EYE CANDY
CHRIS WRIGHT combines tattooing, punk rock and art like no other.
When he’s not inking skin at his tattoo studio Viking Tattoo, Chris Wright is more often than not hard at work creating designs for bands such as Crashed Out and the UK Subs. We caught up with the man himself to find out more…
What first got you interested in art and the different mediums it can be applied to?
“I have always been into drawing, even before I tattooed, but once I got my first tattoo that’s all I wanted to work in. Now though I’m interested in learning different types of art. My first love will always be tattooing but with doing it everyday for over eighteen years now it’s good to learn different mediums.”
What are the differences between working on skin and album artwork?
“The obvious really! Humans move, sweat, talk, cry, faint and smell! Paper, canvas and board always stays nice and still and never talk shite or asks dumb questions for hours on end (laughs)!”
How did the artwork for Crashed Out come about? Which piece of band artwork are you most proud of?
“I have done some of the artwork and Lee (founding member of Crashed Out guitarist, tattooist at Viking and my brother) also did some stuff. We have both designed all the band’s T-shirts and album covers, flyers and posters. Lee designed the Tyne bridge star and scrolls logo that was used on the 'One And only' best of album and I came up with the band logo that was used on that album which is what we still use to this day.
We have done loads of stuff over the years but I am proud of the new logo I came up with even though I designed it by basically fucking about on Photoshop. I have done artwork for bands albums such as Discipline, Argy Bargy and UK Subs. Mine and Lee's line drawings were used on the latest UK Subs’ album. We are both honoured by this as the UK Subs are one of our favourite bands and Charlie is an absolute lord.”
What do you tend to listen to to inspire you to get creative?
“We listen to loads of stuff in the studio every day. Ten hours a day we have music playing so we have a lot of different types of music. It depends on my mood really. I can switch from listening to Exploited to Pink Floyd and back no problem. But I gotta say it’s mainly punk rock, reggae, ska or rock ‘n’ roll playing in the studio. By the end of the day it usually gets a bit mellow and Floyd, Roger Waters or Robert Miles get thrown on. Even our old pal Ludwig Van gets a listen at Viking!”
For more information visit Vikingtattoostudio.co.uk