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Tattoo Talk: Dry Kill Logic’s Jason Bozzi and Brendan Kane Duff Discuss Ink and Recording New Music

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With the world progressively headed to hell in a handbasket, it’s nice to be reassured that not all is unwell… The return of Dry Kill Logic is a sweet reminder of that sentiment! Reunited, rejuvenated, and ready to continue carrying the torch they lit back in the early 2000s as one of the most influential acts at that time of the nu-metal scene, the band just released a brand new single titled “Don’t See Ghosts,” a song that mimics their past material but with some more modern breakdowns and beats.

Along with their fall 2019 released single “Vices,” “Don’t See Ghosts” represents a sampling of what’s to come with the group planning to soon release more new tracks through their own label Psychodrama Music Group. It’s awesome to welcome Dry Kill Logic back to the scene after they suddenly broke up in 2006. Reinvigorated and recalibrated, the guys are back where they belong; leading the charge of a genre that they helped popularize.

Like many other formidable rock and metal bands, the members of Dry Kill Logic are also tattoo enthusiasts. We recently spoke with guitarist Jason Bozzi and bassist Brendan Kane Duff about their body art, their favourite and frequented tattoo shops, and their craziest tattoo experiences.

When, where and what was your first tattoo?

Jason Bozzi: “A badly done jester with a mandolin (I didn’t know it was from the Grateful Dead, I just picked it from some flash) on my upper thigh. I got it in ‘92 and I really wasn’t the brightest teenager.”

Brendan Kane Duff: “A sweet, sweet tribal tattoo! Directly from the wall to my back. 1996 or 97? It’s a real piece of shit and hasn’t aged well, but 16 year old me thought it was edgy as fuck.”

Going back to the early days of the band, do you or the band have any tattoos that commemorate that era of the band?

Duff: “When Of Vengeance and Violence was finished, I had the words put on my hands to mark the occasion. I had my knuckles done shortly after I joined the band, and while they’re actually a nod to Clutch, I associate them with that same time period in the band.”

Do you have a specific shop or artist that you frequent (insert shameless plug time!)?

Bozzi: “My backpiece was done by Lou Jacque (I believe he’s currently at Clockwork Tattoo), but almost everything in the last 18 years is from Eric Merrill at Hope Gallery.”

Duff: “Most of my tattoos were done by Lou Jacque, Nick Baxter, Nick Trammel, Andy Barrett and Tracey Rose. I’ve pretty much lost touch with all of them at this point and have no idea what shops they are at now.”

Tattoo Talk: Dry Kill Logic’s Jason Bozzi and Brendan Duff Discuss Ink and Recording New Music

Do you have any new tattoos planned or underway? Give us the dirt, dude!

Bozzi: “I still have to finish the chest plate the connects to my sleeve. I’m also thinking of some new pieces for my right arm, since the birth of my daughter.”

Duff: “I have pieces on my chest and back that I’d like to finish but I probably never will. Those areas suck and I’m over it.”

Have you seen any fans with a band tattoo, anything crazy memorable?

Duff: “I’ve seen two people with DKL-related tattoos, that I can think of anyway. One of those people had no idea I’m one of the dudes in the band, so I didn’t say anything.”

We know you have one… tell us about that stoned/drunken joke-tattoo you once got or any band tats you got while on the road?

Bozzi: “No joke tattoos, although some of my earlier pieces look like I got them on a dare. I did get a small, personal tattoo put on me by a tattoo artist/drummer in a band we played with one night after a show. Sadly, I can’t remember the details of where it was (the location of the shop, not the tattoo).”

Duff: “I don’t have any ‘joke’ tattoos but I have more than one that I probably wouldn’t have gotten had I been…sober? I have one on my leg that I didn’t remember getting at all until I noticed the plastic wrap. Somewhere in Houston. No idea who it was or what shop but at least it isn’t terrible.”

Do you have any tattoos that you now hate, want to replace, or have covered up, and why?

Bozzi: “I have some that quality-wise just haven’t withstood the test of time. Actually, they were pretty bad to start with.”

Have any tattoos that were painful. Like made you cry, see white light, and regret being born?

Bozzi: “Top of my foot made me want to vomit. And getting my clavicle done made me feel pain in my entire head like I never felt before.”

Duff: “Sternum, stomach, mid/lower back and back of the legs were the worst for me. Palm was rough, too. Everything else was tolerable.”

Tattoo artists are similar to bartenders in the sense that people confide in them. What’s the most personal story you’ve shared (or been told) while getting work done.

Duff: “An ex of mine was a tattoo artist and one thing I remember her telling me was that she had to stop wearing sandals when tattooing people because of the staggering amount of clients with a foot fetish. I guess people would make things super creepy. The more you know.”

Do you have a crazy, weird or super-memorable tattoo experience you’d care to share?

Bozzi: “Getting tattooed with rubbing alcohol to remove some ink is not awesome. That happens after a tattoo artist nods off in the middle of working on you (this is obviously none of the artists I mentioned earlier).”

Duff: “One thing that comes to mind is the time my buddy tattooed my entire face (with water, not ink) because he’s a sadist and ‘heard that it hurts a lot.’ This was back before face tattoos were common and he hadn’t been able to maim anyone yet. I’m a moron, so I obliged him, though not permanently, hence the water. FYI, center of the forehead, nose and upper lip are unpleasant to have needles dragged across.”

What about stories from your 25-year career, there must be a favourite that sticks in your memory?

Bozzi: “Headlining the Whisky in LA was a career highlight for us. Going out to dinner after the show with Tom Morello and Rob Caggiano was a guitar-nerd dream come true for me.”

Going forward now, “Don’t See Ghosts” along with the previous single, “Vices” marks new activity for the band after a long absence of new music. What brought you back into the studio and what do you think the band offers the metal scene in 2020?

Bozzi: “We’ve always kept hanging out with each other over all these years and continued writing and jamming the whole time. At some point along the way it just felt like we should start sharing some of what we were doing with everyone else. I don’t think we’ve ever been concerned with how the metal scene would respond to what we do. We just write what we want to hear and are grateful that other people like listening to it as well.”

You’ve talked about releasing more new singles through your own label. What was the drive behind this decision and do you think this is a shift in delivering music that more bands will adopt?

Bozzi: “We decided we were only going to do this because we enjoy hanging out and writing with each other. In our experience, once you start involving labels, managers, etc., it’s no longer as much fun. It also makes a lot of sense for where we are as a band to just keep putting out singles as opposed to dropping full albums. I can’t really speak to what other bands should do, I just know what works for us right now.”

Thanks for your time, good luck with the new single “Don’t See Ghosts” and more new music for fans. What else is in the pipeline for the band in the coming twelve months?

Bozzi: “A lot depends, obviously, on how the current crises play out, but we’re working on a few new songs that hopefully we’ll release as soon as we can. And thanks for talking with us.”

I have an unhealthy obsession with bad horror movies, the song Wanted Dead Or Alive and crap British game shows. I do this not because of the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle it affords me but more because it gives me an excuse to listen to bands that sound like hippos mating.

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