Category: Music

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Out For Blood: Interview with SAFIRE

We chat to female crossover metal artist SAFIRE about her new single, aesthetic and tattoo collection…

How would you describe your music? DOM POP! I make dominant pop music drawing inspiration from my love of metal/hardcore punk, RnB and Pop. My music is angry, empowering and sexually charged by my lust for shifting the power dynamics from the masculine to the feminine.

What inspires you as an artist? Rage! War! Blood!

When did your musical career start? I’ve been singing, dancing and acting since I was a kid, but I guess things really started to come to life during the pandemic lockdowns. I lived alone and had a lot of time on my hands to get creative, which is where things really began to take shape.

I wrote a whole record and even recorded two music videos during that period. I think that was the only thing keeping me sane! 

How have you got to where you are today? Blood, sweat and tears. And then some more blood and tears! I’m a self made, independent artist.

I’m lucky to have had the support of some incredible thinkers and creatives to help me develop what I see in my mind. My career and life are synonymous in that respect.

Can you tell us about your new single? I’ve arrived at a point where I have absolute respect for the divine feminine and will no longer tolerate oppression of any kind from the masculine. This is the message.

Out For Blood is about reclaiming your feminine power. It’s a self chant reminding you that you’re a fucking warrior!  

I think the message is clear. You fucked with the wrong woman. You’re on my list and I’m coming for you. 

What’s the process behind your songs? I sometimes draft a concept or storyline based on thoughts that I’ve been having or maybe it’s a nightmare I’ve had. I then draw together a playlist of elements that I’m vibing and will then sit down with my producer and start creating the track.

Whilst the track is being built I’ll start to hear melodies and rhythms. I then build in the storyline and lyrics that I’ve written. The process can be different depending on the mood but that’s a formula that works for me. I like to work in small circles of people that I trust, respect the opinions of and share a similar vision with.

Where can people see you live and find your single? OUT FOR BLOOD is out on all streaming platforms now! The music video is out on the 11th October at 6pm on YouTube.

I’ll be announcing other releases/live shows on socials so follow me there for dates.

When did you get your first tattoo, what is it and do you still like it? I got my first tattoo with a fucking amazing artist and human – Woody @woodfordtattoo. It was a heart made of question marks with soundwaves. It’s done well but nothing I’d have done now. It’s hidden amongst my sleeve on my inner arm. Even though I’m not a huge fan of it I do remember drawing it whilst listening to Tool’s new album (10,000 Days) and it holds some cool memories for me so I wouldn’t change it. 

Walk us through your tattoo collection, do you have a favourite? On my fingers are lyrics from a track by The Hope Conspiracy “It’s a gun at my neck, a voice in my ear, to never look back” handpoked by Adam Sage @adamsage13 and I think they are my favourite tattoos.

I have wings on my neck which is my latest tattoo done by Woody which are my second favourite tattoo. Number three has to be my cat x-ray on my leg by Jack Newton @jackthomasnewton. I got that one done shortly after my cat Canaan died, so it holds a lot of meaning. I’m really into iconography so a lot of my tattoos have some of these pieces within them. 

Do your tattoos help you to feel more confident? I think they did when I was a lot younger but I don’t really see them now.

They’re a part of me and an extension of my thoughts and feelings that I’m willing to convey outwardly. It’s a similar process with my music and visual art. 

Did your fashion style come first or your music, how do these come together? I think both elements have evolved concurrently and are both just a culmination of my interests and influences. I’m influenced by darker aesthetics and sounds for sure! Always have been.

Do you listen to music while you’re getting tattooed? Yes! I remember listening to Isis’s (then) new album ‘In The Absence Of Truth’ whilst getting my tattoo sleeve done. I LOVE Garden Of Light. Very cathartic.

Being tattooed has opened doors and conversations for me that I don’t think would have otherwise been opened. It’s equally closed some!

Can you share any experiences, good or bad, of being a tattooed woman? People definitely make judgements about who you are based on your looks and tattoos. I remember being stared at by an old and very disgusted couple in Belgium years ago. That felt weird to me. I don’t even notice my tattoos any more so I didn’t know what the hell they were looking at!

I’ve had the opportunity to appear in tattoo magazines and to host conventions when I was younger which was amazing. I met some incredible people during that period, so no regrets! 

Follow SAFIRE for more music, fashion and tattoos.

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Sylvia Rose Novak

28-year-old Sylvia Rose Novak is a folk/Americana songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist and activist based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. We talked to Sylvia about the inspirations behind her songwriting, her growing collection of tattoos, and background in horse-training…

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When did you realise that music and songwriting was what you wanted to do?It hit me kind of like a train in the summer of 2013. I wrote a couple of songs in the six months leading up to that revelation without any real purpose or desire to make it “a thing”. But, honestly, it feels like lightning hit me at some point that June and I’ve never looked back.

What inspires your songwriting? Is there anyone you admire? Ryan Adams. I want to grow up to be Ryan Adams, pinball machines and black Cadillac and all. He fascinated me. He’s also one of my favorite writers and musicians. I also greatly admire Jason Isbell. As far as what inspires me, that’s a grab bag. It could be a minor character in a book I’m reading or maybe just the state of the world. I’ve written songs about people I’ve never met just because their story struck me. I tend to prefer writing about things and people that are not me or my life, but I do that on occasion too.

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How does music fit with your other interests, such as yoga and horse training? One of my friends and, for lack of a better word, “mentors” in the yoga community (Ruby Chandler. She owns Shakti Power Yoga Athens. She is beyond amazing.) played one of my songs in a class I was attending once and, to my surprise, it actually worked! I always kind of wondered if it would. Outside of that, I think my live performances are more directly influence by my yoga practice than my writing is. I try to stay totally present for and connected to the audience – that is yoga.

I was a horse trainer for a long long time. I actually still do one-off training work sometimes. It’s in my blood. People will bring me a horse and say “This horse isn’t safe. It’s explosive. It’s impossible.” and 99% of the time, they’re just not listening. The horse is scared or anxious. Some of the best horses I’ve ever worked with were “impossible”. Now, I mostly just hack around on my horse of 11 years, Milo (who was also “impossible”.) I got him in 2007 and love him more than almost anything. He’s a big fat thoroughbred and he’s ridiculous. Like a giant dog.

With so many projects going on what do you do to relax? I’m actually currently sitting on my couch rereading “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs” for the fourth time. This is one of my very rare quiet mornings, so I’m enjoying it immensely (as I wait for the internet installer). I find ways to decompress when I can, but it’s rare. Hitting my yoga mat and working with my horse both help even though they’re active things. I also like to run when I can. I’m also a big fan of wine. Specifically Pinot Noir and Shiraz.

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Can you tell us about your tattoos, you’re an incredibly creative person, are your tattoos a reflection of this? I think they’re more a reflection of the tattoo artists. Most of the time I walk in and say “this is kind of what I want and where I want it”. And let them do the rest. I am by no means a visual artist. I once did an acrylic painting of Warren Zevon that looks a lot like Jim Henson. [My husband hangs it up in the house, anyway.] I have the album artwork from Jason Isbell’s “Here We Rest” on my back. It’s a piece of artwork by Browan Lollar. I love that record but, moreso, love that piece of artwork. My favorite tattoo is the big Ryan Adams tribute that I have on my forearm. Radar at Walk The Line in Athens, GA knocked it out of the park. I think my tattoos are more a tribute to the things that inspire me than of my actual creativity. – except for the compass earth between my shoulder blades. That one’s a reflection of being 18 and making a poor life choice.

Photos by Wade Allen

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Interview with Joaquin Ardiles

Because music is in itself an art, it comes as no surprise that so many involved in the industry also have an affinity for tattoo culture. 31-year-old guitarist Joaquin “Jo” Ardiles of Good Tiger has taken his love of tattoos one step further by becoming a tattoo artist. When he’s not on tour, Jo can be found tattooing a mx of western traditional and illustrative styles at Kilburn Tattoo in London. 

Photo by Tom Barnes

How long have you been playing guitar and how long have you been tattooing?I’ve been pretending to play guitar now for about 15 years, and tattooing for about six or seven years I don’t remember exactly.

Which one do you love more? Or is it like picking a favourite child? They are both a lot of fun and I enjoy different things from each of them, I’m lucky that I get to do both. I think I get the same enjoyment from playing a sickhead riff as I do from finishing a cool tattoo. I like the freedom the tattooing gives me to be able to go out and play music and I like that playing music means I get to be tattooed by people in different parts of the world that would be difficult/expensive to get to otherwise.

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What was it about each craft that drew you in and peaked your interest? How do they make you feel? I started playing guitar because I thought chicks dug that shit, but actually they like saxophone. I quit playing the saxophone to play guitar, so I really fucked up there. By the time I realised it was too late and I was already invested, so I just kept going. Also I wanted to slam some sick riffs and be Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine. Playing guitar means that I get to hang out with my friends and play a lot of Nintendo Switch with them in tiny backstages across the world, which is cool, I’m into it.

I started tattooing because I thought it would be easy and I could make some money in between touring but it turns out it’s not and I had to work hard for my place. Luckily I had a bossman that was ok with me going on tour, as long as when I was back I was at the studio watching and learning. I knew very little about tattoos when I started, I was a bit of an idiot actually. I love the world of tattooing now, I love that it’s not easy to get into, and I love that I still have a lot to learn.

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How would you describe your style of tattooing? What influences you? Are there any artists you admire? I think my style is a twist on western traditional, I like to keep things a little weird, make it’s something that’s mine as much as something the client wants. I’m influenced by other tattooers, by video games, music, comics. It all plays a part in influencing the way I draw, even if its not obvious in the piece itself. There are so many good tattooers out there right now, I could probably make a really long boring list but I think right now @greggletron is next level. @scumboy666 and @wan_tattooer have such a cool style, I wish people in the UK got more stuff like that I’d love to do shit like that. @joefarrelltattoo is the bossman at my shop he taught me everything I know and I owe him a lot. I work with @lauralenihantattoo and she has been putting out some bigboy pieces recently. HOLD TIGHT THE KILBURN MASSIVE.

How does your music and tattooing go hand in hand? I like to try and get tattooed while I’m on tour if I can. It’s not always easy depending on routing and timing and such, but it’s a nice way to meet tattooers and visit cool shops. Playing music means I get to meet a lot of people and tattoo a lot of people that have found me through the band. Also the music world is full of people with tattoos, I’ve been lucky enough to tattoo people in my favourite bands or talk to musicians about their tattoos and where they got them. I think both those worlds are interlinked, the first tattoos I saw were on musicians in magazines and on tv.

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Good Tiger released their new album We Will All Be Gone on Feb 9th 2018 via Metal Blade Records. Can you tell us a little bit about the new album, what is your favourite track? The new album rules and it’s gonna make me bigger than Kid Rock I think. We really pulled it out of our arses with this one, managed to make a non stop, start to finish, banger after banger, perfect album. Have you guys heard Dark Side of the Moon? This shits all over it and then some. My favourite track is Blue Shift because I think it will make me the most money/chains/emerald encrusted pimp canes.

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Photo taken by Kayla Surico

Will you be touring? What can fans expect? We will be yes, our next tour is in the states, little headline run followed by a load of dates in the US/Canada with our favourite beanheads Protest the Hero. Fans can expect a lacklustre show because we are old now and don’t have the gusto or the legs to put on a show with any kind of enthusiasm. Gonna keep it tight though and play real good. I might get a rat tail haircut again so if I turn around during the show, the front row is going to get a real visual treat, a battering of the senses, even. Prepare yourselves.

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Alice & Black Tulip Beauty

Alice is a 21-year-old singer and blogger from Bristol, we caught up with her to chat all things beauty, tattoos and music…

How long have you been blogging? Officially I’ve been blogging just over a year but not consistently, I started my blog in January 2017 and posted a few bits and bobs on it, but unfortunately got really unwell and diagnosed with a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease so it took a back seat for quite a while. I’ve been unable to work properly since my diagnosis, so my blog has been a great point of focus for me and something I love that I can do from home. I started blogging consistently in July 2017 and other than the odd small break due to health complications, I haven’t looked back!

How did you start and what inspired you to create your own blog? I’ve always been more of a creative person than anything else. I had quite a lot of people coming to me and asking about my makeup and my skincare, so I thought creating a blog would be a great way to share my favourite products and my progress. I also worked in The Body Shop for a year and a half so I learned a hell of a lot about the beauty industry, ingredients and benefits for the skin from working there.

What do you blog about? What can readers expect to see? If you want to check my site out, you can find me over at www.blacktulipbeauty.co.uk. I have focused mainly on beauty with the odd post about my life, my illness and holidays chucked in. I do hope to expand the topics I cover on my blog in the next few months and start writing about fashion, events, health and food. I would love to start raising more awareness for the illness I have too as I feel it’s misunderstood and undermined as to how much it really changes your life.

What is your must-have beauty item? What can’t you live without? Oh gosh those are two very different questions! My must have would be the Morphe 35F palette, it holds incredible shades and is SUCH amazing value for money, the pigment is incredible! But a product I couldn’t live without is the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer, it’s incredible and covers my eye bags a treat!

How would you describe your style? I always say it’s kinda gothic/punky mixed with a bit of girly glam?! I love doing all my makeup and hair nice but there’s nothing more personally empowering than wearing a leather dress and fishnets and big chunky boots.

How do your tattoos fit in with this? Can you tell us about your tattoos? I think my tattoos fit perfectly with my style, I’m a big wearer of black and red which is what my tattoos are. The first one I got was a skull and rose at the Bristol Tattoo Convention in 2015. I’ve wanted tattoos since I was 12 and I decided to just dive in with my first and not bother getting a tiny one to test the waters. The second was my Grim Reaper which I got done at Broad Street Studio in Bath by Jimmie, it took a few sketches to get the ideal Reaper I had in my head right but I absolutely love this guy and it’s probably the tattoo I’ve had the most compliments on! My mum absolutely hates it though, she tells me to get him covered up.

My third was a floral mandala on my shoulder, I saw someone with something quite similar and fell head over heels in love. I got home and emailed an artist I’d been obsessing over for ages and booked it straight in. This has been my most painful as it stretches slightly up onto my neck so that wasn’t the most pleasant feeling. This one and my Medusa were done by Iain Sellar from The Black Lodge in Portishead which I’d highly recommend. Such incredible artists in the studio and I’ve had amazing experiences both times I’ve been!

My most recent was my Medusa, she is probably my favourite. I LOVE how badass she is and I think Iain did such an amazing job designing her. I love how intricate the lines are and I’m so glad we chose to keep her eyes hollow aswell, I think it adds an awesome extra creepy vibe to it. These are all I have for now as the medication I’m currently on slows down my immune system which could cause complications with the healing of any new ones but I really want Iain to finish my sleeve when possible and then I want to start on a big back piece!

Do you consider yourself a collector? I collect skulls! (not real ones!) I have over 100 skull related things in my room and my collection is still growing. This week I managed to bag a skull lamp for £10 in Asda and I’m not going to lie it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I’ve been asked so many questions as to why I like skulls so much, I just think they’re quite fascinating! There is a post on my blog where I do a tour of my room and you can check out my collection on there if you’re interested.

Can you tell us about your singing? I discovered I wasn’t all that bad at singing and started having lessons around the age of 14 and went on to study it at college and then university. I realised the course I chose at university wasn’t for me and dropped out but still have a huge passion for singing. I’ve been in quite a few bands over the years and played all around Bristol and a few times in Bath and London. I don’t really feel like I’ve ever been in a band where I’ve been on the same wavelength with other members, in the sense of where we wanted to progress with the style of music we were creating unfortunately. I would really love to be able to find that in the near future as I really miss performing. I am currently working on a dance music project with two producers though which I’m really looking forward to as it’s a genre I’ve never done before!

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Interview: Sublime with Rome

As part of their short UK run of shows and penultimate performance before Boomtown festival, Sublime With Rome landed at Bristol’s O2 Academy on 12th August to release their infectious mix of reggae, rock, hip hop and ska.

Before their set, music blogger Verity Vincent sat down with lead singer Rome Ramirez who has led the band’s line-up since 2009, alongside Sublime bassist Eric Wilson and new drummer Carlos Verdugo.swr2So how have the other UK shows been so far? The other shows have been awesome, just fucking packed, people have been screaming. The UK is always good and you’re so passionate about music so, it’s cool to come over from the US. In the US there’s a lot of bands that tour all the time and there’s a lot of competition so to be able to come over here and do that is awesome.

And you’re playing Boomtown tomorrow, have you done much of the festival circuit in the UK?  We’ve done like a dozen or so festivals over here before, but this will probably be the biggest one.

I’ve never done Boomtown but it’s supposed to be like a mini Glastonbury… It’s funny you should say that because that’s what we keep hearing so, I’m excited for that!

And then you’re back in the US to tour with Offspring? We start that in about three weeks. We played a show in southern California together, just us two bands and it was a massive success, bigger than what we would draw without them, and for them without us. With the bands being in the same area, and having a lot of mutual friends, it was just like, why don’t we go on the road?

We did a test run in Canada for a couple weeks and that was just awesome success.

So after the summer you’re back in the studio? October we’ll be back in the studio to release next summer.

At this point do you feel like you have a clear direction with which way your sound is going? Nah every time it’s kind of new. I know a lot of bands do that, they have their “thing” and that’s cool but, I think every album just has a different inspiration.

You always manage to have a good mix of sounds that are heavier and then more acoustic etc  Yeah totally. Sometimes you can put on a reggae or rock album and it’s just – the same – for a fucking, hour and a half y’know. My favourite part about Sublime is being able to mix all that up. I don’t know how we do it, I’m still figuring that part out!

Do you feel like there’s less pressure of what music people expect from you,  now that you’ve been established as Sublime With Rome for so long? Yeah, I think for me personally, I’m older now and been doing it for so long. People that come and listen to us and support us have already heard the news that we’ve been a band for almost eight years y’know. As far as that goes, and public perception goes, it’s been a lot more positive and they’ve had time to accept it.

That’s the cool thing about music though, it’s always expanding. And for me there’s so much involved in making a new album, that’s where the pressure is.

With the younger generation, do you think they’re an audience that will have heard your music before listening to Sublime? I think for the younger generation it’s still the other way around, with being introduced to Sublime and then they’re like… Oh what? That’s fucking crazy, let’s listen to what they’ve got! Just because, you know, Sublime was so massive. But, it’s awesome to be here and be able to do this and people that didn’t see Sublime, can come to our shows.

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Tattoo wise, do you have any favourite pieces of yours or particular artists you like to work with? Yeah! Nic Westfall, he has his own shop in Sacramento, California, he’s an insane artist. So fucking good. This is one of my favourite pieces (uncovers an incredible portrait situated on his forearm, just above an equally perfect Ren and Stimpy tattoo).

My buddy Nate Siggard he’s done most of my tattoos, and he’s tattoo’d pretty much all of us. And Jason Fritze from Florida, he’s done a million tattoos on Eric. He’s only done one on me but it wasn’t a good concept it was just a, fuckin’ cirlcle. I was like, “man I want you to give me one of those good tattoos!” but we were in the studio and didn’t have time. But we usually fly him out to our days off on the tour and he’ll come and chill for a day or two. Or if we’re at the studio, we’ll just invite him down and set up shop for a couple days and get some tattoos.

After speaking with Rome their set was insane launching with ‘Date Rape’ it perfectly set the tone for the rest of evening. Covering Toots & The Maytals ’54-46, That’s My Number’ among Sublime’s back catalogue and sprinkled with the bands’ own tracks including ‘Murdera’, ‘You Better Listen’ and ‘Panic’ from the 2011 album Yours Truly.

Rome, Eric and Carlos closed the night in timeless fashion with ‘What I Got’ and ’Santeria’, leaving the crowd in Bristol with an experience that had no doubt for most, been a long time coming.