Over the years, I have had the privilege of touring with many bands (Hatebreed, Sepultura, Terror, Madball, Turnstile and many more) across the world and always thought about how great it would be to have a group of incredible tattoo artists do the same. Get on a bus and hit the road, a new city in a different country every day. Visiting and Tattooing at world famous European tattoo shops.
This will be the first Tattoo Tour of this kind ever. The goal is to have different artists from different walks of life bring their unique style to the European Tattoo scene. Over the years, I got to meet many great artists both in the U.S. and Europe. Fusing the two Continents and their individual talents together has always been something that I cared about doing. After years of playing with the idea of putting a tour like this together I finally started getting to work in the summer of 2017.
To tell you a bit about myself. I was born and raised in Essen, Germany and spent my life working in the music and tattoo industry. In 2001, I moved to New York and shortly after began managing my friends Tattoo Shop, Halo Tattoo. In 2004, I founded a record label called Reaper Records (Terror, Madball, Turnstile, Trapped Under www.reaper-records.com) and in 2014 a tattoo magazine called Tribal Tattoo Fanzine which featured many artists such as Tim Lehi, Civ, Chris O’Donnell, Frank Romano among others as well as many of the tattooers on this trip. The Tattoo magazine got worldwide attention in the tattoo scene with it’s grass roots Fanzine style and heavy focus on documenting current events in the tattoo scene, historic aspects and of course many tattoo artists.
As a life long fan of tattoos, youth culture and the happenings of underground lifestyles, I have always enjoyed mixing cultures and ideas. While Europe and the U.S. have always shared a bond tattoo wise, I am hoping that this tour will only deepen the connection internationally.
After a successful first tour in 2018 followed by the 2019 tour with a stacked roster of artists we are gearing up for the next adventure!
Come and visit us on the 3rd Tribal Tattoo Tour, September 2020 in a European city near you! For more details check out the Artist and Tour Stop links.
Patrick Kitzel
