Reposting my discussion with a young writer for the Frequency 21 online magazine.
We talked about Bristol, street art Banksy and of course Massive Attack, ahead of my book release in France in 2016. Enjoy!
Some of 3D's early artwork for Massive Attack
Our article on the newest Banksy theory received lots of views with some agreeing with Craig William’s claim that Banksy was in fact 3D from Massive Attack. One of those who disagreed was Melissa Chemam, a writer from France who has a book on Banksy, Bristol and Massive Attack. Following this, we thought it would be great to sit down with Melissa and find out more about her book.
Her book Out of the Comfort Zone – Massive Attack to Banksy, the story of a group of artists, their city, Bristol, and Their Revolutions focuses on how the community that you come from can inspire you throughout your life.
The book also addresses the rumour that 3D from Massive Attack and Banksy are intertwined.
INTERVIEW:
What sort of background do you have?
I’ve been a journalist for 12 years, I studied at a university in Paris. I studied European Literature, political sciences and journalism. I started working for magazines when I was 24, about culture, music and literature mainly, and then I was hired on a news channel and I have been a reporter about international affairs for about 10 years. It’s a very competitive environment. I think what helped a lot was the chance to be an intern, to be there quite young even if you’re not really paid. Later, I lived in Miami, where I was reporting about the Obama campaign in 2008, and then I worked with the BBC Work Service from 2009 about African News and that’s what I’m doing mainly right now through different media in Europe and America.
How did you manage to get into journalism?
Well when I was a child, I had this passion for my little globe and I wanted to travel everywhere and I wasn’t sporty or very good with my hands so I was better at things like having a great memory so I thought the best way to travel would be to be a writer or a journalist. When I was in high school I had a huge passion for history and social studies and interaction with different cultures and I had a strong appeal for the English language so I wanted to live abroad. The Eurostar came about when I was 16/17 so my first trip abroad without my parents was when I was in London and so I started writing for very local things.
Tell us about the book you’ve written on ‘Banksy and Massive Attack, Out of the Comfort Zone – Massive Attack to Banksy, the story of a group of artists, their city, Bristol, and their revolutions’ what was the inspiration for this book?
I wanted to write about Massive Attack especially because I knew they had a strong relationship with their city so I thought I could write something special about the environment where they come from and the society at the time in the UK through them. I was involving their relationship with their city and why Bristol at the time was so special. Also I thought that it was a very positive story it’s about being very young and using hip hop and music you could express your own view on the world. It’s about expressing who you are from the start, though you are not what the society considers "important". Also I’m a big of their music and I know all their albums by heart. The lead singer from Massive Attack is a graffiti artist himself and I knew that he inspired Banksy, yet I realised that most people had forgotten about it! Banksy has become this own huge phenomenon so I thought it might be interesting to go back to that and both of them have a very strong view on political issues, on the world around them, they’ve travelled a lot and they’ve tried to express that through what they create.
What is it that you like about Massive Attack?
What attracted me a lot was that when I was younger, I had a passion for soul music and RnB and then growing up and as a teenager you become oh so much more interesting and then I was very much into Radiohead, very rockish music, but very deep. Massive Attack had all of that.
What is it about Banksy that you like?
It’s the political message that appeals to me first because I’ve travelled to Africa and I’ve worked with the BBC and I was really always very inspired by the fact that an artist or musician could make so much noise about an issue that I’ve struggled with as a journalist. They can force people to go and have a look at what’s happening in the world. They do it in a very inspiring way. The mystery of Banksy being so powerful yet nobody knows who he is, it’s obviously a great story.
What do you think about the popular opinion that Banksy, rather than being one person is a group of people?
I ask around and I understand the thought because he’s done so much and has been to so many places and has gotten away with it. He’s got away with stuff you can’t do like he put a manikin in Disneyworld figuring Guantanamo Prison, how could somebody do that on their own? I asked the question to the people who saw him arise from Bristol and they told me “No he’s one person!” It doesn’t mean that nobody was ever with him. But he is himself, he’s one person.
What do you think of the claim that Craig Williams made of Banksy being part of Massive Attack?
Well I’m very surprised that Craig William’s blog has been spread out so widely. I had seen it a few months ago and it was just a blog and then suddenly, because I think Massive Attack were playing back home in Bristol for the first time in a decade, the Daily Mail and the Sun picked up the blog so that they could probably attract people on their website. Because Banksy is such a big thing for media, anytime you say something funny about him, it just takes people along. If you look at the little evidence of who Banksy could be, for example when he appeared on his film and he was masked, he appears a little younger and a little taller, he’s a different person.
Do you think there is any connection at all between Banksy and Massive Attack?
Obviously what is interesting is that there are very strong links between Banksy and the band, he is a very big fan, he’s been around them quite a lot, he said in his own book. And in Massive Attack’s visual history (3D and The Art of Massive Attack), he’s quoted saying that Massive Attack's leader, 3D, who is a graffiti artist, massively inspired him as a kid because of what he did with the walls and the murals as different from tagging your name, it was a passion and it was already very political so it’s an inspiration. There’s a spin of inspiration between the two, they foster a lot of energy from each other. They have a strong link that’s for sure but there’s no real trace that they could be the same person, absolutely not.
Maybe he’s just a fan, maybe he’s just a friend. If you compare what they create as visual artists, it’s very different. Of course Banksy has been inspired by the use of stencil by 3D, when he was really young. At the time in the mid 80’s, stencil was considered cheating - it was too easy, it was the era of free-hand. But because 3D was a mini hero in Bristol, he was able to do anything he wanted, he used stencils to apply very famous figures inside his murals, like Robert de Niro, Marylyn Monroe, Margaret thatcher. It was playful and I’m pretty sure that it was this, among other things, that inspired Banksy. But apart from that, 3D has really moved on with his work. Artistically they’ve evolved so differently.
On a whole, your book focuses strongly on the art scene in Bristol, how was it that you got into that?
Well I think that the starting point was when I was reporting in the Central African Republic two years ago about a civil war, when I came back home, it was difficult to adjust again, I was a bit depressed because of the impact of journalism. It was at this time, when I had this feeling that I didn’t connect with my city anymore, Paris, this feeling of being alone and it was the very same week that Massive Attack travelled to Lebanon to support Palestinian refugees.
Suddenly I had this feeling that we shared so many values.
I lived in London years ago and I really liked London because it’s really big and really mixed, and Bristol is too. I suddenly had this conviction that all their intellectual view son the world came from their city. Nothing has been really written about Bristol, I think people had forgotten about it. Bristol has a strong music scene, all the street art there has a very strong impact of the Caribbean culture and I thought it deserved to be in the spotlight.
As a magazine, we try to promote journalism as a career path for young people and help them get on their way. What advice would you give to those wanting to join the industry?
My main advice is that to be a journalist or in communication you have to be really passionate, you have to write about what you like and what you know. Trust your gut, pick a topic that is strong to you, always try to remain true. If you’re really true to what you believe in, work really hard and stay who you are, it doesn’t come easily at first but then one day it’ll pay off, it’s got meaning. What our society needs nowadays is journalists that are really fighting for something that they really think is important. It’s about being committed to the community.
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The book is a fantastic read and will be of interest to anyone who enjoys art, music, literature or just wants to learn more about the culture that Bristol has. For our readers who are aspiring journalists, Melissa provided us with a great insight into the world of journalism and we would definitely heed her advice when thinking about joining the industry.
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Link to the site: f21mag.com
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Update, March 2019:
The book is now out in English, find it here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Massive-Attack-Out-Comfort-Zone/dp/1910089729
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