June 13, 2024 • 46 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to create a truly unique tattoo? Join us on the Sailor Jerry podcast as we chat with the incredibly talented Freddie Albrighton, who takes us on a journey from his humble beginnings in Stourbridge to his rise on Ink Master. Freddie delves into his creative process, balancing client requests with his artistic vision, and reveals how his impulsive approach to finalizing designs keeps his work fresh and exciting.
Freddie opens up about the challenges and triumphs of his Ink Master experience, where he earned a remarkable second-place finish. We also explore his appreciation for traditional tattoo aesthetics and his personal journey in balancing multiple creative passions, including his venture into the fragrance industry. He reveals the artistic and practical challenges of running a fragrance brand while maintaining a successful tattoo career, all while emphasizing the importance of having fun and making the most out of life. Tune in for a goldmine of inspiration and practical advice for aspiring artists and tattoo enthusiasts alike! As always, brought to you by Sailor Jerry!
https://www.instagram.com/freddiealbrighton/
https://sailorjerry.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Freddie Albrighton here on the Sailor Jerry podcast
.
How's life right now?
How's everything over in the UK?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, everything's good.
It's busy.
I mean, I live in a reallyquiet small town so life is
chill, but I've been trying totravel around a little bit more.
So I've just got back from aweek in London in a really cool
studio and, yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Awesome, and you're south of Birmingham, right.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I am.
I'm kind of slightly southwest,Just.
Yeah, it's a small town calledStourbridge.
It's not a lot there, it's justcountryside and, yeah, just
quaint little towns.
Is that where you grew up?
Yeah, pretty much.
I grew up just in thecountryside.
Basically I had a very relaxed,quiet childhood I guess.
(00:47):
But when I was kind of ateenager and everything, my
parents traveled quite a bit.
So I started traveling quite alot.
I lived overseas a bit and I'mjust kind of used to moving
around, just going here, thereand everywhere.
I've never really settledsomewhere, so I've always kind
of migrated back to theBirmingham area.
(01:09):
It's just accessible.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Nice, any sort of artistry in the family or
anything like that.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
No, I mean yes, I think my like my grandparents
painted and stuff like that.
My mom loves writing and I havesome musicians in the family.
So yeah, I think so, buteveryone explores it in
different ways, I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's cool, that's cool.
So how did you startgravitating toward the arts?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So how did you start gravitating toward the arts?
Um, I think it was just in highschool.
I was kind of I was a bit of aa nerd in high school.
I guess I say that in a goodway, obviously.
Um, I kind of was kind of goodat reasonably good at most
things, but I definitelygravitated more towards art
classes and English, englishlanguage and literature and
(02:06):
stuff.
So I was very quickly realizedthat that was what I was good at
and found it easy at least.
And then I started to push thatmore in slightly higher
education.
I didn't go to university oranything.
I dropped out of college but Iwas in college doing fine art
and photography.
But the kind of art I was moreinterested in when I was in
college was more contemporary,pretentious shit.
(02:29):
Basically a lot of likeinstallation work, a lot of like
digital social projects andyeah things like that.
So, uh, yeah, I think I'vealways been drawn to kind of
slightly more outsidery stuff.
I guess that's how I got intotattooing as well, because it's
such like an.
I guess originally it's a veryoutsider art yeah, awesome and
what, what?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
uh?
What kind of music were youlistening to in school, like
high school college?
What were you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
uh I well I.
I guess I kind of grew up withmy parents playing me like kate
bush and oh wow and stuff likethat, so like Kate Bush and
Bjork and stuff like that.
So I've always been drawn toreally weird voices.
That's like my thing.
So my music taste.
I used to listen to a lot ofthings, mainly electronic
(03:15):
generally, and bands like theKnife, the Swedish bands.
I used to listen to the Knifelike my whole childhood, teenage
years, I think.
Just because the singer, karenDrager, she kind of distorts her
voice so it sounds likemasculine and yeah, I'm really
into that, like I'm much moreinterested in someone's voice as
(03:37):
opposed to what genre of musicit is.
So it can go from somethingweird and electronic to like the
Bulgarian women's choir, like Ilove them both.
So yeah, I my, my music tastewas very weird.
I was always trying to find the, the, the strange stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, yeah, have you ever seen Bjork live?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I haven't.
No, I was going to go to thelast tour, but I I haven't
really resonated with the lateralbums as much.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
So yeah, no, have you yeah, I saw her once at a
festival, it was.
It was awesome really, and Ihave you ever been to iceland
iceland's a trip, have you ever?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
tattooed there or anything.
Yeah, I went to iceland lastyear.
I took my uh, my husband therefor his 30th hell.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, it's a really cool place.
We did a, a festival inbrejkovic there years ago and
man it was.
I mean we had the best time.
It was like I mean, it's kindof just like being on Mars for a
bit.
But then it kind of settles inand you realize there's just you
(04:39):
know, it's just another placethat's got a lot of great things
to offer, so I was stoked to gothere.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It was really cool, really beautiful too.
It really is.
Yeah, we said that it wasprobably one of the best places
we've ever been.
I think like it's so expensivebut if you've saved a little bit
of money it can be like, in aweird way, just absolute luxury,
but so natural, like the factthat you can just go to these
remote hot springs where there'slike swim up bars and you can
just walk into the like sea atone degrees.
It's like it's amazing, yeah,we loved it.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
How did tattooing come into your life?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think, honestly, it's a bit cringy, but the truth
is that when I was a teenagerit's when all of us were emo
kids and tattoos were justbecoming cool and kids in our
college were underage gettingtattooed.
It was like this, not a newthing, but it was a new thing
(05:28):
for like kids and like teenagersto be interested in this.
So I kind of hit it rightaround that time and, um,
thankfully I waited before I gotmy first ones.
I was only 18, but I waitedtill I was 18 and, yeah, I just
thought it was like the kind ofculture that at the time we all
wanted to be a part of.
(05:48):
It was in fashion, which is socringey, but that is how I got
interested in it, because we allwere.
I didn't think it wouldnecessarily be a career, I was
more just interested in gettingthem at first and because I was
a teenager, I was gettinganything that was cheap or free.
So I got covered in absoluteshit.
(06:09):
But, yeah, I just got into itthat way and then, yeah, the
journey I guess where I'm now isa little bit longer than that,
but that's what first got meinterested.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Is it true that you that you didn't like Apprentice,
you just started at a shop?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, pretty much.
I was working in a pretty dingymarket shop where they let me
just buy a machine and chargereally cheap until I got good.
So I ruined people.
But there we go.
Yeah, that is how I started andI picked it up relatively
quickly.
I don't really draw or paintnow and I haven't for years, but
I could when I was younger.
So and it felt quite natural Ipicked it up.
I wouldn't say I picked it upquickly, but I wasn't scared by
(06:56):
it, you know.
So I was very overly confidentand I think that helped me get
good quicker.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I mean, you've got such a signature style now.
How long did it take you to getcomfortable with just tattooing
in general?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, I think, realistically, four or five
years before I was doing tattooswhere I wasn't nervous before I
did one.
So like, like now I don't getnervous at all when I do a
tattoo, but of course.
But yeah, it took a whilebefore I was even nervous.
That doesn't necessarily meanthey were the best tattoos, but
(07:31):
I did them with confidence and Ithink you can see that in
someone's work If they do itwith confidence, whether it's
great or it's not, there'ssomething there you can.
You can see it, you can feel it, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, absolutely can see it, you can feel it.
You know, yeah, absolutely.
And you know, I wanted to talkto you about your creative
process because, um, the idea ofsomeone coming to you and being
like, hey, um, you know, let'sjust say I want a portrait of
princess diana or something likethat, and like the the kind of
freddy filter that you put itthrough, um, to create an
(08:02):
original image, is reallysomething that intrigues me and
I think is really really cooland super unique to you.
What's going on in your headwhen someone you know wants an
original tattoo from you and haslike a basic idea Like how do
you kind of put your spin on it?
What's going through your mindto create that image?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I think, uh, it's hard because I have like an
inner torment with trying not tojust go back to what I'm, what
I've done before and I'm good atso like I know, I can make
someone happy in like a fewminutes with like banging out a
design with some signatureflares on that.
They've seen me do a milliontimes.
But when people are coming tome these days, a lot of it is
honestly trial and error.
(08:44):
Like that's the great thingabout technology with tattooing
these days.
Um, I grew up when I was indoing art in college.
A lot of it was like digital, alot of like photo manipulation,
editing and stuff.
Yeah, so I'm quite quick withthat kind of stuff, so I can.
That's the cool thing.
You can put something together,you can play with a color
palette and then within 10seconds you can try every single
color palette you couldpossibly think of and then go
(09:06):
back to the original in a second.
So I find it really quick andeasy and efficient to just blast
through a lot of ideas and Ireally don't overthink it.
Like I don't spend admittedly, Idon't spend that long on my
designs because I feel like I'mgoing to spend more time
tattooing it and I can put moreflair into like the texture and
stuff.
When I'm actually doing it, thedesign is more like a structure
(09:28):
of like.
Does the composition work?
Is the scale of everything cool?
Is the palette good?
Is the contrast good?
If I say yes to all that, inlike a second I'll send it off
and I'm like it's done.
See, I really try not tooverthink it.
I'm very, very impulsive andI'll make quick decisions in a
design that I'm like oh that'scool.
I haven't tried that before.
Let's try that and see if theylike it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's so cool.
That's so cool that you trustyour gut with that stuff.
And obviously it's a, you knowit's a, it's a skill and
confidence acquired over time.
But from the outside, lookingin, when I see your work, I'm
always I was so curious about,like you know what's like the
turnaround time on like a youknow, on a design, like someone
who just walks in, or is itsomething where if someone makes
an appointment with you, theykind of have to give you enough
(10:08):
time to create?
You know what you're going tocreate, or can someone just walk
in and kind of have an idea andyou can do it on the fly there?
To know that you can kind ofwork that quickly is incredible,
man.
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, I'd say of.
Of course.
Sometimes some people willthrow me off and they'll say
something and I'll be, like howthe fuck do I come up with
something cool for that?
and I can spend a little whilethen battling ideas.
But, um, generally I won'treally finalize or even like
work on a design in bulk untillike the day before I'm doing it
, so that the ideas are fresh,like even if someone books in
(10:44):
for like six months time.
I might gather my referencesand start spitballing a few
ideas, but I won't finish it andreally spend a bit of time on
it until it's I'm about to do itthe next day, cause then I'm
excited about it, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and that's that's.
You know, it's cool, it's coolto see the artistry that way in
in.
It's cool to see the artistrythat way in the work you do and
in tattooing.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
How long were you tattooing before Ink Master
happened?
I would say about eight and ahalf to nine years, so quite a
while, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So what was that process like getting that show?
Did you audition for it?
Was it something?
How did that come about?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
well, I, I got an invite just by email, so I
thought it was spam at first soI just ignored it.
And then got another one so Ireplied um, but ink must has
never really been much of athing in the uk like I think
people have heard of it, butobviously it was on Spike TV and
stuff before that and we don'thave that so and no British
(11:49):
artists have been on it before.
That's crazy Really, yeah.
Yeah, our season was the firsttime they've had non-Americans
on there, so it was cool.
I didn't really know what itwould do for me, so I went on
with a very open mind.
Yeah, so I got an invite.
Basically I don't know how orwhy, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, well it's.
You know it's obvious becauseyou're, you're, you're talented
and and you know you almost wonthe damn thing.
You know you came in secondplace.
Some say you were robbed offirst place.
You know, is there any hardfeelings there about the finish
of the show?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
No, I think when I came back from the show I was
very disappointed, like I onlywent there to win.
I didn't go there just to likehave fun, because I came back
with a lot of debt from all therent that I'd been paying while
I was over there filming and Ididn't win any prize money.
So I was like broke when I cameback.
(12:49):
So I was bitter about it and Ididn't agree with a lot of the
decisions throughout the show.
But that's why I'm not a judge,you know like and it's tv, so
I'm very.
I was prepared for any outcome,like I, I didn't know how good
everyone else would be for all.
I knew I could have gone homefirst or second, so I was
prepared for any outcome.
Like I, I didn't know how goodeveryone else would be for all I
knew I could have gone homefirst or second, so I was
prepared for any outcome.
It just sucks to get like soclose, like so close and then
(13:14):
come back with nothing.
But I met great people thereand the guy who won bobby like
me and him were like best matesthe whole season.
So, uh, he's super cool and Ijust can't wait to hang out with
him again, so there's no hardfeelings that's crazy.
They didn't like compensate for,like rent or anything like that
, while you guys were no, butit's like it's exposure and yeah
(13:38):
, yeah, you're getting a lotfrom it, so yeah for sure, for
sure.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Have you noticed?
I was gonna say, have younoticed like, uh, you know, a
pretty big impact on your careersince the show?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I have, but I feel like I haven't seen the full
extent of it yet, because rightnow I'm still um in my studio.
I'm just busier now and I'mgetting invites to come to cool
conventions and stuff, which isgreat, but I think until I get
over to the States, that's whenI'll see the real impact,
because the show is so muchbigger there, so more people
(14:10):
want to book with you.
The population is so muchbigger.
The tattoo scene is huge overthere.
You, the population's so muchbigger.
The tattoo scene is huge overthere, like we're a small
country, you know.
So, um, yeah, I feel like I'vestill got a lot more that I can
do with it in the coming coupleof years, but right now I'm just
, I'm just busy, which is goodbecause it's been a few years of
being dead, so you know yeah,hell, yeah, busy's good, busy's
(14:30):
good what about?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
What about?
Are you planning on coming tothe States anytime soon?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I am.
So I'm currently it's a longprocess.
I'm currently working on a visaso I can legally come and work
and do the conventions and stuffand advertise it without all
that worrying about gettingcaught.
If I did it on the sly, it'sjust not worth it.
So I'm doing it the legal way.
It's very long winded.
I'm like six months intogathering paperwork for my visa,
(14:55):
but it should be ready to sendoff soon.
It's very boring but, yes, soon.
I'm going to try and get out atleast once this year.
But next year is going to be myyear of more travel, coming to
the States, more workingeverywhere.
Yeah, it'll be cool.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Was there a time in your life when you were kind of,
you know, bouncing around theworld a little bit, just kind of
you know, seeking some artisticinspiration?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I think so.
Yeah, when I was very young Iwas like 19 and 20.
I was living in New Zealand fora couple of years but I was
fresh out of college well, freshdropout from college.
So I didn't really know what Iwanted to do.
I was going to like a part-timefashion school because I
thought I wanted to make clothes, um.
(15:38):
So, yeah, I didn't have a cluewhat I wanted to do, but I guess
the most pivotal was, um,probably in like my mid to late
20s, when I was like 26, 27, Iwent.
I just did a big road triparound Europe on my own and just
tattooed in every country, fromthe north of Sweden to, yeah,
the south of France, basicallyand further.
(16:00):
So I traveled everywhere andthat was cool because it was
just like learning from otherartists, because I'd been tied
to one shop pretty muchexclusively for a few years
before that and in my head I'dbeen working in the studio where
realistic tattooing was likethe peak of tattooing.
And then I went traveling andrealized that that just wasn't
the case whatsoever and learnedfrom a lot of cool artists who
(16:22):
were really outsiders and didn'twant to be involved in the kind
of pretentious side of theindustry and it was cool.
Yeah, I learned a lot fromthose people and I think that's
why my style got a little morelike, I guess, rebellious or
experimental when I got back.
So I kind of took all thatknowledge with me and, yeah,
it's things like that which keepyou excited about tattooing.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That's super cool.
I always like when people areable to kind of gain like any
sort of extra insight or, likeyou know, knowledge from being
able to travel and like workwith other artists, see other
artists.
It's always such a coolexperience.
Man, you know you've you'vedescribed your style as, as you
know, cool colored stuff, whichis, uh, you know, got a kind of
(17:05):
a simple explanation for theincredible work that you do.
But I like I like things simplelike that For our listeners out
there.
Obviously, this podcast isnamed after Norman Collins,
who's one of the godfathers oftraditional tattooing, and
anyone familiar with your workknows that you are kind of far
from a traditional tattoo artist.
I'm curious as to how you viewtraditional tattoo tattooing,
(17:32):
because someone who, um, youknow, is very much, uh, you know
, individualistic and what youcreate and obviously, uh, you
know, the craft is the craft andthe skill is the skill when it
comes to tattooing.
But artistically, you know, howdo you kind of view traditional
tattoos versus what you do?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
um, that's a very complicated question.
In some kind of weird way I ammostly drawn to tattooists who
do the polar opposite to me, soI don't really have an interest
in looking at anyone's tattooswho do similar stuffish stuff or
(18:11):
work in like realistic-y stylesor whatever.
I like minimalism and people Idon't know doing ignorant
tattooing and just anythingthat's like the polar opposite
to mine from whether it's atechnical standpoint or a design
standpoint, whatever.
But traditional tattooing, Idon't know.
I feel like obviously Iappreciate it, I love the way it
(18:31):
looks, I have traditionaltattoos.
I'd probably.
There's some artists I workedwith at a convention recently
who just did traditional and Iwas like, oh, I want something
by you because their work was socool, it was such a very, very
subtle spin on just traditionaltattooing.
But, um, from a personalstandpoint, I guess I just don't
really include it that much inmy work, so I just don't relate
to it, like I didn't grow, Ididn't get trained in that
(18:53):
environment where there was thathistory, um, or even simple
things from like the wholestandpoint of building your own
machine and having thattraditional apprenticeship and
the whole traditional lifestyleof tattooing and the culture
that I've never been around that, so I don't relate to it, but I
like looking at it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, no, that's cool .
I like that.
Tradition is such like a weird.
You know it's a weird wordbecause it's subjective.
It's like from a punk rockstandpoint.
You know the word tradition.
It's like traditional tattoosare cool, but like traditional,
like like a traditional life, islike kind of boring and like
that's not something I'm used to.
(19:36):
It's like it's, it's a weird.
It's a weird thing, I think,aesthetically.
Um, you know it's, it's.
It speaks to me, but I totallyget how it could not speak to
someone else.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, it's interesting that you said that.
I think I feel feel that way aswell.
I like the aesthetics of it andI like the simplicity and the
showcase of just like more morecraftsmanship than artistic
skill, I guess yeah if I'm beingblunt.
But uh yeah, but yeah the, I'venever really thought about the
(20:10):
linguistics of it.
It it's interesting that it'scalled traditional and yet it
kind of.
That's kind of everything wedon't want to tattoo.
To be a tattoo person yeah,that's cool.
I hadn't thought about it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, let's let's switch gearshere to to fragrances, because
you have your own fragrancebrand, by the way, for people.
There's there's a lot ofcreativity and artistry that
goes into it.
So, just first and foremost,what's going on with the brand
now?
What's what's coming up on theradar?
Um, how's everything going?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I mean, if I'm honest , I really was hoping after ink
master that it would blow up,which it was.
It was creeping towards.
We were trying to get into theamerican market and all this
because I have retailers allover Europe.
But I have just been so busytattooing that I've almost had
to press pause on it for a while.
So I'm kind of taking abreather with it and I'm kind of
(21:02):
, whatever stock I have andwhatever I'm still doing with it
, I'm kind of trying to bring itback into my tattooing and sell
it at places like conventionsas my merch, because I've made
it and it took me years of workand whatnot.
So, yeah, I'm kind of keeping ita bit more chill rather than
blowing it up like I expected,because I'm trying to blow my
(21:24):
tattooing up more, you know.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Well, that's what I was going to ask.
You know, it's like you get tothat point where you know you
have two things that I imaginerequire in order to be
successful a lot of attentionand a lot of focus from you.
So I know that has to be kindof hard, kind of juggling those
two things.
You know and then you know,usually the universe, in one way
or another, has a way of kindof saying OK, well, you know,
(21:48):
focus on this for right now.
Like you're saying, if thingsslow down with one, you can kind
of lean on the other completelybut what makes a good fragrance
to you Like.
What's it all about?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
It's kind of similar to tattooing in a way.
Like you were saying like oh,fragrances are like it can be
just like.
Tattooing can be art or it canjust be a craft where it's like
you put these pieces togetherand you get this and people like
it.
So there's a.
There's a weird thing withperfume.
The reason I got into it wasbecause initially, my interest
(22:18):
in perfume was looking atcontemporary artists who were
using perfume as installationwork.
So I was always really intonon-tangible installations, so
people who were using light orsound as their artwork.
And then I met a lot ofperfumers who were creating
scented spaces that told anarrative so I used to write
(22:40):
about that.
I loved it.
I met loads of perfumers.
I got really interested in thechemistry behind it.
Then I just got intounderstanding that there were
people who designed this andmade this stuff.
So I don't necessarily thinkall perfumes art, as in
commercial like it can't just bea commercial product and it's
where do you put savage on thescale of art?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I would say that's a successful commercial product.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
But, uh, good for them.
Um, but yeah, it's, it's a,it's a fine line, so it's been
interesting setting the brand up.
I set it up in lockdown justbecause I really didn't have any
time Well, I wasn't allowed totattoo anyone, so I had all the
time in the world.
And, yeah, it was just findinga fine balance between it,
because the designing part of itand actually creating something
(23:25):
and trying to tell a story isreally cool and fun and creative
and whatever, but the legalmanufacturing side of it is
tedious and I do it all myself,so it is like factory work and
uh, yeah, it gets a lot less funwhen you actually set up a
business for it.
So, yeah, um, designing stuffand doing the marketing and the
(23:48):
imagery and whatever story youwant to tell is great.
But yeah, when it gets aroundto actually put in a few
thousand stickers on bottles andfiguring out how you're going
to ship alcohol overseas, it'sanother story.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
But there we go.
So is there still?
Is the store still active?
If people want to buy leftoverstock, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I have like an online store and I have it in my
tattoo studio and I'll just bebringing it to conventions and
stuff Cause it's cool becausethen I can actually be there in
person and chat about it andstuff.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, yeah, what's your uh, what's your favorite?
Actually, what do you think isthe worst smell?
What's the worst smell outthere?
Is it skunk?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I kind of like skunk yeah, I kind of like those weird
dirty kind of smells um, godknows I've got like it's funny,
like there's a if I withoutgetting too nerdy, when you're
making perfume, like thechemistry of it is super
interesting and there'schemicals that you can use that,
like the human body isimmediately designed to be
(24:49):
repulsed by, like when you smellgone off milk, it's because of
a specific molecule that willtrigger you and be like, oh fuck
, like that's dangerous, youknow.
So like there's chemicals andstuff I have in my lab that are
the molecules that, like, yourbody produces when it rots and
stuff like that and it's sointeresting to see people's
reactions to them because youcan't help but be physically
repulsed by it.
Like your design, it's like ananimal instinct and stuff like
(25:11):
that's really cool.
I find that really interesting.
You wouldn't necessarily put itin perfume, but they're the
worst smells because you're likeyour dna makeup is designed to
physically run the oppositedirection from it, so it's cool
how it can have such like animpact I like that in music.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Uh, there's a, there's a, there's a rumor.
There's always been thismystery that there's this thing
called the brown note, thatthere's this note that you can
play that makes people shittheir pants.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Oh, we've seen the South pocket said so good Um all
right, so let's jump to theinternet here.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Okay, let's, let's, let's hit the internet.
We got some questions.
We're going to come in hot.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Hey, freddie hmm, that depends what you've got
already.
So I have like a leg that Ijust have tattooed with loads of
shit.
So people, I've had friendswrite on it, I've had exes write
(26:10):
on it, I've had my parentswrite things on there.
I have like doodles of dicksand it's just a scrapbook.
So if you have a scrapbook legthat you really don't care about
, then go for it, but otherwiseI think you can come up with
something better.
That means something about yourpartner more than their name.
Their name is the leastinteresting part about them.
(26:31):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I like that In honor of season 15 of Ink Master host
Joel Madden, can you, FreddieAlbrighton, name three Good
Charlotte songs?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
No, I couldn't name one.
I'm so sorry.
It's not my music.
It's not my music.
I honestly couldn't name one.
I'm not being rude.
I'm sure people love them.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Awesome, awesome.
Shout out, good Charlotte.
Lenny Kravitz recently madeheadlines with the fact that he
has been celibate for nine years.
How long do you think you couldgo without doing the deed?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
laughing um.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I would like to be cool and say, oh yeah, not long.
I could probably go a couple ofyears I'd be good, nice.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Maybe not nine years, but I could go a few years nice
, nice, all right.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Uh, you know we just kicked off pride month, uh,
which is awesome.
Who, to you, is the ultimatelgbtq plus icon?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I can't.
No, no, I cannot.
I could not name.
I could not name one.
I could not name one.
It's that's too broad of acategory.
There's a a lot of people well,what do you think about?
Speaker 1 (27:55):
what are some things that you love about the lgbtq
community?
Oh man well everything yeah,hell, yeah, yeah, um, I don't
know it's a, it's a weird one.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I can get, I will not get into politics, but, um,
yeah, I don't know.
I feel like the lgbtq community.
Um, it's funny because, like Ithink, from an outside
perspective, with like straightpeople, when they speak to gay
people, for example, they thinkit's funny because, like I think
, from an outside perspective,with like straight people, when
they speak to gay people, forexample, they think it's just
your sexuality, that's all.
It is Like what, what, why isit this big other thing?
(28:28):
But without realizing that it,it impacts every single part of
your life, like where I go onholiday, like how I can behave
when I go to a certain street ina certain city, or what laws
are against me for this.
So I don't even know where I'mgoing with this, but I'm just
saying, yeah, I can't really saywhat a favorite part of it is,
because it is just like a wholelifestyle.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I don't know where I'm going with that, but no,
it's all good.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
It's all good, man.
I just want to shine some lighton it because it's just wild
right now.
How, uh, like you're saying andI can't even imagine it, but
like how it like it's just like,city by city, block by block of
, just like what people are coolwith and what they're not cool
with.
As much as the world pushesforward, it also moves backwards
(29:16):
and it's such a strange time tokind of like grasp, you know it
is, it is very strange.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
yeah, I of like grasp , you know it is.
It is very strange.
I feel like I'm going to keepsaying like without getting
political and then gettingpolitical Next thing you know.
Yeah, yeah, it's like the 80s,early 90s, when there was this
(29:40):
like when there was like theAIDS epidemic and there was all
this like fear mongering aroundgay people and the enemy and
stuff.
And now it's happening withtrans people and it's the exact
same stuff, when really itdoesn't affect anyone but those
people.
So it's like, yeah, it's ascary place and it's like I'd
like to just say it's scarylooking afar at the American
politics, but we have stuffgoing on here as well.
(30:01):
So it's a scary place and it'slike I'd like to just say it's
scary looking afar at theamerican politics, but we have
stuff going on here as well.
So it's everywhere, um.
But yeah, I just feel likeeveryone's took a slightly big
step backwards, which is a bitscary, but, um, yeah, there we
go.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
It sucks, it sucks, man.
Shout out to the lgbtqcommunity.
Um yeah, happy pride and acouple hypotheticals here.
Okay, I'm not going to take toomuch more of your time but, if
you get home hard day at theoffice and you crack open a
drink, genie comes out.
(30:34):
Okay, let's just say it's Cher.
Cher comes out.
Cher pops out and she said, hey.
Hey, you know, freddie, I'mgonna give you one wish oh my
god one wish anything, anythingyou want in the world.
Okay that anything that you canthink of I can make happen.
(30:55):
What's your wish?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
oh, I'm so shit at being put on the spot.
It brings me so much shame andembarrassment.
What's your wish?
Oh, I'm so shit at being put onthe spot.
It brings me so much shame andembarrassment.
Oh fuck knows.
I honestly like I feel likethings work out.
I wouldn't play with that kindof black magic.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Oh you're putting Cher back in the bottle.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Oh, I'm putting Cher back in the bottle.
Like everything's good rightnow, like I feel like everything
I'm trying to do is workingtowards where I want to be.
Slowly but surely my family aregood.
I don't know, I wouldn't say Ihave a wish right now.
Nice, I like that.
Yeah, I'd pass it to someoneelse, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
All right, that's good, that's good.
So what about?
Okay, let's see how you do withthis one here.
Share goes back in the bottle,share goes back in the bottle.
You go back outside your flat,your, your gopher, taking a walk
, and, uh, a phone booth comesdown.
It's a time machine.
Anywhere in the world you wantto go any time in history.
Where are you going to go first, and why?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
dude, you're killing me.
Um, I don't know if.
Okay, really, this is going tobe a boring answer.
I don't know if you've seen.
There's a movie that's recentlycame out called all of us
strangers.
It's a british film and it's uh,it's like a tragic film, but
it's basically about this gayguy whose parents died when he
(32:18):
was a kid and he basically, inthis weird metaphorical dream
sequence kind of way, can keepgoing back to his home and
visiting his parents at the agethat they are when he is now, if
that makes sense and can justlike hang out with them at the
same age and like I think thatwould be cool Because I don't,
(32:43):
the past is the past, I don'tknow anyone, but I would like to
go back to meet people I knownow like family, at the age that
I'm at now, if they were at,and just hang out at that age
level, if that makes sense thatwould be cool that would be the
only thing I could think of.
That would actually be cool andmake sense to me.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Nice, I like that Last question here, freddie,
last question.
I got faith in you.
I know we can knock this out.
What to you is the meaning oflife?
Oh, jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
I have no idea.
I don't think there's a deepthing.
I'm not religious, I'm also notparticularly spiritual.
I just think you just have funwhile you're alive and that's
about the best you can do.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Hell yeah, that's awesome.
Nice one, freddie, awesome man.
Well, we appreciate your timehere on the Sailor Jerry podcast
.
Thank you so much.
Freddie Albrighton here on the Sailor Jerry podcast
.
How's life right now?
How's everything over in the UK?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, everything's good.
It's busy.
I mean, I live in a reallyquiet small town so life is
chill, but I've been trying totravel around a little bit more.
So I've just got back from aweek in London in a really cool
studio and, yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Awesome, and you're south of Birmingham, right.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I am.
I'm kind of slightly southwest,Just.
Yeah, it's a small town calledStourbridge.
It's not a lot there, it's justcountryside and, yeah, just
quaint little towns.
Is that where you grew up?
Yeah, pretty much.
I grew up just in thecountryside.
Basically I had a very relaxed,quiet childhood I guess.
(00:47):
But when I was kind of ateenager and everything, my
parents traveled quite a bit.
So I started traveling quite alot.
I lived overseas a bit and I'mjust kind of used to moving
around, just going here, thereand everywhere.
I've never really settledsomewhere, so I've always kind
of migrated back to theBirmingham area.
(01:09):
It's just accessible.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Nice, any sort of artistry in the family or
anything like that.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
No, I mean yes, I think my like my grandparents
painted and stuff like that.
My mom loves writing and I havesome musicians in the family.
So yeah, I think so, buteveryone explores it in
different ways, I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's cool, that's cool.
So how did you startgravitating toward the arts?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So how did you start gravitating toward the arts?
Um, I think it was just in highschool.
I was kind of I was a bit of aa nerd in high school.
I guess I say that in a goodway, obviously.
Um, I kind of was kind of goodat reasonably good at most
things, but I definitelygravitated more towards art
classes and English, englishlanguage and literature and
(02:06):
stuff.
So I was very quickly realizedthat that was what I was good at
and found it easy at least.
And then I started to push thatmore in slightly higher
education.
I didn't go to university oranything.
I dropped out of college but Iwas in college doing fine art
and photography.
But the kind of art I was moreinterested in when I was in
college was more contemporary,pretentious shit.
(02:29):
Basically a lot of likeinstallation work, a lot of like
digital social projects andyeah things like that.
So, uh, yeah, I think I'vealways been drawn to kind of
slightly more outsidery stuff.
I guess that's how I got intotattooing as well, because it's
such like an.
I guess originally it's a veryoutsider art yeah, awesome and
what, what?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
uh?
What kind of music were youlistening to in school, like
high school college?
What were you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
uh I well I.
I guess I kind of grew up withmy parents playing me like kate
bush and oh wow and stuff likethat, so like Kate Bush and
Bjork and stuff like that.
So I've always been drawn toreally weird voices.
That's like my thing.
So my music taste.
I used to listen to a lot ofthings, mainly electronic
(03:15):
generally, and bands like theKnife, the Swedish bands.
I used to listen to the Knifelike my whole childhood, teenage
years, I think.
Just because the singer, karenDrager, she kind of distorts her
voice so it sounds likemasculine and yeah, I'm really
into that, like I'm much moreinterested in someone's voice as
(03:37):
opposed to what genre of musicit is.
So it can go from somethingweird and electronic to like the
Bulgarian women's choir, like Ilove them both.
So yeah, I my, my music tastewas very weird.
I was always trying to find the, the, the strange stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, yeah, have you ever seen Bjork live?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I haven't.
No, I was going to go to thelast tour, but I I haven't
really resonated with the lateralbums as much.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
So yeah, no, have you yeah, I saw her once at a
festival, it was.
It was awesome really, and Ihave you ever been to iceland
iceland's a trip, have you ever?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
tattooed there or anything.
Yeah, I went to iceland lastyear.
I took my uh, my husband therefor his 30th hell.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, it's a really cool place.
We did a, a festival inbrejkovic there years ago and
man it was.
I mean we had the best time.
It was like I mean, it's kindof just like being on Mars for a
bit.
But then it kind of settles inand you realize there's just you
(04:39):
know, it's just another placethat's got a lot of great things
to offer, so I was stoked to gothere.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It was really cool, really beautiful too.
It really is.
Yeah, we said that it wasprobably one of the best places
we've ever been.
I think like it's so expensivebut if you've saved a little bit
of money it can be like, in aweird way, just absolute luxury,
but so natural, like the factthat you can just go to these
remote hot springs where there'slike swim up bars and you can
just walk into the like sea atone degrees.
It's like it's amazing, yeah,we loved it.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
How did tattooing come into your life?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think, honestly, it's a bit cringy, but the truth
is that when I was a teenagerit's when all of us were emo
kids and tattoos were justbecoming cool and kids in our
college were underage gettingtattooed.
It was like this, not a newthing, but it was a new thing
(05:28):
for like kids and like teenagersto be interested in this.
So I kind of hit it rightaround that time and, um,
thankfully I waited before I gotmy first ones.
I was only 18, but I waitedtill I was 18 and, yeah, I just
thought it was like the kind ofculture that at the time we all
wanted to be a part of.
(05:48):
It was in fashion, which is socringey, but that is how I got
interested in it, because we allwere.
I didn't think it wouldnecessarily be a career, I was
more just interested in gettingthem at first and because I was
a teenager, I was gettinganything that was cheap or free.
So I got covered in absoluteshit.
(06:09):
But, yeah, I just got into itthat way and then, yeah, the
journey I guess where I'm now isa little bit longer than that,
but that's what first got meinterested.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Is it true that you that you didn't like Apprentice,
you just started at a shop?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, pretty much.
I was working in a pretty dingymarket shop where they let me
just buy a machine and chargereally cheap until I got good.
So I ruined people.
But there we go.
Yeah, that is how I started andI picked it up relatively
quickly.
I don't really draw or paintnow and I haven't for years, but
I could when I was younger.
So and it felt quite natural Ipicked it up.
I wouldn't say I picked it upquickly, but I wasn't scared by
(06:56):
it, you know.
So I was very overly confidentand I think that helped me get
good quicker.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I mean, you've got such a signature style now.
How long did it take you to getcomfortable with just tattooing
in general?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, I think, realistically, four or five
years before I was doing tattooswhere I wasn't nervous before I
did one.
So like, like now I don't getnervous at all when I do a
tattoo, but of course.
But yeah, it took a whilebefore I was even nervous.
That doesn't necessarily meanthey were the best tattoos, but
(07:31):
I did them with confidence and Ithink you can see that in
someone's work If they do itwith confidence, whether it's
great or it's not, there'ssomething there you can.
You can see it, you can feel it, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, absolutely can see it, you can feel it.
You know, yeah, absolutely.
And you know, I wanted to talkto you about your creative
process because, um, the idea ofsomeone coming to you and being
like, hey, um, you know, let'sjust say I want a portrait of
princess diana or something likethat, and like the the kind of
freddy filter that you put itthrough, um, to create an
(08:02):
original image, is reallysomething that intrigues me and
I think is really really cooland super unique to you.
What's going on in your headwhen someone you know wants an
original tattoo from you and haslike a basic idea Like how do
you kind of put your spin on it?
What's going through your mindto create that image?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I think, uh, it's hard because I have like an
inner torment with trying not tojust go back to what I'm, what
I've done before and I'm good atso like I know, I can make
someone happy in like a fewminutes with like banging out a
design with some signatureflares on that.
They've seen me do a milliontimes.
But when people are coming tome these days, a lot of it is
honestly trial and error.
(08:44):
Like that's the great thingabout technology with tattooing
these days.
Um, I grew up when I was indoing art in college.
A lot of it was like digital, alot of like photo manipulation,
editing and stuff.
Yeah, so I'm quite quick withthat kind of stuff, so I can.
That's the cool thing.
You can put something together,you can play with a color
palette and then within 10seconds you can try every single
color palette you couldpossibly think of and then go
(09:06):
back to the original in a second.
So I find it really quick andeasy and efficient to just blast
through a lot of ideas and Ireally don't overthink it.
Like I don't spend admittedly, Idon't spend that long on my
designs because I feel like I'mgoing to spend more time
tattooing it and I can put moreflair into like the texture and
stuff.
When I'm actually doing it, thedesign is more like a structure
(09:28):
of like.
Does the composition work?
Is the scale of everything cool?
Is the palette good?
Is the contrast good?
If I say yes to all that, inlike a second I'll send it off
and I'm like it's done.
See, I really try not tooverthink it.
I'm very, very impulsive andI'll make quick decisions in a
design that I'm like oh that'scool.
I haven't tried that before.
Let's try that and see if theylike it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's so cool.
That's so cool that you trustyour gut with that stuff.
And obviously it's a, you knowit's a, it's a skill and
confidence acquired over time.
But from the outside, lookingin, when I see your work, I'm
always I was so curious about,like you know what's like the
turnaround time on like a youknow, on a design, like someone
who just walks in, or is itsomething where if someone makes
an appointment with you, theykind of have to give you enough
(10:08):
time to create?
You know what you're going tocreate, or can someone just walk
in and kind of have an idea andyou can do it on the fly there?
To know that you can kind ofwork that quickly is incredible,
man.
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, I'd say of.
Of course.
Sometimes some people willthrow me off and they'll say
something and I'll be, like howthe fuck do I come up with
something cool for that?
and I can spend a little whilethen battling ideas.
But, um, generally I won'treally finalize or even like
work on a design in bulk untillike the day before I'm doing it
, so that the ideas are fresh,like even if someone books in
(10:44):
for like six months time.
I might gather my referencesand start spitballing a few
ideas, but I won't finish it andreally spend a bit of time on
it until it's I'm about to do itthe next day, cause then I'm
excited about it, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and that's that's.
You know, it's cool, it's coolto see the artistry that way in
in.
It's cool to see the artistrythat way in the work you do and
in tattooing.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
How long were you tattooing before Ink Master
happened?
I would say about eight and ahalf to nine years, so quite a
while, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
So what was that process like getting that show?
Did you audition for it?
Was it something?
How did that come about?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
well, I, I got an invite just by email, so I
thought it was spam at first soI just ignored it.
And then got another one so Ireplied um, but ink must has
never really been much of athing in the uk like I think
people have heard of it, butobviously it was on Spike TV and
stuff before that and we don'thave that so and no British
(11:49):
artists have been on it before.
That's crazy Really, yeah.
Yeah, our season was the firsttime they've had non-Americans
on there, so it was cool.
I didn't really know what itwould do for me, so I went on
with a very open mind.
Yeah, so I got an invite.
Basically I don't know how orwhy, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, well it's.
You know it's obvious becauseyou're, you're, you're talented
and and you know you almost wonthe damn thing.
You know you came in secondplace.
Some say you were robbed offirst place.
You know, is there any hardfeelings there about the finish
of the show?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
No, I think when I came back from the show I was
very disappointed, like I onlywent there to win.
I didn't go there just to likehave fun, because I came back
with a lot of debt from all therent that I'd been paying while
I was over there filming and Ididn't win any prize money.
So I was like broke when I cameback.
(12:49):
So I was bitter about it and Ididn't agree with a lot of the
decisions throughout the show.
But that's why I'm not a judge,you know like and it's tv, so
I'm very.
I was prepared for any outcome,like I, I didn't know how good
everyone else would be for all.
I knew I could have gone homefirst or second, so I was
prepared for any outcome.
Like I, I didn't know how goodeveryone else would be for all I
knew I could have gone homefirst or second, so I was
prepared for any outcome.
It just sucks to get like soclose, like so close and then
(13:14):
come back with nothing.
But I met great people thereand the guy who won bobby like
me and him were like best matesthe whole season.
So, uh, he's super cool and Ijust can't wait to hang out with
him again, so there's no hardfeelings that's crazy.
They didn't like compensate for,like rent or anything like that
, while you guys were no, butit's like it's exposure and yeah
(13:38):
, yeah, you're getting a lotfrom it, so yeah for sure, for
sure.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Have you noticed?
I was gonna say, have younoticed like, uh, you know, a
pretty big impact on your careersince the show?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I have, but I feel like I haven't seen the full
extent of it yet, because rightnow I'm still um in my studio.
I'm just busier now and I'mgetting invites to come to cool
conventions and stuff, which isgreat, but I think until I get
over to the States, that's whenI'll see the real impact,
because the show is so muchbigger there, so more people
(14:10):
want to book with you.
The population is so muchbigger.
The tattoo scene is huge overthere.
You, the population's so muchbigger.
The tattoo scene is huge overthere, like we're a small
country, you know.
So, um, yeah, I feel like I'vestill got a lot more that I can
do with it in the coming coupleof years, but right now I'm just
, I'm just busy, which is goodbecause it's been a few years of
being dead, so you know yeah,hell, yeah, busy's good, busy's
(14:30):
good what about?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
What about?
Are you planning on coming tothe States anytime soon?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I am.
So I'm currently it's a longprocess.
I'm currently working on a visaso I can legally come and work
and do the conventions and stuffand advertise it without all
that worrying about gettingcaught.
If I did it on the sly, it'sjust not worth it.
So I'm doing it the legal way.
It's very long winded.
I'm like six months intogathering paperwork for my visa,
(14:55):
but it should be ready to sendoff soon.
It's very boring but, yes, soon.
I'm going to try and get out atleast once this year.
But next year is going to be myyear of more travel, coming to
the States, more workingeverywhere.
Yeah, it'll be cool.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Was there a time in your life when you were kind of,
you know, bouncing around theworld a little bit, just kind of
you know, seeking some artisticinspiration?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I think so.
Yeah, when I was very young Iwas like 19 and 20.
I was living in New Zealand fora couple of years but I was
fresh out of college well, freshdropout from college.
So I didn't really know what Iwanted to do.
I was going to like a part-timefashion school because I
thought I wanted to make clothes, um.
(15:38):
So, yeah, I didn't have a cluewhat I wanted to do, but I guess
the most pivotal was, um,probably in like my mid to late
20s, when I was like 26, 27, Iwent.
I just did a big road triparound Europe on my own and just
tattooed in every country, fromthe north of Sweden to, yeah,
the south of France, basicallyand further.
(16:00):
So I traveled everywhere andthat was cool because it was
just like learning from otherartists, because I'd been tied
to one shop pretty muchexclusively for a few years
before that and in my head I'dbeen working in the studio where
realistic tattooing was likethe peak of tattooing.
And then I went traveling andrealized that that just wasn't
the case whatsoever and learnedfrom a lot of cool artists who
(16:22):
were really outsiders and didn'twant to be involved in the kind
of pretentious side of theindustry and it was cool.
Yeah, I learned a lot fromthose people and I think that's
why my style got a little morelike, I guess, rebellious or
experimental when I got back.
So I kind of took all thatknowledge with me and, yeah,
it's things like that which keepyou excited about tattooing.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
That's super cool.
I always like when people areable to kind of gain like any
sort of extra insight or, likeyou know, knowledge from being
able to travel and like workwith other artists, see other
artists.
It's always such a coolexperience.
Man, you know you've you'vedescribed your style as, as you
know, cool colored stuff, whichis, uh, you know, got a kind of
(17:05):
a simple explanation for theincredible work that you do.
But I like I like things simplelike that For our listeners out
there.
Obviously, this podcast isnamed after Norman Collins,
who's one of the godfathers oftraditional tattooing, and
anyone familiar with your workknows that you are kind of far
from a traditional tattoo artist.
I'm curious as to how you viewtraditional tattoo tattooing,
(17:32):
because someone who, um, youknow, is very much, uh, you know
, individualistic and what youcreate and obviously, uh, you
know, the craft is the craft andthe skill is the skill when it
comes to tattooing.
But artistically, you know, howdo you kind of view traditional
tattoos versus what you do?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
um, that's a very complicated question.
In some kind of weird way I ammostly drawn to tattooists who
do the polar opposite to me, soI don't really have an interest
in looking at anyone's tattooswho do similar stuffish stuff or
(18:11):
work in like realistic-y stylesor whatever.
I like minimalism and people Idon't know doing ignorant
tattooing and just anythingthat's like the polar opposite
to mine from whether it's atechnical standpoint or a design
standpoint, whatever.
But traditional tattooing, Idon't know.
I feel like obviously Iappreciate it, I love the way it
(18:31):
looks, I have traditionaltattoos.
I'd probably.
There's some artists I workedwith at a convention recently
who just did traditional and Iwas like, oh, I want something
by you because their work was socool, it was such a very, very
subtle spin on just traditionaltattooing.
But, um, from a personalstandpoint, I guess I just don't
really include it that much inmy work, so I just don't relate
to it, like I didn't grow, Ididn't get trained in that
(18:53):
environment where there was thathistory, um, or even simple
things from like the wholestandpoint of building your own
machine and having thattraditional apprenticeship and
the whole traditional lifestyleof tattooing and the culture
that I've never been around that, so I don't relate to it, but I
like looking at it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, no, that's cool .
I like that.
Tradition is such like a weird.
You know it's a weird wordbecause it's subjective.
It's like from a punk rockstandpoint.
You know the word tradition.
It's like traditional tattoosare cool, but like traditional,
like like a traditional life, islike kind of boring and like
that's not something I'm used to.
(19:36):
It's like it's, it's a weird.
It's a weird thing, I think,aesthetically.
Um, you know it's, it's.
It speaks to me, but I totallyget how it could not speak to
someone else.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, it's interesting that you said that.
I think I feel feel that way aswell.
I like the aesthetics of it andI like the simplicity and the
showcase of just like more morecraftsmanship than artistic
skill, I guess yeah if I'm beingblunt.
But uh yeah, but yeah the, I'venever really thought about the
(20:10):
linguistics of it.
It it's interesting that it'scalled traditional and yet it
kind of.
That's kind of everything wedon't want to tattoo.
To be a tattoo person yeah,that's cool.
I hadn't thought about it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, let's let's switch gearshere to to fragrances, because
you have your own fragrancebrand, by the way, for people.
There's there's a lot ofcreativity and artistry that
goes into it.
So, just first and foremost,what's going on with the brand
now?
What's what's coming up on theradar?
Um, how's everything going?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
I mean, if I'm honest , I really was hoping after ink
master that it would blow up,which it was.
It was creeping towards.
We were trying to get into theamerican market and all this
because I have retailers allover Europe.
But I have just been so busytattooing that I've almost had
to press pause on it for a while.
So I'm kind of taking abreather with it and I'm kind of
(21:02):
, whatever stock I have andwhatever I'm still doing with it
, I'm kind of trying to bring itback into my tattooing and sell
it at places like conventionsas my merch, because I've made
it and it took me years of workand whatnot.
So, yeah, I'm kind of keeping ita bit more chill rather than
blowing it up like I expected,because I'm trying to blow my
(21:24):
tattooing up more, you know.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Well, that's what I was going to ask.
You know, it's like you get tothat point where you know you
have two things that I imaginerequire in order to be
successful a lot of attentionand a lot of focus from you.
So I know that has to be kindof hard, kind of juggling those
two things.
You know and then you know,usually the universe, in one way
or another, has a way of kindof saying OK, well, you know,
(21:48):
focus on this for right now.
Like you're saying, if thingsslow down with one, you can kind
of lean on the other completelybut what makes a good fragrance
to you Like.
What's it all about?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
It's kind of similar to tattooing in a way.
Like you were saying like oh,fragrances are like it can be
just like.
Tattooing can be art or it canjust be a craft where it's like
you put these pieces togetherand you get this and people like
it.
So there's a.
There's a weird thing withperfume.
The reason I got into it wasbecause initially, my interest
(22:18):
in perfume was looking atcontemporary artists who were
using perfume as installationwork.
So I was always really intonon-tangible installations, so
people who were using light orsound as their artwork.
And then I met a lot ofperfumers who were creating
scented spaces that told anarrative so I used to write
(22:40):
about that.
I loved it.
I met loads of perfumers.
I got really interested in thechemistry behind it.
Then I just got intounderstanding that there were
people who designed this andmade this stuff.
So I don't necessarily thinkall perfumes art, as in
commercial like it can't just bea commercial product and it's
where do you put savage on thescale of art?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I would say that's a successful commercial product.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
But, uh, good for them.
Um, but yeah, it's, it's a,it's a fine line, so it's been
interesting setting the brand up.
I set it up in lockdown justbecause I really didn't have any
time Well, I wasn't allowed totattoo anyone, so I had all the
time in the world.
And, yeah, it was just findinga fine balance between it,
because the designing part of itand actually creating something
(23:25):
and trying to tell a story isreally cool and fun and creative
and whatever, but the legalmanufacturing side of it is
tedious and I do it all myself,so it is like factory work and
uh, yeah, it gets a lot less funwhen you actually set up a
business for it.
So, yeah, um, designing stuffand doing the marketing and the
(23:48):
imagery and whatever story youwant to tell is great.
But yeah, when it gets aroundto actually put in a few
thousand stickers on bottles andfiguring out how you're going
to ship alcohol overseas, it'sanother story.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
But there we go.
So is there still?
Is the store still active?
If people want to buy leftoverstock, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I have like an online store and I have it in my
tattoo studio and I'll just bebringing it to conventions and
stuff Cause it's cool becausethen I can actually be there in
person and chat about it andstuff.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, yeah, what's your uh, what's your favorite?
Actually, what do you think isthe worst smell?
What's the worst smell outthere?
Is it skunk?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I kind of like skunk yeah, I kind of like those weird
dirty kind of smells um, godknows I've got like it's funny,
like there's a if I withoutgetting too nerdy, when you're
making perfume, like thechemistry of it is super
interesting and there'schemicals that you can use that,
like the human body isimmediately designed to be
(24:49):
repulsed by, like when you smellgone off milk, it's because of
a specific molecule that willtrigger you and be like, oh fuck
, like that's dangerous, youknow.
So like there's chemicals andstuff I have in my lab that are
the molecules that, like, yourbody produces when it rots and
stuff like that and it's sointeresting to see people's
reactions to them because youcan't help but be physically
repulsed by it.
Like your design, it's like ananimal instinct and stuff like
(25:11):
that's really cool.
I find that really interesting.
You wouldn't necessarily put itin perfume, but they're the
worst smells because you're likeyour dna makeup is designed to
physically run the oppositedirection from it, so it's cool
how it can have such like animpact I like that in music.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Uh, there's a, there's a, there's a rumor.
There's always been thismystery that there's this thing
called the brown note, thatthere's this note that you can
play that makes people shittheir pants.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Oh, we've seen the South pocket said so good Um all
right, so let's jump to theinternet here.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Okay, let's, let's, let's hit the internet.
We got some questions.
We're going to come in hot.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Hey, freddie hmm, that depends what you've got
already.
So I have like a leg that Ijust have tattooed with loads of
shit.
So people, I've had friendswrite on it, I've had exes write
(26:10):
on it, I've had my parentswrite things on there.
I have like doodles of dicksand it's just a scrapbook.
So if you have a scrapbook legthat you really don't care about
, then go for it, but otherwiseI think you can come up with
something better.
That means something about yourpartner more than their name.
Their name is the leastinteresting part about them.
(26:31):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I like that In honor of season 15 of Ink Master host
Joel Madden, can you, FreddieAlbrighton, name three Good
Charlotte songs?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
No, I couldn't name one.
I'm so sorry.
It's not my music.
It's not my music.
I honestly couldn't name one.
I'm not being rude.
I'm sure people love them.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Awesome, awesome.
Shout out, good Charlotte.
Lenny Kravitz recently madeheadlines with the fact that he
has been celibate for nine years.
How long do you think you couldgo without doing the deed?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
laughing um.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I would like to be cool and say, oh yeah, not long.
I could probably go a couple ofyears I'd be good, nice.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Maybe not nine years, but I could go a few years nice
, nice, all right.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Uh, you know we just kicked off pride month, uh,
which is awesome.
Who, to you, is the ultimatelgbtq plus icon?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I can't.
No, no, I cannot.
I could not name.
I could not name one.
I could not name one.
It's that's too broad of acategory.
There's a a lot of people well,what do you think about?
Speaker 1 (27:55):
what are some things that you love about the lgbtq
community?
Oh man well everything yeah,hell, yeah, yeah, um, I don't
know it's a, it's a weird one.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I can get, I will not get into politics, but, um,
yeah, I don't know.
I feel like the lgbtq community.
Um, it's funny because, like Ithink, from an outside
perspective, with like straightpeople, when they speak to gay
people, for example, they thinkit's funny because, like I think
, from an outside perspective,with like straight people, when
they speak to gay people, forexample, they think it's just
your sexuality, that's all.
It is Like what, what, why isit this big other thing?
(28:28):
But without realizing that it,it impacts every single part of
your life, like where I go onholiday, like how I can behave
when I go to a certain street ina certain city, or what laws
are against me for this.
So I don't even know where I'mgoing with this, but I'm just
saying, yeah, I can't really saywhat a favorite part of it is,
because it is just like a wholelifestyle.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I don't know where I'm going with that, but no,
it's all good.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
It's all good, man.
I just want to shine some lighton it because it's just wild
right now.
How, uh, like you're saying andI can't even imagine it, but
like how it like it's just like,city by city, block by block of
, just like what people are coolwith and what they're not cool
with.
As much as the world pushesforward, it also moves backwards
(29:16):
and it's such a strange time tokind of like grasp, you know it
is, it is very strange.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
yeah, I of like grasp , you know it is.
It is very strange.
I feel like I'm going to keepsaying like without getting
political and then gettingpolitical Next thing you know.
Yeah, yeah, it's like the 80s,early 90s, when there was this
(29:40):
like when there was like theAIDS epidemic and there was all
this like fear mongering aroundgay people and the enemy and
stuff.
And now it's happening withtrans people and it's the exact
same stuff, when really itdoesn't affect anyone but those
people.
So it's like, yeah, it's ascary place and it's like I'd
like to just say it's scarylooking afar at the American
politics, but we have stuffgoing on here as well.
(30:01):
So it's a scary place and it'slike I'd like to just say it's
scary looking afar at theamerican politics, but we have
stuff going on here as well.
So it's everywhere, um.
But yeah, I just feel likeeveryone's took a slightly big
step backwards, which is a bitscary, but, um, yeah, there we
go.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
It sucks, it sucks, man.
Shout out to the lgbtqcommunity.
Um yeah, happy pride and acouple hypotheticals here.
Okay, I'm not going to take toomuch more of your time but, if
you get home hard day at theoffice and you crack open a
drink, genie comes out.
(30:34):
Okay, let's just say it's Cher.
Cher comes out.
Cher pops out and she said, hey.
Hey, you know, freddie, I'mgonna give you one wish oh my
god one wish anything, anythingyou want in the world.
Okay that anything that you canthink of I can make happen.
(30:55):
What's your wish?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
oh, I'm so shit at being put on the spot.
It brings me so much shame andembarrassment.
What's your wish?
Oh, I'm so shit at being put onthe spot.
It brings me so much shame andembarrassment.
Oh fuck knows.
I honestly like I feel likethings work out.
I wouldn't play with that kindof black magic.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Oh you're putting Cher back in the bottle.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Oh, I'm putting Cher back in the bottle.
Like everything's good rightnow, like I feel like everything
I'm trying to do is workingtowards where I want to be.
Slowly but surely my family aregood.
I don't know, I wouldn't say Ihave a wish right now.
Nice, I like that.
Yeah, I'd pass it to someoneelse, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
All right, that's good, that's good.
So what about?
Okay, let's see how you do withthis one here.
Share goes back in the bottle,share goes back in the bottle.
You go back outside your flat,your, your gopher, taking a walk
, and, uh, a phone booth comesdown.
It's a time machine.
Anywhere in the world you wantto go any time in history.
Where are you going to go first, and why?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
dude, you're killing me.
Um, I don't know if.
Okay, really, this is going tobe a boring answer.
I don't know if you've seen.
There's a movie that's recentlycame out called all of us
strangers.
It's a british film and it's uh,it's like a tragic film, but
it's basically about this gayguy whose parents died when he
(32:18):
was a kid and he basically, inthis weird metaphorical dream
sequence kind of way, can keepgoing back to his home and
visiting his parents at the agethat they are when he is now, if
that makes sense and can justlike hang out with them at the
same age and like I think thatwould be cool Because I don't,
(32:43):
the past is the past, I don'tknow anyone, but I would like to
go back to meet people I knownow like family, at the age that
I'm at now, if they were at,and just hang out at that age
level, if that makes sense thatwould be cool that would be the
only thing I could think of.
That would actually be cool andmake sense to me.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Nice, I like that Last question here, freddie,
last question.
I got faith in you.
I know we can knock this out.
What to you is the meaning oflife?
Oh, jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
I have no idea.
I don't think there's a deepthing.
I'm not religious, I'm also notparticularly spiritual.
I just think you just have funwhile you're alive and that's
about the best you can do.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Hell yeah, that's awesome.
Nice one, freddie, awesome man.
Well, we appreciate your timehere on the Sailor Jerry podcast
.
Thank you so much.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!