A seasoned tattooer and owner of the Mystery Tattoo club studio in Paris, Easy Sacha has been perfecting his approach to Japanese style for years. With an eye for both tradition and modernity, the Frenchman has a lot of fun with large, solidly composed pieces. At the same time, as a bassist in a number of extreme music bands - tattooing and music having been linked since his early days - he is preparing to record the next album by Deliverance, his black/sludge band that you may have had the chance to see live after a number of concerts last year, including a stint at Hellfest.
Hi Sacha, how is Mystery Tattoo Club doing?
The team has evolved quite a bit over the years and there are now eight of us. There aren't that many of us left as permanent residents, and most of the team come to work one week a month on an alternating basis. It's pretty cool to have a regular turnover. The weeks are never the same and the atmosphere and the competition within the shop are really good. But, from a business point of view and for most of the artists, it's really very, very quiet. A widespread phenomenon in France at the moment, and even abroad. Given the explosion in the number of shops and inflation, the lack of customers is really making itself felt. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to complain - I'm lucky enough to have been here for a long time, with a very large clientele. But for the others, it's a bit more complicated.
You've been working with Japanese styles for a while now, can you tell us how you got into them?
I got interested straight away when I started tattooing in 1997. Of course, the Yakuza imagery had already made a huge impression on me, but it was mainly through specialist tattoo magazines - my only source of inspiration at the time - that I got into it. The slaps in the face I got were mainly from Filip Leu and Horiyoshi 3. At the time I was very attracted to the more modern side of Filip's work. It was much later that I finally branched off into something more traditional.
You used to do old-school, bio-mechanical stuff too, so why specialise?
I used to do lots of other styles. I tried my hand at realism, Art Nouveau and engraving, and I even did a lot of Polynesian tattoos in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, I love tattooing for what it is and in all styles - really - and for a long time I wanted to do everything, or at least try. And then I would adapt to the customer's request. However, depending on the project, I'd try to steer them towards a style that I wanted to work on at the time and that might be suitable. Over ten years ago, it was a real strength to know how to do just about everything. People came to see me for that. But around 2010 I decided to specialise in Japanese. Not really by choice, but rather to find a solution to the two-and-a-half year waiting list for my appointments. Yom (French tattooer, now with Golden Tsuru tattoo studio, Paris) had just joined our team, so I was able to redirect all the non-Japanese requests to him. At the time, before he too decided to specialise in irezumi a few years after me, he was keen to try out everything in terms of styles. This choice, which was somewhat forced but beneficial, ultimately enabled me to follow just one path and concentrate on it. As a result, I developed more quickly.
How did you learn in the beginning? By observing Western tattoo artists or by immersing yourself in books on irezumi?
I watched a lot of Western tattooers at conventions. The boss at the time was really Filip Leu and he was a huge source of inspiration for me. I also had the chance to watch Horiyoshi 3 work several times at conventions, both with a machine and with tebori (Japanese hand tattooing technique, editor's note). It was really impressive. And also all those who came as guests to Tin-Tin, where I was working at the time, in particular Mike Ledger, a New York tattoo legend specialising in Japanese and Oriental. He came to Paris every year and usually stayed for a month. He tattooed me quite a lot and I spent a lot of time observing him. And once again, I read a lot of the articles in the tattoo magazines of the time.
How has your approach evolved over time?
Filip Leu's influence was followed by that of Shige, the tattooist from Yokohama, and like many tattooists at the time, I drew a lot of inspiration from him. It was also what the customers wanted. People weren't ready for Horiyoshi or 'worse' Horitoshi. Too traditional, too much black in the backgrounds. But as time went by, I wanted my tattoos to be less associated with a particular period or 'fashion'. I wanted to move towards something more timeless, more traditional in the graphics. When people see my tattoos, I don't want them to be able to tell whether they were made two months ago or 10 years ago. Timeless is really the word.
Is getting closer to a certain authenticity important to you?
Not necessarily. Artistically, yes, but graphically I draw my inspiration from old prints. And then, I also like modernity, you have to know how to live with the times. The techniques of our profession are evolving and that's a good thing. Some people swear by coils and absolutely refuse to even try a cordless Pen. I respect that, but for my part I've gone over to the 'dark' side - it's more comfortable. Less weight, less vibration and less noise, I really appreciate it.
What criteria or choices guide you when you work on a project?
Nothing in particular. I adapt to what my customers want, as long as it's traditional. From time to time, I also like to stray from the traditional, by mixing styles a bit. For example, at the moment, I'm doing the back of Gary, who works with us, in something of a hybrid. There are elements of Japanese backgrounds but the construction is more ornamental. It's really cool and it's a bit of a change.
Do you have any favourite subjects?
Not necessarily. I try to encourage the people who come to see me to do their own research and find out more about Japanese folklore. There's so much more to do than dragons, carp, samurai and geisha. But I don't want to impose anything, I just suggest ideas and let them germinate.
Are you more into small, medium or large pieces?
I tend towards large pieces, but then again, that's what I'm asked to do. I'm really lucky that people come to me for projects of this scale. I've just finished a bodysuit and I've got a few more in the pipeline. It's a real privilege. And beyond the artistic side, spending a lot of time with my customers, talking to them, sharing our lives, exchanging ideas. That's really what I like about tattooing. I don't think I could just be an illustrator working alone at home. I need human contact.
At the moment, I'm looking at a lot of the young Brazilian school. They include Deneka, Caio Pineiro and Ian Ildet. I like their sober, effective approach. The young Koreans are also really good. Technically it's almost scary because it's so clean, almost too clean.
Apart from tattooing, are there any other areas of Japanese culture that you appreciate?
I'm 50, so I grew up with the first Japanese cartoons, which arrived in France at the end of 1970 or early 1980. Akira is still a big hit. And of course I love the world of Myazaki.
You're passionate about music, can you tell us about your band Deliverance?
I'm actually the bassist in Deliverance (postblack / sludge / psychedelic inspiration for those in the know). Our 3rd album came out at the end of 2022. We played quite a few gigs and festivals in 2022/23, including Hellfest and Motocultor. We're going to start working on the 4th album at the beginning of the year with our new drummer and continue touring as much as possible.
This link between tattoos and music seems to me to have existed very early on in your career. Wasn't your first tattoo inspired by Max Cavalera's, who was in Sepultura (a Brazilian thrash band) at the time?
Yes, it was. It was a beautiful tribal inspired by a mix of Max's, but also by the singer of Testament and the singer of the Red Hot. I did it in 1992/9993. I actually came to tattooing through music. I've been drawing since I was a kid, and my dream was to become an artist when I was 5/10 years old. But I put that to one side a bit when I had my artistic education reframed. As a result, I decided to study technology rather than art. That's when I got into metal and punk rock. And of course tattoos were part of the mix. So I started drawing again, mainly for my mates, designs for T-shirts and tattoos, denim and leather jackets, filing cabinets and so on. A few years later, the next logical step was to switch from pencils to machines and start working on skin. + FEVRIER Sacha @easysacha_mtattooclub Mystery Tattoo Club 13 rue de la grange aux belles 75010 paris www.mysterytattooclub.com
