It wouldn’t be an interview series without talking to the Sunset Tattoo owner and founder, our very own boss dog Tom Tom! Tattooing for over 15 years, Tom has a vast knowledge of the tattoo industry both in New Zealand and around the world from pre-social media days right through until now. Always developing, creating, improving and levelling up, he doesn’t stay comfortable for long. For great advice, hilarious stories and straight up honesty, Tom Tom is a one stop shop. Hey Tom - Let’s talk about tatts, baby!
Sunset: Hi Tom! Can I ask you a few questions for our new section?
Tom Tom: Hard out!
What is your name, how old are you and where are you from?
My name is Thomas McMillan. I was born in a house in Grey Lynn in 1984.
Snake sleeve by Tom Tom.
Have you lived elsewhere apart from Auckland? If so, did you tattoo overseas while living there?
I was in London and Europe for a year or something when I was little, like 16. I’ve never really properly lived anywhere else other than a solid 4 months in Perth. Shout out to all my awesome friends in Perth! I tattooed there and it was such a sick place to work because the mining industry meant there were a bunch of cashed up working people living it up and getting tats. Other than that I’ve travelled and tattooed throughout Asia, Europe, the US, Aussie, but I never stayed still long. I used to skip the New Zealand winter and just travel.
When did you start tattooing, did you do an apprenticeship in the classic sense?
A pirate named Doctor Damian Roberts OHMS asked me to learn one day. I got my first tattoo from him, then we kinda got along and would smoke weed together and stuff because I had an art studio next to his tattoo studio. I was working at a cafe called Alleluya down the road, one day he got super stoned then came in and asked me if I would be his apprentice. At the time it wasn’t like a really cool job yet or a solid career, but a few people encouraged me to say yes, so after a few days I went back and said accepted the job. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! Tattooing was a very strange industry back then.
So I started in 2004 as an apprentice, and maybe started tattooing full time for money in 2006. The first two years I would come in after work, watch him, make needles and run a few dodgy errands and stuff for the boss, haha. I would say it was kind of a straight up apprenticeship but I didn’t really learn a lot of technical or artistic stuff in that shop. I learned to hustle and talk to people. To deal with all the crazy motherfuckers that would come through that door. It was more like being thrown in the deep end to a very underground and weird scene. That world doesn’t really exist in tattoo shops anymore. I later moved to a shop called Illicit, and that’s where I was exposed to tattooers who were really going to push me as far as technique and design.
Oni ramen bowl by Tom Tom.
As well as being a tattoo artist, you paint too. Did you ever have any formal training in the arts, at any level? Could you use any of these skills towards your tattoo career?
I’m a terrible painter hahahaha it kills me. I only know how to do tattoos.
I could never really do school. I clocked out of the education system basically at age 16. At age 20 I did like 2 months at animation school, but then my first child arrived. So I quit school and got a full time job so I could raise my kid. I have a really artistic family which I guess kind of gives you a base to leap from, but mostly I learned from all the fucking awesome rule breaking subcultures like graffiti and skateboarding. These free and anti establishment forms of expression were what forced me to try to make things or be creative and always look to develop and push forward.
What inspired you to start focusing on Japanese tattooing, is it something you've always been interested in?When I first got in to tattooing, my boss showed me this book of Horiyoshi II. At the time there was no social media and all the magazines fuckin’ sucked, so it was really hard to see really truly great tattooing. When I saw that book I was like oh there is more to this than I thought. Those Japanese artists from the 19th and 20th century were just so far ahead, not just as amazing craftsmen but in the depth of their tradition and their prolific output. I was drawn to it immediately. Once you start studying it, it’s pretty hard to stop because it’s near impossible to master, so you just keep learning. I’m drawn to the idea of constantly progressing, and the challenge of Irezumi keeps me having to improve constantly until the end.
Turtle/Snake back piece by Tom Tom.
You mostly do large scale work, do you ever miss doing smaller one shot tattoos?
Yes. I like the fun of meeting new people and love the satisfaction of doing one shots. That’s why I love our Sunset flash days so much. You get to do like 20 one shots and get it out of your system.
Tako ramen bowl by Tom Tom.
What would your advice to someone who wants to get tattooed, and has never been tattooed before - is it best to go big, or start small?
Obviously it comes down to taste, like you have to get what you want. So if you just want a small, hidden tattoo that you don’t want anyone to see - then that’s your choice, it’s not my business.
But if you are say starting to think about tattooing and it is large scale Japanese tattooing that you want - then go big straight away. Go straight to the back. Do your back piece first and then do the arms and everything. Everyone I know who does Japanese tattooing wishes that they could go back in time and just get one bodysuit. It’s just by far the best way to do it. Most people with a large amount of tattoos, if you look at their whole body as one, they look like a toilet wall of scribble. Nothing matches, everything is dated and aged differently and the styles all clash. A really good bodysuit is something that looks amazing forever, and comes to life as it ages on you. This can apply to western traditional too, if you get the balance right with your one shot traditional tattoos, it can look incredible. That’s just an aesthetic opinion though, people should just do whatever they want. But yeah, make your first tattoo a full back piece and you will only have good tattoos forever.
How do you mentally and physically prepare for long, full day tattoo sessions? For example, lining up a large scale tattoo, like a back piece. Is it physically exhausting doing this daily?
My prep is mostly around making the client comfortable. I put every effort in to making sure that they know how they should be sitting, they are relaxed, and that they are mentally prepared to last all the way to the end of each sitting. If my client is chill and not struggling then my job is just so much easier. I often notice this is something tattooers don’t understand, that successfully doing a large scale tattoo as quickly as possible is so much about understanding the psychology of the person who is lying in pain for hours on end letting you do your art. That’s why you see a lot of unfinished sleeves and people tapping out early, because the tattooer didn't prepare them for the seriousness of the process.
It can be super hard on the body and mind for sure. But I love full day sessions because you make so much progress. It’s awesome being able to bang out a sleeve in a matter of weeks by doing these big sessions.
Is it the same for ongoing work?
Once you get to shading it gets easier for the client and the tattooer for sure, although it’s still pretty taxing!
If someone was interested in getting a bodysuit, have you got any guidelines on how they should approach this?
Now that I have been doing it for a little while, and over more recent years been lucky enough to make some really good friends with tattooers from Japan of whom I can ask lots of questions. I’ve realised that two things make a really good body suit:
1. Simplicity. The less different you put in in the suit, the better.
2. Subject matter. Get advice from an artist who knows what things go together - flowers, warriors, creatures, water, cloud - all these elements are used for a reason.
After that if you are really patient, start on the back and not the arms, especially if you aren’t going to do the whole thing at once. The arms complement the main piece which is the back.
Floral back piece by Tom Tom.
You get a lot of overseas and out of town enquiries for large pieces, is it possible to travel to Auckland and get a sleeve in a few days? Do you have rough ideas about how long things will take or is it impossible to tell?
I pretty much have been completing sleeves in bang on 4-5 day sessions every time for a while now, so yeah you CAN do a sleeve in a week if you really want to, but it isn’t a good experience and you may have issues with healing or not being able to finish due to the pain.
I do tattoo a lot of people from out of town or overseas and usually I try to just give them a really good amount of time each time they come to Auckland, and it works well.
Do you have a favourite subject matter to tattoo?
I have always been and always will be in love with Japanese background.
What is the best piece of advice you've been given?
Be more patient.
When did you open Sunset Tattoo, and why was it important to you to open your own studio?
I opened it late 2014. I had been overseas for months travelling, working and seeing all the good and bad ways to run a shop, then came home and found the space that is now Sunset. Originally I was going to open in Grey Lynn but this crazy old run down place on Cross Street came up, and even though it was super run down I could see how great and unique a place it would be for a shop.
As for why - I just wanted to do something fun. I had worked for others all my life and had learnt so much about what to do and what not to do from my colleague and employers, that I felt I could run a shop without coming across some of the problems I saw other owners having. A lot of the old timers can get overrun with greed and selfishness. I wanted to try to create a structure that wouldn’t encourage this type problem.
So we opened Sunset with a really pro artist, pro expression, pro creativity philosophy and put the idea of profit being last on the list of importance. Everything decision about what we do here we run through a filter of questions: Is it ethical? Is it fun? Is it good for the art form? Does it enhance our workplace and the wellbeing of our artists? And so on.
By doing things that we know is good for the art form we love and good for all the people we represent, we have created a highly successful model. The artists all get really good deals and are pretty free to express themselves how they want. Now I’m happy every day to get to work and honoured to share the space with some of New Zealand’s best tattoo artists and amazing guest artists from around the world.
Baku sleeve by Tom Tom.
What are your hobbies outside of tattooing?
My hobby is also tattooing. I have 4 children so in my downtime I have to do house work, haha!
What have you been doing with your lockdown?
After the initial carnage of having to close down the studio and all the stress and anxiety that went with that, I’ve mostly been spending time with my family. I’ll start making art tomorrow. It’s been nice. I know this is an ultra weird and stressful time and my heart goes out to all the people who are having a hard time, but I have to admit I’m noticing the good things about everyone just stopping capitalism for a while. The air is clear. People are being kind. People are making things and looking after themselves and others, instead of grinding to make money all day. I’m enjoying running on the road with no cars.
When did the fish obsession start?
My friend Lucas got back from doing a guest spot at this ultra fancy shop in Switzerland, and he was like “yo, they had fish tanks in the tattoo booths!” I thought it was a cool idea to have a fish tank that my customers could stare at. One of the guys in the shop gave me his old one, and I got way to into it hahahaha. I soon realised the crappy little one I had wasn’t good enough. So within months there were two big tanks in the shop. Then three. Then I starting breeding discus fish hahahahaha.
Now I’ve sold all tanks and have one crazy 750 litre marine aquarium in my station because having three tanks in the studio was too much up keep. It’s such a fun thing to do and the clients seem to love it!
Peony tattoo by Tom Tom.
What is your dream creative project?
My actual art project is the studio itself, not tattooing. This is going to be a bit cryptic, but the Sunset Tattoo building is an art project about how we can run work places without top down capitalism. I grew up with and around a lot of people with strong social consciousness and political views, but who also do absolutely fuck all with their time to actually help others, so when I opened my own business I kind of realised that to truly create good outcomes for humans takes a lot of work, planning and following through with ideas. Unless you want to sit still like Buddha and do nothing at all, you better get to work to make things better. Can we run organisations that aren’t exploitative and work for all the proper inside them equally? Can our work place enhance our lives and not just be a filter to make one or two people rich? It’s a slow project but one day I’ll finish it, and then I’ll talk about how I did it. It’s going to take a while.
Final question, who does the best burgers in Auckland?
Burger Burger does the best cheeseburger in town, but I also love Katsuman burger! And “that burger” from Corner Burger! Fuck! I love burgers! I can’t have a burger because it’s lock down!! What kind of cruel question is this!!
Sunset: Thanks for that, that ended up being quite long.
Tom Tom: Haha, thanks! SO MANY QUESTIONS.
We are booking consultations with Tom Tom for large scale projects starting in the second half of 2020. If you’re interested in getting tattooed by Tom, please contact the studio. We are also able to do online consultations during the lockdown period.
CONTACT:
www.sunsettattoo.co.nz
info@sunsettattoo.co.nz
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