Edit/Update: After being offline for ages, here’s an archival link for the first-ever published interview with Rick Genest / Rico / Zombie Boy/ Skullboy.
Sorry about not getting this online earlier — it’s been a long day, which among other things, includes having a transport truck smash into me while I was driving with my daughter to an appointment! Ack!
Big thanks to Veronika for scoring (and doing) an interview with the infamous “Skullboy“, more appropriately known as Montreal’s Zombie. Click through to check it out, and as always, come on back to comment.
PS. You may remember Veronika from her cat portrait neck tattoo as well as her half-sleeve — she’s no stranger to both being featured and creating features!
Comments
425 responses to “Zombie (“Skullboy”) Interview Posted”
WOW!!!!! Thats great. WOW!!!! Astonishing 🙂
Wow. Great interview and one I was waiting anxiously for from its announcement.
Iteresting how he sees such a large scale (and I’m sure expensive) transformation as a “sure why not” kind of thing. Bully for him I guess?
I saw him for real a bunch of time, really impressing, almost scary, even for me! and as said, the pictures sadly don’t even do justice to the impression he makes face to face.
Michael Graves eat your heart out lmao
This was a really cool and insightful interview.. Update us on him again!
I got Spocks tattooed on my boobs as a “ehh Yay!” idea ahaha and I love it..
Lol what a fucking legend! 😀
Well that was disturbing. He gave me the strong impression of being a total idiot. He regrets most of his tattoos??! It sounds like he put little or no thought into the entire project, didn’t have even a flicker of philosophical motivation behind it… That’s the first interview I honestly wish I hadn’t read so that I could continue to just appreciate him as a piece of art. That left me feeling a little empty inside… the only thought left being, “oh well, I guess it’s a good thing there are people like that who will agree to be a canvas to extreme tattooing…”
Veronika did a good job though, asked exactly the questions I was looking for, quite succinctly. Thanks for that, anyway!
great interview! I found it interesting that he said he regrets most of his tattoos though, even though i guess it’s understandable, i thought he would come across differently. amazing and really impressive!!
One of the best full body transformations Ive ever seen even if hes not finished yet, I fucking love it!
That was much different then I expected it to be.
I love how his work isn’t all anatomical though. Its a really good blend of a bit of everything macabre.
heh, story of my life (minus the full body)
i like his lifestyle but i was surprised to hear that he has regrets for most of his tattoo’s
a well, I at least think it is awesome and i love this guy
nice tattoos, but he’s just an idiot. He makes other modded people look like dumb asses.
Waiiiit guys!!
Where is the zombie BITE going to be tattooed on? I’m serious..
after the original modblog post, i saw this guy downtown and in the metro putting up posters a few times and thought he would make for an interesting interview. looks like i was wrong- he came across as kind of boring.
That’s unreal. He’s so sexy too. I have to say, I don’t know if I’d find him as attractive with out the tattoos as I do with. But good for him. If you are strong enough to live with such a dedicated decision then all the more power, because he couldn’t get a job as a manager for Mc Donalds.
I have to say that if my son decided to go that far with modifications, if tattoos are in his future (the kids two months so who knows), then I would support him. It’s nice that his mom told him to follow it through.
Good job Zombie Man.
No surprises, really…
Elana- I agree. He sounded like he just regretted the entire process, but he didn’t care at the same time.
I really wish I hadn’t read the interview, honestly. I had, I guess, this misguided ideal of who “Zombie” was. I thought he really thought the tattoos over and he really loved the way he looked. I thought he, at least, considered the fact that finding a job would be extremely difficult. It just sounds like he woke up one day and decided to tattoo his face…
I really wish that his answers had been more in-depth. That had probably the most one-sentence answers and ridiculous slang of any interview I’ve read on BME. I wish there was a bit more insight, or at least a bit of self-respect…
I’m really disappointed that he lives up perfectly to all the stereotypes people must have about him.
And lives up to none of the hopes I had.
I really wish he’d fill in the space around his eyes.
i can’t really understand the “i don’t care about anything” mentality…
Well…it takes all kinds I suppose.
He does come off as kindof a negative stereotype of the drug addled drunk who’s kindof more into the self-mutilation aspect of the process than any sortof enlightened mod experience.
Like I said, takes all kinds…
Did anyone else catch that thought he fucked up because he couldn’t be the manager at McDonald’s, like it was a big sacrifice? I always thought a person with that many tattoos would at least have a little ambition…
Can we look forward to an interview with Bruce Potts? I’d love to see some from “older” heavily moddified men and women. Or maybe heavily modded parents…
C’mon now guys, not all heavily modded people are the deep, enlightened type…Just the other end of the spectrum.
I would love to see an interview with his tattoo artist. He’s done some amazing work here.
And for those who think he sounds like an idiot, so what? Does it make his mods any less beautiful or awe-inspiring?
amen, cuntcumber.
i was really hoping for some sort of cerebral responses to his aesthetic transformation. i suppose i was expecting something a little less moronically nihilistic and pedestrian. i was quick to defend what i assumed to be the totality and merit of such a radical retaliation against conventional aesthetics, but i guess all his detractors are right.
sigh. i hate having to say this in this community, but what a waste.
Completely incredible. I have never seen a more interwoven collection of body art.
What is everybody complaining so much about? Yeah, the guy seems to be an idiot, so what? Why does every tattoo have a story behind, or a meaning and a great purpose yackyack -random miami ink-bullshit-.
He probably thought it would look cool, so he did it. I have quite much of my body (about 30%) covered with tattoos. ONE of them (a small piece on my chest) really means something. That’s the one I regret, it’s in the way for a bigger cool-looking tattoo!
It’s body art as in art. Not body philosophy as in if your tattoo doesn’t mean anything you are retarded.
I agree with alot of the posters here, I read the interview expecting certain answers, but he just came across as an immature and arrogant shit. Oh well, congratulations for him for regretting (or seeming to) something that has, and will, continue to impact the rest of his life.
I think some posters have very little experience with Montreal punk!
ditto inthemanner =/
Meh, if you regret most of the tattoos the best way is to blend in everything and take attention away from them! It looks a heck of a lot better than getting them removed with lazers. *PEW PEW PEW*
I’m guessing that the nod to McDonald’s was tongue in cheek – how many times have you heard heavily modded people say, “It’s not like I want a job at McDonald’s.”
As far as philosophical motivation or spiritual enlightenment are concerned, why is it so necessary to profess either? He likes zombie flicks. If that’s good enough for him what’s the problem?
13 – Nobody can make anyone else look like an idiot. People do that for themselves.
i think this interview was AMAZING. it was in fact one of the better ones ive read on bme.
i understand bme is more inclined to chat to ppl whose modifications are a ‘journey’ but to be perfectly honest, its all a bit miami ink. most ppl i come across get tattoos cos they wanna.
why are ppl so down on him being a idiot. not all tattooed folk are secret intellectuals. they are normal folk, they can choose to get tattooed for any reason they want, or none at all.
from some of the comments i seen posted it strikes me as its only accepted to get more extreme tattoos/mods if you have some bullshit story behind it but if you want to do it for fun or whatever reason thats not ‘insighful’ of a ‘journey’ then thats you, lumped along with the scum of the earth.
i think its awesome that hes a bum and he knows that, that hes cut off many chnaces hell never have in life anymore. he knows this, this makes him smarter than a lot of ppl who are interviewed for bmezine so far.
he accepted his fate and he aint whinging about how he gets shit or called names on the street or how people wont give hima chnace or understand his choices.
im heavily tattooed and a woman, i get started at alot. i never had a path or a vision or dream, i just like tattoos, nice tattoos though. the more the better but im all about quality control and his body suit so far is looking pretty decnt, not amazing but good, and it it better put together than most ppl’s tattoo projects.
and at least he doesnt sit and live on the internet discussing other ppls choices and dissecting them bit by bit ina storm of big ass words. on that note, im off out to play in the real world.
Newsflash: tattoos and extreme modification don’t make you intelligent, articulate, or even interesting.
Of course, if you’re expecting anything out of anyone because of their appearance, be it good/bad, interesting/uninteresting, you’re judging people by how they look. It’s nice to think everyone has some deep personal meaning to their choice in mods or that they’re going through some spiritual metamorphosis, self reclamation or awakening.
Zombie probably doesn’t identify with any of that crap: I’d bet he doesn’t even really consider tattoos as viable art.
This Interview was awesome! Im sick off all the people posting comments bashing him for not living up to their expectations..
Interviews are written to give people insight into other peoples lives. Who the fuck are you people to judge him? Sad!
awesome tattoos, strange attitude.
I agree with Elana – as a journalism major, this interview was less than spectacular. I’m not implying that Veronika did not do a good job at the interview; I think that a lot of her questions were great.
But the whole thing as a whole wasn’t that impressive. I wish he had gone into a little more depth, but like Christyn said, perhaps I’ve just become accustomed to the previous interviews posted here.
That being said, it was still worth reading. I guess you win some, you lose some.
I pretty much agree with Anders, adding only that he seemed to take the interview about as seriously as he does anything else. Which is cool, that’s who he is. Maybe don’t read into all the hype so much, eh people?
I pretty much agree with Anders, adding only that he seemed to take the interview about as seriously as he does anything else. Which is cool, that’s who he is. Maybe don’t read into all the hype so much, eh people?
I have mixed feelings after reading this one as, obviously, so many of us looked forward to reading this interview and in the meantime managed to create our own image of the guy.
Some of his answers sounded unbalanced and disappointing while others made me think that he didn’t take it seriously at all and just played with us. I still think there’s more to him than he wants us to see.
alloylove – I think it’s as simple as a lot of people are rather self-righteous, and don’t really “get” punk…
why is everyone so negative about his “i don’t care” attitude?
he’s doing what he wants to do with his body, turning himself into what he wants to be fun fun — which means that it’s to make him happy.
isn’t that the whole point of modifying your body?
people complained in earlier posts about how people on tattoo tv shows always have some deep story attached to the artwork. and now they’re complaining about doing it for fun?
tsktsktsk. nothing appeases you people. :c
My thoughts exactly, what a disappointment that was. It doesn’t really sound like he gives a rat’s arse about any of it. It’s not like I was expecting him to have deep philosophical reasons for his tattoos, but to at least LIKE them…..my Skullboy bubble has definately burst.
yeh, i guess. damn where’s 5kem5 when you need him
He came off as no-bullshit and seemed honest, warts and all.
Doesn’t have any philosophical reasons or deep insight to why he’s done what he’s done…and doesn’t pretend to.
A few follow-up thoughts, since I kind of started the bashing:
I fully admit to not getting Montreal punk! I’m an academic-type from Toronto. That way is his way, and my intellectualizing way is my way. True to type, my next thought after reading everything was: I guess his attitude is really authentic nihilism, which is a philosophy? Ha ha ha. And I always get bummed out after reading nihilist stuff.
Obviously we’re all free to get tattoos for any reason or for no reason. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to prefer interviews that have *some interesting content*, though.
I agree with Elana and others: what an utter disappointment, and perfect example of someone who really isn’t interesting at all, except for his startling and evidently thoughtlessly pursued tattoos. While I’m not someone who believes that every tattoo has to have a deep meaning behind it, in this interview he comes across as immature and obnoxious.