Please give our readers a little tattoo history about yourself and your background?

I started tattooing when I was 27 years old, I was a roofer before then and never thought I’d ever be a tattooist. I got tattooed one day and I watched the person tattoo me and I thought I could probably do that. I set up to become a tattooist, probably did it the wrong way and started tattooing at home which is a big no no. I didn’t know how you got into it from the start and within three months of me mucking around at home a mate of mine mentioned me to Marty at Marty’s Fineline Tattoo that I was doing some nice tattoos and that I’d never tattooed before. Marty told him to bring me down and he wanted to check out what I could do.

What was the first tattoo you ever inked on someone and how much do you feel you have either improved or learnt over the years?

I tattooed my brother and it was a little tribal piece. I hacked it in for a good two to three hours and didn’t get very far with getting the black in very far or the lines in at all and ended up having a brother with a pretty sore shoulder.

Was there a particular style you picked up straight away or did you experiment a lot to find your niche. How do you describe your style and where do you feel it fits in industry?

When I started a lot of the tattoo styles were very hard outline and a lot of the old flash pieces off of the wall and then four years into my career a lot of the realism started coming out and that’s what I was always drawn to and that’s when I started converting my style to what I’d learnt to realism.

We will come back to you as an artist so tell us the story that led you to open up your studio?

I got my chance at tattooing and would be at the studio non-stop, Marty used to have to tell me to go home. I didn’t want to leave I’d be there sitting there till 9 o’clock at night and he’d come in and tell me to go home. I didn’t want to go home and really wanted to push myself to get good at tattooing and I would take bookings up till 10pm at night even if it was a three/four-hour tattoo. It took me a long time to good which I feel like I’m still learning everyday. I’d been tattooing about seven years and it just popped into my head one day about opening a studio. I was out front of a chip shop and there was an empty shop. I phoned up and enquired about it and things took off from there.

The title of the studio seems obvious, is there an underlining meaning behind it and if so, please describe it or was it just a name fitted well?

I started off doing a clothing brand and I was sitting there with my ex-partner drumming up names and at the time I was doing a lot of script tattoos and started concentrating on lettering. We were sitting there trying to base it around that and it was actually my ex that came up with the name Scripted Soul. From there after doing the brand for about a year the tattoo shop came along and I thought it was a really nice name so I continued it on. The first studio I opened up was at O’Halloran Hill, we were there for two years but when it came to the lease renewal, I was told that the building had been sold, we weren’t extended the five years I thought we were getting. It was a blessing in disguise because we found that this studio is a lot nicer and a lot more of a tattoo space.

When you first opened the studio was there just yourself and a couple of other artists and how far has it grown?

When I first opened the tattoo studio it was just me plus I had my partner who was going to come over as soon as I opened. So, when I opened it was literally me, I had a tool box, my tattoo bed and zero money. I kept advertising and had one bloke Arron who contacted me within the first week and Crystal came along the following week. The first month or two it was pretty much the three of us. I’ve got a good team of people now and there is 10 of us, all great artists who all specialise in different styles. We have a couple new fresh apprentices and I’ve had a few artists come and go over the last four years but that’s just the way the industry is these days.

Describe one of the most shocking tattoos you have ever seen? Did this end up being a cover up and how did you approach it plus what did you change it into?

I absolutely love doing cover ups and get a lot of satisfaction out of doing them and the challenge of seeing what you can do to make what looks bad into something good for somebody and the satisfaction you get out of your client. They get to see what you have changed to what they were upset having on them to making them happy. Sometimes I may suggest laser if it’s too far gone but there’s not really a lot that I won’t attempt to try and cover up.

Let’s now move to the tattoos on your body, when did you get your first tattoo, describe it and have you added anything to the tattoo?

My first tattoo was when I was 17 years old and it was for my best mate who passed away when I was 12. It’s a tribal arm band in the middle of my back with his name and dates underneath it. I haven’t actually touched that tattoo since I got it done.

Let’s go into your tattoos on a deeper level starting with the skull on the front of your body. Most people would go for a smaller design but you went massive. What does the skull represent to you?

It was actually a t-shirt that I owned and I loved the design on it and I spoke to my boss at the time Marty and said I wanted this on my chest. He did it for me but it never got quite finished and I think it was about four or five years later I got Masterminds Tattoo Studio to do it for me when I worked there. I don’t really have a lot of meanings for my tattoos apart from the ones from my mum or my leg one, I’ve always liked tattoos so I got them done.