Some righteous dudes I work with. @benjamski @easy_tiger @ink_assassins_tattoos (Taken with Instagram at Ink Assassins)

Elephant / butterfly duder. 7.5 x 6”s watercolor painting by EMS. Comes framed. $20 plus shipping.  Click here:  Ink Assassins webstore

New shirts I printed up.  More info here: http://inkassassins.com/ia_store/

Here’s some new shop hoodies I designed that just came in!  You can pick one up here:  inkassassins.com/ia_store/

This October will see the release of a new tattoo book entitled “With the Light of Truth”.  The 256 page book will feature a flash sheet, tattoo portfolio, and interviews with 60 different international tattoo artists that live a straight edge (drug free) lifestyle.  Two of our crew here at Ink Assassins, EMS & Pat Haney, are among those included.

The book was compiled and produced by Dan Smith from L.A. Ink / High Voltage tattoo who was also recently seen on air sporting an Ink Assassins shirt!

Pre-orders are up on their site and include a limited edition print & packaging.  We will also have a small number of books available here at Ink Assassins next month.  We are very excited to have been a part of this amazing project!

For more information & ordering check out:

www.withthelightoftruth.com
www.facebook.com/withthelightoftruth

BACK IN STOCK:
Red ink on black shirts available in small - 3xl, OR black ink on red shirts available in small - xl. $10 each at the shop or $15 through the mail. Paypal: info@inkassassins.com (make sure include size and color choice).

Cool, classic tattoos 7 days a week at Ink Assassins.

Here’s one of three new signs up on the side of our building. They’re over 6 feet tall! Drive by or better yet stop in to check them out.

Me getting tattooed by JR Tubbs.

In order to stay focused on what matters the most in my life I have decided to try to put some more “blinders” on and ween myself off of social networking a little bit.  My main goal with being online is mainly to look at tattoos friends and tattooists I admire are putting out there as well as putting forth the work that I have been doing on my clientele here in snowy Erie, PA.  (814 never forget!)  So in order to not spend hours looking at everyone’s depressing facebook status updates while I really should be drawing tomorrow’s appointments or creating some paintings I thought that a focused blog of my own might help.

Yesterday was spent doing a few fun tattoos on some great people.  To start the day off I got to do the Black Flag bars on drummer and interesting insult thrower extraordinaire Jess S.  There’s just something to be said for tattooing punk rock logos on people.  It takes me back to the late 80s when I was a misguided youth rolling around the streets of Carlisle, PA on my skateboard and a cassette walkman in my pocket.  Black Flag’s live album “Who’s Got the 10 1/2?” blew my mind at that time.  It’s crazy when you think about certain bands who you have been listening to for over 20 years.  When I hear Henry about to spit his vocal rage into “My War” I still get tense and ready to punch out my reflection in the mirror.

A little bit later in the day as I was getting ready to do my second appointment we got a call from JET TV Channel 24 asking if any of us would want to be interviewed.  You see the Erie area code is 814.  The symbolic elements of those numbers to many people all across NW PA means a lot.  Hell I even got them tattooed on me in 1998 while touring through Chicago at Deluxe Tattoos.  Well unfortunately those 3 digits are going to get phased out which to me, and many others, is very disappointing.  When I would hear those 3 numbers a strong sense of pride would course through me.  The news crew stopped by and did a brief interview with my partner Ryan who is less camera shy then me about people with 814 tattoos.  His first answer started off with a nod to Antoine Dodson stating “Well obviously…”

Ryan during his TV interview

Once all of that craziness was over with it was time to get back to work.  My second tattoo of the day was on an old time Erie skinhead / marine.  I’ve always enjoyed the company of all of these older rough and tumble guys.  I didn’t move to the Erie area until after high school in 1995 so it’s pretty cool to hear crazy stories about punk rock & hardcore shows from before then and just life in Erie.  I also like dishing for some dirt on other friends for stuff I can crack on them about that I missed out on.  For instance I got the scoop on a friend who was notorious for whenever a fight would break out he’d clock any girls standing around.  haha no respect for that style!  The conversations during the tattoo were fun and Brian had me cracking up all night.

Esquire Gentleman Fall 1995: featuring Dan along with friends Brian & Joe who I’ve tattooed both of.

The tattoo I did on Brian’s calf was a tribute to their old friend and another Erie punk / skinhead, Dan Parry.  I had never met Dan but a lot of my older friends had nothing but good stuff to say about him.  He tragically passed a few years back when a drunk driver hit a car he was in while living in Chicago.  I felt honored to get to do this tattoo as I know the deep respect these guys all have for each other and how tight their crews’ bonds are.  We did the Celtic Football Club’s logo with his initials.  We added a little bit of Irish flavor in there as well.  I hope I did this tribute piece justice as I know how important it was.

The next day I had to get up early, well early for me at least… 10:45.  I was going to get tattooed myself.   First we had to stop at Pat the Barber’s place so he could fade up my dude Vic Savage who works with me.  While sitting there we even caught the news piece again with Ink Assassins in it.  Pat had a great quote about his luck in life sometimes.  “Even if it was raining vaginas outside I’d still walk out the door and get hit with a penis.”  Our other friend Patrick then joined up with us and we were off to Ashtabula.

Hanging outside of FX Tattoos in Ashtabula, OH

Ashtabula, OH is barely 45 minutes from here and has a diamond in the rough there.  Many people might not have ever heard of FX Tattoos but they should do their selves a favor and check it out!  Over the past couple of years we’ve gotten to meet and get to know the crew there.  They’re a great bunch of guys working hard and doing some solid true to form traditional tattoos.  We stop by their shop whenever we can and when they roll through Erie hoping to get rich at our casino they always pop their heads into our shop as well.  We always have a blast hanging out and I look forward to more shared good times.  Tattooist JR Tubbs did a sweet rooster / weather vane on my left arm which I luckily still have a bunch of spaces left on.  Somehow I managed to save that last piece of real estate on me.  Fortunately I didn’t get the sick new school sleeve that I had wanted 10 years ago that probably would have featured all 64 colors from a crayola set.  Tubbsy tattoos pretty quick and efficiently but never sacrificing quality and before I knew it I had another great piece of art on me.  We had a hell of a time hanging out but needed to get on I-90 eastbound back to the good old Eight-One-Four.  I look forward to hanging out with those guys again soon!

Here’s some shots of the shop:


Flash floor to ceiling at FX

Hallway at FX

This sign is backed.

In between tattoos the crew must work on their putting.

Dustin “Kannonball” & his client

JR Tubbs tattooing me


Finished tattoo on me by JR Tubbs, sorry for the poor pic.