS. The event was curated by Alex Mitchell and James Reka, basically, 26 artists of all different backgrounds were selected and each assigned a letter from the English alphabet to incorporate into an artwork. With artists like Graham Base, Luca Ionescu, Anthony Lister and Phibs, this event was destined for success, by the end of the night i’m fairly sure that most of them had sold.

“Even though it’s evolving to cut and sew, it’s not something you have to do, cut and sew is a bitch, a big, freakin bitch!” Jeff Staple on the evolution of streetwear.

The Buffet launch party was held upstairs and/or in conjunction with LTRHDS, free VB raw was flowing so i’m not too sure on the details, Mafia was rockin’ the decks, and mother fucker it was hot up in there! By the end of the night everyone was a wet and sweaty mess, haha, needless to say things got messy, thirst’s were quenched and lots of laughs were had.I read somewhere once that “the best deals go down at the after party” and i’ve got to say, who ever said that was right on the money.

Day two began drunk from the night before…After a big juice and some coffee, we were off to Buffet to get our photo on, my camera wasn’t working properly, combined with the fact that i’m a nothing more than a hack when it comes to taking photos, I don’t think that I got too many decent shots, lucky Nicky came through with the goods.

One thing that was bought to my attention over the weekend was the streetwear scene in New Zealand. I think as Australian’s we are slightly ignorant and under estimate our trans-Tasman cousins and perhaps write them off as some wanna be state of Australia – But don’t get it twisted, the Kiwi’s know how to hustle!Buffet boasted a strong Kiwi contingent, and from what i gather they really have the streetwear scene on lock over there, lots of cool stores and boutique, lots of labels, not to mention the amount of NZ Expats behind labels, stores and distribution companies that are based here in Aus.

“Be your own brand, not just the brands that you carry” Caine, Heist Store.

Day two saw the beginning of the Forums, and obviously hearing the likes of Jeff Staple speak in person was amazing and insanely informative, not to mention inspirational, the dude started his entire empire breaking in to his school at night and printing tees! It was crazy seeing how attentive and captivated the audience were when Jeff spoke, there was definitely a lot of respect for him amongst that room.

“I always prefer to sit down and break bread with people, it’s when the big deals are made, though the biggest deals are always made at breakfast” Jeff Staple

Just listening to any of the speakers was a humbling experience for me, knowing that the heavy weights of the streetwear industry are having the same thoughts about you in regards of what to and what not to do is very reassuring.

“I wasn’t gonna have a global business sitting in Fitzroy drinking Chai, smoking a rock” – Woody, Sneaker Freaker.

I definitely walked away a lot richer in knowledge and with a different perspective on a lot of things. Staple was excellent as I said, but in my opinion Frank Liew was the stand out speaker of the forums, his presentation was brilliant, and I think he was the most effective in getting his point across to the audience, not taking anything away from any of the other speakers, I learnt so much from every single one of you and for that I thank you.

On problems faced when owning your own company, “Fuckwits. Make a douche bag list, so when you get big enough you don’t have to deal with those people” Nick, Second Family Dist./ FreshIn

On that note, hearing how real and down to earth everyone who spoke was, was really cool, no one was trying to pull the whole elitist deal, it was rad seeing hearing peoples personalities come through, even in the more pre planned presentations.

I could go on forever, but I will wrap it up and let the pics do the rest of the talking, speaking of pics, you might see some new names and faces around here at thslfe, Nicky Proctor and Michael Danischewski have come on board and will be posting pictures and keeping things fresh, thslfe is moving forward this year, get pumped!

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Look to tell you the honest truth i was a bit of a streetwear virgin until last week. I knew what it was but start talking streetwear designers/labels to me and you would have been greeted with a blank fucking stare. I have never been one for labels, you are more likely to find me waist deep in a 50 cent Op Shop bin or hitting up the sales at Target or Kmart looking for that bargain i just HAD to have. Its not that i don’t like streetwear I’m just, well, a bum really. After i pay my bills with my weekly pay cheque my bank statement often reads along the lines of $2.84 so i can never really splurge on that one great top for $60. That shit would be on layby for atleast six weeks. But that my friends has now changed. Since walking through the doors of BUFFET i have been corrupted, violated by the world of streetwear. I am no longer that innocent girl happy with her $20 Target shoes. NO! I must have all the hightop shoes known to history, even the ones that are only a sketchy image in someones imagination. I have been filled with a burning desire for streetwear.

Buffet was  like one big awesome (informative) party with less “hey here is my shit, buy it” and more “hey you’re rad, I think we can help each other out, lets swap numbers/befriend each other on facebook and pimp the shit out of each others stuff”. Nice.

The forums that ran throughout the day were eye opening  and so uplifting. The speakers (such as Jeffstaple and Frank Liew) were such great down to earth guys who just spilled their guts and all their secrets on how to run a successful business. The support everyone showed each other was great to see and the general vibe of the whole weekend I think sent everyone home full of optimism and a surety of what they were doing. Cheers to Andrew and everyone involved for putting together such a great weekend. The popping of the streetwear cherry is complete…a monster has been created.

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I’m always on the hunt for artists and tattooists from different parts of the world, apart from giving you all a reference point for some of the most incredible tattooists on Earth, something that always interests me is speaking to people, particularly those from non English speaking backgrounds, it’s always a good read, and on the most part their ideas and perspectives on a lot of things seem to make a whole lot more sense than a lot of ours do.

As you read through this interview you will notice the sentence structure is a bit different to what you’re probably used to, I try to keep the editing to a minimum when i’m posting what someone else has said, purely because I want to keep it as true to what they said as I possibly can.

Despite the obvious verbal language barriers, tattooing is a universal language that transcends and surpasses all barriers, from America to Australia all the way back to Italy and everywhere in between, there are amazing tattooists and over the coming months I endeavour to bring you at least one amazing tattooist from every corner of the globe, here is Orlandini Gianni of ITALY.

Thanks for your time man, what’s been happening?

I am honoured for the space that you have dedicated, I have just returned to my hometown after a period working out and I’m coming back serenely, in the routine working at my studio in Grosseto, the “Luxury tattoo.”

For those who don’t know, can you tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?

Basically I’m a craftsman and as such I enjoy expressing myself to working on various media types, I like to occasionally vary by working on paper, wood creations as well as pieces of furniture, toys and customization of everything in my free time of anything that comes to mind . But obviously my true love remains the tattoo!!

How does a typical day in your life usually unfold?

Mornings are fairly routine. I wake up, have at least two coffees, arrive at the shop at 9.30 am.  At 10.30 i’m preparing to start work. My studio is a welcoming environment, where we work by appointment but only with custom designs. We lose a lot of time with the client to explore and create with him the design for his tattoo . I do not think too much of being a “fast” tattooer .

I usually take two appointments a day, after a lunch break often very short we work around until 7.30pm, then I like to relax at home with my girlfriend and my cat.

What initially got you involved in art, and how did that lead you in to becoming a tattooist?

I’ve always drawn, since childhood. It has always been the thing I’m more involved in. I tried to attend schools of art but have not got to finish them .I was not good at school! Hahaha! .

I subsequently attended several courses of airbrushing and in a few years it has become a job.

I have worked with several brands, Heineken, Triumph, Harley Davidson it took about eight years, I began to approach the tattoo  and started sitting on the right side of the chair, hahaha!

I had already seen many tattoos on me and one step after another, the work has become a hobby and hobby has become work .. I have to say I’m really happy with how that happened!

Who taught you to tattoo, and how have they had any effect on your style today?

I am a self-taught. In Italy when you’re a beginner it’s difficult to find people willing to help, determination and perseverance led me to improve. For me getting tattooed,  was the only way to really see how someone worked as a professional, let us talk and maybe make us friends, every time I came home enriched with something … I think I have a lot to learn but I am happy with what I’ve done so far.

And in saying that, how have your styles evolved since you began tattooing?

My style is evolving, now I try to maintain the strong contrast and excellent read that provides the basics of traditional, although, that does not define my stuff as “traditional”,at least not all of it, as a person who is tired of always doing the same things, I try to change them, perhaps taking cues and interpreting them in ways I am unsure of.

We don’t really hear a great deal about Italian tattooists in Australia, even less so if you aren’t looking for them, what is the tattoo scene in Italy like?

In Italy the tattoo is a growing phenomenon, the Italian scene offers talented tattoo artists specializing in all kinds of genres, I have many reference points, I don’t know the realities of other countries, the news coming through the magazine or from conventions, I still say that I have enormous respect for many of my colleagues in Italy, I love the Italian scene.

I guess you could say Tattoo’s have become accepted in today’s society, possibly even expected,  obviously there being more people for you to tattoo is a good thing, but do you think there is a downside to it?

Certainly now it seems like a contest to see who has more ink on their body. I think this has its good side and bad side, I think the only people who get tattooed for fashion are the ones who do not understand the true alchemy of the tattoo, do not perceive emotions seeing a drawing on the body , they see it as an accessory like a bracelet, a watch, a necklace. I do not think that this creates a damage class, but is definitely a different way of approaching this art. I think it’s still a good thing because, thanks to this now, at least in my country is a recognized profession.

How do you think certain “reality” tattoo shows on TV have effected tattooing on a broad scale?

I think these broadcasts are one of the causes of what i was saying before, I honestly have never seen this type of transmission but I can assure you that we see many, many more Mexican skulls and dragon carp, subjects which were rare here before, but because they are now showed on TV,  to say, we hope to do more traditional! Hahaha!

What was the last tattoo you did?

It was on a fan and sponsor of a band called “HELLFIRE SOCIETY” . The bassist Trauma has collected many traditional pieces,  yesterday we added a vampire bat in frack!! Very funny!

Greatest accomplishment as an artist/ tattooist?

No doubt as tattooist .. The word “artist” I do not dress(Lay claim to – Ben)!

No doubt you have seen some pretty fucked tattoo’s in your time, what is the worst tattoo you’ve ever seen?

Maybe I did it !!! Full chest…Fertilization of ovum..Fucking crazy!

What are your thoughts on the resurgence of traditional tattooing?

I think it is eternal, the style that manages to have the strongest relationship between quality, impact and durability, a traditional tattoo, by definition is balancing simplicity of black and remains clean and legible for the life, where you will ‘lose a tone color, increase the stretch a little but gains experience that charm that only this style manages to acquire over the years!

What was the first tattoo that you ever did?

My first tattoo was a skull, I did it on the calf of one of my best friends . I must say it was a night and really absurd! I’ve often offered to re-do it but he does not want to touch it .. It’s a reminder that we are loyal, it would be like tearing a picture! Thanks NIKO !!!!!!

Where do you find inspiration to create?

I find inspiration in everything, books, television, commercials, paintings, tattoos, toys, clothes  – also the label of a can of tomato can inspire if I happen to have it in my hand at the right time!

What’s in your pockets right now?

Hahaha, good question! ALL!!!!! I’m like Mary Poppins!!

What are your views/opinions on the World and Society today?

This is a rather difficult question. I could say everything and nothing … I will say that the pace of society today leads us to live in the illusion of material happiness letting us draw attention away from true happiness. We should pause to appreciate the little things!

Name 5 things you always take with you on your travels?

Depends where i go!!!!

How much has tattooing changed since you began, and where do you see it going in the future?

I think belonging to the mass phenomenon that affects everyone, the changes are different from country to country . I am still a tattooer of the new generation, I have not lived the years as an operator in the world of tattooing when it was really “underground”.

Advice to aspiring artists/tattooists?

I recommend everyone to believe in themselves and not surrendering to produce very first disappointment. I believe that only the constant and gruelling training led to improvements, not to be influenced too much by the speeche of others, when it was understood at the beginning in all areas to visit, trade shows, conventions, exhibitions and return home with a mouth full of crap!

Orlandini Says:

I want to say that much of the credit goes to my path of my girlfriend Valeria who is also the shop manager and the soul of the shop! I would also like to thank my family for supporting me and for believing in me every time! Many thanks to all who are reading and will read what I wrote , and thank you for giving me this opportunity!

Word association, you know the deal, say whatever comes to your mind when you read the word.

Australia – Didgeridoo

Kevin Rudd – I’m not informed

Italy – home

Giorgio Napolitano – useless

America- Next travel destination

Obama- We can

Religion – ??????????

Time – Time is one of my obsessions. I have both forearms with tattoos about time.

Greed – Bad beast!

Humanity – Should be more united

Peace – Is important to find ours.

Freedom – The greatest treasure!

Tattooing – My life

Art – Expression

Life – Fast

Happiness- Can also be found in the smallest things

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