Kat Von D Interview
[ photos by lionel deluy ]
 The Learning Chanel’s reality show L.A. Ink is a phenomenon. It’s come on the scene and pummeled the
ratings of every tattoo television show that came before, and its star, Kat Von D, is the hottest thing in heels right now.
Known for her lifelike black-and-gray portraits for more than ten years, the 25-year-old vixen has put her time in. Sadly,
a lot of jealous folk in the tattoo world have a problem with the fact that she and the other artists in her shop—Corey Miller,
Hannah Aitchison, and Kim Saigh—are glamorizing tattooing (yet they have no problem reaping the windfall their industry is
feeling as a result of the show’s success). I recently had a chance to talk with Kat and her crew, which also includes Pixie
Acia, manager of High Voltage, the shop where L.A. Ink is filmed. We touched upon everything from Kat’s sexual fantasies to Pixie’s days on the boy’s high school wrestling team. Enjoy.
I only have one or two fluff questions, and the rest will be fun. How did you get into tattooing?
I started tattooing when I was 14 and I’ve been drawing all my life. I was hanging out with a bunch
of punk rock kids from around town, and one of the guys had a homemade setup, and he would tattoo all of us. One day he said I should tattoo him. I did a Misfits tattoo on him and I loved it and was hooked. I dropped out of school and started tattooing all my underage friends. There was never a shortage of kids who wanted to get tattooed and didn’t care that I sucked. By the time I was 16 I got to my first professional tattoo shop where I had to unlearn most of the things I had been doing for two years.
Do you think during those first two years you gave anyone hepatitis?
No. Most 14-year-olds don’t have hepatitis. I looked it up. It’s hard
to start an epidemic when no one has had sex yet, let alone started using
intravenous drugs.
I heard you were in a race to get your boyfriend Orbie’s name tattooed
on you.
No, I wasn’t. But everything escalated fast with Orbie. It’s all
or nothing. I’m not gong to pussyfoot around the fact that I’m in love and I get
tattooed all the time, so it only makes sense that I would get his name after a
short period of time. I have almost 10 Orbie-related tattoos now. I got the letter
‘A’ on my hand for his first name, Alex. I got ‘Orbie’ right under my boobs. I got
‘Bricks of Brooklyn’ on my stomach, which he actually tattooed. It’s because
we were driving through Brooklyn once and he said to me, ‘I love you more than
all the bricks in Brooklyn.’ I looked around and there were like a million bricks
everywhere. It was the most awesome thing ever, so I told him I loved him more
than all the lifted trucks in Orange County. You have to be from here to get that,
but that’s a lot of trucks.
Since you’re dating the son of Roy Orbison, does he ever sing “Pretty
Woman” to you?
No! He writes me songs and poems. It’s pretty awesome.
Do you guys ever pretend like he’s a rich businessman and you’re a young Julia Roberts as a prostitute, and, you know, hump and stuff?
No, but one time we were having sex and I started fantasizing that I was this
hot secretary and he was my boss, and we were totally doing it in his office and
people were right outside and we had to be super quiet. It totally turned me on.
It was like the craziest orgasm ever. My publicist is going to kill me.
 Bam [Margera] told me a story about you throwing glasses at Metal Skool [a local
Los Angeles hair metal band that plays at the Viper Room].
Yeah, he always puts that in my face, and it pisses me off because it’s not like he hasn’t
pissed on the floor when he’s sleeping at my house. God! I was drunk! I used
to drink a lot of vodka, and at the time I was married and was working out and
had lost a lot of weight. I’d be drinking full glasses of vodka. I would just pound
them and throw them into the crowd from the mezzanine. One time I threw a
glass and my wedding ring flew into the crowd. My husband was on Warped
Tour for two months and I told myself I had two months to buy a new wedding
ring. But I procrastinated and never got one and got busted.
But what Bam always talks shit about was the time I thought I was throwing
ice into the crowd, but the soundboard was directly under us and I was soaking
the soundboard. I almost shorted the sound system out. The sound guy comes
storming up at us and says, ‘If you motherfuckers throw one more piece of ice I’m
gonna fucking kill you,’ all yelling at us. We pretended like we didn’t know what
he was talking about.
Growing up, did you ever see yourself as America’s heartthrob, plastered
in your underwear all over billboards everywhere?
I don’t think I’m a heartthrob. I have to say that the majority of dudes out there probably don’t
think I’m hot. I think the tattoo thing turns a lot of people off.
Not true. Tattoos equal dirty girl. I have a theory that 100 percent of
the time girls with tattoos—
Fuck better. Yes, that’s true.
I was going to say, ‘like butt sex.’
Oh really? Wow. That’s way better than heartthrob. Oh man. I would honestly answer that question if it wasn’t going to bum out my publicist.
It doesn’t require an answer because, as I said, it’s 100 percent of the
time.
Uh-huh. I think you might be on to something there. It’s something to
wrap your mind around.
Are you and Ami, who you worked with on Miami Ink, and had a major
falling out with, still broken up?
Yeah, that bridge is definitely burned. I’ve
never spoken to any of the cast from Miami Ink since I left. Not even Garver.
It’s sad. It was heartbreak for sure, but people prove themselves to not be that
down for you at times and you just have to deal with it.
I read that Ami was losing his mind upon seeing billboards of you all
over New York City.
I read about that too. I don’t know. After I left Miami, the
only line I’ve ever drawn with my friends was that line. Before it was, ‘You can
hang out with whoever you want, I don’t care. You’re my friend.’ Now I can’t
associate with anyone that is associated with them. I won’t. Are you his fucking
friend?
No. I don’t even know him. And I don’t like bald people.
Oh, the Blue Man Group guy without makeup? Margaret Cho told me that joke. It’s great.
Do you ever get into your pajamas and do dances of joy on your bed
when you get the ratings back?
I don’t jump around and dance. As long as
the overall ratings say we’re doing good, that’s what’s important. I’m definitely
not driven by competition. I didn’t get my own show to say, ‘Fuck you,’ to Miami.
Deep down inside I wish them the best. I don’t want their show to do better
than my show, but I don’t wish them any harm. But I do know our ratings were
triple of what theirs ever were.
 You made something good. It’s fun to watch. Miami Ink was always—
Monotonous and repetitive. The guys weren’t willing to involve their real life
in the show, whereas I promised myself, aside from my divorce, I would talk
about anything. People can relate to you more when you’re real and show your
imperfections. I’m an open book. Our show is more rock ‘n’ roll and honest. I
don’t have any control over what is edited or what the final outcome is, so in
the end they can use whatever they want. There is definitely some footage out
there where I’m wasted out of my mind, crying and really talking about gnarly
shit. Thank God they didn’t use it. But they had the option to. Luckily we’re far
too PG to put that stuff out there. I never thought that I would care about that stuff but after reading emails
[from viewers], I don’t want kids to think it’s cool to be a wastoid. The first time
I was on Miami Ink I said I dropped out of high school at 14, after two weeks.
Then I get 12-year-olds telling me they want to drop out of school and be a
tattooer too. I was like, ‘Fuck!’ That is not something I promote at all. For me,
it was an exception.
What has been the worst part of this mainstream notoriety?
The worst part has been how much respect I’ve lost in the tattoo world. It doesn’t matter
how hard I try there are always going to be people who hate me and what I do.
The majority of it is the tattoo industry having the wrong idea about what I’m
driven by, thinking I’m making a mockery of tattooing. All the hard work I’ve put
in over the years to gain that respect went out the window now that I’m on TV.
What are you driven by?
I’m not driven by status or money because I was
successful prior to the show. Family is number one, and I have been supporting
a good chunk of my family for a long time. My mom is living in Mexico so I’m
trying to bring her back to America.
I knew they were going to do this show anyway, with or without me, and
that’s why I signed up. If I didn’t do it, I’d be damned if I let some hot girl who
has been tattooing for three years represent everything I’ve worked for since I was 14. I knew I had to do it, and
I did it. I’ve gotten a lot of backlash, but I can’t give a fuck what people
think about me. It just hurts to be discredited—
because I love tattooing. And tattooing is oversaturated with people who
don’t love it. New people are getting into it for all the wrong reasons because
shows like mine glamorize it. Tattooing was always such a secret
society and now you have every soccer mom saying, ‘Oh, I want my
daughter to be like Kat Von D.’ Well, that’s a really hard road to go down
and knowing what I went through at 16. I would never wish that upon
anybody’s kid. I saw a lot of shit kids shouldn’t see. That’s why I get
so much hatred; people feel like I’m doing a televised apprenticeship and
promoting kids to buy bullshit tattoo
machines and start Hepatitis epidemics.
I’m down to promote the strong,
empowered female doing whatever
the fuck it is she wants to do, but in
no way do I think kids should start
tattooing. It’s a biker world. People
used to burn each other’s shops
down if you opened too close, and in
some places it’s still like that.
But the thing that I am proud of
with the show is being able to open
people’s minds. My parents never
stepped foot in my shop for the entire
10 years that I was tattooing, until
the show came out. My dad called
me and said, ‘Oh my God, Kathy. I
didn’t know this is what you do. You
help people.’ That’s awesome. And
whether you have tattoos or not, every
person can relate to the stories
that are being told on the show, and
that’s a great thing.
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© 2007 chrisnieratko.com |
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