While most of our "Inkspot" stars boast head-to-toe ink — or at least shoulder-to-wrist — guitar legend Slash takes a different approach. "I'm not planning on doing any sleeving or anything," the iconic guitar hero says. "It's so commonplace nowadays to have so much artwork that you can't really identify what it is. It looks cool, I have to admit, but I just like to stick with really personal statements. That's why my tattoos are few and far between." He's still deciding what his next piece will be, but he's settled on the location — his chest — and the artist — renowned tattooist Kat Von D. So can we expect to see Slash on an upcoming episode of Kat's new show, L.A. Ink? "No," he laughs. "But she's an amazing artist."
"Slash"
This is the first tattoo I ever got. I was 17. I got it from Robert Benedetti at Sunset Strip Tattoos. Axl turned me on to him. This is Shirley, a cartoon character I made up in high school, who was part of a short story I wrote. While I was supposed to be writing an essay in social studies class, I drew a picture of this chick. I did a smaller version of her without the waist and legs, on a napkin — which my friend still has — and took it to Benedetti. The next day my mom saw it and said the classic line: "You know you have to live with that for the rest of your life?"
Cat in a Top Hat
Before my wife and I were married, we went out partying one night. After all the clubs closed we were looking for something to do, and I decided to take her to get a tattoo, 'cause she'd been talking about it. So I drew her this cute little cat, and then I drew this one with a top hat for myself. I remember being so intoxicated that the poor guy had to keep wiping away a layer of blood every time he made a pass at the tattoo. Which is one of the reasons, kids, you should never be really drunk when you get a tattoo.
Skull/D.T.U.D.
That's the closest thing to a Guns N' Roses tattoo that I have. The skull and top hat, I guess, represent me. It's just something I drew and thought it was really cool. I was staying at a hotel across the street from Sunset Strip Tattoos and was bored one night, so I got that. "D.T.U.D" is for "Drink 'til you drop," and then below that it says, "Forever until." Only thing is, "until" is spelled wrong. He did it exactly like I drew it, and that's how I fuckin' spelled it: "UNTILL." He didn't even question it when he was doing it, fucker!
Snake
I got this in Belgium, around the time I put out the Snakepit record, by some guy I didn't know in my hotel room after a show. I ran into a guy and we were hanging out and drinking, and it turned out he was a tattoo artist, so I said, "Bring your stuff up, and let's do this." There's something cool about getting tattoos in different states and different countries.
