Roaming around the London Tattoo convention when not sitting at her booth is the multi-tasking Anna Quinn. All I said was “Excuse me, Anna, fancy a few words with The Moshville Times?” Anna looked from her table and said, “Sure, let’s do this!”
So here it is. ladies and gentlemen…
Hi Anna – could you please tell our readers a little about yourself?
My name’s Anna Quinn, I’m a tattoo artist and a model, cosplayer. I’ve been doing modelling and cosplaying for thirteen years and tattooing for a year.
Do you go to the comic cons?
Oh, hell yeah. Love them, love comic cons. I was a guest at Wizard World in America. It was amazing. American cons treats their guests so well too, I just love it.
You say you’re a tattoo artist as well, where are you based?
I’m based at Ursa Major in Oxford
When were you able to finish your normal 9-5 job and do all this as your living?
Well, I’ve been self-employed for seven years. I had a beauty business and my own salon for four years and then decided to go into full time modelling after that.
The first tattoo you had?
I had a dragon on my back. It wasn’t an off the cuff design, it was off the wall! It’s a tribal dragon as it was during the tribal designs era. The great thing with tribal is that you can add to it and that is exactly what I’ve been doing.
What was the first tattoo you did on someone?
A paratrooper from Super Mario Bros. on my boss. The guy who taught me. It hasn’t been finished yet but it’s a really good one for my first tattoo.
Some music stuff now – first band you got into?
Nirvana probably. I know it sounds cliché but I’m a grunge girl. I loved Kurt’s voice, his charisma – it was different music then. I love Soundgarden too and it hurt when Chris Cornell passed. It hurt, I was surprised how much it affected me. Normally I don’t get too caught up in that. But when he died it really got to me, I just couldn’t believe it. I’m so pleased I got to see them play live three times.
What do you think of the word grunge in today’s form?
Grunge is dead. It died a while back. You get some of the older bands still about. I’ve struggled with Alice in Chains as I loved Layne’s voice so much. William, the new lead singer, is doing great, but it’s different now. But they’re still keeping it true to themselves. It’s the same as a lot of the punk bands.
What are the new bands out there you’ve been listening to?
I’ve been getting into prog recently. It’s really great music to listen to while tattooing. Listening to Russian Circle, a bit of Perfect Circle. To be honest these bands are not new, but I hadn’t really listen to them before. So, they’re new to me at the moment.
If you had to get a song lyric tattooed on you….what would it be?
Oh my god, that is a hard question. Probably be something from Soundgarden. My favourite song is “Dusty” so something from that… and I cannot remember any of the lyrics. It’s been a long three days.
What were the first and last gigs you went to?
My first gig was Stone Sour and Saliva about 11 years ago. Last gig, on my birthday I went to see Bad Religion. It was so good, they sold out that night. They’re so good and it was a birthday present. I’d seen them around festivals before. I have to say Skunk Anansie are amazing live, had to point that out.
Now it’s the end of the tattoo convention, what are your plans – off to relax?
Oh no… I’ve got a shoot tomorrow. I’ll be shooting in Shoreditch all day, then I’m going back to Oxford and straight to the studio.
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