Bryan Kienlen
I’ve been driven to express myself in one way or another as long as I can remember. This has led to over thirty years of simultaneous music and art careers. Tattooing became an outlet for me in 1988/89, around the same time we started The Bouncing Souls. I’d collected my first couple of tattoos and simply being too broke to afford any more, my friend Ugly Bill and I built our first machine together and began tattooing ourselves and the rest of the band, learning as we went. (I know now that this was utterly improper and would would advise against doing such things nowadays, but back then our ingenuity was our only resource if we wanted to be tattooed) not long after, the Souls were fast becoming a full-time touring band and tattooing went on the back burner. I kept my art muscles strong through designing all things visual for the band while also digging deeper for expression through songwriting. Ten record covers and countless shirt designs and tours later we slowed down long enough for me to take tattooing back up, and sometime around 2010 I got my formal apprenticeship through Josh Kohn and Rich Cahill at Immortal Ink. Learned how to do this the right way and took on the life of a professional tattooer. Most recently did a 5 year stint with my friends at Neptune Tattoo where I continued my education learning from the talented Patrick Dean and his crew there. Stoked to continue learning all I can in this new creative space, with continually new influences and inspiration.
