Too damned many men of the cloth...

I'm a Reverend. Legal... Ordained... I've probably performed over one hundred weddings. I'm not religious as such, just thought it would be an interesting thing to do. All my friends accused me of "preaching" to them all the time about philosophy and politics. Seemed like a good fit. At the time I became ordained there was only one other "Rev" that I knew of in the world of body modification. I'm sure there were others, but the only really public persona was Rev. Mad Jack who hailed from, I believe, Chicago. Guy Aitchison was connected to him in some way which made him cool in my eyes. I was young fanboy. So sue me! There was also Rev. Horton Heat in the music biz and a few other assorted men of the cloth that I found interesting in various cults and fringe religions like the Church of the Subgenius, Church of Satan... So I wrote to the Universal Life Church and got my Minister's Credentials. They shipped 'em right out and I displayed 'em with pride. Started signing my artwork "Rev", or actually, at the time, "Da' Rev"... My stage persona in my punk rock band of that time, The Jackalopes was based entirely around this "Rev" persona and it definitely made people remember my name. Not too many folks ran into a Reverend that looked, dressed or acted like me. The local rock station here in Dayton, Ohio had caught wind of my new tattoo shop, Vision Quest Tattoos (that lasted about a year before I mismanaged it directly headfirst into the side of a cliff) and asked if I would donate some free tattoo work to give away in a contest they were promoting in which they would be giving one lucky couple the chance to be wed at the Nutter Center, the local Hockey Arena, in between sets by the newly reunited Black Sabbath (with Ozzy! Horns up fuckers!) and Pantera (R.I.P. Dimebag). I jumped at the chance for the free advertising attached to such a major concert event and when I found out they had no Minister to join these rock heathens in the state of UNholy matrimony, I offered my services there as well. It was to be my first official wedding service and was conducted in front of 16,000 screaming metal fans. When I asked if anyone in the audience objected to the wedding the crowed roared... Awesome. I didn't get to meet Ozzy, but had access to the radio station's private box and front row tickets as well as 6 months free advertising on the big radio station in town.

Anyway, that was 10 years ago and 10 million other "Rev's" ago. I'm not saying I was the first of these jackasses but c'mon man. Now every goober with a myspace page is Reverend Someshitoranother. I recently was on a Tattoo Artist's group webpage and joined a local, Ohio group there. There were 3 members of the Ohio group and TWO were Rev. Chads! I hate the idea that the name recognition that I've worked for over the years will just serve to be confused by this recent influx of new "men of the cloth" but such is life. I guess that's what I get for connecting something to my name that anyone else can do. Makes it kinda easy to have one's thunder stolen. I've thought about dropping the prefix from my name and just going by my given name. I still might but I've worked hard to spread that name and a lot of people only know me as "The Rev". If I called 'em up as Chad, they'd probably say, "Chad who?" I've got some other plans afoot. I'm gonna add more prefixes to this bastard of name. You'll all be calling me "Reverend Doctor Chad Alan Wells Most Supreme Grand Master of Every Damn Thing" soon enough. Do I kid? Perhaps.

So to wrap up this ramble... Herein lies my challenge to all the OTHER Reverend TattooRockstar types out there. If we shall be confused for each other, let's work hard to turn out the most amazing works and live the most noble lives because even though we have a (legal) Cracker Jack Box title at the front of our name, we all are representing each other. Like it or not, we're in a sort of disconnected brotherhood. Of course, we as tattoo artists should have this work ethic already but I feel that a lot of the folks doing the whole title thing or the crazy nickname thing may be trying to compensate for a lack of skill or experience by making their nickname or title or image their selling point rather than focusing on what's coming out the end of tube connected to their machine. I work everyday like I'm still an apprentice to further my ability. If you all do the same I'm sure I'll be happy to be mistaken for you.

Rev. Chad Wells http://www.wellstattoo.com http://www.myspace.com/revwells