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MARCH 2004 Hey Everyone, Jesus wotta month! One we would rather forget here at Illicit. Our life long friend and inspiration Marty Emond has passed away in Los Angeles. A shock to us beyond comprehension. Marty was the reason I got up everyday! No shit! It's hard for us to express our sense of loss. But I know for a fact our Bro Marty would want us to continue on doing what we've always been doing. I was with Marty less than a week before he passed away and we discussed as we always did our future projects together including an Illicit tattoo shop. Marty left us with an unbelievable amount of work for future reference. There is so much more of MartyFucks legacy to be seen and now you to can be a part of it, with an Illicit tattoo under your skin, so yeah watch this space for further details. And thanks to all who have written with their condolences, we really appreciate your support. JANUARY 2004 HEY TREND SETTERS, HOW'S LIFE ON PLANET EARTH?! Just a quick update on goings on here at Illicit H.Q. in Auckland. The whole crew is currently working hard on the new summer range. Ready for delivery around mid December, lots of cool new designs coming your way care of Misery, Martyfuck and Morse. Christine of course is designing some of the slickest gear yet with new denim and chino drills coming into this new range. Not to mention killa new accessories and collectibles. Our latest trip to the US went well. A short trip to Las Vegas for the magic show as well as some time in Los Angeles to see Martyfucks latest offerings. Check out the full Magic report on the events page. Emond has been working hard on new mannequins as well as character designs on a new Wesley Snipes Blade movie, view his new works soon on his web page. FEB
2003: US Tour News We were promptly picked up by L.A's latest Bad Boy Martin Fuckin Emond, who has been residing in L.A for over 8 months and has been working organising the Misery show, as well as a kool new video game featuring Marylyn Manson, Korn and other crazy fuckers. We walk the streets of Melrose scouring for potential Illicit stores, on our way stickering every surface imaginable. The stores love the range but the taxes and freight scare them to death this is not gonna be easy! The Misery show is on the 18th, so all hands on deck to hang pictures and inform the locals about the show. Meltdown has spread the word weeks earlier and even receives a call from Shepard Fairy wanting to know what all the fuss is about. By 7.30 L.A's art hipsters has engulfed the small gallery despite a mini typhoon raging outside! Misery had definitely enveloped the city, with more rain falling on L.A in 24hrs than has in the past 10yrs. Familiar ex NZ's also appeared throughout the night. Unlike the Auckland opening there is no psychedelic fruit punch and underage drinkers. Here they tip us each time we offer a beer! the merchandise stand pumps out the Illicit wears while P-Money, Pacifier and The Datsuns provide the background music. Misery answers a barrage off questions from the unfamiliar faces but comes through it unscathed. It proves to be Meltdowns most successful show with L.A's art aficionado's snapping up N.Z's latest talent. With 3 more days in L.A we meet up with Long Gone John from Sympathy Records who had earlier purchased some Misery work. John invited us back to his home in Long Beach. John and leonardo Dicaprio are 2 of L.A's biggest buyers of underground art, snapping up some of the finest Mark Ryden and Robt Williams pieces ever! Every wall in the house had a painting we had seen in a magazine or book. It was better than any gallery we had been into before. As well as art John collects toys and curios, fuckin thousands of 'em, every square inch of the house is covered. Just when we thought we'd seen it all the bookcases turned into doorways and secret rooms were reveled. It was like Disneyland for grown ups! If you can call us that! Check out Johns releases at: sympathyrecords.com Next stop New York, we stayed in the Bowery district heaps of graffiti and Giant posters all around us. 1st stop is Yellow Rat Bastard who have stocked Illicit for the past few months. Cool shop probably the biggest streetwear shop in N.Y.C the buyer tells us Illicit is selling really well and wants to build up the brand. While we're there Misery paints 2 large canvas for the store view here. Also check out YRB magazine at: yellowratbastard.com Other highlights had to be running into The Datsuns in N.Y they had 2 sellout shows and put on killa set. Was great seeing more N.Z's in America kickn' ass. We also met up with Murder Dolls guitarist Acey Slade. A real choice cunt! It was great catching up with him after meeting them all at the Big Day Out. He was fully decked out in Illicit and requested Misery to do a tour T-shirt for 'em. Check out: murderdolls.com. Misery also found time to bomb a few walls in Brooklyn:
We also hung up posters and sprayed stencils but after a run in with N.Y.P.D's finest it was time to drop the spray cans and leave town. We head home via LA where we pack up the show and say bye to Martyfuck! On our last day in L.A we get a phone call from one of Americas largest T-shirt distributors. The owner turns out to be a huge Martin Emond fan and picks us up, we tour his factory and set up. He wants to distribute Illicit throughout the States. So look out George Bush we're coming to take over. Later kids, and remember keep your shit ILLICIT! STEVE |
