Paul Booth - Tattooist To The Stars

Hit Parader

July 2007

Burly tattooist Paul Booth was in the middle of permanently etching ink onto a customer's epidermis. We didn’t need to see it, because we already had a pretty good idea of what it would look like, since Booth’s style is as distinct as a finger-print: dark, brooding, haunting, and unsettling to say the least. But we were glad that e extremely busy man — his waiting list is approximately two years long and he works by appointment only- was taking a break from his work to talk to us about as his role not only as master tattooist, but as tattoist to some of the biggest names in heavy metal.

 “My hand was getting tired, so it’s good to take a break,” laughs Booth in his notoriously popular Last Rites studio in New York City. The studio has an atmosphere. that imbibes all the senses: incense, a smoke machine and, of course, blasting hard rock music. Booth has been tattooing for 18 of his 39 years on this planet, and has provided custom, freehand tattoos for Down’s Philip Anselmo, Slayer’s Tom Araya and Kerry King, Slipknot's Clown, Corey Taylor, and Mick Tompson, Deftones’ Stephen Carpenter, as well as members of Mudvayne, Cradle Of Filth, Chimaira, Sepultura, and Sevendust. Clearly, he works with the heaviest and the hardest. Booth went on the road with Sepultura, Biohazard and Pantera in the early ‘90s, moving from dressing room to dressing room to ink the various musicians who requested his services. He also hit  the road with Ozzfest for four years, tattooing more band members than he can recall. He was also one of the organizers of the Tattoo The Earth Festival in 2000, a touring circus which featured many of the aforementioned bands along with travelling tattoo artists. 

 “I enjoy working on rock stars because we share a common plane,” Booth explains. “I have fans of my work. They have fans of their work and we relate on a lot of levels. I’ve been fortunate because the people in hard rock bands approach me the way my regular customers do. I do custom freehand and dark stuff, and it goes hand in hand with he music they are making. They come to me and Say, ‘Do your thing.’ We'll brainstorm together, and I'll draw what they say. They give me artistic freedom.”  

 Not only are Booth’s styles dark and unnerving, but so is his ethic. He doesn’t use stencils, which is a standard tattoo procedure. Instead, he sketches directly on his human canvas with a pen, to get rough ideas. “I just go for it and like to create right on the skin,” he says. “Initially, we don’t know what it’s going to turn out like. I demand and require immense amounts of trust from my clientele. If they're not going to give me that, they’re in the wrong chair.” 

  Booth is adamant that he connects with musicians on a vision before he provides their tattoos. Such an approach, he believes, is the key that allows him to do his thing so freely.

 “When you tattoo people over the years, you start to rely on the hunch or the vibe you get from them,” he explains. “It’s almost like you're a psychologist and a better judge of what people are looking for. It isn’t about just doing what I want, but giving them what they are looking for. If anyone declines on doing a tattoo, it’s me, usually. If I think someone isn’t ready, because my stuff is a bit extreme, I tell them, ‘Hey, you’re not ready for this undertaking.’ You have an obligation as an artist to make sure they make a right decision because a tattoo lasts a lifetime.”

 Regarding the hard rock-tattoo connection, Booth explains his theory. “I think kids get into tattoos for the same reason they get into music. It’s rebellious, especially hard rock. Tattoos are like the visual aspects of rebellion and getting out the aggression. You make music, or you listen to this type of music, to vent. Tattoos are another form of venting. It’s a form of expression. Both tattoos and music are outsider art. Musicians are artists, like me, but they are working in a different medium.”

SLIPKNOT RELEVANT QUOTES

"We're really into touring and tattooing - it's another form of artistic expression. There's the music, and then there's art beyond the music" 

(#6 - Shawn Crahan)

“Sid the drummer from Slipknot* and | want the same tattoo. Have you ever seen the Shaolin monks, the old Shaolin Kung-Fu movies? They have like six dots, black dots on their head. Sid and I were going to do that. So hopefully we'll get that done"

MATT, MUDVAYNE 

(Note, Sid is the DJ, the drummer at this time was Joey)

"You can't really see any of our tattoos because they're always covered by our stage stuff. Maybe we'll all just have our masks tattooed on our faces.”

(Shawn Crahan)