B to Z
Mental health and wellness
B to Z
Initial Reaction
Have you ever felt the hum of a tattoo machine and with it, the catharsis of a memory etched in ink? Today, Zach and I invite you to our Urban River studio for a raw and riveting look into tattoo therapy and its profound impact on the human spirit. We'll unpack the emotional odyssey that accompanies the transformation from bare skin to living canvas, and why tattoos are more than just body art—they're milestones of our personal narratives. As the needle pricks the surface, so too do we explore the depths of professionalism in the tattoo industry, where artists serve as both creators and cautious advisors against the peril of impulsive ink.
Journey with us as we peel back the ink-stained curtain on the stories that walk through a tattoo parlor's door, from tales of triumph to echoes of trauma. I'll share anecdotes from the chair, where every client's revelation is a testament to the trust they place in their artist's hands. We'll navigate the ethical tightrope artists walk, balancing the desire to fulfill requests with the duty to protect clients from future regret. The art of tattooing, we find, is as much about the human connection as it is about the art itself—it's a shared experience that reverberates through the lives of those who bear it and those who bring it to life. Tune in for a heart-to-heart on the indelible power of ink.
Good morning, welcome to B to Z. It's Monday, 1027, 56 degrees and the freeways are flowing. We wanted to start with a little bit of feedback from the last few episodes. You know we've been testing and trying to uh, smooth things out so we can get a nice flow for the podcast, and we took some feedback from friends and family and you know we appreciate that too. So always, we always want that feedback.
Speaker 1:So whenever you get an opportunity to argue like something, have an opinion, man, please express it to us because we love that. So some of the feedback we got was you know, be funnier more often and stuff like that. And we're going to try to be. You know, as long as it's not like every other podcast. It's got to be genuine. You know I definitely don't want you guys to know my fake laugh. You know what I mean Because then you're going to know like, oh, that's his fake laugh, you know when you get appointments and whatnot. But we'll try as long as it's authentic and there's something funny. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Neither one of us are comedians, but we're funny. You know what I mean. I know what I mean. Like we're. Neither one of us are comedians, but we're funny. You know what I mean. I find myself very funny on certain topics. So just wait for that and be patient. You know we are trying to deliver a little bit of something as well. You know, I do have Zach here with me today. Mr Batista, you know what I'm saying. I forgot to bring my co-host in, but he's always here with me, man. If you hear me on the mic, you know that he's here with me and we can edit that into the front. So welcome Zach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good morning. So to continue with the initial feedback, the initial reactions, I got sound. Sound was a big one and I know you and my conversation in the beginning was let's let it roll. So we're sitting right up against the 91 Freeway I don't know if everyone knows that or not. 91 Freeway in Southern California, by the Tyler Street exit. We're recording at Brandon's shop. Yeah, in my studio.
Speaker 1:In his studio. Yeah, and we're right next to the freeway, big old panoramic windows. I call it the Urban River. Everybody going to do their thing.
Speaker 2:And we didn't want to take away from that that. I'll be honest In the beginning we may tweak some things. See how it goes. See, maybe this episode our sound quality already will improve.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah so let us know what you think about that. But it is noted that we are working on the sound so that you guys can hear every bit of our voices and it comes off very clear and whatnot, and then I'll go into kind of a mini rant if you'll let me. Oh yeah, go into a mini rant if you'll let me.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, go into a mini rant. So a question I was asked was what are you guys all about? Are you guys going to sit here and just bullshit the whole time? So I want to give our statement what we're all about, what we're trying to do. We're two guys just trying to deliver our message as we see through our lives. We come from two different backgrounds, but we share a lot of similarities. We're for everyone. We're for the blue-collar worker that's been working for 10 years at the job. We're for the guy that just got hired day one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's going to be a little bit of everything. But if you if you see it as bullshit man, there's a lot of other podcasts that you could probably really enjoy that are not bullshit for you. So, yeah, there are going to be some bullshit perspectives as well. You know what I'm saying. Not to say that that's one, but everybody has an acquired taste. You know, it is a little bit blue collar, but it's a little bit of everything. It's not that. Oh, what is it?
Speaker 1:I'm not here to give you one specific thing. I'm not here to give you one specific thing. I'm here to give you something to think about at the end of the day. So if you leave here and you don't have something to think about, then I failed you, you know. But as far as that direction, I'm not a therapist. You know what I'm saying. Zach was asking me that question. You know I jumped on it a little earlier, but'm not a therapist. You know what I mean and I don't want to be held accountable for that, you know? Um, just take the. It's like I'm your homie giving you a good advice, okay I like it, I like to think we're.
Speaker 2:I thought of this this morning. I like to think we're e for everyone, but we're also e for fucking explicit. So oh shit so kind of yeah, kind of kind of kind of watch who you're listening to surround you. If you got it on speaker, there might be some things coming out of left field. Oh yeah, just based on what our topic is of the day, yeah, I like that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is not PC, you know, and these are my opinions and his opinions. You guys have some fucked up opinions too. Don't act like you, don't you know? So when we go off and we are truthful and honest and transparent, don't try and crucify us. You know what I mean. Just trying to understand our perspective on situations rather than turn into a little bitch and just start complaining.
Speaker 2:I am, I am. I am grateful for all the feedback, though, as well as the listens. This morning we were at 67 downloads and I'm grateful. I'm really excited for that so far, because we launched on Friday, so we just had it going over the weekend. If you're not following our Instagram or Facebook, it's at BTO2Z podcast. Again, we'd love to follow, like, share.
Speaker 1:What formats are we on right now For the podcast? Yeah, yeah, where can you?
Speaker 2:find us, oh so we're also listed. So I'm using uh for our main site. Uh, it's called buzzsprout. Uh, shout out. Yeah, shout out, and I really, I, I read. I read a lot of different uh, reviews on how to start a podcast again. We've never done this before, uh, so so bear with us and give us please, please, give us the comments. But I'm using Buzzsprout and they very easily let us put our podcast on all the different platforms. So right now we're on. Apple.
Speaker 2:Podcasts amazon music podcast index. Uh youtube I just got youtube up up and running. Iheart radio. Uh podcast, attic, pod chaser, pocketcast, deezer, listen notes and player fm as well, as well as our site yeah, so back to the back to that feedback.
Speaker 1:I wanted to bring up one more thing and yes, we appreciate that opinion as far as, like, what are we we're developing is what we are we're developing. You know, we're not trying to be one thing, we're trying to be several things, and we're not doing this to be seen in a certain light, like oh, they are therapists or they are this or they are that Like man.
Speaker 1:We're what you think we are. You know what I mean Like. So that's the answer to that. One more piece of feedback, and thank you for that piece of feedback, whoever that came from. One more piece of feedback was from my son, which I thought was funny. I played it for him in the car on the way home and he was dying. He was laughing. I guess I had a little funny laugh in there or something like that, and he was just rolling.
Speaker 2:He was clowning on you. Yeah, he was clowning, he was clowning.
Speaker 1:So that's cool. You know I'll be a fool at his little expense just to hear him laugh. So you know I love that just to hear him laugh. But he said we should have a script and that he wanted to try to write one of the scripts. So we'll let you know when that happens too. We'll let you know what his framing is, and when that happens and how it sounds too. I think that'll be a cool little experiment. I'm like oh yeah, this is the one that miles wrote. Do you know what I mean? Shout out to you miles. Thank you for your feedback.
Speaker 2:So, wrapping that up, we we would like to put out this podcast weekly. We'd like to center it around mental health, but we're going to go off on tangents. Another one quick shout out, just because I have it up. I've been using Adobe Audition for our mixing. I've learned how to use that and I've been burning through a bunch of YouTube tutorials. Gotta love YouTube tutorials. Yeah. It's not like looking at the encyclopedia or anything.
Speaker 1:I like the tutorials, but the rewinding and all of that Crucial, yeah, that's annoying.
Speaker 2:So Mike Murphy Cole was one Author I was listening to on there, and then Mike Russell, that was another one on there, and I'll post those on our Instagram later this week as well. Right, but shout out to those guys, man, it's because of you guys, it's because of you In two weeks I learned how to do this Keep putting that good shit out there.
Speaker 1:Appreciate everyone's patience. So bring us in, zach, let's get back to that.
Speaker 2:I like where we're at in the therapist. So I've heard a lot that tattooing is therapy. Tattooing is like a therapy, tattoo therapy, and I myself being what would you say about 75% covered. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say more than that.
Speaker 2:Maybe a little more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 80%, but it's a therapy to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, 80%, but it's a therapy to me. Yeah, I've tried so throughout the past several years. I've tried all kinds of different therapy, but what would you say to people that say that Tattoo?
Speaker 1:therapy. I do think it is a type of therapy for somebody, the clientele receiving them, and for the artists sometimes too, you know.
Speaker 2:But you're not a therapist.
Speaker 1:But we're not therapists. You know People come in and they get tattoos, sometimes for grief, sometimes to be seen, sometimes because they need to be. They're pushing that life a little bit. You know they want to look different, they want to be seen in a different fashion, they want to have a statement. It's a statement thing in life. You know what I mean and I really enjoy that aspect of it too. You know people getting a tattoo for their loved one who passed, or just people getting tattoos because it looks dope and honoring the aspects of culture and art and continuing to keep the tattoo ball rolling that's dope, but it is definitely a statement within your life where it's just like, yeah, this is a permanent thing that I'm doing that will last forever from this day and I will remember it. That's why it's a good thing to.
Speaker 1:You know, be wise and not be. It's not a fix, you know, it's just uh. You know it's like a little drink or something after you had a hard day. You know what I'm saying, but it's a bigger drink. You know what I mean. It's a, an endorphin release. You know. You come to us, you sit down and there's anticipation. There's uh, the setup and you.
Speaker 1:There's a battle of will within your, your mentality, and, depending on what kind of piece you're getting, and whether it be a small one or a large one, there's a bit of pain that comes with it too, and that's where people you know that pain either takes you away for a minute and allows you to think about something differently. Offers maybe your husband told you you can't get no tattoos, and you know you now divorced and you want to get some tattoos, like, and you feel like you know you've been released and it's that piece of freedom, like that's dope to me. I'm like, yeah, yeah, come get that shit. You should have never let him choose for you in the first place. But now you're rewriting something and that's dope. It's a statement I'm taking my shit, I'm in control of my life. It's going against the status quo as well. It's not just fucking lighting a candle and sending it down the stream. It's a little bit heavier than that. You know what I mean and nothing. No disrespect to any of the ritualistic shits out there. You know like, but I had a client one time.
Speaker 1:You know she had her husband had had a horrific accident off-road accident and passed away, and I had, you know, spoke to her several times over and you know they were having problems and they were working on things and then boom, just one day he was gone, and you know she I doubt that she will ever hear this. So I feel okay, you know what I mean Speaking on this. She wanted to get the bruises tattooed on her that she had suffered from the accident and I didn't do it. I was like nah, nah, because I didn't want to use the tattoo to be a constant reminder of her, one of her most traumatic days.
Speaker 1:And so, as a tattoo artist, you also have a responsibility as well as not to overstep. You know what I mean. Like someone having a bad day tries to come in and get a little bit of tattoo therapy and they want, man, fuck, everything on their forehead. You know what I mean. Are you really gonna do that shit? Like, come on, man, is this motherfucker having a bad day? As a tattoo artist, you have a responsibility to not push people over the edge or to do things in a fashion where it's going to be obtrusive to their lifestyle after they're done with you. You know. So it's important. It's important to be mindful, and tattooists know that that's part of an apprenticeship, you know, if you didn't get an apprenticeship, that's that shit you're missing. You know what I mean? Yeah, there's certain tattoo artists that are like, yeah, I'm going to tattoo him on the face, that's a client for life. You know what I'm saying. But if you're young and you ain't got no tattoos and you know, then that's not something that I think that you should do or that I'm gonna be a part of.
Speaker 1:I I had a experience where this youngster wanted to get a tattoo on her face and she was like pushing me walk-in tattoo. I'm working at another shop and I ran it around the shop to the other artists to ask their perspective. You know some were in, some were out. You know some were like fuck it. You know that's her decision and I ended up doing it and I felt good about it. The tattoo looked good. I'll post a picture of that tattoo so you guys can see it.
Speaker 1:And at the end of it, you know the pressure of going up to the getting the face tattoo was a big deal. But as soon as we finished the tattoo and it was all done like it really wasn't that big of a deal, it wasn't. So, yeah, I don't know why I ended that story like that. But yeah, it wasn't that big of a deal at the end of the day. It's people that make it a big deal. You know, nobody cares if you're fucking. Uh, one of your fucking fingernails is too long and it's not gonna destroy somebody's universe, so why the fuck would they care about your face tattoo or a pimple on your face? It's just society's fucking stance on that shit. But I'm going way into something that's okay and I like.
Speaker 2:I like the way you filter that out. Yeah, and that's that's. That's what you have to do as the artist. Now a couple different things. I I always considered you, since the time I met you, a professional artist I appreciate that. When did that click for you? When did you consider yourself a professional artist or a professional tattoo artist?
Speaker 1:I consider myself a professional when I stop having to worry about the basics of tattooing. When my gradients were nice and smooth, there were no chatter marks in them, my line work was saturated all the way through and edges were clean on both sides and I was able to draw the techniques that I was once before tracing. So once I got to the point where I could draw a dragon and I was drawing things onto skin and if I was losing a stencil I could just grab a Sharpie and put that, that those elements, back in. And I still use a very strong stencil just because I believe in going in as much as I possibly can, like setting myself up for success as I try and eliminate all the bullshit in the homework before the tattoo. Did I answer that? You answered it perfectly, okay, cool.
Speaker 2:When I was considering asking you the question if you considered yourself a therapist or not. I was bearing the likeness from my time in therapy. Uh, so for me it it took, it took a breakdown for me to start going to therapy. Hopefully, hopefully people can catch that they're slipping before they ask for help. Man that's, and we can. Well, I'm sure we'll have a whole episode on that, but I was considering that because I felt so, so and I already had tattoos.
Speaker 2:So tattoos, I wasn't scared of getting tattoos, but I felt vulnerable going in to therapy, going in to therapy, since we we brought up some, bringing in some uh, new people, uh, some new, uh, not only guests, but people to get tattooed by you, and we're kind of talking about how vulnerable they are going getting that tattoo. So that was the likeness that I considered was the two are very much the same and they're trusting this tattoo, this art, to you. You're in a very depending on where that tattoo's at you could be. You'd be sitting wide open, uh, and as many times as I've gotten tattooed by you, sometimes I felt more more vulnerable than others. I even fell asleep a couple of times and some people say, yeah, they have that ability to zone out and fall asleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's just cool.
Speaker 2:And I told you. I said I felt so comfortable with you that day and the position I was in, so that's why I bared the likeness and that's my piece on it why I bear the likeness, and that's my piece on it.
Speaker 1:Going to sleep in a tattoo is, like you know, falling asleep in a car when somebody else is driving. You really got to trust them and what it is that they're doing. I'm not falling asleep in anybody's car period. You know what I mean, unless I've sat with you for a few times, because I know that you're not crazy. You know what mean and I can trust you. Um, yeah, yeah, I posted that picture too, of the face tat, so go ahead and check that out. Bmainkstudios, you know, uh, no, no, at bmaink there, you go on Instagram, uh, and it should be up on the uh, the uh Instagram for the podcast too. As a matter of fact, go follow that. Go follow the podcast too. As a matter of fact, go follow that. Go follow the podcast at. What is it? Is that?
Speaker 2:B2Z podcast. Boom.
Speaker 1:There you go, guys. There was one more story that I was thinking that I wanted to bring up real quick as far as like trauma within it.
Speaker 1:And then I was thinking, but I was trying to listen, but I might be gone and then I was thinking, but I was trying to listen, but I might be gone, drama with that. Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay, so it could be generational. You know, as a tattoo artist, you tattoo families. You know, it's a really weird relationship that you have into people's lives because they, because they trust you, they bring you into their you know their secrets and all of the things that make them them, you know because they want you to create for them. So they give you themselves, you know, and they offer you transparency in this honest relationship because they want to trust you and they don't want to fucking piss you off. They don't like you're my artist, dude. Like you cool, you know there's a little bit of coolness to it, which is the same for artists too. Like, as a tattoo artist, we feel the same way about other artists Like damn, that motherfucker is cool. You know, it's like fuck, and that's why we go get their art as well.
Speaker 1:So it's not just from a client's perspective, like, and tattooers use it for trauma as well. Tattooers use it for trauma as well. You know, we were once clients at one point, you know, and then we became tattooers. Some of us will say we were born tattooers. And yeah, you were probably born in tattoo lineage. My kids will be born in tattoo lineage and stuff like that. But until they do an apprenticeship they're not tattooers. You know what I mean. And until they put their time in, they're not tattooers. Trauma, though, yeah, it's a good one. I feel like when people come in and you know a lot of it is relationship stuff and they want like say they want a name, like oh, I fucked up, I want to get my girlfriend's name and stuff like that, and they want to put it on their chest. I won't do it. I won't do it.
Speaker 1:I'm like hell nah, bro, like uh uh. You simping, like you pushing me to do some dumb shit with you. You know what I mean and I don't want to do it.
Speaker 2:I don't want to be a part of this.
Speaker 1:I'm an accessory to this whack shit that you bringing me into. I'm not a fan of that shit. Like we over here doing stupid shit on behalf of your lady who probably tripping for no reason, like I would love to take your money. But, god dang, I got integrity as far as that stuff. Or maybe it's not integrity, it's just my habits of like what does this? Do you want to put it on? It's just like you tripping.
Speaker 1:Put it somewhere else where you can hide it. I don't know. I feel like certain places on on the body mean have a different weight to me. You know, yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just like you don't get a kid's portrait on your ass. Yeah, I got my son. You know where'd you put? I put it on my ass. Why. Why don't you put on your ass? Because that's kind of rude. You know what I mean. Like that's fucked up.
Speaker 2:Just like we discussed with. I have a Simpsons leg sleeve that Brandon is currently working on. We have one borderline one, I would say it's Marge in a beer mug. She's in a swimsuit. Those are totally covered. We thought about that a lot. Going into it. He wanted to make it all least trashy as possible. Yes. It just seems that we remember.
Speaker 1:I feel like when you're doing cartoons, making them overly sexual is kind of weird man you know, what I mean. It's like, man, you got to be tasteful with the things that you do. They either got to look like adults Like you got to get out of. You got to draw them a little bit out of the cartoon stage, Unless you're fucking doing traditional and you're just a fucking kook and you're doing odd shit.
Speaker 2:Unless it is on your butt right. Like it's on your butt, Nobody's seen it all the time. It should look a little weird.
Speaker 1:If it's on your butt, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Just because I feel like that's a weird spot.
Speaker 1:You could go off a little bit like some titties or some shit like that. You know you can go off a little bit on the butt.
Speaker 2:For me. He knows I wear shorts all the time. My legs are constantly being seen.
Speaker 1:And I don't want people looking at him like he's a creep man. Like you know, it's got. Yes, we can do the things we need to do, but I see some cool ass tattoos out there, like the trippy bar, and you know those are sick, they're dope, but for what it is, and I'm trying to portray a part of my people, and that's why it's important to know your people, so you don't give them something that's out of their realm or something that they won't be proud of. I always think about where the person is headed and then I draw too. You know, like when they old as hell, like I still don't want them to enjoy this tattoo. I don't want them to look at it like, oh man, I got this when I was blah, blah, blah. You know I want them to be like yeah, that shit's still tight. Yeah, that's dope, right? Yeah, look at this shit. Look at that Panther right there, boy, you know, put him in the headlock, get over here, motherfucker. You know shit like that. So where are we at? What's our topic?
Speaker 2:I think we're at roundup. I think we're at again. I'll put that out there for all the listeners. We're at 25 minutes, just so you know. Okay, I may or may not edit that out, just so you know, because I like the sweet spot. We're at right now 20 to 40 minutes. Okay. I feel like people are going to get sick of us or we're beating a dead horse. I don't want to beat a topic to death.
Speaker 1:Well, I want to hear more from you, man. I feel like I was talking the whole time.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad you brought that up. I'll bring up the quote then.
Speaker 1:Oh you felt that way too. I got the quote.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's like I felt that way too I, I want to introduce myself.
Speaker 2:Go ahead, one of my nieces is working on a school project and Queen Elizabeth is her topic and she was telling me a bunch of facts about Winston Churchill. I got a quote from Winston Churchill. It goes Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
Speaker 3:How do you feel about that? Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
Speaker 1:How do you feel about that Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of what Enthusiasm. Success, yeah, yes, he said successes. I mean shit, that's a good one, but I need to see results. I'm not just going to keep stumbling from one thing to the next. No, I'm successful. I know, I got to see results. Yes, maybe I made it out of it and I'm able to have another try at it. And that's where the success is. It's like, because it does come at weights. I've tried several different businesses and, with the idea of, know, being an entrepreneur, like 100, like, like, let me try this. You know, like I know, you guys think about that shit too. You know, and you gotta, you gotta try it. You can't just let it be an idea, just just like this podcast, like it could have been an idea, or and you're seeing two dudes try it right now. You know what?
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm not trying to toot our own horn or anything but I mean I will say I asked. I asked him this question. Yesterday the brandon gave me a call. I said hey how many podcasters do you know personally?
Speaker 1:yeah, what'd you say? None, none. Personally, that I know that's like oh yeah, I do podcasts, I don't.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of people that, not a one that have given me said that they're gonna try something like that, but I don't know anybody. We hit the both of us like racing Formula One for you.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, formula One, dirt bikes.
Speaker 2:I'm gas pedal man and we went off on idea, so yeah, Give us feedback. Give us a follow and let us know what you think. Any, any, uh anything else to send us off with brennan?
Speaker 1:um, yeah, just keep being successful out there, guys. You know, from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next, don't get too caught up on this life stuff that you're going through. Remember to to be human and tomorrow will be a good day. If you're having a bad day, chin up, chest out.
Speaker 2:All right guys. Thanks for listening. This is Brandon Zach Sign off. Thank you.
