Bad T-shirts and the con artists who make them are winning. They’re everywhere and they hurt our eyes with their rubbish designs. But there’s one illustrator daring to stem the tide of terrible tees. Fergus Purcell AKA Fergadelic styles himself as the Graphic Equaliser (after 80s TV show The Equalizer), patrolling the streets like a freelance vigilante, putting scumbag designers in their place. He’s best known for his work with Perks & Mini, Silas and his own line, Tonite. As well as T-shirts, his handiwork adorns comics, record sleeves, bags, giant foam hands and a whole other bunch of crap. Fergadelic’s style is saturated with the pop culture he consumed as a kid, head buried in Robert Crumb comics and underground metal zines. He remains a teenage skater-kid in his heart and in his art, as we found out when he showed us his workspace, DIY tattoos and new designs.

Vice: What’s the worst T-shirt you’ve seen lately?
Fergus Purcell: My all
time least favourite tee is the one which is a bit Ramones-logo, a bit
American collegiate, a bit spray-can-style-paint-spatter graphics in
depressing shades of beige and baby blue, over-printed with
asymmetrical splodges, and probably with some big zig-zag stitching
worked into it. Do you know the one I’m talking about?

When did you realise that illustration was your calling?
 I remember
how INTENSELY NEW the Metallica logo looked when it first emerged. It’s
an example of perfect design - where the form, the name, and the sound
become as one, undeniably. How genius was it when the 3D perspective
version of the logo arrived? Forever floating ahead and above you! I
LOVED the music, too. The Cliff Burton era of that band was incredible.

How did you develop your style?
I was drawn to this aesthetic through the comics I’d read as a kid:
2000 AD and then Métal Hurlant. I started drawing Judge Dredd a LOT and
then I started drawing tattoos on other kids.

I take it you do your own tattoos too. Who would you get to tattoo you?
I’m
really into Daniel Richter. His stuff is so beautiful and mysterious
and 21st Century. I’m a huge fan. I like Neckface’s stuff too. His
characters look really good sprayed up on the wall. I don’t like all
that photocopied-stenciled-then-pasted-onto-the-wall stuff, though.
It’s just eye-pollution.

What, like Banksy?
I don’t like Banksy’s stuff, but I
can’t but admire his determination to put it up everywhere over the
years. I don’t think there’s any conflict with what he did years ago
and his recent move into the art world. I’m a bit surprised by it
because I don’t think his stuff is very good, but I don’t think it’s a
betrayal of his roots. He’s a clever guy.

You’ve been pretty clever with Perks & Mini in so far as it has
exploded in popularity despite there being no publicity. How did that
happen?
There’s something very powerful about an underground phenomenon that is
allowed to develop it’s voice in it’s own way. People naturally
gravitate to such voices; words spoken from the heart are so much
stronger. Their message is so much more nourishing. And the word
spreads through the glorious and mysterious language of the streets.
This is something that no corporation can buy or co-opt.

A bevy of illustrators look up to you as a hero. Who are your heroes?
I would put EYE from the Boredoms at the top of my list. He is Folk
Artist Numero Uno.

What do you do when you’re not working?
All the time I
spend in front of the computer, I try to balance with going for walks,
listening to tunes (sometimes stoned), and just looking around,
drinking in all the energy and inspiration that’s in surrounding
people, buildings and trees.

Hobbies?
I am a total hoarder and collector. These aren’t guilty pleasures for me; I’m quite at one with my inner child!

What kind of stuff do you collect?
Lots of things. Blade Runner toys, an old wooden shoe last from a very high-heeled
fetish shoe, and STACKS of Sci-Fi books. I regard these as my Totem
Objects Of Power.

- Fergadelic’s new Tonite range comes out next month.