I've always been interested in underground culture, when I was a kid I became very interested in comics, horror and science fiction films & books, these genres were traditionally seen as outside the mainstream and intellectually inferior in some way…this interest then extended to my early musical interests in Hip Hop, Punk and independent music. In the UK we had a comic called "2000AD" which was hugely influential to my generation, I started reading this at an early age, around 7 or 8 years old and it formed the foundations of my imaginative thinking, storytelling and satirical - anti-establishment humour in my developing brain.

Hip Hop was an American cultural movement that was embraced internationally, in the UK there was a huge interest in graffiti, rap and breakdancing and around the age of 12 I was massively inspired by the music and imagery coming out of New York and LA. UK sound system culture was a big influence, as I grew older I was swept up in the acid house craze, going to raves and festivals and seeing first hand the network of UK counterculture, then there was jungle/drum&bass which I loved for it's dub-like musical architecture and science fiction vibes. All of these things are big influences on my work to this day.

I started playing guitar around age 14 and formed/joined a number of bands, mostly doing cover versions but writing a few songs too. My first school band was called The Uninvited, we did covers of early Cure songs, The Cramps and Joy Division. Around 14/15 I realised that there was this whole world of amazing alternative music to discover, so there was a massive range of influences to absorb. I grew up in Oxford and there was a nice music scene there - we had some good guitar bands like Ride & Radiohead as well as a lot of raves and parties happening in the surrounding countryside. I pretty much gave up playing guitar when I went to university in Liverpool, focussing more on my drawing and artwork. Then when I moved to London I got back into it and started playing with my friend Susumu's electro-disco-funk band Zongamin, we toured quite a lot, travelling to Japan, all over Europe and playing a lot of clubs and parties in London. In the early 2000's I was heavily into garage punk and rockabilly and I formed a band called The Banknotes, we made a record and played quite a bit - there was quite a vibrant scene for garage and rock n' roll in London at the time.

Punk culture has influenced me hugely, my mind was blown by Jamie Reid's Sex Pistols artwork and things like The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle, all the graphics in that, the colours and silkscreen printing, then of course all the zine culture that came with punk. Particularly now I'm interested in that analogue culture, pre digital. It's good to make real things! The visual side of music and pop culture holds tons of influence for me, I'm a big fan of Barney Bubbles, who did all of Hawkwind's art, psychedelia and late 60's counterculture has influenced my work a lot. I love artists like Martin Sharp, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin. Skate culture was also a big influence, I was never much of a skater but the culture surrounding it really inspired me, I joined a band called Headshoppe in the early 2000's, they were all skaters and some of them worked in Slam (City Skates), being part of this circle of people exposed me to loads of amazing visuals and music.

Yes, more or less, I never imagined that I would end up working in fashion or clothing… But Silas was like a dream client, many of the people there were inspired by exactly the same stuff as me, people like Fergadelic and James Jarvis - they grew up on "2000AD" as well. Russell Waterman, who ran Silas, is a massive music fan and we became friends through a shared love of psychedelic rock and punk.

It gave me a new canvas, designing T-shirt graphics, made me refine and develop my work. It also introduced me to a lot of interesting people. In 2003 I travelled to Japan for the first time with Silas, we had a big exhibition in Tokyo at Parco museum, this was a very significant trip for me as it introduced me to a culture that became a big part of my life.

I think my friend Russell Maurice (Gasius) might have introduced us, they got in touch with me when they were just starting out, I did some graphics for them and they didn't use them for ages, then suddenly they brought out this amazing embroidered jacket with my artwork on it. Their production skills are amazing, Kyle Ng has a real talent for applying graphics to clothing and working out colour ways and placements etc. which is a great skill. I like the freedom of working with them and the fact that we share similar influences in weirdo horror and slime punk.

Actually I'm not really doing Alakazam anymore, for quite a while my wife Ayako and I were making T-shirts under this name but we stopped a few years ago. The word is kind of a classic type of wizards spell, like something from The Arabian nights, a magician might shout Alakazam! before he pulls a rabbit from a hat.

One of the reasons that I stopped doing my own t-shirt label was that I got tired of putting so much energy into making loads of t-shirts, especially on a seasonal basis, it was just non stop, and I thought- does the world really need so many of my t-shirts? Of course I still do T-shirt graphics, but hopefully more quality than quantity. My attitude to consumption is that we all need to consume a lot less! (especially in the west).

I think one of the big problems is disposable cheap fashion, I like to buy clothes but not excessively, I try to buy well made responsibly sourced clothing thats not made in sweatshops and that will last.

I still like the same kind of things I have for many years, I like to tell stories in my pictures, to entertain, maybe to freak people out a little bit and provoke a bit of questioning… "Pencil Punk" - my friend called me that recently and it made me laugh, the idea of being a pencil punk, pencil is regarded as a very old school, traditional drawing medium, like for kids, so combining it with punk is kind of silly but it sort of describes what I do…childish, irreverent and a bit rebellious but organic!

I think it's up to people to decide that for themselves, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, some people love very minimal, simple artwork, others are more interested in detail. With my work I am trying not to rely on details to impress people, I want the ideas and the stories within to be strong. I think sometimes I hide behind the detail a little bit. When I sell my artwork I do have to factor in the time it takes me to make a piece, if it is super detailed then I will usually charge more for it, but that doesn't necessarily make it a better piece of work than something more simple.

I'm inspired by the world around me, by the patterns in the carpet and the clouds in the sky! I've spent many years absorbing influences; comics, psychedelia, punk visuals, drawing in museums, reading fiction and history…all of these things tend to come out a little when I draw. Recently I've been trying to trust myself more and let the strangeness flow out freely, instead of trying to look at specific references and influences.

But I'm also constantly inspired by other artists.

I'll list a few; Horfee, Motohiro Hayakawa, The incredible TetsunoriTayawara, Lung, Gary Panter, Skinner, Susan Kahurangi King, Sam Harkham, French, James Jarvis, Joe Grillo.

I need silence first, sometimes music, sometimes noisy music, sometimes alien ambient soundscapes, sometimes I need to listen to stories on the radio. Tea also helps.

It's always interesting to see my drawings take on a 3 dimensional shape, I particularly like working with sculptors and seeing how they interpret my work.

It's a small toy label based in Tokyo, it's actually run by an Australian guy, a very nice chap who has the instagram account (@toumbido). I don't know why he called it Ferntoy, maybe he likes ferns! We have some more of my characters in the pipeline; hopefully we will release another one soon. So far we have made The Mindseye Trooper, we've done 4 different colour ways of him, I'm currently working on a Mindset Trooper comic called 'Tears Of The Mindseye'. Fern toy are also working with other amazing artists from Japan and elsewhere.

I don't know, maybe it should be indestructible? I have two small kids and most of the toys that I make are not suitable for children, which is a shame… I like toys which really inspire the imagination, it should be something you can play with and also put on a shelf and look at and inspire some ideas and stories in your head! I have a lamp design coming out soon in Japan, it's a colab with Undercover x Medicom Toy, it's a mushroom character lamp which strobes between different colours when you turn a spider switch on it, he's called Mr Buttons…for me it's the best toy/3D thing I've ever made.

Anything for people who promote or endorse fascism, bigotry or exploitation of other people. But I'm unlikely to be asked to do that really.

It's different for everyone, but try not to publish work that you are not happy with, always endeavour to make every piece of work the best it can be - even if you are doing really well and are in demand, strive for perfection every time. Keep evolving and don't be lazy with your style. Don't undersell yourself, get paid! Enjoy yourself.