Books Closed: Tattoos and the Internet Collide, Hosted by Andrew Stortz

The legendary king of tribal tattooing, Leo Zulueta, was tricked into becoming a tattooer by Ed Hardy. Is there another tattooer with an origin story as crazy as that?![This episode has a huge visual component, watch here on YouTube]Leo talks about how the high contrast punk rock show posters he made in his younger years set the stage for the heavy black tribal tattoo style that he hugely brought into the visual vocabulary of western tattooing. Tattooing as we know it today would simply not be the same without Leo's contributions over his decades long career.His influence and encouragement has been felt by many, and we also hear some anecdotes from Jared Leathers, Adam Shrewsbury and Julian Bast.Leo's new book, The Black Wave, can be ordered now through:Belzel Books (US)Coenen Publishing (EU)Sydney Tattoo Club (AUS)Yokozuna Shoten**************************************************THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY:Afterlife PressAfterlife Press has just released Volume 4 of their flagship Afterlife Volumes series. Volume 4 features powerhouse tattooers Henning Jorgensen and Mike Rubendall.Subscribers to Afterlife's email newsletter receive early access to ALL new releases as well as exclusive offers for discounts and other goodies. Make sure to head over to afterlifepress.com and sign up now to stay ahead of the game!Right now, Afterlife is offering an awesome promo for issues of Disintegration: 50% off if you buy all three issues at once! ****************************************************BOOKS CLOSED Podcast is made by Andrew StortzFind Andrew in Portsmouth, NH at Worship Tattoo

Adam Shrewsbury went all-in on pottery after a hiatus from tattooing, and has never looked back. Andrew visits Adam's pottery studio to see what he has been working on and what's next. Also, Adam discusses the clarity he has gained for his tattooing through taking a break, how tattooing suffers from a lack of outside influence, and a story about the time he got to pick up Thom DeVita from the airport.See more of Adam's work HERE(You can WATCH this video on YOUTUBE) BOOKS CLOSED is produced by Andrew StortzFind Andrew at Worship Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH

Hold on tight, you are about to enter the mind of Julian Bast, and I don't think you are ready.(You can WATCH this video on YOUTUBE)Julian is a tattooer and artist who is focused on letting an unstructured process steer the ship. Modeling his approach after the freedom he saw his children have when making art, he keeps the idea of "play" at the forefront. I have admired everything he does for years, and was excited to finally meet him and spend some time getting tattooed and having the conversations you will see in this episode. We talk about how family and work have started to blend more seamlessly for him, the benefits of automatic drawing, and he tells a story about how he almost lost his mind while painting a mural...but just for a split second.Julian works at Name Brand Tattoo in Ann Arbor, MI. BOOKS CLOSED is produced by Andrew StortzFind Andrew at Worship Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH

Kicking off the new season with a Q+A addressing all of your important questions. Is tattooing dead? Are there too many shops? Is it a time for a new career?Nothing like doom and gloom to get back into the groove with the show!Andrew discusses listener submitted questions with his crew at Worship Tattoo. Bill Rocha, Kayleigh Rae, Kenley Darling and Mijo all sit in this week to try to answer all of tattooing's toughest questions.Stay tuned in until the end of the episode for some bonus unreleased footage from last year's Filip Leu episodes!BOOKS CLOSED is made by Andrew StortzFind him, along with everyone else on this episode at Worship Tattoo in Portsmouth, NHWatch this episode on YOUTUBE