WHO PLAYS?

In my experience a major percentage of all the tattoo artists I know are also musicians ...most of them good ones....is this a personality trait ...are artistic people more likely to also be musically inclined? Or are we just show offs? Give me your thoughts on this if you will...TAz

well taz my bro i can draw air brush and tattoo but i cant carry a tune in a bucket

I think one creativity lends itself to another. However in my case the music came before the art.... I was always an observer though. I took what other's were doing and made it my own. I have always trusted what my hears were hearing and my eye were seeing rather then being taught a specific discipline. It's kind of who I am at the same time.... I always sit back and see and listen to what is going on around me first.... strange.

ack!...sorry about the typos

My wife plays violin I think... (it might be fiddle). I can play a little bit of kazoo myself.

Beyond tattooing I do many things that require artistic ability. I work with all sorts of sculpture and metal working. My mediums vary depending on what my focus is. I also do a lot of oil painting, some acrylic and even sometimes watercolor. I work with a ton of charcoal pencils and all that funs stuff... Most art mediums entertain me... As far as musical skills go I play guitar and bass. Anything from SRV to children of bodom... Though my real love in the world of guitar is blues and folk... some jam band shit.. just plain out good times with an acoustic guitar or two... I am also into a couple of other musical outlets. I program my own shit in Qbase, Sonic Foundry and acid, rebirth... ect ect... I used to be hardcore raver trash and I can spin drum and bass pretty good.. Some harcore... Some trance.. ect ect... I get into a ton of shit... blah blah blah... I need more coffee... 7

Well I am depressed........................this can't possibly be all!?! I'm going to have to stock up on some alcohol for this one, or I'm not going to have anything to talk about....................anyone know what bokeh is? TCE

I'm a long time guitarist but I sing in my band The Devil Spades... http://www.myspace.com/thedevilspades check out the myspace page if you want to hear it.

I'm a concert-standard virtuoso at playing the fool. But seriously folks, I play the flute & recorder by ear, and i used to sing in public quite frequently (in stage musicals). I also do know how to rock. Almost everyone i know who works in any form of art - dance, visual, tattoo, or lowly advertising - also dabbles in another. A few are multidisciplinary on a professional level: i, for instance, write for a living, and act and spin music (an humble art, but an art, trust me) for kicks and extra lucre. Used to do stand-up. Not funny anymore. I would imagine that tattoo-lovers tend to be attracted to rock because, like bikes, have a similar subcultural feel. Nono, that sounds too pretentious. Bikes - tatts - rock n' roll... they belong together!

Well, ive definately found that i can sing well, my only problem would be doing it in front of many people. People have asked me to sing in the past, and my anxiety sets in right away. By the time im suppoased to sing my nerves get the best of me!!!!

couldnt play a instrument to save me but i love the air guitar like no other. i do know that certain music will affect my work let me play or listen to what moves me and my work comes out great put that icp or heavy screaming on i just loose it all

Played Trumpet for 6 years Played Acoustic for 3 WANNA PLAY AGAIN!!!!! No time because of shop and art...maybe someday...unless someone has a ge-tar they wanna send me!!! M

Clarinet...percussion, especially drumset. Played for roughly 5 years, still drum when I get the chance.

I have been playing guitar for about 9 years now. That is the only artistic ability I have as I cannot draw to save my life.

I think it is a fairly common trait for Tattoo artists. I play classical guitar, and mandolin. my main weapon of destruction is an old alverez acoustic, its got a great sound, with alot of resonance, I am also a published poet. I used to do alot of iron sculptures, but I dont have the time for the iron work any more. every Tattooist I have ever known was a creative type, it is my belief that we all have a commonality in this area, something within our genetic make-up that drives us to this creative insanity. We all strive for perfection. Every Tattooist I have ever met has also been incredibly intelligent, most bordering on a level of genius, but there is a very fine line between genius and insanity, which is also most likely why we are all freaks and perverts. Aristotle once said: “All extraordinary men distinguished in philosophy, politics, poetry and the arts are evidently melancholic.” Socrates and Plato stated that genius, among poets at least, was inseparable from madness. Were these classical Greek ideas correct? Is it really true that insanity is a characteristic of a genius? In the past, schizophrenia and melancholia, among many forms of mental illness, were seen as main sources of creativity. Recent research has emphasized the role of depression, and manic depression. Members of the artistic professions or creative arts as a whole- architecture, design, art, composing, musical entertainment, theater, and all forms of writing, suffer from more types of mental difficulties and do so over longer periods of their lives than members of other professions. Poets, fiction writers, artists, nonfiction writers, and musical composers have the highest lifetime rates of depression. An “inverted U” shaped relationship likely exists between mania and creativity, with less severe mania (hypomania) leading to a moderate increase in creativity and severe mania leading to a decrease. Lets examine some specific cases: · Isaac Newton was a manic-depressive. His mood varied with the seasons. However, mania gave him confidence to undertake the largest and most difficult problems: universal gravitation, the nature and behavior of light, and a new mathematics. · Ludwig Van Beethoven was also a manic-depressive. Although they reflect his mental instability, his compositions are regarded as some of the best classical music ever written. · Vincent van Gogh was a manic-depressive. However, this helped him to create some of the best paintings of all time. · The polish composer Chopin frequently complained of depression: “I wish I were dead.” · Five out of seven Nobel laureates in literature in the United States were alcoholics: William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O’ Neill, Sinclair Lewis, and John Steinbeck. · Writer Virginia Woolf was sexually abused as a girl, suffered from severe mood swings as an adult, and later committed suicide. · Writer Sylvia Plath had episodes of psychotic depression and eventually ended her life. · Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had fits of melancholia long before coming deranged. · Zelda Fitzgerald’s (wife of F. Scott) talent as a writer, artist and dancer was halted in her late 20s when she began having terrifying hallucinations. Dr. Eugen Blueler, who coined the term “schizophrenia,” diagnosed her as a schizophrenic. The list goes on, with similar cases of other individuals who have been regarded as geniuses. Why is there such a strong connection between genius and insanity? Unlike other professions, artistic occupations (with notable exceptions) simply lack the ability to keep “unstable” persons out. In addition, the creative arts professions seem to value an individual’s creative products rather than his or her personal behavior. People are more accepting of creative and radical ideas due to the nature of certain professions. Whether or not it is beneficial or detrimental, a connection between mental disorders and creativity certainly exists. As a result, there is strong evidence for the connection between genius and insanity. So with that it would seem we all should anticipate a trip to the funny farm Mortis

I feel like I'm already there................... TCE

............................and with that, I am announcing my gift of absence to y'all.................a two week hiatus.................except for TAz and J-werk, whose doors I shall come crashing through at some point during that period. Some friends of mine and I are traveling to the east coast, first Boston to tour the Zildjian Cymbal factory and then check out Vinnie Colaiuta playing with Jeff Beck, then down to Jersey for the two day Modern Drummer Fest. This is a huge drumming event put on by Modern Drummer magazine each year, featuring many top players. After reading the publication for 27 years, and having photos published within it's pages for the first time just this year, I'm finally attending the event, so I'm pretty stoked!! And you all get a break from my ramblings. TCE

Mortis...funny you should say all that...WOW. Before I was divorced, I went to family therapy and the therapist had me take the Myer/Briggs test for Bi-Polar disorder. Due to mood swings of anger (extreme) to the opposite end of the spectrum to suicidal thoughts. Well after taking the test I was diagnosed "on the fence" as either borderline manic or artistic...ummmm duh, I am an artist. So to make a long story really short...that was a waste of money, got rid of the wife, the anger issue subsided...in a strange way I miss those days...I was much more creative!!! Mike ridin that "fine" line..

I just like the voices

I'm not a tat artist, but I play guitar badly, I played bass for about 14 years pretty well, and thanks to the generousity of the Tazman, looks like I'll be trying it again soon... I play great highland bagpipes competitively, highland smallpipes and some native american flute, I tried celtic harp very very briefly, and found it to be one of the most soulful instruments I've ever laid hands on. God it was beautiful. Wish I had time to explore that a little...

I played drums, or so I thought, for a while. Then, despite my best efforts, I noticed 14 year olds who could play circles around me, and then I started helping out my buddy who is one of the true masters of the instrument on a few of his tours, and realized I just plain SUCK!!!!! So for the last four years, I gave it up altogether. Fortunately I have many other interests.....................but I'm going to try to pull it together for a few tunes at TAzFEST, and if I still suck, it's one interest that's going back into the bag. TCE

good points, LM. Just from checking out different artists' Myspace and talking with them, most are somewhat artistically-inclined in the musical field. Then again, a disproportionate amount like motorcycles. I do think that "right-brainedness" is something that's almost universally shared by tattoo artists.. that "creative type" that can think differently. What I didn't know till today.... is that exercise can make you better able to think with the right side of your brain.. that is, creatively. Glad I've been exercising... lol.

Kim...(kmama gabes wifey)...has some really great ideas about that...she starts teaching really young infants ...3-6 months I think...its the Reggio method I think...correct me here Kim...and it makes a lot of sense...if ya go to the post about art the web site is there...check it out...very interesting and I think important stuff!