Interview: Josh Hall of J. Hall & Co. Gentleman Tattooers Dallas, TX

Sean does his first client interview with long time customer and patron Josh Hall of J. Hall & Co. Gentleman Tattooers in Dallas, Texas. Sean and Josh talk about some of the similarities of the two trades as well as vegan diets and some other weird stuff. More info: ⁠http://tattoosonlamar.com/

Transcription:

Coming to you from Starr Studios in Denison, Texas, this is Coffee with a SignPainter, a weekly podcast hosted by sign painter, Sean Starr, that consists of interviews with other sign painters and some of the customers and characters Sean comes across while running his studio. Alright. Welcome back to Coffee with a Signpainter. My, guest slash interviewee today is, is my interview with one of my clients. My interview today is with Josh Hall of Josh Hall Gentleman Tattooers in Dallas, Texas on South Lamar.

And Josh has been a client of mine for a couple of years. He's been a genuine patron of my artwork. He's bought several original art pieces in addition to hiring me to do all kinds of signage and design work for his business, and, every time I go down there and do some work, I'm always, coming back, feeling good about conversations we had. He's kind of a kindred spirit as far as, his viewpoint on creativity and some other things. So, gonna go ahead and we're also gonna do something different this time.

I just decided it would be kind of fun to talk to Josh before, we started the project and then, afterwards. So we'll get kind of a before and after reaction on what I did for him down there, and, we'll just kinda see where it goes. So here we go with Josh Hall of Josh Hall and Company gentlemen tattooers in Dallas, Texas. Okay. So yeah, man.

Tell me about Josh Hall. What do you wanna know? I mean, like You you cannot think about it being recorded because then then then it'll just clutter up your head. Just like talk like we were you know, I'm working on your your shop right now. Well, okay.

I guess I guess So I have a question for you. I'll start off with a question. How That'll help. Okay. So you called me a couple years ago.

And you're like, I'm opening up this thing. And it's the basic concept is I wanna do a very old classic approach to tattooing, with this gentleman tattooer's idea. And, you asked me to do the branding, get the sign stuff rolling. And, apparently, it's worked because you're expanding. Yeah.

It's it's worked pretty well. We're slowly but surely it's it's, you know, it's a marathon, not a sprint, but it's it's definitely we're we seem to be moving in the right direction at at a good clip at this point. So, yeah, we've had to expand the shop several 100 square feet and added another artist, and with that comes a new window and some new signage space, and that's where you came in. Yeah. See, and that that's where the job security is for me of doing a good job is if I help you succeed, I get more work out of it.

True story. And you you definitely did a good job. Well, cool. So so what's the deal with the gentleman tattooers thing? Like, what what?

Tell me your thoughts behind why you went that route with the marketing. Idea was just a different approach to the same the same thing. You know? I mean, I I've been working in tattoo shops for twenty something years, and and it's always this, you go into a shop and it's all attitude and and, people tend to be you know, guys tend to be it's not service based, and they're not very nice most of the time. And Yeah.

We've we've talked about that before, like, that kinda, you know, somewhat typical bro tattoo kinda guy. You're not that kinda guy. The well, it's they're all there's a lot of rock stars in the tattoo world, and, you know, they're too cool to to give you the time of day and too cool to to do their thing, you know, the way that any other way than they wanna do it at that moment. Mhmm. And for me, it was I wanted to I wanted to open up a place that, I wanted to get tattooed at.

To, like, to be very simple. I mean, I just I wanted it to be a place that I want I would wanna go and get tattooed. So when you walk in the door, somebody says hi to you, and they're nice to you, and, you know, they offer you something to drink and, you know, we'll sit down and talk to you about what you're wanting to get. And we'll if we can, we'll try to steer you away from any ideas that are not gonna work out or or maybe a little overdone, you know, because we wanna try to keep things, you know, fresh and new. And it's it's kind of a hat tip to the, to the old school when guys were and when I say the old school, I mean, like, turn of the last century, you know, eighteen nineties to nineteen thirties, where the guys were, you know, you had to be a bit of a gentleman.

You had to be, you had to treat your customers right, you know? Right. Right. And I, you know, Sean, you know me at this point. We know each other pretty well, and I I I try to stick to that, You know, I like those values.

I like the I like the the classic art, the classic values, the, even in my sign painting, that's why we got in touch with you to begin with was the we wanted, you know, something that was done locally by hand by someone who actually cared about what they were doing, versus just pumping out another production product. So there's only a couple of us that work in the shop here. There's not 10 guys pumping out as many tattoos as we can do, and, you know, the idea is to to bring a more personal feel to it and give you something you, the customer, something that's handcrafted and not just rushed and and overdone. And, you know, it's not the same thing you saw on Pinterest 47 times last week or or whatever. It's it's not a vital sign, like, to speak.

Well, and at that time, I was just about to point out. I think that's where we're kinda like kindred spirits is you're kind of taking the approach with tattooing that sign painters, you know, take with their signs versus, like, someone who's just churning out vinyl or digital prints or whatever. Yeah. The the old world craftsmanship and that that honesty that comes from, like, real work and and and doing something with your own two hands and and and not this kind of, like not that other tattooers don't do it with their hands. It's just it seems so prefab and and rushed and put out and, like, hey, I can do the same thing that everybody else has done.

And I, you know, I if I equate it to, like, the movie sign painters or to what you're doing, it's it's like it's just like vinyl signs. You know, we are in the era of vinyl signs right now in tattooing. Obviously, it's a different medium and whatnot, but it's it's that's we have a bunch of guys that are coming into the business, and they're just latching on to a, you know, kind of time honored tradition and craft, not because they love the craft, but because they want the money. You know? And and so I'm gonna make a thousand vinyl signs, or I'm gonna do a thousand really bad watercolor tattoos that don't hold up over time.

Yeah. And you and I have talked about that too of like and I think it's just starting to maybe happen with sign painting, but, you know, tattooing, you had, like, the celebrity tattooists emerge, and all the shows, and all this stuff. And so, you know, you had mentioned that, you know, a lot of people got on the tattoo train because, you know, well, maybe I'll get famous doing that. Not because they love the artwork, not because they love the history, not because they wanna really become good at it, but, you know, maybe if I do enough posturing and, you know, call in a few favors or something, I can get my little show going or something. Well, it's it's it really is oh, that's that's yes.

To say nothing more, yes. We you know, I I see these kids. We went to a convention a couple of months ago, and I I watched a guy, sitting there, and he's he was doing a tattoo on another gentleman. And the guy that was getting tattooed had headphones on, and the guy that was doing the tattoo had headphones on. And neither one of them were really connected to what was happening.

Okay. You know, and I I find tattooing to be like a very intimate, very personal thing between the artist and the and the and the canvas. You know? But it it it you know, it's these people, have lost that kind of old world charm. They've lost that, like, hey.

Let's sit down and, like, actually discuss what we're doing. Hey. Let's be engaged and be present while we're doing it. And it's, again, it's just, like, put me on TV and make me famous. And, we can go way further into that, but I think that's a symptom of this, you know Yeah.

It translates into everything, man. You know, I mean, that and that's why I'm I'm constantly griping about social media, even though we use it all the time. And it's great stuff for marketing, but it's terrible for your soul. Yeah. It really is.

Because, you know, if if you sit down with somebody and have a conversation like the conversation we're having right now, you and I, you know, we're we're getting all the nuances of facial expressions and tones of voice and all these things, and you know, there's like this entire generation coming up that all they know is a split second exposure to a picture on Instagram, or, you know, however many characters they allow you on Twitter or whatever. And Yeah. You know, it's like I think in a way, it's the epitome of self centered self indulgence because it's it's all self focused. It's all about you taking in information that you want. You know, how much, giving are you doing?

You know, if if you're literally, you know, helping someone across the street or helping somebody get groceries into their car who's, you know, older or whatever, you know, there's that full interchange. But if you're just sitting in a dark corner on your iPhone, you know, tapping out little messages and, you know, looking at 18,000 photos a day or whatever. I I just think that's really self centered. I I think that that this this next generation is very, plugged in and tuned out. Yeah.

You know, to coin a phrase. They, you know, they're always on their phones. They're always on this. They're always on that. But they can't look up for two seconds, heck, even while they're driving.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. To to pay attention to what's going on around them. And they don't it seems like more and more people and I don't wanna lump everybody into this, but more and more people, have gotten away from, you know, being connected and being, like, part of something.

And and for me, you know, to bring it back to the beginning of the conversation, to me, I wanted this place to be a place where we were connected, and we were, you know, tuned in to what people were wanting like, actually wanting, not just what they're saying to you. Right. You gotta read a little further and get a little more information. And and to bring it yet again full circle, I kinda feel I mean, that's why I called you for this project or I guess it's the or project at this point. Yeah.

But, you know, that's why I keep calling you, Sean, is because we I you like you said, I think we're kindred in in in several regards, and one of which is that I know that I can call you and I can say, hey, man. This is the idea that I've got. Run with it. And I know that you're gonna kinda take all of the information that you know about me and my space and what I'm wanting, and you'll turn that into something that we're both gonna be really proud of, not just the next Instagram photo that might get a 100 likes or Right. Whatever.

You know? It's it's I know that you're gonna put your pride into it, and you're gonna put your heart into it, and you're gonna be connected to the piece that you're gonna do. And that's what we're trying to do here is just, you know, make a connection with people and do it right. Not not this kind of disconnected, okay. Here's your tattoo.

Go. Just pay me and leave. You know? Right. Well, and that raises a question that I would like to know from you as the client.

You you've, like you said, you've had us do multiple things. You've even bought some original pieces of artwork of mine. Yeah. And but I've kinda gotten to this point in my I don't even know if career is the right word, but in my journey as a sign painter, if that's hipier, where I kind of, have this relationship with my clients where I'm just like, just tell me what you you want to accomplish, and then get out of my way. Is Yeah.

Is that, like, scary and horrible for you as a client for someone to tell you that? Or, I mean, obviously, that we have someone to tell you that? Or, I mean, obviously, now we have trust. I work the same way, Sean. So it's it's very you know, you give me if you give me the base idea, tell me what you're trying to get at.

And then if you like my artwork and you like the style in which I do my thing, then just sit back and let me do my thing, and I'll create something for you that we'll both be proud of. And and so when I got in contact with you, I had seen, you know, I'd seen your stuff, and I really liked it. And and so for me, it was very easy to just go, hey. This is kind of the direction I mean, if you remember the time I called you, it was, hey. You know, I've got this idea for this kinda old school tattoo shop, and I don't want any neon, and I don't want an open sign.

You know, I just want a really nice hand painted gold leafed sign. And I want it to feel very, like, London smoking room meets Speakeasy meets, you know, Old World Barber Shop, and you were like, yep. I've got it. I know exactly what I'm gonna do. And, I mean, very quickly, you had you had a a kind of a mock up back to me, and now I was blown away, you know.

But I I I kind of expected that because I'd seen the stuff you had done in the past, and, you know, just kinda knew that if I let you run you're an artist, man. If you if you give an artist the reins, he'll do what he wants to do, and it'll come out better. Yeah. And and that's something that people that don't have an artistic background sometimes don't understand, is that if you give somebody who creates things every single day the leeway to just go for it and do something awesome They'll do it. You're and you're gonna end up with 10 times more of of the job than done than Well, it's the same way in tattoos.

If you try to dictate it, man, I'm gonna be like, okay. Well, for at this point, I walk away. But, you know, if somebody were to really want to dictate everything, I'm only gonna give them the bare minimum to to satisfy the job. It's you know, that's what a typical artist would do. Yeah.

I will give you if you want to be that person, I will give you exactly what you want. Mhmm. No more, no less, just what you want. But if you give me if you give me the opportunity to do something my way, you're always gonna get way more bang for your buck. Yeah.

Yeah. So so Yeah. I'm at a It's lovely. I'm at a train station. So this this brings, this is good.

This is good, point in the conversation because, you don't really know what I'm doing for you in your expansion. No. I, I I, I kinda just gave you a direction that I wanted to go in, and and I I just know you're gonna do an awesome job. I'm super excited to see what you've come up with, and and I I yeah. I can't wait to see it.

I've got a got a whole lot of window for you and a whole lot of storefront that's gonna get renovated. Like 10 foot of window, and you got a lot of Yeah. Well, it's it's it's 11 feet. Okay. So yeah.

And you you got a you got a lot of 20 to work with. You got a lot of 23 karat gold coming your way, but I will tell you this. One of the items or or ideas that you put out there, I I pitched it. So, Alright. Well, I'm okay with that.

Yeah. I'm just like, I don't know what to do. With it because I I kinda feel like if if you don't think it's a good idea, then then, it doesn't need to go on my wall. I I I I can tell you this, though. You're gonna be happy with what I put together.

I'm excited to see it. Okay. So that's the before. So now what we'll do is, we'll start up with the another conversation with Josh after, I wasn't able to get the complete project done. We've had a lot of bad weather down here in Texas as some of you might have heard.

But what I did get done was a humongous 11 foot wide window with, really elaborate 23 karat gold, piece that, I, I'm pretty proud of. So, now we'll see if mister Hall thinks it's as groovy as I do. So let's go ahead and, talk to mister Josh Hall about, about that, big window and see what he thinks. Man, women, I tell you. I'm recording.

That's okay. Okay. So She's Canadian. She'll be polite about it. Okay.

So last time we talked, I was gonna be coming down to do the phase of your job, which was the humongous window with the gold leaf. That's been done. What do you think? Man, I'm almost speechless, except for the fact that I'm a say a lot of really great stuff about it, because it's so awesome. I could not be more excited, impressed, happy.

I find now, a couple of days later, that I will make an excuse to drive by the front of the shop, just so that I could kinda catch it in all its glory. Nice. I spent the day or so, like, staring at each individual facet of this window that you've put in. And and, it didn't occur to me to walk across the street and actually, like, really soak it all in. And and when I did that, man, Sean, I you, like, once again have more than outdone yourself.

Awesome. I'm glad you dig it. I made the absolute right decision in not questioning your your your tactics. I'm kind of turned into the, like, the soup Nazi of sign painters in some ways. I'm totally okay with that, man.

No signs for you. Well, cool, man. I'm really glad you dig it. Oh, it's so cool, man. And everybody that everybody that's seen it has just really I mean, they're in awe of it.

I mean, it's it's, I think you put out a photo on Instagram that said something to the effect of 10 feet of 23 karat gold, and and that is a that is a massive understatement to the, like, enormity and just impressiveness of this sign. Like, it's so it's so cool. Awesome. Well, you know, when I when I started laying out those letters and figuring out how I wanted each curve to go and everything else, I was like, okay. This is gonna be awesome.

So I was excited I was excited to be able to come do it. Awesome is, awesome is awesome may be too small a word for for what it is. It's man, it's so cool. We we just can't get over it. Awesome.

Well, that's really cool. Well, we'll be back tomorrow to do some, some finish work on, on the walls there. But It's done. There again, you're gonna have to wait and see what that's gonna look like. I you know, I was looking, I was looking at the the whole storefront the other day, and and right now, we have, like, these red blobs on the outside of the building.

And I was I was going I was going, wow. You know, like, I've had four or five customers that came in, and they were like, oh, my gosh. Those it's all just so pretty, and the red in the front. It's so it's so nice. And, I was trying to explain to them, like, no.

It's not like a blob right now. They don't they don't even care. They just think it's it's so nice. And, and I opened up the mock up that you had sent me for the for the sign above the door. Uh-huh.

And, I realized that it looks absolutely nothing like what's going on on the outside of the building. And I'm, you know, I I, one of my other guys, Pappy, was sitting there, and he's he was like, oh, that doesn't look at all like that. And I was like, yeah, and I'm totally okay with it. And he was like, I know. Right?

Like, it's Well, to to explain that, you you had the the the building owner wanted to see a mock up, and so we basically just slapped a few things over a photograph of your storefront just to get that out of the way so I could get to work on the real stuff. Well, it it it worked. Okay. Surprised me. I'm I'm super excited.

I can't wait to see what else is in store. If it is, man, if it is even, like, a as nice as the window you just finished, I I just I I don't know. I don't know. I'll squeal like a little girl, I think. Like, it's Which is a a funny mind picture because you're a big guy.

Come on, man. I'm trying to lose weight. Not that kind. Well, a little bit that big. You know, we're we're we're men's men.

That's how I view it. Yes. Which All all facial hair and body fat. It's great. But that brings something up here.

Okay? This was about a little almost two years ago when when we were working on the phase of the project. Yeah. You you cornered me, and you tricked me, and you talked me into being vegan, which I believe lasted, like, seven or eight months. You make this sound so nefarious.

It it kind of is. If I remember correctly, I made one or two statements to you, and you were like, wow. That sounds awesome. I'm gonna try that. Well, what you did is you you you talked me into watching Forks Over Knives.

Forks Over Knives, is that the name of it? Yeah. Forks Over Knives. Yeah. So I went home and I watched it.

I was horrified, as I think everyone who watches it is. And I was motivated, and I can say this. Changing my diet that way, I I felt great. I lost weight. It was good.

But I craved meat every day. It never went away. Yeah. I I you know, some people, I don't know. I I I I haven't had that problem.

The only thing that gets me is, like, when we pass a barbecue joint, I can smell it. Uh-huh. Like, that's one of those things that, like, I don't have I don't have I don't have too much, loss or sorrow for the lack of meat in my diet, but, I I did go I did get off the vegan kick, and I got real big into dairy again for a while, and I was doing a lot of cheese and, managed to pack on a solid, like, 25 pounds. So, the wife and I are now back to eating right, and, hopefully, the next time I talk to you, I can say that I've lost a few pounds. Well, you know what?

I I I kind of merged into, Kaylee and I have moved more towards that Mediterranean diet type of eating. Yeah. And that seems to be more manageable. But, you know, that being said, I I I'll still sit down, eat a plate of ribs once in a while. Yeah.

I don't blame you. They smell awfully good. They sure they sure taste good too. I ate some baked ribs the other day. They were fantastic.

You know, one of the things that really pushed me over the fence to go back to eating meat and dairy is coming across, like, genuinely, almost religious in nature, vegans who are bonkers. Like Yeah. There's you know, that's a that's a whole another thing. I like, me personally, I do it for diet and, like, for my own personal well-being. Like, I wanna feel better.

I wanna, I wanna look a little better. I don't, you know, really wanna have to worry about whether or not at 40 if I'm gonna drop dead of a heart attack. You know? And so there are definitely some changes that I've made because of that, but I don't yeah. There I You know, some are some are, like, so intense about it and so angry at everybody else for not eating that way, and you know Yeah.

And I don't feel like that's the right way to go, because it it turned you off. Yeah. For sure. It does. It kinda turns me off too.

I get some people who are very, you know, like, I was I have a lot of clients because we offer a predominantly vegan, tattoo experience. You know, we have a lot of vegan clients, and occasionally we'll get one that is militant like that. You know, and we'll be talking, and I'll say something about, yeah. You know, I I eat mostly vegan, but I had some cheese the other day. I, you know, I got off the wagon or whatever.

And I've had people, like, get kinda rude with me about it. Yeah. And I and that's a real turn off, and it doesn't feel like you know, it feels like if you wanted to sway more people to your side, you'd just be really cool about stuff. Well, okay. I don't I don't understand.

Like, what do you mean by vegan tattoo? Like, what what what would be not vegan and what is vegan with a tattoo? So there are a lot of products that are used in tattoo shops that are based in Lanolin, which is, you know, a derivative of sheepskin. There is, you know, soaps and ointments and, even down to the just the transfer paper. And so we've, we've done a lot of work in finding as many products as we can that do not use animal products in them.

Even down to the ink. You know, there are some, there are some pigments that, that, you know, are cut with, like, you know, animal glycerins and things like that, that I can't imagine is all that good for your body, so I don't really want it in mine. The stuff that the most of the inks that we used are are pigments that are that are, you know, organic and, you know, don't contain animal products, and, I've seen better healing with those products. So, we definitely use them for the the idea is to to get away from using products that are, you know, have history of, like, cruelty or, you know, there's there's animal products in it. If we can get away from that, then, you know, we can be as as cruelty free and and, animal free as possible.

That's not to say that we can get rid of everything. You know, there's certain cleaners that, you know, I'm not willing to risk my personal safety and health or yours. So we're gonna use certain cleaners that probably aren't vegan, and I'm not really gonna look too far into finding out whether they are because they're the best cleaners on the market. Right. Right.

Right. But it's, it it's been a journey. You know? So you've been doing this a long time. Where where do you see tattooing going from here?

Because it's, you know, it's become this mainstream thing. I read the other day that I believe 26% of Americans now have a tattoo. Oh, man. I'm kind of surprised it's not higher than that, you know. With the everybody it's it is.

It's a huge craze. It is televised. It is sensationalized. It's promoted. It's, and there are aspects of that that are really good, and then there's aspects of that that we don't really love because it has like we talked about the other day, it has created this, like, vinyl, you know, kind of where everybody wants the same thing that everybody else has, and and they want what they want now, and it's, you know, it's this, like, fast food kind of generation that wants tattoos, and nobody wants to sit down and, like, relax and take their time and be really connected to the project.

See, and that and that blows my mind because it's something you're gonna have with you the rest of your life. Yeah. It's just permanent. Right? Yeah.

So it's like, you know, you would think that there would there would be that engaged side of the public that would want to go through the experience and then have that memory of that, you know, the rest of their life, but I don't know. People are crazy now. Yeah. There's there's a disconnect. But to answer the the original question, where do I think tattooing is going?

I don't honestly know, but I can really hope, that it's going back to its roots, you know, which is, a little more underground and a little less in the public eye. And, I know a lot of guys, that are trying really hard to get away from the street shop mentality. You know, just get them in and get them out, run them through as fast as you can. And and and they're trying to do more of what we're doing here, which is, you know, take your time, man. And, you know, maybe we only do two or three tattoos a day.

But they'll be really good quality tattoos. And and it's it's for for me and for the guys that I have here, it's really more about putting out a really good product and something that we're proud of and less about, like, how many tattoos can we do in a day and Yeah. And that I'm in I'm at the the same point, you know. I'm I probably take one out of 20 projects at this point. And it's, you know, it's all based on, you know, is it something I'm gonna be interested in doing?

Is it something that I'm excited in doing? Where, you know, I'm gonna want to get really into it and push my creative limits to make it great? You know, I mean, I'm sure there's there's plenty of things you can go I mean, a sign guy can go out and get four four foot by four foot for lease signs all day long. Yeah. And it's about as generic as you get.

I you know, Sean, I think it shows in your work too. I mean, like, I don't really wanna, like, talk you up all day long because I don't want your your head to No. No. Go ahead. It's fine.

It's that's okay. Yeah. But it it it really you know, I think it shows in your work that, you know, you're I think taking less projects and just putting more of yourself into those projects, I think it shows. I I thought that my original sign was the coolest thing that I had ever seen until you put the new one in. Good.

And and That means I one upped myself. You did. I'm very competitive with myself. Not really anyone else, but with myself very much. You should be.

That guy is that guy is hard to beat. And if you can beat him, then you're doing a great job. But, yeah. I I I do. I think it shows in what you're doing.

And I I I only hope that that we're doing the same thing here. Like, I hope that it shows in our tattoos here that that we're, you know, putting enough into it and doing it the right way. And and to me, that is the right way, is to just slow down and and just take what take the stuff that interests you and do the do good tattoos or do good signs in your case, and not waste your energy and your your life force and your, you know, all of that creative mojo that goes into making these things, I feel like that's oftentimes very much wasted on the general public. Yeah. Absolutely.

I agree. You know, it's it's a craft, man. It's it it is a trade craft that's been handed down for, you know, hundreds of years in in both of our cases. Mhmm. And to see that kind of just flush down the toilet for the sake of vinyl signs or, you know, the next Pinterest tattoo, whether it's the, you know, Japanese letters on your arm.

Right. Right. You even see that band of yesteryear. Yeah. Well, and nowadays, that is nowadays, tribal bands are the the day of the tribal band and the Japanese kanji have kinda gone out the window.

That was you know, you can date people by their tattoos, like, I I think I got that in, like, 1998. And and nowadays, it's it's infinity symbols and anchors and Mhmm. Arrows, you know, like, if I had a extra couple dollars for every arrow I did, I probably wouldn't have to work too much. But, you know, we try to get away from those things, and we try to talk, you know, we we try to talk people into doing stuff that's not what everybody else is doing and do something a little more, you know, a little less modern or a little less now, and a little more classic in in nature and, do something that really will hold up and stand the test of time. And, you know, it's it's I I think we were talking the other day, and you were talking about the signs with the old lead paint.

Man, what would you give to go back to using that? Because Yeah. That stuff held up forever. Right? You know?

Mhmm. It's it's kind of the same way. I mean, not that we wanna use lead in our tattoo ink, but, we do wanna do you know, there are certain trends in tattooing right now that aren't, they're not viable in the in the long term, you know. They're they're they look really pretty when you do them, but six, eight, ten months down the road, you have a very muddy, very washed out, poorly healed kind of mess that isn't the tattoo that you wanted. And it's because there's not enough guys that took the time to learn how to do this the right way.

You know, you have to have enough black in a tattoo to make it hold up. Right. You know, and and so we want our stuff to hold up and stand the test of time, and and, you know, as we always joke, hashtag needs more black. Mhmm. You know, it's to to get into the the social media aspect of it.

But it it you know, we just wanna do stuff right and and and kinda hearken back to the good old days when stuff was done that way. Well, I I made a personal choice, several years back that I I would stop and, not tattoo further on myself. But but if I if I were to, I would definitely come to you. Well, I appreciate that, Sean. Because it because it's not just the quality of your work, which is great.

I've looked at tons of pictures. Thanks, man. It it is what you've described. It's the atmosphere, the experience, and, you know, when I'm working in your window there the other day, you know, and I'm I'm eavesdropping on on you dealing with, you know, one client after another, it's like, yeah. It's a pretty cool place to to come and get a tattoo and, you know, not not have the, hey, bro, you know, nonsense.

I appreciate that. I appreciate that. That means a lot, man. Like, that's that's a that's a big compliment coming from another artist. I'd I I like to hear that they think we're doing the right thing.

And and I would give you the same carte blanche. I would say, this is what I'm thinking. Do what you do. Yeah, man. I think you ought to get an eagle.

Some have said. Okay. So I'm gonna let you go because I know that your wife's gonna be pissed off at both of us that she's walking the dog without you. So if I don't let you go, then then I'm gonna have to deal with her. And she's Canadian, and you know how crazy they get.

She just needed some alone time, and then she'll be all to boot her hockey later. And I'll tell her I'm Suri, and, everything will be okay. Alright. Okay. Well, we will be at your place fresh and early tomorrow morning.

I'm bringing Fantastic. I'm bringing my wife, Kaili, and we're gonna get you put together. Oh, man. I'm excited, and it'll be good to see Kaylee again and, and and you and, I are we bringing Tristan as well? Or No.

No. I gave Tristan the day off. He's got some other stuff to do and, Right on. Yeah. So be down there in the morning.

Have a good night, and thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to do the show. Appreciate it. Man. It was great. I'm truly honored, and and what a cool show you have.

Well, it'll be airing tomorrow morning, so we can listen to it while we're working. Oh, that'll be great. Alright, man. Have a good night. Hey.

We'll see you soon. Well, there we go. So that was kinda cool. Be able to interview one of my clients and, talk to them about some of the crossover between, tattooing artwork and sign painters and all the different issues that I think we share. So that was kinda cool.

I would like to thank our sponsor, Full City Rooster Coffee Roasters, also in Dallas, not far from Josh Hall Tattoo, actually, just around the corner from them. And I would like to thank them, and I'd also like to pitch, the sign painters blend coffee, that they produce. We are still getting great feedback from all over the world from people who have been ordering and drinking the sign painters blend. So thank you for that. And let's see.

I guess that's probably it for this week. We've got some exciting things in the works, that, we'll be revealing in the near future. Hopefully, we had a cool experience. I'll share with you real quick. On Friday, the city here, we did some design work for their music on Maine, concert series and, in a very cool turn of events.

Ray Wiley Hubbard, who is a Texas music legend, ended up here in the studio. So we were able to hang out with Ray for a little bit before the show and, trade him a copy of the book, sign painters for his new album, the Ruffians' Misfortune, which just came out. And, yeah, had a pretty cool, cool little time with Mr. Hubbard. So, if he's listening, I'd like to thank him for taking the time to hang out with us.

And, yeah. So there you go. Other cool stuff in on the horizon, but some of it I'm not allowed to reveal you as of yet, but we'll keep you posted as we go. Thanks for listening to the show, and we will talk to you guys next week. I would also like to, give a last minute shout out to my buddy, Hal.

I know he's a regular listener of the show, and, it's kind of an inspiration to me and has, inspired me to become a better person and do some good things with my life. So good on you, Hal. Love you, guy. Talk to you later. Today's episode of Coffee with a SoundPainter is brought to you by Full City Rooster Coffee Roasters in Dallas, Texas.

Roasting distinctive coffees from around the world. Sean drinks Full City Rooster Coffee every day in the studio. You can order their coffee online at full city rooster dot com. Thanks for listening to Coffee with a SignPainter, hosted by Sean Starr. You can find all sorts of info about the show and sign painting, including previous episodes at our website, seanstarr.com.