These 1997 Micky Sharpz coil machines were the first real machines I bought. A little over one year into tattooing I was working weekends at a shop in Reno Nevada and a tall thin guy came in and looked over the counter at me as I was working. He quietly said hello and just watched for a minute. He said, “Hey man, if you raise your back coil up a bit your machine will run way better.” He wasn’t watching, he was listening… I stopped and he showed me how to add a shim under my back coil to get it as close as possible to the armature bar with out touching. It made the machine run like a dream and on less volts. He was covered from knuckles to throat with american traditional tattoos. His chest had the Sailor Jerry victory lady. Stars and dots filled in all the gaps… I barely had any tattoos. My forearms and a couple on my legs. He was getting out of tattooing to move to San Diego to do Glass blowing…. I couldn’t comprehend why anyone would stop tattooing…. Maybe he had hepatitis? Maybe he knocked up some chick and needed to skip town to avoid having his balls cut off??? Who knows? I just know I love these machines… and I get it now, Tattoos are just tattoos. I love tattooing but it’s not the whole universe. Most of the time, I’m embarrassed of the tattoo “industry” I love the culture of tattooing. I love the trade, the craft, the passion, the reality…. I hate the industrialized, monetized, commercialized, nonsense, bullshit. I fucking love tattooing. Real tattooing… Marking your body in rebellion, against the grain, of whatever you need to push against. “FTW” such a cliché but so true… Yes, “FUCK THE WORLD!” whatever world view you have that you need to say “fuck you” to. Say it! Do it! Even if you need to quit tattooing to go blow glass for the stoners of the world. Then I say, "Do it!" as they say… “Stay true to you.” Someone stayed true to who they needed to be, and I got a life changing experience and a couple machines that fed my family for a few years and now are daily reminders that you gotta do what you gotta do to stay true to you. (photo cred.... My son, Andrew Gogue IG: @andrewgogueinfocus )
