Bill Hardie, knowing that music and tattoos had some crossover culture, launched the Musink tattoo convention and music festival in 2008. Today through Sunday, the event returns to OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa and features some high-profile musicians and world-renowned tattoo artists.
"Tattoos & music both have such a strong underlying passion at their core. Both require a certain level of commitment and neither are taken lightly by the individual," Hardie said in an e-mail interview. "They each express a personal style outside the main stream corporate culture into their own counter-culture and sub-culture, so in the greater scheme of things, tattoos & music fit together perfectly.
Performers for the weekend include Suicidal Tendencies, Biohazard and CKY today, Thrice and Circa Survive on Saturday and The Used and Hot Water Music on Sunday.
More than 200 tattoo artists from around the world will be on handThe Active Ride Shop will bring its team of skateboarders along as well, including Slash, Figgy, Collin Provost, The Nuge, Theoitis Beasley, Jordan Hoffart, Anthony Schultz and others. Skaters can bring skateboards and join team riders on the street course.
The festival starts at 2 p.m. today and opens at noon on Saturday and Sunday. Single-day passes are $25; weekend passes are $50. Visit www.musink.org for more information.