George Galindo wants to make something very clear about his event: “It’s not a tattoo convention; it’s a festival!”
Galindo is the founder of the Texas Showdown Festival, now in its fourth year, as well as owner of House of Pain Tattoo Salon which is hosting the event at the El Paso County Coliseum on July 19-21. “It’s a music festival with tattooing going on,” he explained further. “We dropped the word ‘Tattoo’ from the title two years ago because we didn’t want to be known as ‘the tattoo festival’. You either like tattoos or you don’t, but you’re depriving yourself of the whole festival.”
He’s got a point. Dig some of the names of the nearly 30 bands that are set to play: pop punkers New Found Glory, ska punks Less Than Jake, post-hardcore band Glassjaw, hardcore punks the Bronx, classic thrash metal heads Exodus, rapcore (hed) p.e. and a special performance from Adam Gontier, formerly of Three Days Grace.
These out-of-town headliners will play alongside local acts including indie pop band the Royalty, reggae rockers Radio La Chusma, “Chuco Ska” Fixed Idea, goth rockers Cat As Trophy and rappers Rare Individuals.
Quite the impressive line-up, considering who they first had headline back in 2010, Frankie J. and Baby Bash. With a head scratcher of a fact as that was, one is compelled to ask, “Sugar, how’d you get so fly?”
“We’ve been working closely with promoters like Kevin Lyman who owns the Warped Tour,” Galindo answered. “We’ve been working with him on bands especially for next year. We’re trying to figure out what bands would El Paso want to see and would never come through here. The last thing that I want to do is bring the same old rock bands that come through here and play the casinos, play Balloonfest. Not to take anything from them, but entertainers and promoters are so many.”
This expanded and diverse line-up is one of Galindo’s biggest concerns with a festival like this in El Paso. “People always say,” Galindo continued, “‘Why don’t these bands ever come here?’ Well, here I am saying that I’ll bring them to you. Put your money where your mouth is and show me, and next year there will bands that you’ve never seen.”
With the gauntlet thrown down to El Paso, Galindo’s sense of one-upmanship is so potent that he’s even challenging the city a year from now. “I’ve got the line-up for next year,” he said. “Mark my word, it will be a mini-Warped Tour… well… it will rival the Warped Tour with its lineup. People are going to go, ‘How the fuck you get them?’ I could tell you who I’m bringing next year, who I already have on the hook, and you’d fall backwards. But I need El Paso to come out.”
The music isn’t the only good reason to come out to the festival. There is, you know, that tattoo stuff.
“Tattooing is still a major part and a main focus of the whole showdown,” said Erick Melendez, head artist at House of Pain who has been with the festival from the beginning. “We decided to start bringing in bigger bands to start to bring in all sorts of crowds from young kids to older people. We wanted to show people a different side of tattooing that they’ve never seen before. That’s why we bring in artists from all over the world; to give El Paso the chance to get some awesome artwork by these people.”
Over 300 tattoo artists from local tattoo shops and places as far away as Germany, Denmark, Holland, Japan and Canada have had 113 tattoo booths reserved at the festival since January. A lot of them are already booked for appointments with potential customers visiting the Ink Life Tour website (the Showdown Festival’s traveling tour) and contacting the artists.
“The level of artistry is damn impressive,” Galindo said. “One question that I keep getting asked is if the tattoos are expensive.” Galindo estimates that they’re fairly priced, ranging from $60 and up, saying that some artists even set aside some time for walk-ups.
“For the past couple of years, we’ll have artists show up a week before because they can’t fit everyone in that weekend,” Melendez said about the demand brought on by locals. “They’ll work out of our shop doing something we call a ‘guest spot’ and some would even make arrangements to stick around a couple of days after to tattoo the remaining customers.”
The festival is so big, it’s even attracting some celebrities in the tattoo world including Tommy Montoya of NY Ink, and Ink Masters stars Oliver Peck, Steve Tefft, Sarah Miller, Clint Cummings and James Vaughn who are all scheduled to make appearances. Galindo also said that the Animal Planet show “Pit Bulls and Parolees” is scheduled to do some shooting at the festival.
Another notable attendee will be the Sullen Angels (of Sullen Clothing) who make the festival a stop on their Miss Inked Up World Tour, sponsored by Rockstar Energy. “This is a nationwide search,” Galindo said. “They’ve been holding auditions for local tattooed women to submit their pictures. They’re doing a show that weekend. They’re going to crown a Sullen Angel and that winner gets to go on tour with them. It’s a big deal.”
Other attractions include a wide array of food, clothing, assorted vendors, as well as the FreakShow Deluxe and the VaudeVillain Revue, two groups of carnie lifers showcasing such feats as magic shows (for kids), knife throwing, sword swallowing and even a suspension show where pierced individuals will hang high, suspended by the piercings in their flesh. “These are the classic ones that you see on the east coast where the main guy is wearing a tuxedo with a top hat,” Galindo said.
Also, for the first time ever, the festival will boast a full bar.
Tickets for the festival go for $40 for entrance the entire weekend and $25 for each individual day.
texastattooshowdownfestival.com/
TEXT: JOHN DEL ROSARIO | PHOTOS: ©HECTOR RIVEROLL JR.