Why did you name the documentary "See You In HELL"?
Because the movie is about our family, artists, friends, clients, helpers, ole ladies, dogs, babies, you know, OUR family. In Empire Strikes Back, at the beginning, Luke is missing, everyone seems to accept this EXCEPT han solo, and when they tell Captain Solo not to go out into the freezing cold weather because his ton ton will freeze before he reaches the first marker - he replies : "WELL ILL SEE YOU IN HELL." and goes into the blizzard to save his friend. I felt as though that statement sums up my feelings for our family at all or nothing tattoo. and P.S. in risking his own life he saves luke and kills his ton-ton. There is nothing I wouldnt do to help out one of my own. Thats one of the central principals of the film. And Since my favorite movie (The Devils Rejects) was based on my second favorite movie (Empire Strikes Back) it only made since for there to be references to BOTH in MY MOVIE.
If you could tattoo anyone in the world (living or dead), who would it be and what would you tattoo on them?
I would tattoo a picture of Tupac on Jesus Christ. With an AK under it that says M.O.B. (money over b*tches) - or I would tattoo satan, with "la vida loca"
what else do you want to achieve in your tattooing career? The film covers this in detail - Artistically Im backing up off of it for now. I know that in the future there will be another surge in my work, however my time to tattoo right now is very limited as a result of running 4 thriving buisnesses and dealing daily with the 60 or so folks that work for those buisnesses. But its coming - maybe years from now, but the next level of my artwork is on the horizon, and Im eager to push it to the next level. However my main goal is to not tattoo as much, as you will see in the film I have worked myself into oblivion tattooing and being "the man behind the curtain" what I really want is some time off to reflect and relax, I still havent yet achieved that. I work 7 days a week 10-14 hours per day still, doing something for our family.... But we did get to build an amazing set of studios, and created TWO BOOKS, THREE MOVIES, about 24 WEBSITES, a FLASH SET thats 40 pages in total, bring in a pile of new and amazing artists, still tattoo, still organize an all or nothing tour and personally answer about 200 messages per day, so there is still no rest for the wicked.
The Tour, why are you not touring anymore?
For Several reasons, the primary reason is to ensure that my guys get the spotlight when they show up - they deserve it and Im all about promoting my guys more-so than any studio Ive ever seen. I want THEM to win the awards, and THEM to get their pictures taken, and for THEM to be as successful as they wanna be! Also because we are about to release (sometime this summer) my seminar on dvd anyways, so theres really no point in doing them live anymore. Another reason to be hinest with you is after 10 years of constant touring and hunderds of shows, Im sick of em! I think that they are more trouble than they are worth sometimes, and lugging all the equiptment all over the planet, to make the same money or less as I would here at
www.antiartatlanta.com in relaxation and luxery is a but retarted! hahahaaa
Why did you aggree to do this film, what prompted it? I was approached by Two "Tattoo tv shows" One "regular" tv show and a couple production companies about doing some stuff. I refused them all. If we did something I wanted to be able to control the outcome, and insure that It wouldnt be boring or lame. I wanted good music, good artwork, and a good editing crew, so my company Stranglehold Publications branched out with Eulogy Records and FULL LOCK MEDIA and we made it ourselves. I figured is there was that much interest in us doing a project like that - we should do it and keep all the money. Hahahaaaaa
do you ever sleep?
Yes but Not nearly enough, even my staff has no idea what goes on at the office everyday, theres no way they could - webguys see the webstuff, artists see the clients, stranglehold folks see the stranglehold orders, printers see the printing, the graphics dept sees the graphics, but I am the only person that sees ALL of it. Im not complaining a bit - thats the job I signed on for when I created this chaotic circus. Haters can say whatever they want, but no one has EVER called me lazy.
see how easy that is - hit me with some more - were almost done!