Poison Idea - RIP Pig Champion

Five years ago today, Pig Champion, whose real name was Tom Roberts, died.  Pig was the huge guitarist for one of the best and most underrated punk bands in America- Poison Idea.  Poison Idea is one of my favorite bands, so it really sucked to have one of only 2 constant members of the band die.  Pig died at 47- he was 450 lbs and was known for his use of drugs and alcohol.  In fact, Poison Idea was sometime referred to as the heaviest band in hardcore since the band as a whole weighed in at approximately 1300 pounds.  Regardless of their size or their drug and alcohol use, they are one of the best bands you've never heard.  I wrote about PI in my blog back in August, so I'm not gonna go through their history again.  My favorite PI records are:  Record Collectors are Pretentious Assholes, Kings Of Punk, War All The Time, Feel The Darkness, and Latest Will and Testament.  In my opinion, just about everything they've done is fantastic.  Anyway, RIP Pig Champion - Punk Rock will never be the same without you- have a drink with Joe Strummer.

A Bunch Great Songs

Here's a bunch of great songs, in no particular order, just stuff that I actually found on YouTube.  This is by no means a list of my favorite songs, just a bunch of songs I like.  Give 'em a listen, you might like some of 'em too.

I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges

Penetration - The Stooges

I'm Waiting For The Man - Velvet Underground

White Light White Heat - Velvet Undeground

Heroin - Velvet Underground

Nothing - Negative Approach

Ready To Fight - Negative Approach

New York - Sex Pistols

Holidays In The Sun - Sex Pistols

No Feelings - Sex Pistols

Holiday In Cambodia - Dead Kennedys

Well Paid Scientist - Dead Kennedys

A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch - Dead Kennedys

Waves Of Fear - Lou Reed

There Is No Time - Lou Reed

Dirty Boulevard - Lou Reed

Oh Bondage, Up Yours - X-Ray Spex

Times Up - Buzzcocks

Breakdown - Buzzcocks

Guns Of Brixton - The Clash

Stay Free - The Clash

Cheat - The Clash

At The Edge - Stiff Little Fingers

Gotta Get Away - Stiff Little Fingers

Ghost Town - The Specials

Wareika Vibes - Rico Rodriguez

Man In The Street - Skatalites

Catholic Boy - Jim Carroll Band

Three Sisters - Jim Carroll Band

Naming My Bullets- The Beltones

Fuck You Anyway- The Beltones

Live To Die - Death Sentence

Dawn Of The Dead- Death Sentence

Was It Me - The Exploited

My War - Black Flag

Taking The Night - The Feederz

In Flames - Death Sentence

Red Red Wine - Tony Tribe

Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear

The Prince - Madness

Hard Man Fe Dead - Prince Buster

Al Capone - Prince Buster

Madness - Prince Buster

Malice In Wonderland - GBH

Give Me Fire - GBH

Eye For An Eye - Corrosion of Conformity

Kiss Of Death - Corrosion Of Conformity

Tide Is High - Paragons

On The Beach - Paragons

Artibella - Ken Booth

The Hammer - Motorhead

One Track Mind - Motorhead

No Class - Motorhead

F.U. - F.U.'s

Trendy Nazi Hypocrites - F.U.'s

Back On The Map - Slapshot

United And Strong - Agnostic Front

Public Assistance - Agnostic Front

Last Warning - Agnostic Front

Ma And Pa - Fishbone

Everyday Sunshine - Fishbone

Johnny's Got A Problem - DI

Imminent War - DI

Life Of Pain - Black Flag

No More - Black Flag

Hard Times - Cro-Mags

We Gotta Know - Cro-Mags

Care Bear - Murphy's Law

Fuck Authority - Raw Power

Politicians - Raw Power

Possessed - Suicidal Tendencies

Won't Fall In Love Today - Suicidal Tendencies

I Against I - Bad Brains

Pay To Cum - Bad Brains

How Low Can A Punk Get? - Bad Brains
Satta Massa Gana - Abyssinians
Just To Get Away - Poison Idea
Crippled Angel - Poison Idea
Feel The Darkness - Poison Idea
A.A. - Poison Idea
Where Are They Now? - Cock Sparrer
Take 'Em All - Cock Sparrer
Watch Your Back - Cock Sparrer

St. Michael Tattoo

Started this tattoo yesterday on a really cool guy.  Done 3 or 4 tattoos on him in the past, and he's always really interesting to talk to.  This customer, Gene, spent a bunch of time in the military and has a lot of really cool stories.  He'll be back in about 2 weeks to finish this up, but for now here's a pic of what we got done.

The F.U's

The F.U's from Boston are one of my favorite hardcore bands- I like all their records, so instead of talking about just one, I'm gonna tell ya about all 3.  Like a 3 for the price of 1 bonus blog.  Classic Boston hardcore, right up there with bands like SSD, Negative FX, GangGreen, and Jerry's Kids.  Their first record, Kill For Christ, came out in '82 and featured a sweet Pushead design of Jesus firing a machine gun on the cover.  From the opening track- Civil Defense- you realize that this record isn't gonna last long- it's fast!  It only slows down for one song- Die For God, then ends with F.U.  My Favorite songs are F.U, Me Generation, Peer Police and Trendy Nazi Hypocrites.  If Ya wanna hear real Hardcore, this is it.  No Metal, No Pop, Politically Incorrect, and absolutely perfect.

A year later, the F.U's were back with My America.  This time, the cover is what looks like a stock photo of a sunrise over the mountains, and the back cover is a shot of George C Scott as Patton.  I actually have an original pressing of this on X-Claim and a later pressing (1989) on Classy Records.  The later press has a pic of a waterfall on the front and a pic of the band dressed as a redneck hunting party around a slain skateboarder on the back.  This was another great record from the F.U's. and they certainly didn't slow down.  Easily as good (if not better) than Kill For Christ.  Personal Favorites:  What You Pay For, Unite or Lose, Outcast, My America, and Boston's Finest.

Whoo Hoo!   Here's the whole first side of the record:

The F.U's put out their final record in 1984- Do We Really Want To Hurt You?  A shot of the band riding a tank adorns the cover of this wonderful slab of vinyl.  They slowed down on this one, but not by much.  There are a few songs where that early/mid 80's metal sound starts to seep in (a sign of the direction the band would head), most evident on Young Fast Iranians.  Even with the slight change in sound, this is still classic Boston HC.  Songs like Do We Really Want To Hurt You, Warlords, Killer, and Shitheads are standouts, and rank up there with anything from the first 2 records.  Ode To Larry Joe is a slower tune, reminiscent of Die For God.  After this record, the drummer left and was replaced, they added a second guitarist and changed their name to the Straw Dogs (whose earlier releases I also enjoy).

The F.U's, while not as well known as some of the other Boston bands of the early 80's, should not be overlooked.  They are on a par with or better than many of the other bands of the time.

Sugar Skull

Did this Sugar Skull yesterday.  Lots of fun.  I know that sugar skulls are pretty popular, but in my almost 18 years of tattooing, this is probably only the 3rd one I've done.

Cookies!

Here's a tattoo I did Friday on a good customer of mine.  Some chocolate chip cookies with a mom banner.  I love food tattoos- they always make me laugh.  This same customer, Robert, also has a pizza tattoo (and a pretty damn fancy mustache).  So, here's his cookie tattoo and a couple of his other pieces.

If I Were President...Part 1

If I were president, the first thing I would do would be to abolish the IRS and enact the FairTax.  I'm not gonna spend a lot of time talking about the FairTax because there is already enough information available to anyone who is interested.  The best place to start would be Neal Boortz and John Linder's "The FairTax Book".  The FairTax replaces ALL income, corporate, payroll, etc. taxes with a 23% national sales tax.  You get to keep ALL of the money you make and are only taxed on what you spend.  This is absolutely the best thing that could happen to the American economy.  The FairTax would raise more revenue for America than the current tax system while allowing Americans to keep and save more of their money.  The one thing that I don't believe is properly addressed in the book is the amount of money that would be collected from people making money through illegal activities.  They do talk about this some, and also mention the fact that this would be a way to collect money from people that are currently not paying taxes, like Illegal Aliens- no, they're not Undocumented Immigrants or any of the other PC terms that hippy-ass liberals think we should use- they're ILLEGAL FUCKING ALIENS!  But I don't think that the people behind the FairTax realize just how much money is made (and spent) by drug dealers and other criminals.  These are people that live lavish lifestyles while not paying any taxes- they're not gonna stop spending just because they now have to pay their fair share- they're gonna keep buying cars and houses and gold teeth.  Because of the money made by people illegally, I believe that the FairTax could also replace state income taxes and state sales taxes while still staying at the 23% rate.  Five of the 23% could go to the states with the remaining 18% going to the Federal Government, thus getting rid of income taxes on both the state and federal level.  For more information on the FairTax, you can go to FairTax.org or do a search for FairTax videos- Neal Boortz has a number of very informative videos online about the FairTax.  I would also make sure that the FairTax was in place and implemented within a year of my taking office.  Every one of these dopey bastards that we elect comes up with 5 year plans.  You were elected to a 4 year term, what the fuck are you doing with a 5 year plan?  How about you come up with a plan that you can actually get done in your time in office?  There's no guarantee that you'll be elected to a second term.  These morons don't care about Me or You or America- all they care about is getting elected and staying in office.  It's all about power to them.  How about making it about doing something to help the American people?

Icy Day Tattoo

Here in Georgia, the local departments of whoever-the-fuck-removes-snow are totally unprepared for any kind of a winter storm.  We got 6.5 inches of snow Sunday.  Normally we'll get 1 maybe 2 inches.  So, everything shut down.  While all of the people around here ran out to buy bread, water, and milk, expecting to be snowed in for a few days, I made sure that I had plenty of coffee and cigarettes.  Spent Sunday making a fiberglass seat pan for my motorsikkle.  Worked on doing all the padding for it Monday and Tuesday.  I was actually able to get out of my neighborhood Tuesday.  I went to Quick Trip- for more cigarettes and to pick up some stuff at Home Depot.  What should have taken about 20 minutes was a treacherous hour plus adventure.  By Wednesday, I was going completely stir crazy (and broke from not working), so I made it to the shop and opened up.  Only did 1 tattoo- nobody else even came in, and I closed and got home before everything started to freeze up again.  But at least the tattoo that I did was cool.  Did it on one of my riding buddies- Jason (one of the Jasons).  He brought me a design that he found online on some guy's blog.  Normally when someone brings me a design, I'll redraw it and clean it up (because most of the stuff people find online is fucking atrocious), but this was a real nice traditional tattoo design.  I did make a couple of changes- the girl was holding a Navy style shield, which we took out (Jason's never been in the Navy), and put another leaf in it's place.  When I did the tattoo, I also added some Whore-Green eyeshadow, which all traditional girls need.  Shit, this things got a Naked Girl, American Flags, and a Motorcycle Wheel- what more could ya ask for?

After doing the tattoo, I was quite interested in finding out whose design it was- I always like to give the artist credit, plus I really liked the design.  A little searching on Google led me to the blog where Jason had found it.  From there, I was able to find out that the design was done by a Calico1225.  A little more searching and I tracked down Calico1225 on DeviantArt, and got the name Nick the Tailor.  From there, I managed to track him down to MySpace, and his real name is Nick Solomon.  So, here's a link to his MySpace page: Nick Solomon

Screams From The Gutter

Screams From The Gutter.   Screams.  From. The. Gutter!  SCREAMS FROM THE GUTTER!!!  This record came out in 1984- I've been listening to this for 25 years.  One of my favorite records.  The greatest Italian hardcore band ever- Raw Power.  Raw motherfucking Power.  Did I mention that I really like this band and this record?  Raw Power put out a lot of great records over the years, but they never topped this one.  The 7" that followed this, "Wop Hour", was actually pretty damn close to "Screams From The Gutter".  The singer, Mauro, sings in english, but ya can't understand what the fuck he's saying most of the time anyway.  When he starts screaming it sounds like he's in physical pain- fucking brilliant!  Check out songs like 'Raw Power', 'Politicians', and 'Don't Let Me See It' for some throat ripping vocals.  Besides the afore mentioned "Wop Hour", some other great records from this Italian Hardcore band are "After Your Brain", "Mine To Kill", "Still Screaming After 20 Years" and "Resuscitate", which just came out earlier this year.  As a huge fan of the band, I like all their records, but If you're just checking them out for the first time, I would have to say to stay away from "Too Tough To Burn" and "Fight", both records that fell kinda short.  Through various line-up changes and the loss of Guiseppe (RIP)- the original guitarist and brother of Mauro, Raw Power has managed to stay alive and blast out great Pizza-Core, since 1981.  Raw Power Will Never Die!

Rib Eagle

Got a little more work done on the big rib eagle yesterday.  All the shading is done now, so next sitting we start the color.

Youth Anthems For The New Order

So, for 2011 I've decided to try to put up a post about a great punk record once a week or so.  Most of the stuff I'm gonna post is gonna be old.  Sure, lots of people will know this stuff, but some don't.  I'm not advocating stealing music, and I'm not gonna post links to the records, but if ya search around on some punk blogs, you can probably find most of these record for free.  Personally, I believe that all of these records are so damn good that you really should own them in a form that you can hold in your grubby little hands- preferably vinyl.  The first record I'm gonna post is a classic piece of New York Hardcore- Reagan Youth's 'Youth Anthems for the New Order'.  This record came out in 1984, and it still sounds great today.  It's got that really raw early hardcore production.  The record is cheap as shit- no actual sleeve, it came in a folded up poster- pure punk rock.  Every one of the 7 songs is a classic- New Aryans, Reagan Youth, Degenerated, Go Nowhere.....  The whole thing lasts about 10 or 12 minutes, so listen to it over and over.  The band recorded a second record in 1990, which just doesn't come anywhere close 'Youth Anthems'.  The singer, Dave Insurgent, committed suicide shortly after the body of his hooker girlfriend was found in the trunk of serial killer Joel Rifkin's car.  There is a CD available that contains both records and some bonus tracks, but if ya can get ahold of the vinyl, that's all you need.  Plus vinyl sounds better and has all those cool pops and scratches.  The song 'Degenerated' somehow ended up in the movie 'Airheads' as the song that the band 'The Lone Rangers', played by Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi, and Brendan Fraser, played at the end of the movie.

NEW ARYANS

Be proud that you're a white amerikan
Blond hair, blue eyes - a fine new aryan?
Supremacy's the white man's burden?

A final solution for all new aryans...
Death to the nazis and the ku klux klan!
Anarchy in the fatherland!

Anarchy for all new aryans
No master race is gonna rule my land!

New order?
No order!
Disorder! ...Now!