About Me
Uzi Tattoo was formed in San Francisco in the early nineties by Billy Chapin, A.K.A. THE DRIFTER;Chris Antolini and Tony Palermo. The following is a background on the band just to bring everthing up to date as to where we came from and how we got there.In 1981, after having moved to San Francisco, the previous year from my native Santa Cruz to be around the Punk Rock Scene (Mabuhay, Rats Palace, etc...), I met Billy in a Tenderloin bar, where his girlfriend Mary, was bartending.Billy, had until recently played in a local working band called Island, which he called a "poor man's Pablo Cruz". One of the places they frequently worked was The Palms on Polk Street.A little further down the road, Billy hooked up with a rock band called Token Faith. I still didn't have anything together music-wise, so I was thrilled when I was invited to join them as a second guitarist. We played only one show around 1982 at a place on Turk Street, "The Sound of Music", a former drag queen bar turned wanna-be Mabuhay in the Tenderloin, and the band broke up shortly after. I only bring this up because this was the first time I was ever on stage with Mr. Chapin.Later on, Billy went on the road playing bass with a popular 80's Punk band, called Legionair's Disease. They made a trip up north to Calgary, B.C. (I believe the drummer on this was on "Bob Noxious", lead singer of the Fuck-Ups, another infamous band from that era). And I spent the next 7 years at Time & Space studios on Natoma Street, honing my chops and playing in several bands that never panned out (Present danger, featuring Mary (now, Billy's ex-girlfriend), and ending up with the Knockers, with John Perga of the Rockers/Finders singing.During this period, mid-90's, Billy went back to his native Florida to "dry out", mainly to kick heroin. (I don't speak out of turn her, just listen to our song "Dopesick". I never could have written a song like that! And I wondered in I would ever see him again. Until...Fast forward to 1991. Billy came back to SF just as my band had broken up. I had always wanted to be in a kick-ass rock band with this dude. He was a solid Rock N Roll bassist with a twisted sense of humor and now I had my chance! During the period of time that Billy was in Florida, I had been hanging at a Nob Hill bar, The Chelsea Place, where I met Chris Antolini, who just happended to be a drummer with his own gear. The first time we jammed with Billy was in the basement of the bar, probably around 1992. Later, Chris found Lennon Studios, in the South of Market area, and we moved our operations there, putting together a set consisting mostly of our songs that Billy had written. He had several ideas for a band name, as I recall...the one we liked best was "Uzi Tattoo".
And the band was born!..."Let's take everything we know and trash it!!!", something Billy had said to me around '92. A sort of Uzi Tattoo "mission statement".I can't say this ever really got off the ground, however. We played the old Mission Rock twice (both birthday parties for a friend, Hoppe), we threw a kegger at Lennon Studios, and we did one show at the Covered Wagon Saloon. We also recorded a 4 track live demo at Lennon during this period.Eventually, Billy's hard living and poor domestic life caught up with him and the band really couldn't function anymore, so we broke up around 1996.Around 2000, Chris caught up with Billy and we decided to give it another go. (At this time, I had moved my gear into Francisco Studio on Turk Street).While it was fun playing the songs again, we never got out and played anywhere. With nothing really keeping him here in SF, Chris, after a couple of years decided to move to Hollywood with his girlfriend Janet DeCiaro. There went the rythym section! Until...Enter Don Enberg,A.K.A WINK DINKERSON whom I had met at another Tenderloin bar (there seems to be a common theme here...I guess I spend alot of time in public drinking establishments!). Turned out He played drums (with the Disbelievers and the Butchered Hens), was enthusiastic (he designed the "skull and cross-guns" logo), and was serious about playing live. We were back in business.Don began getting us shows at places like Kimo's, the Cherry Bar, and the casual jams at Harrrington's Pub on Turk. We were on our way, right??Wrong!...and this is where we come to our "VH1, behind-the-music" moment that I would rather forget, but here goes...Last year around April, the hard-living street life not only caught up with Mr. Chapin, it kicked him in the ass. The doctors at SF General, told Billy the stuff attacking his liver (Hep C, Cirrhosis, etc...along with decades of drinking) had become cancerous and that was all she wrote. They gave him six months (and folks, they weren't kidding!!!).I'm sure there was a certain amount of denial on both our parts-I was thinking if here cleaned up his act, maybe even PRAYED a little, we could buy some time, maybe a year, finish the album we never got to make...but this was not meant to be. Billy left us August 23, 2006, just two months shy of his 51st birthday.Well, if you've stayed with me this far, maybe you'll understand why this has turned into a mini-novel. I just didn't thin k I could talk about the band without telling the guy's story. We had been friends for 25 years. I thought about putting Uzi Tatto to rest, maybe join some other band as a sideman...I dunno. But Don wouldn't hear of it. We had both both alot of time and effort into this thing.We played a Memorial for Billy in October at Thee Parkside with a new bassist, Tommy, whom we'd been working as a back-up plan (have Billy sing, as his bass chops had dwindled toward the end). Later, we added a second guitarist, E.J. (Chris had wanted to do this years ago!) These guys have provided an infusion of young blood to this band of geezers, and we've never sounded better!Well, that's all I got for now. I hope you'll watch this space for upcoming shows and come check us out. We last played at the Hotel Utah in Feb. 2007, and we'll probably wind up at Thee Parkside again.Oh, and I probably should give you some idea of our style...sort of late-seventies, pre-hardcore, old school metal, etc...)Don says we're "Classic Rock"...hmmm????) and whatever else Tommy and E.J. A.K.A. JUICE can come up with. We're movin' on! It should be one great party!!!!And one hell of a hangover!Best Wishes!Tony Palermo
March 23, 2007. We now have a 9 song set list with tommy and JUICE. We will be in the recording studio this winter to burn our 1st. CD more to come WINK!!!!!!!!!!!!
