Answer
Mo’Wax has a lot to answer for. James Lavelle’s influential record label was doing what today’s street wear cartel companies are currently banking off, well over a decade ago. Without the ubiquity of the internet. Music, art, clothing, toys, it was an evolved breed of hip hop and DJ culture, where braggadocio and geek-like enthusiasm became one in the same. Answer is the clothing label set up by long time Mo’Wax associate Will Bankhead and Lavelle’s friend Emmet Keane. Will Bankhead was the in-house photographer for Mo’Wax where he worked with Art Director Ben Drury, lending his eye and lens to a whole heap of classic Mo’Wax album covers. Today, Bankhead designs for the west London institution, the Portobello based Honest Jon’s records along with his own label PK (which he runs with Mark Ainley and Jon Knight). Emmet Keane worked as a comic and toy distributor in the east end and with James Lavelle’s passion for art and toys it was only a matter of time before the two crossed paths. Will and Emmet met through James in 1997 but it wasn’t until 2003 that "Answer" was officially launched. This stepped out of the shadows left by the original incarnation of Will Bankhead’s "Park Walk" label. "Park Walk" was itself was a cult name, down to the calibre of designers involved and the Vaughn Bode prints which ‘Answer’ continue to do (Bode is the late New York artist referenced by the original graffiti pioneers, Dondi, SEEN, Tracy 168, Futura 2000 etc).
Emmet Keane kindly answered some questions about the label. Creating a timeline that should fill in any gaps and represent "Answer" the best way possible.
What was the initial catalyst for "Park Walk"?
Will was approached by some people he knew in Japan to start a clothing label in 1998 or 1999. They did a few t-shirts to start off with and it grew from there. ‘Park Walk’ became a really big name in Japan.
When you started Answer, were the goals similar to "Park Walk"?
Yeah I guess. The designs that Will (along with Fergadelic, Ben Drury, Ed Gill and Chris Love) were doing for ‘Park Walk’ were incredible, but were only ever available in Japan. We knew there was a market for this stuff over here in the UK and Europe so when we initially set up "Answer" we were actually doing t-shirts here under the name "Park Walk", selling them back to Japan, and importing stuff from there and selling it to shops here. "Answer" was just the company name we used to facilitate this, although we always wanted it to be a label in its own right at some stage. Towards the middle of 2003, Will decided to end ‘Park Walk’ as there seemed to be less control over what the people in Japan were doing in his name, and so then we started on "Answer" as a label. The label was launched in late 2003 with a collaboration with "Bathing Ape" on ten designs.
It’s just the two of us doing Answer, no outside involvement which means we have 100% control over what is done.
What is it that makes "Answer" a good partnership, what qualities do you both bring?
I guess we just get along with each other. We’re very different people to a certain extent, but are into similar things. Will is an incredibly talented designer and photographer, so has an amazing eye for what looks good and how it should be presented.
Who designed the "Answer" logo?
Will did the logo. It’s similar to the classic "Park Walk" logo he did. The idea was to show people that the two labels were related. Neither of us really like doing logo t-shirts, but that logo is different. It’s pretty special. We’ve only ever done three "Answer" logo t-shirts, Fergadelic and Chris Love did the other two logos for us.
Some may have thought "Answer" would be a canvas for Will’s photography, but this doesn’t seem the case. Was this ever an idea?
Not really, although there are definitely some of his photos that I would love to see as t-shirts at some stage. We have a shirt coming out very soon using one of his photos, this is the first time we’ve used his photography.
Does "Answer" always work your designs around a certain theme?
Yeah, there probably is a theme (or more correctly several themes) to the new stuff, although it’s totally by accident. We’ve never deliberately planned anything like that. The idea of putting a themed collection together horrifies me personally. I think random works better.
Your designs seem to have more substance behind them, are the ideas and concepts involved in ‘Answer’ more important just simply hot graphics?
Definitely no concepts involved, although we have a strong idea of what ‘Answer’ is about in terms of graphics and what they represent or don’t represent, it’s an unspoken thing. Really it’s just a case of images we like and think make good t-shirts. The kind of t-shirts that we would want to wear ourselves. That’s really the bottom line, making quality t-shirts that we like rather than making them with a view to commercial sales.
Fine art, street art, low art and high art, is there a difference to you?
Art is Art. Street, high, low, fine, abstract, whatever you want to call it. They are just terms that really don’t mean anything in the long run. Something is either good or not. Art is just a way of people expressing themselves. I have heard of people buying our shirts to frame them rather than wear, but I’m not really sure what to make of that to be honest. I’ve never really thought of what we do as being art, maybe it is… damn.
Who are a few of your favourite artists?
Frank Auerbach, Anselm Kiefer, John Olson, Botticelli, Robert Dukes, Neil Blender, Léger, Gee Vaucher, Winston Smith, Robert Crumb, Jack Kirby, Gustave Dore, Moebius, Bosch, Raymond Pettibon, Ben Drury, Durer...
What have you got coming up with your new line?
We have our new range of shirts coming out mid-July, designs by Ben Drury, Will Bankhead and Bill Blake (How Dare You? Skatezine), later in the summer we have designs coming from Skatething, Peter Beste and more.
Any last words?
Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past few years.
Thanks to Terence Teh of One Week To Live Magazine
patchwork pirates
rabbittusk
Answer
Emmet Keane kindly answered some questions about the label. Creating a timeline that should fill in any gaps and represent "Answer" the best way possible.
What was the initial catalyst for "Park Walk"?
Will was approached by some people he knew in Japan to start a clothing label in 1998 or 1999. They did a few t-shirts to start off with and it grew from there. ‘Park Walk’ became a really big name in Japan.
When you started Answer, were the goals similar to "Park Walk"?
Yeah I guess. The designs that Will (along with Fergadelic, Ben Drury, Ed Gill and Chris Love) were doing for ‘Park Walk’ were incredible, but were only ever available in Japan. We knew there was a market for this stuff over here in the UK and Europe so when we initially set up "Answer" we were actually doing t-shirts here under the name "Park Walk", selling them back to Japan, and importing stuff from there and selling it to shops here. "Answer" was just the company name we used to facilitate this, although we always wanted it to be a label in its own right at some stage. Towards the middle of 2003, Will decided to end ‘Park Walk’ as there seemed to be less control over what the people in Japan were doing in his name, and so then we started on "Answer" as a label. The label was launched in late 2003 with a collaboration with "Bathing Ape" on ten designs.
It’s just the two of us doing Answer, no outside involvement which means we have 100% control over what is done.
What is it that makes "Answer" a good partnership, what qualities do you both bring?
I guess we just get along with each other. We’re very different people to a certain extent, but are into similar things. Will is an incredibly talented designer and photographer, so has an amazing eye for what looks good and how it should be presented.
Who designed the "Answer" logo?
Will did the logo. It’s similar to the classic "Park Walk" logo he did. The idea was to show people that the two labels were related. Neither of us really like doing logo t-shirts, but that logo is different. It’s pretty special. We’ve only ever done three "Answer" logo t-shirts, Fergadelic and Chris Love did the other two logos for us.
Some may have thought "Answer" would be a canvas for Will’s photography, but this doesn’t seem the case. Was this ever an idea?
Not really, although there are definitely some of his photos that I would love to see as t-shirts at some stage. We have a shirt coming out very soon using one of his photos, this is the first time we’ve used his photography.
Does "Answer" always work your designs around a certain theme?
Yeah, there probably is a theme (or more correctly several themes) to the new stuff, although it’s totally by accident. We’ve never deliberately planned anything like that. The idea of putting a themed collection together horrifies me personally. I think random works better.
Your designs seem to have more substance behind them, are the ideas and concepts involved in ‘Answer’ more important just simply hot graphics?
Definitely no concepts involved, although we have a strong idea of what ‘Answer’ is about in terms of graphics and what they represent or don’t represent, it’s an unspoken thing. Really it’s just a case of images we like and think make good t-shirts. The kind of t-shirts that we would want to wear ourselves. That’s really the bottom line, making quality t-shirts that we like rather than making them with a view to commercial sales.
Fine art, street art, low art and high art, is there a difference to you?
Art is Art. Street, high, low, fine, abstract, whatever you want to call it. They are just terms that really don’t mean anything in the long run. Something is either good or not. Art is just a way of people expressing themselves. I have heard of people buying our shirts to frame them rather than wear, but I’m not really sure what to make of that to be honest. I’ve never really thought of what we do as being art, maybe it is… damn.
Who are a few of your favourite artists?
Frank Auerbach, Anselm Kiefer, John Olson, Botticelli, Robert Dukes, Neil Blender, Léger, Gee Vaucher, Winston Smith, Robert Crumb, Jack Kirby, Gustave Dore, Moebius, Bosch, Raymond Pettibon, Ben Drury, Durer...
What have you got coming up with your new line?
We have our new range of shirts coming out mid-July, designs by Ben Drury, Will Bankhead and Bill Blake (How Dare You? Skatezine), later in the summer we have designs coming from Skatething, Peter Beste and more.
Any last words?
Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past few years.
Thanks to Terence Teh of One Week To Live Magazine
patchwork pirates
rabbittusk
Answer
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