1. Can you explain to me exactly what is the post-modernist tropical muralism in South America? What inspired you in it?
IM GLAD YOU BROUGHT THAT UP… not.
IT’S REALLY JUST A LOAD OF LANGUAGE, SOMETHING I MADE UP CUZ I WANTED TO USE SOME BIG FANCY WORDS FOR THIS ART MAGAZINE INTERVIEW… IF YOU CAN’T DAZZLE EM WITH BRILLIANCE, BAFFLE ‘EM WITH BULLSHIT, THAT WAS BOB SHAW’S MOTTO… HE WAS MY TATTOO MENTOR… NO RELATION, SAME SURNAME… MY LIFE IS FULL OF COINCIDENCES LIKE THAT, ALWAYS STRANGER THAN FICTION…
ANYWAY, NOT TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT, I THINK IT WAS JUST MY FANCY ARTSY WAY OF MAKING REFERENCE TO THE KIND OF NAIVE HAND PAINTED MURAL ART YOU SEE ON SLEEZY BAR AND WHOREHOUSE WALLS IN PLACES LIKE BELEM, SURINAM, HONDURAS, MEXICO, SHIT LIKE THAT…
HAHAHAHA
2. What are dockside dives like?
IF YOU GO TO VILA MIMOSA AND WALK ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE END OF THE 2ND ALLEY ON YOUR LEFT… OR THE BAR ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE ‘SCANDINAVIA’ IN PRACA MAUA…. AHH QUE SAUDADE DO MEU RIO!!
2. Can you tell me a little bit about your family? Mom, Artie, Bob Shaw?
INSANE GENIUS ARTISTS WITH PARANORMAL, DISTURBED INTELLECTS AND LOADS OF TALENT AND CHARISMA AND… VERY BAD LIFE SKILLS, WARPED SOCIAL ATTITUDES, PSYCHIC DAMAGE AND ALCOHOLISM… MUCH SUICIDE, VIOLENCE AND TRAGEDY IN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY OF ORIGIN… IT’S A CONSTANT THEME IN MY BOOKS AND OTHER WRITING, NOT TO MENTION MY PERSONAL LIFE….. FUN FUN FUN…. MY MOTHER ALWAYS CALLED IT ‘THE CURSE’ AND SAID IT WAS HEREDITARY…SHE WAS MOST LIKELY RIGHT, I THINK.
I WAS ON THE STREET AS SOON AS I COULD FIND MY WAY OUT OF THERE. LEFT HOME RUNNING FOR MY LIFE AND NEVER LOOKED BACK TILL I WAS MUCH OLDER AND SOBER AND TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL. I STILL AM TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT. IT’S A FULL TIME JOB. I THINK THAT’S WHY I’VE BECOME A FULL TIME WRITER. WHEEEE!!!
MY FATHER WAS A PRETTY GOOD WRITER, NOT NEARLY AS GOOD AS ME, IT WAS ALWAYS HIS BIG AMBITION THOUGH, AND HE COULD NEVER QUITE GET IT… HE SHOULDA STUCK TO MUSIC, THERE HE WAS A GENIUS… HE PUBLISHED A FEW BOOKS BUT NEVER MADE TOO MUCH SUCCESS. HE’LL BE TURNING OVER IN HIS GRAVE WHEN MY BOOK NARCISA HITS. HAHAHAHA — NOTHING MORE MISERABLE THAN A FRUSTRATED, OVER INTELLECTUAL WRITER, EXCEPT MAYBE A DRY DRUNK, AND ARTIE WAS BOTH, POOR BASTARD.
I’M GONNA SEND YOU A COPY OF MY OTHER BOOK, SCABVENDER IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MY FAMILY, I WROTE ALOT ABOUT MY FUCKING NIGHTMARE CHILDHOOD AND MOTHER AND FATHER THERE.
3. What can you tell me about Bukowski and Burroughs, how meaningful are they to your life and writing?
I LEARNED TO WRITE BY READING ALOT- I HAVE NO FORMAL EDUCATION WHAT EVER, LEFT SCHOOL AT THE AGE OF TWELVE AND RAN THE STREETS, SO IN THAT SENSE THEY [OTHER WRITERS IN GENERAL] ARE MY REAL AND ONLY TEACHERS AND GURUS AND SO VERY VERY MEANINGFUL TO MY LIFE AND WRITING …
BUKOWSKI WAS A BIG EARLY INFLUENCE AND HE’S ONE OF THOSE WRITERS WHO, ONCE HE’S IN, HE’S IN FOR GOOD… HE WAS ALSO AN ACQUAINTANCE WHEN I WAS JUST A YOUNG PUP, FIRST STARTING TO EXPLORE POETRY… VERY COOL AND HELPFUL EVEN IN A WEIRD KINDA WAY.
THERE’S A CHAPTER IN THE BOOK IM SENDING YOU CALLED ‘A NIGHT WITH BUKOWSKI‘ THAT GIVES YOU AN OVERVIEW OF OUR RELATIONSHIP BACK THEN….
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I HAVEN’T READ ANY OF HIS SHIT IN OVER 30 YEARS, JUST STARTED AGAIN THIS WEEK SITTING IN THE BATHTUB TO UNWIND AFTER A FULL DAY EDITING MY NEW BOOK NARCISA…
BUT EVEN THOUGH I DON’T REALLY WRITE LIKE HIM, AND EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, HE’S STILL A BIG AND BENOVOLANT INFLUENCE…
BURROUGHS LESS SO…
I READ HIS BOOK JUNKIE WHEN I WAS JUST A TEENAGER GETTING STARTED AS A JUNKIE MYSELF- HEROIN, I GUESS THAT WAS ALWAYS ONE OF MY BIG AMBITIONS TOO… ANYWAY MY OTHER BOOK SCABVENDER DEALS WITH ALL THAT….. OH YEH BACK TO BURROUGHS, NOT TOO MUCH TO SAY THERE, I LIKED ‘JUNKIE’ COULDN’T FUCKING READ NAKED LUNCH OR ANYTHING ELSE HE WROTE… SORRY. I MET HIM A COUPLE TIMES WITH JIM JARMUSCH WHO’S A BIG FRIEND OF MINE AND WAS FRIENDS WITH BURROUGHS…
FUNNY YOU MENTION THEM TOGETHER, AS I WAS JUST SITTING IN THE BATHTUB THE OTHER NIGHT AND READ SOMETHING BUKOWSKI WROTE ABOUT WSB AND IT WASN’T TOO NICE..
4. How resolved is your head in relation to your dad?
IT’S A LIFETIME OF WORK, GETTING ‘RESOLVED’ TO THE FACT THAT HE ABANDONED ME IN THE CRIB, IF THAT’S WHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT… YOU CAN READ SOME OF MY IDEAS ABOUT IT AND HIM IN SCABVENDER: CONFESSIONS OF A TATTOO ARTIST.
IF YOU’RE REFERRING TO HIS FAME, I DUNNO, IT REALLY NEVER REALLY EFFECTED ME MUCH, SINCE BEING THE BASTARD SON OF A FAMOUS PERSON AIN’T ALL GLAMOR…. WHEN HE DIED HE LEFT ME… NOTHING. NOT EVEN A PHOTOGRAPH… CONTINUO POBRE, POREM SORRIDENTE!
5. Alcohol recovery?
THAT’S A BOOK OR TWO IN ITS OWN RIGHT… A FEW CHAPTERS OF SCABVENDER ALLUDE TO IT… I WAS AN ALKIE AND A HARD DRUG ADDICT FROM THE AGE OF 12 UP TIL ABOUT 7 YEARS AGO… I’M AN ADHERENT TO THE 12 STEP PHILOSOPHY AND IT HAS SAVED MY LIFE AND GIVEN ME BACK MY SOUL….
BTW – I CAN’T PUBLICLY ADMIT TO MEMBERSHIP IN ANY ‘ANONYMOUS’ FELLOWSHIP, BECAUSE IT IS ANONYMOUS,
BUT IT’S OK TO SAY 12 STEP PHILOSOPHY, OK?
IF YOU READ MY BOOK NARCISA, IT PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP THE MIND OF ANY AND ALL WHO SUFFER FROM ADDICTION, ALCOHOL, DRUGS, WHATEVER, SHE IS AN ARCHETYPAL CHARACTER….
I COULD SAY SO MUCH ABOUT RECOVERY, I BETTER JUST SHUT UP AND SAVE IT FOR MY BOOKS….
I LOVE THE TWELVE STEPS!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! THE BEST!!!!!!
6. What are your musical favorites and what authors got the best of you?
MUSIC. LENINE, TOM JOBIM, ETC ETC ETC… ALL THE USUAL SUSPECTS… TOO MUCH AND TOO MANY TO NAME. NICK CAVE I LISTEN ALOT LATELY, BUT IT’S JUST OVERWHELMING TO EVEN BEGIN TO ANSWER A QUESTION LIKE THAT… BETTER JUST FORGET IT… SAME WITH WRITERS… LATELY I LIKE ALOT OF JERRY STAHL, THE LOVELY LYDIA LUNCH, BUK, RE-READING CELINE, HENRY MILLER, DE RIGEUR, JORGE AMADO, MAYRA GOMES, — E CLARO– GARCIA MARQUEZ, IT JUST GOES ON AND ON… KEROUAC, THE BEATS, ETC, YOU KNOW…
7. Plan on ever being on the screen again?
I ONLY DO GAY PORNO NOW. TALK TO MY AGENT.
8. What do you miss the most in life?
I TRY NOT TO MISS MUCH… LIVE EVERY DAY LIKE IT’S THE LAST..
9. What happened to your studio? Why did you give up on comercial tattoo?
IT WAS MAKING ME SICK AND CRAZY — I DID WHAT I HADDA DO… DIDN’T YOU READ THAT THING ALESSANDRA SENT YOU? — THE BIO SHE WROTE ABOUT MY TATTOO CAREER, IT’S LIKE 19 PAGES LONG, TALKS ABOUT ALL THAT SHIT…. SO DO YOUR RESEARCH MY FINGERS ARE GETTING TIRED RSRSRSRS
NEXT…….
10. You were the founder and managing editor of International Tattoo Art Magazine, right? Many people consider you to have been the one who brought tattoo art into the mainstream. How do you feel about where its all gone from there? Are you still involved with the tattoo media, magazines, conventions?
YES I DID FOUND ITA AND NO I’M NOT INVOLVED WITH ANY OF THAT SHIT, THEY ARE ALL A BUNCH OF BOTTOM-FEEDING CORPORATE BLOODSUCKERS…..
I REPEAT — READ THE BIO BY ALESSANDRA FOR MORE IN DEPTH ON ALL THIS SHIT…
11. What about your big 18 page cover story with Iggy Pop in Trip magazine? Some say it was most in-depth piece on him ever. How did that all come about?
NEXT……. IGGY IS A VERY OLD PERSONAL FRIEND WITH A SIMILAR WORLD VIEW AND NASTY OUTLOOK ON LIFE… WE GO BACK…. I JUST HAPPENED TO DO IT LIKE A CASUAL VISIT WITH AN OLD FRIEND, THEN TOOK IT AND PACKAGED IT UP WITH SOME NICE FOTOS AND A GOOD TRANSLATION AND SOLD IT TO THE HIGHEST, MOST PRESTIGIOUS BIDDER, I LOVE TRIP MAGAZINE, BUT I HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH THEM… IT WAS A ONE OFF. LOTSA FUN, BUT I DONT WANNA MAKE A CAREER OF INTERVIEWING ROCK STARS, NO NO.
12. What were some of your biggest early influences in the art world?
THE E.C. COMICS — VERY IMPORTANT STUFF, BIG BIG INFLUENCE ON ME FROM AN EARLY AGE… DARK SINISTER READING FOR IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN OF THE APOCALYPSE… HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT FOR KIDS TO TURN THEM INTO PSYCHOPATHS LIKE ME!!!
THE ONLY FIFTIES COMICS WORTH A SHIT —
NOW THE SIXTIES, THAT’S ANOTER STORY, WHEN I STARTED DROPPING ALOT OF ACID AT AGE OF 12 IT WAS ALL ABOUT ROBERT CRUMB AND THE OTHER ZAP COMIX ARTISTS, LATER, I BECAME FRIENDS WITH ALL THOSE GUYS AND EVEN HAD SOME ART SHOWS TOGETHER….
IN BRAZIL IT’S ANGELI, REBORDOSA, BOB CUSP ALL THAT, GREAT STUFF, OK I’M DONE NOW….