A BANGOR tattooist has left her mark on members of the band McFly when she gave them matching inks after their recent performance in Belfast.
Talented artist Kat Hardy gave McFly’s Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Tom Fletcher matching cassette tapes tattoos, and even gave their manager Matt Fletcher his first ever tattoo, to match the musical trio.
Kat, who runs Four Oracles Tattoos on Bangor’s Hamilton Road, trained her tattoo gun on the band with a steady hand amid the backstage mayhem during the McFly v Busted concert on October 23 at the SSE arena.
The 36 year-old explained how she found herself in the situation to imprint her distinctive style on the popular chart toppers.
“For the past two to three years I have been travelling with tattoo touring artists and musicians around the UK and Ireland and Europe, for bands such as Blink182, Fontaines DC, NOFX and members of My Chemical Romance, so I have met a lot of amazing people within the music industry.
“Members of McFly had seen tattoos I had done on a mutual friend and through them, I got connected to their manager and co-ordinated coming to tattoo backstage at SSE arena that way.”
Kat said she’s used to channelling her impressive skills within hives of activity.
“I’m used to just getting into ‘the zone’ in busy environments like tattoo conventions, for example, that I have figured out how to switch all the madness off, so it’s not a distraction.
“With McFly, I was set up to work in a separate room away from the dressing rooms so it was a bit of a chilled environment. I find the spaces and rooms I tattoo in become the ‘hang out’ room because the energy is a lot lower and more relaxed, people tend to gravitate there when they need a moment to relax away from tour madness.”
The British band are not the only musicians to have been inked by the Bangor woman.
“I have worked with quite a few punk and rock bands, artists include Fontaines DC, LS Dunes, Blink182, NOFX, Coheed and Cambria and members and crew of My Chemical Romance. It’s always amazing having musicians and artists you admire wearing your art,” she said.
The tattooist explained her process, as a ‘custom artist’.
“I will draw based on what information the client provides for their design. When schedule allows I will also draw up designs that I’d love to tattoo and offer those out. These designs are called ‘flash’.
“I’ve been working for over 10 years so I’m not sure I can pinpoint my favourite tattoo I’ve ever done but I’m at a place in my career and my clientele that I get to do a lot of really cool designs. I specialise in black and grey ‘romantic melancholic’ neotraditional and blackwork tattoo styles, which are tattoos made only using black ink.”
The Bangor businesswoman’s success in the field follows an education which initially leaned towards the performing arts.
“My educational background is in performing arts with a focus on design. I have always been artistic but the fine art route didn’t interest me. I enjoyed problem solving and designing art pieces, working collaboratively with other students and getting my hands dirty.
“I preferred 3D mixed media projects over flat paintings. I studied at SERC Bangor campus doing performing arts and they were the best years I spent in education, discovering who I was as an artist and a young person.”
Her move to tattooing came later when she graduated university and befriended tattoo artists in Belfast ‘who saw my illustration work and encouraged me to pursue a tattoo apprenticeship’.
