THE PRODUCER

It’s no surprise at all to run into a guy like Russ Russell. Pretty much every tattoo artist I talk with cites music as a massive influence on their work and lives in general. But while, for most of them, music is a passion—an inspiration, even, for their day job at the tattoo shop—for Russ it’s almost the other way around. Music is his day job, Russ having worked as both a producer and musician for many years, with tattooing coming later on down the line

- WAYNE SIMMONS

Born in a small town in Middle England, a place that even from a young age “seemed like some detached island from everything going on in the world,” Russ was encouraged by parents more liberal than most to indulge his artistic side whenever possible. “I wrapped myself up in my own creative bubble,” he tells me. “I was immersed in all the best music and art from the 60's and 70's as well as geometric and isometric design books my mum gave me.”

At the same time, his dad was working for German electronics company, Grundig, so there were always tape machines and microphones lying around the house. “Some of my earliest memories involved goofing around with them, making my own pretend radio shows and recording our family parties. So the process of recording was totally natural to me from a very early age.”

Like a lot of kids around that time, Russ found himself in bands, mostly playing punk. He started offon drums then switched to guitar but the producer in him was never far away. “I was always the only one who could set up the PA for a show. Before long, I got myself a 4-track recorder and started doing demos of my own music and other local bands. Things slowly but surely escalated from there.”

From that point on, Russ never had a ‘proper’ job, he never had a boss and always made his living through creative pursuits. “I just dived right in, earned next to nothing for years and years but kept getting slightly bigger and better opportunities.” It wasn’t easy, of course. When his son was born, Russ asked his then-girlfriend-now-wife if he should just give it all up and get a real job with real money. “She just told me, ‘Oh fuck off, it’s what you are, get on with it’. I love that woman so much. She is responsible for me taking the next steps into what has become a viable career.”