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Welcome to a new monthly feature headed by Sticky contributor Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson. JP aims to get you as close as possible to some of the most influential people in youth culture today. From journalists to fashion designers he has it locked. First up, is Mr. Danny Walker, Deputy Editor of “The UK’s largest” youth lifestyle magazine RWD…
Age:
27 (although I still look about 10).
Occupation:
I’m the Deputy Editor and self-appointed CEO of Fun at RWD Magazine – the UK’s largest youth lifestyle title (based on ABC figures and my own personal opinion). I started this journo business five years ago and each day (although crazy at times) is varied, challenging and jokes.
Where Are You From:
I’m from Camden, London, the home of N-Dubz, The Hawley Arms and the best crack this side of Brooklyn.
Your Passion:
My passion – apart from trainers, Pro Evolution Soccer and gadgets – is that I love injecting a slice of humour into everything I do, whether that be bog-standard interviews, games/ music reviews or monthly features like Enough Already. I want everything I work on to leave the reader/audience with at least one wry smile or the thought, ‘Well that was a bit random.’ It’s become my mission.
When did you first get into working with young people?
April 2004 I started working with RWD and since then we’ve covered so many artists (mainstream and underground) I can’t even remember. I’ve interviewed the likes of Devlin, Tinchy Stryder, Bashy, Dizzee Rascal, The Thirst, N-Dubz, Roll Deep, the list goes on. It’s good to see them do well. Since being in the industry I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside a lot of young writing talent, the best of which were nutured into staff writers at RWD (Rajveer Kathwadia, Emmanuel Ezugwu and Hayley Joyes). In the office we also have young people on youth training projects; we have the opportunity to show them what it’s like being in an office environment and what it takes to work in media. Although sometimes we set a bad example.
So are you influenced and inspired by the youth of today?
The first time I heard about Giggs was via one of RWD’s youth training schemes. That was a few years ago now. They were saying, ‘ard bodied this, and ‘ard bodied that,’ looking back I must have been like an episode of Thudercats to them, because I didn’t have a clue what they were going on about. I suppose I just immerse myself in youth culture and when things/ words/ trends/ styles come up they do influence you. When the music you like is made by people who may be like five years younger than you, you can’t help being inspired. Although one read of the ‘glossary’ on the sleeve of the latest N-Dubz album and you sometimes wonder why? ‘Loofi?’ ‘Maddas 4 Rallas?’ Either I’m getting old or they’re crazy?
I’m not saying that you’re old, but do you sometimes forget how old you are because of the work you do?
When you start a sentence by saying, ‘Not saying you’re old,’ it kind of implies that you’re saying I’m old. It’s cool, it’s cool, I’m a big man but I’m not 30. I think if Wiley can still relate to the youth (and he’s nearly 31) then anyone who loves what they do can just enjoy it to the point where age doesn’t even come into question. Yeah, sometimes I forget that some of the newer music artists are still in college, school, etc. Like the first time I interviewed Chipmunk he had his sixth form uniform on, but it’s all good.
Who’s been the best person you’ve interviewed in your journalism career?
That depends on who you ask, I can say to people that I’ve interviewed 50 Cent, Fabolous, Will.I.Am, Christina Milian, Marc Ecko, Rihanna (check my blog for pictorial evidence), premiership footballers and everyone in the UK (from Sway to Lady Sovereign) and they’d get all excited and go mad. Sometimes you forget that different artists/celebrities mean different things to different people. For me though I’d say Eddie Griffin, Lewis Hamilton or Danny Dyer were the ‘best’ people I’ve interviewed.
Tell us about RWD Magazine…
RWD has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years. That is simply down to the crazy dedication from the staff. Art Director Dacre Bracey goes above and beyond and I think Hattie Collins needs a special mention too – although her exterior is of a lady who couldn’t give a… – she is one of the brightest minds around. I think we do a great job at staying current and have featured more UK talent on our pages first than any other title. The likes of Dizzee Rascal, Sway, Lemar and many many more all debuted in RWD. With youth training projects, pages bursting with talent, bigger and better ads each issue, and more requests for work experience than we know what to do with, RWD is definitely a big part of today’s youth culture.
What’s been the best brand campaign you’ve been a part of with RWD?
There have been so many projects it’s very hard to choose one. I’ve enjoyed massive campaigns like the adidas adiZones Slamvan tour and helping to put on the biggest grime concert ever in the Kano ‘140 Grime Street’ Album Launch Party at IndigO2, but for me it has to be the Levi Twisted Originals campaign that ran early this year. Basically Levi’s gave us some crazy characters and wanted us to get them to relate to our audience. I wrote the script and did the storyboard for the animation and the comic and they were really pleased with the results. We got a mass of hits on YouTube, it was posted all over the world and their product sales also went up 8% so that must be good, right?
What’s in store for Danny Walker in 2010?
I don’t actually know. Maybe we’ll try blag some World Cup tickets. Maybe I’ll grow a micro Mohican and move to Mali. I guess I’ll just try and do what I do everyday and make RWD the biggest and the best it can be. I’ll continue to post up all sorts on my blog and Twitter and if any other writing campaigns, scripts, cartoons, features come my way I’ll add my unique blend of nonsense.
