SplatterTribe: Introduce and compare yourself to a breakfast cereal.

Decker: Hello all The Name is Travis Decker, and compared to a breakfast cereal, I'm nowhere near as nutty.
 

(Tribe Note: You know, alot of breakfast cereals are Fruity as well as Nutty...)

 

 

SplatterTribe: So how did you actually get started in professional tattooing?
 

Decker: I started tattooing for Tray at Big Daddy's five years ago. I was always an artist, even at all the factory jobs I worked while tryin to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.   SplatterTribe: Who was your first guinea pig? Decker: Kenny. my best friend, and present co-worker, he started tattooing a couple years after I did.   SplatterTribe: What are your tattoo specialties? Decker: I really like full color, bold lined

tattoo's, but I'm always happiest when I'm tattooing my original designs.
 

 

SplatterTribe: What's the worst thing to say to a tattoo artist when approaching them for a tattoo?

Decker: I've heard alot of dumb shit, the latest one being,
"I got this tat in the pen, was wondering if you could fix it up for me" I say sure thing, then this guy asks, " do you use new needles?"
Now while I don't mind fixing up old tattoos, and I don't mind answering questions about the sterility of our shop, the fact that this guy had several jail house tattoos and was just now questioning new needles, which by the way we do use new needles and ink on every client as well as sanitize the work area with a hospital grade disinfectant, was a bit odd to me.

(Tribe Note: Dude, what happened to Tattooer/Tattooee confidentiality? I'll have you know that although they may have been snuck in to us by being shoved up inside of dirty, dark places, the needle and ink we used were inside of sterile yellow and blue make green Ziploc baggies! And it was green! That's as sterile as it gets my brother!)
 

 

SplatterTribe: What do you think of when you here the words SplatterTribe?

Decker: honestly, horror movies, and pigmy's.
 

 

SplatterTribe: How do you define art?

Decker: expressionism, anything a person does to express themselves to others.

 

SplatterTribe: What is the strangest thing someone has offered to trade you for a tattoo?

Decker: haven't had too much stuff offered in on trade, I like cash, but if you got something you wanna trade bring it in I may want it   SplatterTribe: If you started a Decker's Music Hall of Fame, who would be the first 5 inductees? Decker: well the first would have to be Pantera Rage Against The Machine Stone Temple Pilots Guns n Roses Lamb Of God

 

SplatterTribe: On average how many tattoos do you do in a day? A week?

Decker: Some weeks are better than others, but I'm always busy. I've never sat and thought about how many I do in a week.

 

 

SplatterTribe: What is the laziest thing you have ever seen anyone do?

Decker: While working in a factory a group of us were working on a project that involved cutting sheets of plywood, this fat fuck who did nothin else on the project wouldn't even go look for a pencil so we could mark the board to be cut.

 

SplatterTribe: We here at the Tribe have a thing called the Tribal Proverb of the Week. Do you have any ideas for an upcoming proverb of the week? Decker: What the fuck is a proverb?     SplatterTribe: Can you make a sentence out of these 5 words? Tattoo Splatter fish lighter printer

 

(Tribe Note: Ok, once again, I received no response for this question. So, I decided to write Decker back and simply say this:

 

Can you make a sentence out of these 5 words?

Tattoo
Splatter
fish
lighter
printer

Awww, come on man!
 

Well, I received an answer back that went like this)

 

Decker: one sentence? shit.
the tattoo printer smelled like fish after I used a lighter to make a nun splatter on it.

 

how ya like that! lol
 

(Tribe Note: So I'm pretty sure we're both going to Hell for that question and answer)

 

SplatterTribe: Ok we are going to see if you truly are..........Smarter than a 5th grader! No cheating & if you do you must admit to how you cheated.

How do plants most commonly break large
rocks into smaller pieces?
A) Plant leaves insulate surrounding rocks from extreme temperatures.
B) Plant roots grow into cracks in rocks.
C) Seeds from plants fall onto rocks and release acidic compounds.
D) Stems of plants surround and squeeze rocks.

Decker: I pick B
 

(Tribe Note: Oh, man.............Come on . It's a 5th Grade question and your answer is B) Plant roots Grow into cracks in the rocks? Come on man, think about it because you are wron..............absolutely Right! Decker, you are INDEED Smarter Than A 5th Grader!)
 

SplatterTribe: Songwriting time. Ok I come up with 2 lines for the 

first verse of a song.Then you come up with 2 lines to end the verse.  -I turned on the tv to a special report-   Decker: lordy be looks like O.J.'s back in court   (Tribe Note: So I turned the channel And there he was again Good Lordy O.J.'s Goin back to the pen)

 

SplatterTribe: Any closing comments regarding anything we haven't touched on or you would like known. Also give us any web links you would like posted.

 

Decker: E-Town Beatdown rules.

 

Welcome to the Tribe Travis! You can check out more about Travis at his Myspace page Here and at the Big Daddy's Tattoo Myspace page Here

 

http://www.myspace.com/dddecker

 http://www.myspace.com/bigdaddystattooing

 

 

Interview by: Luie Primal