Keely Guiliano, Joleen Bolger & Emma LaQue

The all female punk band, who will be playing at Vaggie Fest (see this week's Music Feature), talks about their matching French fry tattoos and more.

AV: Tell me about your first tattoos.

Emma LaQue: The Descendents tattoo on my leg was my first one. The Descendents were probably the most influential band for me growing up. It didn’t hurt very much, except for the shading.

Keely Guiliano: The fleshy parts hurt really bad. The inside of the arm is terrible.

EL: It’s a pain you can really deal with. I like being able to zone out and control the pain that comes with the tattoos. That sounds very gothic [laughs].

Joleen Bolger: The fourth member of our band, Holly [Bloom] doesn’t have any tattoos so that’s why she’s not here.

AV: Where do you like to get your tattoos?

EL: I got the lilacs at Hand of Doom. I would like to get some more tattoos, maybe from Noelle Lamonica at Divine Machine. She has really good-looking stuff.

KG: Our friend Amelia Martin over at Rise Above does great tattoos too.

EL: Oh yeah! She did these [points to matching French fry tattoos].

AV: What’s the meaning behind the matching French fry tattoos?

EL: Keely and I would text each other and one time I was trying to type “best friend” and it autocorrected to “best fries.”

KG: So we started calling each other “fry” and “best fry.” Our friend Melissa also has the best fry tattoo, so three altogether. Amelia Martin did those.

AV: How do you pick your artist?

KG: The good artists will give you an idea of what is going to be better. You could be like “oh I want this here” and they’ll tell you “no that’s going to look like shit, you should do it here.” I had some guidance. Obviously the art has to be nice. I wouldn’t just go into a random tattoo shop and get a tattoo.

JB: I did for my first one [everyone laughs]. And that’s when you learn! You learn that you would like something more. I have random tattoos, then I picked an artist, then I had my friends do them. I was in Tucson [Arizona] when my friend Wesley did the elephants on the back of my calves. It was her first gun machine tattoo. She had done some stick and poke before that but I was her first.

AV: How did you feel about that?

JB: I was oddly brave. I wanted them on my legs because I was biking everywhere. I had really good legs.

AV: What advice would you give someone who is going into the tattoo parlor for their first time?

EL: Don’t just pick something off the wall. Definitely check out the work that the artist has done before.

KG: Make sure the shop is clean and reputable. Ask your friends. Pay attention to word of mouth.