The birth of the crew was the outcome of The New Lynn Wall of Fame project that was funded by Waitakere City Council during the mid 90’s. Two massive walls along the West Auckland rail corridor were painted by many of the city’s most active young taggers under the instruction of DLT, Opto (Otis Frizzell), Daniel Tippet and Merksta. The intention was to steer these youth away from illegal work and potentially into a commercial art career but instead it inspired and equiped a generation to paint harder than any generation before. The inspiration was further reaching than just amongst the youth directly involved in the project, it was a pivotal moment in Auckland graffiti history.
TMD was the outcome of a 3-way (4-way) phone call between members of DFL, THC, DTS, BC and OK crews (Orphan, Truce, Phat1, Addict and others). All were active but painting increasingly together and it was decided that consolidating under one name would be more impactful on the city’s scene. Addict suggested the name MD for ‘Maximum Dose’. Phat One was more inclined towards three letter crew names and so it was amended to ‘The Maximum Dose'.
Many of the original members lost enthusiasm quickly but Phat One persisted with the name and began to enlist new members from East, South and the Central City. Auckland has always remained TMD’s home base but in 2003 the crew extended invitation to it’s first international members from Germany and Australia.
Presently TMD functions more as an artist collective. The members have all grown and many have evolved into other creative fields beyond graffiti. These include fine art, large scale mural work, photography, graphic design and illustration, video production and motion graphics and even hair dressing. Graffiti is still the crews core focus though and many members are still active today.