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”
perhaps this interview would have had more depth if the two hadn’t been communicating with text messages.
Makes total sense that the guy is a nihilist. Glad to get that “regretting” bit clarified. I figured it was the ones that weren’t part of the suit concept, but didn’t know for sure.
Thanks to Veronika for hunting this guy down and getting an interview. I’m glad to know more…
Brute – 99% of BME’s interviews were done in text form… It’s not unusual.
To the interviewer – I do understand that you got to see a whole lot more to him than we know, but that’s just the point: we can only read what was published in the interview, not what went on behind the scenes.
I have to admit to being a bit disappointed. Not because I expected him to live up to my expectations, but because I really thought that this interview was going to help dispel some myths around people who do these kinds of extreme mods (and you saying he is a lovely, intelligent guy kind of suggests that there was hope of that). Instead, it read like every middle class white parents’ worst nightmare, and when the readers voiced their opinion on exactly that, they get told off for being judgmental…?
lol “Where is the rebellion in being a fuck up?”
as another earthling engaged in a project of transformation, i salute you Zombie.
Where did the money come from to DO all that work?? Thats Hrs. of detailed inking…must have cost a small fortune so far…
S
Jimbo – I’d suggest that there’s not always a need to dispel a “myth” since it’s no myth. It’s a reality that some people get tattooed out of punk rock nihilism, and that’s just fine…
he is wicked!
@SpeedoApe
Hard work, I guess?
“He doesnt’ say he regrets his tattoos. He says he regrets getting the small random ones at the start, but is now happy with it because they finally all flow together into a single concept.”
That strikes me as a rather loose interpretation of what was written in the interview:
BME: “Do you regret your tattoos at all?”
ZOMBIE: “I regret most of my tattoos, but now that they kind of blend in together I don’t even notice them anymore.”
I don’t think anyone was seriously expecting Zombie to give a heartfelt Miami-Ink speech about how much his tattoos meant to him. When you’re into the punk scene and you get a skull tattooed over your face it’s pretty much a given that you just liked it and did it.
That said, the interview was incredibly dull (not because of Veronika, she asked the questions we all wanted to hear). Hearing in some kind of detail about how it actually changes his day-to-day life would have been ten times better than reading a bunch of drivel that might as well have been copy-pasted from some semi-literate kid’s MySpace. Yes, I know that he’s just playing around and being punk, but that doesn’t make it any more interesting to read. As for not “getting” punk, I definitely do, but people who are really into punk scenes are invariably the most boring goddamn people I’ve ever met. You can only take forced nihilism and canned edginess so far before it becomes dull and repetitive beyond belief.
I’d still bang him though.
I want to sleep with him.
Guys with “fuck you”atitude is all around.You had to have brain when you choose to be so different.Or have a family with a very good financial condition for not work all your life. Or have a brutal talent and work for yourself. Or choose a circus to work.
I expect more from a guy with a body modification so impactant.
Maybe he’s think that your tattooed brain help him to get more inteligent.
And he regret for all your tattoos include the face.
Bob – I understand that it’s possible to misinterpret what he said if you’re looking to read something negative. This is why Veronika has posted here as well clarifying what he was getting at.
Could someone please post a link to any article describing the Montreal Punk scene? I’ve obviously googled it but not much came up…
Hahah, I got a kick out of the McDonalds part too!
Well I like his tattoos and he has a great attitude…
But(!!!) he gives a bad picture of the BM community…
People read this and will think that we are all just fucked up
white trash, living under the bridge type people and I don`t like that…
I mean I don`t give a fuck but still it sucks…
Something that consistently cracks me up is when people who have almost no visible mods — and certainly none that test social boundaries — worry that guys like Zombie are somehow going to reflect on them…. hahaha, trust me, NO ONE is going to get you mixed up or assume that you’re in the same category.
Having a kitty cat tattoo on your hip is not going to make people think you’re going out boozing in a squat with Skullboy…!!!
It’s almost as funny as people getting worried that the Wandalaput interview would make people assume that all people on BME love eating shit out of HIV+ diapers…
Thanks for the sarcasm, Shannon.
What a suprise this interview!
To my suprise it was almost the same what i was thinking of the boy. A punk, and doing what he like to do!!
Great!
way too extreme for my liking, but each to their own i suppose. great interiew though.
Me too, but thats because I’m a necrophiliac.
(that was a reply to the “I want to sleep with him” comments)
They won’t think that you’re boozing in a squat, no. But obviously people play into and reinforce stereotypes.
Why bother with this article though, really? Isn’t it a given perception already that tattooed people don’t give a fuck? It really doesn’t add anything to the situation.
Cobalt Chemistry – Realistically, would you prefer that I work hard to publish misleading interviews that lie about why people get tattoos? The reality is that, especially in punk culture, Zombie’s reasoning is quite normal. I don’t think we should be ashamed of that, even if we don’t share it.
I really think that the public is smart enough these days to understand that lots of different types of people get tattoos. I believe we’d be doing ourselves a disservice by responding to insecurities about how they’ll see us by creating dishonest propaganda.
Well, if nothing else this interview explodes the myth that tattoos make people interesting.
@Shannon (#208) – Fair enough. But I still think it’s inappropriate for the interviewer to lecture readers on forming opinions based on the presented material. We can’t possibly know the intellectual debates they had that didn’t get published, so all we have to go by is the message he sends in the actual interview – which was, when it comes down to it – a mixture “Fuck you all” and “I don’t give a fuck”. This may be exactly the message he wanted to send, but it doesn’t mean we can’t have an opinion on it?
he might in fact be a nice guy, but i agree with many of you. he came off as ignorant and self absorbed, and self hating? the whole interview was done great from BME’s point, but his answers were all really childish. i was hoping he might of had alot more input on things, especially his daily life. i feel like i missed out almost =[
218?
What’s so bad about bein fucked up white trash kinda people?
If that’s what we are, then fuck, that’s my favorite kind of people! the world would be so boring if we didn’t have them.
I absolutely love the anatomy work on him.
. . . I’m suprised he has no zombie bites tattooed on him.
That’s the first thing I thought of when i thought of zombie tattoos.
No gods no masters!
I admit, I was expecting a little more reasoning from him as well but at the end of the day, the dude is a punk amd obviously lives that lifestyle full throttle, if he’s happy then I’m happy. I think that an interview with Fishmouth (I hope that’s right!) or the Russian guy with the ton of facial tattoos featured here a couple of weeks ago would be exactly the same, I doubt there’s profound reasoning behind them but that doesn’t make them any less relevant or worthy of attention.
I was really happy to see this interview up=). It’s deffinatly nice to see some more photos. Great work Veronika!! I’d love to see it all in realy life though.
I’m not going to bleat on like 99 percent of the spacktards on here but if the responses to this are anything to go by, only one thing is certain…
He must be rolling in pussy.
*n
I love this stupido. He’s gorgeous!
Like people whitch give a shit about other folks and do their thing.
Greez 4 that.
badass
Well…I had respect for him before, but now I just think he’s a complete dick.
Still love the mods though.
@Shannon I have my whole lower arm tattooed and I`m getting more tattoos…
I`ll actually get in fact 2 whole sleeves and some work
done as well on my legs and upper body…
So please…
David – I’m not saying that what you’ve done isn’t cool, and I’m sure you have reasons you consider more profound than Zombie’s for your sun and moon tattoos and so on. However, my point is that you shouldn’t kid yourself into thinking that people will believe that Zombie speaks for you and get all in a huff about it… There’s no way that the general public will put the two of you in the same category.
he is gorgeous looking
A lot of your comments read that you are disappointed in why he chose to get his work done. It’s like some you have these right and wrong reasons for getting mods. So, what are you standards for the “correct” reasons for getting mods?
Again, I really don’t see that in any of the comments here. It seems to me that people are just disappointed by the total lack of meaningful content in the interview itself. Sarcasm and a “punk” attitude are all well and good, but do not an interesting interview make. When someone chooses to turn their face and head into a skull, people are interested to know things like their motivation (he didn’t have one), how it impacts their life (he doesn’t care), and how people react to them (he doesn’t pay attention). That may be his way of seeing things, and bully for him, but it makes for a very boring interview.
Bob – I agree that personally I prefer to read the more intellectual interviews, because that’s where my interest lies. However, I don’t believe that we should discount the validity of people who choose to present themselves and their identities in a less academic sense. In some ways, the lack of answers is what’s interesting and puts the whole thing into context.
it depends on your perspective to be honest,i personally related a lot more to the zombie interview than an interview about personal journeys etc etc an thats not takin anything away from people that get modded for those reasons its just for me those reasons are not there,good on you zombie either way.
you got there first shannon,damn my slow typing
He’s the punkest person on Earth I think… “I don’t give a shit-and-I-fuck-you”, I’m happy we have such persons, even if his attitude is really stupid !
@ david
im sorry but a half sleeve a freaky punk does not make.
arm tattoos if anything are the most commonly found. people on the street will stare at zombie and they MIGHT glance at you, but they wont think your the same kind of person. there are lines and people can see who has crossed it and who has not.
Shannon, to imply I’d like interviews in which people lie is going a bit far. My point is simply that we are all already aware that this attitude exists within the body modification community, because it exists anywhere.
The fact that it’s a reality doesn’t mean that it has to be reiterated to people who have heard it already.
i am sure it has been asked a million times- but are you and your wee one alright? she must have been scared!!!!
Cobalt – Sorry, I was unaware that I had already posted too many interviews with people who are fully tattooed with such striking concept tattoos (or that Zombie has been interviewed too much already in other media)! 😛
Surely you’re not saying that if a person with remarkable mods doesn’t say what you politically want him to, that we should not post his interview? I would disagree with the idea that BME (or any magazine) should only feature interviews where the subject agrees with the politics of the readers.
ffs dramarama. they’re obviously gorgeous tattoo’s and it’s an interesting concept,but I am ashamed of some of the comments. I don’t know what people here expect; for him to spill his whole life’s secrets out over the course of a 10 minute interview for all to mull over and pick fault with? People don’t work like that. He needn’t be revered or reviled, he’s just like everyone else and deserves to be treated with respect. I can’t imagine anyone saying half the stuff that’s up there if they met him irl.