Musink Tatto Convention & Music Festival
March 4-6, 2011 at OC Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA .
by Cynthia Jo
Staff Writer
In life, people have learned that things that come in pairs are essentially better: pizza and beer, burgers and fries, peanut butter and chocolate and for a true music lover one synonymously thing– music and tattoos. So, when everything from punk to metal and hardcore are mixed in with needles and ink in one arena for three days, ladies and gentlemen, Musink is created.
The fourth annual music and tattoos festival created by tattoo and reality star Kat Von D opened its doors by 2pm on Friday March 4th and thousands of fans gathered to see what this year had brought. Many had booked appointments with many of the artist in advance. Some, had to be put on a waiting list but most had no problem just showing up to get inked.
Alex Montes from Los Angeles mentioned that he “had no plans on getting tattooed, but after seeing all the amazing work I had to get one, even if I had to break the bank!” Getting tattooed at this festival was a little bit overpriced compared to actually going to the artist’s parlor, however the chance of getting tattooed by a celebrity artists was one of the reasons most people were here for.
Although, it seemed like previous years the festival had more of those celebrity artists seen on Inked, LA Ink, and Miami Ink, a couple showed up to make a brief appearance. Corey Miller from LA Ink and Six Feet Under Tattoo Parlor made an appearance only to say hi and take pictures with fans. Many were disappointed that he wasn’t working and many mentioned the great drum solo he played last year with Face to Face, unfortunately, no chance of him getting behind the kit this year, as he disappeared promptly.
Last year, the festival included a “mall” were vendors from all over the globe featured art and clothing inspired by tattoos. This year, because the budget and sales were much lower, vendors shared the same space as the tattoo artists. But clothing wasn’t the only thing to look through–many talented artist featured their work for auction or a justified price. Cam Rackam, an OC based artist who also does all the album artwork for Avenged Sevenfold sketched and signed for fans at his Blood and Oil booth on Friday night. On Saturday he did several live paintings.
“Yeah, I’m paint battling with The Tatomir against Tony Koehl and on Sunday I will be bombing it up with Steve Rodgers against Clint Carney and Christopher Ulrich!” he mentioned. It was awesome to actually see his work being created live.
On the other side of the Fairgrounds there was the venue where fans gathered on Friday to see CKY, Biohazard, and Suicidal Tendencies, Circa Survive and Thrice on Saturday, and The Used on Sunday. This was also affected by the budget cut. Unlike past years, there wasn’t a side stage where local bands were showcased, only the main stage ignited the crowd. If that affected the results of the first night is uncertain, but one thing is for sure, the first night had such a low turn out that the Whisky a Go Go could have hosted it–even when Suicidal Tendencies was up.Kicking up that night was CKY, which even brought in the skaters that were hanging out in the hall way. What could have possibly fail the night was the horrid performance from Attika 7–even Biohazard couldn’t save it but fortunately fans left satisfied after Suicidal Tendencies set that included “You can’t bring me down,” “Possessed to Skate,” and crowd favorite “Institutionalized.”
Saturday was a different story. Circa Survive killed it and definitely had a big following. As they took the stage, more than half of the venue was full. Their performance of “Blue Sky Noise” pumped up the crowd and set the tone for headliners: Thrice.
“I feel so out of place here. I’m from the OC and stoked to play with Circa Survive, but I just don’t have any tattoos,” jokes Thrice’s bassist Ed Breckenridge at the VIP lounge as he enjoyed his coconut water before the show. Thrice, who are in the process of recording their eight studio album, set to release later this summer, totally made up for the previous night lack of energy. The quartet performed essentially songs from album The Artist in The Ambulance, a few from their past release Beggars, but the one song that stole the night was the acoustic rendition of “Stare at the Sun.” The venue was completely full by then and all you heard was every single fan sing along with lead vocalist Dustin Kensrue.
By the third night the turn out wasn’t as strong as Saturday but no strangers to the festival, The Used, made sure fans weren’t disappointed. At the first Musink, The Used appeared with Kat Von D during their performance so fans anticipated if the famed tattooer would make another appearance but she didn’t and hasn’t since that first year. What was much like the first year was The Used set list. Overall, they were dynamic with their powerful driven riffs and Bert McCracken’s highlights songs such as “Noise and Kisses,” “Take It Away,” and to fit in “The Taste of Ink.”
If many left without any tattoos is very possible but at least the two last nights were much better than the initiation day. Despite it being a lot smaller in dimension and not as heavily populated, the crowd still remained energetic and enthused to what the festival offered: music and tattoos. Maybe, to what everyone wishes, the economy would get better and perhaps, next year the festival will feature other pairs that compliment such wonderful art form.