Ink Series - David Puniani
My buddy David Puniani kinda gave me the idea for the Ink Series so thought I'd give him props & feature him first :) Shot Volo!
First got to know Volo (as in Devolo from Deceptikonz fame) from a Raggamuffin road trip, where, after a series of hilarious mishaps I was nominated to drive him to the after party gigs he had to perform at in Rotorua. Spent the whole night being his chauffeur/(pretend) manager/dj (he was going to get me to do his set changes lol) & although we'd just met we pretty much hit it off straight away. Dude is one of THE funniest people I know!! Fun times in Vegas lol
Fast forward a few months & we bumped into each other again, this time in Whangarei where he was doing a couple of shows with Hamo, Pieter T & my girl Sheeq.
We're all sitting round drinking & got onto talking about tattoos. He had his first tattoo done on his arm when he was 15 and like most polynesian boys it was just an island arm band design but he's continued to add to it so that now they cover most of the upper half of his body - whole right shoulder, arm & hand are covered, left shoulder to elbow as well as his right shin and calf. He also has a tiger & lion on his chest - in his words "I like them cos they're fierce and for me it represents the beast within haha" He's currently working on a piece to cover his whole back..... I guess like pringles 'once you pop you can't stop' lol
What actually struck me as being really cool though, was that he had a story or there was something behind all of the different tattoos he'd had done. He has his kids names, his middle name, his stage name, the Tongan coat of arms, the outline map of NZ, Tongan & polynesian patterns & more all etched in ink.
It got me thinking about what I'd like to get done & rather than just getting a pretty design or picture as decoration - I wanted them to mean something to me or have some kind of story behind them like Volos do to him.
Now that I've had some ink of my own done I'll share the back story on mine later but first, check some of Volos below .....
Top Left - 'Devolo' back piece - his Dkonz stage name. Check out his interview here with 'Lani Says' for background on his stage name, the making of his 'Heaven & Hell' album & more. Great interview!!
Top Right - The outline of the map of NZ surrounded by polynesian patterns & his sons name "Royal" across his right hand. Peep the pics at the top from back in the 'Not Many remix' vid - clean slate back then lol!
Bottom left - Memorial piece done in memory of his beloved grandmother who passed away towards the end of last year. RIL
Bottom right - Homage to his boys/crew the Dkonz (Deceptikonz)
Thanks for sharing your ink stories & pics with me Volo! More ink stories to come ....
ps - Fave Devolo songs: Good Day & Feels like Magic ft Horsemen Fam (vid link below)
Fave Dkonz songs: Angels & Drama Queen (lol)
Fave Devolo collabo: Indulge me with David Dallas of course :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bGJLN7qjZc
