Maverick ZINE — Tattoo Culture, Art & Artist Stories

There's no way of learning faster than getting tattooed. Yeah, there is no way. I mean, you get tattooed by your favorite artist. Like, you really like pick them, you know? Pick the person that you like or you want to tattoo like. Get tattoo in a spot where you can see what they're doing. And now you got a million questions. Tattoo artists are nice now.

They're nice now, right? They're great. They're so nice and inviting. I honestly think that a shop is not really a money maker thing, you know? It's a place you open with your friends to have a safe place for you guys and let you know share the rent. We now we don't have to pay a you know like a place to work out. That that's how I look at tattoo shop. It's not really a business.

[Music] [Applause] [Music] All right. Hey, what's happening? This is Austin Spencer here with Support Your Local Tattoo. We're in fabulous Las Vegas today, man. This is my favorite city in the world and I am super lucky to have Gian Carlay in the house. Uh he's cruising through town. What's happening, man? What's up, buddy?

Yeah. Yeah. So, you're cruising through town. You're working at One Block DJ and uh Brett's shop. I am. I just stopped by uh well, we've actually been working there for like the past 3 weeks. So, I'm on a tour right now. going around the states and uh stop by here Vegas and that's usually the shop I work at when I'm here.

So yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I worked with him uh in I was with him in Inkmaster and you got Emanuel over there, too. Manual is amazing. Oh my god, he's so good. And uh yeah, Brad, you know, everybody over there is just great. You guys, they do a good job of like constantly bringing like some crazy talent. Oh yeah, and right now Bobby uh Bobby's working. I Well, he's the rumor on the streets is he's moving to Las Vegas.

I mean, I think he might be. Dude, the more the better. I think we should all be out here, man. Like, let me tell you, I've I've been going around the states for a long time now. Um, it's been almost 3 years and I've seen almost all the states and Vegas is still probably one of my favorites. Dude, no natural disasters. There's plenty of entertainment and there's plenty of nature around, too, if you want to get out and about. It's beautiful.

Like, you you're constantly seeing mountains. They're awesome. Like snow right now. They're just like snow peaks, you know? And they look amazing. Yeah, they're um dude, Vegas is underrated. It's definitely got a bad rap, I think. Like when you tell people like Vegas, they're like Vegas, I could never live there.

I'm like, dude, dude, people complain about the heat for like two or three months of the year, but like [ __ ] a hurricane. All you know, we're just seeing unfortunately all our friends be affected by this crazy weather across the country. And um it's been crazy, dude. if it I mean it's bad if the AC goes out here but like you just got a couple of homies on the hook. That's the thing. Come by and fix my plan is like my dream would be to park my RV here in Vegas, right? Like pay the yearly um rent to like park the RV and then work here during the winters and then go to New Hampshire where I love, you know. Um and work over there during the summers, you know.

Yeah. or bounce around like we have we we spend a lot of time in Montana so Montana so summertime's up there [ __ ] that's one of the spots I got to go I got to go to Montana dude Montana's like a real um real it's a real big state but there's not a whole lot of population and there's not I mean there's a handful of tattooers that we've we've met with and buddied up with in like um Bosezeman and a handful of tattooers now in like Missoula area that are pretty cool but and some Vegas tattooers just recently moved up there too never gone I think that's one of the spots I got to go. Yeah, I have to go over there, dude. Uh, no, I mean, I got like probably a handful of of places I haven't gone and that's one of them. Um, yeah, it's been great, dude.

Dude, tell me a little more about that. Like, I feel like So, for the last three years you've been traveling and living out of your rig. So, here's the thing. Here's exactly what happened. I'm going to give you the whole story. So um initially uh CO hit and we had bought a house right before CO you know and CO hit the prices went crazy. Yeah. And I was looking at my wife like hey let's sell this house.

Okay. You know I was like let's just sell it. We're never going to get this money that it's they're asking for. So we put it up put a crazy price on it. And you know it sold. week later, we had to move out of this place pretty much like we had like like a month or something like that to like move out and we basically uh moved out. Our plan was to get another house and did it was impossible, you know, at the time during co you couldn't get another house. So, it was just crazy.

And me and my wife were like, "Hey, you know what? We've always wanted to do an RV thing, the RV life. let's just buy an RV, go on the road for a year until things kind of calmed down. And we did that. We just bought the RV, we bought a truck, and we decided to go on the road. And our plans were just to do it for a year. Um, man, after we came back to New Hampshire and a year passed, we're like, "Dude, what are we doing? Just keep doing it.

" And we did it for another year. " Dude, that's And now we're year three and it's awesome, dude. So many people they they they like the idea of it and then they'll get out there and they It's got its challenges in ways, you know, obviously, of course. But, you know, the way we do it, honestly, we've had, you know, knock on wood. Um, no challenges, dude. It's been I mean, not nothing serious. You know, we stay in these nice RV parks. Um, we got a nice RV and did everything, you know, flows well.

Yeah. You got your rig and then you see you guys will just share that and drive drop you off at the shop, do your work. Like right now we're staying in like an RV resort here in Vegas, you know? It's got like pools and and then jacuzzi's and stuff. Not that I would ever go in there, but I've had multiple friends live there for like a year, two plus at a time doing the same type of thing. They I mean it's it's been a really fun thing to do, you know, and um yeah, we're you know, we're at that point we're like, all right, where are we going to buy a house? And we got no clue. Well, dude, right now you're just like putting in reps, like getting out there and checking out all the cities and like getting that authentic like a month in a city is a pretty special thing that you got to get get to do at a time.

Well, we're doing two months here in Vegas, you know what I mean? So, it's like and and I stayed two months in Texas. I stayed almost two months in North Carolina not too long ago. Going to Grain Junction now to work at Ryan Shaw for like two months, too. So, yeah, it it dude it's awesome. And not only that, I get to like really hang out with like my favorite artist. Oh, I know. You know what I mean?

" I was like, "I don't know anybody that works there, but Mike Chambers works there. " Mike Chambers was cool with it. And now I'm going to, you know, his shop and I'm with him for a month. We become friends, you know what I mean? Now we're homies. were hanging out. Yeah. It's like, dude, he's one of my, you know, my idols, you know?

So, it's just cool, dude. I'm like hanging out with Mike Chambers. I'm like, this is the craziest thing ever. I remember it was like 2012 or I was started working a lot of conventions at that time. And I worked that Philly convention. That's the one and only time I worked that show. That was huge. Crazy.

So, I was sitting there doing this cool little chili pepper with a skull in it on this guy. And I you know some you feel that sense of community and I turn around and it was Mike Chambers and he's all that's awesome man and I was like he's such a I was just like a young tattooer. It was real cool. Yeah. Yeah. I I do I love that I get to meet these guys like you know like Nico I went to Nico's shop for two months you know I didn't know Nico but you know I got to work with Nico for for for a long time you know. Dude, good for you for putting yourself out there. Like I I feel like that's such a big thing and uh and a challenge and it's intimidating but you know you've obviously know like you don't put yourself in these positions without learning and growing whether it's a good and um you know it runin or bad you know.

No 100%. It's never bad honestly. It's usually really good and man you know people are tattooers are nice now. They're nice now right? They're great. They're so nice and inviting and people are so good, you know, like when I started tattoo, it wasn't like that at all, you know. It was like you keep your your secrets to yourself. You don't teach anybody.

Um yeah, it was almost like like groups, you know, or like uh I don't know how to call it. No, no. Very clicky. Yeah. And you were like kind of under the reign of your mentor and you kind of had to do whatever they wanted you to do just so you could get through it cuz that was the only gate in, you know, and it was tough. And now I I just I was never really that's one of the things I never liked about tattooing. was how like uh like it's almost like like groups and stuff like that and your group against this group and if somebody was man I I mean my friends would get bothered if somebody else was charging too much you know I mean they would be like this guy's charging way too much what an insult I'd be like what do you mind your business that's I always say just mind your [ __ ] business keep your head down people are going to talk [ __ ] about you no matter what so you might as well just do what you enjoy and be yourself easy yeah and honestly I was one of those guys too I'd be Yeah, that guy's an [ __ ] for charging too much.

Totally an [ __ ] It's easy when Yeah, especially when you're younger tattoo and you're kind of just trying to like find your place and your footings. Oh my god, I was so pissed at everything. My friends were pissed at the time, you know, and I feel like they've changed. I've changed. Uh the group that I'm with now, it's just everybody's so nice, helpful. Everybody's helpful, educating. Dude, tell me a little bit about like where you kind of where were you introduced to tattooing or maybe tattoos in general? Like do you remember having Oh, I mean, honestly, since I was a kid, um, I love tattoo art.

You know, I I always painted and drew and, you know, I would ask my mom to buy me these these tattoo magazines that had like the flash pages, you know, would cut them up and do like collages with them. So, I've always [ __ ] Yeah. I've always liked that. But, you know, I never really got into tattoos until I was like 18. Yeah. like around that time when our friends started kind of kind of I think I think I was not even into it and one of my friends was like, "Hey, I'm making a tattoo convention. I'm doing a tattoo convention. " And I was like, "Yeah, dude.

[ __ ] yeah. I'll go to tattoo convention. " You know? Yeah. " Okay. You know, I'm broke as [ __ ] I That's like $1,000. So, for sure. " Mhm.

with $100 and just, you know, while I'm there. I Okay. That's That's how little of tattoos I I need. I thought you can just get a whole sleeve done in like a couple hours. You know, they're just tracing. Yeah. People still believe that. Yeah.

And I was just like 100 bucks to cover that. And uh I went over there quickly realized that's impossible. Yeah. And I was like, "Fuck that. These guys are just like tracing these little drawings on people. like I can do that. I'm just And they were selling like these tattoo kits at the convention. " I mean, easy, right?

I mean, it's genius. I'll I'll [ __ ] save a bunch of money. I know how to [ __ ] draw, dude. You know, I know how to trace [ __ ] Yeah. " You know, my homie is like super pumped. Oh yeah, everybody got a bunch of [ __ ] shitty tats. He's got like four [ __ ] weed plants on him, dude. " I remember like it was yesterday and I drew this shitty koiish.

I put it on him, you know, with the speed stick and all this [ __ ] And um that came in the kit. No, you learned through the street. I think I learned it from like seeing somebody else do it at a convention or something. So I was like, "Ah, speed stick. That's how you do it. Y So yeah, I put the stencil on this guy, dude. I turn on that machine, dude. I do the first line and man, I just go right out of the stencil, dude.

Like a whole inch right out of the stencil. Then I keep going. I could have stopped. And I had this line this big inch going out of the stencil. " And I just turned it into like another um uh drop shadow or some [ __ ] weird. Turned it into like one of those things. What do you call like flipper? A fin.

Yeah. So it turned into this [ __ ] fin, dude. So you got a koiish with a bunch of extra fins. Yeah. It was the worst tattoo I've dude. It was terrible. And it was still the best tattoo he had. Was he did he did he pick up on the fact that you were [ __ ] with that?

You [ __ ] it up or no? No, bro. " It had like mom's uh inks in it. Remember the mom's little tiny Yeah. Little tiny pouches. They're like ketchup pouches, dude. It was so bad. Dang.

That's a big lesson to learn there right there was like, you know, cuz you later on I'm sure you made mistakes too as they came up and you learned how to like sweat through that without letting the client know. That's terrible. And then I did that and he loved it. " He was like, so he would come every [ __ ] week to get a free tattoo from me. And I was like, "Fuck yeah, dude. I'm tattooing. " You know, and he would give me like 20 bucks or he would give me like a joint and I would be like, "Fuck yeah, dude. Best day ever, dude.

" Yeah, that's stupid, dude. And I just kept tattooing. my friends would come in and then his friends and you know eventually got to a point I'm like dude I'm doing all these [ __ ] tattoos for like 40 bucks a piece or something and you know it just turned into one of those things I was making more money than working in the tobacco shop that I was working at the time you know so that's fun I made my money that way you kind of like then fell in love with it and started kind of pursuing I fell in love with it I I was doing it for fun you know what I mean I thought it was like this this hobby hobby thing I was doing on the side. But then I just like really got into it, you know, and that's really how I got into tattooing. I didn't even have a tattoo at the time.

It So I didn't even get tattooed for like a year after I started tattooing cuz as soon as I did my first one, I was like, "This is terrifying. I'm not doing my [ __ ] sleep. " It is [ __ ] scary. Never going to happen. Yeah, dude. Like I never tattooed myself. I just I was like, "Fuck that, dude. " Was that in Puerto Rico or or here in the States?

Oh, this was in Puerto Rico. Okay. Okay. So, I couldn't remember when you I know you grew up in Puerto Rico and then you moved here. No, I grew up in Puerto Rico. So, this is all in Puerto Rico. Yeah. Not a lot of people tattooed at the time.

Puerto Rico. It's impossible. There's no Google images. Yeah. There's no YouTube. Like I remember like my number one question was how does the needle go? Does it go like you know solder down solder up? Nobody knew.

It wasn't like just twisting it around and trying it. What the [ __ ] So that's why I use my solder up, you know, like the the needles on Oh, sorry. Solders going down. Yeah. Like backwards to what usually people would do. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like hammering down in the tube.

Very weird. But that's how for me it made more sense. It's still to this day it makes more sense to me that way if and you know I I show it in my seminar. Actually I explain why it makes sense to me. Okay. But um yeah, dude, it was one of those things like I I just no information, nothing. There was just all playing around with stuff. And you know, doing that for like a year, maybe a year and a half.

And then one of the So at the time, I had this bar next to my house that I I was rent this shitty ass house. And there's this bar. I had tattooed the owner of that bar, okay? And the owner of this bar calls me at 1:00 in the morning and I'm literally sleeping in my house like in bed, you know, on my underwear in bed. And he calls me at 1 in the morning. " Calls me. He's like, "Hey, man. There's some guys here um from the show um I can't remember.

" Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. He thought they were from that show. They weren't. They were just they're just random um you know these these uh random tattoo artists that had come to Puerto Rico for uh for a good time. You know what random is the guy you know I I ended up knowing these guys very well but point is these guys went over there. I had never met a tattooer at the time.

I've been tattooing for a year. Shitty t never met a tattoo artist, you know. And I was like [ __ ] I'm going over there with my portfolio. So I [ __ ] got in my bicycle because I didn't even have a car. So you knew enough to be you were taking pictures and like I was taking pictures of my [ __ ] a body of work. I had a I had a business card. Okay. You were hustling.

All right. That's how I was working with it. I was like, "Oh, these [ __ ] these guys from from like this show or whatever. I'm going to show them my portfolio. " And I [ __ ] go over there to this bar at two in the morning, my bicycle with my portfolio, dude. And I meet these Mexican dudes and I'm like showing them my stuff and they're like, "Yeah, that's cool. " They're like, "Hey, man. We got a convention coming up.

" And [ __ ] like that, bro. " So, I just uh I did that, dude. I [ __ ] flew with them to California for convention. Never been out of Fer Rico. Okay. I [ __ ] flew out of there. And dude, it was awesome, dude. And you just stayed with these dudes.

them out and then I stayed with them for years and then they they basically taught me, you know, they taught me how to tattoo and it was great. These I mean it was Angel Vanova which which is still a tattoo artist right now. Just old school. He's not really in the limelight or anything like that, but doing his thing. He's an amazing artist and he showed me so much. Like he really took me under his wing and he was like, "No, this is this is how you How [ __ ] cool is that, dude? So cool. if you wouldn't have got your ass out of bed and went down there that night.

You know, if I wouldn't have done that, my life would have been totally different. But that's why I'm always telling my friends like sometimes you just got to [ __ ] take the opportunity, man. Yeah, bro. You can't be sleeping at [ __ ] No, bro. Get in your [ __ ] bicycle. You don't got a car, get in your bicycle. I got a shitty bicycle. I found trash.

That's what I had. Trash bike, dude. Yeah. No way. So then you you went like So how long did you stay in the States for? You bounced back. So, I started going with them to California. I think I'd lived with Angel like sleeping in the floor with him for I don't know like six months.

That's great, dude. Fields of California and like you're like 22 or something. So, I was in California. Yeah, I was like 20, 21, you know. I was around the same time I was learning. Yeah, it was awesome, dude. I mean, I was I thought I was in, you know, I was in Hollywood, you know. I was like, dude, the movies are filmed here, dude.

Dang. Was your mom wondering where you're at? Well, I was in Quinshaw. I don't know if you know what Quinshaw is. It ain't Hollywood. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But man, the palm trees and the fields of the sun and everything and you know, you were just like in this new bright place. Awesome. And people like, "No, dude. " I'm like, "This can't be the hood. " Like, how bad can it be? Oh, yeah. This is Crshaw.

Damn. So, [ __ ] Where'd you go after that? like um I went back to Puerto Rico and I just kept working with them, you know, going to conventions and working in Puerto Rico in the meanwhile, you know, while we waited for the conventions. Yeah. Was were there no like tattoo shops around you in your neighborhood or anything? Were. But I didn't have tattoos at the time. This is all when I started, right?

And I was like 2 years without tattoos. So it was a big no no to start tattooing with no tattoos. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was huge. So I would I remember I would go to these shops and they would be like, "Bro, you got no tattoos? " Yeah. I had the same scenario, too.

I I And I would hate it. " Honestly, like I didn't get it at the time. I was like, "This is crazy. This is, you know, this is uh they're they're profiling me over here. " And now I totally get it. Like come on. Like you got to experience it from both sides. I'm a firm believer in But I mean if you're [ __ ] in love with it, like jump, dude.

This is your career. You're you're going to love this. How can you tell somebody how to heal a tattoo without never healing it yourself? You know, listen, you can 100% can't. I got friends and and um I'm thinking about one right now and very good friend, very nice person, doesn't have tattoos, amazing artist. So, is it possible? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, for sure.

That's just like my personal like approach. I just like to dive in and figure things out from other people's perspectives and stuff, too. And so, you learn a lot from that. But I I get it now. It It's important. You don't have to have the visible the visible tats or whatever. Just get one tattoo at least, you know, like feel it, see how it goes. Tell you're telling people how how to heal tattoos.

So, yeah. I got one of my youngest most talented, he's super young, talented tattooer. He's got one tattoo on his leg and he's getting it removed. " He's supposedly gonna get his whole [ __ ] done or whatever. But yeah. Well, I mean, that's cool, dude. But it is interesting and I do like to ask him about it. Like, how just how come?

Like, it doesn't make sense to me, you know? It's Listen, I I didn't get it at the time, so I get it. But that's cool. It's tattoos. And also, you know what? The There's no way of learning faster than getting tattooed. Yeah, there is no way. I mean, you get tattooed by your favorite artist.

like you really like pick them, you know, pick the person that you like or you want to tattoo like, you know, that's like your the person you would love to tattoo like. Get tattooed by them and get tattoo in a spot where you can see what they're doing and now you got a million questions million questions. They're not going to bother. They're not going to get bothered cuz you're paying for the tattoo. " And they always seem to have a lot. It's just building that relationship with them is so important, too, you know, and you can always have a reason to reach back out to them. You know, they'll most likely answer your DMs because they might you want to get another tattoo cell phone and like you can hang out and dude I've learned so much like for me it was Timmy B.

Yeah, at the time Timmy B was my favorite artist of all time. Not that he's not right now. I love his stuff but at the time I wanted to be a new school artist and Timmy B was the [ __ ] you know? I remember. " And I did this whole sleeve out of him from Timmy Bee's book. I literally just coped everything. I traced it and I [ __ ] put it on his arm. Yeah.

And I I'm I'm at this convention one day and I'm in line to do a stencil. [ __ ] Timmy Be's right in front of me, right? " And I'm like I'm like Timmy. He flips around. I'm like a I'm like dude I'm your number one fan. I did that book you had. I did all of them. I've d he was like you know what dude that's not what it was for but he was like that's not what pleasant dude.

He was like that's not what it was for but that's cool actually that you got to use for I was like all right cool dude. I was like hey man like if you got any appointments open like let me know. " No [ __ ] [ __ ] Dang. How old are you? I don't know why if if you don't mind me asking. I'm 39. Oh, okay. Okay.

Yeah. No, it's 38. Sorry. I'm turning 39 in a couple months. Yeah. So, okay. Yeah. So, you've been tattooing for a while, though.

It's been for a while. " Like, dude, it was 700 bucks at the time. Okay. He was hooking me up and dude, 700 bucks was like $7,000. Yeah, you're about to get best of show for the day or whatever. I was broke, bro. But I grabbed the last penny I had and I paid for that tattoo. And yeah, he got best of show with it.

He always does. " Yeah, dude. And if he's on the roster, I'm not in. I learned so much from that tattoo cuz it was in my form was this one. Okay. And I learned still looks fantastic, too. Yeah, it looks okay. Now, I got to get get it a little touchup, but you know, it was just amazing.

really I really learned so much from Timmy B and I I asked him a couple questions but I didn't ask a lot. I was just looking the whole time and I still to this day tattoo with this with kind of like I don't know stuff that I learned from that tattoo, you know, like tricks and and yeah, I did like a deep dive on your Instagram and was kind of digging like your older stuff and then seeing where you're at right now is like, dude, you're like in the last like five years was like like you you're just learning so much and applying it and it's so great. Traveling, dude. And you've been putting in work. I've been traveling so much and the this artist that I work with, they're so good, dude. Yeah. Like they're so much better than I am. And I love that.

I love that I'm I'm like the weak link. Out of every shop I go, I feel like, oh man, I'm definitely not like drives you and pushes you to stay up later that night and work on your illustrations and stuff and not let your homies down. No. Yeah, dude. And I see them working hard, you know, like DJ DJ works hard. Brett works hard. " Yeah, you're an ink master judge. That's why you got all these clients and that's why you got all these people coming after you cuz you're in TV, but that's not Yeah, you were busy before you went on there and successful in your own right, you know.

So yes, um these people like Ryan Ashley, um DJ, uh Nicole, dude, these these these guys are not shitty artists. These are amazing artists. They're they're great at what they do and they're working hard. Dude, you go to Ryan's shop to work over there, you think Ryan's like living out in Master Money like, "Oh, I'm Ryan Ashley. " No, bro. She's [ __ ] working and she's late there with me working like three, four days a week. Crazy. like a lot of hours, 12 hours, stuff like that.

And they dude, they never stop. DJ never [ __ ] stops. No, I know. " I mean, stretch that back, though. Yeah. Longevity, dude. Yeah. You know, you have to, but you know, at the same time, you you you gotta [ __ ] you gotta if you want to grow in this thing, you gota you gota [ __ ] dude these days like the the level of artistry that's involved is on some seriously like that's kind of like to be completely honest with you why I felt like I was like I need to diversify myself in this industry because I'm like I I was owning I owning running a shop and I was having so much time taking away from my tattooing but at the same I don't know I just felt like damn these people are like I remember when my mentor looked at me and he was like sour towards me uh because I was like kick coming up on his skill set like pretty quickly you know and then but now I don't have that negative outlook on it I just like I admire it and love it and I love to be surrounded by the younger kids and like and older guys that are still in love with learning you know I think that's such an incredible I I love that too that's the people I surround myself now with you know everybody's good everybody is great the bad you know the the more I in the industry.

The longer I'm in this industry, the the more amazing artists I meet, you know, and the young kids are are so good. Like so good. You know, we did the uh you did the the Eden Symposium thing. U you were you there? I No, I didn't get to go yet. I really would like to. Dude, it was it's a blur cuz there were so many people there, dude. Like they do a really good job.

Yeah, there was like 160 people there. That's crazy. You know what I mean? Like doing a seminar in front of 160 people is crazy. Yeah, dude. I mean, we just did one in front of like 25 people and actually wasn't nervous for some reason, but Oh, it's nerve-wracking every time. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So, you're doing more of that now. Like, I think I I like to I really enjoy this like sub culture of like people that are coming together to help each other out and teach even though, you know, there's kind of been negative stigmatism, which I've never supported any, but uh that's cool that you're doing that. So, like I don't know h how did did you always just kind of feel like you enjoyed it? I always wanted to do it. You seem like you're a great sharer and and just a kind human, you know? " Like, I'm not doing anything evil. I'm trying to actually do something kind.

I don't give a [ __ ] And I don't surround, like I said, I don't surround myself with no none of these this hate. I don't even hear about it. Yeah. Now I don't even hear about. Everyone's just like, "This is great. " For sure. If there's people out there that don't like it, oh, I don't even hear it. It's not hasn't even gotten in my ears.

Well, you shouldn't never let it get in yours, you know, like especially if your intentions are good, you know, and this isn't like weird cash grab type [ __ ] You're just out there genuinely to give somebody a full I remember like before we did our seminar the other day, I was like up all like at night like stressed about it. Like I want only because I wanted to give as much value as possible and I didn't want them to leave and be like my [ __ ] [ __ ] No, I I Exactly. You want to like teach him, give him something, you know? To be honest, that wasn't me my first time doing it. When I get up, I got up there. " And yeah, when I saw and I did a, you know, my my seminar was okay. I just didn't have this PowerPoint presentation or anything. So, I was just like talking, answering questions, showing them stuff.

And then Mike Chambers gets up there and [ __ ] you know, John Nelson and they give these amazing presentations. Oh, good. You know, with like PowerPoints and all this stuff. I was like, dude, my [ __ ] sucks. That's right. You know, you learn from that and move forward and you know, this new one we're doing at at the Eden shop, I got this whole presentation in Dallas, Texas, right? This is in Dallas. Yeah.

And I got this whole presentation going and this this uh PowerPoint, you know. So, what are you focusing on on these in this seminar? I think I'm I'm mostly focusing on the drawing aspect of how to draw neotraditional, you know, a little bit of the tattooing, but I feel like a lot of people focus on showing you how they tattoo, but that's just one of those things you you're going to figure it out for sure. You know, asking in layout and like application, like how it fits your body and stuff. " Yeah, it looks crispy. You know, start putting the shading up against that line. It It's a lot to do with the the way you designed the tattoo. So when that the final product, it looks like you did all these this hard work on it, you know, which you did, but it looks like it was harder than it actually was for you, you know.

So that it's a lot of smoke and mirrors, man. There's certain lines, certain s maybe I don't do a full circle. I'll do half of it like certain little things that just make your tattoo better. And now I don't even focus on my outlines that much, you know? It's not like it's going to break or, you know, make the tattoo, you know, if I do perfect outline and it's still shaded like [ __ ] It's like who cares, you know? Like, yeah, it's a it's it's more than just the application. I always tell people that now cuz I'm like, man, application is secondary to that to that design you got. I would say for sure, you know, as long as you don't [ __ ] it up.

Size comparison and flow and everything. Yeah, you guys like I say you guys just like these guys that I've been looking at lately so much just the layout is so nice. It's like everything that I was doing in the beginning of my career was like three subject matters stuffed into this, you know, and now it's like just the layout is so nice and and it just makes like you said makes the tattoo work so much better in the long run just with the size comparison to things and it's easier to tattoo. Yeah. I feel like I'm relearning like so much lately. People come and they leave with like, bro, most 99% of all my clients, they just want the sleeve, you know? They want to be sleeved up. They want to be fully tatted, you know, big tattoos.

And when they come in and they leave in one day with like half their arm tattooed, dude, they feel good. They feel so good. They You can tell, you know what I mean? " Yeah. What What kind of stuff are you working on right now, not subject matter- wise? Like do you feel like you're doing more sleeves or you like are you getting into back type stuff and torso or I'm doing Yeah, I'm doing I got a couple back pieces mostly sleeves like panels, you know, like people will ask me like to do the outside of their sleeve and then I'll do the inside, you know. So, I've been working that. That's interesting.

That's I've been watching a lot of guys do that. I've been messing around with that a lot. And you obviously lay it all out kind of roughly in your head first. Yeah, I kind of lay it all out, you know. I try to do the panels. For me, the panel is easier cuz in my opinion, you know, I want when somebody's just doing nothing and he's just hanging out and just your normal, you know, for somebody to be able to see the whole Yeah. Just kind of old school American traditional be able to see the whole thing from across the room. Yeah.

Right now, I'm sitting here. You can see the whole tattoo. That's super cool. I like that when you see it and it looks cool. I and and then my seams, you know, it would be kind of in here where I got to put my whatever it is, you know, I'll put a torch in there, I'll put a couple butterflies, whatever they want in there, but that's where I'll put my secondary image. It's in the inside, which is the way I think about it. You getting like a good kind of diversified uh suggestions from your clients, you know, on like subjects and stuff, or you Well, I mean, when it comes to like that stuff, my wife does all the bookings. She does all the bookings.

People contact me through my website. Yeah. And in there they'll put like they fill up this questionnaire thing. They put all the stuff they want. " Gian kind of likes doing this kind of stuff. Yeah. You know, so she helps them. You have a little bit of a nurturer and like a buffer to help.

Yeah. She's like the one that helps them create the email that I'm going to get. You know what I mean? That's kind of like the way they look at it. It's like, "Hey, I like she's like, I'm here to help you out. you know, let's do something. " Yeah. Yeah.

He'll kind of like kind of put in her ear like, "Hey, I'm I'm burned out on doing this or I mean, I don't think I even have to tell her anything. She already knows exactly what I do. I love doing there's certain things I can do every day of my life, you know, and she, you know, skulls, you know, flowers, stuff like that. Can do them all day, every day. So, my wife knows that stuff. So, she knows me. she knows what to put in there or if she's got a weird request, she'll be like, "Hey, this person wants this weird thing. " I'll be like, you know, maybe we'll brainstorm together.

There's I very rar I probably said no to one person in the past like I don't know 10 12 years. You know what I mean? Like I never say no to any tattoo. We always figure out something that's cool or cooler that one they ask for. Yeah. You know, we always just brainstorm it, you know? Have you found kind of like a formula with your traveling that you um maybe have regions that you hit or you like do you feel that you get like a why am I getting so many people from North Carolina like I'm going to line that up or Yeah. as a trip or there's certain states that I get more clients than others, you know, like Vegas it's a hit or miss.

It depends on what time of the year I come in, you know? And and sometimes I get a lot of clients. Sometimes it's it's harder for me to cover like the month or two, you know? I mean, I always book it, but it's just like you see it slower sometimes. Chicago, it's crazy. Like I go to Chicago, it's immediate. I book them all in one day, the whole month. It's crazy.

I just It's hard for me to live in Chicago. You know what I mean? It's uh I do love Chicago. Yeah, man. There's so much fun stuff. I really do love the city. Second to none. The city is great.

Just I'm not a city boy kind of guy. So, how'd you end up landing in that New Hampshire or uh New Hampshire New Hampshire area? So, the the mentor that I that I was working with, he had a house in California and in New Hampshire and he would fly back and forth and that's how I started going New Hampshire and Boston area. Yeah. You know, I only worked at Boston convention once. It was like a 4-day convention. What was that? Yeah, it's I I haven't gone in a couple years.

I used to go, but yeah, you know, I don't a lot. Yeah, I mean, you know, like I don't know. I was partying at the time, too. I used to Yeah, it was just a lot. Yeah, I I used to go. I got some friends that go, some some that don't. I uh But yeah, I love I love Boston. Boston is nice.

And when we first moved there, um, or not moved there, but when we were working there with with, uh, Angel and the the guys that I used to work with, did like it had been legal. Tattooing had been legal for like, you know, so it was like recently legal. So it was like three or four years before I started. Like it was illegal. You couldn't tattoo there. So that mentor, you ended up going up there and working with them and that was it. And worked with them for years and then just did my own thing. Eventually, I just had to do my own thing.

But yeah, they they were definitely very supportive, but definitely not into teaching or anything like that. Like, they were respectful of it. That's what I was they were respectful towards me. " So, but yeah, he was he was he's always a very nice guy. Still to this day, very nice guy with me and that that's cool. Did you end up opening up your own shop for some reason? I thought you said I thought I heard that you were going to. We were going to open one up in in Massachusetts actually, but man, it's uh it's tough.

It's tough to open shops up. Uh so much being home, you know, the nice places, they don't want a tattoo shop in there. And if and if they notice that you do well and whatever, dude, the prices are crazy. You know what I mean? So, I mean, I had a couple places where we're like going to rent a place and at the end it would just bump the rent up and be like, "What the Yeah. Yeah. " So, I had a couple places where we had to like, you know, let go because of that. So, is that kind of like a long-term play that you might want to go back to or are you seeing diversifying and doing some other things?

You know, opening shops these days is weird. I think, you know, I did. It's like I always wanted one and I uh I did God knows I've been this these past three years I've been buying [ __ ] for my future tattoo shop. Every time I go to antique shop I'm like you need that that's going to look great on my tattoo shop and I just got so much [ __ ] for tattoo. I got paintings. I got a whole warehouse like Yeah, I was going to say you ship all that to like a a pot or something. Yeah, I got we got like this storage a huge storage place in in New Hampshire. Oh, okay.

It's got pretty much a whole house in there, plus a tattoo shop in there. Well, maybe like the Oh, you know, working on the seminars and getting better and better at those, it sounds like you're putting a lot of time and energy into them to bring as much value as possible. Maybe that'll open up a whole new road to where like um I'm feeling like right now I'm seeing like a just kind of like a staticness where tattooers almost like I don't know if that's the same path. Like we've all been taking the same path like learn how to tattoo, get some friends, open up a shop, you know? No. And now there's like a million shops everywhere. So I'm like, I don't know if that's necessarily the path anymore. Like I watch some of my buddies still do it.

I'm like, I don't know, man. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, I can open a shop, but I honestly, you know, I honestly think that a shop is not really a money maker thing, you know? It's a place you open with your friends to have a safe place for you guys to share the rent and share the rent. We now we don't have to pay a, you know, like a place to work out. that that's how I look at tattoo shops, you know what I mean? So, I don't look it's not really a business. It's not really uh like, oh, I'm going to have this.

You're not going to retire off of it or anything. I don't look at it that way. So, that's why I'm like, I want to make money. I just kind of wonder like where we're all going to go or what we're going to get into, you know, and I don't know. I let my other friends worry about having, you know, the tattoo shop and stuff. I just work at them and, you know, but I I don't know. I might open one. I got got, you know, I got all the stuff to do it, you know.

got it all. I'm sure it'll be beautiful. Yeah, it should be beautiful. That's so much [ __ ] Yeah, I do. I do. I love it. I love all that stuff, but at this point of my career, I'm just trying to save money, trying to retire in a good way, you know, or figure out a way to be able to retire, you know? I mean, I'm always preaching that, too, is like you don't have to invest in a tattoo shop.

You can buy a rental house here or buy this or, you know, save up and buy a building and then you can do run other some businesses out of it. And then if that doesn't work out or you sell that business, you could still rent out the the building to somebody else. And that that's how I'm looking at it right now. So I'm like, man, really I I'm at a point in my career where I'm like, I definitely I don't want to tattoo forever. I do love tattooing and it's not like, oh, you know, I mean, but I don't want to be that guy that's like, I'm tattooing today. It's basically pretty taxing on the body, dude. Like a lot of people kind of don't I don't know. Maybe don't talk about it too much, but it's it's [ __ ] hard, dude.

And like I'm like trying to do everything I can right now to fix 20 plus years of tattooing with my back and like in your eyes. Like dude, I'll tell you it's fixable cuz my back got fixed. So yeah, I Yoga is like my savior. I don't I don't do anything of that, you know? I got I do nothing, you know. Dude, I was a little bit I hate it, dude. Oh yeah, dude. I [ __ ] hate tiger bombs.

Put a tiger bomb on this [ __ ] I'm like, this is terrible. But it does help. That's hilarious. Yeah, but my back is so much better now. Um, and it's just cuz I got a good lamp. I'm conscious about it while I'm tattooing like the height of the bed. It's like all these little stupid things. And dude, my back's way better.

So, all of my mentors and everybody, they all just ignored all that [ __ ] There was nobody talking about longevity and tattooing and health or anything. Just like smoke I I was literally told to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee and do be a tattooer. That's it. And carry a gun if you're [ __ ] scared. Like well I mean every year I smoke one of those cigarettes. Now I quit cigarettes. Thank god. I don't even know how long it's been but it's been I I want to say like six years now.

Like six, seven years. Yeah. I don't even count them. But yeah. So your back's not [ __ ] with you because you focused on lighting and lighting was a big one. So like most places So meaning you're like not having to like hunch over and get as close and those little lights going to the side like that. No, that's that was ruined my back. " You know, you just But you're constantly like this tattooing, twisting your your sides.

And if you notice most tattooers, you go that this is where it hurts. You know, it's the sides like right right there. And it it's cuz you're like twisting your body this and this way for hours. Yeah. Now I got a lamp and this whole contraction thing that I travel with and uh it's right on top of me straight down and it's helped me so much, you know, massage bed. A good massage bed. I always tattoo with them flat on a t on a massage bed. Never like tattooing like this.

Yeah. I just spent way too many years like hunched over. I was I just kept kept [ __ ] growing. Even I swear even in my early 20s, I just kept growing. Dude. And uh I just was always looking at that. Me too. I was so close to it trying to get these outlines perfect.

That was my major thing. Just try to get this outline perfect and and it would be so stressful. " You know, I wipe it and I just keep going, you know, and then Is that part of your process, too? You come back at the very end and tighten up line work at the end. [ __ ] Yeah. If I have to, but I usually don't even have to cuz man, it's all in the confidence you got. It's like as soon as you start like like like like uh like being a little bit nervous like it just immediately shows through your to your through your lines. You know what I mean?

As soon as you just go like the Zoro like you know that thing is looking perfect. Your clients are always like double. Yeah, dude. I'm [ __ ] flying through this tat cuz I want the I want that flow, that confidence to project into my tattoo, you know, even if the outline's not perfect, which will never be perfect, you know. Even if it looks perfect at first, that's you you might get the the width of the line perfect, but the depth of the line, it's always going to be thick, a little bit deeper here, a little bit deeper there. So, especially if you're taking too long, you know, if you're going too lineing some big [ __ ] man. You're pulling some long ones. Going pulling long ones fast, quick and it just makes me go so much smoother and the the the lines just heal way better, you know?

So, I always got I somehow developed like a I always tapered in my lines and then tapered them out and never fully connected them and I would just come back in with my shading and then just kind of sculpt everything out and it kind of connected and then if I needed to like little dets at the end, whatever. It's the little tricks, you know, it's the little things that whatever makes, you know, worse for you. I remember. Yeah. Any tattooers that were standing around me, they're like, "What? " I'm like, "I don't know. I just first of all is like efficiency. I can just jam through this and get Yeah.

" And I'm all about that at this point. I wanted to, you know, give him as much I can uh and a good tattoo. And I feel like if I take too long on the tattoo, it just for me, it doesn't come out right. You know, I start, you know, it's not like when you're doing this like realism and stuff. You got to take your time with that. I I totally get it. It's just two different styles. Yeah.

Yeah. I never got personally. Yeah. My style is neotraditional. You want it to look tough. You're getting a handful of clients that are doing back to back. Uh yes. It's like crazy to me these days.

I'm doing now. It's so crazy. I watched people get tattooed for three days in a row at a show. " Like clients never could do that before. I couldn't do that before. Yeah. I got So every time I would back in the day, I would grab a two-day tattoo and be like, "You know what? [ __ ] it.

" Yeah. " They I would have to cancel the next day. Like, it it was just I was [ __ ] them up and I wasn't There's a trick to it. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you Oh, no. Definitely. I'm all about like it's just doing them, you know? You got to start doing them and not be afraid of it and touching certain areas and not touching certain areas, right?

I mean, I think it comes with experience for sure. Like it's one of those things that you're not going to like do a black fade, do like a whatever color and then come back and get in the middle of that. You can't [ __ ] with that. So you're like got to plan this thing. How you going to stop day one to continue day two? Yeah. Without really [ __ ] other things up. I've done it a hund different ways since I've been doing it, you know?

Like I've done all the outline and all the blacks and then the next day I do all the color and that's and that's a tough one, right? That's sketchy cuz you know I would say seven out of 10 can take it but those three out of 10 that can't take it and now I'm charging them a lot of money. They're flying in and I can't tattoo the next day. Bummer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's not cool with me.

You know what I mean? So that's cool. Yeah. Developing an art form for that [ __ ] And like now Yeah. Now I'm tattooing like a printer like you know how these guys do like realism but I'm doing it with new traditional traditional which is [ __ ] art. Okay. you know, because I gotta outline everything halfway, then blacks, then color and then realign your stencil and everything. Line up the stencil the next day or like what I've been doing is just getting better at not [ __ ] with the stencil and letting it last till the next day, which is a [ __ ] art form in itself.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. It's a whole It's a whole thing. It's a whole these little tricks and and ways to keep the stencil, which I've learned from people like Deanna, you know, like she does these uh you know, from Texas. She does Eden. Yeah, she does like three, four day tattoos, you know. So wild.

Amazing. And some of them are not using topicals either. No, we're not. They're just jumping in there and like I use Bactine, dude. That's it, dude. And let me tell you, all of them can take it. I don't think I've had one person. Do you remember like your mentors like mine told me that's not possible?

Mine just told me so many things were not possible. It's already healing the next day. You get infected. you I mean yes um and he's right you it is healing the next day and you could get it infected. So there is a a way of doing it. It's just you got to be very careful. You got to you know not touch the other stuff back or at least that's the way I do it. I got friends that do all the outlines and like get that client in the in that mindset, you know, cuz that's a that's an art form, too, dude.

Like convincing like, dude, you can get this. Like, dude, you know how many times they con they try to convince me to stop? I bet. Yeah. Yeah. I'll pay you right now. Just stop, bro. Like, hey, no problem, bro.

It's fine. I Dude, it's not a big deal. I'll just come back and finish it next time. Yeah. You're like, get your ass in the jar. We're [ __ ] doing Yeah, dude. Yeah. Yeah.

I had them I get them all the time. " Nah, you're not doing it. Yeah. And that's it. And they just sit there for You got to coach them through it. You got to be tough with them, which I'm not that great at, you know? I'm such a [ __ ] with I'm such a pushover. You're a nice guy.

I feel bad. Yeah. But now the the more I do them, the more I'm like, "Dude, you know what? I had a guy that was struggling way more than you are last week. He did it. I know you can do it. You know what I mean? " Are you a talker through your tattoos?

Do you you connect with your clients a lot more or I used to and recently I've learned that I think that that they don't get into that zone that I need them to be to last six hours for a tattoo and then do it again the next day. So you'll get them kind of headphoned up or whatever movie. So recently what I've been doing is we put a podcast on. So people are talking, we're both listening to it whatever they want to listen to podcast wise, you know, if they feel like they want to comment and then they can. Yeah, we can comment and talk about what's what we're listening to, but let's not talk about Ink Master for six hours cuz it's just like it's not I can't get into it, you know? So yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That's what you don't headphone or anything. I do headphones sometimes. Like if they got music in the shop that I go and I you know I don't like it or whatever some Yeah, I'll put some headphones. What kind of music do you like to vibe to when you're tattooing? Dude, I suck. I I suck with music. It's terrible for me. I get so bored of it.

It's crazy. I like to listen to podcast. No [ __ ] I like to listen to people talk whatever it is, dude. I'll talk to to I'll listen to two chicks going on about boyfriends for hours. No problem. I just want to hear uh talking. Plus, I feel like it's better for my client, you know? I put some certain songs, they get bored of it.

I can see it. Yeah. Well, and if they're not vibing with it, it takes two people to be in the same space. So, that that's cool. That Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I like that. Well, [ __ ] man. What else you got going on?

You going to So, you're going to keep traveling? You're going to be here in Vegas for a little bit? Keep traveling. Going to be here in Vegas. Um, I got like four flights while I'm here. So, I got to go to Texas, then I go to Florida, then I go to Chicago, and I can't even remember the last one, but you got to check your schedule. Yeah, I've been flying everywhere. And yeah, I'm going to be here.

It's It's been great. I got this the seminar coming up that I'm doing in Eden. And my actually my new seminar, we we filmed a whole online seminar course kind of thing. Dude, this I went all out with this thing. Like I I I looked for a producer. We looked for a like a team, like a video team. We rented a studio, like a movie studio. No [ __ ] dude.

It was sick. It was like the best. We had this whole production. We filmed this whole course on tattooing. It's It's so cool. Where do you find that? Well, it's coming out in in summer. This summer is coming up.

So, it still hasn't come out, but I'm really excited. I mean, they're editing it right now and they're almost done with it and something you'll be able to find through your website and yeah, you're going to be able to find it through the website and, you know, online and we're going to have a couple clips in YouTube and a couple stuff like that, but yeah, we got I I think it looks really cool. We got Sounds like it. It's there's not too many people putting that much time and energy into. No, we went all out. " You know, studio pieces all this [ __ ] in together, right? No problem. And so, dude, we did that for a whole day.

" I was like, it was the shittiest thing. " So, we're like, "We need a producer. " And we just rented those guys out and or we hired them. And um they filmed it and it looks amazing. We should have done it that way. the first time. That's right, man. Live and learn.

You kind of you don't know until you [ __ ] try. So, no, we did it well and it was it's awesome, Bill. I mean, I'm really excited about it. So, that's that's I'm excited. So, this summer that that'll be coming out and then we'll be able to like reach out to you social media. I'm sure you'll be promoting it and it's going to be an online course so people can just go online. They can sign up and all the videos are going to be there organized and all this stuff and we'll keep adding to that stuff. So, okay.

It's it's been cool, dude. I think that's cool for you, man. I think that's like a good healthy space, especially if you enjoy it and you enjoy sharing and you're very likable, dude. Oh, yeah, dude. I I've been fooling around with talented, too. It's fun to like you got a good combination and uh I would love to see you keep doing that and like work with you on that someday, too. No, I I'm excited, dude. Like, things are looking up.

Uh I'm I'm having the time of my life. Sounds like you got a great support like your wife and you guys have a great healthy relationship. That's awesome. My wife's the best. She's She does. She does everything, you know. I do tattoos. That's it.

I do the art. She does all the planning, all the stuff, you know, like she, you know, she was the one talking to you guys when to to get all this, you know, lined up, you know. So, dude, the right partner in crime, dude, is like the most healthy thing that you can do. Oh my god. " But I'm like, "Dude, you don't have it doesn't have to be a wife. It could be your best friend. It could be a person you don't know that you hired, but you you can't do this yourself. Not everything.

You can't do it by yourself. You got to you got to be a specialist in social media. You got to do websites. You got to like you got to do so many different things. And if it's just you doing it, then I'm telling you right now, it something's you're going to like lack on burn out, man. Yeah. Or you're going to burn out. Yeah.

and just not like follow through appropriately on all these different aspects of things like no website and merch and stuff. com um and yeah I got all stuff like there we got got merch and stuff. I I slacking on merch. I got to do more. We should do some collabs or something like you know we still have we did that collab with your sticker and we've been uh getting more into screen printing and have screen printers to help. I'm telling you, like Maverick is one of those companies that, you know, I stick with companies that I like. You know, I've I've been sponsored in the past by companies that don't even know that they're sponsoring me. You know what I mean?

Like I've I've been sponsored by two different two different um um how do you call this? Like tattoo bandages, you know, like those transparent bandages. Yeah. Yeah. Arms or armor, whatever they are. But I've been sponsored by two of them at the same time. They don't even know they're sponsoring me, you know? Like, it's crazy.

Like, they're not really into it. " Yeah. You know what I mean? So, you know, that's why I stick with World Famous, for example. You know, World Famous, I've been with them for the past I don't know how long, but at least 10 years I've been with World Famous. It's my favorite inks. Yeah. My favorite inks, not just because they sponsor me.

They were my favorite inks. And then I I I hit them up for a sponsorship. You know what I mean? Like that's the stuff I used. And they were the nicest people ever, dude. They always hook me up. They're always sending me like uh free stuff and stuff to try out. and they were just so nice.

Always so nice. Recently got sold. Okay. So, now they got a new ownership. Uh there's a lot of people nervous about it. I've talked to the new owners a little bit recently and they seem really nice as well. So, they seem cool. They seem like they're going to keep up like the same things.

I don't know. Hopefully. Um but yeah, I I like sticking with companies like that, you know. Um you guys are the same way, you know. We appreciate it, man. always to me it's not worth doing it if you're not going to do it authentically and just basically just this whole thing started just for me reaching out to my friends you know and then I was fortunate enough to their friends introduce me and vice versa and well I feel like I I I don't know it's almost like I'm gambling on you a little bit you know what I mean because I feel like yeah there's other companies that contact me they're big and stuff and they're like more [ __ ] they're like I got needles too I got all this [ __ ] I'm like it's cool. I got my my guys cuz I I trust that you guys are going to eventually be I'm telling you like the way you guys are going, you got to be the next best thing.

You know what I mean? And everybody's going to know about you guys. I'm hoping. You know, I think we're just Yeah, man. We're h we're happy as hell and we're just incredibly grateful for like most importantly just anybody that even pays attention to us. Like of course, dude, I kind of set out in the very beginning was like I know tattooers. I know we all use all different kinds of [ __ ] If I could just get one little Yeah. smidg in space of your toolbox.

I'll be super grateful. " I'm always Maverick. And I love your needles. Like I said, I used another needle the other day. Uh I used 23s, you know? I used 23 mags, like regular ones. I love them from Maverick. And I ran out.

I used somebody else's 23s. Terrible. Couldn't even tattoo with these things. So, I'm just already used to your your needles. I love them, you know. They're good needles. Yeah. " Never had a problem.

But I've had problems with big companies before cuz um it I mean, it h it's bound to happen at some point in time, you know. I mean, I'm sure, but I've never had a problem. You guys are great. You're you guys always in stock. Yeah. Which is a big deal. It is a huge deal. You know what?

It's funny you say that cuz my wife and I like spoke in the very be excuse me beginning is be in stock like if we can just be regular. So product management and ordering and all that stuff is a whole all the logistics of that and time. Yes. Yeah. It's it's a lot in my I I before I came with you I went with you guys I was sponsored by another company. I'm not going to name but they were constantly out of stock. Yeah. No stock makes it hard to use.

I was like well I'm hard to be in love with you if you're never around. Yes. And then that's how I I got into you guys because of a friend because of uh Randy I think got me into you guys. So So that's how that's how it is. I I I like that. I try to support tattoo artist own companies as much as I can. Sometimes I really can. Kind of impossible too at times.

Yeah. Yeah. Certain things I'm like when it comes to like like inks and stuff like that, I try to keep up with the big companies, you know, like or at least my I've been using my stuff for years, world famous. So but yeah, but I've been trying new stuff and there's just so many new things out there. There is. Yeah, it's kind of overwhelming at times, but yeah, our goal is just to keep keep trucking along, slowly grow grow correctly. Yeah. And maintain our relationships with everybody.

It's just fun as [ __ ] to do anyway. Well, I use stencil stuff forever, you know? I use stencil stuff for the past uh I don't know, like all my life. That's all I use stencil stuff. " Yeah. From Mom's. " Or Sorry, Moms. Sorry, Mom.

That's his That's the brand called Sorry Mom. Dude, his stuff is amazing. So much better than the stuff I was using before, you know. And that's his brand. That's his brand. I didn't know that. I was always sketched out. " Yeah.

Yeah. But no, Mike Mike does all his stuff like super profession. Yeah. Like he's got these companies that do them and like it's super legit, you know, and I got to see it firsthand, so I know it's legit. Oh [ __ ] I have to reach out to him. Like we're starting to do work on programs where we start we're starting to sell other tattooer owned products so we can all help each other out and stuff, you know? No, his stuff is great. And I'm always on the fence, especially when a friend goes like, "Try my stuff.

" And then, you know, yeah, we're in our relationship. " You know, like or I don't want to use it. Well, you won't ever hurt my feelings if you ever have any problems with anything. Dude, have a lot more respect than helpful. I just My feelings got hurt when I when I got to tell you something. So, I'm like, I don't want to try your stuff. I don't know, man. My stuff works good.

Oh, that's fun. But Mike Mike's stuff is is working great. And that's why I'm like lately I've been trying all these different things. I'm like, "Wow, this Yeah. " Yeah, that's great. Well, dude, I don't want to keep you all day, man. I know you get your day off and I just thank you so much for coming down, dude. And it was like it means a lot.

And like these one-on-one conversations just help us out, learn about each other. It's just so fun, you know? I love it, dude. I would come here every time to nerd out and, you know, just talk about tattooing. I can do it all day long. So, thank you. excited. Appreciate it, man.

Thanks for tuning in, guys. I appreciate it. And uh real quick, so like what's your Instagram or what's the best place to find you? So, so my Instagram is Gian Carllet. Just my name, G I A N K A R L E. And uh you guys can look me up. Pretty much all my social media is just Gian Carllet. YouTube, I just opened up a YouTube page.

Um I got a bunch of followers there there and I'm showing a bunch of videos on how I tattoo and my process. So you guys can go and check that out. Um, and yeah, I mean I got Instagram, Gian Carllet, Facebook, all these things. The the my website is Gian Carllet, too. So you're good. You got it all the way across the board. So we'll use those to reach out to you to also um keep up on your uh seminars, too. Which I'm real pumped about that.

I want to learn more. My uh I forgot my YouTube is not called Gian Carlo. It's the one thing I changed. That one's called Almost Inkmaster. Okay. the second time. Second runner up. Yeah.

Yeah. Go check that out. Yeah. All right, guys. Thanks so much and peace out. Have a good one.