Revolver Celebrates Tattoo Issue With Shindig at Paul Booth’s Studio

Not even a slushy, gray, heavy snowstorm with 50 mile an hour winds -- they're were calling this a 'snowicane,' a mixture of snowstorm and hurricane, up in the metro New York City area -- could stop metal fans such as myself and Noisecreep editor Seth W. from descending on Paul Booth's Last Rites Gallery and Tattoo Studio last night to help Revolver magazine celebrate their first-ever tattoo issue, which is on stands now.

The private party was held in Booth's gallery, and if you don't know Mr. Booth, then you've not been exposed to/enjoyed/shocked by his subversive, beautiful or horrifying -- depending on who you ask -- art. The buzz of tattoo needles hummed in the background, as clients were being inked during the party. Thankfully, we didn't bump into anyone who was getting tatted!

We could have spent hours wandering around the gallery, as Booth's artwork festoons stark white walls in a room adjacent to the tatt parlor portion, and the dark, bold paintings of pierced nipples and warped hearts arrest the eye. There was a live freak show, too: midgets, latex-clad dominatrix types, the usual. There was even a tattoo area -- presumably Booth's -- that looked like a torture chamber. We wanted to sit in the tattoo chair. We loved it.

The gallery is certainly an interesting work environment for the tattooists who work there. It boasts a color scheme of blacks and reds, and it has a distinctly gothic and Transylvanian vibe, but in a cozy way. Sure, there are statues of creatures and dark art but the gallery's design is aesthetically pleasing, It was like walking through the house of a super cool metal friend.