Dirty Silvers - Photos by Marty
Rockin the double "E" for Jeeps
Blood spill - Someone wrote on the wall "Party don't
stop till the cops kick the door in and shoot somethin
somethin in the morning (i can't remember, i'm sure
it's lyrics i've heard before) which dragged out onto the
floor...
We pumped these out quick before dark
I wanted out before the vagrants came back in...
More dirty silvers..
Explore, paint and paint some more....
Random shots
The Kelly's formal suit hire (whatever) factory was another
massive joint. It consisted of a 2 level linked floor in sort of a
U-shape. It was well run down by the time we got there.
The photographers got onto it and let me know about it..
Next weekend there we were, again amazed by another
playground left to rot away, we made this our next daytime
spot to hit on a regular..
Once we were startled by this guy sporting a laptop on his
shoulder like a ghetto blaster cranking music.
He seemed oblivious to us and the world around him
This place was frequented by heaps of writers and home to
many people, some who seemed pretty well set up with bedding
and bongs on their bedside tables and shit like that..
There was a really sinister feel to it once inside. I dunno how
long it was closed down for but the place has gotta have some
dark history..
In another room setup we found a leather Hannibal Lecter mask,
which was freaky.. After seeing that i decided not to disturb his
space anymore and creep past that spot in the future..
On another visit i swear that he had some sort of booby trap
contraption set up behind his door, like a swinging bollard that
would smash you if you unsuspectingly opened it..
I also met a young homeless girl around 18 who lived in a fortified loft
with heaps of bedding and quilts in the vacant building next door. It
looked warm, comfortable and safe but nothing a match wouldn't fix.
Sometimes we would use this place to gain access if there was too
much action in the car park. I was shocked to learn she seemed to
happily live there, she'd pop her head out and say hello occasionally
as we had to climb up the wall to get to a small window..
Once while doing this on a Saturday morning, myself and the
2 photographers tried to get in this way and left some video guys
outside, we were setting up for a band shoot and there was
construction going on in the area, so we had to try and sneak in with
all this equipment. You had to crawl under a 2 foot gap under a
roller door..
While sussing the logistics of the task 2 blokes who i thought were
D's burst in, but they were the worst looking junkies, about 40 odd
(the kind you'd give a hundy to at the pub and he'll off someone for ya)
They looked rough as guts.. And there wasn't an easy escape..
"what are you doing in here?" they asked abruptly..
We replied "Taking photos"
They growled back "Have you seen a chick living in here?"
"No!" I replied, not wanting to give up any info to them.
Not knowing their intentions, thinking she is tucked up in her fort
listening in to whats going on..
I tried to change the subject slightly..
"what are you doing?" They interrupted - To my reply "Taking photos..
"They snapped "Are ya a fukin cop are ya?"
I snapped backed saying
"Nah, what are you's fukin cops or somethin?"..
Bad move Realsy...
They flared right up.. The only thing separating me from them
was a small pile of rubble, which i kept in between us..
They had arms flying everywhere, going off for a few minutes,
getting right up in my face, i had my trusty baton gripped tightly
in my hand in my right pocket.
Suddenly they clicked and headed to a room, took off their
shirts, then belts as one removed a package..
They looked up at us again then slammed the door shut..
We were outta there, one of the photographers was
white as a ghost. He soon told me the guy up in my face had
2 uncapped syringes that i didn't see.. I couldn't see past the
crazed look in his eye...
Fuck one more story and I'm out... I dunno about you
but my eyes are stinging..
The last time i ever went there i was doing some stupid
shit for the photographers.. You'd think i was having a picnic.
Me and Jiesk just had 2 really close police calls on trackside
over the last 2 weeks so i thought I'm staying chill this
particular weekend and not going out at night...
Luckily this day i was standing on a stool which allowed me to
see straight out the windows. I was painting the ground level
right inside the main door as i heard a car pull up on the gravel.
I look over my shoulder to see blue & red lights and the box
shape of a paddy wagon. I hit the ground running, frantically telling
the photographers to run as i fumbled and picked up as much shit
as i could, leaving behind all my paint. .
Running into the next room (pitch black) I tripped and
supermanned across the floor. cans and nozzles going
everywhere. I was disgusted.. Got up, my loose pants were falling
down, it was so graceful believe me...
I scrambled upstairs, gripping my dacks, managed to stash my
camera safely, maintained composure and kept on the move
across, the factory floor stealthfully...
They followed..
I ran back downstairs, I could hear their boot steps
stomping on the floorboards above and used it to my advantage,
plus knowing the joint inside out helped.. So i repeated the above
actions, circling around till I was out of breath and had to hold up
in this dark, seedy, old bathroom tucked well away..
I let the photographers go on to cover for me as I sat in there
for 20 minutes catching my breath.
I got the call, they just left. No one got questioned, my paint didn't
get found..
"Maybe we should just leave, now that they're gone" Marty said..
"If they're gone, we can finish" I replied..
They were shocked and couldn't believe I was serious..
I painted as quickly as i could and swore now I'd never come back..
There is more to this story but it's for another time...
I knew things happened in 3's but i thought since it's not trackside i
thought it would be all good but nah... It's me we're talking about...
It's now demolished
Found online
"Now i got enough Buda to last me and my family for the
rest of our lives.. I"M RICH BIARTCH!!" Honk! Hooonnnk!!
Blown a fuse or 2
Note the tennis ball molds - There was also a big
pile of sneakers (all lefties)
This is only one of the main rooms
Dunno what this actually was but i painted it for a photo shoot.
I wedged the door open so it couldn't be easily closed
when i was inside doing it...
Some funky shit i found by Frut IM
The Dunlop factory is highly frequented by writers
but no vagrants live there either like the Kelly's factory.. I've
spent a bit of time in there and only ever come across a small group
of young toys..
I painted in their solo a lot, with 2 photographers and about
20 grands worth of equipment between them.
The place consisted of 2 big factory floors one was
2 levels, I like the upper level because it let in heaps of natural light.
The only problem was the roof so so riddled full of holes, the
sunshine would cause a disco ball kind of effect and spray dots of
light everywhere. The other building was full of offices with
filing cabinets with paperwork and big desks and shit..
So demolished but still sort of intact.. But full of dank smelly mould
and a really empty, eerie kind of feeling.. You could sense death in
many places i reckon or is that just me.. I always think twice
before entering the darkened offices, and brace myself..
If i'm crazy enough to be in here i wonder who really is??..
Raaargh!!
The Texas chainsaw massacre guy or fukn Jason??..
Looking in some rooms sent a chill up my spine.. Especially the old
lift and a dark room in the upstairs factory section i had walked
through a number of times and painted both sides of it..
The only time i saw a non writer in there, was with Feste and Jiesk.
Doing a 3 namer on the right hand side and some guy swiftly and
quietly walked across the floor towards us and headed into that room
and through a doorway which lead to the roof. In no less than a minute
i followed to see where he got to. When i went outside i walked along
the track as far right, and as far left as i could and this bloke
was nowhere to be seen... weird??...
Soon after i learnt apparently DRS crew took random photos in there,
after exploring it once a few years before. They went home and viewed
them on the PC, the flash lit up what looked to be a body hanging out
of a garbage bag, sure enough it was. So they had to alert the police
and show them where the corpse was located..
Once when we finished up after i painting for about 6 hours we
went to Newtown shops and everyone was looking at me funny,
then in Redfern Maccas all the families and a group of aboriginals
were looking at me funny.. I was like
"Yeah you know it i was there i bombed it"
I finally got home, had some buges for about 45 mins relaxin on the
couch then thought i better have a shower.. When i looked in the
mirror i was horrified to find a definite black triangle shape around
my lips and chin where the respirator was, i was doing a lot of
black background up high and paint dust must of settled on my face.
Not even the photographers said a word..
Soon got over this place when i found ABC but i did find a nice
Dunlop stencil to add to the useless junk collection..
Spooked progress
Sketch by Sofles
Yeah you know it...
For the C.E.O - In the front offices. Close to the demolition..
The boys got their nice piece of real estate right there in the office
In danger but safely tucked down the back garage...
In action, after crawling around to find the safest place to paint
away from the demolition crew
Another freestyle in the main courtyard - the studios were up a level
and to the far right
This building was extremely dark inside - workshop
Didn't venture too high above the workshops it was far too dark and we
were never prepared with torches to explore deeper.
The back gate and a sense of relief to be outta there..
This place was like home for 6 months, every weekend, solo or
accompanied with a partner or an interesting theme park for
crew visits. We kept it on the mega down low and crept around
the demolition workers week in week out taking up every nice
piece of real estate..
I watched this place from a distance for 12 months before
heading in.. think it must of housed some huge underground
raves and shit like that, there was empty alcohol bottles and
cans everywhere.. Not much of the graffiti, but the place was
smashed up. Some huge mirrors in the main studios were
unfortunately shattered, they would of been so nice to paint..
A lot of doors, walls and windows were intact as it wasn't all
that old i guess. Like sound proofing in the recording room
and other things interesting to people salvaging copper and
light fittings etc. I only ever had run ins with labourers doing that
or demolition workers and spooked paranoid illusions..
No one seemed to live there...
Getting spooked by the wind or asbestos poisoning,
the workers or random police visits i was hearing about wasn't
enough to keep me away from this 3 level 6 building
playground complex..
First time i went i did the for the C.E.O piece for Brsky.
Feste wanted to go to the pub and was rushing me.
He said a piece of ceiling tile just flew across the room,
i joked and said it could be a ghost.
Then he went to peek around a corner, i just sussed out like 2
minutes before and this massive guy jumped out like
Raaaarrrgh!!! Good old Festo shat and sprung about 6 feet
in the air, his knees didn't even bend like a cat.
It was so funny but tense for about a minute till we realised they
were cool and they were in there salvaging shit.
We nicknamed him "Mountain" he said
"If you's see the coppas hey fellas you'll let us know hey?"
We said
"No sweat, likewise"
A couple of weeks later we witnessed him pulling a massive
copper pipe from a 30 foot high ceiling with his bare hands..
I did the Sofles ghostwriters piece there solo over 3 weekends
after getting spooked out too much..
Who did i take here... Umm.. Brsky, Area, Mekso, Festo,
Video & Cispeo..
Once i went with a girlfriend who wandered off alone when i was
piecing. She came running back screaming being chased by some
big boy Islanders.. I only saw them emerge from a darkened garage
with a nasty look in their eye on their approach.
When they saw me they come straight up, between them they were
like 10 times my size. And i wasn't feeling too good about the
situation. she was behind me, I had a tight grip of my ext. baton
but felt i did some talking to get outta that one...
It was all good.. One seemed to like the graff, he did all the talking
but i think the other was more interested in the girl.
Until one day myself and 2 photographers were spotted doing a
shoot in one of the old studios that were pretty much pitch black.
I was posing in hoodies up against what looked like a police line up,
with height levels.. We heard voices and i darted to the other room
to pack the cans i was holding back into my green bag of paint and
walked back in, only to be rushed by 10 neanderthal like silhouettes
of demolition workers with steel poles ready to start swinging
shit down, one had a 6 year old kid that looked like he could draw
enough blood to put you in critical condition.
They fully surrounded us in no time and our only defence is that we're
photographers, despite my Ironlak hoody.. They assured us if we
were "Stealing shit or vandalising the place" they would of given
us a touch up and held us until the cops to come.. Then they
explained the dangers of being in condemned building that was
being torn down.. etc etc..
Thankfully the police weren't called and we were set free unharmed..
That was my last visit.
Next i heard heaps of young kids were going there and were
getting raided by cops, a few got busted in there, but we had
already pimped it out and moved on..
