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I was born in New Zealand, Waiouru military camp surrounded by active volcanoes on the desert road, my family then moved to Wellington where I lived up unto the age of 12 years.
I started tattooing my arms at the age of 11 with question marks and crosses (boob style tattoos). My mum freaked out and said I was uncontrollable and decided I should go to Auckland and live with my father so he could discipline me. I only wanted to be like my uncle Chris who had tattoos .. I thought he was so cool. I hid the tatts from my dad for as long as I could but he lost it when he saw them. He threatened me with all sorts of bull shit which made more determined to get as many tattoos as I could, as soon as I could.
I only passed one subject at High School and that was art, I got 96%. I remember getting 7% for English, because 10 minutes into the exam I decided to go surfing - the teachers said I got 5% for writing my name on the paper work!
I left school when I was 16 and got a job as a cabinet maker, by this time I was living back with my mum and two sisters (fuck living with dad he was a hardcore military man).
By the age of 17 I had two full sleeves tattooed by Merv O’Conner and both hands fully tattooed by my good friend James who was in the gang Black Power. I tattooed a cross on my forehead and tear drops under both eyes, I did them looking into a mirror, strangely enough I thought that was a cool thing to do!?! My mum on the other hand didn’t, she cried for days.
I started working at the railway work shops repairing train carriages and driving gantry cranes. The railway doctor decided he should remove the tattoos on my face as an experiment. Keeping in mind this was in 1978 and I said yes only because I was given a week off with pay.
My next job was working at a shipping container repair yard as a welder following that I worked at New Zealand Steel as a slab caster pouring molten metal. Even though I was working long hours in a very hot environment I really loved that job.
I remember meeting this guy with some tattoo equipment, after weeks of pleading with him he finally sold the tattoo kit to me. Back in those days you couldn’t even get information out of a Tattooist let alone buy a tattoo machine. After many back yard tattoos I finally met Steve Ma Ching who was a professional tattooist with his own studio at the Queen Street Markets, he became my idol. We clicked from day one and I soon became his apprentice. I remember I would drive all the way across town to Steve’s house and sit and wait until he was ready to get up and out of bed and then drive him to work. If Steve said Jump, I said how high! Not like the apprentice’s of today with attitudes. Steve taught me heaps and I am grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to become the tattooist that I am today.
I packed my bags for a 3 week holiday in Sydney, Australia and on my holiday I was offered a job at Pete and Max's Village Tattoo studio in Kings Cross. I didn’t know what to do so I rang Steve back home, he said I may aswell give it a go and was happy for me. I ended up starting my new life in Australia and took the job at Pete and Max’s Village Tattoo studio in Kings Cross, where I worked for nine years mainly at night from 6 pm to the wee hours of the morning.
Over the years I have worked with some great tattooist like; Steve Ma Ching, Big Pete Blackwell (RIP), Max Chater, Nick and little Pete Tiliackos, Ernie & Jennean, Howard pink, Don “Diablo†Johnson, Kay Stevenson (RIP), Steve Ramsden, Adam Cook, Pluto, Grizz, Zoe Thorne, Manu, Warren “Whomp†Leary, Dean “Patto†Patterson, Lynda Large.
TO BE CONTINUED …HERES A VIDEO CLIP OF MY AIRBRUSHINGS
Slide show of Chris's Airbrushing and drawings..
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