Brandon Bond is one of the most successful, published, and award winning tattoo artists in t
he world. He is the owner of the thriving All or Nothing Tattoo empire in Atlanta, Georgia.
He also owns a publishing company called Stranglehold which sells movies, books, clothing,
artwork, and other tattoo related products. After 15 years of compulsive workaholism, Brandon still tattoos constantly, staying booked about a year in advance. Last year Brandon opened a
second studio Anti Art Elite.
Located northwest of Atlanta, GA, this studio hosts two movie
theaters with thousands of titles to choose from, two koi fish ponds, and two gallery spaces
featuring the private "Brandon Bond Collection" of art from the world's top tattooists. Brandon
also has started Atlanta Pitbull Rescue to help save pitbulls. All or Nothing Tattoo Studio was
recently voted "Best Tattoo Parlor in Atlanta" by Creative loafing magazine 2003-2007, as well
as "Best New Art Gallery In Atlanta" and "Best Body Piercing Studio In Atlanta".

Rockstar: You generally seem to want the industry to put out the best possible work, and are willing to
help fellow artist improve their skills. Many people ask you to check out their work.I know with how busy
you are with the 234897234897 things you do everyday, and you always find some time to give some
feedback. Are there some people that you just wanna say "put down the machine and run away"?

Brandon Bond:No Ive never said "put down your machines" to anyone - when I started tattooing, there
WAS NO INTERNET! There was no way for me to annonymously message someone and ask em to tell me
how to tattoo better- I had uhaul on speed dial - in my day I had to move state to state to work for or
get work from artists I had "heard of" (magazines mostly)

I would never discourage a young tattooer - scratchers get a taste of the wrath of hate though still -
along with encouragement to get an apprenticeship.

All artists have varying levels of potential and I would never think that Im too good or too big or too
stuckup and retarted to DISCOURAGE anyone from tattooing. Im not that guy - there are a lot of guys
like that - but none of us are.

I used to suck - trust me I remember never using mags, or not knowing how to put in color - I
remember being nervous at conventions.

I have never forgotten who I am or where Im from - another trait bestowed upon me by my parents.
But yeah sometimes people are way out of line about it - shop owners who want to "look at my books"
people Ive never met??? people who want me to come to their shop and teach their apprentices???? its
wierd but Im never mean about it or public with my disdain. peopple who want to know very personal
buisness secrets yet have never met me or done anything for me - and if I dont reply - Im an a$shole????
yeah its fucked.

we are all on the same path - wearing different shoes, I just choose to drive a golf cart thats all.

Rockstar: As seen on See you in H*ll, we know that you like to go shooting and save stray pitbulls.
Does all of this keep you sane from the everyday ups and downs of life?

Brandon Bond: My dogs are the best part of my life, each was rescued in some form or another from a
life of fighting and abuse, and they now are the most spoiled rotten, lazy, mellow and appreciative animals
on the planet. We work hard still to find great homes for "sheltered" or "rescued pit bulls" and it brings a
lot of happiness and satisfaction to my life in a way that I cant get out of the dark and stressed out
world of buisiness.

I get a lot of shit for the whole interest in guns from some folks, heres the deal: I was born into a wonderful family, I was taught that the protection of that family is my job as a loving participant. I was taught to
shoot guns before I even knew what a cuss word was. I was taught safety, respect, and regard for human
life, I was taught that a gun is as safe as its owner, and I am extremely careful with my firearms.

I love shooting, my father loves shooting, my wife loves it and a LOT of our staff and clients love it.
I have very little free time, and what free time I have I like to spend with close friends and quality firearms,
its a hobby, like quilting. it has NOTHING whatsoever to do with my job.

I have been trained in tactical shooting, entry, sub-gun, long-gun, shotgun and hand-gun courses by
our local SWAT team, as well as shot piles of law enforcement guns at law enforcement target with the
guidance of law enforcement officers. I have had extensive military training with a Lt Colonel involved in
special forces focusing on disarming people and using their weapons against them, and Dave Tedder and
I have been training off and on for over a year with a DEA firearms teacher (with an incredibly
STRICT ciriculum)

Rockstar: When will we see your own line of guns? Like Bond Arms..

Brandon Bond: Actually its funny you ask that - stranglehold is about to hook up with www.tapco.com
if you have any aks, glocks, ars, rugers, chances are something on them came from TAPCO - another
family of about 60 folks who loves guns and want great art. (and live in GA as well)

Stranglehold started selling weapons awhile ago (blades) and we are moving into firearm accessories
next - the skies the limit. And Yeah www.bondarms.com in texas make great firearms, that is a long story
- but they are awesome. I carry one regularly.

When I came up with the name ALL OR NOTHING, we could start one of three types of ad campaigns
and name recognition projects:

1) AON SEX trademark- naked chicks and all that - cheesy and WAY WORSE for professionalism than
guns? we would be getting a LOT more hell from everyone STILL for this and the BOND GIRLS shit was
an obvious "easy choice" However, I feel like that kinda marketing makes girls uncomfortable, and
distracts from the art.

2)AON as in Gambling and "risking it all" - and risk is not an image I want to project in my buisnesses,
im not a gambler, I lived in vegas for two years, I know better.

3)aon as in hostages and worldomination terroristic style like cobra - which one sounds more fun huh????
yaaaaaaaay for the underdog, and the badguys get all the cool accessories.

Everybody loves a bad guy - Im a bad guy nerd. Cobra commander, Destro, Darth Vader, Megatron,
cmon??? they rule.

And you know this man -

So we went with option 3 - and by we I guess I mean Me cause at the time I was alone. They say
"stick with what ya know" - and I know about two things, tatzapping and firearms. I decided to leave
the sex out. but I do know a little something about that too?????? hahahahaaaa

Rockstar::How does one reform oneself from a badly-motivated slut tattooist into a capable, competent
tattoo artist? What changed? What kind of sacrifices does that entail?

Brandon Bond: I came to a point where it was time to shit or get off the pot ya know? I could have
sustained forever being that guy, but it was an empty unfufilling and low income type gig, with no
retirement. It was a dead end. I had a blast touring and doing guest spots and drunken conventions,
and I never could hold a job for more than a year or so. I cleared my head, maintained total sobriety
for a period of two years, and gave it everything I had in every way. hense the studio name - it was
either going to work or not but it wasnt going to fail based on a lack of effort. It was risky and it was
all the money I had in the world being sunk into countertops and flooring and every spare moment
went into work - 20 hour days of nonstop focus 7 days a week to the point of psychosis. It worked.

Rockstar: How has your early behavior affected your career, how was it trying to turn your image
around on a professional level?

Brandon Bond: It definately made it harder for my peers from back in the day to accept the sucess
we have achieved. I spent a lot of years being "that guy" and did a 180 on everybody with no warning,
so people that knew me then and saw what happened spoke out and initially became our first "haters",
which then led to a bandwagon of disparraging internet chat and forum commentary that thunders
throughout the internet to this day. It used to bother me a lot, now we just ignore it and push foreward.
I try to just keep my head up and not speak out about anyone or any shops regardless of what they
might be saying about ours. Taking the "high" road so to speak. To get in a pi$$ing match with the world
is futile and time wasted. I try not to waste any time. I dont have much of it.

Rockstar: And since you're not quite done doing that, how is it to hold on to your own personality intact,
while trying to keep customers satisfied and all that stuff? In other words, how do you handle the conflict
between being balls deep in fun, and also appearing professional enough to not frighten away clients?

Brandon Bond: I seperate my life in many degrees and levels. The public sees what we approve in film,
or photos, or information and my close friends see an entirely different side of me. My wife sees another
entirely seperate section of my reality and so it seems I have spliced my life into sections. an existential
crisis of sorts, but a lucrative, functional, and productive melting pot. I hate the "Brandon Bond" that was
created by the media in our industry early on and its still frustrating that people believe all that. The
bottom line is that I am what I need to be to generate interest and revenue on certain levels, but I never
changed who I am or sold out in any way. I have turned down multiple TV show offers to insure that not be tainted. All of the books, and films come out of MY publishing company, therefore are not tainted by
mainstream influences. My book "WHORE" is not what would have been produced by a "normal" publishing
house. Our film "SEE YOU IN HELL" is definately not anything like what those reality tv producer type
snakes would have created out of us.

I am the same person, we just chopped up what people do and dont see. I worked to get where I am and
did it on my own terms, in my own way. I think a lot of people see that and are disturbed because it
reminds them of thier own laziness or lack of focus. There are a lot of artists out there that are WAAAY
better than I am and are barely scraping by financially. I didnt want to be another 60 + yr old tattooer,
I will still tattoo, but only for fun. My personal life, my spiritual beliefs, my finances, my family are all
distincly intact and immediate, however there is no reason to involve these realities in my buisness life.

Rockstar: Any plans to open a THIRD studio?

Brandon Bond: Multiple studios create multiple problems. Everytime Ive seen someone open multiple PUBLIC studios, they make more money yes, but the quality of the artwork is compromised. Its hard enough for most studios to find a crew of good tattooers in ONE shop - we have been blessed, yes, with an overflowing
amount of talented award winning artists - could we fill up another shop with great artists? NO DOUBT
ABOUT IT! Do we need the Money? NO - however we do need more space so the studio may be relocated
to a bigger location one day. And you never know - we may just suprise everyone but at this point there
are no plans. The plan is to kick back for the first time ever, not to "turn it up".

The reason that we opened the "private" studio was to INCREASE the quality of our work - something
previously never done. To make the other location a place for artists who already work at the public studio
to do collaborations, relax, draw, tattoo, eat, drink and be merry. Financially it is not the best move, but
financially we are doing better than I ever imagined so who cares - at some point MONEY has to become a secondary motivation in tattooing and ART has to come first. Thats what www.antiartelite.com is all about.

People complain: "ITS TOO EXPENSIVE", "YOU GUYS ARE TOO EXPENSIVE" actually All or Nothing has
a 40 dollar minimum - which is LOWER than our local competitors. All or Nothing Tattoos at a fair market
price - just because the work may be superior, is no reason to assume that we charge more just cause
its better. We charge exactly what everybody else charges for a decent piece.

ANTI Art Elite is more expensive slightly yes. I charge more to tattoo than the guys that work with me,
Ive been doing it the longest, Im the fastest, and most "well known" (whatever that means) I have a 5 hour minimum, that way I know Im tattooing large scale awesome art all day everyday because Im not doing
it for the money anymore, im doing it for the ART. Of course I wanna still get paid for my time, because
when I work, I work HARD! and the art is solid, but the minimum is simply to "weed out" the amateurs,
newbies, and "walk in type clients" I did that shit everyday for 13 years, Ive had enough of that - THATS
what THE PUBLIC studio is for. Not to mention, my time is extremely limited and stretched thin - so when Im tattooing it just makes since for me to still be compensated, its wierd, like, "oh yeah I worked all hard
and achieved all this success so I could sit here and tattoo you for free all day??????" I think not.

When I tattoo I want to tattoo on cool people who are serious about getting tattooed. Im not stuck
up or "holier than though" at all, but when I sit down and tattoo, I want to push the limits of what I can do everytime, without distraction or interruption and I want my artists to get that same experience when they collaborate at www.antiartatlanta.com its a place for artists to do serious art.... and a hell of a
palace to party in.

Rockstar: You have two DVDS currently released. Whats the difference between the two?

Brandon Bond: One is called SEE YOU IN HELL and its a documentary about us.It is availible to the public
and everyone who wants it....

The other is called "THE WHOLE ENCHILADA" and its a tattoo seminar and carreer management DVD
for professional tattooers only... no exceptions.

Both are availible on www.strangleholdmerch.com

interview by: Rockstar