Hey everyone what's up? I'm Ethan Gregory Dodge and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I'm launching called Tattoo 408.
For those that don't know, 408 is the original area code for San Jose, California. I've been living here for 4 years now and I'm absolutely smitten by it's culture of food, art, writing, music, activism, and of course, tattooing. I'm a writer and photographer and have been doing my best to document this culture. But San Jose tattooing has been dominating my work for the past two years. I'm constantly amazed by how little folks know about the rich culture of body art that has been here for decades, probably over a century.
My original vision for this podcast was people interviewing their tattoo artists while being tattooed by them. There's still going to be a little bit of that, but I quickly learned that interviewing while getting tattooed and tattooing while being interviewed are both very difficult. In addition, I just kept learning all these cool little nuggets of San Jose tattooing history that I decided to make this more of a documentary-esque podcast. I'm going to learn everything I possibly can about 408 tattooing and I'm taking you along with me. But, this show isn't about me. It's about the incredible artists and people that have made up that history.
You see, San Jose has forever lived in the shadows of its northern neighbors San Francisco and Oakland. Be it music, art, activism, politics, you name it. What happens in San Jose only occasionally catches the eyes of those outside the Bay Area. Tattoo culture here is no different.
Not only that but tattoo culture at large, up until recently, has always been very insulated from the rest of society. Tattooers tend to know the history of their industry, but not many outside of their circles. Which is such a shame because it's an absolutely amazing and equally legitimate art form.
So, I’m starting to interview tattooists all over Santa Clara County and I’m starting with the OGs. I’m hoping that by doing so, we can really document the history of tattooing in the 408. A lot of early artists here got their start tattooing either in the streets or in prison. Others started tattooing underground in places like Japan where the art form was illegal for so long. A lot of these artistas have incredible personal stories of overcoming hardships such as addiction and homelessness through tattooing.
I’m a sucker for a good story. I hope you are too! First episode with Tattoo John from San Jose Tattoo on West San Carlos drops on July 11. Then we’ll have episodes at least every other Tuesday from there. Some interviews are a little long and may need to span more than one episode. If that’s the case, then they’ll be released one week a part. But if we’re switching to a new artist, there will be a week break just to give me enough time to get the material released.
Talk to you in a week!
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Love Tattoo 408? Here are the best ways to support the show!
Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (it takes ~10 seconds)
Tell your tattoo-loving friends and family about it!
Use the code "tattoo408" when purchasing tattoo healing products from saniderm.com
Follow Tattoo 408 on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube. DM your address and get our stickers in the mail!
Thank you to Tessia Spisak for our logo and to mint.beats for our music.
Tattoo 408 is produced by Ethan Gregory Dodge.
© 2023 under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
