Happy New Year!
by: Brink | Monday, December 31, 2007
Can ya believe it's 2008 already? Make it s a good one! Happy New Year from all of us at etnies!
Club Tattoo Interview Series, Part 2
by: Alex | Friday, December 28, 2007
RB: So, that was for the second store?
SD: That was for the third.
RB: Oh, OK, cool. So, do you do tattooing?
SD: I do not…I do body piercing.
RB: Oh, OK…so, I guess…how long have you been doing that?
SD: 12 years.
RB: So do you actively do that? Or are you kind of…
SD: I only do it at conventions or to do like different photo shoots or poster shoots or stuff like that. I don’t really work at the shops anymore. I’ll do appointment basis if someone really wants me to do something special on ‘em. I’ll do that but I don’t pierce tongues and (unintelligible) and stuff anymore.
RB: Is it something you…I guess since you have been doing it 12 years that’s what you were doing back in the day…is it something you kind of miss at all?
SD: Yeah, I love it. To me, it totally grounded me to my client--not just my client, but Club Tattoo’s client.
TD: That’s how he ends up getting kicked out of the office ‘cause he’s not working shifts now. So he’s kind of still finding his way not actively piercing. It’s a passion just like tattooing or being a musician. Professional piercing is definitely technology, (unintelligible), math, a lot of math goes into doing some of those designs and year projects--things like that so it’s definitely not something people are great at right out the gates. It’s definitely a learned talent.
RB: Did you…let’s see…she cut you off here.
SD: No…
TD: Sorry, I always cut him off…
*Thora laughs
RB: So, I guess originally when things started…you said they took off unexpectedly…you were trying to find a…what do you attribute the success of Club Tattoo to?
SD: I think there’s a lot of facets to that. And to answer that, the first thing I would say would be the passion and motivation that myself and my team has. Were not a bunch of lazy people. I’ve never hired a bunch of lazy people so each individual that works here and has worked here, for the most part, has really contributed a lot to the whole ball rolling, so to speak. I wake up every day seven days a week and I work. I’m a workaholic. I always want to push this place to be better, cooler, innovative I always want to push the envelope whether it be piercing, tattooing, now clothing, shoes. I always want to make things better. I think drive would be…if I had to sew it up into one thing…it would be drive.
RB: So, nowadays with the increasing popularity of tattooing and piercing and the whole lifestyle and tv shows…I guess I’m sort of wondering in your eyes and this being a successful venture, what makes Club Tattoo different than, like, everything else out there?
SD: Well, we don’t take a traditional tattoo parlor approach; I think we take a very female-friendly art gallery approach to tattooing. So, we have more of the very upscale, hair salon/art gallery version of a tattoo studio. So right there we’re different. When you walk in the door, we’re different. We don’t have flash all over the walls. We don’t have dirty floors. We don’t have--everything is private. Everything is done to where you feel comfortable with the artist and it’s about your experience. You’re not put on display here when you come and get tattooed in front of fifty other people you don’t know and paying for the most part for your entire stay. We try to make it as comfortable as possible and I think that’s what’s defiantly different about us.
TD: The tattoo industry…we have pioneered a level of customer service, combined with professionalism, and a talent of the artist here that surpasses anybody in the industry and we have a team of people that do just the customer service; we have a team of people that do the tattooing and a team of people that do the piercing; and collectively they make the experience for the customer and the customer gets hand held from the moment they walk in, to the moment they leave. And we have a very loyal client base. And we’re good to them and they pay us respect and loyalty in return.
SD: That’s a good point too. The loyalty of our client base, I would have to say, is definitely different from what most tattoo studios would have.
TD: Most of our tattoo artists have been working here for many years; we do not really have a high turnover. People come here to build careers. That makes a very big difference to the clientele. Our artists are very serious about their work, they’re very serious about their positions at Club Tattoo and they are building their careers here as well. So that also helps build clientele trust and loyalty because they know that their artist is going to be there maybe in six months or a year when they want to bring a friend back or come back and get some more work, we’re here for them. Reliability is a big one in this business. To have reliability makes you stand apart.
RB: One thing you just touched on earlier is you said that this shop has sort of a more feminine…
*Thora laughs
SD: female friendly!
TD: female friendly!
RB: But, I was kind of walking around and I was going to ask you earlier before we were rolling but I wanted to say that like it seems almost like it’s, I thought it might have almost been sort of designed and laid out by a woman…I don’t know if that’s...
*Thora laughs over talking
SD: NO, not at all!
RB: But it has a touch to it that’s sort of soft.
SD: We’ll she’s defiantly helped in the design of the whole atmosphere, without a doubt.
TD: You know, as far as being a woman in this business…it is a predominately male environment, however the predominate percentage of client is female. So if the women are happy, the men are happy. If the women come, the men will come. Women generally spend their own money and they spend their man’s money so just the shop-ability, where you place garments things like that--and that’s another thing that set us apart from most of the tattoo industry. We offer full body connection. You can do tattooing, piercing, you can come and pick up some great accessories, clothing. That brings a twist to the tattoo business that really isn’t out there, so…
RB: I could just tell right away when I walked in, I could just…it had a sort of female touch that’s not overdone…sort of nurturing or something.
SD: Homey…
TD: Well, thank you.
RB: Yeah
SD: It makes you feel comfortable.
RB: So, back to something else…you were talking about the loyalty of your customers…I just wanted to ask about…like, so…how much does sort of Chester’s affiliation with Linkin Park, and all that, come into play as far as the success of the shop?
SD: Not much.
*Thora laughs
RB: It seems like it’s not that big of an issue…
SD: It’s not, we don’t play into it a whole lot, to be honest. Chester got involved because we’re close friends. As soon as Chester got involved, we didn’t put a big sign out front that says Club Tattoo owned by Chester Bennignton of Linkin Park.
TD: Owned by a rock star (said over Sean)…yeah
SD: We don’t use that because we don’t have to use that…
RB: Yeah
SD: …and I think what’s funny now…
TD: (speaks over Sean-unintelligible)
SD:…Chester is like, “Hey, we can do this,” and I’m like, “No we don’t need to do that.” You know when we’re promoting an event or a concert or something like that, then we’ll pull that tie in. Ya know? When we really need to tap into people outside of our immediate area, I guess…for people, like in California or Utah, then Chester comes in very handy because of his media savvy…his media plug-ins. But as far as everyday business, we don’t use that a lot.
RB: Well that’s what it seems like and I think probably people, as you guys grow, might…people who aren’t around here, or whatever, don’t know the whole story might get the wrong impression…
SD: Oh, we get that all the time
TD: And that’s OK…and that’s OK (A second time…over Sean)
SD: They think it’s a success because of that, but at the end of the day as long as the business is successful, who cares the reason why? So if that’s what somebody thinks, then so be it.
RB: Well, once people learn about the business, at some point they’re going to learn that that’s not the case anyway, like with this interview, for example.
TD: Right
SD: Like I said, either way, it don’t matter to us. As long as people see it as a success and see what we’re actually offering, what we’re bringing to the industry, that’s what’s important. It’s not about me getting credit for anything, or me getting patted on the back--oh, he didn’t do this or she didn’t do this--it’s about, well, we all did this collectively. So, you know, cool. As long as you think it’s cool, as long as you get what we are doing, then awesome. Then I don’t care who you think is responsible.
Stay tuned for Part 3!
etnies & The Shins Giveaway
by: Alex | Friday, December 28, 2007
Have you entered to win yet? This weekend's your last chance before the contest ends... so get to it already.
Very Happy Holidays From etnies!
by: Brink | Monday, December 24, 2007
Happy Holidays to you, your friends and family from etnies! Thanks for all your support!
We Threw Jamie a Party!
by: Brink | Friday, December 21, 2007
- The J.O.B.!
Last Saturday night, etnies threw a bash for Jamie O'Brien at Pipeline Café in Honolulu to celebrate the launch of his new etnies signature slippah, the J.O.B. IMA ROBOT and Guns N’ Bombs took the stage and entertained a crowd of more than 700 that came out to enjoy the festivities.
“I really wanted a super comfortable slippah that fit my Hawaiian lifestyle, and the etnies designers used my input to create just that – the J.O.B.”
– Jamie O’Brien
The J.O.B. features System G2™ gel in the heel of the footbed for extra comfort, and it’s hitting surf shops this January.
Stay tuned here for more from the party and this month's surf team getaway to Hawaii!
- Adoring fans reaching for Ima Robot's Alex Ebert.
- Bored hot chicks and a sneak peek in the top left corner...
- JOB and his homey!
- The Ima Robot Guitar guy/ Guns N' Bombs other half guy dressed up for Hawaii...
- CJ Kanuha & his gorgeous lady
- etnies surf TM, Dave Boehne! Stoked!
Club Tattoo Interview Series, Part 1
by: Alex | Friday, December 21, 2007
Interview with Sean and Thora Dowdell by Robert Brink
RB: How do you feel about interviews?
SD: Love ‘em.
RB: Really?
SD: Yeah.
RB: That’s cool. Some people hate ‘em.
SD: I only hate ‘em when I gotta do 30 of them in a day. Other than that –
TD: Or when they’re asking really foolish questions.
SD: Yeah, when you have to answer really stupid questions, you know, like. . .
RB: What’s an example of a stupid question?
SD: Oh we had an interview in NY and this guy's was
TD: “If you could resurrect anybody from the dead and punch him in the eye, who would it be?”
RB: Let me cross that off my list.
TD: Yeah
RB: That’s a weird one, why would you want to punch somebody in the eye?
SD: Yeah, that was a really retarded question.
RB: Yeah, I mean, what are you supposed to say, like Hitler? You know what I mean?
SD: Okay, who’s gonna read this and give a shit what the answer is, you know? Soon as they read the question, they’re gonna throw the magazine in the trash!
RB: So, Club Tattoo started 12 years ago, correct?
SD: Yeah
RB: Okay, what was the–when you dreamt it up, where did the idea come from, and what were your initial plans for Club Tattoo?
SD: It came from being a broke musician. Jess and I were playing in a band and doing a lot of touring at the time and we kind of needed, we kind of came up with the idea to open up a business at the time to help supplement our income when we were on the road and that’s really what stems--that’s how the whole--that’s what it stems from and then we realized it was a whole lot of work once it actually started-the whole company and once, you know, once the band had helped really culminate the tattoo shop in the early years, the first 5 years--the band pushed it, marketed it more than I think tattoo studios had ever done in the past because we had that whole music machine plugging in and that’s what brought it to the top of the game fairly quickly and that was really the premise, was to supplement our income but, you know, it kind of exploded beyond that.
RB: So, how did you and Chester meet originally?
SD: He was singing in his friend’s garage and I was in a project looking for a singer
and a kid named Chris, who was playing in my band at the time, told me about Chester. And we went and jammed a little bit and pretty much haven’t been separated since that point and have been in the music business. We stuck together for about 8 years after that.
RB: Right on, so when you first were like, “OK, we’re going to do this Club Tattoo thing,” did you think it was going to get successful? You said it was to supplement your income…
SD: No…
RB: Was your goal…to do the band and…
SD: I thought I was going be a rock star that happened to own a tattoo shop…
TD: (laughing in the background) Cool factor.
SD: Completely…well, you know at the time, my band was a lot cooler than a tattoo shop so that didn’t gain me a lot of points in the social world. Now the tattooing has really become forefront of fashion, forefront of cool in the social scene and that people—“Oh wow, you own a tattoo shop now?” Of course that would be a lot different but in my early 20’s I was playing in a band in front of thousands of people. That was really what was cool and what was happening at the time not the tattoo shop. So no, it’s completely reversed roles.
RB: Right on, so how long did you have one store before it became successful and you opened a second?
SD: Seven years…
RB: Seven years…
SD: …and that’s when Thora joined up with me. And really, together we kind of exploded at that point--with her help and vision and direction and organization really. I’m really the creative mind behind a lot of things but then she’ll actually take my idea and chip all the fat off of it and help me organize it.
TD: (unintelligible words)
SD: She’ll help me organize it into something that makes sense and is actually attainable.
RB: That’s what I was going to ask, I was kind of going to ask the dynamic between your role versus her role, and…
SD: You ever seen ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ ?
TD: Laughing
SD: Kind of like that…we butt heads a lot but it’s all for the same…it’s weird….like, her and I will argue and butt heads, but it’s to make sure we’re still going in the same direction to meet that end goal that we both have. We both have the same vision; we just want to take different roads all the time to get there so we butt heads a lot along the way.
TD: We would be great for a reality show because to watch us on a day to day basis is very…just like what you see with ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ with his wife tellin’ him…
SD & TD: Laughing
TD: When we first started watching that show I was like, “Wow, that looks familiar.”
RB: So how ‘bout the dynamic of being married and running this operation together? I mean does it add a new dynamic? Does it make things easier or more complicated at times?
SD: It makes it more complicated because your roles get completely confused. Sometimes you need to be husband and sometimes you need to be…
TD: A partner…
SD: Yeah, a partner, business partner, business relationship, whatever you want to say and it’s very easy…especially the first couple of years…we didn’t understand each others role in the business and in the marriage, we didn’t know when one started and one stopped. Now I think it’s a lot more defined.
RB: Is there anybody…marriage vs. Club Tattoo….is there anybody that’s more sort of behind the wheel, wearing the pants in either situation or are you guys sort of fifty/fifty as far as Club Tattoo is concerned?
TD: We’re fifty/fifty but if somebody had to go, it would be me.
SD: I would say fifty point one and forty-nine point nine…
TD: Laughing…
SD: And it’s definitely my brainchild, so...
SD: Well, she does more than that, but, it’s definitely my brainchild but at the same time it wouldn’t have gotten where it’s at without Thora’s help so it’s a fifty/fifty venture and, ya know and Chester’s influence is into that too because he helped do a lot of things--not day to day operation things, but creativity and expansion ideas--stuff like that. I would say in the marriage, she probably holds more weight than I do. At home, she kind of runs the situation.
RB: Cool.
TD: That’s why I (unintelligible) here…we kick him out of the office
SD: I’m starting not to even have a job here anymore
RB: You just kind of brought up something that I was going to get into…so, you were doing the band for a while and then Club Tattoo took off and then…I’m just sort of time lining it…Chester gets involved with Linkin Park and then Linkin Park takes off?
SD: Actually we had a couple of record deals with the band we were in…it was called Gray Daze, previous to Linkin Park. We were playing in front of thousands of people, touring, the whole thing…had a few songs on the radio. We had a falling out with the band. We decided to break up and then, Chester--we all had the same attorney that was working for Gray Daze and he plugged Chester out in this other situation out in LA and just took all of the momentum, everything that was going for the music scene at that time and just plugged him in and then they worked for about a year, got a deal and exploded right then.
RB: And so how did that effect his involvement with Club Tattoo?
SD: At the time, well he didn’t own the business I started. He helped me lay the floor and do all of that stuff as my friend. You know, there wasn’t really much to own back then and then after Linkin Park had blown up and Chester and I reconciled and started talking again and hanging out, he asked me, “Hey, how could I get involved?” ‘cause he saw what was going on and he liked it. I said, “well, we’re going to open up another store. Why don’t you get involved?” And he did.
Tune in next week for Part 2...
Racoon Tour Diary Part 1
by: Alex | Tuesday, December 18, 2007
RACOON IN THE US OF A - Tour report part I
Wednesday December 5th and we are driving from San Diego, CA all the way to Tucson in the Arizona desert. ‘Sinterklaas’ (our Dutch version of Santa Claus) is due to climb through the chimney of every Dutch home tomorrow to drop of candy and presents to the kids, ours too. But here on Interstate 8 Sinterklaas couldn’t be further away. Just like everything here seems so overwhelmingly distant. Alright, it’s a cliché but, Jesus Christ, so true: this country is HUGE. What a great experience for us, provincial-town-boys.
Our first US tour started almost a week ago, when we flew into San Francisco which is supposed to be one of most European-looking cities in America. And yes indeed, we immediately liked the vibe here. The monumental Golden Gate Bridge looks simply amazing. So as a good Dutchmen would and should we immediately rent some bikes to get across. What a blast!
We’re still a bit uneasy when we take the stage at Slim’s for our first US show on this tour. But the San Franciscans seem to be into it and the awkwardness slowly but certainly fades.
The next day we need to get up pretty early for the 6 hour drive to Los Angeles that we have ahead of us, a trip through hills that have clearly suffered from the recent fires and through enormous but deadly boring fields populated by thousands of cows behind barbwire, “Cowswitz” as our US sound guy Mark Arnold calls it. Living here…? No thank you, not in a million years.
The City of Angeles is well… BIG. And the air is tinted a nicotine-like yellowish color by the smog of the millions of cars driving the huge freeways that take you across and right through the city. The vibe here is different from San Francisco and breathes a survival-of-the-fittest theme. It seems like its every man for himself in this place.
Nevertheless, we do like Los Angeles and Los Angeles appears to like us. At least the crowd at the Troubadour does and seems to be ‘digging’ the sound of this obscure band from Holland called Racoon. The Troubadour turns out to be an old and established club, where seemingly most of “the great of the earth” have set foot on stage at one point or another and where bands like Coldplay and The Killers have set up so-called ‘secret gigs’, so we’re told. Reputedly this is also the club where Elton John took the stage way back for his first ever US performance. And yes, now Racoon too… After the show we hang out a bit with the club owner, who’s asking us when we’ll be back and who keeps comparing us with the likes of The Kinks, “personal friends of his”… yes yes. We even manage to sell him a shirt and an album and some singles to give out to his personnel. People are nice here.
Equally nice is our US publicist, who greets us with the sort of enthousiasm you only encounter in the USA. Haha… Congratulating us what seems to be a million times on the show and thanking us for the best birthday-present imaginable. What do you know? Let’s drink another beer and celebrate!
Pleasantly wired and a little buzzed from the Stella (yes, they have that here too), we head back to our hotel in Hollywood. The next day’s gig is in Anaheim, a one-hour drive south of L.A. Although a different city, to us it feels like just another part of L.A. Driving into Orange County down the Interstate 5, the smog remains equally tangible and there’s not an inch along the freeway that’s not entirely plastered with billboards… definitely a consumer market.
The “House Of Blues” in Anaheim is surreal. Located right at the entrance of Disneyland, it’s probably the last place on earth where you would look for a rock club. Like everything else, Disneyland also comes super-sized and over-the-top and makes our Dutch theme parks look like playgrounds. Sure enough our kids would love it. As for me personally, not my cup of tea…
The venue itself is very nice though with balconies and a general setting that remind us of Paradiso in Amsterdam. And the responses we are getting from the O.C. crowd exceed our wildest hopes and expectations. The Racoon sound seems to settle well into the ears of the Californians: another good show, a lot of Racoon records sold and one step closer to getting our name out here. These are slowly starting to believe that this trip might possibly turn out to be more than just an awesome road trip. So Mr. Mouse, beware! You haven’t seen the last of us.
On Monday we have a day off in Los Angeles. It’s tempting to drive around the city for some more site-seeing but we’ve got more important business to attend to today. Over in Holland, Michel Shoots and Attie Bauw have just finished the mixes for our new album and have uploaded the whole thing onto a server so we could have a listen. The listening session takes place at the house of our Belgian (top)manager who’s moved here 2 years ago and settled into a real Californian bungalow in the hills. Well, it must be said, this Monday turned out to be one of the most beautiful moments out of my musical career and this probably goes for the 4 of us. Of course we knew that the songs were good and that the performances in the studio worked out well too, but hearing them for the first time in their final version, almost made us break out in tears, while we are all thinking“My god, this record is good, did we do this?”. We are totally loving the mixes. Those 2 guys in Holland did an awesome job! We’re seriously impressed and are now aching to send this record into the world.
Back to the tour. It’s Tuesday and we’re on our way to San Diego, to a club called The Casbah. The Clash immediately comes to mind. No way to get it out of my head again: “Rock The Casbah, Rock The Casbah ! And we do. Although the crowd was more “conservative” than the previous nights, we shouldn’t complain: another batch of CDs sold and some more friends made. For this tour our host The Lemonheads are made up of – besides Mr Dando of course – legendary punk-rockers Bill Stevenson and Karl Alvarez, who we haven’t seen perform since their Descendents days about 10 years ago. It’s a pleasure and an honor. They rock.
So Wednesday comes and here we are. While my kids are entertaining Santa Claus (or the other way around), we are taking off from San Diego to Tucson, driving like a tiny fly on Interstate 8 right next to the Mexican border. We’ve just passed Calexico, so the soundtrack in my head adjusts accordingly to the music of this desert outfit . A road trip in the US feels like driving through a songbook. Every city, every street, every village and every club seems to have its own dedicated song. This adventure has only just started and already it has been an unforgettable experience for us.
But we’ll never forget our roots. We’ll keep in touch. Have a nice day!
Stefan de Kroon
FREE 2-3 Day Shipping Limited Time Offer!
by: Alex | Tuesday, December 18, 2007
FREE 2-3 day shipping on any purchase amount! Our new apparel's in stock now so hurry up and order by the 19th... yeah, that's tomorrow so get on it already!
New Club Tattoo Shoes & Contest!
by: Alex | Friday, December 14, 2007
The masterminds behind the tat-inspired Bernie and Fakie are at it again. New, for Spring '08, etnies and Club Tattoo have four all new designs to feed your need for wearable art. Available in January to the rest of the world, the new Fleet, Fader, Chambosa and Lo-Pro-Baller are just waiting to be won now! Check out the details and enter to win here.
Stay tuned for exclusive interviews with Sean, Thora and Chester.
etnies Online Gift Cards Available Now!
by: Alex | Monday, December 10, 2007
etnies Goes Dutch With Racoon!
by: Alex | Monday, December 3, 2007
Vote For etnies!
by: Alex | Monday, December 3, 2007
We've been nominated! etnies is a contender for Footwear Plus Magazine's 2007 Plus Award for Design Excellence in the Action Sport/Lifestyle category. Voting is super easy with the Footwear Plus online ballot so hurry up and cast your vote for etnies.