The Country’s largest Tattoo & Music Festival returns to El Paso County Coliseum for 3 Days Of Concerts and Tattooing. The inside of the Coliseum will be buzzing with the sound of tattoo machines and outside will be an outdoor stage set up for live musical performances by numerous bands leading up to headlining acts DEFTONES, DROWNING POOL and THE WU-TANG CLAN. All tattoo television shows such as L.A. INK, N.Y. INK, BEST INK and INK MASTERS, to name a few, will be represented. Fusion was able to speak with George Galindo—the master mind behind TSF about his emergence onto the tattoo culture and the beginning of TSF.
How did you get into tattoos?
I was introduced to tattooing through a friend of mine that has a tattoo studio in California. I got a tattoo from him and spent a little time at the tattoo studio and one thing led to another—peeked my interest. I’ve always been able to draw so it was just one of those things I thought I would be able to do—ran into one of those tattoo kits that you can order through the mail. And again, one thing led to another, bought a machine and just started tattooing. This was about 15 years ago at least.
How did you start House of Pain?
When I started tattooing I didn’t learn from anybody. I didn’t go through a formal apprenticeship—I didn’t work under anybody. I started tattooing, bought the machines, bought the equipment, practiced on friends and family.
When I started tattooing I started getting more and more of a customer base and I opened up House of Pain which is around the block where I get my coffee. The space there was up for lease and I remember calling the land lord to take a look at it and the next day we rented it out. I remember writing down the names for the shop that I would want—bunch of random names to figure out which one would be the name of the shop, and it ended up being House of Pain. 1999 is when we opened the shop.
How has the tattoo culture changed in El Paso, TX since 1999?
Wow, it’s dramatic; it’s still changing, it’s evolving. It’s grown a lot in acceptance. Now you see tattoos on everybody at convenience stores, grocery stores, law firms, doctor’s offices…back when I started tattooing it wasn’t that visible. Everybody had smaller tattoos.
Not only that but the level of art—you got guys that are getting into tattooing now that are college educated with computer art degrees, graphic art degrees…everything now is very artistic and very meaningful. Everything has evolved and the bar has been raised—everything from tattoo art equipment, needles, the machines, it’s completely come a long way and for the better. Ink now-a-days are FDA approved; they come with an expiration date. I think a lot has to do with the tattoo television shows that brought tattooing into people’s living rooms. It created awareness that tattoos are okay. You’re okay if you wear tattoos.
As you saw all these changes happening and evolving, how did the idea for Texas Showdown Fest come about?
When I was tattooing I started getting invited to go out of town and do conventions, travel and do other people’s shows. I did a few shows for about a little over a year or so and I traveled up and down the east coast and the west coast and I saw what we were missing here in El Paso.
The 1st year was probably the most difficult getting it off the ground because we did it on a big scale from the get-go. I thought El Paso needed it. I rolled the dice and I figured El Paso would support it and come out. I knew there was enough people in El Paso that were in that lifestyle—the rockabilly, the punk rock, the art scene, the culture. Here we are 5 years later and it’s grown every year. We’ve had steady growth every year. I look back every year and I’m amazed at some of the things we’ve done.
How has the TSF changed since the 1st one?
It’s changed dramatically. The one in El Paso is the original, the very 1st one which is called Texas Showdown Festival. The following year, we ended up taking it national and called the national one The Inked Life Tour. The national one just took us to a whole new level—we have shows in Florida, Boston, Baltimore, Connecticut, Madison, WI, Oklahoma and all of Texas. After we took it national, it was like kicking the doors open; the flood gates opened. We had a bunch of artists from all over the world that were on the tour, sponsors, a lot of recognition, so it’s changed a lot from the 1st year to now.
What does TSF mean to the tattoo community?
I’ll tell you what, and not because it’s my show, but El Paso should be proud. I’ll tell you why, it is one of the largest tattoo and music festivals that there is in the country. When I say “largest” just the production size; there’s some really good conventions throughout the country. This is one that probably gets the most recognition. We will have in El Paso this year every single tattoo television show that’s ever been on T.V. I mean, shows that are not even scheduled to air. We have a tattoo television show that’s not even scheduled to air until September and we already have them in El Paso in July. So, it’s got the most recognition because of who we bring in, the size and the magnitude of the bands and everybody talks about El Paso. I’m really excited that El Paso is supportive on it.
You have over 300 plus tattoo artists from around the world coming to El Paso, who stands out the most?
This year it’s insane. We have Tattoo Titans, New York Ink, L.A. Ink, Tattoo Rescue, we got this one (T.V. show) from Miami that doesn’t even exist, Tattoo Nightmares Miami—that’s the one I told you is scheduled to air in September. We have all the season’s of Ink Masters, season 1, season 2…We actually have a whole row with all the T.V. shows. We’ve got Best Ink, just some really good high profile artists this year. Joey Hamilton, Jim Frances…everybody is here, I mean EVERYBODY!
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