Secret Wars Tag Team @ Brighton 03/03/07

Brighton is a particularly creative place to be, and merged alongside a special Secret Wars event the creative volcano was set to erupt. With the help of Briton based artists Sinna and Sri, a night was set on the 3rd of March at Riki Tiks in the centre of town. The aim of the battle was to bring London based company Monorex and Brighton’s art collective Grafik Warfare together in a tag team battle.

With preparation underway, there was not much time to get everything sorted before the event kicked off. With some of the artists arriving later in the day, everyone was tense about whether everything would go according to plan.

To our surprise upon arrival Sinna had nearly finished up painting the battle wall white leaving only the sound check, MC’s script and finalising the 80 strong guestlist to sort out. With a capacity of only 200 people, Riki Tiks was set to be heaving.

After a mad dash for some grub alongside beat boxer Reeps One and artist Ink Fetish we made our way back to Sinnas plush pad to get ready. Because of the need for all the artists on each team to touch base, the actual battle didn’t commence till about 8.30pm despite the crowd eagerly awaiting the start from as early as 6pm.






Each team consisted of four artists. Snub, Defacto, Orco and Foundry were the Grafik Warfare team whilst Sinna, Sri, Alfa and Ink Fetish were representing for Monorex. The pieces were a divided in two so four artists from one team had to fill one space with the other four competing on the opposite side. Grafik Warfare went for a mismatch of styles on their wall, with transformer-like characters, geometrical shapes, factory piping and a one armed lady taking up most of the space. Monorex attempted to link all their styles together, creating a graveyard scene included with zombies, and tomb stones with the opponents names etched on the front. A slogan above read, “I’d rather be under the hill than over it” making reference to the older age of their opponents.







With all pieces completed and venue physically overflowing with people it was time for the winning team to be crowned. The judging panel consisted of Rarekinds Daz1 and local graff legend Req1 Both in turn voted for Monorex, leaving the angry Brighton crowds bemused.







Reeps One had an amazing set that impressed all of the crowd. He almost forgot his classic harmonica routine until a fan shouted for an encore. He totally blew everyone away. It’s always nice to have a bit more live entertainment straight after the battle finishes to keep the crowd hyped.



Even the artists couldn’t stop themselves from drawing and continued to do so on the Ecko sponsors poster, plastered on the central wall of the bar. It was lucky for them that the guys at Ecko, who had flown in straight from New York City, loved it nabbing the poster as soon as they could.

As the Secret Wars tour continues who knows what more surprises await us. Stay tuned via www.secretwars.co.uk for more info. Next stop on the SW tour bus is Southampton, so check it out.

Second Photo by Delarge.