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skywalker tomrothschild 12Our guest today comes from Czech Republic. Tom is bass player of band SKYWALKER. The band describes themselves as Modern Rock outlet combining heavy riffs, crushing breakdowns, and sweet melodies with honest and personal lyricism. End of the 2021 the band will go Europe “Late Eternity” tour and special guest will be GHOST IRIS. But now we will talk about our main topic -amazing tattoos.

Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: When did you get your first tattoo and what was it? Did it take much time until you decided to get it done?
Tom: When I was 18 and the very first one was a star with a spiderweb around on my elbow.

RoD: How many tattoos do you have? Could you please tell us their story?
Tom: I got so many tattoos but still got some free spots on my body that I'm gonna fill with other tattoos but it takes some time and I don’t like the healing process to be honest.

RoD: Have you already got all the tattoos that you wanted or will you get some new ones in the future?
Tom: Due to the previous question I’d add just that I got a lot of tattoos that are not done yet - just lines waiting for the colouring

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RoD: Have all your tattoos been done by one tattoo artist or by different ones? How do you choose the tattoo artist? In addition, who draws your sketches?
Tom: I got tattoos from maybe 7-8 different tattoo artists. When it’s the original idea the sketch comes from the artist’s hand but I got tons of tattoos based on music - logos, albums, band names / album names so it’s just taken from the original graphics.

RoD: Getting tattooed hurts, how do you cope with the pain during the sessions?
Tom: Yeah, I hate it. I feel when you getting old it hurts more and more during the session. It’s probably because your skin is older, maybe? I don’t know.

RoD: Do you regret getting tattooed sometimes?
Tom: No, I don’t. I mean, the first one (the star with the spiderweb around) is just a tattoo which doesn’t actually mean anything special but I just wanted to have it. And for me it means that I’m young and it is my first tattoo that I really wanted at that time.

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RoD: What is your taboo in terms of tattoos? What kind of tattoo would you never get done and don’t like to see on other people?
Tom: I don’t judge people based on tattoos because like I said about my first tattoo - some stuff could mean a lot to people and you just really don't know the story behind. So, I don't care - “your body, your choice”.

RoD: Some people say that the drive to acquire body art is addictive while others say it fails to meet the true definition of an addiction, simply calling it a passion. Is it really impossible to stop?
Tom: I mean, it is addictive in a way that you start and after some time you would like to add something to make it look better. Then you have so many pieces undone and starting the new ones and you have to get back to the old one to finish it… that’s my case.

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RoD: Currently tattoos are a new trend; many people do not care about the meaning, they just want to have something coloured on the skin, to be in trend. Those people often just go into a tattoo salon and ask which drafts they have. Tattoo artists are not artists any more, they produce consumer goods. Not all of them, of course. How do you feel about this situation?
Tom: Like I said, your body your choice. The same thing, you, a tattoo artist, have right to not tattoo the person that wanted just “something” coloured on their skin.

RoD: I would like to talk about the social aspect of tattoos, too. Previously, many people believed that if you have a tattoo, you will be never be successful and will not find a “good” job. Have this state of mind and people’s perceptions changed or are these prejudices still alive?
Tom: I still think that there is still prejudice towards tattoos / tattooed people but in comparison to the past it’s getting better and better in my opinion. It also depends on culture / country you live in.

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RoD: Which advice would you give to people who are going to get their first tattoo? How to choose a tattoo artist? Colour or black and white? Any practical advice?
Tom: If I could give a recommendation to people based on my experience with tattoos, I’d just say that if you would like to have tattoos structured just stay with one style. I know what I'm talking about, I have tons of tattoos of different style and it's sometimes very hard to keep them connected to each other on my body.

Links: www.instagram.com/tomsky_walker /wwww.facebook.com/xtomskyx / https://www.facebook.com/skywalkerband1 / www.skywalkerband.com

Project by Daria Tessa and Daniela Vorndran, Interview by Daria Tessa
Pictures by Tom Rotschild

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