Tattoo Number 2 - A Story Of Indecision

It’s Mrs Addictive Personality coming to you live.

As a few regulars will know, on 30th May this year I embarked on my first tattoo journey. I call it a journey, and not lightly, because picking the design, sizing, tattoo parlour and most importantly my preferred artist in that parlour, took a whole lot of deliberation. Not to mention my continuous eternal struggle with the commitment of a tattoo, which I documented in my ‘Should I Get A Tattoo?’ post, the pain, the question as to how much I loved theology to actually get something dedicated to it. Oh, it was an ordeal. 

You’d think then that the body modification craving, that I literally have not been able to get rid of since getting my bloody earlobes pierced, would be satisfied. Yet, here we are again - I want another one. For heavily tatted folks this won’t seem like a huge deal; some probably can’t imagine having just one tattoo, especially something as small and unnoticeable under clothing as my first one is (pic below if you haven’t seen). However, I expected that after experiencing the pain and turmoil that goes into tattooing, a much more severe experience than getting a piercing, I would be satisfied that I’d had the experience and not want anymore.

What I have come to realise is, though I don’t see myself as ever being someone who is visibly heavily tattooed, there are other design ideas that I can’t shake from my head, and I could still get multiple on the middle portion of my body that no one would see while I’m clothed...what am I gonna do, say no? 

Whilst I have, in a very lovely design I’d like to think, payed homage to my beloved uni course of Theology, I am now interested in showcasing in tattoo form, my love for music. I have a few of my favourite musicians, bands, albums, etc, all with potential to become tattoos, in mind, and I’m going to discuss those in the hope that I, now that I’ve selected an artist and talks have begun, will be certain on ink baby number two.

~ My Ideas ~

Readers of my music-based posts will have probably clocked on that my favourite bands at the minute (though I don’t see them ever changing) are Led Zeppelin and Radiohead - these therefore have been the centric muse for the tattoo ideas I’ve been deliberating. 

Led Zeppelin have been one of my favourite bands since I was about 16 years old at least. My love for heavy rock guitar music was largely founded by Jimmy Page and the things he managed to do with a Les Paul. It is very rare for me to enjoy every song a band has in their repertoire, but I can honestly say none of their music disappoints me, and I return to their iconic albums time and time again when searching for something to listen to. Having a tribute to this band sounds like the perfect route for me to take, and there are a couple of ways that I have thought about representing them.

The first is a no brainer to anyone familiar with the band, and that is the four symbols (pictured below). I spoke about these in my first post on tattooing and it is still very much a prevalent and feasible idea that I could get - each symbol representing one of the four band members. Alongside this, I have debated just getting Jimmy Page’s symbol done (Zoso), as, whilst I hate to pick favourites, he is a huge inspiration for me as an amateur guitarist and very much represents the unique and powerful sound that I associate most with Zeppelin.

That being said, the symbols could be considered a very overdone idea when subtle Zeppelin tatts are considered. A quick google search makes it known that thousands upon thousands of people have had this done, and I myself have noticed it on members of the public very frequently. This doesn’t wholly put me off as the design would still mean something to me personally, but with the commonality of this piece in mind, I began debating whether another, perhaps more subtle tribute would be the way to go.

Another piece of imagery related to Zeppelin is Icarus. Not only is the myth of Icarus an important story and conveyer of the moral message to not reach beyond our limits, it is frequently associated with the logo of the band; appearing on merchandise, logos, and album covers. I even did an Instagram poll asking my followers which of the two designs would be a better homage to Led Zeppelin, and it was an almost unanimous decision in favour of Icarus. This therefore has now made its way into a very high position on my next tattoo list.

When first deliberating over tattoos on here, I claimed that whilst I love the band Radiohead dearly and would love to have a piece dedicated to them, I had literally no idea what it could be. I don’t like their logo particularly, and I don’t have one stand out favourite lyric or song. I also said that I wouldn’t want to get an album cover piece for them as none of them stood out to me...times have definitely changed on this one. I have as of late become absolutely infatuated with the band’s 1995 album The Bends. There is not a single song on it that I don’t love, and I can safely say I have listened to title track ‘The Bends’ at least once a day for about 3 months now. I am well and truly obsessed.

With my love of this record in mind, I am seriously considering getting the album cover as my next piece. The quirkiness of the mannequin face is so specific that only certain people would even know it’s a Radiohead reference. Not to mention I am yet to find a single picture online of anyone getting this done - a far away concept for the overused Led Zep symbols. It’s subtle, it’s unique, and it represents my favourite album AND my favourite band all in one go - perfect.

This latter idea is now the prevalent one in my mind; so much so that I already feel like it’s on me I’ve visualised it that much. I have actually made the leap and contacted a tattoo artist in Liverpool that I have been absolutely obsessed with since I found her Instagram. Her name is Jessica Brown from L1 Ink and her dotwork style is so so cool. She’s tattooed a few of my friends in the past and all of the results have been incredible. Whilst I am not 100% decided and could return to the previous ideas that I’ve considered, I have contacted her about doing my Bends tattoo and she is more than happy to make my vision come to life. I. Am. Excited.

Will I get it done? Will I end up completely covered in tattoos one day after not being able to fight the addiction? Will I chicken out and just get a new ear piercing instead? Stay tuned on my indecisive and impulsive journey of body modifications.

Thanks for reading my duuuuudes, I love ya,

H x