Interview
Tattoo Artist Gill Monti Interview
GIL MONTE INTERVIEW
GIL MONTE: The whole culture of it, did he, did he show you the bullet holes and stuff?
DAVID ELLIS: No. No, though, I have to say, when we wrapped up for the day we were in the back room there packing stuff up and I guess it was maybe six o'clock and his nighttime guy was coming on and he walked by me, well, no, I've got to put this down to describe this. I was talking to Rick and I heard [SOUND OF ROUND] a round being chambered...
DAVID ELLIS: I've been talking to all the tattoo artists and my voice will get cut out of all this stuff, I'm trying to let the artists themselves and people speak for themselves and tell their own story - so, I'm asking everybody sort of the same kinds of questions about the world of tattooing. So, Rick Walters might say, I mean, one of the questions was WHAT ACTUALLY IS A Tattoo and he talked about the ink and how it sticks in and where... OKAY, THE GIL "THE DRILL" MONTE.
How many years have you been tattooing and what made you get into it?
10:30:44.15
GIL MONTE: Crime didn't pay. I started tattooing by hand about 19, late 1969, early 1970, right around in there. And I got into it because I was, grew up, I never really had much or never kept much, family moved, my mother and father were alcoholics, they're just like always around, one school for months, so on, so, I, ceh, ended up in North Hollywood at this time and there was a motorcycle club that lived on the corner and, I mean, these guys had tattoos and it just made them look so cool, basically, and, you know, they would always, you know, it's like a tattoo, you, you'll always have it, you'll never lose it, they can't take it away from you, because, like, my whole life as a child, whatever I had, I lost in the move or it was taken from me, you know, like the tattoo's that one thing that's always personally yours and you'll always have it, it's like wake, you know, like putting on a pair of sunglasses or a hat and looking in the mirror, you know, and just liking that look and saying, man, I feel great today, you know, and, uh, and you get that tattoo, you get it and you keep it, you just want to have more of it.
DAVID ELLIS: What are the tattoos you remember receiving in your early years that you liked, that meant something to you?
10:32:01.28
GIL MONTE: Every one of them. You know, a tattoo is like, it's taking you inside and putting it on your outside, you know, it's, it's a subliminal message for, eh, that you're, that you're, seh, you're documenting your life, it's your own personal diary. You know, you bleed for it, you go through pain for it. I mean, a lot of people have different reasons for getting tattooed, uh, but mine, it was just like, eh, every tattoo marked a particular time and space in my life. You know, I could almost tell you who I was with, the time of day, who did it, and, like I say, it, it's, it's all for me, you know, it's all mine and I'll always have it, no matter where I move or who takes what from me or, eh, you know, who tries to get me, I'll always have my tattoos. Whatever I have, I'll go out with, you know, and it's, so, I can't think of any particular time [SIGHS] that really stands out more than the other because every time was special. You know, I love the ritual of tattooing, you know, it's not important to me just to rush out to get tattoos -- I've been getting tattooed, again, since, like I say, sixty-nine, seventy, um, and that guy, eh, you know, we, we cut school, we were sniffing glue in class, ditched school, got, seh, went to TG&Y, stole some India ink, you know, went home played some music and we just, we tattooed each other so we'd be like these fellows that was living on the corner, this club. You know, that was a very cool time and I can't think of any particular time, I mean, if I had like $50.00
burning a hole in my pocket and I still went into a tattoo shop, I just wanted to get tattooed, you know, that it wasn't special at that time.
DAVID ELLIS: TELL THEM THAT THIS IS GIL MONTE'S INTERVIEW, SO...
GIL MONTE: DON'T MAKE ME COME OUT THERE... IT'S PROBABLY ANGIE...
DAVID ELLIS: We did a lot of little mini-interviews out on the floor today, there's some really...
GIL MONTE: Yeah...be a ...
DAVID ELLIS: That's actually something I...
GIL MONTE: Well, we'll get there, I can run...
DAVID ELLIS: Since the ritual is so important to you, how do you help make newcomers relate to that when they come in, uh, the studio.
10:34:00
GIL MONTE: The newcomer's whats, I mean, eh, new, somebody coming to get their first tattoo or somebody who's just started tattooing?
DAVID ELLIS: No, somebody who's coming in to get their first tattoo.
10:34:11.
GIL MONTE: Um, you know, it, it's kind of bizarre, it's like I don't get a whole lot of people getting their first tattoo. I get a lot of people who've been getting tattooed. Um, and those that I do get, they come in the shop, uh, I basically try to get them to believe in what they're doing. You know, I'm, in my shop, I mean, if a guy comes in and he's been drinking, got a little bit of a buzz on, get with some buddies and they want to get tattooed, you know, you know, I don't mind doing that, I think it's important, if it's their first tattoo, you know, I support that. You know, if they're, they, you know, they come in, and first thing you hear them say in the tattoo shop, this drunk guys walking in, like, man I get, like, dickhead right across my forehead, well, you know, that, they may, you know, I'd discourage that, you know, and that kind of behavior, or what the, it at, actually offends me, and I get rather loud about it because this is something I believe so strongly in, you know, and carrying this with you for the
rest of your life. Um. I just try to make them, basically, as comfortable as they could be and make sure that they know what they’re doing [CLEARS THROAT, excuse me] and that they're getting something that they know is going to be with them for the rest of their life and that they'll always be able to relate to. Like, say, somebody comes in and, well, they'll tell me, "You know what, if you was me what would you get," I said, oh, man, "I don't have a clue. You know, I don't, I'm not you." "Well, you're the professional and I'm getting my first tattoo, what would you pick out for me," I say, "I don't know, I can't answer that question, I mean, what are you a bowler or a golfer, I mean, what do you like, where do you come from, you know, I don't know, this is your skin, you have to wear it.
You know, I walk in my shoes, you walk in your shoes, you pick out your tattoo and I'll pick it in, you know." But I'll help guide them into that direction of what they might like, that might be, what might be suitable for them, something, uh, say, you know, research, you know, what your hobbies are, what you like, what your life means to you, uh, maybe you robbed a bank back in seventy-two and you would like to make that statement on your skin, but you want to do it subliminally, so you say, I had a guy robbed a bank in 1972, you know, and then worked out a design with this person. You know, I just want it to be a religious
experience for them. No matter what, even if they're getting, like, a happy face out there, it's got to be important, you should want to be wearing a happy face.
DAVID ELLIS: When did you... how long did it take you to learn how to tattoo and then, when did you realize you actually were good at it and artistic with it?
10:36:49
GIL MONTE: Well, I've been learning tattoos since that first time I poked one in the skin, when I first started, I'm still learning. Uh, it's an amazing business, there's, there's anything can be done on the skin that can be done on any other form of canvas. Um. I like pencil, more black and white work, but I don't disregard color, I like it also, I, just not very good at it. Um. I mean, I struggle, like I said, I always wanted to learn... My thing about tattoos is I never wanted to do the greatest tattoo, I wanted to be a good tattooer, I wanted to be one of them guys that I remember when I would walk into a tattoo shop and that guy would be back behind there, like, bigger than life, would have these, like, tall tales and, like, these long stories that would keep you enthralled for hours. You know, these people were magical to me, I, I'd, I realize that they were like saying something, you know, that they were, they were preaching something that I could relate to, and I wanted to be one of
those guys. So, as, when I first broke in professionally, after a little bit of time, I, I broke, feh, broke loose and I went out, and I went out and I tried to go around everybody who'd I read about or had heard about because it, it, back in them days, there really wasn't a lot of print on tattooing. You just had stories that where one tattooer talked about another guy doing this crazy thing back in, like, North Carolina in a carnival back in the thirties or forties, you know, and I, I wanted, I wanted to meet these people, I wanted to talk to them, I wanted them to tattoo me, I wanted to get that blood transfusion, you know, I wanted a part of that, in me, you know, because I wanted to be a tattooer, you know, I wanted to be able, because I realized with this job, what you're doing is when people come in and you tattoo them, you're altering their life, you know, they're going to walk out a different person, you know, because, no matter what, once the skin is marred, it'll never be changed and when they get tattooed, when they look at that, it's always going to say, BINK, back then, when you got this, remember this, you know.
So, I wanted to be able to preach this religion which is the only religion that I believe in. You know, I wanted to, to feel worthy of this, you know, and I still go through all the dues or, or whatever it takes, you know, to pay my respects for it and to, to feel myself worthy as being a tattooer. You know, sometimes, I mean, it's like, I even ask myself, am I bored or
hypocritical about it or not, I don't think so. It's strong. I mean, I, I've, I've watched the tattoos change people's lives over and over and over, you know. You, for instance, if you don't have one tattoo, you walk in and you get a tattoo, when you walk out you're different, same with your second tattoo. So, it was just important to me to feel it in me and I still learn, you know, I still seek, I don't, if somebody's been tattooing for a week or, if they don't even tattoo and they come up and they have some advice on it. I listen to everything and I try it once or twice, or three times, so I mean, it's, it's always a learning process because, you know, the, it, it, there's something, there's no rules here. So, and I'm just, I'm just a fledgling artist, you know, but I go through the soul and I believe that.
DAVID ELLIS: I noticed something interesting about your newest art, that you have a couple of different, you don't seem to be limited by subjects. MORE QUIET OUTSIDE. There were skulls, but there were masks, there were sort of a total, I don't know if they were total opposites, but, somewhere in your soul you're able to and interested in creating different images. Where does that come from?
10:40:50
GIL MONTE: Um... Too many acid trips before the age of nine, basically. You know, um, I go through life, hopefully, with my eyes wide open, as wide as they can
possibly be. You know, you know, like, Bert Grimm told me one time, that a tattoo artist becomes a master of expression. You know, because when you sit there and you're tattooing somebody, you hear it all, and you take some of that home with you every day. You know, like a hairdresser, they say only their hairdresser knows for sure. Well, when you're charging them money and you're making them bleed and hurting them, and you still want to send them out with a smile on their face -- they're telling you everything, you know, to me, a tattoo shop is a place where, like, the underworld meet the elite, you know, everybody's there, everybody's congregating, everybody's talking, you know, and you're absorbing all this and... you're getting, it's not like, it's a bloody ritual because they're very clean, antiseptic business, um, but, when I say, when, as I'll make the statements, as you go through it, you get their blood on you, you know, I just don't mean blood, but I mean, what they're saying, the conversations that spill over from the other side of the rail that the people are talking about, you know, it all goes into your head, it all saturates you, you know...so...
DAVID ELLIS: It's sort of an intimate experience...IT DOES, HUH HUH. LET'S MAKE AN ADJUSTMENT... ANOTHER DRINK...
10:42:53
GIL MONTE: Actually, I could introduce it through any time, I could bring it in okay. You know what I mean...Just so you know I'm doing this.
DAVID ELLIS: You were going to tell me how, in your soul, totally different kinds of art and images come out.
10:43:12
GIL MONTE: Oh, good, I was wondering because I kind of forgot.
DAVID ELLIS: I mean, most people know you as like...
10:43:18
GIL MONTE: A skull guy.
DAVID ELLIS: A tough guy, a skull guy, interesting, Gil is the pirate and there was art on that flash that, I don't you that well, but it's interesting, it's totally different.
10:43:35
GIL MONTE: Well, I mean, the pirate thing and all that, that comes from, I mean, I, I ride motorcycles and, you know, I just, I leh, I live life and I live it as being a tattooer, you know, where "the customer’s never right," a quote from Alto, um... My art, like when I juh, I just drew this last set of d-designs, it was the last one I had done since 1989 and
that set in 1989 I called my Heartbreak Set because, uh, my wife, at the time, had fallen in love with my best friend and I was shattered, you know, and if you look at all the stuff, it's just all, just like, "Woe is me." And then I hadn't drawn it, for one, it, it's a heck of a lot of work, to do a set of flash, and I haven't drawn on paper, basically, since 1989, you know, I keep my eye focused on the skin. Like when I do, uh, when I tattoo, I mean, if I'm not sitting there and I'm not doing something that the customer comes in and would like something off the wall, um, I don't use no research material, I draw everything out of my mind, on the skin, with a pen. You know. So, and, now, back to the flash and, and the artwork there is, I hooked up with a new lady, Angie, and she made my world a different place to be and seemed to have opened up some barriers because, I mean, after, again, now, in this job of so much of going in and doing artwork or drawing and tattooing and taking so much home with you, if you're like, you know, I kind of just fell into a, seh, a meh, a, a slump, you know, artists' block, whatever you want to call it, and I wasn't really producing. I mean, I was tattooing enough to keep my head above water, you know. Um, but, now, since, my life has seemed to have taken a change, and, feh, you know, done a "360" and, uh, I started drawing, I actually did one set for somebody to, you know, to sell out of a catalogue that they were a compilation set with other artists and, uh, I was drawing, just like all this stuff was
coming out of my hands that I didn't even know existed that I could draw. So, and then, with the need of money, I went to producing a set of flash and, as I was drawing, and just coming up with these ideas, I mean, it was just bam, bam, everything was just like falling right out, it was right there. And I even said I feel like, well, look at this, man, I said, I can't believe I'm doing this, or somebody'd come up and go where'd you get that from, I said, I don't have a clue. But, you know, you, you go through and you look and you see things and, especially if you're involved in the art world and you look at special technique or form or how somebody's doing something and, evidently, you still are this, you know. I think that's what worked for me, because I mean, it's like I had no idea where these ideas and stuff was coming from and, as far as like the skulls or all that, I mean, I'm known for doing skulls, um, I like to do them and people want them and that's all that matters to me and that they're happy with them. You know, if I never did anything else besides a skull, well, I mean, well, I guess that would be okay with me right now. You know, I don't feel like changing, but I like to do anything and I'm capable of doing anything, I mean, I could draw anything I've ever seen, you know, some, eh, things I draw better than others of course, but, uh, it just, all of a sudden it's just like I went through a life change, you know, and everything is just kind of open for me and the art is just, eh, there.
DAVID ELLIS: How many years have you been tattooing...
10:47:17
GIL MONTE: What time is it?
DAVID ELLIS: 30?
10:47:18
GIL MONTE: Well, like I said, I started like in late sixty-nine early seventy, I can't quite pinpoint the date, um...
DAVID ELLIS: Do you remember a time when you did a tattoo somewhere in those early days and you said, "Wow, I think I'm starting to get a handle on this?"
10:47:37
GIL MONTE: Phew. There was a time when I thought I was the greatest thing that's ever hit this industry, you know, I thought, man, whew, ain't I something, you know, um, so, yeah, but, I mean, it's just like that saying, you know, the more I learn, the, the more they change the rules or as soon as I think I know they change the rules. Um. Again, like I come from a place when tattooing was fairly traditional in our country for the aspect of panthers, roses, eagles, your name, you know, things like that and I thought I was breaking all kinds of new ground by doing a skull in a top hat, you know, but, uh, whoa, I just didn't see or there wasn't
as much exposure for tattooing as, as there is now for people to see. But, uh, yeah, I definitely, uh, I had some leaders, you know, there's been great tattooers, um, I LOST THE TRACK OF IT.
DAVID ELLIS: It was eloquent -- PAUSE FOR A SECOND - want to tell Gil a story...
GIL MONTE: ...he didn't get that from heh, from his other tattoos, it was just a ________, but when I
10:48:55:
GIL MONTE: tattooed him he, juh, he, you know, he'd feel like he engulfed this power, you know.
DAVID ELLIS: It's an interesting thing that, as you said, people will walk out of your studio with your work and with every tattoo they're changed in some way. I mean, we saw...
10:49:11
GIL MONTE: Yeah, but you understand, you change, too. You can't help it. You change, too. You know, because, I mean, even if they're talking to theirself, you're still taking this all in, I mean, you're not in a glass bubble, they're talking and you're hearing, even though you're concentrating on what you're doing, you're still hearing what they're saying and all this is going in your brain. These people aren't, these
people are being, hur, eh, it hurts a little bit, it stings, it's a burning sensation, you know, and, at times, it becomes very uncomfortable, right, and they start babbling, they say things, they talk about their wives, they talk about their jobs, they'll talk about their motorcycles, they'll talk, they'll tell you anything, like I said, we mentioned earlier, they'll tell you anything, anything, you know, but their soul basically pours out on a table in front of you and this all goes into you and you can't help, when you go home at the end of the night, taking some of that home.
DAVID ELLIS: Is that for better or for worse?
10:50:06
GIL MONTE: Well, I mean, I believe it creates a wise man, they say you could gain knowledge at school, but you would gain wisdom through travel, you know. Like, in, in my life, if, is tattooing, I've tattooed some of the most interesting people that ever existed, you know, I'm kind of related as a hoodlum tattoo artist, you know, um, therefore, I have people who come to me who feel safe if they say something or want to say something to me and I carry all this, you know what I mean, they give this to me and, to me, it just makes me another day older, another day wiser, you know, but, even if you're not concentrating on
that, you're still getting input from every person you tattoo is giving you something to take home.
DAVID ELLIS: PAUSE FOR A SECOND - COME IN...
10:51:00
GIL MONTE: Well, like, eh, when I've mentioned before, you know, it's like, I've talked to people you know, it's like, when I get up, when I get ready to go to work or go to the shop to do my thing, you know, I don't know from one minute to the next who's going to walk through that door and what they're going to ask me, you know, you think you heard it all, you think you've seen it all, it never fails, everyday there's something new, you know, uh, I've tat, eh, like I said, I, seh, I, my clientele is, I probably have one of the most interesting clientele lists in the business, I would say, but that's just me, you know, I think our people are special to me and there's a large variety of celebrities: athletes, criminals, you know, just all, you know, everybody gets tattooed, so, you're sitting in a chair, and just, you just can't tell who's going to walk through that door, you know, my biggest day that I can remember, as far as who came through the door, was when Ringo Starr come through, my whole life I wanted to meet one of the Beatles, and Ringo comes in with his wife and his daughter, you know, I mean, it's, like, I thought I've never been floored, but I was floored, you
know, I mean, and the ironic thing was, it's like my whole life of buying Beatle records, posters and tapes and any other stuff that they were selling, I was buying, um, putting that money out, it's a Beatle brought me that money back, see, those are the things that make me believe in this. You know, a Beatle brought me my money back. I might even have made, gained interest on it [CHUCKLES].
DAVID ELLIS: Well, you've already sort of touched on this, but, after 28 years of meeting all kinds of different people, I don't mean to reduce this all to a short sound bite, but, what are some of the things you've learned about human nature through watching people walk in the door -- are there any things, I mean, I know that life is unpredictable...
10:53:04
GIL MONTE: It takes all kinds of people to fill a freeway, you know, and, the only thing I know for sure, you know, is that today is Wednesday, you know, it's, people are very unpredictable, you know, I quit trying to, like, early in this job, like, eh, like we asked or we talked, eh, touched bases on, uh, [CLEARS THROAT excuse me] People come in and their first tattoos or try to steer them in a direction, well, I quit trying to pick them out, you know.... You just don't know what they're going to do it, what they want, where they're going to get it and...people just blow my mind in all
honesty. There's just no, I don't know, I can't, eh, I just can't even touch on this. [CLEARS THROAT]
DAVID ELLIS: It's interesting that every tattoo artist is different, everybody has skills in different areas, everybody, you know, thinks about stuff differently and I think that if you were to, to, I mean, ask somebody who doesn't know you at all, just knows that you're a famous tattoo guy, they'd say, well, Gil Monte is that tough, famous guy who does skulls and the weird truth is, as it always is, it's much more complicated than that. You know, I mean, anybody who's listening to this is going to say, well, if that's, if this is Gil Monte who just does skulls, I mean, he's a tattoo philosopher, really. There's a lot of stuff going on in your brain that nobody, necessarily, knows about. Maybe when they're sitting in your chair they get a sense of that.
10:54:50
GIL MONTE: You know, what I found through this business is, after you've tattooed somebody, if you've been fair with them, you've treated them right, you treat them with the respect that they deserved, a lot of times these people come back for a tattoo fix and for your fix. They come back to gain a little comfort or insight or hear some of your philosophy, I mean, that's what's, jeh, s-steered me in this direction, you know, basically, is that there are wise men,
you know, and I believe a tattoo should be a wise man. I'm highly offended by, uh, tattooers who just treat it as a nickel and dime trade, uh, bastardize it, basically, is what I say, you know, it's very important. Now, [CLEARS THROAT] I mean, I don't, cuh, I don't know, I don't know, as tough as I am, how tough I am, I don't know, you know. I've grown up in a manner and had enough stuff taken away from me to where I had, I ain't going to allow it again, uh, if I'm right, I'll go all the way with it, you know, I, I'll die for a cause, I have that tattooed on me, "To Die For a Cause" you know, it's all, all I have is my heart, you know, because the way I tattoo and go about it, you see, me, I don't make a lot of money at it, you know, I just, it's labor of love for me, you know, so, there's, I'm impressed, I mean, I'm known as being around a long time and people, some people have respect for that, some people don't, some people don't like the way I feel about the business, some people do. Um, you know, I just do my thing, I like motorcycles, I like riding them, I like, I like me and my lifestyle, you know, and it fits into certain brackets of life with other people, that's cool, you know, I don't try to be something I'm not, I'm not a good liar. Um. And how people feel about me or look at me, well, that, you know, get a job, get a life, you know. I have, I have a lot of fans in this business who think of me as a certain way, that's cool, we meet, they feel differently, you know -- I'm the first guy to cry at the movies, you know,
I'm not an unbearable thug, you know, I have a big heart, you know, all my money I’d give away trying to help somebody out, you know, all my personal possessions, is my, it's my motorcycles, I was like, I gave it all away to help somebody out, you know, I just like to tattoo, I like to make people happy and, you know, ride my motorcycles.
DAVID ELLIS: Can I take you back to the early years when you told me you were sort of roaming around trying to learn from some of the great people and you ran into Bert Grimm in Vegas and I guess you met other people. What were some of the important lessons that those early great guys told you or showed you?
10:58:17
GIL MONTE: Well. To believe in what I was doing, for one. To believe [CLEARS THROAT] To believe in, in the tattoos...um, and the power that being heavily tattooed..presented. Bert Grimm told me one time, in Las Vegas, he goes, "Man," he says, "You never throw stones at heavily tattooed people." See, now, we're coming from a time when being heavily tattooed wasn't a very popular or a cool thing, you know, you were, you were, you were kind like the human freak, like on sideshow carnivals and circuses or, one of the most common questions, "you must have been in prison," or "you were in the navy."
It couldn't just be you're just an artist or you're just wearing your life story on you, you know, you had to come from some kind of waterfront with a dingy lit bulb hanging over head, you know, you couldn't possess anything else of any pizzazz, you know, you had to be criminal or in the Navy. Um, but they told me this, like, it's just so important, you know, to believe in this, and to make a couple bucks, and to put a couple bucks under your mattress because you don't have life insurance now, you know, you don't have a dental plan or you don't get eye glasses, you know, so, you've got to make hay while the sun shines, you know, and, basically, you know -- get it.
DAVID ELLIS: What do you figure happened - WANT TO MAKE A CHANGE? OKAY...
DAVID ELLIS: So, 28 years and in those 28 years society has, I think, changed a lot in how it looks at tattoos, what are the things that you've noticed about those changes in all the years you've been working?
11:00:16
GIL MONTE: With tattoos? Well, I mean, there, there's a lot more preh, there's a lot more press, there's a lot more attention focused on it, I mean, coming from a point of more celebrities got tattooed, there's tattoo magazines, um...
DAVID ELLIS: What changed in society that all of a sudden, you know, everybody is now interested in tattooing?
11:00:37
GIL MONTE: You know, I have a philosophy on this and it's like, whenever this history repeats itself, when society or, is in its form of decadence, when things ain't going all that great for everybody. You know, nobody's got money, there's no longer no middle class, you know, you either got money or you don't. Um, people try to be able to hold on to what little bit of things they have, you know, and tattoos have always been that, that, that thing that people could get that, ain't nobody going to take away, ain't going to be the tax man, no, no man going to get it, uh, Johnny Crack-head ain't going to, uh, break in your house and steal it, you know, so, as things are going rough, people start grabbing onto things that they can hold on to, things that make them feel better. You know, I mean, I've seen people come in and actually try to talk some people out of spending, you know, coming in with their wife or something and spending her last fifty cents on a tattoo, you know, because this guy needed this, this guy needed this, to bring him up so he could start functioning again, you know, well, [IMITATES NAGGING] "we got no milk, we go no bread, we got no cheese," you know. He says, "look, I need this," or vice versa, she needs this, you know, "you know, my tits are sagging, I would like to feel
better about myself," you know, "I'm going to spend this last fifty cents to get my breast job," you know, I just think things have gone a little astray and gone down and I think people are grabbing onto tattoos to feel a lot better about themselves, I think people have become much more tribal. You know, I look at my business, now my business is well, sixty percent black. If you would have told this several years ago I would have laughed in your face, you know, but we get this large influx now and there's, there's a lot of blacks that are being tattooed, you know, because it's, it's, it's very tribal, it's, it's part of their history, you know, it's bonding, you know, but the key word, I think, being, is tribal. You know, and, and understand it's like, I'm not a tattoo historian by no means, you know, it's all like, leh, just how, how I see it.
DAVID ELLIS: LET'S PAUSE FOR A SECOND...11:02:52
TAPE CHANGE
GIL MONTE -- continued
DAVID ELLIS: We've had a lot of 16-hour days.
TC_______
GIL MONTE: Yeah, it's funny, it's just like I watched, uh, the Devil's Advocate the other night. I thought the way it was filmed it was just, s-so spectacular, you know, I couldn't wait to...
DAVID ELLIS: Camille Claudel?
TC_______
GIL MONTE: Yeah, they get killed, I'm the guy on the weight pile, or in the carrot, carrot eater. Um, but his average was like 30 scenes per take, but... 30 takes per scene, yeah, I'm sorry, but I don't know if you've ever seen it, The Devil's Advocate, NO. Man, it is just, it's just, it's incredible the way he did it.
DAVID ELLIS: Did you see it in a theater or a video...
TC_______
GIL MONTE: No, the, it's on TV upstairs, on the pay-per-view box, you know. But the artist died. You know it's like Angie wants to learn how to be a ph, eh, she wants to be a photographer, you know, and, I mean, I just take pictures
because I'm there and I just take pictures, I just, but I, I use an artist eye with it, what I have, my, my, my idea of an artist eye, uh, okay. And, I, I'm trying to like direct or help her out a little bit, you know, and I'll say, hey, now that would be a nice shot, you know and it got to, eh, be a little bit where she was like, oh, just leave me alone, let me figure this out, you know, and I said, "Look, we're just trying to have something in common, I'm just trying to, like, direct you a little bit." Um, she goes, "Well that's your opinion of art, that's not my opinion." Well, I thought abo, I had to think about that, you know, because, like I said, you know, what, when we talked about, what have you ever learned about people is that everybody's different. You know, really, no two people are the same, so, there's no rules, who's to say. You know, when she says, that's your opinion, let me figure it out on my own, and I figure, well, my I'm an artist, I'm trying to tell her, well, wait a second here, you know, maybe she's the artist.
DAVID ELLIS: Let me ask you something about tattoos...
TC_______
GIL MONTE: Not that again.
DAVID ELLIS: You've travelled a lot, you know tons of people with different kinds of tattoos, is there a bad kind of tattoo?
TC_______
GIL MONTE: Well, I don't know how to answer that, because, you know, to me, see, this business has become saturated with suppliers, you know, and anybody can get a tattoo kit and tattoo their brother, you know, without understanding, uh, sterilization or anything that has to do with it and I think somebody who just goes in and gets a tattoo from them is getting a bad tattoo, but, you know, then, again, it just marks, I think, if you like cut yourself and, you know, gets some powder in your arm and it leaves a mark, is a tattoo, and I, you know, sometimes that's okay, you know. A tattoo, eh, is not exactly looking at a eagle above an anchor or a heart with mom, you know, it's a mark on your skin, you know, that, you remember that means something to you.
DAVID ELLIS: I wonder, is there a certain kind of tattooing that turns you off? I mean, you've got a daughter, do you ever see young people, is there some kind of image that you wish people weren't using or...
TC_______
GIL MONTE: WELL [CLEARS THROAT] I have my personal preferences of what I think, eh, of things that I like, but, again, who am I? You know. I do my thing, you do your thing. Now, I mean, I might not like what this person is doing, like, I have, there's somebody in the business that does a lot of demonic stuff and, you know, anti-Christ stuff, you know, now I'm not a religious man, I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, I just think it puts out the wrong message, but, again, I mean, who am I. You know, there's a saying, "the only difference between tattooed people and non-tattooed people is tattooed people don't care if you're tattooed or not." You know, there's just, there's no rules here, it's art, it's tattoos, it's a permanent mark, you know, and if the person getting the tattoo and the person doing the tattoo are happy with it, you know, or as long as the per, bottom line, if the person gets a tattoo, if he likes it, that's really all that matters, you know, if he honestly likes and he gets through and he's happy with it, well, there you go. I mean, I could be down on suppliers for saturating the business or putting, you know these tools in the hands of children or whatever, the thing is, is there have been great people come up from that, you know, so, to answer the question, I mean, it's, you know, I think all tattoos are good tattoos, although there, I said again, india ink, big thick lines, um, John Loves Jane, you know, some people say, "Oh, that's ugly, I could fix that, let me cover that up, that looks cheesy, it looks like you've been in prison or whatever, you know, it's still what the tattoo means to that person when he got it. It might not look good when you're at the cocktail party with the boss, you know, he got this old, you know, handpicked tattoo, but, uh, it still means something. So, like, again, there, there's no answer to that question for me.
DAVID ELLIS: Tell me something about Ink Slingers' Ball.
TC_______
GIL MONTE: The Ink Slingers' Ball is convention that was started off, there was Randy Adams, uh, Fred Saunders, myself. Fred Saunders does production. I mean, he's really very good at it and we wanted, Randy and I wanted to have the unconventional convention, you know, it was, again, let's have fun with this, this, eh, tattooing was going through a time when everybody was building tattoo studios. Please come in my office and allow me to put this tattoo on you, you know, I'll make appointments six months in advance and I will step into your studio, you know, and you're going to mark me forever and there's just no personality there, it's just so...unclose, you know, it's just, you don't feel it, like, nothing there. I wanted to open it up, you know, make tattooing all fun again, you know, let people sit next to each other and laugh and share a memory, you know, play music. It had just become a too, tattooing had become too antiseptic, you know, there was no more personality, again of the ritual of what this person was doing with the other person, or, you know, the meeting of the minds and sharing this. Like my studio, you know, no walls, no, no, no private offices, you know, you sit right next to the other person and you get tattooed and you bleed all over each other, again, bleeding
just means verbally or sharing their memories. Uh, we're having slingers, it's, this year, it's the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th of September and we have it at the Hollywood Palladium where they used to do the Lawrence Welk show from, it's just a cool old hall, you know, and I remember I used to be tortured by having to watch Lawrence Welk and Mitch Miller as a child, you know, but, eh, they were having fun there and that's what it's always been, is like the little place to go and listen to music and have fun and party, so I wanted to have the Ink Slingers' Ball and it's, it's the unconventional convention, you know, there's a lot of people there that don't get boozed that like other shows, you know, tattooing took a turn where it just become the who's who, only those people get boozed, only that get boozed, you know, and there, there's a lot of people coming up who's been around, who don't like to rub all them shoulders, you know, that do great tattoos and like to have fun at it or feel, you know, like I do and that's basically what Ink Slingers is about, it's the unconventional convention, you know.
DAVID ELLIS: Just a couple of more questions. I get the feeling that you like to mentor the people in your shop and you like to see new people come up. What is it that you try and teach people?
TC_______
GIL MONTE: Ummm. First off, I think this business is already over-saturated with tattoo artists, I think there's too many. There's too many who don't take it serious, what happened was, like, is, I, again, when I come up through the business, you had to serve an apprenticeship, you know, you had to run and get the hot dogs, you had to cut stencils, you had to scrub the toilets, you had to mop the floor, you had to do whatever it took, I gave my motorcycle, you know, and just worked real hard to get here, you know, you had to really want to be here, you know, because the, this is a, uh, a job of a, pirates and they don't want you around, you know. It's like if you was the only 7-11 in, uh, all of L.A., you'd be doing all right, but there's one on every corner, you know. It looks like a, a job that, that's like easy money, you know, it's not, not easy at all, nothing easy about it. The only thing that's easy is getting the tattoo equipment because people don't care who they sell to, you know, they don't care who gets it, they don't care. Um. I'VE LOST IT.
DAVID ELLIS: I guess my final question would be, what's the future of tattooing and what would you like young, skillful people to know for the future and are people going to get marked forever?
TC_______
GIL MONTE: They always have, they always will. It's the oldest proven form of art known to man, tattooing, you know, and people will continue to get tattooed, you know, um, there will always be that culture. I could foresee a heavily tattooed society. I mean, there's more every day, it's, it's, it's like, uh, like, it's just taken over. People realize it's okay to feel good about yourself, to do something that's a little different, it's okay to make a, a permanent decision in your life, you know, it's okay. And I try, you know, like with, with people, I just try to get through to them, you know, eh, like, again, like I was told, man, hey, take what you're doing real serious, because it is real serious, you know. These people are going to walk out the door and they're going to go through their whole life with this mark, you know, make it special for them, you know, you know, good, and you've got to get right through it, you know, just don't break the skin, you've got to break into the soul, you know, to make them feel really good, you know, you know, I've always felt like, eh, that you could almost tattoo, you know, poop, you know, or something on somebody, and if, if, if you're, if you deliver right, if you're right about it and I like it, you know, it doesn't matter, you know, you just got to really feel like what you're doing is important or realize it is important.