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Club Tattoo Interview Series, Part 1

by: Alex | Friday, December 21, 2007 | 2 comments

Interview with Sean and Thora Dowdell by Robert Brink

RB: How do you feel about interviews?

SD: Love ‘em.

RB: Really?

SD: Yeah.

RB: That’s cool. Some people hate ‘em.

SD: I only hate ‘em when I gotta do 30 of them in a day. Other than that –

TD: Or when they’re asking really foolish questions.

SD: Yeah, when you have to answer really stupid questions, you know, like. . .

RB: What’s an example of a stupid question?

SD: Oh we had an interview in NY and this guy's was

TD: “If you could resurrect anybody from the dead and punch him in the eye, who would it be?”

RB: Let me cross that off my list.

TD: Yeah

RB: That’s a weird one, why would you want to punch somebody in the eye?

SD: Yeah, that was a really retarded question.

RB: Yeah, I mean, what are you supposed to say, like Hitler? You know what I mean?

SD: Okay, who’s gonna read this and give a shit what the answer is, you know? Soon as they read the question, they’re gonna throw the magazine in the trash!

RB: So, Club Tattoo started 12 years ago, correct?

SD: Yeah

RB: Okay, what was the–when you dreamt it up, where did the idea come from, and what were your initial plans for Club Tattoo?

SD: It came from being a broke musician. Jess and I were playing in a band and doing a lot of touring at the time and we kind of needed, we kind of came up with the idea to open up a business at the time to help supplement our income when we were on the road and that’s really what stems--that’s how the whole--that’s what it stems from and then we realized it was a whole lot of work once it actually started-the whole company and once, you know, once the band had helped really culminate the tattoo shop in the early years, the first 5 years--the band pushed it, marketed it more than I think tattoo studios had ever done in the past because we had that whole music machine plugging in and that’s what brought it to the top of the game fairly quickly and that was really the premise, was to supplement our income but, you know, it kind of exploded beyond that.

RB: So, how did you and Chester meet originally?

SD: He was singing in his friend’s garage and I was in a project looking for a singer
and a kid named Chris, who was playing in my band at the time, told me about Chester. And we went and jammed a little bit and pretty much haven’t been separated since that point and have been in the music business. We stuck together for about 8 years after that.

RB: Right on, so when you first were like, “OK, we’re going to do this Club Tattoo thing,” did you think it was going to get successful? You said it was to supplement your income…

SD: No…

RB: Was your goal…to do the band and…

SD: I thought I was going be a rock star that happened to own a tattoo shop…

TD: (laughing in the background) Cool factor.

SD: Completely…well, you know at the time, my band was a lot cooler than a tattoo shop so that didn’t gain me a lot of points in the social world. Now the tattooing has really become forefront of fashion, forefront of cool in the social scene and that people—“Oh wow, you own a tattoo shop now?” Of course that would be a lot different but in my early 20’s I was playing in a band in front of thousands of people. That was really what was cool and what was happening at the time not the tattoo shop. So no, it’s completely reversed roles.

RB: Right on, so how long did you have one store before it became successful and you opened a second?

SD: Seven years…

RB: Seven years…

SD: …and that’s when Thora joined up with me. And really, together we kind of exploded at that point--with her help and vision and direction and organization really. I’m really the creative mind behind a lot of things but then she’ll actually take my idea and chip all the fat off of it and help me organize it.

TD: (unintelligible words)

SD: She’ll help me organize it into something that makes sense and is actually attainable.

RB: That’s what I was going to ask, I was kind of going to ask the dynamic between your role versus her role, and…
SD: You ever seen ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ ?

TD: Laughing

SD: Kind of like that…we butt heads a lot but it’s all for the same…it’s weird….like, her and I will argue and butt heads, but it’s to make sure we’re still going in the same direction to meet that end goal that we both have. We both have the same vision; we just want to take different roads all the time to get there so we butt heads a lot along the way.

TD: We would be great for a reality show because to watch us on a day to day basis is very…just like what you see with ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ with his wife tellin’ him…

SD & TD: Laughing

TD: When we first started watching that show I was like, “Wow, that looks familiar.”

RB: So how ‘bout the dynamic of being married and running this operation together? I mean does it add a new dynamic? Does it make things easier or more complicated at times?

SD: It makes it more complicated because your roles get completely confused. Sometimes you need to be husband and sometimes you need to be…

TD: A partner…

SD: Yeah, a partner, business partner, business relationship, whatever you want to say and it’s very easy…especially the first couple of years…we didn’t understand each others role in the business and in the marriage, we didn’t know when one started and one stopped. Now I think it’s a lot more defined.

RB: Is there anybody…marriage vs. Club Tattoo….is there anybody that’s more sort of behind the wheel, wearing the pants in either situation or are you guys sort of fifty/fifty as far as Club Tattoo is concerned?

TD: We’re fifty/fifty but if somebody had to go, it would be me.

SD: I would say fifty point one and forty-nine point nine…

TD: Laughing…

SD: And it’s definitely my brainchild, so...

SD: Well, she does more than that, but, it’s definitely my brainchild but at the same time it wouldn’t have gotten where it’s at without Thora’s help so it’s a fifty/fifty venture and, ya know and Chester’s influence is into that too because he helped do a lot of things--not day to day operation things, but creativity and expansion ideas--stuff like that. I would say in the marriage, she probably holds more weight than I do. At home, she kind of runs the situation.

RB: Cool.

TD: That’s why I (unintelligible) here…we kick him out of the office

SD: I’m starting not to even have a job here anymore

RB: You just kind of brought up something that I was going to get into…so, you were doing the band for a while and then Club Tattoo took off and then…I’m just sort of time lining it…Chester gets involved with Linkin Park and then Linkin Park takes off?

SD: Actually we had a couple of record deals with the band we were in…it was called Gray Daze, previous to Linkin Park. We were playing in front of thousands of people, touring, the whole thing…had a few songs on the radio. We had a falling out with the band. We decided to break up and then, Chester--we all had the same attorney that was working for Gray Daze and he plugged Chester out in this other situation out in LA and just took all of the momentum, everything that was going for the music scene at that time and just plugged him in and then they worked for about a year, got a deal and exploded right then.

RB: And so how did that effect his involvement with Club Tattoo?

SD: At the time, well he didn’t own the business I started. He helped me lay the floor and do all of that stuff as my friend. You know, there wasn’t really much to own back then and then after Linkin Park had blown up and Chester and I reconciled and started talking again and hanging out, he asked me, “Hey, how could I get involved?” ‘cause he saw what was going on and he liked it. I said, “well, we’re going to open up another store. Why don’t you get involved?” And he did.

Tune in next week for Part 2...

Club Tattoo Giveaway