We were ready, in good shape, but that year the country got hit by a huge earthquake. We were a team of 25 people, and planned on going to Nepal. Epic Adventure with Dan Allaston - Photo AllastonĭA: LOL, right. But then you also did a little tattoo while hanging out at 17,598 ft altitude. I remember seeing it on social media and I was so impressed, just by the fact that you went there. Glad things are picking up! I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about tattooing on Mount Everest. They had to follow the rules of where they live, I needed to adjust and prevail. Then you have to follow the rules and if you're coming across, make sure you’ve got some stuff with you to prove that you have a reason to come across. Many of my tattooers were also having a hard time because some of the people from the shop live on the Quebec side of Ottawa, and when Quebec had a curfew they had to finish early so they could go home and not get a ticket. How are you coping these days?ĭA: I’m ok, lots happening, but really… This whole thing is bad. PC: I love talking about that stuff, thank you for indulging me! To come back to the present though. Good times! Paul Booth, Dan Allaston and Damian McGrath years later It was organized with the late Keith Stewart RIP and featured people like: Paul Booth, Jonathan Shaw… Man, I have to look at the original posters because I'm drawing a blank. That Montreal International Tattoo Show was such a great show, and so much fun. Poster from the Montreal International Tattoo Show I'd been to some shows in Petawawa around 1991, but that was more of a local show. There were a couple of shows before that. PC: I believe it was at that time that you organized the first Montreal International Tattoo Expo in Montreal?ĭA: Yeah, it was the first Canadian international convention the Montreal International Tattoo Expo, where we had everybody from all over the world.
I was also doing some line painting at that time, you know, doing other work to make the month end using other mediums as an artist, getting better at art. We had a family house in Cornwall, and I opened my first little shop there. It was a slow move, I spent time between there and Sorel, Quebec. I was 100% committed by the 90’s for sure. It probably wasn't until more like 1990 when I was truly a professional. I was actually tattooing before then but it was a little more, you know. When people ask or I say, you know, I've been tattooing since 1982, that's kind of the cut-off of when I bought a whole brand new set-up of, like, Spaulding and Rogers equipment. We learn, it's just different, you know? Just like now, you could learn by yourself on the internet or you can learn the right way. I mean, being self-taught in the early years, there were definitely some holes in my game, right? There still are. We were doing different styles, they were doing different styles. When I started to meet and talk to other tattoo artists, I started learning from the errors I made, you know? Re-learning by looking at the techniques of others. It was really just a cool show, you know? John Shaw and Mike Austin were always there with the was a fun show. It was a seven hour drive, and it always seemed to be during a snowstorm, lol, but that's beside the point. It was never the biggest, you know? But it was by today's standards a great show. Do you have one that you remember from the early days that you loved?ĭA: The Mad Hatter in Portland Maine, with no hesitation. PC: Dan, I bet you went to a gazillion tattoo conventions.
I really was self-taught and went at it blindly for years until the late eighties, when I started going to tattoo conventions in the States like TMJ in Schenectady New York and the Mad Hatter's Tea party. I was in Montreal with very few tattoo shops, you know? I made the mistake of letting a guy know that I was trying to learn at home and of course it was like, “f**k off, get out of here”, you know? Camper Van Tattoo - ©Dan Allaston He did this one with a broken hand! Allaston Winged horse by Allaston You have to think way back when, in the late seventies early eighties. Back in those days you had to register your business and that was it.
PC: So you didn't do an apprenticeship.ĭA: No, no. I drew some tattoos on friends and then I made some machines and started going from there. I really started tattooing because I made some machines, you know, like teenage stuff. When I was young, I was always drawing as a kid but more from a technical aspect, you know? I would make diagrams of mechanical things, which kind of ties into the way I started and got interested in all this. So tell me, how did you get into tattooing? Were you born into it?ĭan Allaston: Well, what’s that line? “I was born at a very young age”.lol. Patrick Coste: Good day Dan, I’m so glad we’re getting a chance to hang and chat for Point to Point! You know I've been a big fan for a long time.
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