Passing through Tours, we stopped for a beer at Coco Bongo, Fat Manu and his colleagues' shop, opened five years ago. Passing through the door of Coco Bongo, it's guaranteed to be a crazy afternoon. The shop is a reference in the city. Each in their own style, the three artists of Coco Bongo have the will to be a street shop where they do their job with pleasure and a lot of laughter. Will practices old school and dotwork, Samoth of Art Nouveau and neo-trad and Manu: "everything else, everything else that actually happens!". These tattoo artists advocate an "old school" tattoo. A profession which before being an artist's career is a craft. Meeting with a real braggart!
Manu, you've been tattooing for 14 years, how is it going for you today ? Let's take stock of Coco Bongo, your shop, if you don't mind ?
I've been tattooing for 14 years and I continue to do everything that goes through my shop, it's a choice because nobody really does it anymore. Everybody just wants to do their own style. Tribal, Polynesian... I do everything but biomechanics, I suck. It's a choice on my part, I don't take my head in. People don't want truly personal or unique stuff. 90% of the time they want to have it modified to go back to the basic image they gave. Currently, there are 43 shops between Tours and the outskirts. I'm going back to the basics, to the old people's street shops!
Yes, it exploded!
At first, I thought it was a competition and then I realized that my agenda was filling up more and more with covers from elsewhere. It's filling up my agenda because they're all coming to my house to get caught up! Most of them are customers who sometimes come here to get information. We give them the answer they need and sometimes they don't like it or just realistic advice on their project... they go to see someone else for the realization of their tattoo and finally they realize that the result is cheap and come back to your place for a cover or a blastover.
Tattooing has become so democratized and its world has been turned upside down. If we take for example the tattoo magazines, it's only the connoisseurs who read them...
Everybody goes on Instagram. And yet Instagram is a shitty place with all the tattoo artists who fiddle and rearrange their pictures. They show infeasible tattoos and then you look like an idiot when you tell the client the truth. The clients come in and show us pictures that they think are real. The reality is quite different. A lot of photographs are retouched... the problem is that they realize that it wasn't feasible only when it failed. I also do regular tattoo refreshes like lately a very old school native american on a granny. I retyped it because it was a tattoo that was over 30 years old. I even retyped a tattoo of Johnny (his teacher). Of course, I called him to tell him. I also retouched a tattoo of mine from my early years. I'm not ashamed, it was fifteen years ago now. Sometimes, because I didn't have the same nickname, clients don't even know they're coming to see me, so it's pretty funny. We don't lie to each other anyway, tattooing has become so democratized and its world has been turned upside down. If you take for example the tattoo magazines, it's only the connoisseurs who read them...
14 years of tattooing, it's been quite a journey for you, can you tell us a little bit about your beginnings in Montrichard until today, back in Touraine?
My beginnings, I made them in Montrichard where nobody knows where it is located, with an apprenticeship at Johnny Tattoo. Then, in Versailles at Denis Tatoueur's place which is still open, this time for a second apprenticeship. Then I went to Clermont-Ferrand to set up a shop with Zouk (Christophe Mazouko - 20 fingers) and since 8 years, I'm back in Tours. It's been 8 years since I came back to Tours. There are some nice shops here, Flo Levanti also came back in the area. Sabra tattoo is another shop which makes very traditional Japanese. We also work with a Polynesian shop to whom we send customers who are looking for this specific style. It's thanks to my background that today I do anything and everything. I do my job. From time to time, you make a piece that pleases you and then the rest of the time, you know how to do everything. Personally, I think that you don't necessarily have to do your art every day. An old-fashioned apprenticeship is essential because you learn a lot and I'm proud of that. Today, word of mouth has filled my agenda. The most rewarding thing for me, as a tattoo artist, is to see the children of people you tattooed 15 years ago come to my shop. They come to be tattooed by me. There, you think, that's it, let's go for another 15 years! When the kid will have grown up, she will send me her cousins, children...
Old-fashioned learning is valuable. The proof, there are salons where tattoo artists come to see me to have their dermograph repaired at my place. Because they have coils that they don't know how to tinker with. Two or three tattoo artists came. I like them so I help them. Sometimes it's important to just know how to repair a spring. Personally, if I hadn't done my apprenticeship with Denis, I wouldn't have been able to do all this alone. With Denis, I was also able to evolve alongside Alix Gé. It also allowed me to meet new people. Denis taught me what he knew and Alix taught me how to paint. It was a major step in my career.
Do you still paint or draw regularly ?
It was especially at that time, when I met Alix. It keeps me busy, especially during the confinement and it made me want to keep a day dedicated to painting in my schedule. The rest of the confinement, I confess, I spent hanging out and hanging out in my jacuzzi, I confess!
Do you miss the conventions?
The conventions are more the same as before, the old people don't go there anymore, it's less fun and what I liked was the partying and the fun of conventions! There's no longer that "pirate" side to it that we used to have with old friends like Keuns. We have more tattoo conventions in Tours. Every year they find me just in Lyon and Nantes, these are the only two that I continue to do. Ajaccio also, for relaxation! Before we had to be 80 by conventions, everyone knew each other, it was a small world and a small community. Now, we must be 250 tattoo artists per convention. At the end, we move for nothing. The customers are picky, they find the prices expensive and as I do kekettes and everyone finds it unacceptable, it has become a little too serious for me. It's a pity, but I think it will come back.
Did you like the guests more?
When I opened the shop, I was making years with between 15 and 17 conventions and 3 or 4 guests in the same year. It's heavy, you're never at home, you don't have time for anything and you're tired. I continue to make a few guests every year in Nevers at Yannick's and Alix Gé's in Sète, in the south. That's all I do. I would like to do some more after 14 years, I also like to be at home.
You've continued to do pop - retro and Disney inspirations, what inspires you?
I did a lot of drawings and paintings during the confinement, the Disney and the skateboard universe, that's what I like! I also try to do Japanese, but I don't know it well and I don't have the patience to learn all the codes. So I'm more into European Japanese. Very modern, I add a lot of things. It's really nice to do because you do all the scenery freehand. I do arms or calves but I haven't done many full backs. I have a client at the moment on whom I'm working on a "Jap' Fat Manu" in a bodysuit. Clients are a little skittish about large pieces. They do pieces by pieces and prefer to do 2 tattoos rather than one piece. But I think that in a few years when we have 7 to 8 years of seniority in Tours it will be better. These are the people you've already hooked up with who you make large pieces with. You have to make these people even more loyal. Here, it is not written "Tattoo Shop" but "Tattoo Club". It's also because here it's a party. By the way, if you look at our opinions on Google, none of them really tells how they got their tattoo, but above all that they had a great afternoon and a lot of fun. When we saw that, we were bent over laughing. But it's true, we like to do bullshit, we're not at work!
Did you cross the path of a particular tattoo artist that you really admire?
The coolest one I've met, who's a big star for me, is Manu Badet. He's super cool and very, very strong. He came as a guest here. He's really excellent. Usually he never goes anywhere else than Yannick's place in Nevers. It turns out that he lost a stupid bet and he had to come here. Yannick is a hub, to tell the truth, when you see the list of tattoo artists from his convention in Nevers. Blaize or Remy are killers! Information : @fat_manu_de_tours @cocodibongotattooclub
