Time for a whinge!

I’ve been doing this blog for a while now, happily tapping away on my keyboard, hoping to write stuff that someone out there might enjoy reading. So every day I get the comments on my posts emailed in and at first I was encouraged that there were quite a few. Wicked! I thought, nice to get feedback. Then I started to notice an increase in the junk comments and realised that most of these comments are posted by people or companies that are only interested in getting advertising or porn! Some are just long streams of utter gobbledegook (phew that was hard!) that have no relation to anything, let alone english!

Now they’re really starting to piss me off – there’s so many – every day. Honestly you wouldn’t believe it… everything from Christian Dating(!) to Romance Academy (findmesomeone.org!) to Discount Shoes to any kind of bloody insurance you can think of! Fuck me, it’s a joke. What I want to know is WHY? What do you think they hope to get out of it? Apart from just filling my trash they’re totally wasting cyber space.

So my message to you ‘so called bloggers’ – who ain’t, is FUCK OFF! Just stop it and let the real people who have valid comments to make – make them.

Fat Lip Promotions presents a night of boxing!
Seven Sins Tattoo is proud to be a sponsor of this fantastic event.

Once again an awesome bill of quality fighters promises an evening of fantastic high voltage boxing. If you’ve been to any of the previous events you’ll know what a superb evening’s in store. If you haven’t been to one then you’re seriously missing out!

Doors open at 6pm Fights start at 7.15pm
Tickets from £30
Fatlip ticket hotline 07818711036
more info: www.queensburyfl.co.uk

Dimitris from Hellenic Stixis, Athens

Once again Seven Sins Tattoo is proud to announce that our friend Dimitris from Hellenic Stixis Tattoo in Athens will be guesting in the studio from 2 May till 18 May. If you want to get an absolutely unique, one-off, hand poked custom tattoo please contact us on 01293 775385 for an appointment.
Check out Dimtris’s work at www.myspace.com/lakedaimoniostixis

As a tattoo artist I get really pissed off with people who come in when we open (at 11am), give me that ‘You’re lucky, I start work at 4 in the morning’ look, and say ‘must be nice to start work this late! Half day is it?…’ Wankers! What they and all you others who think we just live a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle (thanks LA Ink!), don’t realise is all the work we do before we open and after we shut.

A normal day starts with taking the kids to school for 8.15 (early enough and rock ‘n’ roll enough for you?), coming home and getting breakfast. Then aim  to get to the shop by 9am-(ish). On goes the computer to answer all the emails, along with a double shot cappuccino. This is always hard work – ‘how much is a tattoo?’ being the benchmark! This can take up to an hour, sorting designs, quotes, appointments etc etc, binning the Viagra ads (got plenty at the moment ta).  Then it’s checking the diary for the day ahead, making sure the designs are ready for each customer, calling customers who’s designs I’ve got drawn up,  and checking that we have a few moments sometime during the day to eat lunch (quite rare most days). Then it’s inspecting the work stations for supplies, cleanliness etc, and another double shot cappuccino.

Once the doors are open at 11am, it’s heads down, non-stop tattooing all day, interspersed with giving quotes for tattoos, taking designs, answering the phone, answering customers questions ‘how much is a tattoo?’ - told you it’s the benchmark, ‘where’s the toilet?’ (a close second) and so on. At 6pm we stop (apart from Ben, who’s usually running late). Then it’s cleaning… everywhere. Vacuuming, mopping, bin emptying, etc etc, then cashing up, which usually involves chasing the guys who’ve inevitably forgotten something they’ve done, ‘cos it doesn’t add up.

If I’m lucky I can be home for 7pm, in time to have dinner with Mrs Sinner and the kids, maybe give them a bath (not Mrs Sinner, she can usually manage herself) read them a story or two and put them to bed (see it’s SO rock ‘n’ roll!).

Then it’s back to the computer, checking the days emails, editing and uploading photos for the website and writing this blog. Hopefully this won’t take long – then it’s out with the pencils and onto drawing up tattoo designs for customers – and believe me we have loads and loads of them to do. So if you’ve left us a design to draw up, my apologies… we’ll get it done as soon as we can! Normally I can’t draw past about midnight – my eyes start to hurt bad and I begin to dribble and nod off onto my art pad! Hopefully by then I’ve got a couple of drawings done for future tattoos.

At last it’s off to bed… then the alarm goes off… and it’s back to groundhog day again…

So, there you have it. Not rock ‘n’ roll. Not 9 till 5. Not fucking easy OK!

But after all is said and done, it’s brilliant and I wouldn’t swap it for anything.

Keep inking all you lovely Sinners!

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Got tickets to go see Steel Panther from Mr & Mrs V for christmas (cheers guys!), stuck ‘em on the magnetic board of reminders and stuff in the kitchen and forgot about them! Suddenly March is here and the date has arrived. Now I haven’t been to a ‘gig’ for years, so really wasn’t too bothered, had tons of stuff going on that I needed to do and almost blew it out. Thank god I didn’t! Me and Mrs Sinner set off to Brixton in search of the Academy and coming out of the tube station it was simple to follow all the geezers, old and young, wearing long blonde wigs, mirror shades and (shock horror!) spandex! Honestly I’ve never seen anything like it, it was absolutely hilarious! What was even more hilarious for us, was the amount of fake, stick on, and drawn on tattoos they were sporting! Tragic doesn’t even come close… Listen boys, it’s about time you bit the bullet and got some proper ink.

So into the venue and the usual scrum for the bar, all quite civilized and orderly, until a wig wearing, spandex clad old twat started getting lairy because he got a bit bumped about! Nearly the funniest thing ever! Listen mate, you can’t act the fuckin’ hard man wearing that get up. No-ones going to be intimidated or impressed if you look like a refugee from Twisted Sister! So everyone just laughed and called him a nob! More than he deserved quite frankly.

Into the auditorium and on they come… Steel Panther. Loud, american, mental! If you’ve never heard them, get a copy of the album, buy it, download it, steal it, whatever… just have a listen. Think Van Halen, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi and every 1980′s hair metal band, every over used riff, with the most hilarious, filthy, fantastic lyrics you’ve ever heard. Not only do they not take themselves overly seriously (like most rock cocks) they play so tight it’s ridiculous. Probably the most entertaining thing I’ve been to since… well for ages really. Totally brilliant!

They’re playing the Download festival so if you get the chance go see ‘em – and remember… DEATH TO ALL BUT METAL!!

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If you’re a regular blog reader (and if you’re not, why not?) you’ll remember that Chris bought us all monster cigars back from his holiday to Lanzarote. These weren’t your regular ‘hamlet’ style cigars, but long, fat proper gangster cigars! So on friday afternoon we decided to have a mass smoke up and see how cool these things were.

Taking them out of the wooden box and opening the cellophane wrapper should have been a clue – it was like opening a stick of seaside rock, noisy and brittle. Then we noticed the white bits peaking out from the ends? Looked like paper? Nah, these are cigars right? Let’s go and light up…

Mmm... we're cool we are!

So out we go (no smoking in the studio of course), lighters at the ready… We drag hard ‘cos they’re so bloody long and take ages to get going (a bit like Ben’s mum!) and… coouugghh!, sppllutteerrrr, coouugghh! my god, they’re rough! I’m thinking it must be me being a wimp as I quit smoking years ago and only have the odd cigar on special occasions, but no, Ben and Iva are joining in too, both coughing, spitting bits of ‘baccy out and pissing themselves laughing. “They’re quite smooth” commented Iva between wheezes!

smoke 'em, smoke 'em, smoke em!

As we smoke on it becomes obvious these aren’t proper cigars at all – mine has started to fall to pieces, Ben has lit his half way down and it’s caught fire! Then I notice –  the paper we spotted earlier was now properly showing – the thin outer leaf peeling away to reveal… yes it’s bloody newspaper underneath! Mine is a Daily Mail from April 2009! So we rip them open and sure enough all they are is a thin outer cigar leaf, a sheet of newspaper and rough old baccy! We’ve been properly stitched up!

extra, extra, read all about it...

But despite this (and all the coughing, wheezing etc) we had a right laugh, brightening up our friday afternoon, and have forgiven Chris… for now anyway…!

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All winter I’ve been looking in the back garden at this silver shape, with black hoops peeking out at the bottom. Most of the time I forget it’s even there. Every day I get up and go to work in a nice, warm, heated seated box, listening to comfortable (old school) rock, trying to avoid the potholes left from the snow and every now and then think, it’d be nice to get my bike out when the weather gets better…

Well yesterday the sun came out, for probably the first time this year and I approached the silver shape with trepidation – knowing that the battery charger and extension lead would need to be found before I could go anywhere. Dragging the silver cover off the bike revealed my utterly dejected 1200 Bandit, the tank and seat covered in paw prints and fur where the cat had been taking shelter under the cover together with some nicely progressing rust spots and green mildew – awesome!

Now came the moment I’d been dreading – would it start? The first thumb on the starter let me know that the battery had survived the winter well and had life! Then on the third try it fired up! Well three cylinders is better than none right? So I left it running for a while until it was nice and warm and (almost) firing on all four then went in search of the bucket…

So (and this is a rare thing) I got the sponge and bucket out and washed it down – hurriedly I might add, as the sun could disappear at any given moment – this is England after all. The Bandit scrubbed up pretty well considering it’s total neglect (I think I last rode it in October ’09?)

Quickly getting my helmet and stuff on and out onto the road I figured I’d better check the tyres (last time I did this I had about 18psi in the back tyre and wondered why cornering was getting wierd!) This requires the skills of a Krypton Factor contestant, with the garage air lines designed for cars and not for bikes – trying to manipulate the nozzle onto the valve is frustrating to say the least! Much swearing and scraped knuckles later, the tyres are good and full of air and the street is now fun.

When I get on the bike after a bit of a layoff I always mentally tell myself to take it easy, then the feel and excitement of riding very quickly takes over and OH YEAH! up comes the front wheel and the fun begins!

And what fun it is! The whole point of this blog was to expound the virtues of how much fun motorbike riding is – it’ll blow away your blues, it’ll put a hug grin on your face, it’ll make you feel so alive you can’t explain it! If you’ve never done it – give it a go – you’ll be amazed.

Me, I just love wheelies – it’s impossible to ride without having to get the front wheel up at any given opportunity – yes I know it’s illegal and naughty – (it takes skill and control you know) – but I’ve been doing it forever and I ain’t stopping now!

Young Chic - Reigate School of Art - circ 1978(ish)

Young Chic - Reigate School of Art - circa 1978(ish) - Photos by good mate Del Ongley

There I was, relaxing in front of the TV (not drawing for a change!), the in-laws are round and it’s been a long day – you know how it is… right? Anyway, despite trying hard not too, I drift off to sleep – it was kind of inevitable. Now the brother in-law likes to think he’s a funny guy, so he makes some signs, adds some cuddly toys and takes some photos with my own camera! Obviously I’m blissfully oblivious and only find out the next day when I go to take some pics of a just finished tattoo… This pic is one of the cleaner ones…

Minnie's my new best friend!

I’ve vowed to get revenge – so I’ll keep you posted…

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Ok, so Chris hasn’t got a belly button! Long story which I’m not going into here , suffice to say he was a bit careless and lost it…!

Anyway it’s obviously been playing on Chris’s mind, because he’s now got a brand new one tattooed on! And it’s not your average belly button, it’s proper old school button – the kind you used to get on flasher macs, with 4 big sewing holes in the middle. Chris said it hurt – a lot! So now he is complete once more…

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Billy ‘The Billboard’ Gibby is an amateur boxer with 19 company logos tattooed on him. The 29 year old is the first person in the world to have an advert for a website inked on his cheeks!

He got into it when he started to give blood, his attention grabbed by the plight of people waiting for transfusions and organ replacements. He gave blood every two weeks and signed up to be an organ donor after his death, but still wanted to do more. After surfing the web he found a profile of a woman that needed a kidney and went on to find he was a perfect match. But due to geography he couldn’t afford the flight, so inspired by Ricky Hatton’s temporary tattoo in a boxing match, he got GoldenPalace.com tattooed on his back and earned the money for the flight, donated the kidney and now continues to make money getting company logos tattooed on him.

You have to ask yourself, how much would you want to get the ‘Favourite Chicken’ logo tattooed on your forehead? What would be the stupidest or maybe the coolest logo to get on your face? Let us know how much you’d want for this kind of work. Go on, really it brightens up our day and makes us laugh!