Tristan profile picture

Tristan

Music and art are distilled emotions...

About Me

I'm a 36-year-old tattoo artist who moved to California from France... ...after almost a year working at a studio in Atascadero, CA, the studio burned to the ground. Life's little reset button got pushed. Time to start over. I now work at Crossroads Tattoo in Hesperia, CA. I have been trying for the better part of a year to join the team here... and life has finally conceded me my wish. Let the ink flow like wine!!! Feel free to drop in to talk about your next piece of work. I've been here for a while now and it feels like home. I work Monday and Tuesday from ten a.m. until ten p.m., Thursday by appointment only, and Friday and Saturday from ten a.m. until midnight. This studio is staffed by some VERY talented artists and I am STOKED to be working alongside them... every day is a learning experience. Come see me for some custom ink...or pick the perfect pre-designed tattoo for you. Your happiness is my objective, regardless. I am also a musician... I love everything music... I play guitar, whether acoustic or electric; I play bass, fretted or fretless, including upright; I play tenor sax, alto sax (but not virtuoso status or anything), and I sing. I collect musical instruments the same way I collect tattoo machines... I just stumble upon really great deals... I just can't resist. I love variety. I love languages. I speak English (obviously), Spanish, French, Catalan, and Italian fluently; I speak Portuguese and German very well; I know quite a bit of Russian and survival Japanese... and I'm studying Chinese just because it pisses me off that I don't know it yet. That should give you a little bit of insight into who I am.

My Interests

Tattoos, tattoo machines, Harleys, guitars (mostly Les Paul customs), basses, upright basses, saxophones, painting, sculpture, skateboarding, swimming, foreign languages, refurbishing and carving old briar pipes from the thirties, forties, and fifties (if you want a GREAT smoking pipe made from briar that is now about two hundred years old, hit me up!!!); tobacco blending, and fine cigars.

I'd like to meet:

Real people... no BS. People with some substance beyond the translucent veneer of an everyday facade. Artists, musicians, philosophers, factory workers... as long as they have an open mind and a willingness to never stop learning from life...and to be true to the last. Phonies, rock-stars, and wanna-be poseurs need not apply.

Music:

OK, so I've got to be more specific here. Social Distortion, Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, Dead Milkmen, Violent Femmes, CIV, H2O, NOFX, Bouncing Soles, Suicidal Tendencies, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Madball, Terror, Run Devil Run, Life of Agony, Biohazard, GRIP Inc., Blood For Blood, Rammstein, VAST, Rainmakers, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubaker Quartet, Ella Fitzgerald, Cannonball Adderly, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Bix Beiderbecke, quite a few defunct 80s hair metal bands, Busdriver,some country, a lot of bluegrass... even some rap depending on what it is. Too damn many to list...

Movies:

Just about anything worth watching... I'm pretty into foreign films. What I want to watch depends a lot on what kind of mood I'm in at the time. Les Amants Sur le Pont, Todo Sobre Mi Madre, La Vita E Bella, Serial Lover, Il Mostro... shit worth watching.

Television:

Don't really watch much of it. Mostly documentaries and stuff if I do watch it, or maybe the weather channel.

Books:

Anything I can get my hands on and make it through three pages... lately I don't have so much free time.

Heroes:

The people who inspired me to dedicate my life to professional tattooing (Filip Leu, Stephane Chaudesaigues, Guy Aitchison); Mike Ness (because he's so fucking cocky but he has the right to be) and Impala Pat because his stickers get around more than Jenna Jameson!!! And a special thank-you to all the shallow, self-serving pieces of shit who have opened my eyes along the way.

My Blog

I can’t believe I’m this myspace illiterate!

...I can't even post a damn banner on my page because I never learned how!  So I'll cut and paste it in support of my brothers' band: ..TR> Help spread the wordby posting this banner on your p...
Posted by Tristan on Tue, 13 May 2008 11:47:00 PST

What????

     I logged on today to find a bulletin was posted by a former employer, imploring its readers, specifically ALL TATTOO SHOPS, not to hire me as a tattoo artist.   &nbs...
Posted by Tristan on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:20:00 PST

All of our dreams turned to ashes...

It's been quite a while since I posted here. I think recent events call for it now. On Saturday night, at around three in the morning, I received a call from Gaylin McGrath, owner of A Crucial Po...
Posted by Tristan on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:44:00 PST

digging in my heels...

     OK, so I'm staying here in Central Cali... for many reasons.      I have learned that I have some of the coolest and most loyal clients on the planet... ma...
Posted by Tristan on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:32:00 PST

smalltown, usa... continued

As some of you may know, I recently went down to L.A. for a couple of weeks to do a guest spot in a studio down there.  While the area was beautiful, I found myself thinking often of Atascadero, ...
Posted by Tristan on Fri, 05 Jan 2007 02:34:00 PST

smalltown, USA

OK... so I've been here for about six or seven weeks now.  I still love the area.  It's interesting... a crazy mix of people here, really.     So I still love my job.  My...
Posted by Tristan on Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:09:00 PST

Independence Day

     So Tuesday is July 4th.  Most other years I worked on this day.  I think this year I'll finally have it off.       When I was a kid, i...
Posted by Tristan on Sun, 02 Jul 2006 03:03:00 PST

bored...

So I'm bored as hell right now, kicking around myspace checking out some folks... not much you can do with a suitcase full of tattoo gear and two guitars at midnight or so in Atascadero. My bro Brian ...
Posted by Tristan on Thu, 15 Jun 2006 12:40:00 PST

smalltown, USA

So I just moved here 8 days ago or so to ink the shit out of Central Cali...and I haven't fucking STOPPED since I got here!  I've tattooed all over the damn globe and never found the kind of clie...
Posted by Tristan on Thu, 15 Jun 2006 10:44:00 PST