Hawaii's Underground : Local Music | Art | Tattoos | Independent Businesses
A Printed and Online Publication
Issue #14 - TNT Tattoo
Issue #13 - Pacific Soul Tattoo
Issue #12 - Queen of Pain Tattoo
Issue #11 - DJ Minor of Paragon Tattoo
Issue #8 - Jesse Perrin of 808 Tattoo
Issue #7 - Eternal Body Art
Issue #6 - Rockstarz Tattooz and Body Piercing
Issue #5 - Yoseph Middleton of 808 Tattoo
Issue #14 - TNT Tattoo
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Kevin with the Booyah Tribe |
Article by Megan Rooney
Shopping for a tattoo is unlike shopping for anything else. You can’t try it on like clothes. And you certainly can’t take it back if you decide you don’t like it. There are no returns or exchanges. No receipts or money back guarantees.
So I meandered into TNT in window-shopping mode. You know how it goes. You have an idea for months or years, and, unless you’re an artist yourself (or a drunken sailor), you cannot put that permanent mark upon your flesh until that blessed day you finally encounter a tangible match for your inner vision.
Well, today was my day, and Kevin Mokuahi was my artist. The forty-year-old father of three was happy to change and rearrange the design. A little smaller here, a little to the right there, and then, like Goldilocks, it was juuuuuust right. It had to be. It will, after all, remain on my body longer than my spirit will reside within it.
In order to display and honor a connection to something greater than my self: Crossed anchors for my One True Love, currently in the Navy. Right foot, right fit.
Kevin could relate. Not once, not twice, but several times he has felt the passionate urge to show his love for another through the avenue of tattoo. All ex’s names. Not a single regret. “It’s a part of my life, and it’s a part of me,” he says.
If the average body were laid out flat as a map, it would cover more than twenty square feet. That’s four times the size of the Mona Lisa. The embellished canvas of Kevin’s flesh features his own personal landscape, the geography of his life.
A significant part of which has been TNT for the past twelve years, he tells me as he kicks up his feet onto a nearby chair. He takes great pride in the place and feels at home there. They’re friendlier and don’t overcharge you, like in Waikiki, he says. And this is true. The moment I walked in there I thought, ‘Ahhhhh. No flashy bullshit. No shallow gimmicks. Just tattoos.’ And some fishies.
Save for the extra large fish tank with an extra large barracuda in it, the only thing you see in TNT is tattoos tattoos tattoos. Floor to ceiling flash.
Kevin chats with customers at the half-door at the halfway point of the shop like Pee Wee in his Playhouse, the Badass version. The flower lady stops by for her nightly hello. They’ve known each other for years. Regular ink fanatics drop in to discuss their next alterations of the flesh: the hows the whys the wheres the when.
“I’m booked until Monday,” he originally told me. It was Saturday. Oh the disappointment! The perfect design but the wrong time. My love was returning from a month at sea the very next day and I wanted it to be a surprise. Kevin gave me his card, and I called after leaving to give my number in case something opened up. Low and behold the person who was supposed to get inked right then and there didn’t show. U-Turn: It was meant to be.
“Our ad in the phonebook is very small,” Kevin said. “But we are always booked.”
Word of mouth goes a long way: Longer and more trust-worthy than any advertisement any day of the week any month of the year. That’s how Kevin has tattooed several celebrities, and that’s how I found out about the spot. My love has chatted with owner David Bentley on several occasions and has nothing but good things to say on the subject. And now I’m passing the word onto you.
True love, crossed anchors, and great recommendations brought me in. My excellent experience will bring me back. The next time you’re on Kam, do a little window-shopping yourself. Perhaps the perfect design will finally find you too.
Guaranteed you’ll at least find some good conversation. “I’m like a hairdresser,” said Kevin. “I get to hear everyone’s stories. And I like it.”
TNT Tattoo and Body Piercing
99-016 Kamehameha Hwy
Aiea, Hawaii 96701
808- 486- 4- TNT
Rainier, Chris. Anceint Marks. Earth Aware Editions: New York, 2006.
Issue #13 - Pacific Soul Tattoo
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Interview and photos by Katie Whitman
I took a trip to Pacific Soul tattoo and sat down with owner Suluape “Steve” Looney to discuss his work, his shop, and surprisingly, the spiritual significance behind tattooing. Steve’s calm demeanor had a relaxing effect on me and I spent a lot of time just sitting quietly and observing while Steve finished a beautiful tribal tattoo that he was creating for his customer, Jared Freitas. I did ask a few questions of this soft-spoken tattoo artist as he designed.
Do you normally do tribal designs?
Myself? Yeah, I do a lot of black work. Polynesian. Portraits. For me, the hardest part is the design. About 95% of my work is freehand. When most people come in they just have an idea of what they want it to represent.
A lot of the tattoos you do are cultural, so you must have a good understanding of the cultural significance…
Yeah. Studying. Just being around other artists. I had a mentor that taught me a lot about Samoan art and about other cultures.
Have you ever gone to tattoo conventions?
Yeah. The one that I just went to was a state convention over in Long Beach.
Is that were you meet most of the other tattoo artists?
I meet artists here and through conventions and you just meet a lot through work. I mean, most of my friends are tattoo artists. They’re all mentors and you just feed off of that, you know? You feed off of the vibe, that energy, of what you can get working together, when you actually work together in a shop.
How long has this tattoo been going on for?
Maybe 3 hours.
How do you maintain focus for so many hours during a tattoo?
Habit I guess. At the beginning, it’s like anything else, it takes time. Pretty much we just sit here and talk and tattoo.
What I do when I do the work for them. A lot of the designs come up with a lot of the guys I tattoo…. I’m not gonna have the whole tattoo exactly in my mind ahead of time. I don’t know what the final thing is going to look like. It comes up when the person is talking about what they’re about.
You make really personal tattoos…
Yeah. For the person.
How many guys work in the shop?
Right now there’s four of us. The others work upstairs.
Do people have their specialties?
Everybody kinda got their own thing that they like to do. One of the guys does more street art.
You’ve got a lot of locals coming in?
My customers are almost all local.
Even in the middle of Waikiki?
We get walk ins.
What do tourists usually want?
Typical souvenir tattoos. Flowers, turtles. It’s kind of hard to do a big tattoo when someone’s visiting. It takes too long.
What does tattooing mean to you? Tattooing must mean something beyond just drawing pretty pictures on someone…
Drawing the design? Yeah!
The actual tattooing?
To me it is a very different thing because my culture – I’m half Samoa – and I was raised that way by my mom and my grandma. Tattooing is a part of our culture. It’s a part of who we are. That’s what I have right here on my body. All this black comes all the way up to my waist. So yeah, I’m very passionate about it.
[Steve asks Jared Freitas how he’s doing.]
Jared: I’d be lying if I said I was good.
[Steve takes time to look over what he’s done on Jared’s arm then starts planning out the next section of the design. He uses the tip of the unpowered tattoo gun to dap ink onto the arm to outline the next elements he will add to the existing art. Once he’s seen how the lines will fall on the body and works out the final image, he starts tattooing again. Suddenly we notice a group of older ladies (60+) outside of the big glass windows of the store looking in. One lady comes in with a fascinated but horrified look but asks if she can watch.
Steve invites her in then asks her if she’d like a tattoo. She laughs and shakes her head no. “You’ve never seen this before?” he asks. She says no, “But my son has a tattoo. He has a whole dragon up his back?”
The other women are outside laughing and looking slightly awkward. The lady decides she should leave, thanks him, then says with a giggle “If ever I get a tattoo, I’ll come to you.”]
[To Jared] How did you find out about Soul Pacific?
I know a lot of people that went here. I’ve heard nothing but good reviews about this place.
What kind of idea did you come with? Did you know what you wanted?
No. Actually, I just called him up Saturday and asked… this on my arm was done in the same shop [points to old work on his shoulder]… and asked to see if he could add to him. I didn’t have nothing in mind. I just show him where I wanted it to go. Then he did everything.
[To Jared] What does your tattoo mean to you?
I don’t know what it means...
Steve says: This is a good time to tell you what your tattoo means. This tattoo came from talking to him. I’ve been designing this tattoo as we’ve been talking. The designs in your tattoo are a lot of fertility designs. This little patterns inside there are for fertility. His wife is pregnant. That’s why I put all this fertility designs in there.
How long have you been tattooing for?
Officially, about 7 years. But I used to tattoo… I’m self-taught. I started tattooing at a much younger age. I just kept at it. Just at some point I decided to do it officially.
What made you decide?
[laughs] I just got tired of working a 9 to 5 job. I used to work at a hotel… work the graveyard shift. I just got tired. Too much politics. I’m not giving my freedom up, you know? I don’t like anybody telling me what to do, you know?
I started tattooing and making good money.
Was it easy to start for you?
Naw. I had been doing this at home for such a long time… I was nervous and I had to get used to using [equipment like this] (he points to the needle gun in his hand).
What did you use to tattoo at home?
Homemade tattoo guns. Practice on my friends.
Must have been really scary the first time you had a customer that was not a friend?
Yeah. When I started, I didn’t want to just go in. I wanted to make sure that everything [like design] was prepared.
What are your tattoos about [pointing to the extensive ink on his calf and upper leg]?
My tattoos? Well, the really really big one is a Samoan tattoo. It was given to me by my mentor.
The meaning of this tattoo is it tells the story of the Samoan people. Samoan people of the past. All these little details mean something.
How long have you owned this shop?
I just took over the shop last summer. Owned it by myself.
[We get to talking about tattoos in my past and experiences I had with other artists.]
I guess the lesson [that I learned] is that I shouldn’t work with tattoo artists who aren’t excited about your tattoo…
You gotta have that vibe. Even myself you know. I won’t tattoo someone if I don’t have that vibe. If they come in with an attitude, I won’t tattoo. You’re going to be sitting there with this person for the next three or four hours, you’re going to want to say something. Can’t design the whole time.
Issue #12 - Queen of Pain Tattoo
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By Megan Rooney
At just 21, Ali (mother Florence is pictured above) is already more accomplished than every recent college grad you know. She’s the co-owner of Queen of Pain Tattoo parlor in the heart of Waikiki. While the rest of us sorry suckers are just trying to get our foot in the door of our dream jobs, Ali already has hers. And when I say accomplished I do mean in her work as a professional tattoo artist and shop owner, but I also mean in the artwork upon her body. Girl’s got some serious ink.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten called out on the street,” says the energetic youngest of six. “A lot of older people give me crap because ‘girls aren’t supposed to have tattoos,’ or at least as many as I do.”
Ali doesn’t let that get her down, though. In fact, like many of her contemporaries on the island, she started from scratch and climbed her way up the tattoo shop ladder. She and her mom, Florence, opened Queen of Pain Tattoo four years ago. Formerly New Tribal, they re-vamped everything about the space and made it into their own— as any queen would rightfully do. They even ended up buying the space next door, and their hard work yielded the rewarding results of a thriving, warm, and friendly little shop that consists of three talented artists (including Ali), one kick ass piercer, and a whole lotta good juju. 808 Scene Zine sat down with the youngest tattoo artist on the island for a chat about how she came to be just that.
“Mom and I opened the place together,” said Ali. “She handles the business side of things. I do the shop stuff.”
Where are you from?
“We moved here from San Francisco 6 years ago. I had a really bad accident and ended up losing half vision in one of my eyes. So I couldn’t do a lot of professions because of that. But my mom knew it was something I really wanted. I give her so much credit for having the balls enough to do it— to take that enormous risk.”
And they made it happen. After apprenticing for 3 years, Ali got licensed at eighteen and grew from there.
“I tattoo just fine [with my eye],” she said. “Everything comes out perfect. It’s a disability you have to learn to live with. I don’t like having to rely on people, so… it was all trial and error. I learned the hard way. It rocked!”
How did you get started?
“I started doing the apprenticeship based off all the artwork that I had done in school. I dropped out in the eighth grade, but my dad was a history teacher, so I was constantly around history and art history and museums. Constantly seeing artwork intrigued the hell outta me, and when I got my first tattoo it was just amazing. It blew my mind!”
With a bit of ink myself, I concur, but what blew my mind about Ali is that she’s already married. “My husband is a Marine,” she said with a sigh and a smile. “I’ve been with him for over four and a half years. It’s tough life being a military wife. He just got back from Iraq, was there for 9months, and it was the hardest thing of my life. But the way I am— when it’s right its right. And that’s how I feel about tattoos too. In my opinion, as long as you’re like Fuck Yeah! –as long as you’re stoked about whatever you’re doing— then its right.”
But what Ali doesn’t find right is the new shop in town. “I can only speak for myself,” she said, “but I think it’s disrespectful to put a shop right there when the rest of us have worked so hard for our shops. It’s sheisty and it’s rude. The artists [that work] there—more power to them— but as far as Carey Hart? He’s a joke.”
Outspokenness aside, though, Ali has an intense love and loyalty for her own employees and customers. “My staff is awesome,” she said, “and we’ve had so many other wonderful artists and piercers come through here, its great to share all their different experiences and cultures and diverse specialties.” As for customers, she says “It’s really kick ass when you get the old heads in here, especially the war vets. It’s so awesome hearing all their stories. It rocks. They tell me I’m an old soul.”
See for yourself on Kuhio Ave just a few steps down from Scruples. This soul was impressed. After some encouragement from Queen Ali, I said Fuck Yeah!, got a Monroe, and walked outta there feeling like royalty myself.
Issue #11 - DJ Minor (Paragon Tattoo)
Check out www.kantreed.com to see where DJ Minor is now
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It’s a good time [for an interview] since you’re doing all the renovations.
Well, it’s kind of a mess. All the licenses are expired, so I have to have [the shop] re-inspected and all that stuff. I have to get done because when I get back on the 3rd, I get right to tattooing.
You’re gonna start tattooing right when you get back on the 3rd?
I don’t have any appointments on the day I get back, but the day after that I start my appointments.
How did you get your appointments? Just because you were out here before? People know you?
I’ve been published in hundreds of tattoo magazines all over the world, then TV shows and all kind of dumb stuff.
Nice.
Well, I thought that at first, too, but you don’t have a personal life anymore. You get home and draw for 8 hours, then you go to sleep and have to get up and do it again. Great. That’s why I moved out here in the first place – to get a break. I was here for six months before I started tattooing last time. I sat right here (Paragon’s desk) for six months and played video games and went snorkeling every day. And then I was like, “Oh yeah, I have a tattoo shop. I should start tattooing.”
It was pretty cool. I had three or four guys working for me usually. They would do their thing and I’d let them. I’d fly back and forth between here and all the shows and stuff.
Are there a lot of tattoo artists around here doing the same [tattoo show] circuit? I mean, I haven’t really come across any.
It’s pretty expensive. I mean, I get free hotels and I don’t pay for my food anymore.
Just because you finally met enough people and made enough contacts?
I’ve been an award-winning published artist for seven years now and I’ve been doing this circuit for six or seven years. Like straight. I know magazine editors and hang out with all the show promoters and we do our thing.
Every weekend, during spring to mid-fall there are tattoo shows somewhere in some city. I mean, there are too many shows to hit them all. The major shows, the ones that have been around for 15-20 years, you can do those shows – Atlanta, Chicago, L.A., Bakersfield. It’s kind of like a circuit. You don’t want to step on the big shows toes by doing a little crappy show. Besides getting less publicity, less coverage, you just sit around going “Ain’t nobody here.” You gotta do the bigger shows and it’s kind of like a circuit because every other weekend I’m somewhere, usually. I’ll only do one or two a month this time because it’s such a pain to fly. TSA hates me. They want to inspect every bottle of ink, my powerbox…
So what happens at the shows?
There’s three things you do at shows. Of course, you tattoo people for money. Then the people you tattoo, there are contest for new tattoos, like Tattoo of the Day. Then you bring pieces in from big collectors and stuff and have contests for Best Grey, Large Color Work Female/Male, etc.
There’s usually three of four magazines at each show. They have booths set up.
There’s other stuff going on, like carnival sideshows. Each has its own feel. My favorite is called Hell’s City. One year it will be in Ohio, the next year it will be in a random town, then back to Ohio. It’s literally a traveling freak show. It has the old carnival banners. Midgets wrestling. Suspensions. It’s pretty fun.
It’s like a vacation, but it’s a working vacation. We sell t-shirts and flash and that’s more money than tattooing actually.
Who do you sell the flash to?
Other artists. Or now, the big thing now – say I draw a lower back tattoo and I put it on the internet for a $15 download, three hundred little girls are going to download that tattoo whereas before, I would have sold a couple of sheets of that. Now I make way more.
A little hard to do your taxes that way, but whatever. I also sell a lot of t-shirts and stickers. I used to give them away, but…
You don’t have to anymore.
I do little paintings and sell them too, which make me a killing. All of them are prints, none are originals. 8x10 in a frame, $30.
I travel with two bags and a gear case. The two bags are full of merchandise. I get to wherever I’m going and I just buy clothes when I get there. Easier than trying to travel with a bunch of stuff.
So you’ve been doing this circuit for 7 years? When did you start tattooing?
Ummm. ’99?
So you started doing the circuit immediately?
Pretty close. I tattooed for six months then realized I wasn’t getting any better at it. I mean, six months isn’t a long time to say, “Hey, I’m not improving.” But I was better than people at my shop who had been tattooing for 30 years. That’s not kosher because my work was horrible, but I was better than these people, so I was like “I need to go learn some stuff.”
So I went to shows and watched people tattoo then talked about it afterwards and just got better and better. I started getting published, then it’s like competition. I got one piece in this magazine. I’d better do thirty more better pieces to get more coverage. After five years I got burned out with the magazine stuff because I started seeing my tattoos on other people. Kind of freaked me out a little bit. Spent 50 hours drawing this piece and now twenty other people have it because it was in a magazine. I put one out of every 30 tattoos in now, just to keep something [in the magazines]. You don’t want people to forget who you are, at the same time, you don’t want them stealing all your shit.
That’s gotta be pretty frustrating.
Well, with the internet it doesn’t matter, because if it’s anywhere, someone’s gonna steal it. … But you know, you gotta change your market, right?
About 85% of my stuff is actually on other artists. Kinda cool. They kind of have a better idea of what they want. They don’t walk in and be like “I don’t know. Maybe a… parrot.”
It’s kind of cool. Out here (Hawaii), you can get anything. Back on the mainland, if you’re in the South, you do southern style tattoos, if you’re in the North you do northern style tattoos. Out here you can get anything in the door because of all the tourists from all over the world. You haven’t even heard of half the stuff they want. It’s like “What are you talking about? Can you show me?”
Do you have a favorite tattoo that you’ve done?
Oh man, the last one I did, usually. Because you put so much into it that by the time you’re done you’re like, wow. I like smaller tattoos. I don’t like to do big ones. I mean, I do do big ones, but I don’t like to do them because you’ve got four or five months on a tattoo and it just never seems like it’s over, then you’re like “Oh look, I’m done. I could have done all this different.“ But with a little tattoo, it’s instant gratification then you’re on to the next one.
…
I got my arm lasered – all this crap I got while I was in the military. “Give me something stupid!” I try telling people, “Hey, don’t just get anything.” They’re always like, “Why?” I’m like “Look, I did that! I’m telling you.” But kids are kids. I do it for them anyway.
Of course, in this place, you can have your dad sign for a tattoo when you’re five. I mean, laws are laws and morals are morals, but I have a hard time tattooing people under 18 because it’s like – no one has ever worked where it’s not cool, for one. Besides, they always get something stupid. The kid is like “No! I want Zelda on my arm.”
But, you know, it’s a fun job. Unfortunately, everyone thinks you make millions of dollars [tattooing].
Do you get a lot of people who ask “How do I become a tattoo artist?” Do you have any advice for these people?
Don’t. If you want to do it for money.
Well, all you people who want to tattoo – knock yourselves out, but they’re all worried about the art part of it. If you’re that serious about becoming any kind of artist, it’s not the technical aspects that you’re drawn to. These people just want to jump in and grab machines and start drawing letters on each other. There’s no formal training of any kind!
I’m not saying that you have to go through a full apprenticeship, lord knows that people who are teaching this kids tattooing in the first place shouldn’t be tattooing, but I’m talking about some medical background, any kind of cross-contamination [training] would be worthwhile. It is almost impossible to have an infected tattoo from a tattoo artist. You can get an infection out in the world because it’s an open wound. Stuff happens. But it is almost an impossibility to get a bacterial infection from new needles, new ink. So if you’re giving somebody cooties, wow, you have lost reality somewhere in the system here. Something as simple as using tap water instead of distilled water for your rinse cups and stuff.
Out here though, it’s different because it’s a cultural thing… I’m not Japanese. If you want Japanese [tattoos], I’m going to send you to Sato. If you want Hawaiian, I’m going to send you to the Dark Wave place down in Waikiki. I don’t try to step on people’s toes. That’s their stuff. If you want something goofy and bright and colorful, I probably got you. If you want zombie tattoos, I’m your man. If you want some Japanese, there are about five dudes down the street who will hook you right up.
That’s another thing. Just because I can do that [style] doesn’t mean I can do other [styles]. People come in and say “That’s a pretty butterfly. You do good tattoos!” Ok. You want a portrait because you’ve seen a butterfly I did? Or they ask “You don’t do names?!” because I don’t have any pictures of any names. I can write.
My favorite is when the tourists come in here. God bless them. They’re really trying hard to do everything while they’re here. They always come in the middle of their trip. I’m going to Hanauma Bay tomorrow. After I’ve done your tattoo for seven hours?
So you tattoo here?
I have a private studio in Atlanta and I tattoo there.
Then you do the circuit.
Mmhmmm.
So you pretty much tattoo all over the country. Have you ever gone to any other countries?
A lot of my friends go to Canada and Australia. Customs is messing with them or they lost their gear a couple of times.
…
Most of my friends have full sleeves just because I’m always like “You know what would be really cool? C’mon here. Sit down for a second and let me draw on you.” I’m like a drug dealer. I get you in a chair. I got my magic red marker in my hand and I start drawing on you and 80% of the time, they’re like “Yeah.”
[On the circuit], I have a lot of fun hanging out with my boys. We get in a lot of trouble. We’re a bunch of tattoo guys walking around.
People freak out seeing you together?
Well, here it’s not a big deal. I mean, culturally, on these islands everyone is tattooed. I mean, you go to Walmart and the greeter’s got a sleeve. I’m from the South and you if you walk into Walmart and you’ve got a small tattoo, and people gasp. I used to live next to Walmart and every day when I walked home, I’d buy a new movie because I had this fascination with DVDs. So it ended up that for a year, every night I would get a movie. Every night they would follow me into the store, and as I was walking through, they were always with me, and then they’d check me.
Did you ever face anything more major than that?
Oh yeah, in certain neighborhoods, people would think that you were of a certain racial thought process because you had lots of tattoos and short hair. I was this big buff military guy with short hair, sleeved out, and people were like “Oh, what are you? A NAZI?” and I was like, “No! Not in the least bit! No!”
To the shop. Doing lots of renovations.
This is the first or second piercing shop in Hawaii and it is the first APP (Association of Professional Piercers) shop ever in Hawaii. I know this is going to sound very stupid, but the machining of the jewelry is so precise if you’re an APP studio, that we’re paying $8 wholesale cost for barbells when people down the street are paying 15 cents. They are made of titanium and other inert metals. We were charging $80 for piercing while people down the street were charging $15, but we were staying busy. How do you do that? People were actually reading on the internet and figuring out that they didn’t want to get a reaction.
So you have artists from here that work in your shop?
They work in other shops, but they do travel around. Tattooing used to be a very secretive thing, like “Hey, what kind of machine are you using?” and people would want to beat you up over it. They never wanted to share anything. Once the internet came out, what can you hold back? There’s nothing you can hide.
People started getting together and sharing ideas. Tattoo equipment has improved a lot too. I mean, we couldn’t do this 20 years ago. The pigment, the needles. It just wasn’t possible.
Tattoos are getting more mainstream. How do you feel about that?
This island just acquired a plague. (i.e. Hart & Huntington)
How do you feel about that?
I’m all about TV promotion. That’s not what bothers me. What these guys are doing is that they’re trying to create drama in the workplace. But that’s not really what tattooing is about. On other shows, it’s more about drama based on the work, which is what drama in a real tattoo shop is about. If someone is being a punk ass because they only want to work four hours, then we’ll talk shit to them. If someone is being a punk ass because him and his girlfriend broke up, what’s that have to do with tattooing?
And then they charge ridiculous amounts of money for tattoos that are of lower quality. In the Hart & Huntington shop they only have two big name artists. If you go there and you’re a normal person, you’re gonna get tattooed by Joe Schmoes in the back unless you’re cool enough to be on TV.
They were sending out invitations to all the artists here…
I was talking to the casting director and I would have done it. Because I won’t bullshit. I’ll tell them on the camera why this is stupid bullshit. But they wanted me to go to Mexico instead. They were trying to get people who didn’t like each other from different shops in town. Trying to create this issue.
I mean, the money is ridiculous. You could open your own studio easily after you’re done, if you get a TV part. But you have to stoop that low.
…
80% of our customers all hang out with us. We use to have BBQs and we used to do a lot of suspensions, but we caused a traffic accident so we had to cut that out. (Paragon Tattoo is located on Kapiolani Blvd near the intersection with Atkinson.) We used to set them up on the front yard there
You set the suspensions up on the front yard? Yeah, I bet that was really distracting.
[laughs] When we swung out towards the road, people would freak out.
My friend Jimbo has no sensations of pain. He would hang from his knees upside down right in the window. People would walk by, and people would stop and they’d just be talking and we’d all be giggling. Then they’d look up and one of them would hit the other in the side and we’d nod “Oh yeah, the freakshow is back.”
Issue #8 - Jesse Perrin of 808 Tattoo
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nterview by Katie Whitman
How long have you been tattooing?
15 years.
Did you start out here, or where did you start?
I started out here in Hawaii. I never apprenticed under anybody, I just had my friend Clay Decker, who is one of the bigger time tattoo artists now. We grew up together out here. He was like [a] full underground tattooist when he started out. And he got me into it…. Now he owns True Tattoo with Chris Carver.
Were you interested in the artwork, or the culture?
I’ve always drawn since I was a kid. Oh the culture – my dad has a full back piece that was done on him in 1966 in Japan. He was an English teacher for a private boys school and some of the kids were Yakuza members and he became like a token America drinking buddy. So he got his whole back done by hand. ... So I’ve been around it – I’ve always seen my dad’s tattoos. It just seemed normal to me. But I stumbled into tattooing because I hated my job. ...I left Hawaii and talked my way into tattoo parlors on the mainland and kept my mouth shut and my eyes open. Eventually qualified enough to be an actual, reputable person to do. I’ve been tattooing for 15 years, but I like what I’ve done for the last five. I’m my own worst critic. ... I had too much of a bad attitude to be a good apprentice. I don’t like being told what to do. Yeah, that’s why I got into tattooing! I used to work at a silk screening factory eight hours a day and that’s what made me think “I need something else.”
I also have a culinary degree. I put myself through the CCA (CA Culinary Academy) in San Fran while I was tattooing.
Do you still cook?
For friends. I hated the industry. The industry sucked. Actually catering is cool. But fine dining – I’d rather work in a pizzeria flipping pies. It got to a certain point where I could hear tickets running when I go to sleep.
You don’t like doing the status quo.
I mean, I know how to do hard work. I’d rather do this. It symbolizes freedom and creativity. A tattoo machine is like freedom. Is there any favorite tattoo you’ve ever done?
Over the years, I lose track of specific kinds, but subject matter – Japanese tattoo I have a real passion for. I like traditional Americana. And I’ve just started to really do portraiture. I’ve always been able to draw likenesses, but as far as tattooing it, the technicality of it is a little different. There are people better than Iam at it, but I can pull it off. Justin (anothere 808 Tattoo artist) is the master of portraiture.
I was always afraid to do it on skin, until about 2 years ago. I always worked at a shop where somebody else could do it, so I just had him do it. Then I was working with my friend, Mark at Sharky’s and he was like “Jesse. I’ve seen you draw stuff up with pencil. And you’ve been tattooing a long time. Just do one already!”
Advice to people getting tattoos?
Do your homework. Look at portfolios. I see people walk in all the time and just say “ok” and sit down and you realize they never even did their homework.
Find Jesse Perrin at 808 Tattoo in Kaneohe or online at www.myspace.com/tattoosbyjesse.
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A Newbie Relates His First “Real” Tattoo Experience at Eternal Body Art
article by Shawn Davenport
Tattoos are not for everybody. In fact, in the USA they aren’t for most. A permanent marking on your skin that withstands the test of time and is with you wherever you go? It is a pretty big decision to make. However, the first tattoo that I got was not very well thought out. A night of drinking and celebration landed me in Marine Combat Training with the number “10:13” tattooed in freehand on my left shoulder...for who knows what reason. I cannot remember the name of the tattoo shop, or the name of the middle-aged guy that designed and inked the tattoo. While I know that there are plenty more stories behind tattoos with a similar essence to my own, I have recently learned with the help of an excellent local tattoo artist that there is a much better way to turn an idea into ink.
Have you ever had a vision of something you would like tattooed on your body? An idea? Something roughly sketched out in your mind as something you would like to have made into a tattoo? I did for months, and every time I looked in the mirror I could almost see it. Something that meant a lot to me. Something that represented who I am and who I wanted to become. And yes, something that looked cool too. I wanted the word ODELAY tattooed on my lower stomach and it was nothing more than an idea until I met Dan of Eternal Body Art Tattoo in Honolulu.
Eternal Body Art is located in China Town and the shop used to belong to a world famous tattoo artist named Sailor Jerry, a tattooist icon (check out his history at www.sailorjerry.com). As soon as you enter the studio, you know that you have entered a professional establishment. Amazing art, eye-catching patterns and violent colors - and all this does not include the HUGE scrap books with pictures of tattoos and piercings that Dan has done for his many satisfied customers. Approaching Dan with my abstract idea was surprisingly very comfortable, and he was noticeably enthusiastic about the idea. In fact, he had unlocked his shop, which was closed, to see what I wanted and, by the time I left, had set up an appointment to get the tattoo done.
Dan had two things for me when I showed up for the appointment: a beautiful sketch of my idea, and some serious advice about tattoos along with some papers to sign. He made sure that I understood that what I was doing was permanent and that it was entirely my choice to have the tattoo done. Something that was NOT offered to me when I got my first tattoo, and something that also made me reassure myself that what I was doing was in fact what I wanted to do. He talked with me about the best placement of the tattoo and once everything was agreed on, he locked his shop’s front door and we went upstairs to the actual tattoo parlor. He made sure I was comfortable and even let me put on a CD of my choice! For those of you that are not aware, Odelay is the name of a Beck album, and with such familiar tunes playing in the parlor it was easier for me to relax and let the artist go to work.
Working without any type of break or pause, Dan completed the detailed tattoo in about an hour. With such a reasonable price for such great work of art...the whole experience was something that not only completely satisfied me, it became something that I would actively advise others to consider doing...and here I am! The talent to turn an idea into reality is easy to find here in Honolulu. With so many great tattoo artists, including Dan of Eternal Body Art, you can easily work with an artist to turn your concept into a permanent memoir. Take the time to visit one of Oahu’s excellent tattoo artists and turn your idea into ink.
Issue #6 - Rockstarz Tattooz and Piercingz
Rockstarz Tattooz & Piercingz
Article by Katie Whitman
Rockstars’ tag line is “It’s not just a name, it’s a lifetyle.” And they do live up to this credo! The owner, Conor (pictured right), actually is a rockstar. He plays with a group called Razed in Black that sounds something like Nine Inch Nails meets Depeche Mode. And hey, Rockstarz inked Spider Zombie from Power Man 5000. They’ve got rockstar cred.
When asked how long the store has been operating, Conor responds, 6 years, 7 months, and 28 days. He likens his shop to a child and to the people working there as family. He talks about seeing it grow - the right way. He tells me that he and his shop have a lot of heart.
Tucked away in a Waikiki back alley behind Tsunamis, people still manage to find it and constantly walk in. Two artists do the inking: Frankie specializes in realistic portraits and Jeremiah has a love for biomechanical alien-like internal muscle-tissue tattoos.
Conor and Chris (pictured left) do the piercing and each sport a lot of intriguing piercings of their own. I had the chance to speak at length with Chris, which is well worth another article! You can find Rockstarz Tattooz online at myspace.com/rockstarztattooz.
Issue #5 - Yoseph Middleton of 808 Tattoo
Yoseph Middleton:
Visiting Artist at 808 Tattoos
Article and Photos by Katie Whitman
For the very first edition of this column, I spoke to tattoo artist Yoseph Middleton, visiting from the L.A. area. What’s the Hawaii connection? Yoseph came out here on vacation years ago and met up with Billy, owner of 808 Tattoos (donator of the graphic at the top of this page). Since then, he has been a visiting artist at 808 Tattoos, staying three months at a time to ink Hawaii’s tattooed. We talked as I watched him transform a Sharpie drawing of a skull into a beautifully shaded piece of grotesque art.
Yoseph began apprenticing in the mid-nineties by selling designs. He did this for two years until he met an old Apache named Rattlesnake Dave who bore an eerie resemblance to Benicio del Toro. Old Rattlesnake took Yoseph under his wing and taught him how to apply the needle and ink.
Tattooing isn’t all this mathematically-inclined sci-fi nerd artist does. Yoseph has been a commercial illustrator for 18 years, designing t-shirts for companies such as NASCAR and artwork for magazine such as Scratch and Thrasher. He is in the middle of launching his own clothes line, called Tipsy Girl and teaches cartooning to children. He recently took up computer graphics (here’s where the math comes in) and is well on the road to designing video games.
Why does Yoseph keep coming back to Hawaii? “I like working out here because it’s a trip working with these guys (808 Tattoos). Still don’t quite have the [same relationship] with tattoo people out in Cali. Actually, with tattoo people I’ve ever worked with, period.” The concept of Ohana runs deep out here in Hawaii.
With over a decade of tattooing under his needle, the weirdest tattoo Yoseph has ever done was a series of nine yin and yang penises. The weirdest on his own body? A UV tattoo of the Matrix code on his chin.
Yoseph returns to Hawaii on July 12th. Contact him at 808 Tattoos or yoseph@tipsygirl.com. See his artwork at BlackMarketRender.com.
FULL INTERVIEW
How hard is this tattoo for you?
This one is nothing.
You make it look so easy, but I know it’s not easy…
I stretch first. I tense up while I’m working
You’re doing a freestyle tattoo..
Yeah, it makes it a lot easier.
Let’s go to the old standards - How long have you been tattooing for?
I started in the business in 95 or 94 and I was selling designs.
How old were you when you started?
21
I used to work for tattooists who would ask me to draw designs up because either they didn’t want to - they were lazy, or they didn’t have the artistic ability. Some guys are like that. Eventually they become a tattoo artist who does art or a tattooist who does tattoos.
Did you used to live in Hawaii?
No… for the most part, I live in L.A. I came out here and I met these guys (808 Tattoos) and started coming back and forth. After a while, I started my own tattoo shop, then I didn’t have time to come out. I closed it last year, so I [have time again].
How long do you stay here when you come out?
Usually, in the past, I would come for three months at a time. There’s too much weirdness in my life right now to really allow it.
Why did you come out this time?
Money.
Why tattoos? Why not other kind of art?
I’ve actually been a commercial illustrator for 18 years. I do t-shirt graphics for shirt companies, shirts for NASCAR, artwork for magazines. Scratch. Thrasher.
Why did you go to the tattooing?
I was just having trouble keeping up with work. Back then, with the t-shirts, you’d have to work in a shop where all the people don’t know who you are. I was basically just doing it for the money. Some of them were actually doing what they believed to be art, but that was kind of rare and I never would ever have the chance to work with any of them.
It was a drain on my artistic abilities.
So it was a way to actually be artistic and to make money?
Tattooing was never really about money until recently. That’s kind of a new thing for me. I only raised my rates a year ago. I’ve been working at the lowest rate you can work at ($100/hour) for years. Now I get tattoos done 10 times faster…
Do you have any particular style of tattoos you like better?
No. Nothing in particular. I just like work. I just like what I do. I get to do a little bit of everything.
I just saw your anime girl and now you’re drawing a skull…
… Doing t-shirts was kind of cool, too, but we were always working from a very limited palette of what our projects were. Is it suitable for this or that… You always had people dictating your work. [After a while] they’d get the idea you could do work, so they’d trust you.
Advertising – most of my work in advertising was like propaganda work. I do a lot of advertising artwork. Some stuff like… the production company behind South Park Studios – I started doing stuff for them a while back in 2000. Most of the stuff I was doing was along the lines of tattooing. They were into that kind of thing. Most of your clients are plumbers and you gotta design a logo for their t-shirt or like a Yellow Page ad.
How many tattoos do you have?
I don’t even know. I never really counted. They are kind of like pieced together. They were designed to be large body work. Both of my shoulders - top of my sleeves are done. The bottom of my sleeves – this arm I’m actually going to laser. I’m getting into modeling so…
Okay, so tell me about the Matrix.
Oh. The Matrix. (Billy laughs over in the corner since he gave me the tip-off to ask this question.) I’m a Matrix nerd, let’s leave it at that.
We don’t have to leave it at that. What does it mean that you’re a Matrix nerd?
I’m probably the only person who understands the movie…. I wrote a blog about it...
I’m a big sci-fi nerd.
Okay. So what’s the most interesting tattoo you’ve ever done? The weirdest?
A series of tattoos I did in Sacramento of yin and yang penises.
Yin and yang penises? On the same person?
No, no. Nine different people… They were all friends. One of them came in joking about getting a penis. Then I was joking about throwing it between her boobs with a pearl necklace. And that kind of gravitated towards a yin and yang penis towards there.
What kind of tattoos do people mostly like to get?
Most people come in with an idea but not anything set in stone. And that’s one of the things I like about working out here (Hawaii). I’m freed up quite a bit to do what I want and not have to worry too much about it…
Do you like working out here because the people here are chiller?
I like working out here because it’s a trip working with these guys (808 Tattoos). Still don’t quite have the [same relationship] with tattoo people out in California. Actually, with tattoo people I’ve ever worked with period. It’s really cool, being around these guys.
You have kids?
I have a daughter. She’s a budding artist herself.
Do you have any other hobbies? Do you do other stuff than art? You said you surfed…
I surfed as a kid. I grew up about a mile from
I’m going to school for computer animation.
Do you want to do movies?
Cinematics of video games… real-time video games, model building… I don’t even care what kind of video games… It’s where I’ve been wanting to go for my whole life, pretty much.
How long are you in Hawaii for?
I’ll be back on the 12th of July. Maybe for a month.
What else do you do while you’re here?
Maybe go out to a movie…
Do you ever go out to any shows?
I’m like almost deaf… My hearing is really bad. I used to go to shows. I lived in the Midwest and used to work at a little bar, the local heavy bar. It was the big club and had all the big shows, Smashing Pumpkins and stuff like that. Now my ears are just shot. I don’t really do any of that anymore. I haven’t seen shit since 1994.
My first apprenticeship was out in Missouri. The backdoor of the [bar] was right in front of the front door of the tattoo shop. I ended up being like dual-duty. Working at the bar then working at the tattoo shop.
.................
It’s hard to find a job doing computer graphics or tattooing. [The] tattooing [market] is really overly saturated.
Here is good because you have all the military.
Right. They come and go though.
Any advice for all those kids that want to be tattoo artists?
Don’t. People want to be tattoo artists but they don’t realize that they have to work with blood products all day long. Our retirement – there’s two things that you’re gonna do to get out: find a better paying job, which is going to be kind of hard, or the other thing is you’re going to catch something. Once you’re done with tattooing – tattoo artists are covered from head to toe, you know – so you’re going to get a plumbing job somewhere. You’re not gonna get a 401K. Definitely, don’t.
…
[I ran into] Lawrence Fishburne, I almost bumped into him, and I couldn’t think of one thing to say that wasn’t Matrix related. But he was wearing a Matrix windbreaker.
Question from guy getting tattoo:
They were talking about Heart and Huntington here. And I was wondering if people were going to want to go there?
(Other tattoo artists in the shop laugh.) They’re gonna go because it’s popular because of the TV show, not because of the artwork. They’re hiring tattoo artists and running interviews, but no one is showing up because the tattoo artists on the island are fucking pissed. Hey Billy, remember you got that invite to send in your portfolio to Heart and Huntington? Fucking, they’re talking to shop owners about turning in art?!
Yoseph will be an art teacher teaching cartooning to kids.
Were you ever taught the history of tattooing?
History is taught by liars. History is more exciting than reality.
Well, so who taught you?
An old Apache named Rattlesnake Dave. He kind of looked like Benicio Del Toro.
How did you hook up with that guy?
You know Skin Deep in Waikiki? The lady who owns that is Winona and she set up a shop in Missouri. I started working at that shop and a few days after I started he started. I’d already apprenticed for two years, so he came in and was kind of shocked that I hadn’t actually learned tattooing yet, so he began teaching me. Basically I’d been jerked around by a lot of tattoo shops during my apprenticeships. They never get around to teaching you anything.
What was the first tattoo that you ever gave?
It was a tribal turtle. It was decent enough that I actually kept it in my portfolio until last year.
Why is everyone so jaded about the history of tattooing?
The business has a lot of fuckups in it. Criminals. Con artists. The bigger story you can make up is usually the one that people want to believe. People usually want to believe the rumors.
