Maverick ZINE — Tattoo Culture, Art & Artist Stories

One of the biggest parts of tattooing to me is the experience and the time spent with another human. The art is is its own thing, right? And you work as hard as you can to do your best at that. My kids need to know that I work hard, you know, or so they will know what it takes when they're old enough. So that's my mentality. So I kind of those two things work. Tattooing and family life kind of like feed off each other for me. I'm the type of dude like if you give me a goal, I'm going to make time for it and I'm going to meet that goal.

Yeah. So, just like those art shows that I've done, no video games, no listening to records. You got to focus. This is free time. Like any free time you have, you do that. [Music] Pier, we're here popping. What's happening? What's What's happening?

What's happening? Uh, this is Austin Spencer with Support Your Local Tattooer. Super super pumped. I always say this, but I [ __ ] genuinely am to sit down with my man Chance. I'm going to say Gomez because your Instagram says Gro Gomez. Uh Chance Gomez. He's a Las Vegas based tattooer. Hands down like one of my favorite just genuinely kind dudes.

Like I love your energy. I was really excited about sitting down with you today. We were talking about not sleeping and I was like laying in bed. It was like 3:00 in the morning. And I'm like, there's like so much fun stuff I'm looking forward to learning about you today. Cuz like we get to see each other. We have a lot of really like good mutual friends. But you know, like when we get to sit down like this, it's so fun.

Oh yeah. And it's like it's just really cool to get to know each other more. And we've been tattooing in the same city for 20 How long you've been tattooing? Technically 24. 24 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So were you doing your apprentichip roughly like around the same time I was? So, it's with me it's a different it's a different thing. Okay, let's just let's go let's go there right now. Way back. So, I was in a hardcore punk band around the time I actually met my wife through a punk show that we were playing and we decided to get married like within a year. It was like a quick thing when the guys in the band and a couple other friends, Bob's older brother, I think Bob too, okay, they pitched in for our wedding gift and got me a setup from Unimax way back in the day. So in 2000, okay, so in 2000 literally get home from my honeymoon and you know the packages there on the doorstep and uh just broke into that thing and [ __ ] really it had it came with remember the Huck Balding book, How to A to Z, how to tattoo.

Yeah. Yeah. " All the dudes in the band, they're like, "You're such a good artist, dude. " Because, you know, it was kind of Oh, 2000. It was kind in the in the punk scene and and that stuff, it was catching on. Like, people wanted to get tattooed. So, I went to town. I did my first tattoo on my leg.

Did second tattoo on the drummer, the band. Pre-YouTube, you're just literally free free balling it. Just Yeah. Probably didn't use rubber bands the first, I don't know, 50 tatto. Yeah. Some of them turned out pretty good. Really? So you just jumped How How old were you then?

You So you were pretty young. I was 25 24. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. So you started a little after me, but Yeah, that was 2000. Okay. Yeah.

Well, [ __ ] Then so did I. Yeah, cuz I started roughly around 2000. So then you you were just going to town on all your homies. Yeah. Going to town on all the homies. Uh you know, back then you had to make needles. Yeah. So I had to figure out, you know, you could order them like single needles and then you had to solder them.

You don't you you Yeah. Yeah. No, I made them like the jigs and everything. So, did that come in the kit and [ __ ] No, it didn't. It came with just like a handful, but then like uh because Okay. Even before this, me and a homie when I was probably I was 15 years old. We watched a uh like a prison documentary on HBO and they actually in this documentary they showed how they made their machines and [ __ ] Oh. So, we made machines.

So you rewatched that [ __ ] and and tattooed each other. So that technically was my first tattoo. You know, we're tattooing each other as kids. So I kind of knew I knew like how it all worked. I had to find out. There was a local guy. I don't think I want to say his name who we used to get drugs off of, like acid, meth, all that stuff. But he was a tattooer.

like he was one of the guys back in the day that wasn't involved in like the bike clubs or like which is kind of a Nazi. He might have been a Nazi. I don't know. But anyways, he's the local drug dealer. Okay. And he tattooed at a shop, which I won't say the name either. Yeah. " And he's like, "Oh, come over to my house.

" So he invited me over, went over his house, which was crazy, dude. This dude had like It was like a movie, you know? Walk into his house, there was like beads. It was like a opium dim, dude. Except there was like shotguns everywhere and [ __ ] dude. But he was hella cool to me. " And he was just like, "Dude, this is what you got to do. " There was like Cam Supply, Unimax Supply.

You could get stuff from those places, but they didn't like like needle jigs. You couldn't and you couldn't and like the internet was just barely there. Barely there. Yeah. So, it was like you had to like know somebody. So, I went, me and my wife, I believe it was right after we got married, we went out to this show called Inkslingers Ball. Old school show in LA. Yeah, I was in Hollywood at the Paladium.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Went out there, met hella cool tattooers out there. If you didn't know anybody there, right? So, you just kind of went in blind like Yeah, totally. I mean, I got tattooed there by a guy that we knew that tattooed here in town. I can't even remember his name.

Yeah, my memory shot so long. Yeah. But yeah, I got I got a bunch of needle jigs from there. Oh, okay. Okay. And then then it was on I was tattooing Yeah. everybody out of the house, working construction, tattooing at night. No [ __ ] Yeah.

And you were you still doing graffiti? Like you were real big into graffiti. I know. But this was after graffiti. Oh, okay. Yeah. After the the great fallout. Yeah, dude.

So, we can talk about that, too. I just remember hearing some wild ass stories. Uh, you know, we have mutual other mutual friends, I guess, that were involved. And you got raided. Yeah. Is that what you want to call it? I mean, Jesse Girl's house got raided. Yes.

I mean, kind of. Yeah. When did I meet you? I was trying to think. I think Vanessa or someone was asking me and I was like, "Did I meet you at like a punk house party? " We have We have a lot of long time mutual friends, but I knew graffiti. So, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought. Yeah. So, we were You were way more advanced than me. I was just kind of I mean, I've been painting since I was a kid, but not like out getting up type. I don't know about advance, but a little bit loose on the morals of city and malicious destruction of private property.

Um I think that's all what we were doing at the time. If you're an artist at that time, you were doing graffiti. Well, yeah. Now, uh now graffiti is, you know, it's on every commercial. Yeah. Back then it was like it was the only way to get out and do art other than, you know, corporate nonsense. Let's go back even more. I like hearing about anybody's first experiences with uh exposures to tattoos.

Like do you have any weird uncles or anything that were had tattoos or Dude, nobody in my family had tattoos. Um my first exposure I believe was besides like seeing like you know bikers and magazines and stuff. We lived in this apartment complex. I believe I was in middle school and we lived upstairs and our downstairs neighbor was this elderly couple. And the the husband, I think he was a veteran from World War II, but he had this big black panther right on top of his forearm. Yeah. " And it was probably just this it probably just looked like a big black blob cuz this was in, you know, this was in probably 1990 or whatever, but but it was cool as [ __ ] Yeah, dude. All of us were just like, we're going to get tattoos, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was the first time. That's awesome. And then seeing people tattooed, you know, going getting skateboarding magazines and then going to punk shows. Uh seeing a lot more tattoos like that. Were you touring at some point in time or no?

Yeah, multiple times in different times in my life. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy how many tattooers have ties to to music and being in bands and uh traveling through that. So, they kind of get accustomed to being in love with that lifestyle and tattooing kind of just made like a perfect match, you know? It's like, oh [ __ ] you mean I can get paid to draw and [ __ ] go see my friends all over the country or world? You know, it's pretty cool. I I don't I don't know how to play [ __ ] music.

I don't even It's fascinating to me, but it's cool that you guys go all I haven't done it in a while. You know, when you get a little bit older, have kids, it's a little bit Yeah, it's different. Yeah, I like it. I'll revisit it for sure. " Yeah. Have to start going to conventions, maybe write a record, go on a tour. Who knows? Yeah.

All right. [ __ ] a. I like it. So, [ __ ] Go back to like um Yeah. I don't know if you want to tell a little more about the the big graffiti fallout. Is that what you want to call it? Yeah, I guess. Um, so the house got raided and you were in the house.

At least back then. I mean, I have a lot of friends that are cops now that I tattoo, right? And they're great great people. But these cops back then, they were [ __ ] shady, dude. Yeah. They like tricked us. They tricked us and we were just kids. But yeah, anyways, I was asleep.

Cops come into Jesse girl's house. I I was sleep more often than not I would sleep on the couch there. Yeah. Cuz me and our mutual friend would be out writing graffiti all night and Yeah. They came in. They didn't get much. They got my blackbook, but I didn't have any like cans or my photo album or anything. We were tipped off.

Oh, okay. So, we went and hit all our [ __ ] That's how they tie you to your name and everything. Dude, they got they they freaking swindled us into like confessing for it. Oh yeah. And do you and straight hinged you up? Lock like locked your ass up or what? Like Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Or I mean I think I was locked up for a couple weeks and uh but then like when it was all said and done like stupid amount of restitution I had to pay. Oh. But then they ended up just like because I don't think it I don't think the way that they got us hemped up was like legal in a sense. But so they kept like dropping the dropping the uh the amount. Oh, okay. And then eventually I paid it like off on a credit card and then that was that.

Damn. Yeah. But yeah, dude. Man, up on billboards, freeway, side of the freeway every night, dude. Dude, I could I never That's kind of where I stopped. I was like I didn't I loved it, but not that much cuz I was getting into some positions where I'm like, I'm either going to get [ __ ] shot or Oh, yeah, dude. Lots of those or pulled down off of this wall or [ __ ] We got chased by people constantly alleys along the highway that you're trying to like squeeze through to jump out onto the Oh, yeah. There's all kinds of dangers, man.

I think back on that like my son right now was 15. Yeah. I think back and like, dude, when I was 15, 16, 17, that's what I was doing, man. Dude, I remember in junior high, my junior high, this kid was like, "Yo, my mom's out of town. I'm going to steal her car. we're going to go out. And I was like, "Fuck it, Doug. " He's [ __ ] smoking weed.

He's like, I don't Yeah. How How old are you in junior high? Like [ __ ] 12 or you know, 13. " Yeah. " And that's that's what we were doing. It's [ __ ] terrible. So, I kind of started to get out of that, especially since my dad raided me. He specifically came into my room while I was gone.

He knew what was going on. Pulled all my cans out. pulled all my uh all my photos. So, I have no history of any of my graffiti. It's all gone. You know, see, they got a lot, but like I got I got maybe like a handful of photos, but yeah. Yeah. All my books, everything, dude.

I gave him home one day and it was just gone. And we've never talked about it. So, if you listen to this, I understand why you did it, but but damn, I wish I had those [ __ ] photos, dude. And all those drawings. So, all my 35mm prints, you know. Yeah, you would used to, you know, we would we would take all our photos with a flash in the dark and then it would be all grainy and blown out and then go get it at the two day hour or two day later on became one hour photo and then you wait and get all your [ __ ] out and you're like what? Oh yeah. Yep.

" Especially if like So we uh we painted on freights a lot, dude. So like you painted it, the train was gone, you never see it again. So whatever documentation you had, that was that. Yeah. Yeah. You maybe see it by someday some photos will pop up. There's a lot of like graffiti writers that shoot all the freights and then just document them all. You remember those like websites you'd go to?

They would just, you know, try to find art crimes. Yeah. Yeah. That's the [ __ ] Yeah, dude. Yeah. So, you've always been fascinated with illustration and art in general, right? Ever since you were a youngster. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Uh, fourth grade I was failing. Fourth grade, right? My parents come, my parents come in for a conference with the teacher. Why is our kid failing? Teacher's got like a stack of just drawings. She's like, I can't get him to do anything but draw. And that was the beginning, you know.

Yeah. And, you know, my parents, as good as they they were trying to do, like back then, an artist wasn't a, you know, a proper job that you could have. It's just like that's just a that's just a hobby, you know? You got to do good in school. Yeah. But yeah, they couldn't I couldn't figure out how to do good in school. How to put Yeah. to channel you in somewhat of a direction.

Most of it's entrepreneurial driven or or I guess like at our time everybody was like, "Oh, you're an artist. You're a graphic designer. That's it. " Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And even that was very lucrative because computers and internet and that all that hadn't even Yeah. My mom was an illustrator ever since I was a little kid.

a professional illustrator. So, I got to grow up around that. It was real real fun to see that. So, I saw her be successful at it, you know, and then so we kind of knew that there is some some sort of a lane here. That's great. But a lot of parents that weren't necessarily creative people didn't maybe they just didn't know. It's not their fault, you know? Yeah.

No, no, I don't blame them at all. If my kid liked football, I wouldn't know what to do. I'd be going to football games begrudgingly. I always joke around. " Okay, bud. Let's figure this out. Let's go brush up on Black Sabbath. Yeah, I'm good with that.

But yeah, so [ __ ] Yeah. So, you got um I don't know. Let's get back into your tattoo world. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so you got like Well, yeah. Learned how to make needles from the Yeah. the meth dealer.

Yeah. Guns in the house and Yeah. beads and drugs and [ __ ] So I was tattooing out of my house playing in a hardcore band. Yeah. Working construction. Um that lasted quite some time. Uh I met a guy through the punk scene, Kevin. I believe he was apprenticed by um I don't know if if it's this is correct, but I think it was either Buddy or Ryan Downey.

So So back then um so he was like a proper traditional tattoo artist and we were we hit it off, you know, we were both into the same kind of music. Uh we were both straight edge at the time. Okay. And uh so he like kind of taught me how to draw a little bit. His name my buddy Kevin, he still tattoos. He's out in Florida, but he taught me like the basics of like American traditional, like all the Jerry Ed, you know, type stuff. Um, because before that I was just copying like uh, you know, Huck Spalding Flash and like Cherry Creek stuff like Yeah, it was even this was even before like uh, I mean before pricks before like the graffiti stuff had even been inter intertwined in tattooing. Oh, okay.

Or maybe at the dawn of that, I don't know. I I wasn't around it. So, so I learned how to do American traditional, how to draw it. Um, and you know, and then all that stuff started coming in. I started uh messing around with like all the chrome stuff, graffiti stuff, but man, back then there wasn't really there wasn't a way to get in and all the shops were seedy, bro. you know, it was all drugs, Nazis, bikers, which was its own era of stuff, but like I was like, here I am like this, you know, trying to be on a straight path here. Got married and I was just like, oh man. And my buddy, my buddy Kevin, he was working his shops, shop to shop, you know, he'd get kicked out of a shop because Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. There was like whatever. A bunch of bikers came in and he didn't want to tattoo him, so he got fired or got beat up, got all the [ __ ] taken by the owner, you know? Yeah. So, I was like, man, I don't think it's going to work out for me tattooing. So there was a few years that I just didn't, you know, I would tattoo out of the house like homies or people from work or whatever, but I didn't I didn't see it as a viable future. This goes on from 2000 to I think probably 2007, so 7 years of just, you know, I always painted.

I always like drew stuff, you know. Um drew all the graphics for all the bands, you know. Um 2007 I got laid off from my job and uh a childhood buddy of mine, Corey Holton, he had apprenticed somewhere and had started tattooing um had like a little spot. It was like a salon that had let him have a station in there, you know. He hit me up and he's like, "Man, I know you're a good artist, dude, and I know you know how to tattoo. " So, I went over there and started messing around with him. No shame. He moved to like another shop uh and I moved with him probably about a year and he opened his own shop and signed me off and that was it, dude.

I fell in love immediately. And and these shops like one of the shops was like Tropicana and POS and then the shop he opened was Lake Me and Nellis. So they were in like but I was loving it, dude. I was loving the characters coming in there, dude. I was just like what? This is a whole like different world, you know? It kind of brought me back to like that danger of like riding graffiti, you know, going through like the tent cities on the side of the freeway and on the overpasses and all that. So it gave me that kind of feeling and I was like, yo, but I'm making money, too.

So I was just like, hell yeah. Yeah, dude. those like we were just talking about it yesterday with Clark North like and Phil Luck too on his interview like those really rough kind of wacky shops were the most exciting like yeah dude I mean there was so many unique stories just tweakers coming in weird weirding out on you tell getting naked in front of you prostitutes coming in offering all of their services for a tattoo I remember I was standing right with my mom at the front counter We were, you know, we had partners on that shop and these two girls come in with their little mini skirts on and stuff and they're I'm standing right in front of my mom. " You know, trying to treat everybody, right? " And I just lift up their dresses and they're butt naked.

And I was like, "Oh my god, a [ __ ] mom is my poor mom, dude. " But just weird [ __ ] like that was like pretty regularly happening in all. Yeah, man. I had on the on the the shop that I worked at, it was called Electric Eye Tattoo after the Judas Priest song, Lake Meet and Nellis. I had a guy come in. Well, first off, like dude, it was probably couple weeks after we were open. Like it it was just a little shop, two stations in there, you know, just a tiny little shop. I had a guy come in.

So I I would work like kind of the evening shift. My buddy Cory would work whenever he wanted cuz it was his shop. " And he pulled out a handgun, dude, with the serial numbers freaking filed off. And I was just like, "Yo, no, I'm good on that, my man. " And just freaking took off. " And I was just like, "I don't this isn't my shop, man. " And he was just like, I can't remember his exact words, but they were kind of threatening. Yeah.

And then he took off and I gave her I gave him my buddy Cory's card. " From then on, the doors were locked at night time though, dude. I was like, "Whoa, dude. " And same thing happened. Prostitutes would come in trying to trade tricks for cigarettes and stuff or just like wow, dude. The [ __ ] is happening here, dude? That was like a I don't I don't I don't I want to say a miss it cuz that was that was a time when I was young and it was it was I'm thankful for it, but miss it. No, I feel like I don't know if you remember like how many potentially incredibly tense moments there was with walk-ins like guys and they were just real aggressive and you Oh, yeah.

you're just kind of trying to get through the consult, you know, with them and then figure out if they're serious or not. And uh there was all so many times where you'll you you're [ __ ] terrified inside, you know, like you're scared out of your mind, but you're trying to just maintain it and you're cool and get through it. And then sometimes they end up being like the coolest most. Yeah. But they kind of felt like they needed to be tough when they came in or something, you know? I had to learn so much. Then they just they're like open books when they sit in the charity. Yeah.

Bro, that's like So that's one of my favorite things about tattooing, right? Me too. Is just the connection you can have. Like it's taught me not to judge people. Like Yeah. specifically this big bro guy comes in and uh you know fox shirt on raised truck you know American flag tattoo type dude and I'm just like this douchemag you know then he you know we have a consultation and he's very con confronting me you know like very I'm just like oh man do I really want to like sign up to do this guy's sleeve but you know you just I the era I came up in you just Well, yeah. You weren't allowed to just judge and walk away or whatever. You better work this [ __ ] out and get it done.

You got you got to get it done. It's not like, "No, it's not my style, you know? " But so anyways, you know, I begrudgingly do the tattoo and this dude turns out to be the most sweetheart of a guy, dude. Like his freaking wife um got killed, you know? He's a single dad raising his kid on his own and he's just like the most empathetic sweetheart of a guy. And every time he gets in my chair, I'm just like, "Chance Gomez, you are an [ __ ] for judging this guy. " Yeah. And the tattooing is like the most intimate experience, dude.

People just open up and that's my favorite part, man. It's It is amazing, dude. Yeah. There's I got a lot of those stories. That's damn sure. Me, too. [ __ ] will get you tearing up, dude. Oh yeah.

Yeah. Talk about like empathetic. It's weird if you don't have that trait as a tattooer to just be so cold and closed off and not open up to all of these different kinds of people and they teach you so much about just different kinds of cultures and ways of thinking and I don't know. It is really fulfilling. Yeah. It changes you, man, if you let it, dude. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm I just even just simply like not judging people by they come in and they're maybe like boisterous and tough guy or whatever or they're real quiet and they don't really give you a lot of information and then you sit down and you start trying to pull it out of them a little bit and then they get comfortable then they open up and it goes from a little tattoo to like I I always wanted a full sleeve you know and then you're like well [ __ ] let's let's be homies dude let's do this you know and if you don't take that time to like be patient with people and open up and give them the benefit of the doubt. So many doors like just don't [ __ ] open, man. And dude, that's the po the well, I shouldn't say the point. That's like one of the biggest parts of tattooing to me is the exper the experience and the time spent with another human, right?

The art is is its own thing, right? And you know, you work as hard as you can to do your best at that. Yeah. But as far as like someone coming to get a tattoo, especially if they're Well, I I shouldn't say that either. From the smallest tattoo to a bodysuit, man, you're giving them an experience and in return, you're receiving experience. Yeah. So, it's like that's the biggest part. It's not um it doesn't really matter the tattoo in a sense when you're like opening up when someone's opening up to you.

And sometimes they don't and that's fine too. But you just learn a lot about yourself and other people and community from tattooing. At least I have. Yeah. You know, I couldn't I couldn't imagine like just doing like just drawing things on people, you know, just like and I know people do that and that's cool like whatever like however you get the the thing that you want to be done done, but like I couldn't I can't close myself off like that, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Like I go I go home and paint or draw flash when I want to just close myself off and do art, you know?

Like tattooing is tattooing is a whole other thing to me. I still have some great I people that I met 20 years ago through tattooing. I have so many of my really close friends that I admire and look up to came from tattooing. Oh yeah, dude. Like Oh yeah. My wife came from tattooing too, you know. uh met her in the in a shop and then she I met her 10 years later, you know. But that's cool.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. But there I don't know. It's tattooing. It can be all of the all of the feels, you know? It can stress you the [ __ ] out.

It can make you so incredibly happy. It can make you cry. Like, I've definitely been in the middle of tattooing with hearing some pretty v, you know, people. They open up to you, man. They're vulnerable. They're they're hurting, you know, and they share those stories with you. And I'm I'm like a firm believer in like weird energy and good energy that you can feel off of people. I don't know how many times you've been working on people's ribs for hours on end and if they're not feeling it, it makes you so tense.

It makes you so it's exhausting. You come home and you're just like dead. Yeah. And I've always I never really know how to verbally express that other than just like the energy from their tenseness and stuff like comes into you. And I don't know, dude. I got um so there was a time I don't know it's probably about a decade ago when I was like getting really bummed out on tattooing. You probably had that in your career where you're just like, man, like whatever the case may be. Like I I can't pull [ __ ] straight line.

I can't I don't know how to design anything. I can't draw. like I can't, you know, when you sit down, you can't even draw a rose. Like I was going through one of those times just like is this like what I should be doing, you know? Like should I do I need to go back and do something else because this is not working out for me like mentally. Yeah. Um and I had this this little old lady walk in come in and her husband had just passed away and she wanted to get his signature on her arm. You know, kind of a typical I wasn't thinking about it type moment.

Um, sure. You know, sit down. 100 bucks. Let's go. Yeah. " And like that moment just like freaking it was just like a a lightning jolt in my spirit. " Yeah. Like this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

Yeah. It's not, like I was saying earlier, it's not as much about the art like you were placing the emphasis on. It's more about like the full experience. You know, I was just looking at the small part of it and not the whole. So, I keep that. I still got the little stencil of her husband's name in my machine drawer. That's cool. So, anytime I'm like bummed out, just look at that and like, oh, no.

Yeah, you're good, dude. Just keep on going. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, tattooing can kick your ass, man. Like it can make you like or I guess what we're talking about there's all the feels ups and downs there. Those downs are rough, man. Like Oh, yeah.

I don't even know. I'm going to tell this story. Let's go. The moon phases, you know, like the whole [ __ ] the moon phases tattooed it dozens of times. Yeah. So, I did I don't know what is there like six in a row or something. Um I did those and I felt good about them. I was just but I was having a great time with the client and I was talking my ass off and giving her a great experience and everything.

She was really happy with it. I took a picture and I didn't really think much about it. " And I was like, "I don't I don't know if you ever do this, but you're like, "I don't know. " Yeah. It's like you could be so busy all day long and then you just completely forget. So I pulled out the pictures and I was like, "Oh, I did this. " Huh. Why does this look like six cookies?

just like the texture like in different phases of being bitten. I don't the texture just got too 3D or something. I don't know. But I was like I was [ __ ] depressed for like two weeks that [ __ ] dude. And I was like scared to go in and do my next tattoo. And I don't know. I just I she and you could be on a roll and then one thing like that'll just break you. Just crush you forever.

I don't know how your partner is, but my wife is straight up like she goes, "Yep, that looks terrible. it looks like six cookies. And I'm like, [ __ ] man. Which I think continue to help crush you and kick you while you were down. But I uh I appreciate the honesty, you know? I really do with her. But yeah, I was bummed out for like every But it did make me go in and reassess the tattoos that I did for the next couple weeks. Is this the best I can do?

Am I, you know, how am I going to shave this? How am I going to slow down? you know, cuz it's also you tend to get into that like grind of let's do this, you know, I got like three three appointments today, plus I got two meetings with two different artists that are [ __ ] off and like they're not doing what they need to do. And then I got meeting with a partner and then like, you know, that [ __ ] can get all overwhelming. I was never really that great. How How are you at like uh organizing your time? Like do you are you good at compartmentalizing like That's a good question. home life versus work and family.

Yeah, family has always been number one for me, but also I kind of I've learned that like work plays into that, you know. So, I grew up and my dad was always the bread winner. He would always go to work. I would always see him working hard, see him exhausted. Um, me and my brother, we started working at the family business at a young age. So we always worked because we always saw the example of my dad working. So I my kids need to know that I work hard, you know, or so they will know what it takes when they're old enough. So that's my mentality.

So I kind of those two things work, tattooing and family life kind of like feed off each other for me. As far as everything else, dude, that I do, like, you know, going to shows and uh going to conventions and doing everything else, paintings, art shows, like I'm the type of dude like if you give me a goal, I'm going to make time for it and I'm going to meet that goal. Yeah. So, just like those art shows that I've done. Yeah. Um, you know, no video games, no no listening to records. You got to focus. This is free time.

Like any free time you have, you do that. So that's how I've always been. I So I guess I I'm okay at it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As long as you're Yeah.

You're fulfilling your priorities of, you know, that family and everything. And we do the same thing. We work a lot like pretty much every day. But we bring our kids along with us, you know. So we'll Oh, yeah. We'll be here packing orders with the team on Saturday and then we'll be working nights going over everything that we need to do together and then working during the day. But we all only want our kids to be around us. So it's like Yeah.

Oh yeah. That's the reason I stopped doing the music thing essentially. Um I was out on a tour, you know, three week tour. U my son, he had to have been two or three two years old maybe. Um and it was like at the dawn of FaceTime. It was like Skype, you know. So every few days I'd Skype with them. And you know, we're at a what it was in Indianapolis.

It's like it's actually a really cool little bar, like a Viking bar. Um, playing a show there. And before the show, I'm skyping and like my son, you know, he's in the bathtub and saying his ABCs for the first time. And I'm just like, what the [ __ ] are you doing, dude? You're out here with your buddies playing punk music in the Midwest when you're missing these moments. " And then that was that. And I came back and I had Mia's tattoo homesick on the top of my knuckles, you know? Nice.

Yeah. And that was that. Yeah. I was like, "Okay, like this is this is a different phase of life. You know, you're a dad now. You got to be around, you know, tattooing is is a whole like other like marriage and family in itself that you have to stay true to, but now you have this family to stay true to. You can't be, you know, Yeah. Yeah.

[ __ ] off. Tattooing can lend itself to a good like open mornings to be able to get your kid up, get them to school. I love that [ __ ] I'm able to drive my kids to school. Oh yeah. And then I'm fortunate enough to where I got the shop rolling good enough over the years that I don't have to be there at nights now. But so I'm able to go pick up my kids and that's like incredibly fortunate for that. That's cool. Well, I'm I'm so thankful I'm in the position now like and I've always kind of worked at shops where like you know it was the homies that owned the shop, you know.

Yeah. So, I've always had a little bit of freedom, but now it's it's it's amazing, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With me and Mary Beth at our shop cuz we're both parents, you know, all of our artists are parents, you know, so Yeah. Tell me more about your shop collective. Yeah.

In Las Vegas. Um yeah, you and Mary Beth are partners on that, right? And then you've always been I just feel like really good at keeping people around and nurturing them and teaching and Yeah. I mean it just it works out that way, man. I guess I'm a some say I'm a natural at mentoring. I guess um I've known Ryan for god almost two decades now. Yeah, he was apprenticing at a shop that the guy that apprenticed me worked at for a little bit and like we connected on like punk music and stuff. So like we always stayed in touch and I ended up mentoring him and getting him signed off and like we've just been best bros ever since, you know.

Yeah. Um Bri was Mary Beth's apprentice, but Mary Beth, her husband's in the military and she had to she had to move during Bree's apprenticeship. So Oh, okay. Yeah. Uh, I took on Brief, you know, helped finish. Yeah. And she she was with us. Dalia.

It's almost like now that I look back, I kind of had like a little bit of a bleeding heart. Yeah. Because Ryan, he was going to quit tattooing and I was just like, you know, because literally he's like my favorite artist in the world. Even back then, he was my favorite artist. I'm like, dude, you can't quit tattooing. Yeah. Yeah. We'll figure it out, dude.

I'll talk to the owner, dude. We'll get you over here signed off, whatever we got to do. And then we uh Dalia. So Dalia was apprenticing as Piercer at Red-Handed Tattoo where I worked at. Um and she the person apprenticing her took off. So she was just like bummed out. Didn't have nothing to do. So I was like and she drew and I was like, you know, we were homies because we both like the same kind of music and we're both vegans and I was like, well, you want to learn how to tattoo?

I'll teach you. And nice. So yeah, and then Bri, Mary Beth had to travel, so sure, I'll take you, you know, like you're a lover, dude. Same thing happened with Jeffrey, dude. Jeffrey, he had wanted to quit tattooing. Um, and Bri had gotten pregnant, and I was like, well, come come through, dude. You could you can don't quit, dude. You could work while she's out.

And then he just became family, and we just kept him like, so yeah, I I don't know. I guess I'm I can teach. I I don't know. Well, you have lovable energy. Yeah. Yeah, you're kind. I don't know. I hate talking about myself, dude.

Like, as far as I'm concerned, I'm a piece of [ __ ] you know? No, that's far from the truth. Well, that kind of brought me up like I don't know if we could try to like help lessons be learned and stuff from our experiences. The um your experience Well, we won't mention names, but you you were working in a shop that I don't know. Can you tell me a little bit about roughly what what happened when the like you showed up in this shop that you were putting all your time and energy into um was locked up and all of your [ __ ] was inside. Yeah, man. Trauma. That's what happened to me.

Um all of your tattoo equipment. Yeah. You had been paying rent or or you commission. I don't remember where you're at. That uh Yeah. And it wasn't just me. It was a shop that I had I had gotten Ryan a job there. Oh, I was apprenticing Dalia there, our buddy Steve, got him a job there.

So, it was like a lot of my friends, too. Um, and some other artists that had become my friends as well. Well, anyways, I mean, I don't know all the specifics. All like there's some hearsay that, you know, with the AC had broke in the shop, right? Yeah. And, uh, the landlord had refused to put up the money to fix it. So, the owner was holding rent and this and that and then finally the landlord locked the doors or whatever that case may be. All I know is that we came into work one day and the doors were locked, you know, and we're just like that was brutal, you know, appointments on the books, everybody's shit's in there locked up.

No, no way of even like going to another shop to tattoo cuz we didn't have any [ __ ] dude. We didn't have any equipment. We didn't you know what are you going to do? go to a shop and just be like, "Hey, I don't even have a portfolio to show you, but I can tattoo. " And damn, 100% of your stuff was locked up. And then, so then, yeah, what ended up happening? How did it kind of Dude, I went home, you know, your appointment, cancelled all my appointments, told him like, you know, we'll get it figured out, you know, whatever. Kept talk trying to talk to the owner, seeing when we could get our stuff at least.

Yeah. " Yeah. Like it's there's no getting our [ __ ] back, dude. Like either I like, you know, put up a few thousand, try to get some new machines and stuff and and try to go get a job at another shop right now or I just quit altogether. And I literally was cuz this was this was actually during one of my low points that it happened too. So, it was just like I was like, "Oh, man. " Um, and I had I had recently befriended Mary Beth. I think I had I don't know if I had if I did her sleeve or her neck at the time, but we had spent a substantial amount of time together and we were friends.

And we would talk on occasion, you know, like just about our lives and tattoo stuff. And so I hit her up because, you know, a lot of I don't I don't want to demonize anybody, but there wasn't like a lot of people to talk to on a like a sole heartfelt level about tattooing except like the people that were around me like Ryan and stuff and they were just in the same spot as I was. So I hit her up and I was just like, "Yo, I'm thinking about just hanging it up. You know, I got a buddy that can give me a job at the Smith Center right now, dude. And I got a family, dude. like I can't. It's been a week and I haven't made any money. And she was just like, "No, dude.

You cannot quit. Come here. You can use all my stuff, whatever. You could come in when I don't have appointments anytime. " She's just like, "Yeah, dude. " She got the same soul as you. You guys, you guys are a good match. I was just like, she kind of brought the squad over there, right?

Didn't like a handful of you guys kind of all Yeah. Well, I had Dolly Dolly was my apprentice at the time. And this was a room like probably about as big as this, you know, maybe even smaller. But yeah, and it was it was a wild time, dude. She would tattoo during the day. I would come in and just be like waiting for her to get done, go right in. Like my appointment would be there. I'd have Dolly there like Yeah.

And then she had she had free Yeah. " I was still using coil machines, dude. " Or it was either that or don't tattoo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I figured all that out and and yeah, that was it.

Like, it was great. It was like I don't know, man. That that happened for a reason. Yeah. You know, she she was there. It it was all meant to be. The universe just put us together. Yeah.

You know, I credit her with uh just being there for me in my time and need. So, yeah, that's cool. I might not be tattooing. I might not be right here if it wasn't for her. Damn. So, you guys came to How long was it till you guys kind of How long did you have to do that before you formed kind of a partnership and got onto a shop? There's so much trauma around that dude, you know, cuz I didn't have my [ __ ] still. It was probably what month before we got to get all our stuff out.

So, you did end up getting to get it back. I knew that. Yeah. So the Yeah, the landlord agreed to just let us in there and I don't even know why, dude. That's super nice on his part. He probably just like didn't want all the [ __ ] honestly. Well, yeah. And it was And they only let us in for like like an hour.

Okay. " I don't know what the deal was, but I was just like I I called Dolly. " Like a whole station. You know, you know how much it is. It's like moving a freaking It's like moving an apartment, you know? And all that [ __ ] means something to you. You So, we just blew through there and got it all out. That was like a month after that.

Then I had my own stuff. I want to say it was about 6 months. Yeah. We were tattooing in that in Mary Best's little private room and you know, Ryan had gone to another shop where he did not like Yeah. like the vibe, you know, wasn't his his jam. So, he would come over there all the time. I we had Bri and Dalia in there in this tiny little space just crunched in. Like they'd be out in like the hallways and stuff like working on these big paintings and stuff and we'd get in trouble and be like, "Yo, you guys can't do that.

" So, yeah, we had them set up on little TV trays like in the corner drawing and stuff. Anyways, and then our buddy Steve, he was working at like in a makeshift like spot at another shop like in a back room with no lights, you know? So, like everyone was just like it just made sense. Like I don't know how the conversation came about, but you know, probably I was just talking to Mary Beth and I was like, "Look, like these are all my friends. Like, we got people. " I think that's how it started. And then we're just like, why don't we just try to [ __ ] do a shop, you know? Yeah.

And I had no idea how to do a shop. I just I was a I'm a punk rock street kid, you know, dude. Came up writing graffiti. Yeah. And we figured it out. We found a spot. I think we we maxed out our credit cards and like Yeah. We did it, dude.

And I'm just like, I don't know what I'm doing. You were able to get into a spot that was already built out for tattooing, too, right? It was, but it was kind of I don't even understand how it was. I never went into it before, dude. There was no running hot water in any of the stations. Yeah. I have no idea. We had to run our own hot water.

I think that shop was run kind of underground. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Appointment only type. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. There's no way it was up to code. But yeah, anyways, it was somewhat built out. You know, the stations were at least built out. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. So, you jumped in there, built that out all together and came together.

And you guys have been open now for 10 Let me think, dude. 2016. Okay. Almost 10 years. Almost 10 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That's That's wild. Yeah. Yeah. " And then so after we opened like a handful of freaking months later, Mary Beth's like, "Yo, my husband got stationed up in Oregon. " So Oh, yeah. I was partner by myself all of a sudden, dude. You know?

Yeah, just like trying to pay the bills and figure everything out. Like literally figuring it out on my own. And I I didn't think I I had what it took. And luckily my wife was so encouraging cuz I was just like, I don't know how to be a leader. I don't know how to be a boss. I've never done any of these roles ever before in my life, let alone like deal with money and, you know, this and that. And she's like, dude, you're like you got what it takes. like you're a great leader, you know, you're compassionate, you love people, you know, uh you came up in a time of tattooing where like it there was like hard stances on things, so you're not going to be, you know, easy, but you're also compassionate.

So, I don't know. I guess that just worked out in my favor cuz here we are. Is there any like advice you have for like creating partnerships? Like lately, I've been that's been on my head on my mind a lot. like you and Mary Beth seem to have obviously worked out really well together, but those those can be like really interesting times. I myself have partnered up with a lot of people that didn't compliment me and work with me. Well, I don't know. You said it right there, dude.

Complimenting um you got to Well, you're married, dude. Yeah, you like a partnership is like a marriage where you have to you have to give you have to swallow your pride and you have to give. You have to um you have to see like what good the other partner has to offer and you have to let them run with that, you know. Yeah. and and vice versa if it's not like both ways, you know, like Mary Beth is very good with like uh business and like um marketing and marketing. Yeah. All that stuff, all the stuff that I'm not good with. I'm good with like just handson like I'm good with like you know the clientele.

I'm good with all of our artists like hands-on, you know, that like I I talk to them about their lives like they they're feel comfortable when they come into work, you know, not like this is just like, you know, sergeant like barking orders, you know, it's not a transaction. So like we're we're both let each other excel in what we're good at. I mean, I'm I' I'm blessed, you know, to have her to that that it all came together like that because like Yeah. I could have never gone out and found a partner. Yeah. Like I could have never I never would have tried to open a shop on my own because I just don't I just want a tattoo, you know? I don't want I don't care about it's too completely all the rest of the stuff. Yeah.

You know, there's like not too many of us that can really battle their way through both of them. You know, it's like pretty rare. Yeah. Um, but you know, you understand and respect and and like you said, like you create your portion of the puzzle and she creates hers and Oh yeah, dude. I uh I've sat in on a few bad P part partnership stories recently and I'm like, man, I feel like we need to talk about this more within our community because there's always these like kind of explosive moments where people either gang up and leave or or just get in, you know, the the partnership splits up at one shop or the owner gets all cracked down and then everybody basically like creates these spontaneous partnerships which can be real dangerous, you know, and Yeah.

and create even more drama after all the money's brought in and then nobody communicated about these expectations of each other and stuff. Uh I don't know. I kind of want to like start putting together some more information for tattooers specifically about how to do that cuz I've made all the mistakes. Well, money and and the the chasing after it as like the top priority is is not that's not the jam. Yeah. You're always going to come up short if that's all you're chasing, you know? For sure. You've got to be in love with what you're doing.

And um Oh, yeah. And you have to have the partnership can't revolve about around money, you know. Yeah. That's why those partnerships never work. Yeah. or they just become cold and vivid, you know, not like not like something I would want to be a part of. Yeah. I think that's what makes our partnership uh work a lot too is that we both tattoo as well, you know?

Yeah. We're not like trying to just make money off a shop tattooing. Like that's like that's kind of secondary, you know? We tattoo and then like we do the shop together and that that if I'm honest, that makes it a lot easier as well. Yeah. that mutual respect amongst the everybody's goals and stuff. But you guys do real good um is it annually you do an art show or or you just kind of happen to have somebody on the team like put something together like seems like you do a lot of art shows. We've done I think collectively three.

Oh, okay. you know. So, we did two last year. I did a solar art show, then we did a shop show, and then Ryan did a show this year. And um that was just a a blessing that had just happened. One of our old clients from a decade ago started a gallery. Oh, yeah. Screaming Demon.

Yeah, Screaming Demon. Okay. Our buddy Frank and uh you know, I'm always painting. So, he he hit me up two years ago was just like, "Hey, man. I'm starting this gallery. like, you know, I look up to you. Like, I wouldn't be whatever doing art or interested if it wasn't for all you guys. And, uh, I would love to have you.

And I was just like, uh, you want paintings right now, dude? I probably got like 30 paintings in my garage doing nothing. " So, I went down, gave him a bunch of paintings to hang up. " I'm like, "All right, cool. " Yeah. Did that. and then decided to have the shop, a group art show, and that was really fun. That keeps people motivated, you know?

Um I don't know how you are, but like I it drives me nuts if I see any of our artists like or anybody on the team just kind of sitting around doing nothing. Like that [ __ ] doesn't even make sense to me. Like uh and these days it's harder and harder with us being all so easily distracted by Tik Tok and Instagram and all this [ __ ] that's in our pocket every sports game. Whatever you're into, you can just stop doing what you're doing and zone out. But you're [ __ ] at work. Like, so how as such a nice guy, how do you feel that you show and keep these your, you know, your team like motivated to constantly be creating? I lead by example, bro. you know, like I've always like, well, coming up in the era of tattooing and and graffiti and all that stuff, like there wasn't no no copying [ __ ] like there is now.

Like, yeah, we've gotten a little bit lazy with that, but I've always just drawn and painted all the time. There's no other way to learn or get better. Yeah. You know, and so like a lot of these people that work at our shop, they've I've known them for over a decade. Yeah. And so they've always just watched me. They watched me before they were even tattoo artists what I did. Yeah.

You know, and they've seen me do that for 10, 15 years now all the time. Drawing, painting all the time. And it's just bled off on them. Yeah. You know, I would hate to be like, you need to be drawing. You need to be painting. You know, like that's not the type of leadership I Yeah. It's not my jam, dude.

I just I go in and do my best. And like that's the standard. You guys go in and do your best. And bro, I love it. I walk into my shop any given day and if people aren't tattooing, they're working on like now is the records, your record show there. Like everyone's working on their records, you know? Thank you. Or like when when Ryan this past year, Ryan had his art show.

So he was always working on he had like four or five paintings he's working on every day. " I mean, so I miss that. I feel like I kind of am not able to fulfill that like I did my whole entire career with me being so kind of taking on so many other projects. Yeah. There's this like underlying guilt, you know, that I'm not there that I've always tried to battle with and not tried to battle with, but been battling with, you know. Well, you you're just following passions, you know? So, like, you know, this stuff might not last forever, but you'll always still have you'll still have like a canvas or or or a pad to go back and draw on. It's like the same I think about music.

Like, I kind of feel like guilty. I'm I look at my guitar, I'm like, damn, dude. I haven't picked that up in like a month or two. Like, I haven't written a song in a few years or whatnot. But I'm like, I've accepted it in my life, you know? I'm like, that guitar will always be there. You know, right now you got two teenagers and a shop and, you know, clients to take care of and now a new puppy. Like there's other things that demand your time right now that'll be there for to come back to, you know.

Yeah. I think that comes with age too, you know, like well, especially kids and all your time gets incredibly limited. you start to really understand like I can't do everything like I do have those inner battles but I also don't feel heavy guilt or anything because I am genuinely in love with what I'm doing and I think that shows so hopefully they you know people just try to stay motivated and do stuff around me and my team and stuff but yeah dude it's a I mean you want to paint all [ __ ] day motivate me dude it's bro you had a freaking mural company going before you started all this jam yeah I did Yeah. So, I definitely am not shy about producing art. I just I want to do it every day. All day long. Yeah. But so do I.

You know, but I also I'm creating and I'm get to work with uh artists all day long. Every day and we have such a great team. And we have that family culture, too. And now I'm just trying to merge it all. And I think by throwing like group art shows and stuff at the shop, then that gives your artists to-dos, you know? So if they have deadlines, which we as all artists need deadlines. So then they'll be doing less time tick- tocking than uh give we just need [ __ ] direction and Oh yeah. And a spank on the bottom.

Yeah. You know, because artists are we're just crazy people. Well, we're all like we'll just do raging meth butterflies. Like tweaky butterflies. I'm over here drawing this. No, now I'm over here. I'm like designing this. Now, now I'm over here like, yeah, all over the place.

You should see my garage studio. It's a nightmare. But not to me. I go in there, I'm like, "Oh, yeah. " Yeah. Yeah. I'm in the middle of doing that right now. Like, now that my kids are a little older and they're obsessed with drawing and illustrating.

So, now we're building out this building or this warehouse thing that we have. It's like a big ass shed. We're building that out to where it'll be like family space and creative space only. So, when you're out there, it's only for paint nights. And only for I'm gonna I'm gonna put [ __ ] instruments out there and stuff. I don't even know how to play them, but I just want all the kids to be like have creative access to it, you know? Yeah. So, we can I got to get you come over some night.

We'll just do do that. That's great. So, any like I don't know where's like where's tattooing going for you? Do you feel that you you have some like any new goals or like a direction you'd like to I've been styles maybe to focus on? Man, I've been obsessed with Japanese Asian style work for a long time since I was a little kid. Yeah. So, that has been something that has come into fruition in my tattooing over the past I guess 5 10 years. Um, so like that's a a neverending pool.

Yeah. To reach into for me. And I mean that the possibilities with that are endless. you know, another bodysuit, another sleeve, just like in these projects for these long-term projects. And I love that. I love having a a big long-term project. I love persevering through something and then at the very end, you have this big thing you accomplished, you and another person, and it's just like, oh, it's the best the best feeling to me in the world. So, that's where just more of that for me.

So, exposing your clients to just bigger Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love doing like the black and gray realism. You you you wellrounded illust like tattooer. I've fallen in love with it. I don't didn't really like it too much um early on, but I'm okay with it now. Yeah. I would love to sit down more with anybody doing black and gray and learn.

It's something that I kind of dabbled in in the very beginning of my career and then just kind of took off on bold, colorful, illustrative [ __ ] Yeah. But now I'm like I kind of want to throw all my colors out and just do either black traditional work like just black work and pieces that are like I can comprehend you know like softball size. Yeah. I I always want to uh in a sense progress in my style. Yeah. but also progression and regression at the same time to like honor like tradition but do it in my own way where I'm pushing myself, you know? Yeah. Um I've never been one to to create a style.

I've always like even when I was doing graffiti, I would always, you know, I'd always stick to, you know, whatever bubble letters or character or a wild style, you know, with like the the 3Ds this way or, you know, this or that. Like, so that's kind of like uh just how I am with tattooing, you know, if I'm going to do American traditional, I'm going to stick to the formula and do it to the best of my ability. And uh the same with Japanese. And the reason Japanese is so appealing to me is it's a never endless thing to learn, right? There's a million stories and there's a million things to learn. There's there's so much. It just goes on and on. Like I can I can I can for a long do it to the best of my ability, you know?

I can do it and create kind of my own, you know, vibe of it. Yeah. but and honor these traditions that I can continue to learn and learn and learn and learn. I feel like it's it'll be a lifetime like I'll never It's not I guess that's the point. It's not something you can master. Yeah. You know, so you're you you want stick with that for now. Yeah.

Go big. I just want to keep going. Yeah. I just want to learn. Yeah. Like I don't that's I just you know even in my personal life that's all I want to do is learn. It's the best. I I read I'm I'm reading three or four books all the time at any given time.

I just want to learn I want to learn about more myself. I want to learn about art. I want to learn about music, culture, everything, other people's life experiences. Yeah. And so obvious and with tattooing like that's what I want to do. Yeah. Even if it it takes a different direction, you know, who knows? I'm open to it.

I'm not one of these guys that's kind of just like a lot of people these days are just rigid and stuck in their style. this is what I do. Come to me for this. And if that works for you, that's great. But that ain't me, man. That's a struggle. That's why we're seeing a lot of people getting part-time jobs and stuff. I want to learn.

I want to learn more. If it takes me in the realism direction, I'll go that direction. Like, I don't Well, and you could meet some new fun clients that, you know, you make those connections with. And they know that you're putting your all into it because And they even know that you're probably not. It's kind of awesome how clients can be so rad sometimes and like they know that this isn't your thing, but they kind of wanna they just want to connect with you. So yeah, once you do like bend a little and give them a little more of what they want and stop getting in your own way, you can build some great tattoos and great relationships. You learn about yourself. You learn about what you're capable of.

That client's [ __ ] happy, dude. like you may be able to like kind of pick your tattoo apart or something, but the [ __ ] dude? That's We're all every tattoo you do, you should be learning something. So, don't be afraid to try some new [ __ ] And like I honestly don't understand when people just And don't get me wrong, I'm not [ __ ] on it, but like when they just do this thing and that's just what they do, you know, and they don't like they don't progress, they don't degress, they don't try anything new. Yeah. That's not how I came up. And that's just not how I'm how wired. Yeah, totally, dude.

I'm just like, man, I want to I want to learn more. I want to do more. I want to I feel like life like is that's kind of one of the only bummer things to me about life is that I can't learn everything. Like I can't be this welder. I can't be this wood fabricator guy. like I want to do all this stuff. But now I'm realizing like, all right, just be in love with what you're doing and just try to be the [ __ ] best at whatever it is that you're doing to evolve and learn. Like you said, learn [ __ ] new every day.

There's that Jerry quote. It takes you go to college for 10, 20 years, become a doctor. It takes a lifetime to be a tattooer. Bro, the first time I heard that, I was just like, yes, this is what I want to do. I I want to be a tattooer because yeah, there's just endless possibilities. That's what that's what the whole appeal is to me. There's just endless amounts of possibility with it. Yeah.

And even with a lot of these new guys doing like different styles, creating styles, like Yeah. Even though that's not even though I I realize that's not my lane to like create a style, dude. Bro, I want to learn that style. Dude, I want to figure out how you're doing that. How are you putting like these huge fields of color, dude? How are you doing like the weird lighting like that, dude? You know, we grew up in a time where it was like three styles to choose from. And then when people started doing chrome and stuff, we're just like, whoa, what?

Boom. You know, black and blue chrome. What the I'm assuming that was all the graffiti dudes and influencing like getting in there like that, you know? Yeah, that's I don't know. That's fun. Well, I love your outlook on everything, man. I love your energy, dude. I'm incredibly blessed to like have you in my life and and you as well.

Yeah. I don't know. Anything you want to say to wrap it up here? You got all these youngsters out here. Maybe some uh I don't know. Like just stay true to yourself, man. Always learn. Always be open.

Always be open to to other people's viewpoints and their lifestyles and be empathetic for others. You know, try you just the best thing in life is learning about other people and their experience. And that's the only way we can understand each other, understand the world, understand art, tattooing. Yeah, just fill in the blank. That's how you understand. You're open. Open to learn. Yeah, we've been pushing this lately.

Not pushing, but this is just one of our new A kind word is never wasted. A and it's like a It's a proverb. Yeah, it's just a simple [ __ ] thing. I love it. So So how do we get a hold of you? Um you can call the shop collective tattoo parlor. I don't even have the phone number memorized. Mainly mainly go to our Instagram.

Dude, my wife is like, "So, like, we're at this convention a few weeks ago and I I I printed out like a portfolio, like a regular portfolio. It's the first time since before the pandemic. " And she's like, "Dude, you don't even have like business cards with like [ __ ] on them or anything. " And I'm like, on the very last page of my portfolio is like a scan that goes to my Instagram. Then you got to go to my Instagram and read all the [ __ ] find my email, then you got to email me and then wait for the response. I'm like, I want like real clients, you know? I want them to do all the work. You know, if they do all the work and get a hold of me, I know that you're down.

You're down. Yeah. But anyways, I I'll still take walk-ins. You walk into my shop, we'll take a walk in. Okay. I just But yeah. When are you in the shop? I'm in the shop Wednesday through Saturday.

Yeah. And then our Instagram, my Instagram is C Gomez Shop. Instagram is Collective Tattoo Parlor. Um, yeah, catch me there. Yeah. Yeah, dude. We got You have such a great crew and um Yeah. And we're in Las Vegas.

You're in Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, well, dude, thank you so much, man. Oh, you're welcome. Pleasure. It's a pleasure.

Really, really pumped. Um, I really appreciate you taking the time, dude. Of course, man. I'm looking forward to working with you. I'm looking forward to seeing what your team does with the records. I know you guys are so talented and I'm already almost done with mine. Yeah. Okay, cool.

I'm going to get on mine tonight then. [ __ ] Yeah, dude. Get to work. Well, thanks for tuning in, guys. We greatly, greatly appreciate all the support. Um the following has been going great. Uh it just means a lot to us and we're just out there just being tattoo nerds trying to share our stories and it's it's pretty fulfilling, dude. Yeah.

Yeah. We'll see you around. Thank you, guys. Have a good one. Heat.