Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Tattoos of Mother Russia

Been having having some rum and listening to what we've been working on recently, sounds pretty damn good if you ask me :) I've also now been watching a program about Russian prisons, and as they talked about how tattoos are a big part of the prison culture in Russia it reminded me of something.

A few years ago I was touring Russia with Paul DiAnno, and I was actually not allowed in into a club there, because of my tattoos. We tried to get in into a club with Jonas, a friend of mine who played bass on the tour (he is the bass player of MyGrain, which I strongly recommend you check out), and "Jukka Pussybear", our local monitor guy. As I have this one tattoo on my right hand that can't really be hidden we were not allowed in. Seemed surreal then, but I guess it's the culture... If this was the case in Finland the bars would be pretty damn empty :)

We found another club though, all's well that ends well :)

9 comments:

  1. did you watch that movie with viggo mortesen " eastern promises " ?? it´s about the russian mafia or some like that, they talk about the meaning of their tattos on many scenes.. i watched a documentary about that too on youtube, was pretty interesting

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  2. Luis (Pickboy From Barcelona)September 18, 2012 at 2:51 AM

    I've been in Finland just for a week, and few days years after, and almost everyone is tattooed.

    Here in Spain also, many people is tattoed, but also discriminated. Here, the tattoos are not good seen when you have to enter in some pubs, some jobs or just if you're walking everywhere.
    Everytime is more normal to see, but dicksuckers from here thinks that if you have tattoos, you're some kind of criminal. Grandmothers are the ones with this thing more incrustated in the brain. Everytime they see a tattoed man, they hide their bag.

    I dunno how's that thing of tattoos in Finland.

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  3. You know, I'm Russian and I have no idea what could be wrong with your tattoo. It may be the case that you accidently stumbled into a, well, bar unoficially serving only those with criminal background. But for us regular law-abiding people it is a mistery, so to speak. :) However, it is the girls who tend to have tattooes in Russia nowadays, not the guys. So I would say that your tattoo around the wrist looks kinda girly to me, no offence intended. :)

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  4. Jani, how many tattoos do you have and where? I've seen three (two in shoulders and the one you were talking about) but are there more?

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  5. I heard once he has a pink flower in his right butt cheek, but that's unofficial... :P

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  6. in czech republic it is ok with tattoo, many young people love tattoo and have tattoo, just old people are still looking on it strange...but it is the old school

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  7. Discrimination, that's why I can't made my foot tattoo and more if you want a job.

    My ability is demonstrated, not tattooed.

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  9. I know I'm late on this post. Depending on the tattoo you have on your hand (I don't know what it is) it can be a distinct tell that you are a criminal in Russia. Like the barbed wire tattoo that you have, for inmates that did time in prison it means that you are a convict. Each barb represent a year in prison. So depending of the tattoo on your hand, it can mean stuff like drug addiction, criminal convictions, murder and the list goes on.

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