So let's start with the nitty gritty; name, age, origin, and of course porn star name:

Hi I’m Jahl Herapath, I’m 17 years old and I grew up in the small town of Mission Beach in far north Queensland, Australia. If I was a porn star my name would probably have to be Dirk Diggler.

When and why did you decide to start Skeg?

The main reason ‘Skeg’ was started was because my friends and I really wanted to do something with our lives that we actually enjoyed doing. We didn’t want to work the typical 9-5 jobs or go to university to become a doctor or a lawyer, we were kids who enjoyed freedom and a care free lifestyle just being able to get out there and do what we want without a worry, it was the ultimate feeling for us. Hence creating a lifestyle of our own seemed like the best idea in the world! We were already sick of the unbearable fashion trends that were coming out in Australia and decided that we should be the ones to take a risk.

The initial idea for Skeg was first raised a few years ago between me and some of my close friends.  It basically all started back when we were younger, after school and during the holidays we‘d all go down to local skate park and film all sorts of footage. It was an idea influenced and fuelled by the likes of Baker 3 and CKY. We were practically convinced we’d get famous out of it and spent each and every weekend filming countless hours of footage. The concept for ‘Skeg’ basically grew from there and we thought let’s start making t-shirts to wear in the footage so we look real legit! This idea however never really took flight and it wasn’t until sometime after then that my friend Zac Leonardi now the co-founder of Skeg, decided he wanted to start a clothing label after having the success of printing his own artwork on a t-shirt in art class. The original name for the line that Zac had suggested back then was ‘No Brain Function’ I myself didn’t really believe in the name so I proceeded to convince him otherwise with ‘Skeg’ a title originally thought up by another close friend Marco who used to call us ‘Skegs’ when we’d go skating.

We finally got our first real taste of production with a local printing company which involved a combination of tacky fonts and badly executed art design, thus the whole idea yet again essentially fell through partly due to our lack of experience and general funding.  After this we basically went back to the drawing board once again and that’s when Zac decided to do a ‘gap year’ in the army which is basically a term used in Australia where you can go away for a year after school and basically train to be in the army whilst earning a reasonable amount of cash. At the same time I spent nights working endless hours at a local restaurant washing dishes to do my bit to help contribute to getting our idea off the ground. It wasn’t until about mid 2009 that we had the funds to start contacting designers and companies alike. Skeg basically expanded from this and along with the support from friends and family it officially launched on the 7^th January this year.

Correct me if I am wrong but Skeg is basically aimed towards the skateboarding/streetwear crowd.  There are some huge brands in that category, what do you think sets you guys apart and what is going to make you successful?

With Skeg we’re trying to stray from the pack and do something completely different from your average run of the mill skate brand, we don’t want to have a mass corporate feel about the whole thing we just want to stay true to the idea. We hope to maintain that skate lifestyle and be very accepting of everything around us with things like local visits to kids at skate parks and simply going there to get involved, skate and have a good time. One of the big things in the mix is that we plan to release a lot of limited edition clothing as I personally hate when you buy an awesome new shirt only to discover that you and every other person also owns it.

I really don’t come across that many indie clothing lines from Australia, does being from Australia tend to help or hurt you as a company?

Generally from starting out the only issue I’ve really faced is getting in touch with someone that can print our clothing at the standard we want it. So in terms of production that’s probably the only issue we’ve been facing at the moment. As for indie labels based in Australia it works quite well for us as the whole ‘indie clothing scene’ seems to be quite underground meaning that if you’re not really into fashion you aren’t going to find a whole lot out there. With that in mind it leaves us with a very open market in terms of places to stock our label because of the lack of known Australian indie labels being stocked in shops where I live. However my location is probably another factor on this though as I’m pretty sure if I approached the larger cities I’d find a lot more competition from brands I’ve never even heard of.

You have teamed up with some incredible artists; when you approached them with your ideas did you give them specific details as to what you wanted to see or did you leave it up to them?

Being an artist myself I had a very strong sense of what I was aiming for with each individual design thus in turn I essentially had quite a lot of detailed input into their process. However I wanted to work with each artist in a way that also ensured that they could still be free to express themselves and do what they wanted and liked.

What has been the most challenging part of running Skeg?

Probably online marketing as I’m not really experienced on that whole side of things. I’m slowly progressing by contacting t-shirt blogs and other sites alike but at this stage I’m guessing it’s going to be a long-term thing until we have some decent traffic to our site. The major downer is that there are very few Australian based clothing lines online thus making very little room for support and networking. This is why I really appreciate you guys for giving us the opportunity to be featured on your site, I am hoping this kind of publicity will help in terms of getting the word out about ‘Skeg’ on an international scale.

What are some brands that you have looked up to for inspiration?

Afends, Insight and Sixpack France would have to be the standout brands for our main sources of inspiration. I remember originally wanting to start our label and coming across Afends an Australian company who had basically already set a standard for what we initially wanted Skeg to be only we planned Skeg to be a little more fashionable than what they were doing. I was in fact bummed out that Afends already used Mike Bukowski as one of their artists as I’d been into his stuff for ages and really wanted to work with him for Skeg, however I didn’t want people to get the impression that we were copying Afends by using that particular artist.

For only being 17, you sure seem like you have your shit together!  Is there anyone else that helps you run Skeg or is this a one man show?

Well to be honest I have in fact been running the whole show by myself for the most part, as my business partner/friend Zac has spent the majority of last year working in the army thus leaving him very little time to help out but he does with every opportunity he gets. Hopefully this year he’ll have more time to be able to lend a hand behind the scenes running the business. That’s pretty much all of the input that goes into Skeg aside from the legal side of things. With those kinds of issues I usually go running to Zac’s mum for advice and she lends a hand where she can. I also have a few friends that are competent writers and help in that area where needed but other than that it’s been a one man show for quite a while now.

What is your favourite thing about running a clothing line?

The sheer pleasure of seeing people actually wearing our label in public is definitely one of the kicks I get about running a clothing line, I also love receiving online orders and packaging them up with heaps of little goodies and surprises . In another big way art direction also gets me quite hyped up, just the whole aspect of being able to work with such renowned artists and share your own ideas for them to interpret is really enjoyable.

What can we expect from Skeg in the future?

In the future we plan to sway towards more ‘cut n sewn’ products with a higher sense of fashion in terms of illustration and overall branding. What you can definitely expect from our next range however is a much more obscured and sinister theme than what is already current.  As for anything else well, let’s just say if I told you I’d probably have to kill you.

Any last minute shout outs?

Go check out The Medics they’re an awesome band that recently joined the Skeg family and I’m expecting big things from them in the future! 

Thanks Heaps!

You can check also check out the interview over at IATT.

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The name HORSEBITES actually came from a Southern California punk band called D.I. because they had an album called Horse Bites Dog Cries. I was obsessed with this band so I named my email after the email. Then I started doing some design jobs for All American Rejects and their merch manager at the time started calling me HORSEBITES because he didn't remember my real name. I liked the way it sounded and it also had a story behind so I stuck with it and started a legit design company after that. 

I could only wish there was cereal with my name on it. The only thing I could imagine it tasting like would be Grape Nuts though.

Well put it definitely wouldn't be the greatest tasting cereal. Now I hear you grew up in Orlando, FL, right? What’s it like growing up with Disney World so close, has it made any impact on your work as an artist?

Yup, I grew up under the shadow of the Mouse. I actually love Orlando. A lot of people talk shit about it but don't do anything about it. I'm perfectly content with it and my tight group of friends. I loved going to Disney when I was a kid and loved the movies even more. I also thought it was so cool that it was only 20 min away from my house when so many people around the world would travel so far just for a quick visit.

I know that Walt Disney's illustrations and animations have made a huge impact on my work. I always admired movies like Snow White and Alice in Wonderland for having such detailed and well crafted backgrounds in all the scenes. The lines were always so perfect in all the movies too, this really attracted me to drawing.

I’m definitely envious that you had the opportunity to grow up so close to Disney World it’s like the dream place to live for a 12yr old. So what got you into the illustration scene? Did you ever attend uni to become qualified as an artist/illustrator or did it just happen, it’s not the everyday job.

I actually got in to the illustration scene by force. I was a pizza delivery boy for almost 10 years and really had no confidence on ever doing art for a living. I started doing work for my own band then other bigger bands liked what I was doing and made do work for them. I was really pressured in to it because I was scared shit less of computers because I never worked on them before. Everything was done by hand. I was going to school at the time and taking art classes like painting and drawing but not because I thought I would do that for a living, I only did it because I was the best at that than other subjects.

After I did a few shirt designs with the little knowledge I knew in Photoshop I got advice from my friend who worked at Fueled By Ramen at the time and told me I needed to learn Illustrator because it was better for shirt designs. I took his advice and attended a class about the program and left for tour. I never came back to school or my pizza job after that. I really don't know where most people get off thinking they can just be a designer on the drop of a hat or start some clothing line and become recognized or profit off of it immediately.

It blows my mind why most younger people think like that. It takes a lot of time and you have to have talent and extreme patience for this kind of stuff if you wanna stay afloat. I'm super grateful for this position and I know that it could end at anytime so I'm enjoying it as much as I can.

That's a pretty crazy story, to think you were a pizza boy for ten years? Let’s talk food, you constantly post pics of it on your blog, any relevance this has to your artwork?

Alright, now you're talking. No relevance to my artwork at all. I've always had a passion for food. When I was 17 I weighed 204lbs and I was only 5 feet 2 inches tall! I'm 6 foot and 175lbs now for some strange reason. People would make fun of me because I looked like a little round mexican girl but I didn't give two shits. I just wanted food! I know that anyone can relate to food so I post pics of it so they can share the joy of eating with me. Well, visually at least. It's art in itself!!

What else inspires you to come up with your crazy illustrations, ever been a fan of those old-school horror films such as Friday the 13^th and Halloween?

I'm really inspired by artists such as Ed Roth, Jim Phillips, Robert Williams, Camille Rose Garcia, Walt Disney, Pushead and some others. There's also a few up and comers that I admire. I always enjoyed horror films but I don't think I was that inspired by them that much.

What about the skate scene of today ever had an interest in it?

Not really, I kind of left my interest in skating from when I was younger. It seemed way cooler back then and graphically at least it was a million times better. Most of the art done on decks is so stale and stagnant nowadays. Even when I was a kid new shapes and printing techniques we're being discovered and tried out so I feel like that was a way more interesting and revolutionary time for the skate industry.

Yeah I’m a massive sucker for the old-school artwork from back in the day. So how do you keep ahead of trends and styles in the design world?

I'm not sure really. I mainly just try to focus on forever evolving my style and trying to be ahead of myself. I feel it's the only way to keep it fresh for myself and others. I try not to let too many other trends influence my style.

What are your thoughts on people ripping other people’s artwork or styles in the design world? Have you ever dealt with people ripping your own work considering you’re pretty well known throughout the web?

I've seen it so much lately that it just gets really old really quick. Of course it's wrong but no matter how much you make a stink about it someone else is doing it even more than the last. I think that if you're good then people will know it's your work and can see the fakers right away. I've had a few people rip off my work and I've dealt with them in a professional manner by contacting them personally and it usually ends the problem right there.

Yeah well put, people today are becoming less and less creative to the point where they just copy other people’s artwork. Anyway enough of the ripping what’s it like being a part of The Black Axe now many positives?

It's been a life saver no doubt. I was feeling very stagnant for a while before we started up the AXE. It's such an amazing feeling being able to work with people I look up to and respect. I can hand off a drawing and someone else can add their style and it usually comes out looking way better than I thought it would. It also increases our work greatly. We have so much potential to take on bigger jobs and projects now with all of our talents put together. We're also branching off and doing smaller companies like CrispyTees.com and a few others that I can't talk about at the moment so that keeps everything interesting and on my toes. 

Yep The Black Axe is taking over, now correct me if I’m wrong you’re in a band right? What’s that like, living the life of a rockstar yet?

Yeah I'm actually in three bands, Gatorface, No Friends and None More Black. I've been playing music for a long time now so it just feels normal to be in a band and have a musical outlet. It's nothing close to "rockstar" or will it ever be. These are bands are just for fun and not to "make it". That's why I like them so much and that's the only reason I can do them. We hardly go on tour and really just play shows when we want to and when we know they will be fun.

 What are you listening to at the moment?

I'm actually listening to the Ventures, Mariachi El Bronx, some ragtime and 50's rockabilly. I haven't really been listening to punk stuff lately because I got pretty jaded on it. Besides, the state of punk today is mostly watered down boring crap. Every now and then something will show up on my door step and surprise but for now I'm digging way deeper to find more interesting things.

Yeah I can definitely understand, punk today sure does lack what it had... Your design process, give us a brief rundown of how you go about it – describe your setup, music you listen to etc...

Well, it's actually really simple I guess. I usually put on a record or listen to my iPod with my headphones and dive right in to the drawing process. I make small little sketch of what I'm roughly thinking of for the idea of the layout and then I start drawing it piece by piece. After I feel that I've made it detailed enough with pencil I go over it with pens and then erase the pencil marks when that's done and dry.

Then I scan it and make it crisp black and white lines in Photoshop. After that it's imported in to Flash where I make it vector and it's ready to be opened and coloured in Illustrator. This is where I make all the final touches with placement, colours, textures, separations and anything else to make it complete. Finally I collect the money and stuff my face with burritos.

Top 5 upcoming artists you think everyone should check out?

At the top of the list it would have to be Chad Lenjer aka Discordant Art. I got a chance to meet him a couple days and was blown away by his original drawings. Absolutely incredible especially for someone as young as him. I can see him doing great things in the near future and setting fires in his visually apocalyptic path of destruction. Other artists that I think other people should check out would be Vania Zouravliov, John Dyer Baizley, Charles Glaubitz and Ben Frost.

Any last words, shout outs, mentions?

Where's the beef?