MyChildren MyBride


Taking care of a healing tattoo is a pain. It scabs. You have to keep it moist. You must resist the urge to scratch the itch of flaking skin. You have to be religious about cleaning it. It is, after all, permanent. So it might seem counter-intuitive to get ink while far, far from home, on the road, and touring with your band, playing sweaty, germy clubs.

But MyChildren MyBride screamer Matthew Hasting has caring for new tats down to a science. "I got three new tattoos on tour," Hasting told Noisecreep, with two on his leg and one on his arm. "After the third tattoo, I got sick, but I'm good now. I have gotten all my tattoos on tour, so [I'm] accustomed to taking care of them on the road, washing them really well in a gas station!"

When we chatted with Hasting, he was on tour in Las Vegas, but he wasn't overdoing it in Sin City. Hasting said, "I party sober, so I don't know if you consider that fun." There has been some gambling, but he's not dipping into the band's merch till. "I wish we could use the merch money," he joked. "I spent too much money on tattoos last week."

The singer also has massive stretchers in his ears, and he's been stretching for nearly a decade. "When I first started, I didn't plan on going as big as I have," Hasting admitted. He removed them over Christmas and let them close up to an inch-and-a-half.

But he couldn't resist the urge after a friend made him some custom jewelry. "I thought, 'Oh crap! These are awesome.' So now I'm up to almost two and a half inches."

His parents aren't stressing over his extreme lobular stretching, either. "They've gotten used to it," he said. "When I started at 14, they freaked out. But I am in a band, and they see that I can get away with it."

MyChildren My Bride's 'Lost Boy' is due out May 4 and they remain on tour with the Red Chord through March 14.

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