Tattunes: Music, the lord of all drugs.

[thesandmanisme]

Music. I couldn't exist without it. It truly is a drug. It can lower blood pressure and heart rate. As well as increase it. It can calm a persons nerves, or frazzle them. It can turn a rowdy crowd, ready to rumble, into a mellow gathering. Or vice versa. Myself, I can listen to Metallica 'One', and right after that listen to Bob Dylan. For the best ambience when i tattoo or get tattooed, I listen to a instrumental guitar. Al DiMeola mostly. If you have never heard of Al. Go on youtube and listen to a track called ' Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil' its a short one, if you like that play this one 'Cielo e terrra' its about 10 minutes long. My favorite by far. I also play a lotta 'Popa Chubby', 'Larry Carlton'. 'SRV', 'Vai', 'Santana', 'the Allman bro's - live at the filmore east.' to name a few. Anyway give Al DiMeola a listen.

What do like to hear, or play to calm down a nervous client? lol

[Delicious]

haha i have no experience with playing music to calm people down, but I now like johnny cash due to hearing him on repeat while I got tattooed, and the loop started over when my friend got her tattoo. 5 hours of johnny cash makes a fan of me.

[Johannes]

yes, music...mostly old country when getting lines done since i think they hurt sooo much more than shading. to the shading, anything up-tempo, angry whatever works. latest tattoo i listened to hank williams during lines and some ringworm for shading.

delicious, getting to like mr cash is as good as it gets! his barytone voice is soothing.

[JeffK]

I like Doom/Stoner when I'm sitting to zone out to. Luckily that's what's almost always playing when I go somewhere. That or old country. Once the artist asked if I liked Bob Seger. I said not really and he goes "well....you do today" So really if the person doing the work is into it I can't complain.

[David Flores]

When the boss is in we listens to whatever he wants, which can be anything from Dead Kennedys to Dionne Warwick. I have seen a few people ask him to listen to something, his go to response to jokingly say "Music is for me, I am the one hard at work,' or if its a band he likes, he tells them if they come in and get another tattoo tomorrow they can listen to that band.

I don't it matters what music is playing, it's going to hurt no matter what. You have to be nice to people for sure, but I think sometimes people are just looking for an out and you have to help them work past things to continue , without making a big deal about it. Obviously you have to be aware if someone is having legitimate health issue (fainting etc), but you also have to know when people are just looking for sympathy or an excuse to quit.

[TrixieFaux]

I have found tattoo shop music tends to be far superior to hair salon music.

[real meta]

In the context of getting tattooed, I always enjoy music as a topic of conversation. Whether or not it's something that's playing at the time, I find that I have a similar taste in music to many tattooers (read: heavy stuff), which helps forge a little bond between us. Plus, a good conversation can do wonders for getting your mind off the pain being inflicted upon you.

[Mark Bee]

I can't listen to anything while getting tattooed. I just have to sit there and take it. The Pearl usually has good music playing in the background, and that's cool. I can't deal with headphones when I'm on the table, though. My current distraction is seeing how long a fisherman's friend can last. (answer: 40 minutes, if I'm careful.) I have trouble keeping up a conversation too. I can talk on and off, but most of the time I'm pretty happy to be silent and get through it.

[bongsau]

Three 6 Mafia, exclusively, when getting work done by my main dude. Nothing like ignorant party rap to get you in the fun zone lol. True story (cool story bro)

Most notable albums I've listened to during sessions have been Mastadon "Leviathan", American Me soundtrack and the Dickies "Killer Klowns EP". Those sounds really stuck with me and the connection between those albums and those tattoo experiences are still very vivid in my memory.

I recall a classic metal radio station blaring when I had my chest done. Finished the tattoo and rang in my 100th hour of tattoo with Damage Inc by Metallica. That was a religious experience to say the least.

I'd be really into listening to Coltrane or Dvorak while getting tattooed, but I have yet to find that in a tattoo shop.

What's up with metalcore blaring from the majority of tattoo shops I go into. I mean I love madball too but hearing the same album 4 times in a row while getting a sensitive area tattooed is annoying.

[blackved]

i dunno if it would calm them down, but really loving the new device album. it's not really mellow though haha. although i kind of love tattoo shops that play more uptempo rock music. they're pretty awesome. album is out today too which is sweet. if you want to take a listen: iTunes