Coveted Jersey 2014: Death Spray Custom

The Coveted Jersey can’t be purchased. You must win a race to own one. Have the skills; reap the reward. Wear it with pride. It’s our way of giving a bit back to the heroes that spend thankless hours organizing their races and those who test their mettle and climb to the top step. Like mercenaries sent to battle paid only with adrenaline and endorphins, each week around the globe racers contend in back alleys, busy streets, and city tunnels to claim the glory amid their mass of peers. Battles are fought between friends and short cuts found by the canny. Beers are drank and road rash mended. Street racing is rad. For those with the taste for camaraderie and glory there is no substitute.

To make our Coveted Jersey worthy of the fastest riders in the most competitive street races each year we partner with artists and designers that inspire us. In the past, the jersey has been designed by Garett Chow (2010), James Sellman (2012), and Sean Light (2013). All three are incredibly talented; all three can pedal the shit out of a bike.

To continue the pedigree of the Coveted Jersey in 2014, we reached out to London based artist Death Spray Custom. DSC works with mediums he says are “dangerous” or “travel fast.” We’ve more than admired his work for a while. He’s worked with our friends Adam Eldridge on a frame and Thor Drake on 21 Helmets. He’s written that, “if the activity requires a helmet to be worn then the activity is well worth doing” and says, not including his art, the thing that gives him the greatest sense of accomplishment is “scoring some super rare bike shit on ebay.” Death Spray Custom gets it, he just does. Using his lust worthy SATA spray guns and Swann & Morton scalpels (“so sharp you don’t feel it when you accidentally slice your finger open”), Death Spray Custom creates his stunning work in a “modest, cozy” space in South East London. While he dreams of a studio capable of holding C-130, his space puts an emphasis on vibe rather than volume. A vibe that he has spent time to curate and describes as a “1980’s gas station from a Burt Reynolds movie.”

His work has a graphical precision and immaculate finish that plays with historical context and a seditious style. “My work is largely based around heritage in that simple, classic, pre-digital graphics and art is what I like to see and do.”

With the 2014 coveted Jersey, Death Spray Custom was inspired by the disruptive camouflage pattern named Dazzle that was used on ships during WW2. “To cut a long story short, it was a genre of camouflage used by the navy to disguise the orientation of vessels being observed by U-boats. There are a few different styles; the most iconic is the monochrome block style that is most commonly associated with the term. Camo is something that as a pattern maker, I adore as a thing of beauty, from it’s natural origins to the military use. Chrome digs Dazzle, and as South East London’s leading camo aficionado I created a Chrome monogram pattern so all riders who score one can evade U-Boats with ease.” We are again inspired by the work of our friends. Now go find a race (or throw one of your own –> Coveted Jersey Call for 2014 Coveted Jersey Races Blog) and see if you have the mettle to score a 2014 Coveted Jersey.  

All photos from: Death Spray Custom