Music makes its mark
By Kim Sanders
Feb. 21, 2008 9:28 p.m.
For tattoo artist and television personality Kat Von D, music and tattoos have always gone hand in hand.
Her love for music started when her grandmother began teaching classical piano to her at age 6. Now she has four tattoos of Beethoven. At age 14, her involvement in the punk-rock scene introduced her to the art of tattooing. And 11 years later, she has her own tattoo shop in West Hollywood, named after an AC/DC song.
High Voltage Tattoo, the set of Von D’s reality show LA Ink on TLC, is decorated with hanging guitars and posters of bands, and has hosted small shows by bands such as Swedish rockers Vains of Jenna.
This weekend, Von D plans to put music and tattoos together in an even bigger way: Musink, a three-day festival bringing together 200 tattoo artists and nine bands.
“Every tattoo convention has music, but it’s usually a crappy house band without a good sound system,” she said. “So I wanted to put together a convention that is over-the-top awesome, and get big headliners and really good music with the best tattooers from all over the world.”
The event is set to feature vendors, tattoo artists, seminars and contests during the day, with a different musical theme each night. Metal bands dominate Friday night, with Vains of Jenna and Fireball Ministry opening for the Sunset Strip institution Metal Skool, an ’80s metal cover band. Saturday has a psychobilly theme, featuring Tiger Army with Guana Batz and Throw Rag. Punk rockers The Used with Revolution Mother and the Invisible Humans will end the festival on Sunday night.
Nick 13 of Tiger Army said the festival plays on a natural combination.
“Tattoos and music are definitely interests that the bands and fans share,” the vocalist/guitarist said. “There’s no question that there’s a link between rock “˜n’ roll in its many forms and tattooing ““ so why not have both in the same place?”
Von D picked the lineup from her favorite bands, choosing headliners and opening bands that would complement each other.
“I like a lot of rock “˜n’ roll (and) a lot of metal. This is music we listen to as we tattoo,” she explained.
Nicki Kin, guitarist for Vains of Jenna, who performed on a recent episode of LA Ink, said the band met Von D when she attended one of their shows right after they were signed to a record label.
“Kat’s our friend, and she promotes us a lot. She just thought we would be a great addition to the lineup,” he said.
While body art provides the focus of the event, being tattooed isn’t a prerequisite.
“The music is in the evening so there’s time to check out the tattoos and vendors and see the bands afterwards,” Von D said. “And if you want to get tattooed, you can get tattooed at the same time.”
The tattoo artists and seminars at the event represent a wide variety of cultures coming from all over the world, including artists flying in from Japan to show traditional Polynesian tattooing.
“There are so many different styles of tattooing,” Von D said. “It will be cool to see all these styles under one roof.”
Even the featured bands show a variety of styles of tattoos. Von D has done work on members of many of the bands playing, including members of Metal Skool, Vains of Jenna and Fireball Ministry.
“We’ve all got a fair amount of tattoos, but none of us (in Tiger Army) have been tattooed by Kat,” Nick 13 said. “She’s really good at the portrait stuff; most of our work is in the American traditional style.”
Putting Musink together has been a lot of work for Von D, who is also working on a makeup line ““ Kat Von D for Sephora, which comes out this spring ““ and a book with HarperCollins that focuses on her artwork and tattoos.
“It’s been hectic, but I think I have a pretty good team of people who’ve been helping me a lot, and that makes it easier,” Von D said. “We spent a lot of time, money and energy, and we want it to be the top tattoo convention in California.”
The effort seems to be paying off. Tickets are selling quickly, and both fans and bands are eager to attend.
“We definitely plan on doing it again next year,” Von D said. “The company we’ve hooked up with, Goldenvoice, has booked a lot of other festivals like Hootenanny and Coachella that have been successful.”
While both music festivals and tattoo conventions are fairly common, Musink is still anything but average.
“I definitely didn’t make up the concept of music and tattoos because it’s definitely been done before,” Von D said. “But this is the first time it’s been done over the top like this.”
Even though Von D has gone all out to put together a tattoo and music extravaganza, the best description of it may be the simplest.
“People should expect a great rock “˜n’ roll show,” said Kin. “And a lot of tattoos.”
