CREW SPOTLIGHT 

DIAS, COPENHAGEN

Crew Spotlight episode #2 featuring DIAS CREW. This video features the crew painting panels in their home town from S Trains, Metros and the Regional trains that run thousands of kilometers into Sweden. We caught up with a few members for an interview to find out the history of the crew and what life is like in Copenhagen.

1. What is the history of DIAS CREW, when and where did it all start?

The history of DIA crew starts in 1991 where TABU (RIP) and NON founded the crew. Shortly after TABU’s dead in 1993, the crew was brought back to life by a relative, NEC, who are still active today.

From around 1994 and up to around the early 200’s the crew was known to be some of the hardest hitters in the city until kids, jobs, and wives eventually got in the way of late nights and police chases.The other early members from that era are REAL, ASTMA, MASK, PUM, BASTA, UNIS, KREMA and JOBS.

Around 2009 the crew had a revival when NEC in a drunken spree started to paint trains again and added new members FREM, TASK and SNAEC. It didn’t take long for a bunch of the other early members to realise that they were missing out on the fun and almost the whole crew took up painting again, while adding members BRAVO and UTIN.

And then there is the sSwedish branch that consists of DANO and DANG, who have been a part of the crew for ages.

Today, it is a bit uncertain who of the old members are still really part of the crew. 25 years, 5000 cans and 10000 beers takes it toll on memory, however the most important part is that we are all good friends to this day.
Currently, less than a handful of us are “active” writers on a regular basis.  

2. What does DIAS stand for?

DIA stands for “Destroy It All” which is why we often refer to ourselves as Destroyers. Nowadays we also try to write every possible word containing DIA such as; Diagnosis, Diamond Diablo, the Indians, Diana, Diabolic or whatever stupid thing we can think of.

3. Are you only interested in trains or do you paint walls too?

TABU was known for being an all out bomber who hit everything he could get his hands on. We do respect that legacy and we enjoy painting some good spots along the train line, but the crew has for the last 25 years mostly focused on trains. We focus our efforts on the Copenhagen s-train, but we enjoy hitting almost every type of train in the city. This is why it is almost certain that you will see DIAS panels running on everything from long distance trains to the s-train if during your next Eurotrip you find yourself on Copenhagen central station.

4. How long do panels normally run for in your city?

Painted trains can run for ages in Copenhagen, and sometimes, if you are unlucky, it only runs a single trip. It is not rare to see your s-train panel in traffic weeks or even months after you painted it.

5. Do you guys do much travelling and painting other systems through Europe?

We do a bit of travelling - mostly to visit good friends in Europe. During 2017 and 2018 we have painted trains and subways in countries like England, Ireland, Germany, USA, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Spain, and probably a few other places..  

6. Being a small city with so many writers and people trying to paint do you ever have problems with other crews over spots?

No and yes. A few spots are “claimed”, but mostly by a bunch of teenagers who painted 5 trains there and who now thinks they are kings of the city. That’s not really an issue.

However, as the small city Copenhagen is, there is a lot of bitching, backstabbing, and hating amongst writers - especially on online forums. As we use to say: “only toys and children scream for attention”, so we prefer to stay out of that, and we keep friendly among the Copenhagen crews.

7. Have you guys ever had trouble with the law? What happens if you get caught painting in Denmark?

As a tourist, you probably do not want to get caught in copenhagen. There is different scenarios and the sentence might vary, but it is common for tourists to do jail time when getting caught. In the past years people has been jailed for everything between 2 weeks and 5 months.

For a local the problem is more likely to be the fines you can face. Probably all of us have had problems with the law at some point, but it has not (so far) lead to any larger issues.

8. Can you tell us about a memorable mission as a crew?

Well, all of us likes to drink beer, so obviously there is a lot of those stories around. The funniest is probably some of our members who got too old to climb fences, which results in us having to cut man size holes for them to join the action (You know who you are).

If you know a few things about Copenhagen, you’ll probably know that is it possible to paint a lot of trains here. Some of the most memorable nights probably comes from packing the ”dia-mobile” full of cans and spending a whole day and night painting as many spots as possible. The record is still 16 actions in one day, which involved metros, s-trains, regionals, and long distance trains - good times.

In 2017 our aim was to paint 365 panels collectively - one for each day. We made it to around 500, but only because we started doing 2 or 3 panels each every time we hit the yard.

9. Do you often add new members to the crew?

For the last 8 years or so, about 5 members has joined the crew. We only add people we consider real friends, so adding people is never about expanding or being able to paint more. As well as if you don’t paint for years, you will not get kicked out of the crew.

10. What does DIAS have planned for the future?

To go to Australia and crash the couches and spots of the countless of Aussies that have visited us over the years! We are coming for you Australia.

FEATURED PRODUCTS