OTHER meets Sin
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in South London in a place called Croydon, New Addington, it's pretty ghetto to be fair. It taught me a lot about my values. Just me and my mother at that point, it was a really good experience to be honest with you. It’s definitely made me value people, life and help me to become more loving and compassionate.
What did your parents do?
My mum, she’s been, like, in and out of mental health as most of us are, including myself, just you know… I can’t really get into all of that but urm, she suffers, sometimes it… It can cripple you physically until you can find that mental strength in order to physically move your body and get on with life, it’s quite difficult.
Do you suffer from mental health issues?
Of course, every day. I can go from being super high to super low in seconds, and I don’t think that I’m the only one out there who does. You’ve just got to remember that it’s always going to be alright in the end, it always is.
Who currently are your fashion influences?
I don’t know dude, no one currently, I like old school stuff… I really like Michael Jackson. I don’t follow anything in particular, I try not to be influenced too much, I’m more influenced by myself. In order to have a more unique experience in life, I don’t want to follow in anybody else's footsteps.
I’m not particularly into big fashion designers. I guess the streets and what’s around us, that's really my inspiration.
How old were you when you first started getting tattooed?
I think I was sixteen. There was a guy around where I lived, where he still lives actually, and he got like a tattoo machine and everything. I think I was the first person he tattooed. He butchered me so bad.
The only thing I remember about the tattoo (it’s covered up now), is my mum coming up stairs and seeing my tattoo (because obviously like, well, I don’t know if that's weird or not, your mum coming into your room when your sixteen, or whatever) but like she came into my room because she always liked to make a big deal out of like hoovering as loud as possible and waking me up because she was awake, I love her to bits by the way.
And she saw it and I just remember waking up to like a slap on the face and then just like getting screamed at and stuff but I understand because I’m like her baby, do you know what I mean? Which makes sense but you’ve got to make your own decisions in life.
So I take it your mums not tattooed?
My mum isn’t, my dad was, he had a lot of tattoos. That’s probably why she didn’t want me to have so many… my dad went to prison when I was three years old, urm, for like abuse at home.
He was abusing my mother, my grandmother, he was good to me, urm but I guess it’s like some form of, I don’t know, probably, my mum thought back then that it would remind her of the bad person that he was from the way that he looked and didn’t want me to be tied into that.
It’s just self-expression for me, I don’t really remember him having any to be honest. I remember him but I don’t remember the tattooes. I knew from when I was getting the little bubblegum out of the 20p machine with the little tattoos rolled up I wanted to be tattooed for real.
Like I knew I wanted my hands done, my neck and everything. I don’t look at it like its anything to me, it’s just part of who I always have been and it’s taken me the time to get to where I am at this point in time.
We touched on your first tattoo, what was it?
It was SKA, which is from the Specials album, it was their script, I had it tattooed on my arm. I can’t even show you, it's not there anymore. Yeah, I like SKA, its a vibe, its possy, urm I like the collaboration of music. I feel like its a fusion of two very positive things. I was raised on SKA music, so it made sense, at the time.
Do you have any ‘hobbies’?
I don’t know man, I just like doing shit I like to do. I’m not committed to a hobby as such. I like to kick ball sometimes.. I like to, I don’t know, I wouldn’t say so. I’ve got more passions than anything. So yeah, maybe when I was younger, I was very unsure of what I was doing.
I would like jump into loads of stuff, like football and I’d attempt to maximise the potential in that and then I would be into golf. I got into golf as well.. I liked the equipment, I like the golf glove, Michael Jackson had one glove.. Whatever. Urm, but, yeah when I was a kid I had more hobbies, but now I’ve learned a lot about myself, I have more passions over hobbies.
There's nothing wrong with having hobbies but now I feel like I’m at the stage now where I’m very focused on and I understand more of what I like to do and what keeps me alive and what drives me, you know?
Would you mind elaborating on your passions?
Music, of course. I’ve played music for many years, throughout different types of genres such as metal, hardcore obviously working on the Sin Seven project, thats a big one for me. It’s given me the opportunity to express myself in every single way. I
’m not restricted at all, I can literally do whatever I want with it, and that the most beautiful thing about it. And for someone that suffers with mental illness, it's a good opportunity for me to express myself without hurting other people, whether my lyrics hurt other people or not that’s kind of out of my control, I have to express myself but I’d never physically hurt anybody, obviously unless they hurt my family or friends.
What artist influence you?
Michael Jackson for sure, XXXTentation, that guy was super cool. He made a few mistakes but at the same time he helped so many people and he was learning quick, he had a very fast life, it was hectic, he said a lot of very touching things, his music was very touching, he was a very interesting guy. Him for sure. Whether he has an influence on my music as such, I wouldn’t necessarily put it down to that but I definitely admire him. Rest in peace to Jahseh Onfroy.
It’s like society wants to phase people out who have a voice, they want to take them away from us, so we can’t do anything, so we can’t grow, so we have no opportunity to gain any power of our own. They take away our voices but it’s down to us to be the follow ups of these voices and not to stay silent, and speak up and speak our minds. Kanye West is very good at that, he’s brilliant. He really knows whats up.
People say that he’s crazy, and X, Y and Z but he’s just doing his things. He said in an interview that the media will call him crazy, and he said, do you know what I do, I just go home. Simple as that. You can’t really argue with that, he's just saying what he things. You get one live, your one vessel, this one opportunity to make changes, to do positive things.
And a lot of these people are doing very positive things, yes they have done some things that are regrettable and like are negative but at the same time, look around, everyone makes mistakes, I've made so many mistakes, that's up to you if you learn to forgive yourself or not. Which is really a super important thing, you have to learn to forgive yourself in order to move forward.
If you can't forgive yourself then you are likely to be one of those negative people who try to bring people back down to earth who have learned from their mistakes, who have been honest with themselves, who have been able to grow and to try and help other people through the mistakes that they have made. Urm, yeah that. Thats a big thing, a huge point there. We can run with that for a long time. There's a lot of negative people out there for sure.
/this is a great opportunity for me to speak out on things I normally only subconsciously think about/
What music were you into as a child?
Punk, my mum was a punk in London, shes a nutter, shes propper cokeny. I’m quite posh in comparision to her, I’m not like posh or anything but uh we had a very different upbringing, she got me into punk and stuff. R&B and Soul, she was super into that as well, mostly again from the areas that I was raised in, very multi cultural areas. In the UK its something that back then you could only really get from London, from being in London, there was not really anywhere else like that at the time. There was a big incorporation of Jamacan music, just like real soulful love making music. Very emotional, sensitive stuff ya know. I watched her go through a lot of pain and I understood from the music she was listening to what it meant to her and listening back to the songs that she used to listen to because obviously there classics, I can list off a few but ill hold off on that for now. When I listen back to those songs I can feel the pain that she felt back then because it makes me understand why she would listen to them, in the same way that I would listen to music that touches me.
You look at music with a different perspective. You see it for…. Our relationship has grown as well, which I think is a massive factor, we’ve had conversations and we’ve been very honest with each other and its opened up dialogue and understanding between us. I do that with most people I know, I’m only looking to expand on the relationships I have currently, and new relationships, I want to know more about the people. I have the energy to know more about the people I meet, I need to. You meet people for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. You learn about people, you just generally understand a lot more. I get the sensitivity of it.
Who would you work with if you could work with anyone, alive or dead?
Maybe Justin Beiber to be fair, like, I tell you why. He started his musical career really young, the guy’s still doing it now, the guy’s still alive. He’s had so much shit, he’s a human being, he had feelings, he’s very talented regardless of what people think of his image or what he sings about or what he talks about or whatever, like, he doesn’t do anything to hurt anybody else but other people seem to want to hurt him. I like his music, I like his diversity, I’ve seen him do some bits and bobs and I think he’s a funny dude. I’d definitely like to meet up with him, have a chat with him and maybe smoke up with him if he smokes. I reckon we’d jam, I reckon we’d get on well. X, like, not necessarily collaborate with him on the music side of things but I’d have loved to have met him, maybe ya know he’s a far greater mind that I am but still, I would have loved the opportunity to have met that guy.
I’m always open to try new things, to test myself, if somebody comes to me with the right vibe then I’ll equally come with a good vibe and we’ll make shit happen.
What shows do you currently watch on TV?
I don’t have a TV, it brainwashes you, it’s a waste of time, you’re watching somebody else's thing instead of focusing on your thing, you have to pay for a TV licence, all these other things about it. Don’t waste your time watching TV. I don’t care if any TV stars are listening to this, I don’t give a shit, don’t watch TV. Some movies are good, like if you go to watch it on a big screen it can be very inspirational if you’re creative or an artist. There is some interesting stuff on Netflix, which you can watch on your laptop, that’s one thing I would suggest.
What are some of your favourite movies?
Cinematic experiences are one of my top ten things to do if I want to get inspired. Home Alone Two, I was obsessed with New York as a kid, like I love America, it’s dope as fuck, they’re crazy out there living a mad life. That was definitely a motive for me. I like Godzilla, I like the new ones, I’m not so keen on the… Jamiroquai, I like Jameriquai. That's another cool dude. Some people think he’s an asshole but I love him and he drives a Ferrari Enzo, respect. Fern Gully, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with that, its a cartoon, my mum used to put that on for me when I was a kid and she used to quote some of the things, so that was a bit of a laugh. The Goonies, for sure, all really great characters. I hate to be cliche but the lost boys, thats always a motive for real, I just love the aesthetics.
You just shot for OTHER, were there any pieces that stood out to you?
Yeah, loads. I’ve done a fair bit of modelling in the past, I don’t class myself as a model but I’m always up to collaborate with artists, these guys are artists, their very serious about what you do, they’ve been in the game for a long time and they’ve worked very hard and stood the test of time.
They’re from the UK and they represent the UK, which I love and in this day and age and in this country is very hard to make any full progression but they’re doing very well and from what I can see from the new collection it looks amazing, and what I felt from it, like it felt good, I felt good in it, so yeah, its sick. And that's me just being real, supporting another artist, straight up, I’m not just saying that because I’m here, if I didn’t feel it then you’d see it on my face from the get go. The shoot was sick today, it was a real great experience.
I drove all of the way from the South UK, which is a nice experience, I have a nice blunt in the car which I am going to smoke on the way home.
What does the word OTHER mean to you?
It means urm, other than the norm, other than what you see every day, other than the people who are afraid to express themselves which is I’m not going to bash those people at all because at times I was afraid to express myself, no longer am I, I will not hold back and I urge everyone not to hold back because you only get this one opportunity and you have to express yourself to the maximum enjoy it, you will enjoy life so much more, it will be hard, people will jude you, people will try and bring you back down but you cannot allow it.
Life is a hard road but to get the best out of it long term you have to be yourself and be proud of who you are for sure.
And that's what other means to me, effectively the alternative to not expressing yourself. You can see within the garments.. No next man is just going to be rocking this jacket, you know what I’m saying? And shout out to next man still, you’ve got opportunity to grow and express yourself as well. If you want to get tattoos get them, they’ve never hindered my life at all, I’ve chosen my pathway.
How can people reach you?
Find me, if I’m around come and say hey, I’m cool, I'm chill, it doesn't bother me at all, I’m down to help anybody. You can find me on social media, I'm called Sin. I’m not going to plug my Instagram if you want to find me you can find me.
