AUCKLAND, Today: “Our business would be nothing without the hard work and street smarts of our billsticker crews,” writes Phantom Billstickers’ Jamey Holloway in the latest edition of the company newsletter. “So we thought it was time to shine the spotlight on a few Phantoms.”
First up this week is Luke Rowlands, who runs a tight team on the streets of Auckland. This backstage cut-and-paste perspective is available only to readers of Phantom’s weekly digital newsletter – and , we thought, is worth repeating here.
“My official title is head paster,” Rowlands says. “But I’ll pretty much go by anything you throw at me – chief, head honcho, hey you. Luke works pretty well too.
“I came to be at working at Phantom because my wife Rachel Rowlands put in a kind word for me. Before that I was working deep in the heart, or bowels, of Shortland Street. I was the Art Assist, which pretty much means I did all the menial jobs like cooking food for sets, building sets and getting them ready for filming.
“Before that I was an art school dropout.
“My passion – apart from postering – is drawing whenever I can. It’s a good time-filler and it’s nice when someone likes your art enough to buy it. I also take my camera most places but hate taking photos of myself, which annoys my wife as there are few photos of us when we go away on holiday. Shameless plug – my Instagram is @awonderskull. Check it out.
“A drunk guy was staring for ages, and soon his fingers were in the glue, and then into his mouth.”
“A typical day at work starts at 6 o’clock with a dawn meeting giving the rundown on anything weird to expect, like 20 poster campaigns that have to go up in a specific order. Then we all jump in our vans and head off to our sites, stripping back the old posters and pasting up the new ones.
“Working on a poster site can mean talking to the local homeless or drunks, giving tourists directions to places, running up and down ladders, and battling the elements. After 30 or so sites my day is done.
“By the end of the day my head is thick with glue and my clothes are as hard as cardboard, but it’s nothing a warm shower can’t fix.
“The strangest thing that happened on the job was having a drunk guy watch me put up a large-format poster. He was swaying backwards and forwards, staring for ages, and then he casually asked to taste the glue, and before I could say anything his fingers were in the glue, and then into his mouth.
“He said nothing and promptly disappeared. I’ve also been asked several times by drunks if I can drive their car back home for them or pick up their keys from the police station.
“The great thing about putting up posters is that it lets me know what’s coming up and what I should buy tickets for. You can’t go wrong with the fests – comedy, film and Laneway are always good.
“The best poster art is usually from the smaller local bands.
“The thing I like most about working for Phantom is getting to be outside. Sometimes you’ll meet someone on the street who says, ‘Keep up the good work’ or gives you a compliment. That usually makes your day.
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