It’s really amazing when you see or hear of a person doing what he loves best and making a living out of it. It’s even better to know that it involved a lot of sweat and hard work, and tons of risks too. It’s better because as an individual who wants to succeed himself, I am beginning to understand that things just don’t fall out of the sky and into your lap. By doing these interviews with these individuals, I have begun to realize that I have to triple my efforts if I had not already done so. And then some!

One person who realized this way back when is Chaz of The London Police. Below, we talk about the Lads, how to do big murals illegally and err, Top Gun even!

PERSONAL INFO:

Name: CHAZ
Age: 32

Country of Origin:UK

Genre: Street Art

Forms of Art: Hand painting, murals, canvas

Mediums used: PENS ,STICKERS, SPRAY, PAINT

Webbie : www.thelondonpolice.com

THE SERIOUS BIT:

FM: Hi Chaz, thank you for doing this interview.It’s a real pleasure and an absolute honour to have you as a guest here on F’kn Mayhem. I know you’re awfully busy, so let’s get going. How long have you been into art?

TLP: Thanks for having me . I was always into art. My first memory is getting a proper kicking from my parents for tagging up the staircase age 2.

FM: Haha… but who bought the crayons then? Tell us a bit about yourself: what do you do for a living?

TLP: The London Police . Selling paintings and some commissions.

FM: How did you kick start your career and when did you realize that you could make a living out of it?

TLP: Started drawing the tlp characters in ‘98. Around 2003 I gave up my other two jobs and decided to try and put all time into tlp. It actually worked!

TLP in Amsterdam

FM: What inspired the “LADS”?

TLP: Trying to accomplish something big with the least amount of effort to curb my boredom working in a shit job.

FM: Now that the “LADS” are famous worldwide, are you working on some new characters or a different form of art? Some “LADS”toys perhaps?

TLP: Done some toys. Not sure they worked how I wanted them to. There’s a few new characters in the tlp inventory but I like them to come out when they’re ready. I never force anything. Working on an animation but it will be awhile before we get going.

FM: Ohh, that should be wicked. You’ve done some humongous stuff, like the Pictoplasma thing in Berlin recently… how do you go about executing it? Have you done any big stuff illegally?

TLP: The one in Berlin was organized by the Berlin council and Backjumps exhibition. All scaffolding and maths. Illegal big murals just require doing it in a place where people don’t care like Barcelona a few years ago or places like Buenos Aires/east Europe/others. Then you hire you’re own scaffolding and just do it in the hope that anyone can see you’re trying to do something positive.

FM: You should try out my country as well. Where did the name “The London Police” come from? Just like the LADS characters, it’s really fresh and it’s just something that makes people go “Dang, I wished I thought of that first!!”

TLP: Just thought of it one day and liked the words and sounds they make. Its very memorable and understandable worldwide.

Top: TLP in Zagreb | Bottom: TLP in a dog show, China.

Top: Faile + TLP | Bottom:TLP + Flying Fortress + Galo Collaboration, China.

FM: Ever got in trouble with the REAL London Police? Tell us about it…

TLP: Not with London police. Had some run ins with police in other countries. Just remember getting chased by pimps with guns in London who were not happy we were putting stuff up on their ‘patch’. We ran fast!

FM: You guy’s must be pretty fast runners! You’ve collaborated with some of the greatest street artists around… based on experience, which was the most fun and why?

TLP: It’s always good. The big geezers tour of Europe was amazing as we traveled on a tour bus through Europe stopping at 6 cities to paint collaboration walls. Group events are always fun because its like a family feel if you’re with good people. Live painting with the Dandy Warhols was another fun night.

FM: What’s next for you? Where are you off to next?

TLP: Painting a building in Hanoi, Vietnam.

TLP + Galo Collaboration, Amsterdam.

TLP + Jeremy Fish Collaboration, Amsterdam.

THE POTSHOTS SECTION:

FM:Have you ever been here or any other part of Asia before? Planning to come?

TLP: I was on the K-Spray tour of Asia. Loved it. Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo.

FM: What do you do on your spare time?

TLP: Get pretty fucked up. Watch football. Think about owning a dog farm. Watching you-tube clips of the deceased comedy genius ‘Bill Hicks’.

FM: What’s the five things you’d take with you to a deserted island with no electricity?

TLP: Four dogs and maybe a flare gun and a football and a pump so just two dogs actually!

FM: What footie team do you support? I’m a Man Utd supported meself.

TLP: BOOOOOOOOOOOOO. WEST HAM UNITED FOREVER!

FM: Haha… the Hammers. Thanks for Tevez… and indirectly Rio and Carrick as well! Are you gonna make some LP tees, hoodies, jackets, Sketchels… etc? If there are, where can I get em?

TLP: Hope to get a shop online later in the year with some of the items you asked for. My friends website www.thanx.nl does a few tlp tee’s. Its about the only place online to get them. Sometimes I do some limited edition shirts with different companies like Upper Playground, Oakley, etc, but good luck finding those.

FM: Yeah, I had already rummaged through U/P and could not find any stuff! Any Last Words?

TLP: I love that bit in ‘top gun’ where goose is playing piano and tom cruise is singing like a twat and the girls are just talking about nothing on a table.

FM: WTF moment right there. Anyway, thank you for your time, mate. I’m very thankful for this opportunity to chat with you. It’s been very informative and I’m sure that this will be an awesome interview for my readers to plough their way through.