Besides music, another one of my main interests is tattoos. As of this writing, I have 12 tattoos, 6 of which are music-related. In this post, I’d like to share the stories behind my music-related tattoos.
Back in September 2022, I got my first tattoo. It had been a long time coming as I had wanted tattoos for many years at this point. Honestly, I’m surprised I hadn’t gotten any sooner. What is even more surprising is that my first tattoo wasn’t music-related in any way. My first music-related tattoo was actually my third tattoo.
Quiet Heavy Dreams Skull
The first music-related tattoo I got was a longhorn skull that incorporated the artwork from Zach Bryan’s EP, ‘Quiet, Heavy Dreams’. The stencil for this tattoo was designed by Corbin Briggs, also known as BrigzTattoos. Before I stumbled across Briggs’ design, I had been contemplating getting a tattoo inspired by the ‘Quiet, Heavy Dreams’ artwork but I couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted. Once I saw Briggs’ design, I knew it was what I had been looking for.
At the time I got this piece done, I had only seen a couple of other people on social media with the same design tattooed. Soon after I got mine, Briggs’ design went viral and now there are many Zach fans who also have tattoos based on this stencil. Even though this design has become a common tattoo amongst Zach Bryan fans, my love for this tattoo has never changed.
Heavy Eyes x Red Rocks
The second music-related tattoo that I got commemorates my experience of seeing Zach Bryan at Red Rocks last November. (You can read more about my experience at Red Rocks here). My best friend, Katie Bartnick, also has this design tattooed on her arm. As of now, Katie is the only person I have intentional matching tattoos with.
Katie and I collaborated on this design for a while before our trip to Colorado. We wanted a tattoo that featured both a Zach Bryan element and an element that spoke to the topography of Red Rocks. Personally, I think what we came up with did just that. Katie and I chose to include a lyric from Zach’s song, ‘Heavy Eyes’, as it is one of our favorite Zach songs, especially live.
Our tattoos were done at Sacred Soul Tattoo in Lakewood, Colorado.
Burn, Burn, Burn
It is honestly shocking that it took me so long to get this tattoo. I had known ever since the first time I heard the song ‘Burn, Burn, Burn’ by Zach Bryan on YouTube before it was even officially released that I wanted a tattoo inspired by the song.
Every aspect of this song speaks to my soul: the lyrics, the sound — all of it. Then, ‘Burn, Burn, Burn’ was officially released on my birthday, September 8th, which to me was just another sign from the universe that I needed a tattoo related to the song.
It took me over a year since I had come to this conclusion to actually get the ‘Burn, Burn, Burn’ tattoo. This delay was mainly due to my own indecisiveness when it came to the placement. However, I do think the wait was worth it as I like this placement much more than my original placement idea. The 'font' that was used for this tattoo was actually taken from the writing featured on the cover art used for this single.
This piece was done by Pete at Studio 42 in Memphis, Tennessee.
'68 Fastback
This tattoo, like my ‘Burn, Burn, Burn’ tattoo, was also a long time coming as I knew I wanted a ‘’68 Fastback’ tattoo after hearing the song only a couple of times. What took so long with this one was figuring out what exactly I wanted.
I had seen a couple of tattoos inspired by Zach Bryan’s song ’68 Fastback’ on Facebook in the Zach Bryan Fan Group, but none really spoke to me. I eventually realized I wanted to get a tattoo of the car itself, but in a more realistic manner than other tattoos I had seen online.
I got this one at the same time I got my ‘Burn, Burn, Burn’ tattoo, and this piece was also done by Pete at Studio 42 in Memphis, Tennessee. Pete did a stunning job with this tattoo and he was even able to incorporate the small details that I wanted: ‘ZLB 117’ on the license plate. This is by far the tattoo I receive the most compliments on.
Washington Lilacs
This piece was loosely inspired by the Zach Bryan song, ‘Washington Lilacs’ which has been one of my favorite songs of his for quite some time now. I actually got this one done in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while I was there to see Zach play two nights at the BOK Center. You can read more about that experience here!
This piece was done by Ben at Black Gold Tattoos in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
22, A Million
This is my most recent music-related tattoo that I got back in late October. The design for this tattoo comes from the artwork for Bon Iver’s album, ’22, A Million’. There are many symbols featured in the artwork for this album. I chose this specific design as I interpret it as being associated with the song, ‘715 – CRΣΣKS’, which is one of my favorite Bon Iver songs. Bon Iver is one of my favorite artists of all time. I talked more about my appreciation for his music in a recent blog which you can read here.
This piece was done by Garrett at Studio 42 in Memphis, Tennessee.
As of now, these are all of my music-related tattoos but I am definitely planning on getting more in the future. I already have other music-related tattoo ideas in my head; I just need to finalize all the logistics: placement, design, etc.
Every one of my tattoos has a story behind it. Thank you for reading and letting me share the stories behind these tattoos with you!
I would highly recommend all of the artists and tattoo shops mentioned in this post. If you are ever in their areas and want to get tattooed, I suggest that you check them out!
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