Street roots
10
July 18, 2014
the whole thing of having me around,
actually, seeing my discomfort as We were
doing these crazy things. He could be a son
of a bitch. He kept a myna bird called
Edward, and he’d bang the cage and shout,
“Edward! There is no bird God, that will
save you, Edward!” And I felt like Edward in
the cage sometimes (laughs). ?
A.E'. Ever fear for your safety in his
Left, Ralph
Steadman in his
studio. Above, a
special illustration
Steadman Penned
for the Big Issue! .,
U.K., part of the
International
Network o f Street
Papers. A t right,
Steadman poses
w itkacior Johnny
Depp who portrayed
R.S.: Oh no. It never crossed my mind
that he was vicious or sadistic. Not at all. He
was just letting the wild side of himself
loose. It was mischief-making and taking
risks. Gonzo journalism was submersing
yourself in the story, becoming the story,
and maybe learning something about
yourself in the process.
P H O T O BY C H A R L IE PA U L
A.F.: You’ve said Hunter brought put your
wild side...
BY A D A M FORREST
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R ITER
brand new work for our latest cover.
alph Steadman was born in «
Adam Forrest: How are you Ralph?
Merseyside in 1936 and grew up in
North Wales. He found his calling in a
Ralph Steadm an: Well, everything feels
tiny advert for a Percy V Bradshaw
very biblical this morning, with all this rain.
illustration course: “You too can learn to
We have a Noah in the family — my
draw and earn £££s”. In the 1960s his work
grandson. And now I’m talking to an Adam.
appeared in Punch and Private Eye, but it
It’s all very Old Testament
was meeting writer Hunter S. Thompson
while covering the 1970 Kentucky Derby
A.F.: What did Hunter S. Thompson think
that would change his life. The duo’s
of the house, of the area in Kent? I think he
journalistic adventures, a freewheeling blend called it “Steadman's Castle.”
of fact and fiction known as Gonzo
journalism, influenced a generation of
R.S.: Yes, I think he liked it. He came
writers and satirists.
through the back door first, hit his head
Warren Hinckle III, the editor who first
because he was so tall, and muttered “Ah,
put them together, thought Steadman’s
servants quarters.” We went to the local pub
drawings were “evil-minded, twisted”. And
and he stared at the optics as the first
in a new documentary film on his work,
measure of Chivas Regal whisky was
featuring Steadman fan Johnny Depp,
poured. He said, “What’s that? A sample?
Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner says
Pour a few more of those...”
“Ralph was willing to go to extremes that
Hunter was not... in terms of the mental,
A.F.: I wondered if he ever complimented
moral, philosophical.”
you on your work? Was he ever... nice?
Today, the man whose ferocious
depictions of the American psyche made
R.S.: Ha! He’d call my drawing “filthy
him a hero of the counter-culture, looks and -scribbling.” He did say how much he liked
sounds as gentle as a Welsh choir-boy. The
the illustrations for “Fear and Loathing-in
Big Issue spoke to Steadman, now 78, at his
Las Vegas” (the 1972 book Thompson wrote
house in the tiny Kent village of Loose,
about a drug-fueled road trip). I didn’t
shortly after he finished off his brilliant,
realize it at the time, but I think he adored
R
R.S.: Yes, he brought out the part of me
that was... not a boy scout. Not a mean side,
just the naughty, risk-taking side. There was
- plenty of booze. But the only pill I ever took
was when we did a story on the America’s
Cup, the yacht race. He’d been gobbling
pills and I was suffering from sea sickness.
So he gave me a pill and it turned out to be
a hallucinogenic. Anyway, he’d brought
along spray paint cans and in my drug-
induced stupor I suggested we spray “Fuck
the Pope” on the side of the boat. But we
didn’t get the chance because the click-click-
click of the spray can alerted the guard on
the jetty. So Hunter cried, “We’ve been
caught. We must flee!” And he fell
backwards into the boat (laughs).,. But my
drawings didn’t need drugs. Ink was the
drug for me.
A.F.: Itwas obviously the Perfect
collaboration. Do you feel lucky to have found
him?
R.S.: Until America, my work lacked that
bite. There was a wildness missing. They
were wonderful times, in America with
Hunter. He was the one person, in America I
had to meet, was destined to meet.
A.F.: Johnny Depp is a big fan and appears
in the new documentary about you. What was
it about Hunter that so fascinated him?
R.S.: Well, I met Johnny in the 1990s
when he got to know Hunter. I think he
brought John Cusack to Hunter’s place at
Owl Farm. We got friendly, and when he
came to England he was growing his hair a
Steadman’s friend
and journalist
HunterS.
Thompson.