Transmutation

(excerpt from TATTOO ARMY interview from oct. 2011)

What inks and needles do you use?

I like Talenz inks but also Intenze is very nice…

I mix my greys but I also like

And for needles, Lucky Supply and also Silvermoon…sometimes I still do my own needles….

What machines are better suit for you?

I use coil machines from Herve HB, from Luca Mamone, Aaron Cain, Scott Sylvia just gave me an amazing present machine, Richard Pinch, Juan Puente, Ciferri..etc and I use them all cause I like them all..there’s so much quality out there…

For rotaries I use my own rotaries…all the others look better, but they don’t work so nicely…ha ha ha

Do you plan tattoos in advance for the customers?

It depends…sometimes big designs or more complex ones need to be prepared cause you need more time for drawing and finding references….but normally people let me lots of freedom and then I like to improvise and try new things…I’m really happy cause I have very nice customers…thank you

But I am always drawing, so I always have new tattoo ideas ready to be inked.

Do you think traveling influences your style?

Yes…when it comes to finding fresh new ideas I think that being in different countries and working with other artists has a big influence on the way you

draw…you always learn something…you evolve…but you don’t have to loose your

focus on the direction you want to go.

You told me before the conventions you will attend. What do you like of them and how you choose them?

Foreign customers are the ones who accept all my more experimental ideas…and their proposal are always risky and progressive tattoo projects and I like that. When I go to conventions the customers are really enthusiastic and that gives me a lot of energy.

I also like to see my other tattoo friends cause I’m alone in my place Barcelona.

Milan and London are my favorite ones

You told me before about your guest spots . How is it to work alongside such like, Binnie, Tin Tin, Freddy Corbin, etc…

It’s awesome, man. I mean they’re all super cool dudes to begin with aside from being amazing artists and legendary and all that. I mean they’re just super cool people…there’s so much spirit in all their actions…it’s not fake…their art is what they feel and that’s the most important quality for me that’s something I like to achieve every day..

For many years you worked in big walk-in shop in Spain, how was it back then?

It was very good…learning, money, the team…no regrets at all…I really thank Carlos for everything he did to me during all those years. But with me it’s like in my band, I love writin’ lyrics; I love producing and playing and being there for the mixing and dealing with all the merchandise and I love dealing with the backdrops and the production and everything. I’m like George Steinbrenner and in LTW I could be only Mickey Mantle…I’m a big control freak about the tattoos I do…and I’m obsessed to the extreme about it and I have so many projects and so many activities going on and travellinng so much I can’t work in a team situation anymore.

And what is your favorite thing to tattoo these days?

I always tattoo or draw paint what I feel, what I am…I suffer from very bad migraines…really bad you can’t imagine..but when the crisis are gone I feel even stronger than before…so I realized lately, that’s the main theme of my portfolio…well at least a theory, or maybe it’s the medicines I take…

A lot of tattooists are copying your style lately, is this a reason why you stopped publishing a lot lately?

They can never copy my migraines or my travels so it will never be the same….but it could be even better if they wanted..ha ha ha…there’s no limit to do beautiful things

What is this 777 book?

Oh…this just arrived from the printers..it’s an underground comic that me and Tas drew over the last few years…it’s not tattoo oriented, it’s more about our underground music involvement so to say…

Who your favorite tattooists these days?

I still love the classics more like Filip, Mike, Hernandez, Xed, Grime, etc…but also new guys doing amazing art like Ichibay, Lars Uwe, Isaac, Lynn Akura, and more people with passion, something very important!

(to be continued)