On the wall of Hyperion Tattoo, a brass frame encloses a 1987 photo of three boys lying pridefully around a skull tag. Further inspection reveals that the boy lying closest to the camera, head of hair and all, is low-brow artist extraordinaire Joel Menter, clad in real Chucks and lime nylon shorts. Joel has since made a few strategic career moves; bass player, band flyer artist, master coffee roaster, screen printer and octopi painter before settling on zombie obsessed tattooist.
So thanks for the rad tattoo! Are there any questions that I am not allowed to ask you on this interview?
Please don't ask me about my girth.
Ok, we'll work around it. What type of medium do you generally work in?
Currently, I work in flesh. Ordinarily it's paper and ink, but I am trying to learn more digital, it tends to be less messy. It seems like, with more and more clients, thats what they want because it can be easily accessed and used on websites. You don't have to mess around with trying to scan things. Digital is where I'm headed now, more due to demand than me actually enjoying working with it, because I actually hate working digitally. I want to head butt my monitor!
Are you digitally self taught? Unfortunately. I barely get by with that stuff. Like painting, I want to go back ad take classes, be exposed to other people, because there is only so much technique you can get from a book. I've bought photoshop books, and like painting books, they give you great markers for technique, but they don't help much with technique execution.
Do you use models?
Sometimes. I've got discs of porn models. People are always ragging on this. It's tough though, the hardest part is saving the photos that aren't overly pornographic. But I use those a lot because, there is always weird tensions between artists and models. Being a spoken-for man, I want to stay away from that shit. If I need a live model, I use my wife. She is in probably 80 percent of my work anyways, even if only subconsciously. The women I draw tend to look like her, just like the men I draw tend to look like myself.
What is your favorite fine art piece that you've done?
The Mummy smashing a car that I did for my wife. It was the only thing I have ever done that has made a person light up. Shannon literally lit when I showed her that painting. As far as posters go, I would say the Meat Joy poster - the girl with the ax. That one sort of just fell together really easily with the dramatic prose.
How are you commissioned to do these band fliers?
Usually it is word of mouth and my email will be passed. I don't do as many as I would like and it's shocking, because I do these dirt cheap! I am surprised that more bands don't take advantage of it. I also understand that when your in a band that you want to make a visual representation of yourself. That's why bands get logos. I have heard that people don't want to use me for posters because I've done work for other people and they don't want a similar style. But they end up then, using really crappy art.
So then do you find inspiration for the posters from the band itself? Plug in the CD and use the lyrics? Because you have a very distinct style...
I ask for lyric sheets whenever possible because I do a lot of little transitions. Derek Hess was big on that, he did Jesus Lizard. He would have Jesus riding a giant dinosaur and I tend to do the same sort of stuff. its like a little riddle, like illustrating book. I'm illustrating the lyrics like I would illustrate a story in a book.
Have you ever done the CD liners?
I have done a couple. It goes back to becoming more digitally proficient in that stuff. Even to get the art work to a printer, it has to be in digital format. It actually looks better if it is digital. When you scan paintings, colors change, things tend to look flat. I have had a lot of requests for record covers, but have had to turn them down because I'm not confident yet in my ability to do them. I would love to someday and that is one of my driving factors.
When it comes to tattooing, do you stick to a certain style, or do you try to branch off depending on the client? Everything you do is for a client and is clients centric. It's not as much my expression as trying to interpret what they want on their body. Obviously, your strong style seeps through and Ill try to persuade them to go in a direction that I want to work. But ultimately, it is whatever they want.
I thought I saw a zombie worked into my back! Yeah, I try to work a zombie into everything I do!
Do you have creative freedom with your loyal clients? People that know me are aware and then there's people that come to see me because they've seen my posters and they say, "I want what you do". If I get a walk-in, they don't know me from Adam, or my style, and they say "I want this reproduced on my arm". It's a give and take. It's more rewarding when I get to do something that I've had a hand in but thats not to say that reproducing something, its its own challenge. Getting a Danzig skull on your back - you can't mess with that, it's iconic. You take your pride in being able to reproduce that faithfully.
Do you feel like clients in this field are easier to work with than, say, in the world of web design?
It's easier because you are only dealing with one person. Unless hey have a mouthy girlfriend or boyfriend where as when you're working with a band. The bass player and drummer are never going to agree on what they want, so your stuck in that conflict. If you work commercially, it goes to an art director who will ask the opinion of a typographer, etc. There are more people to work with. In this field you sometimes still have to reassure the person that what you are doing, is the right thing. But you have to appreciate the amount of faith a person will have in you to allow you to do it your way. When someone does that, it's a huge honor. I'm still amazed that people will let me talk them into doing a zombie on their arm! Thats pretty cool and I definitely prefer this, but I don't want people to say, "that fucker doesn't want to work with my band!" I would love to work with your band.
So then if you had to choose a commercial profession, what would you choose? Where I think most illustrators start and they don't aspire to it but I'd like to do spot illustration, magazine articles. Back to what I said about illustrating stories, it would be fun, like tattooing because you would constantly get different projects to work on. If I was a fine artist, I would do show after show of zombies and girls. I think people would get pretty sick of it.
What's your favorite tattoo?
If I say this, Ben's gonna say, "that son of a bitch, he doesn't even like my tattoo!"
Ok then, favorite tattoo on you.
No, I can give an answer. Recently, I did this tattoo on a girl, Lisa, and it was a cobra battling a fairy. How the tattoo came about was, she started talking about a fairy and I said, "We should do a cobra fighting a faery!" I got the go ahead and was real excited about it. And the development of it was fun.
On me - the zombie on my left bicep. You'll be able to type the word zombie in your sleep when your done with me! It's the helicopter pilot from Dawn Of The Dead.
Is there anyone/anything that you wouldn't want to tattoo?
I would refuse to tattoo something or someone who was Fascist or Neo-Nazi. It's weird cause you say, " I want the most satanic thing you can think of and I think, hell yeah, lets go! But there's a difference to me. People think that satanic imagery hates all good, but you could draw a parallel in that to National Socialism. The fact that I think of satanic imagery as part of mythology and not real, and i don't worship Satan, it's ok. The difference, is that there was a Hitler, he was real.
And also, think long and hard before you get a name. Blood or dead should be your guidelines for that one.
What type of art do you dislike?
I don't want to sound Cro-magnum, but if I look at something and it doesn't reverberate with me in some way, then I don't like it. I hate interpretive dance, performance art in general I'm not real cool with. You are trying to explain the sound of rustling leaves with your arm, it's not going to work. I have been taught to appreciate things like Rothko. I thought, what the fuck. Why would you care about two giant square on a canvas. But then I was told that you're supposed to stand close to them so you are seeing them in your peripheral vision and then they form a harmonic vibration. Like a magic eye. So I guess even if I say I hate something, you can convince me otherwise.
And beer helps! Where do you like grab a cold one?
Staples cause I like their beer, but Essex because it encapsulates, in my experience, Buffalo and the people that live here.
Favorite book? Zombie Survival Guide. And everyone who reads it should realize that they need to have a zombie plan.
