-This is the Alex Wright. -And this is Kyle 'Egg' Williams.
-And this is Grindhouse Tattoo Productions. -Macclesfield. -UK.
Funny enough I'm actually doing the new Pennywise.
I mean you see a lot of them getting done now on Instagram and stuff like that but
I'm hopefully gonna put my own little trademark on it with you know heavy
blacks and stuff like that and I'm looking forward to it man.
Today I'm tattooing Vlad the Impaler from Bram Stoker's Dracula.
I started tattooing at the sweet tender age of 16 in 2001, so I've been tattooing for 16 years
and I started my apprenticeship in the rough old town of Blackpool.
I've been tattooing for seven years now.
I started tattooing in Anglesey, a small little town called Bangor
and from there I just moved on, pushed forward and here I am today, opened up a shop with Alex.
-And now we own Grindhouse. -Grindhouse Tattoo Productions.
We first met each other about five/six years ago at the Manchester International Tattoo Show.
It was kind of like first love - we looked into each other's eyes
and you know you're just going to be with each other for the rest of your lives.
-It was kind of like that. -We just kind of like drifted towards each other at the after show
-and then we hooked up on Facebook and then he started stalking me and sending me messages. -Nudes.
The reason I started doing horror tattoos is my interest in horror, I've always loved it.
I'm a big fan of the macabre and I've always watched horror movies since I was a little kid.
I love horror comics... my whole life just revolves around horror really.
Kyle?
Yeah I mean I've been tattooing horror now for
a good three/four years but I got into it through again
-I was watching horror movies as a kid. -And we both... as we both love horror, I think we both...
coming together and opening a shop together, we wanted to bring that
to the masses really and put both our love into that.
We have friendly rivalries pretty much every day.
There's probably every second of every minute of the day we're ripping each other
and having some kind of rivalry. Who's got the biggest dick and what not.
But there is a, you know, as far as the tattooing side of things, we have actually just
both of us won in Blackpool. He won 'Best of Show' last year and I won this year
and so we both have to go and do like a battle, like a duel next year together
what's gonna be quite interesting.
The reason I did VHS was... always been into the VHS cover art since I was a little kid
you know going to the video store when you're a child and just going straight to the horror section
-It was fresh. -And you know just looking at the covers
and then every time you'd leave the store, your eyes would still be transfixed on those
crazy covers and then every time you go the store, you just come way back to get to that section again
Nobody else is doing that, you know what I mean? You're doing something fresh, man.
Well I get asked it quite a lot actually, "why do you get called 'Egg'?"
and I always try and make up different stories, you know like...
Yeah just say you've got a silly shaped head.
There you go.
For me, I wasn't too keen on it. Not the piece, the actual tattooing.
-It's difficult. -Because while he's stretching the skin
I'm trying to stretch the skin and tattoo. While he's stretching, it's pulling my side of the skin.
It's a bit awkward, so I don't know how these artists that... when there's six artists
doing one person, I don't know how they do it.
I tried a bit of neo-trad the other day. I quite liked that, it was pretty good.
But I probably wouldn't do it full time.
Yeah I mean I'm forever trying to like progress and stuff like that but you know when
you do black and grey realism for so long, you've constantly got all your clients are just
wanting what you do, you know?
But I'm always trying to push my art as well.
I wouldn't mind trying maybe some realism with some neo-trad, but
trying to do something what's not been done before is difficult nowadays.
Best advice I've ever been given?
Now it doesn't sound much: always make your next tattoo better than your last.
Best advice I'd give is
try not take it too serious. Just try and stay humble and just enjoy what you do.
If you take it too serious then...
You kind of lose the focus more if you take it too serious.
You're not really focusing on the work no more because you're focusing on what other people think
and the new image you created for yourself.
So it's always just about just stay focused on what you do,
don't think too much about it and just tattoo because that's what you do,
you love it, you tattoo because it's your passion, it's what you love doing.
Totally robbed that off me then you know as well, going into that then, as well yeah.
Do you know what I mean? It's like oh right, okay, I'm not going to say nothing again.
If I wasn't tattooing, I think I'd probably be concentrating on skateboarding.
I took skateboarding very serious when I was younger.
-As soon as I got into tattooing, I... -I heard he wasn't very good though.
I had to take a step back. I didn't push myself and
obviously because of injuries on my hands and stuff like that but...
Yeah he's pretty good on his little turtle skateboard.
I feel like I was going in the right direction at the time, but these things happen, I guess.
I've been doing tattooing so long. I left high school, as soon as I left high school, I was straight into tattooing
so I've never really thought about doing anything else.
This is what I've been doing now for 16, nearly 17 years, so this is my life now.
-When I say 'Grind', you say 'House'.
-Grind! -House!
-Grind!
I need to take that off a minute because I can't fucking breathe man.
Go on, do your impression then, yeah.
*in a mock Pennywise voice* Hello, you're Georgie, I'm Pennywise.
If I wasn't tattooing, I think I'd probably be a porn star.
Yeah, your dick's big enough...
You know bro, do you know what? I love you man.
I love you too, man. Come on, put it there.
That's it.