An Interview with the owner of All or Nothing, Brandon Bond, whose legendary artwork is quickly becoming an industry standard by which other artists are continually frustrated with not being able to keep up.

Name: Brandon Bond
Age: 30
Studio: I own All or Nothing Tattoo Studio in Atlanta Ga. USA
Nationality: American
Years Tattooing: 12

Why did you start tattooing?
Because I loved tattoos, I wanted more tattoos and I was fascinated by the whole process, the lifestyle, the artwork, the application and it looked like a fun way to make a living, it turned out to be a lot more than I had hoped for... its fucking amazing.

Whats your favorite style?
I believe that tattoo artists (more than any other art form) are required to be extremely versatile in every way, so in that since we all are required to perform a variety of styles every day - we have to stay on our toes and produce amazing art everytime no matter what the request.

Who is your favorite artist?
All the artists that work with me are my favorite, Albie Rock, Dave Tedder, Ted Wallen, Justin Jarrell, Pepto the Great, Zeke Owen. They make me a better artist everyday.

Which artists influenced you? How?
Joe Capobianco and Eric Merrill did the vast majority of my bodysuit. I think my work in some ways is reflective of that, however we tattoo very differently.

Where did you create this newer style of work from?
I wanted to combine realism with illustrative execution techniques. In other words I wanted it to look like a painting based in realism. To do a piece 100% realistic is extremely boring visually, but to give it life, color, vibrance and intensity, to make it jump off the skin and bitch slap you, now that is a goal. So thats what I wanted to do before I retired and I am knee deep in it now.

Your Tattoos are very distinct, I can usually look through a magazine and tell which pieces are yours without looking at the name, how do you do that?
I tattoo a LOT, all the time and I use my own pieces for reference regularly, almost every piece I do I will refer back to an older piece and expand upon it. I don't look at other tattooers websites anymore (I used to all the time), I try and make each piece carry a simlar execution style - each piece and each client are all so different, it is important to me that they all have a common thread without limiting me to being a ONE TRICK PONY like so many tattooers these days. I would freak out if I had to do the same imagery every single day! but I do want them all to have a common thread artistically.

I cannot find one piece of negative space on any of your color pieces, whats that about?
Negative space on a color image is a lazy tattooer. If your going to color something then why half ass it? I color from LINE to opposing line, if there is a highlight, I put white, or yellow, or green, or blue, or SOMETHING! We are not in the 1950's and I don't want my art to look like it came from then either. We are trying to produce the 2025 type shit at my studio, my favorite question from peoiple is "is that a real tattoo".

Whats the best part of owning one of the best tattoo studios in America?
Seeing the growth and sucess of my artists, the guys that work here and that have worked here in the past all seem to have exploded upon arrival. Everyone is so focused on artwork, that they cannot help but get better everyday. Its amazing to see. To see my guys get thier first articles, and get booked in advance, and to see them start tattooing out of state clients, and getting paid in huge piles of cash... priceless. I have never worked in a more art driven enviornment, and I worked in like 30 shops. Everyone is focused on getting better everyday.

How often do you do Tattoo Conventions?
TOO OFTEN, I am tired of them and seem to have been doing to many for quite some time. My studio attends at least 18 per year and I am at most of those. Next Year my schedule will be lighter and I will be doing seminars.

Tell me about your seminars.
I will be teaching tattooers about different aspects of sucessful tattooing. I will be covering a variety of topics, including image selection/creation, placement, execution (color blending and line wieght vs no lines at all), tattooing with only a shader as though you were painting with needles, and PROMOTION, as in where to send your photos and when and why and who to, and all that, so that your work can be published regularly because if no one knows your good, then its really worthless isnt it.

What Kind of music do you listen to while you work?
That is ENTIRELY dependant on the time of day, the piece, the mood of the studio, and what happened the night prior. Our shop favorites this month seem to be Hatebreed, Clutch, Old Dirty Bastard, Tom Waitts, Nick Cave, Slayer, The Devlis Rejects soundtrack, Natural Born Killers soundtrack and of course the Wu Tang Clan.

You have won more awards this year than anyone on the touring circuit, how many have you won?
To be honest with you I have no idea, its always an honor to win something but thats not really what its all about anyways, its about the art first, and then of course its about the money. No one goes to all the trouble to drag an entire tattoo studio onto an airplane and fly it all there for free. So the money is iportant. BUT we do have a LOT of trophies - we had to make our bathroom at the shop the trophy case, because Im not the only one winning them, we have an army of artists who all seem to win something at every show somehow. We care about tattooing more than a lot of people, and in all honesty the quality of work at the shows is mildly decreasing as the big name artists start not showing up anymore, the artists with less experience begin to populate the shows. So the well known artists that actually do show up stand out like a turd in a punchbowl.

What was the highlight of your career so far?
Thats hard to say, there have been some great moments for sure, probably the first time I ever fired a client. I spent so many years eating shit and working harder than anyone I worked with, I was ALWAYS the first to arrive and the last to leave, a workaholic in every since, and the time came that my appointment book was so overflowed that I no longer had to be the guy that would tattoo anything on anyone at anytime. Now I only tattoo what I want and am really not even taking on that many new projects, I still work constantly but I do what Im into now and that is a glaring exapmle of hard work paying off.

What was your strangest tattoo-experience?
EVERY DAY is strange, but early on in my career, I worked at about a zillion street shops and tourist traps, tattoo dives, and a lot of disgusting shit happened. I tattooed a woman while her husband ate her pussy, I tattooed nipples on another chicks buttcheeks so it looked like big huge tits, I have tattooed in every state of sobriety to blackout and high on everything under the sun, I tattooed a girls ankle while her and her girlfriend ate eachother out, I have tattooed over nipples and buttholes, I have tattooed in a titty bar, a brothel, hotel rooms across america, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and famous tattoo studios. I have shown clients pictures of thier girlfriends bady parts and not told them who it was while laughing hysterically, I robbed a drug dealer while tattooing him. Doing collaborations is pretty strange as well, we still to this day wear wierdo outfits and laugh our asses off, the art comes first but if were not having a great time creating it then I don't wanna do it anymore. So everyday is a wierdo experience, if I had wanted a real job I would have been an attorney.

Whats your most annoying tattoo-experience?
There are so many its too hard to list and it would be so long that no one would read it all. People who arent ready to get tattooed for whatever reason, not bringing enough cash, not deciding on a design or throwing an entirely new design at me when im ready to stencil something that took me 5 hours to draw, people not showing up for appointments, people who ask stupid questions the whole time, people who keep asking how much longer something will take, or what colors go where, if you don't trust your artist you need to get another one.

Anything you would like to say to the country of Brazil?
Yes, buy my book! It will be released this spring availible through www.allornothingtattoo.com and www.brandonbond.com it will be very wierd and exciting, and full of art, short stories, photos and chaos, come get tattooed, don't do drugs, carry a loaded gun and don't pull it out unless you plan to kill someone, the saying "once you go black you never go back" is not true, strippers are people too give 'em some money, get a dog and take care of it, make as much money as possible everyday, have a lot of sex, always know that resentment brings sucess, stay focused, don't be afraid to do exactly what you want, how you want, for yourself, your the one thats gotta die when its time for you to do so live your life the way you want to, college is a huge watse of time and money and so is sleep, Christmas is the best holiday, don't breed, the world is a cold dark place so your responsible for making your corner shine, no matter how much money you made yesterday you start everyday at zero, being famous is dumb, don't steal, treat your family with respect, stockpile all the ammunition you can get, stop wasting time reading this and go produce something with your life, stand on your own two feet, don't be lazy, find what you want and TAKE it cause no one will hand it to you, don't take any shit from anyone, don't let people tell you what to do, and remeber if all else fails, you can always be a serial killer.